Kianna awoke from the overwhelming scent of breakfast in the air, and she opened her eyes to see that she was face to face with Judah's chest.

It didn't matter what position they fell asleep in, Kianna always woke up in the same spot. She could fall asleep on the floor and somehow wake up laying right underneath him. She hated when he moved her while she slept.

"What is you doin'?" The sound of his raspy voice made her flinch, not expecting him to wake up so easily.

"Let me go Judah. I need to use the bathroom." She muttered, unsure of why she needed to make him aware of that.

"Please." She added with a roll of her eyes, and he unwrapped his arms from around her, turning to lay on his back. He slid his hand in his boxers at the same time that she stood up, rubbing her eye on the way to the restroom.

She closed the door behind herself before sitting down to pee, wrapping a few squares of tissue around her hand. She let the bidet rinse off her lady parts and then she used the tissue to pat herself dry.

At the sink, she washed her face and brushed her teeth; the same routine she'd done for the last three days. The first half hour of her being awake was about the only time she got to herself, so this simple routine was low key keeping her afloat.

Judah had kept her cooped up in this bedroom for the last two days, and during the entire time Kianna made no effort to conversate with him. It didn't stop him from talking though; he attempted to initiate a conversation often but Kianna planned to never talk to him again.

He seemed so relaxed given the events of the other day. With the way he acted, Kianna was starting to think that killing Tyra was all a dream that never really happened. Then she'd go to sleep and relive the moment all over again. It kept her up at night.

She would never forgive him for it.

Kianna walked out of the bathroom as soon as Judah walked in, and he shook his head with a smile as she purposely ignored his gaze. One thing was for certain, she sure could hold a grudge.

She climbed back in the bed and grabbed his iPad off of the nightstand-the only thing that had been keeping her sane. All she did was watch TikTok and sometimes she watched vlogs on YouTube as well. There wasn't much else for her to do.

Judah joined her a few minutes later, and she rolled her eyes again when he laid as close to her as possible without actually touching her. He mildly respected her boundaries but he loved to agitate her anyway.

"So how long we finna be beefing for?" He flicked her bottom lip that naturally poked out further than the top one.

"Not long." He mocked her softer voice while moving her mouth for her, and he bust out laughing once she side eyed him.

"Ahhh, you cute as shit when you mad yo. I love this lil' frown on yo' face." He chuckled, forcing her to smile by moving her lips up.

"Nah on some real shit though, what you want me to do? Apologize? It ain't gone make her come back from the dead but I will if you want me to."

"What you did wasn't funny. I'd appreciate it if you stopped making it seem like it was a joke because although you weren't affected, I was. Her daughter and her mom were affected too." She moved his hand away from her face, and took his arm from around her torso as well.

"What I did? You killed her. I didn't grab yo' hands and make you hit her."

"You had a gun pointed at me and you threatened my best friend Judah." Her eyebrows came together in a frown as she looked up at him.

"Why would you run away after I literally told yo' ass not to? All that shit could've been prevented if you would've just listened to me."

"You can't kidnap me and just expect me to be okay with it! Duh, I ran! You and your girlfriend beat on me and you threaten me every single day. Why would I wanna stay with you?" She looked at him as if he was crazy because clearly he was.

"First of all that ain't my bitch and that wasn't 'posed to happen. You know she got handled for that. And again, I wouldn't have put my hands on you if you would've listened to me. I already apologized for that shit man what you want me to do?"

"I want you to let me go home! Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Kianna when you went a home, a nigga tried to break in yo' shit and kill y-,"

"I'd rather take my chances with them than be here with you." She cut him off and then turned over to face the wall again to show him that she was done with the conversation.

"That's too bad. You really should be thankful that a nigga like me took you. It ain't like you 'round this bitch getting raped or tortured, starved, none of that shit. I even offered to take yo' ass shopping."

"Do you even hear yourself? Actually, just shut up talking to me. You're ignorant and you are purposely ignoring the obvious, so just leave me alone. Go handle business or something." She muttered, opening TikTok on his iPad again.

"Judah get off of me." She grabbed his arm when it wrapped around her torso, pulling her closer to him.

"You know, I never told yo' ass to start calling me that. What happened to East?" He chuckled, unfamiliar with hearing his government name so often.

"I'm not calling you that made up ass shit."

"It ain't made up lil' girl. That's my last name. I went to jail when I was 18 for six years and they only address you by your last name, so when I got out it just stuck." He informed her, keeping his arm wrapped around her body.

"What did you go to jail for? Murder?" She curiously asked.

"Yeah, but it was technically self defense and I was only 'posed to do a year for it. But I got into it with some 'top dogs' in there and killed a few of them out of self defense too. So I had to stay longer."

"Does your mom know the type of person you are?" She turned around in his grip to look at him with a frown.

"What kinda person am I?" He looked down at her with his naturally sharp gaze.

"You deal drugs and you sell women. And you've killed more than one person. She's ok with you being like that?"

"Nah. She don't know." He answered her original question with a light shrug as if he didn't care too much about it.

"Well if you're too ashamed to tell her how you are, why don't you just change? Clearly you know that you aren't a good person. You don't have to be like this."

"It ain't that simple mama. It probably sounds cliche but I'm too deep in this shit. Leaving ah' be like signing my death note, my mama 'nem too. This ain't like the movies. I really live this shit and it's more to it under the surface that you ah' probably never come close to understanding." He explained.

"And besides, I ain't that bad. We started off on the wrong foot 'cause you don't like following directions. Ask any of them bitches out there. They ah' tell you." He added with another shrug.

"No, we started off wrong because you kidnapped me. You could've simply approached me and told me what you needed me for and maybe I could've agreed on my own terms."

"It's no fun that way." He chuckled, and Kianna purposely rolled her eyes as far back as they could go, making him smile.

"Yo, for real though, you ain't even kidnapped for real. If you asked me if you could go to the mall right now, I'd let you. You got the iPad and you can have yo' phone back if you want. I just need to be able to see you at all times, and it's easier to do that with you here." He told her, moving her hair out of her face.

"What is it about me that you want? Is it just because I'm pretty?" She asked him, taking notice of the way he stared at her.

"Want you in what way?"

"You wanna fuck me. That's why you're always touching me and looking at me like this-like you're looking right now." She said after gesturing at his arm that still held on to her.

"I do. Ain't 'cause you pretty though. It's pretty bitches downstairs that I could put dick in if I wanted to." His vulgarity caused her face to frown up again.

"You treat women like objects and that's such a turnoff. Like real bad." She told him, hoping he could tell from her frown of disgust.

"Kianna you don't know me. You think that because of how I treat them, but they treat themselves like that. Most of them were prostitutes that I helped get off the streets. On my mama, all of them would literally pay me to fuck them, even knowing how 'evil' I am. We can go out there and ask right now."

"I ain't keeping none of them here and you know that. So the fact that they wanna stay should tell you something about them." He shrugged once more.

"Well. You still turn me off regardless so you can get the idea of us fucking out of your mind right now." She really didn't have a rebuttal towards his statement because apparently the women in this house were just as weird as him.

Judah lowered his face to be in her neck while his left hand slid down from her torso to hold her thigh, and Kianna grabbed his face as soon as she felt him leave a kiss right behind her ear.

"Stop it Judah." She grabbed his wrist to stop his hand from sliding lower.

"You hear how soft yo' voice just got right there? You ain't that turned off." He chuckled, and then his smirk spread further when Kianna closed her legs all the way.

"Should ask yo' self how you still sexually attracted to a nigga who kidnapped you. You can't even talk right now 'cause you trying so bad to force yourself to ignore how you feeling down there." He tapped her thigh twice before releasing her from his grip, turning around to lay on his back again.

Kianna's frown remained on her face as she pulled the cover over her shoulders, turning to lay on her back as well. She couldn't believe that her body just betrayed her like that, and she hated how quickly he noticed it too.

Really, it wasn't even her fault. Anyone who found his physical appearance unattractive had to be blind. He was 6'6, very muscular and well built, was covered head to toe in tattoos and had a face that belonged in a magazine. The natural rasp and accent his voice carried was just a cherry on top.

The way he acted just totally disregarded his looks though. He was so full of himself and just knew that he could have his way with anything because of his status in the drug game and the money in his bank accounts. He was a terrible person regardless of how handsome he was.

"I thought you was gay. How you let a nigga make yo' pussy wet?" Judah asked her, snapping her from her thoughts about him.

"Can you just shut up? Damn. You always talking." She sucked her teeth, then rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time when he started to laugh.

"Ahhh, you ain't say you wasn't wet though. C'mon, you want me to fix that lil' shit?" He grabbed her waist again, laughing harder after she swatted his hands away.

"Kill yourself. Like deadass." She mushed his head away from her, trying not to laugh herself as she watched him struggle to catch his breath.

"Ouu, shit. You funny as fuck man. Damn." He sat up in the bed, wiping the tears that fell from laughing so hard.

A knock on the door caused his laughs to quiet down, but he was still chuckling to himself as he got up to go see who it was. That really tickled his stomach.

Kianna watched as he pushed the cart containing their breakfast inside, something that had become a morning ritual as well. The chefs cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, and someone always brought it to them on the cart.

She sat up in the bed as he approached her, passing her a plate of food. She got up to get the syrup, pouring it over the hash browns. She used the grape jelly next, spreading it over the buns of the two homemade McGriddles.

"I see you know better than to starve yourself n-,"

"Judah shut up." She cut him off before he could finish, climbing back in the bed while he smiled.

Kianna figured she might as well start eating since starving herself hadn't been helping prove any points or anything because Judah obviously didn't give a damn about whether she ate or not.

She laid on her stomach near the bottom of the bed, pressing play on a YouTube video by Dearra on Judah's iPad. She tuned out the sound of him talking on the phone, focusing solely on the food in front of her.

There was no point in trying to eavesdrop anyway. He was always talking in code and using words that she didn't know the meaning of. The calls were always super brief, too; barely gave her any time to listen.

"I'm feeling generous today. What you wanna do mama?" Judah rubbed her calf muscle, trailing his hand up her leg.

"I wanna go see Mina." She turned her head to look back at him, dropping the hash brown that she held.

"Yeah? Ight. We can do that. Finish eating and put some clothes on." He told her, standing up moments later so that he could get dressed as well.

Kianna smiled big, visibly relieved to know that she'd be able to go see Amina. He told her yesterday that she was doing fine and was out of surgery, but she wanted to see for herself.

"Watch yo' step mama." Judah held his hand out for Kianna, and she took it, allowing him to help her step down from the elevated truck.

"You know not to try nothin' dumb, right?" He held her waist once she stood in front of him, and she nodded her head while gazing up at him.

"Good girl. C'mon." He moved her to stand to the side before closing the back door, then he reached for her hand. She let him grab it again, and he led the way to the entrance of the hospital.

"Hi, how can I help y-oh, East. What can I do for you, sir?" The receptionist immediately gave him her undivided attention, and Kianna frowned at the way the woman was practically drooling at him.

"I need to see Amina Brooks." He said as more of a statement rather than a request.

"Yes sir." The woman didn't even check them in or anything, she just passed him two visitor stickers.

"Third floor, room 112." She told him, and Judah nodded in response before leading Kianna towards the elevator.

"How do you know her?" She asked once the doors closed.

"I don't. Why, you jealous?" He looked down at her with a smirk, and it turned into a smile when she waved him off.

"Why would I be jealous when you're literally obsessed with me even though you know I don't like you?" She held up her hand that he held to prove her point, making his smile grow bigger.

"Touché." He kissed the back of her hand and then kissed her forehead just to piss her off. He knew it worked from the frown on her face.

The elevator doors opened, and Judah led the way again, heading towards Amina's room.

When they got there, Kianna saw that her room was being guarded by a police officer-an actual police, and not just one of Judah's guards who wore similar gear.

"Sir," The officer nodded at Judah before stepping to the side for him to pass at the same time that his dispatch radio went off.

"Ridiculous." Kianna muttered under her breath, and Judah only smirked because he knew exactly what she was thinking.

He pulled her to be in front of him, and Kianna's face lit up at the sight of her bestfriend sleeping peacefully in the bed. She walked to stand over her, fixing the blanket to cover her up some more.

"I'ma be out here mama." Judah told her just as Amina's eyes fluttered open, and she nodded, hearing the door close shortly after.

"Mama?" Amina smiled up at her, and Kianna laughed, reaching up to wipe her face when a tear fell.

"Ugh, I know right. I told him not to call me that but he doesn't listen." Kianna leaned down to give her a hug, being careful of her IV.

"I'm so glad you're ok. I'm so sorry Mina. If I would've known he would do this I wouldn't have came to you. I'm so sorry, yo." She scrambled to find the right words to apologize, but nothing could rid her of the guilt she felt.

She was mad all over again. She was just laughing and momentarily aroused for a man who shot her best friend twice in front of her before kidnapping her for the second time.

Kianna hated how he attempted to be sweet to her-in his own whimsical way-after being so heinous towards her. The same man who'd just kissed her hand in the elevator had busted her mouth and slapped her around just a few days prior, on top of threatening to murder the only person she genuinely loved.

"It's okay Kj. Stop crying." Amina rubbed her back to console her cries, sitting herself up in the bed.

"I don't know what to do Mina. He's so fucking evil. I can't even be here to help you because he won't let me." She sniffed, fixing the pillow behind Amina to help support her back.

"Don't worry about me, I'm okay, I promise. I don't want nothing happening to you, so just do what you can, okay? Do what he says for now-be his friend, whatever it takes-and we can start planning something to get you out. You have to take care of yourself." Being as selfless as always, Amina was more worried about Kianna's safety than her own.

Kianna didn't know what she would do without her, and neither of them could wait until they could be safely reunited again.

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