Please excuse ANY grammatical errors.

February 23, 1994

~Tia's P.O.V~

Plans for today are to stay inside and complete the rest of my schoolwork for the week. So I've pretty much been at the computer and in my books for the past five hours. I would like to actually attend school in the physical sense but due to my busy career, it's not that simple. We start filming in September but I want to finish before going back home in a few days. I'm still in the process of helping my mother plan her wedding. A bam on my hotel room door scared me out of work mode.

My body jumped at the sound of it. I stood up and walked to the door in confusion on who it was standing on the other side of the door. When I looked through the peephole, Donald was on the other side, so I opened the door. The minute I did he pushed it further, slamming it to the wall. Donald was clearly enraged. I walked back cautiously, because I have never seen him like this.

"What is wrong wit-"

"YOU TOOK MY SHIT DIDN'T YOU!?" He yelled out at me slamming the door shut with his foot.

I stood against the wall, my heart dang near beating out my chest. "Wha-"

He slammed his hand against the wall beside my head. Donald was fuming at the mouth and cut me off. "YOU- you took my shit didn't you?" He lowered his tone but it was a threatening one. He pointed a shaky index finger in my face, with his right hand still against the wall.

"I don't know what you're-" My head whipped around to the side as he slammed his hand harder against the wall. There was now a dent in the wall.

"BULLSHIT!" He yelled with droplets of saliva hitting my face. He turned on his heels and searched through my things. I followed him to the bedroom where continued with his search.

Scared and angry I yelled out a shaky, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

He ignored me and continued to look through my things. He got to my purse and dumped it out. Donald's pill bottles that I forgot to dispose of fell on the floor. He looked at me and pushed past me. I walked back to our previous spot where the wall was slightly punched in.

"THEY ALL EMPTY!" He screamed out. "I'm so ti'de of yo ass, Tia."

"DON'T YOU SEE THAT YOU'RE AN ADDICT!?" I yelled at him. He turned around and walked towards me again.

"FUCKIN' BITCH, YOU DON'T GET TO FUCKING TELL ME WHAT I AM!" He hit the same place on the wall which happen to be besides my head.

"You are addicted. Look at yourself in the mirror and say that you ain't one. You're doing everything an addict does, Donald." I said softly.

He chuckled menacingly. "You think you know everything. Don't you? Hmm?"

I opened my mouth to speak but his hand went through the wall. My eyes widened in shock. "WELL, YOU DON'T KNOW A GODDAMNED THING!" He yelled in my face breathing hard. "FUCK OUTTA MY FACE WITH THAT BULLSHIT. TALKIN' ABOUT A FUCKIN' ADDICT!" That hole could've easily been my head. My phone has been ringing back to back for the last minute.

"You hit me here and you won't know what's coming to yo ass." I threatened with a strong tone even though I felt everything but strong.

He chuckled again "You think imma hit you? YOU-"

This time he was cut of by the door opening. Jax and Bigg Redd came through the hotel door with guns drawn. They saw Donald, the hole in the wall, and myself. My guards rushed over to us and Bigg Redd tackled Donald on the floor while Jax came to me. Donald groaned at the impact of hitting the floor. Bigg Redd jacked him up and pushed him towards the door.

"You payin' for this wall!" I yelled at him.

"I ain't payin' for a goddamn thang!" Donald told me. He snatched away from Bigg Redd and walked the rest of the way on his own feet with Bigg Redd following him out.

"You okay? You good?" Jax asked me in a very concerned voice while observing me.

I nodded. "I- I'm fine." I took a seat on the couch.

"Did he hit you?" He frowned at me. I shook my head at him. "We called your phone then we heard a big boom from next door and came immediately. What happened? I thought y'all was cool?"

Being in that position, trapped between the wall and a guy is a scary one. I've been in that position once before, except I was frozen with fear that time. If you guessed that it was sexual assault thing and Donald brought back memories of that. Yes, I've been to therapy but it can't fix everything. I feel better about many things but healing from sexual assault requires more than therapy. It requires forgiveness from oneself and the assaulter.

I feel like a horrible friend, well ex-friend for not knowing about him popping pills earlier. The earlier I would have known, the sooner I could've prevented him from what he has become from it. Donald has changed. Like most addicts, his addiction has changed him. He's too far gone to help at this point.

I would have still stuck around, attempted to help him and get him some help if it wasn't for what just happened and what came out of his mouth. Mad or not, he really been waiting to say that shit. THIS was scary and I'm still shaken up about it. I thought he was going to attack me but he didn't touch me and I will never give him the opportunity to do so. Maybe I shouldn't have flushed all his pill and took the bottles but THIS isn't right.

Call me selfish but frankly I don't give a damn. I mean, he did said that he's tired of seeing my face anyways and that's okay. After we finish Above The Rim, we don't have to see or speak to each other ever again. Donald just proved what I thought would happen from jump, he left.

"We are- we WERE." I corrected myself. "Not anymore." I shook my head in disbelief of the whole situation. There was a knock at the door.

"Oh. Umm... Imma go get that." Jax stood up, walked to the door amd opened it. "Hello." I couldn't tell who was at the door because Jaxs' big build blocked my view.

"I am the hotel manager and we have hotel security with us. We have numerous complaints about this room from visitors and we are here to check it out. Could you move over sir?" I heard someone from the hotel people ask. Jax moved over and let them enter. "Sir and ma'am, there's a hole in the wall indicating that something went on. Ma'am are you okay?" They asked me and eyed Jax.

"She's okay." Jax spoke up.

"I'm sorry sir but we are talking to the young lady. Are you okay miss?" They asked me.

"Yes, I'm fine now. He's my security guard." I gestured towards him. "The person who did this was escorted out."

"Yeah." Jax said and pulled out his badge. "I'm registered." He squinted at them because we both knew what they were hinting towards.

"Okay ma'am but you do know that since this is your room that you'll have to pay for that hole in the wall?" The manager asked me.

"Yes, I'll handle it." I assured them.

"You'll have to handle it before you check out. Usually we would kick you out but since you're a regular visitor, you're fine." The manager said to me.

"I understand and thank you." I smiled.

"You're welcome. G-"

"Oh, and can you take the name Donald DeGrate off my guest list?" I asked them.

"We'll be sure to do so. Goodbye miss and sir." They all walked out of my room.

"Want me to call somebody for that?" Jax pointed to the wall.

"Nahh, I got it. I'll call around. Thanks by the way for that." I told him.

"You're welcome. Well, I'll stay here just in case he comes back or something." He locked the door and took a seat on the couch. His phone rang.

"Hello." He answered. "Yeah, man. I think imma stay in her room to make sure everything is good." I'm assuming that's Bigg Redd. "A'ight, bye." He hung up.

"Redd?" I asked.

"Yeah, your boy was acting crazy but he handled it." Jax told me and I nodded.

"Okay..." I said awkwardly. "Um, let me get tk calling around." I chuckled.

June 16, 1994

~Dalvin's P.O.V~

"So, what happened?" I asked De. "Y'all was just cool a few month ago." I noticed that he and Tia didn't even speak, she ain't even look his way. Usually it'd be all hugs and shit like that but nahhh, ain't shit happened between them.

"Found out she whack as fuck and a fuckin' thief, that's what happened. Takin' shit that don't belong to her ass. A bunch of my shit too. I yelled at Static and them thinking they took my shit but it was that bitch. A lot can change in a month." De shook his head, took a swig from his bottle, and look her way. "I went over to her hotel and my shit was still in her purse."

"What she take?" K-Ci asked.

"Shit don't matter, it was mine and that's all that matters." De said in a nonchalant tone. "Ain't come to talk about that bitch, I came to have fun and support Pac. Let's do that."

We are in Atlanta right now for Pac's birthday party and partying is all we really been doing. So we here to support him like he support us. We at a Gold Room Club. Just about everybody showed up here. My nigga Suge Knight, Boys II Men, Mike Tyson, H-Town, Shaquille O'Neal, SWV, Nas, Magic Johnson, Total, Wu-Tang, Madonna, Scottie Pippen, Tony Toni Toné, Queen Latifah, Kimbo Slice, J. Cole, Jon B., and some new groups like Changing Faces, Brownstone, and the list goes on.

"A couple years ago you was mad at K-Ci for callin' her a bitch. So now you don't mind?" JoJo asked De.

"No." He shook his head.

"So what you sayin' is that I can talk to her?" K-Ci asked De with raised eyebrows.

"What you mean?" De frowned.

"Holla at her. Ya know, get with her?" K-Ci elaborated.

De gave him a dirty look that said it all but what he said next didn't reach his face. "Go right ahead man." He pulled his shades down to his eyes, stood up, and walked away.

"He mad as hell. Would you really?" I asked K-Ci.

"What you mean?" He asked me.

"Talk to Tia." I raised my eyebrows.

"Nahh, of course not. Just wanted to know where he really stood. That's my nigga and I take bro code serious." K-Ci shook his head at us.

"Right... I do think that nigga lyin' though. Think about it, what the fuck she got to steal? She got her own shit." J. Cole finally spoke up. He was quiet during the whole thing. "Ya boy cool and all but he been trippin' since I met him with all that pill poppin'. Ion believe shit he said but that's my opinion." He shrugged and stood up. "On another note, I ain't come here to listen to bullshit. I'm finna go have some fun, been eyeing this one girl since I got here." He walked off somewhere.

"I was thinking what Cole just said but who knows what really happened?" I shrugged.

"Go ask then." JoJo suggested.

I shook my head. "Maybe another time, I'm about to do what they doin'." I pointed to Cole and them and walked off.

I went to the bar and ordered me some drinks. Tionne didn't come because she's in the hospital but her homegirl Lisa here because she's very sick at the moment. She's having one of her moments. A girl sat down next to me and ordered a drink. I didn't see her face but her body was for sure banging. The barista came finished making my drink and I shifted to get a good look at the girls face. The girl next to me is an ex.

"Dalvin?" She eyed me.

"Maiya?" I said surprised.

"What you doin' here?" She asked me.

The reason I'm here is obvious as hell. "Pac. How you get in here? You know Pac?"

"No, my cousin Keisha does. You remember her right?" She motioned towards her cousin in Pacs booth beside him.

"I remember her. What you doin' in Atlanta though?"

"I just told you. I didn't move here or anything, I'm visiting her and it just so happen to be around his birthdate. I'm still lovin' in North Carolina. How you doin'? I see y'all big in these streets." Maiya laughed in a flirty way.

"Yeah, but don't nobody know about all the other shit goin' on behind closed doors. I like what I do but people just be takin' advantage of you." I shook my head.

"Yeah, I completely understand what you mean. Tell me about it... So are you and T-Boz really datin'?" She asked me and just then Lisa came walking towards us.

"Here she go..." I mumbled lowly to myself.

Lisa sat right next to Maiya. "Can I get some Gin?" She asked the bartender and he nodded and fixed her drink. Then Lisa turned to Maiya. "Hi Dalvin and- What's your name?" Lisa waited for Maiya to speak.

"Maiya. I'm a really big fan of your girl group." Maiya smiled.

"That's... nice... I'm Lisa, TIONNE'S FAHRIEND. Who are you to him?" She pretended to be polite but her tone held everything but politeness.

"I'm- I'm just a guest at the party." Maiya smiled. SMART.

"Oh, is that so? Who invited you?" Lisa raised a brow.

"My cousin..."

"Who's you cousin?" Lisa threw back her shot.

"Goddamn Lisa, I'm not doin' shit. Why you come over here botherin' us for?" I told her very irritated.

"Us?" Lisa turned her head to the side.

I kissed my teeth at her. "Man..."

"I came over here because I know you Dalvin. You KNOW Tionne my homegirl and I'm looking out for her. You tend to do some fucked up shit and I can't stand for that." Lisa smirked.

"Ain't got time for you." I took my drink, stood up and walked away from the bar.

"Where you goin'? I though we were having fun gettin' to know each other and whatnot. Where you goin' sweety? He's taken." I heard Lisa say as I walked away.

"Wait, Dalvin." Maiya caught up to me.

"Yeah?" I turned to face her.

"Why don't we catch up sometime?" She asked me.

"Sure. Uhhh..." I shrugged wondering how.

"Let's exchange phones." She said and I took mines out and handed it to her and she did the same. "Here you go. Thank you." She handed me back my phone.

"Thanks. Here." I gave her back her phone. "See you around." I waved as she walked away.

I went over to another side of bar where De was sitting. He was throwing shots back. He threw about three of them back while I made my way over to him. I sat down besides him but he wasn't paying attention. His eyes were elsewhere and I knew just who his eyes was on.

"You good bro?" I spoke up and hit his shoulder which made him snap out of it.

"Huh? Ye-yeahhh, I'm go-good. A-a-a nig-nigga chillIN. Know w-what I'm sayin'." He stuttered then chuckled.

I could tell he was intoxicated from his speech. I was also a little tipsy but at least I'm able to function. This party gon' last all night and possibly morning and I'm down with that. I just don't want to be completely drunk just a few hours in. Being completely drunk by the end of the party is the ideal goal.

"No you ain't. I would tell you to go and talk to Madonna but you gon' make a damn fool of yourself. You stuttering all over the place man." I chuckled. "Plus I think her and Pac on that with each other. She gon' feel you starin'."

"I'm jjjUST tryyin' to get me som-ome." He threw another drink back.

"And I hears she givin' it away. Everybody talks man." I laughed. I told the bartender to cut the drinks but De couldn't see me. Dr patted the table which told them he wanted another drink.

"I'm sorry sir, but you've reached your limit." He told De. De moved his head back like it was an abomination to stop his drinks.

"BULLSHIT!" He yelled out, stood up, then fell to the floor FACE FIRST. Some people looked our way from his outburst and more people from the loud thud of his body.

"Yo de!?" I squatted down to him and he didn't answer. "Can you give me some water?" I asked the bartender and he gave me a bottle. I turned De's body over and pour the whole bottle on his face. He gasped and the way his upper body went up in the air, it looked like his soul left his body. "Get yo ass us nigga! Embarrassin' yourself AND me!" I shook my head at him. People was laughing at the situation.

"Fuck yo problem!?" He drunkenly yelled at me. He held onto a stool to lift himself up.

"Nigga, you see yo'self? Huh?" I asked him.

J.Cole, JoJo, and K-Ci came over to us. "He high as hell." Cole shook his head.

"High? This motha'fucka ain't picked up nan blunt." K-Ci looked at him. "He drunk, that's for sho!"

"Y'all niggas blinda than a motha'. You knew him years and you all yo life and y'all don't see it." Cole shook his head at us.

"Who gives a fuck? Lets get his ass outta here 'fore somebody snap a pic." JoJo said.

Pac came trudging over. "His ass need to go back to his hotel because it's some scandalous people in here. I don't even know some of these people and they gon' take advantage of his ass. Some Hollyweird ass people here."

"I know Pac, I'm about to call his bodyguards to come get him." I said to him while taking out my phone.

I would take him back but like I said I'm tipsy myself and driving ain't a good idea. That's why I got people on standby for me. I called his bodyguards who were here but they were probably in the front with the other guards. They came and lead him out. De ain't want nobody to pick his drunk ass up.

"Just came to see if everything was cool and now it is..." Pac told us. "Welp, lemme get back to my party then. Y'all too!" He walked off and went back to his section.

The rest of the party was cool besides some drunken/drug inflicted fights with somebody they man or woman was cheating with. You could tell who were the real party goers because we're the ones who stayed the whole party. Tia left early as hell; figures. Lisa was watching my ass like a hawk. Pac and everybody else was extremely drunk and/or high. Everybody knows that a high/drunk Pac equals and even louder version of him.

July 20, 1994

~DeVanté's P.O.V~

Jodeci has been spending a lot of time in Los Angeles, California. It's like our second home. We haven't had ANY promotion for our last album whatsoever. That shit didn't sit well with me or the rest of the fellas. We put our everything in our craft EVERYTIME and we don't get any promotions. JODECI DESERVES PROMOTIONS AND ACCOLADES!

That shit is like working a nine to five for five years without being promoted even though you were the best employee there. They wanted to keep us under a contract but refused to hold up their end of the bargain. We've been threatening to leave our label for a while and finally took action.

That's right Jodeci is no longer under the management of Andre Harell, instead we're under Death Row Records. Yes, Suge Knight is now managing us. Come find out that it was more about Andre not wanting to give us publicity. Why? I won't name those reasons but that shit ain't right. I wanted to leave before I start doing the Above the Rim Soundtrack because that nigga ain't about to have another good album under his belt with our name attached to it.

Things at Death Row are different. Things are ran different and people walking on eggshells. Shit, we all are in some way. A bunch of shit has been going on with us only being here for a good four months. Suge has goons that's about all that life. Suge is a businessman that knows how to get people to obey him and knows what he want and people need to learn how to respect that. He has a bad reputation but what boss doesn't?

"Wassup man." I dapped Warren G up when he came in the meeting room.

"Wassup man." He responded and returned the gesture.

Right now we're in New York at the twin towers for a meeting. The producers of the album are meeting up with the film directors and producers about the legalities of the contract and the potential artist. All the producers and directors weren't here just yet so we were just mingling. Dalvin came in the room and I was confused.

"What you doing in here?" I asked him as he took a seat.

"I'm here because I belong here. I'm part of this too."

"Congratulations but you ain't tell me shit." I told hime.

"You told me not to mention Tia and I did what you said." He shrugged.

"Did what I- you could have said it with mentioning her thieving ass. You could've just said that you was participating in the soundtrack." I said matter-of-factly.

"I just did what you said." He chuckled under his breath.

I slouched in my seat. "Did she say some shit about me to you? Some of that bullshit she be talkin'."

Dalvin looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds in thought. "No." He said looking back down. "No, now that I think about it, that girl didn't even mention you name OR anything that sounded like you. Why?" Dalvin said laughing a little too hard under his breath.

"Can't have a bitch slanderin' my name." I laughed. "When she ask you?"

"I thought you ain't care about her or want none of us to mention her name since she 'stole' from you." Dalvin raised his eyebrow and put air quotes on stole.

"I DON'T give a fuck but when was you asked?" I asked the question again.

"July, which is when we was down in Atlanta for Pac's party and I stayed a little longer because it was the summer. We know those ATL clubs are something else in the summer. But yeah... That's when." Dalvin finished.

"Oh, okay." I looked down at my fingers.

"You never told none of us what she stole?" I heard Dalvin speak again.

"Why you keep askin'? Like I said she-" Just then Tia walked in right along with Benny Medina and Barry Michael Cooper. They were quietly speaking. I was on the side of the table that faced the door.

"Say what you was about to say. The meeting ain't start yet. I really want to know." Dalvin urged me with a poke in the side with his elbow.

"Good afternoon!" Benny said raising his voice to get everyone's attention. "Now that I have everyone's attention, we can start. Go ahead Ms. Andrew." He said and sat down.

"Good afternoon, I hope everyone is doing okay." Tia spoke. Some spoke back and some just nodded. Me? I just sat there. "Unfortunately Mr. Pollack ran into some complications so I'll be filling in for him. We are here today to discuss the agreements and legalities of the contract as well as the expectations of this album. We'll first get the legal parts out of the way. Mr. Aubrey..." Tia said and stepped back.

A Hispanic guy who I'm assuming is Mr. Aubrey stood up. "Thank Ms. Andrews. Each of you should have a folder and pen in front of you. I want you all to open it up to the first page so we can get the discussion going. As we discuss, feel free to ask questions and I'll be happy answer. Any questions so far?" He asked us.

"No? So if you read over the first few pages, you'll see that it talks about the agreements, the date of the agreements, the parties of those agreements etc. I'll give you all a minute to look it over." He said and turned to the side to talk to Tia. They were whispering but the room was silent. The only things you could hear are the pages being flipped.

"You see that?" I whispered to Dalvin.

"Nigga, see what?" He looked at me confused.

"Them whispering. Fuck they whispering for in a meeting?" I asked him.

"Same reason as you. Probably important or that fact that filling in for the director. Nigga read the contract." Dalvin shook his head and slightly moved his chair in the opposite of my direction.

I looked at the contract and read al little of it then got tired of reading so I just pretended to read it. Suge our manager anyways, he'll catch something if he see it ain't right. I looked over at the head of the table where THAT GIRL and the lawyer was standing and observed her. She wore a black and white skirt, black shirt with a little cleavage showing, and some white pumps.

That pencil skirt ain't look like no damn pencil on her though. I'm not going to lie, she look good but that still don't excuse her taking shit that don't belong to her ass. She probably felt my eyes because she looked directly in my eyes. Then she looked away but with a slight roll of her eyes. Fuck she got an attitude at me for? I ain't did shit to her but be a nice and supportive friend. I heard Dalvin chuckle from beside me.

"Laughing for what?" I asked him.

"Y'all. I'm laughing at y'all. If you don't care about her, fuck you keep starin' her down for?" He whispered to me.

"Because she the one leadin' the meetin'." My face scrunched up.

"Yeah, but she ain't talkin' now. You keep your attention on the person who's talking amongst everyone, when they doin' it. I really don't believe you now. She ain't steal shit for yo ass, it gotta be something else." Dalvin whispered.

"How you not gon' believe yo own blood? Bitch a thief and that's that." I said getting even more upset.

Dalvin squinted at me. "A'ight..."

The meeting was over after a while and everybody was leaving but I noticed Dalvin stay back. So I waited outside of the door to see why he stayed back. Suge and the rest of the already left out of the room. An angry Tia came out of the room and I started walking off.

"DeVanté?" I heard her say and her heels were clicking fast. She caught up with me. I turned around and she and Dalvin stood there. "DeVanté, are you really out here tellin' folk that I'm a thief? I stole from you? Answer me..." She seethed.

"You did. You took MY shit that ain't belong to you, that's stealing!" I told her.

"I flushed your pills down the fucking toilet to help yo crackhead ass. Did you tell people that? Huh!? You poppin' pills like a damn fiend. Probably high now, ain't you?" She crossed her arms.

"A fiend? I got hit in my fuckin' head. Fuck outta here callin' me a fuckin' fiend. I am prescribed to that medication."

"Prescribed? Probably, but how do you explain other names on the prescription, huh? You're high as we speak with your dilated eyes. I no longer care about that, I'm wondering why you speadin' rumors. This the second person to come up to me about this bullshit and I should've nipped it in the bud then. I cannot stand you. All I tried to do is help you, and you SPREAD LIES. Not cool! Fuck you and anybody else who believes your bullshit! Fuck you, you fuckin' fiend!" She said and walked off.

Dalvin stood there in shock. "I told you that bitch was a thief. She a liar too. Callin' me a fiend. Bitch don't don't know shit! Fuck you go to her for anyways?" I said angrily.

"Because I thought you was lying. She basically admitted to doing it but she did say some shit that make sense. Everybody around been noticing you been a little off lately and I heard some whispers on you poppin pills. Yo 'drunk' state ain't even the same. You poppin' pills?" Dalvin whispered the last question.

"Can't believe you believe that bitch and them motherfuckers whisperin' in yo ear about me. You know people blow shit out of proportion. Fuck you know? You get drunk every fuckin' day. Drunk ass nigga!" I said and walked away from him.

Motherfuckers pissing me off. Can't believe this nigga! I went into the elevator and popped a pill. The elevator was closing but a hand stopped it. That hand belonged to Dalvin and he walked in quietly. We didn't say a word to one another. We walked in the same direction once the elevator stopped on the main floor.

Author's Note: Oooh CHILE, the DRAMA! I did say that DeVanté wasn't crazy in this story but I failed to tell y'all that he has some crazy moments. Everybody does, maybe not to this extent but we all can get a little crazy. How do y'all feel?👀👀👀

Word Count: 5,150

Please feel free to like and comment. Feedback gives motivation, and motivation urges me to continue to write.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read another chapter of this story. Thank you for staying despite the slacking.💚🖤❤💜💙💛