Please excuse ANY errors.

November 5, 1998

~DeVanté's P.O.V~

The moment I opened my eyes, but I can't exactly see anything due to my clouded vision. My ears immediately began to ring. I took a deep exhale and my sense of smell kicked in causing me to breakout out into a coughing fit. At the moment, I have a hard time moving my neck because it's stiff. With struggle, and my vision slowly coming back, I was able to take a look at my surroundings. Cracked windshield... Broken glass... AND I'm upside down!

Panic struck and my heart began beating out of my fucking chest. That, the ringing of my ears, and my stiff neck is really making me panic. My attempt of opening the door failed. Why did I think that'd work? Wait a minute, I smell gas... Calm down, De... Calm down, De... Calm down, but think fast!

With quick thinking, I turned my head with a deep pain still in my neck to look out the window. It's cracked, but not completely broken. I covered my head with one arm to protect my head and unbuckled my seatbelt with my other hand. I fell on the ceiling of my car.

"Shit." I groaned, feeling some of the glass from the broken windshield go into my arm.

I turned my head and elbowed the window, breaking it further. When it shattered, I crawled out, trying my best not to cut myself again. BUT of course, I ended up cutting myself and I'm not too much worried about it, I'm too focused on getting out safely.

When I was halfway out, a car flew past my face and I quickly lifted my arm to cover my eyes.

"What the fuck?" My voice came out hoarsely.

I put my hands flat on the ground and hoisted my torso up off the ground. I pulled my knees forward, in a dog position and stood up. It was a struggle, but I made it. Some people are parked further down the street. I limped further away from my car. In the process, I caught sight of the other car and it's smashed in. I looked inside and didn't see anyone inside. When I was far enough, I took a good look at my car and I want to cry at how bad it looked.

I blanked out after I was hit. Some stupid motherfucker ran the red light and T-Boned me. Luckily, it wasn't on the driver's side though. They T-Boned me on the passenger side and the impact made the car flip. How many times? Once? Twice? A few times? I'm not completely sure. Anger kicked in. My car is fucked up. My shit is expensive. It's a fucking sports car!

"Who's the motherfucker who hit me!?" I yelled out angrily.

I looked around and saw some people standing to the side, but one particular guy stuck out like a sore thumb. The guy is in a squatting position with his hands intertwined at the back of his head, looking nervous. I rushed over to him and pushed him and he stumbled to the ground.

"Man what the fuck is yo problem!?" I yelled at him. "You could've killed me!"

"I- I- I'm s- sorry, man." He stuttered, almost falling back.

Okay, I shouldn't have done that. I exhaled and helped him up. "I'm sorry, man," I spoke as I heard sirens nearing.

"I- I- don't know what happened." He slurred and stuttered his words.

He's either A: Drunk or B: or injured. I'm not going to jump to conclusions. I turned back to my car and sighed heavily. I sat on the guardrail, watching people drive past slowly, being nosey and shit. At least someone already called the police.

"Was there anybody else in the car with you?" I spoke up.

"I don't know." He slurred.

I sucked my teeth. "Man, what?" I asked confused.

I stood up just as a few ambulance trucks and police cars parked. The police blocked off the accident scene. I walked to the other car to check the back. I and looked inside. I
don't see anyone, but there is a child's car seat inside. I tugged on the door handle to try and open it but to no avail.

"Sir!?"

I turned around. "I-"

"Are you okay?" A light was shined in my eyes as she held up her finger.

I shut my eyes. "I think somebody in there!" I spoke quickly.

She ushered over more people. "I think someone's in here!" She turned back to me. "Stand back, sir!"

I moved back and watched them pry the door open with a tool. I'm assuming to avoid any further injury to whoever's inside.

"Everybody steer clear of the vehicle! Vacate the area." The police and paramedics yelled out to everyone to get away from my car. "The car is leaking and could possibly explode!"

No shit, Sherlock! I smelt it before crawling out. They walked the slurring man to the ambulance. I turned back to the paramedics and police checking the other vehicle. Another paramedic came my way.

"Walk with me, please." She instructed.

We made it to the ambulance and she instructed me to take a seat. An officer stood beside the lady paramedic.

"Follow my finger." They shined that damn light in my eyes, yet again. This is when an irritating game of twenty-one questions started. "I see you're walking just fine. Name?"

"DeVan- Donald." What am I saying? I corrected myself. "Donald DeGrate."

"Age?"

"Twenty-nine."

"Follow my finger." They shined that damn light in my eyes, yet again.

"Enough of the questions about me. Is my car gonna be okay?" I asked them.

"Besides the fact that it could explode and totalled, it's fine." The officer replied.

I squinted my eyes at him, pissed off. "You tryna be funny." It was more of a statement than a question.

He chuckled. "It's totalled. I'm sure you saw." He chuckled. "I wasn't kidding about the exploding part either."

"How do you feel?"

"Besides the throbbing headache that you two are giving me, the aching pain going through my body, the cuts, and scrapes I have, peachy," I spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"We're gonna take you to the hospital for a check-up. That headache could possibly be a concussion, though you aren't showing visible signs. We'll get information from all of you at the hospital." She replied.

"You and the guy from the other vehicle, as well as the third vehicle is what she means." The officer added.

Third vehicle? I squinted at him, stood up then walked further into the ambulance with a bent torso. I hope he won't be the one interrogating me because he's pissing me clean the fuck off. I took a seat and another paramedic came and sat in the back with me.

"I knew what she fuckin' meant," I mumbled.

"What was that?" The officer asked me.

"He said he knew what you fuck meant, Pluto!" The male paramedic laughed, closing us inside. "Seatbelt." He instructed.

I strapped myself in before he tapped on the wall to indicate that we're ready to roll. I held onto the handlebar as she pulled off. There was sort of a struggle doing anything due to my shoulder, especially my right one. I don't know why I'm feeling so much pain in my shoulder that I wasn't feeling a few minutes ago all of a sudden.

I sat there quietly but felt this nigga eyes burning into my skin, my face to be exact. What the fuck is this nigga problem? I shifted my eyes to him and sure enough, he was staring at me with his elbows on his knees, so I cleared my throat and spoke up.

"Can I help you?"

"You that DeVanté Swing nigga, right?" He asked me with a wagging finger.

"Yeah... You knew who I was, but why you starin' at me?" I asked him.

He stayed silent for a while longer before responding. "My girl," he paused. "My girl loves you."

My eyes shifted from side to side confused. Why is he telling me this? "Okay..." I trailed off with a nod. "Tell her thanks for being a fan."

"She said she would leave me for you. Do you know how that makes me feel as a man?" He put his hand on his chest when he mentioned himself.

"That sounds like a YOU problem. You need to take it up with yo girl, not me. I could care less about what the hell you got goin' on." I chuckled.

He gave an obnoxious scoff, "Oh, but it is a YOU problem. My girl seems to love YOU more than ME, her MAN if she had the chance."

I guffawed for a few seconds before speaking again. "Look here, mothafucka." I pointed at him. "I was just in an accident and my car is fucked up, so if you don't get my face with that bullshit- sob story, you better. I'm not in a fuckin' mood for this shit. I'm trying my BEST not to snap."

"See, I don't think you understand me-"

"Nigga, didn't I just tell yo ass I don't give a fuck? I suggest you sit the fuck back, shut up, and ride." I told him and it was quiet for a while. That is until he spoke up again.

"You know, I would shut the fuck up, but I got beef with you. I wanna get to the bottom line of this shit here that you got goin' on with my girl." He pointed to himself then to me.

"Imaginary beef. Look nigga, this unprofessional as fuck and if you don't get out of my face with this bullshit you spillin', imma beat yo ass with all the strength I DO have. I told yo ass that I'm not in the fuckin' mood." My tone no longer held as much patience as it did before.

The truck came to a complete stop and I stood up. The door was opened and we walked out without another word. They asked me MORE questions and ran a CT scan of my body and that's where I discovered that I just have whiplash. I mean, it makes sense because my body is just in pain. That car did slam into my car hard.

While I don't remember too much after he crashed into me, my car is really smashed in on the passenger's side. I'm repeating this shit again because it's still sinking in. They also gave me some stitches. I didn't even know some of those cuts were THAT deep.

"So I'm going to prescribe you some pain medication for the moderate to severe pain you're feeling. How does that sound?" He asked me.

"Well, doctor-" I exhaled. "You see, I- I- in the past an incident occurred where I was prescribed various pain medications for my pain and I developed a severe addiction to them. I'm ONLY a little over three years clean from that. Is there any OTHER methods that could be done to decrease the pain?" I questioned. "Besides medication?" I added.

"Oh, I'm sorry. How about, I write some recommendations to a few physical therapists? Oh and I recommend some Biofreeze or Icy hot. It's the best I could do."

"That sounds better and it's cool, I just thought y'all would have that information," I replied as he wrote another slip.

"No. Unfortunately, we don't have access to your records without your permission. It seems that you're from a different region than where the incident occurred. Only incidents that happen in our region pop up in the system." He explained to me and I nodded in understanding. "Congratulations by the way. Most people in your predicament would take this as being lucky and advantage of the situation."

"Thanks, doc." I looked at the clock. "Am I able to leave now?"

"Oh, officers are outside waiting to get information from you about the accident." He tore out the slip and handed it to me. "Your medical bill will be sent to you. Enjoy your day." He told me then left the room.

When he left, the officers walked inside. I don't understand. Don't they usually take the statements at the scene or am I the tripping?

"I'm Officer Pluto and this is Officer Bales. You're Donald DeGrate, right?" The annoying one from earlier asked me. I stayed silent and sat there. "So what happened?"

I gave a brief and dull reply. "I was in a car accident."

"I suggest you start speaking or the cost for the damage could fall on you." Officer Pluto replied.

"I was driving past the intersection and a car at full speed came at me. Before I could stop, I was hit. Some things after that are a bit foggy, but after the incident, the man who hit me spoke incoherently. I don't know if it's because of any unseen injury because he didn't seem to be injured to me, so I think the mothafucka-" I stopped myself. "My bad, I think he was drunk or high. He didn't even know if somebody was in the car with him."

"Your statement seems to match the statement of the car that was hit by your car upon impact. Thank you for your time, and you're a lucky man, Mr. DeGrate. Can you sign right here?" Officer Pluto asked me handing me a clipboard.

"What am I signing and why?" I said looking down at the blank paper.

"Anywhere. My sister's a big fan of yours and I would LOVE to rub it in her face that I met you." He told me.

Would you look at that? His sister may be a fan, but so is he. Okay, he may not be annoying after all. I was just in a pissy mood because of what happened.

"Sure. What do I write?"

"To my best friend, Officer Pluto who saved my life from a tragic car accident-" I looked up to him like he was stupid and tap dancing on my last nerve. "Okay. Just write to Officer Pluto from your best friend DeVanté Swing." I wrote as he spoke.

"Okay..." I handed it back to him.

"Thanks." Officer Pluto replied.

"Oh, me too. Can I get an autograph?" Office Bales asked me.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Oh, and can we get a picture?" Officer Pluto asked.

We did just that, they took my information down, and said our farewells. I need to call somebody, but I don't have any cash to switch out for a payphone or coins for a payphone and my cellphone is in my car. It's probably smashed right along with my car.

"Hey, umm... Is there any chance I could use a phone? I was just in a car accident, so I don't have mines on me, nor am I carrying any cash. I need somebody to come to pick me up." I explained to them.

"You can't use this phone, but I have a cell. Is that fine?" The nurse asked me.

"Of course." I nodded. "Any phone so fine." She handed it to me. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She nodded.

I moved over to where I was still in sight of the nurse, but with more privacy. I don't want her to think I'll run off with her phone. I'm not calling Tia. She's having a good ass day and I KNOW she'll OVER exaggerate and get all worried. I'll just wait until I see her later at the crib. That way, she'll SEE that I'm fine. I gave my security team a day off today, so they're probably enjoying their day off. So who am I calling?

"Dalvin? Damn, you don't ever answer the damn phone. I'm at the hospital and I need you to come to pick me up. Bye, nigga." I left a voice message just in case.

This nigga said he was sleeping in today. He's probably doing JUST that, but more like seeing in someone. I decided to call J. Cole. That nigga always answers.

"Yo... Who this?" He answered.

"Wassup, man. This De. Can you do me a favor?" I asked him.

"Depends on what the hell it is?" He asked.

"Can you pick me up from the hospital?" I asked him.

"The fuck you doin' at a hospital? What happened to you?" He questioned.

"A bad car accident, but I'm good. My car is fucked up though." I chuckled even though nothing was funny.

I'm just attempting to lighten my mood. Laughter is the best medicine, right? Just thinking about my car pisses me off.

"All that damn speeding. A'ight, which one you at?" I told him my location. "A'ight, I'm on my way."

"Imma be at the front door entrance," I told him before he hung up. I walked over and handed the lady back her phone. "Thanks," I said fixing to walk away.

"Hey?" She called out to me.

I turned around. "Me?" I asked her.

"Yes, you."

"Um, okay..." I trailed off.

"I know you from that group Jodeci, right?" She asked me.

Should I tell her or fake my identity? "No," I shook my head. "Thanks for the compliment though," I replied and turned back around and walked away.

"Wait!" She called out again.

I sighed heavily under my breath. "Yes?" I said turning around.

"Say my break is in about forty-five minutes. How about we catch a meal together?" She spoke, looking away from the analog clock.

"Nahh, my ride is on the way," I told her about walk off again.

"That's okay. I could take you-"

I cut her off and gave a firm, "No." I paused, "I'm grateful for you allowing me to use your phone, but I'm with someone I DEEPLY care- I'm DEEPLY in love with. I'd appreciate it you could just leave me alone?"

She stood there awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I was unaware."

"Good. Next time you shoot your shot, at least ask the guy if he's single before doin' so. Some may not be as honest as I am, but it's the consideration that counts." I told her, shoving my hands inside my pockets.

I turned on my heels and walked away. I wandered the halls for a while then stopped and stared in some of the vending machines at all the food I could've been eating to pass the time. I could eat, but again I have no money on me. I could sneak into the cafeteria and grab something, but that'd be stealing and I hate a thief. I went to a water dispenser and poured myself some water. These small ass cups they got here.

I looked at my busted face watch and time is going by super slow. The same watch my girl gave me years ago for my birthday years ago as a gift. I wandered the halls for a little while longer until it was a few minutes before the time Cole said he'd arrive. I stood outside and heard his car approaching due to the blasting music. I opened the passenger side about to hop in.

"Aht! Nigga, get yo ass in the back."

"Hell, naww!" I said sitting down.

"I'm fuckin' wit' you." He laughed. "How come you ain't call T?" Cole asked me, sapping me up.

I pushed the seat back and strapped myself in. "Because she enjoying herself with yo girl- oop, my bad. Yo ass too scared to express yourself for it to even go that far." I laughed out loud.

"Ain't this a case of the pot callin' the kettle black. Y'all probably wouldn't be together either if I didn't take you to that Courtney house and Tia pulled what she pulled on yo ass. Yeah, I heard about that. Overheard Eli telling Courtney over the phone one day." He chuckled, pulling off. "Look at y'all now."

Alright, I was scared of rejection. There I said it! Sure, I was used to it when I was younger, but as I got older things changed. I expressed myself to Tia before and everybody knows what happened. It wasn't a bad rejection because she actually had a valid reason for doing so.

It's just that things probably would've been awkward for us. I probably would've eventually down it when I built up the courage to do so, but that's probably would've been WAY down the line. Who's to say that she wouldn't be with somebody else by then? Look at us now...

"Yeah..." I nodded with a chuckle.

"But still, you could've called her. That's a dumb ass reason."

"I ain't want her to worry and over-exaggerate the situation. You know how she can get. I want her to see me when I tell her. She won't even expect it. That accident was bad as fuck. The whole right side of my car went in and my car flipped over. I'm lucky I got out alive. Today was just a bad day all around. Thank you for pickin' me up though." I told him.

"I'm glad you good, man. You never know what could happen." Cole shook his head. "That's crazy."

"It is."

"You know, I find it funny how Courtney ain't been answering my calls but can hang out with all these people."

"Her friends? Nigga, you chill with your friends all day. She ain't committed to yo ass. Closed mouths don't get fed." I laughed.

"Yours did."

"Nigga, that's different and you KNOW it." I laughed, "Besides, I DID say something. Not to her, but the day my parents came to my house and she just so happened to be there. My mama saw something in us. Pops did too. I poured my heart out to them and her nosey ass was eavesdropping." I laughed at the thought.

Cole laughed. "Hell, nahh!" He said in disbelief. "I ain't never knew that. That's shit funny as fuck."

"It is NOW."

"You want me to drop you off at the crib, right?"

"Oh, yeah. My bad. Yo ass just over here driving and shit not knowin' where the fuck you goin'." I said laughing. "I called Dalvin though. Nigga ain't answer as per usual."

"Dalvin usually always picks up. No matter where he is. That nigga don't care and always ready to make money." Cole chuckled.

"I know, but he ain't answer this fuckin' time," I told him.

"Probably knocked out next to some hoochie." Cole laughed at his own joke.

"How you been?" I asked him.

"Shit, I just be in the studio writing and shit. Tryna get ready for this tour."

"Oh, that's what's up. Damn, I remember when you just started out. Pac brought you around, right?" I questioned.

Cole nodded, "He showed me the ropes, even though he seems stuck himself at the moment. That while situation wish fucked up. He told me he talked to you."

"He did, but there was nothin' I could do for him. I feel bad about his situation. Many of us was in the same situation and just had to figure it out. Couldn't give him shit but advice," I shrugged.

"Yeah, I told him that, but you know Pac... He don't like to listen when you tryna tell him shit."

"Right, if it goes against him, he don't wanna listen. He just gotta get from around the people he is around. I told him all this shit before, but as you said..." I trailed off, "Any new people you workin' with?"

"Nahh, not yet. I am planning a tour, but I'm still tryna figure out this tour shit like I mentioned a few minutes ago. I'm tryna see who I want with me on this tour." He told me.

"I got a few people from my label in mind. I got Unc, Kirby, and a few more people I can't name at the moment. I can arrange some shit and we could make some business shit happen. It's u to you." I suggested.

"We'll see. I gotta talk to my manager." He nodded.

Once he dropped me off at the crib, I went straight to the bathroom and took a shower to relax my muscles a bit and to get all today's gunk off my skin. I'm not trying to go to my girl's house funky. I drove my truck to her house and parked in her garage because I ain't got time to hear Elijah's big mouth all over again. I KNOW that'd I'd snap this time.

I opened the door with my key, went to the basement, and took a nap. When I awoke, I looked at the time, wondering where the hell Tia is, so I called Tia's cell from her house phone. The movie starts in a little under two hours from now and she takes too long preparing for ANYTHING.

"Hello, where you at? You the one that told me not to be late, but you're late." Tia said after picking up the phone. She just KNEW it was me.

"I was just about to ask you the same damn thing, but I'm at yo crib," I replied, laughing.

"No, you aren't, because I'm at home."

"Yes, I am. You didn't see my car parked in the garage?" I asked her.

"No- Well, I wasn't paying attention. If you here, then where you at?"

"The basement. In the movie room. I've been here for a while now. Took a whole nap and everything. Where are you, love? I didn't see your car parked when I arrived, so you couldn't have been here long."

"I just got out of the shower and put OUR clothes on." She responded and I laughed at her emphasis.

"You sure you here?" I asked her with my lips twisted to the side.

"Why I gotta lie, Craig?" I could tell she was rolling her eyes.

"Whatever, woman. I'll see you when you get down here. I love you." I told her.

"I love you."She said about to hang up. "Wait, you didn't answer your phone when I called but wanna call me now." She stated.

"I'll tell you everything when you get down here, love" I sighed.

"Alright, it seems like a lot too. Bye."

"Bye, love," I replied then heard the dial tone on the other end.

I hung up the phone and walked back to my seat in pain and plopped down on the couch. I sat there for a while and my heart sped up. Tia is the ONLY person that I've EVER known to be late for a movie night "date" at her own house.

"Tia?" I called out.

"Hey, babe." She bent down to kiss me.

"I would love to throw my head back to kiss you, but there's a crick in my neck. Come around, baby." I instructed.

I knew she back up, then all of a sudden I heard the fast pitter-patter of her feet and she flipped over the couch.

Tia stopped on her head for a split second in a headstand position, holding her breast in the same direction as her feet pointed, before flipping all the way over to the floor. She looked up at me with a smile. THIS is a normal thing and always has been. She does things like this ALL the time, even when we were just friends. She stood up, then straddled me. We pulled one another into a deep kiss. She smells so damn good too like always.

"How was your day?" We said in sync.

"You go first," I told her.

"Okay, I hung out with Courtney for a little while. We were only able to get a mani and pedi, then I had to go to my office. I just got back from there." She told me with a smile. "What about you?"

"The day started off okay, but then..." I trailed off.

"You got all these scratches on you. What happened?" Tia gave me a concerned look, while lightly tracing them.

"So... I got into a car accident-" I said about to be cut off by her speaking, but I continued. "BUT I'm fine as you can see, baby. I got whiplash, feeling a little sore all over, some cuts and whatnot that's taken care of by the doctors. Not the soreness or whiplash though. My car is totaled though. I know you saw me speeding this morning, but it was NOT my fault. I was on my way back when the person who hit me ran a red light and T- boned my car making it flip over. I don't know how many times my car flipped because I blacked out. Mothafucka probably was drunk or some shit." I chuckled. "It was hours ago though."

"Not funny..." She said in a monotone voice then hugged me. "I'm glad that you're okay."

"Me too." We stayed embraced like that for a little while rocking side to side.

Tia pulled away, still embracing me, and kissed me all over my face. "I love you and I'm so happy." She squeezed me, making me wince. She pulled completely away. "I'm sorry. Why didn't to tell me when it happened?"

"Because if I did you probably would've been running like a chicken with its head cut off." I chuckled. "Besides, I was just pissed the fuck off. You should've seen my car." I shook my head.

"FUCK the car, Donald. You could ALWAYS replace a car, but you can't replace a life. How'd you get here from the hospital, right?"

"Yes, I came from the hospital and had Cole picked me up and drop me off at the crib. I drove back in the truck." I told her.

"Oh, what you want eucalyptus shea butter or Biofreeze?" Tia asked getting up from my lap.

"That eucalyptus shit because Biofreeze stank to me."

She ran out the room with her titties bouncing and shirt rising off of her ass. I shook my head laughing. This woman has too much energy. A few minutes later she ran back in here with a bath towel and the eucalyptus shea butter.

"What you got a towel for?" I asked her.

"Pshh, this ain't finna mess up my couch. It's shea butter, baby." She held it up and smiled like she was in a commercial.

After grabbing the towel from her, I scooted down the couch and laid the towel down. She helped with the other end. Tia helped me take off my shirt once she saw I was even struggling to do that. When I was about to lay down, she stopped me.

"Wait, isn't your WHOLE body sore?" She asked me.

"Yeah," I replied.

She clapped her hand twice then pointed at my sweats. "Then baby, you need to come up out those."

"My sweats? What you gon' do, massage my legs?" I questioned.

"Mmhm." She squatted down in front of me.

"Baby, I got it." I laughed. "Chill out, and stop looking at me like that. You givin' me flashbacks." I pointed at her and struggled to lift up. She rolled her eyes at my comment.

"See, look at yo stupid behind." She said laughing and pointing. "I knew what I was doing."

"No, I got it." I lifted up and got my pants to my thighs before I gave up due to the extra pressure it created in my back and legs.

Tia shook her head at me and sighed. "Still don't need that help, I see." She gave a sarcastic smirk.

"A'ight, I need help now, BUT I didn't before." I made it known.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?" She cheesed, pulling them down the rest of the way.

She threw them onto another couch. "Get naked!" She yelled. "Nahh, I'm just playin'. Lie down."

I laid down on the towel and onto my stomach. She climbed into me, straddling my butt. I think she's sitting backward though. She opened the container and rubbed it on her hands.

"You smell so good."

"Shit, I hope so. I did shower." I said laughing.

"You always do, baby. Imma start on your legs first. That's fine?"

"Do whatever."

She started on my thighs and that shit feels good as fuck against these tight muscles. "Baby, I ain't ever had my thighs massaged before. I thought you was just gon' do my legs?"

"Don't your thighs hurt?" She asked.

"Yeah, but it was unexpected. You said legs." I chuckled.

"Mmhm. Ain't that part of the leg, Donald?"

"Yeah, but you're usually specific."

When she finished doing both legs, she turned around and did my back and shoulders. She knows what she doing because man...

"Feels good, baby?" She spoke in her normal, soft tone.

"Mmmmhmmm." I moaned.

"Good. Good. Good."

Once I felt it was enough, I turned around. "What time is it?"

"It hasn't started yet, we still got a lot of time." She looked away from the clock then back to me.

"Surprisingly!" I exclaimed, laughing. "You usually take all damn day to do anything if it ain't work-related."

Tia kissed her teeth at me. "What you turn around for? You want me to massage your chest?" She rose her eyebrows.

"That would be nice." I hinted.

She nodded with a small chuckled and rubbed some more of the content from the jar between her hands. "Okay."

I stared at her as she massaged my chest, ribs, shoulders, and neck. I just watched her while rubbing my thumbs back and forth on her thighs. She looked down at me, cheesing. Tia didn't say anything because she's used to it, I'm sure. She leaned forward and kissed me deeply. I grabbed her booty, then slid them up her waist, moving her off my crotch and more onto my stomach. That even hurt my damn muscles, like what the fuck?

"Mmm."

Tia shot back up. "I'm sorry. What'd I do?"

"Why you stop?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Because I hurt you. You sounded like you were in pain."

"No, I was moaning but not in pain." I chuckled. "You could've kept going." Tia chuckled, then started back massaging my left shoulder. "So you just gon' ignore me?"

She nodded, "Pretty much... Direct me."

"You the director."

"You so dang corny!" She gave a breathy laugh.

I nodded as silence filled the room again. I massaged my thumbs into her thighs again while moving the tip of my forefingers up her legs, just admiring her beauty. Visible chills went throughout her body. Her hands traveled down to my chest.

"Your heart is beating mighty hard there, SIR," She eyed me intensely.

I said nothing, just kept a smile on my face continuing what I was doing. Thump! Thump! Oh, wow! I mean, I know women don't have only one ovulation day, but damn! I hope she knows I can feel that, but I honestly don't think she realizes it. That's why I moved her up to my stomach in the first place.

I looked away from her eyes and to her chest, that's poking through her shirt. Sometimes she wears bras in the house and sometimes she doesn't. They probably were hurting from having one on throughout the day. How do I know that? Sometimes our conversations lead to shit like that. I looked back into her eyes, but through my peripheral, I could see that's she's red. I licked my lips.

"You know... Tia, you not sitting too far from my face." I told her.

I looked away from her eyes and to her chest, that's poking through her shirt. Sometimes she wears bras in the house and sometimes she doesn't. They probably were hurting from having one on throughout the day. How do I know that? Sometimes our conversations lead to shit like that. I looked back into her eyes, but through my peripheral, I could see that's she's red. I licked my lips.

"You know... Tia, you not sitting too far from my face." I told her.

Thump, thump, thump! More frequent, I see. She sat up with a gasp, looking down at me. "DONALD!" Her jaw dropped.

"What?" I pretended to be oblivious like she ALWAYS does.

"God is watching us, love. You shouldn't say things like that."

"And you think he wasn't watchin' us last night? I'm just talkin'. The other night it was nothin' BUT action with the both of us." I chuckled.

"Okay, but your neck is ALREADY messed up. It's gon' break if I were to- you know?"

"Ride my face? Afraid to say it?"

She ignored me once again and went to massaging my other shoulder. "Right there, baby?"

"Mm-mm, a little to the left," I told her and she did just that. "Mmm, that shit feels good, baby," I spoke with my eyes closed.

"Does it?"

"Mmhm." I moaned out then opened my eyes.

I tried to lift up to kiss her but failed. Tia took notice of it and leaned forward to do so. Her heartbeat and the heartbeat from my chest synchronized. We both moaned into the kiss. She lifted back up, breathless.

"It's hot. I need some water." She breathed out with a heaving chest and fanned herself.

"I know what else is..." I chuckled. "You know I could feel that, right?"

Her breath hitch, her eyes widened, then she quickly grabbed one of the water bottles I grabbed earlier. "You didn't drink from this, did you?"

"If I did? We swapped more than spit, baby."

"The Lord is watching, Donald." She said raising her eyebrows.

"Even though the bottle is open, I didn't drink from it," I answered her question and she drank from it.

"Oh, shit! No more abstinence from the power couple!" I heard someone yell out.

That's scared both, Tia and myself. It made Tia scream and squeeze the bottle. The water went all over us and on my face and inside my nose. I swear, I almost drowned! I heard a big ass thud on the floor and lifted up, trying to breathe. I took a deep breath and wiped my face with my hand. I grabbed the towel that I was laying on and wiped my face dry.

"You okay, baby?" I asked.

"I'm good." She got back up and I handed her the towel.

"A fuckin' deer in headlights!"

Author's Note: Who do you think it is?

Word Count: 6,485
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