Jayla Santiago's POV

The car ride so far has been awkward and silent.

The only sound is the sound of the engine whirring and the soft music from the radio.

I text my girl best friend, Temah, telling her how deep in shit I am.

She responds by laughing at me and telling me that I 'better suck it the fuck up'.

I tell her that it's not funny and she laughs again, before promising me that her apartment door is always open if it ever gets to be too much.

I promise to call her later and spill everything.

The car suddenly stops and I look outside of my window.

A bleak set of apartments stand tall and dauntingly grey.

I see a couple of young boys standing outside of the apartments, smoking weed and drinking.

I recognise them in their red clothes and red bandanas as bloods and I roll my eyes.

Wannabes.

I see a young and familiar looking girl standing with them wearing little to nothing and a heap-load of makeup.

She is mixed race, tall and quite skinny.

Her damaged partly dyed blonde hair is tied on top of her head in a messy bun and her green eyes immediately move to the car and a smirk appears on her face.

Luis turns to me.

"Stay in the car" He says to me.

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

His voice is deeper than the last time I remember.

He steps out of the car and makes his way over to the girl along with the crowd.

The crowd of boys awkwardly but quickly make way for him to walk towards her, some fear etched on their faces.

Luis puts his hands in his pockets and says something to the girl.

She says something back and he rolls his eyes, a look of annoyance setting on his face.

She giggles, obviously happy that she has irritated him, but he doesn't look impressed.

He suddenly grabs her arm and all the boys around them step away some more.

She glares at them sharply.

He pulls her towards the apartments and says something to her, seemingly calm, but I can see the anger in his stance.

She tries to flirt with him but he steps back.

She pouts and then goes into the block of apartments.

Luis taps his foot impatiently and then a few minutes later, the same girl reappears with a child in her arms.

I squint to get s better look at the child and my heart jumps.

He is a complete photocopy of Luis!

From his eyes to his nose and even some of his mannerisms, he looks exactly like Luis.

He even has Luis' head shape.

In my head, I quickly gather and fit all the pieces into place.

The boy is clearly Luis' son.

And that girl...

The reason I find her so familiar is because I know her!

Luna. The mother of the small adorable child.

She is the girl I found Luis in bed with that night and she is the reason why we broke up.

No.

They both are the reason why we broke up.

Wow.

A son.

Luis has a son!

I thank God at that very moment, that the windows in the car are tinted black, so that I can see her, but she can't see me.

Luis plucks the boy off of the woman and kisses his face lovingly with a huge grin and the boy grins back.

As all of the painful memories flood back, I start to remove all thoughts of how handsome and how well built he has gotten, with his broader shoulders and his 6'3 height and thick brown lips, almost perfect teeth and thick beard.

The little boy says goodbye to the woman, who waves him off, focusing more on Luis, who rolls his eyes, turns on his heel and walks in the direction of the car, snatching the boy's bag off of her.

He walks towards the car, his son on his hip.

He sets him down before they get to the car and talks to him at his level, jerking his head slightly to the car and talking to him.

When he's done talking, he holds the boy's hand and leads him to the car, opening the door and sitting his son down and sitting back in the driver's seat.

"The hell are you?" The boy in the back asks me.

"Kofi!" Luis gasps.

I turn in my seat.

"I'm Jayla" I say simply.

He nods.

"I'm Kofi and you're hella pretty" He says with a broad grin.

"Kofi!" Luis says again.

"What, is she yo' girl or some?!" Kofi asks.

"Nah, but- -" Luis starts, then Kofi cuts him off.

"Then I'm finna compliment the nice lady" Kofi says with a shrug and I giggle.

"I appreciate that, little man" I say to him and he beams at me brightly.

"It's igh" he responds.

Luis sighs a little.

"So how do you know my dad?" Kofi asks.

"Kofi" Luis warns.

"We're good friends" I tell him, ignoring Luis' warning.

"I've known him from before you were even born" I say with a chuckle.

Kofi smiles back broadly.

"Are you and my momma friends too?" He questions and I catch myself for a second.

"Nah, ion really know her like that" I respond flatly.

"Nah?" Kofi asks.

"Nah" I respond.

"Dad said you're staying with us for a while" he says and I nod my head 'yes'.

"Why?" He asks.

"Work, kid" I say.

He nods.

"Dad, what are we eating?" Kofi asks, changing the subject.

"Well I cooked, so we're having fried rice, steamed chicken and some veg. Sound good?" He asks.

Luis nods excitedly.

Luis then turns to me.

"Sound good?" He asks and I nod my head, yes.

Before long the car stops and I look outside.

Woah.

The house isn't too big, but it's beautiful.

Luis gets out to help Kofi out his seat and then beckons me to follow.

I pick up my skirts and follow, dropping Donnavan a text to let him know that I'm safely here.

I walk into the house and look around.

Everything is so...

Clean.

There are a couple of toys and children's books scattered around, but that's about it.

I walk into the kitchen to see drawings stuck to the fridge with colourful fruit shaped magnets and almost everything made of black marble.

"Jayla" Luis calls and I turn to face him.

"You ready to see your room?" He asks and I nod.

"C'mon" he motions, starting to walk up the stairs.

I follow until we get to a door.

"This is your room. My room is down the hall and to the left, Kofi is opposite and the bathroom is next to Kofi's room" he says.

"Thanks" I say shortly.

He nods, flashing a short smile, before dropping on of my suitcases next to me.

I pick it up and go into the room.

I look around the room giving it a once over.

It's clean, spacious and comfortable.

It's perfect.

Now all I need to do is find a way to avoid Luis in his own house!

I start to unpack some of my stuff, putting them into drawers.

I'm nearly finished, when Luis yells from the bottom of the stairs.

"Dinner!" he calls.

I pull on a pair of sweatpants and a singlet and I hang up my dress, in the closet, tying up my hair, exposing the small Phoenix tattoo on my neck.

I walk down the stairs and see that Kofi is setting the table with knives, forks and cups, while Luis dishes the food into plates.

It's like they have their own routine, ducking and weaving under each other so that they don't clash.

"Er, how can I help?" I ask, standing there, awkwardly.

Luis looks up and catches sight of me and he freezes a little.

His eyes slowly scan me from head to toe, his tongue absent minded-ly, brushing across his full bottom lip.

He immediately looks away, flushing a little, despite his dark skin tone.

I try not to get flustered myself at the thought of his heated gaze.

"Nah, we got it!" Kofi says, placing the  last glass on the table.

"Could you grab the juice from the fridge?" Luis asks.

His voice is slightly strained and gravelly, his mind clearly still on the previous situation.

I wonder when the last time he got laid was?

It's none of your got damn business Jayla! My conscious snaps.

"Yeah, sure" I respond as nonchalantly as I can.

I walk to the fridge, my back to him and open it.

I look at the array of juice assortments in the stocked up fridge and pick the one closest to me, which happens to be apple juice.

I pick it up and set it on the table, just as Luis puts the plates down.

"Dad, could you say grace please?" Kofi asks impatiently, looking at his food.

Luis chuckles.

"Igh, calm down" He says.

I clasp my hands together and bow my head, ready.

Kofi clears his throat.

"Jayla!" He stage whispers.

I look up in question.

"Yes, lil man?" I ask.

"You gotta hold mine and dad's hand" Kofi says.

"Nah, Kofi, She ain't gotta do all tha- -" Luis starts, but once again, his son butts in.

""You always make me and cousin Kia hold hands!" Kofi says with a pout.

I hold out my hand towards the little boy.

"Alright Kofi, hold my hand" I tell him.

He happily takes it.

I look at Luis.

I look at his hand for a second and I'm about to leave my hand on the table, when I remember that I promised myself that I'd be kind to at least Kofi.

I take Luis's huge hand in mine and close my eyes, ignoring the giddy feeling I get.

He cheated on you Jayla!

Get a grip!

As soon as Luis is done saying grace, I snatch my hand away from him, making sure that Kofi isn't watching and I eat my food.

This is gonna be 3 long ass weeks!

                               ***
After a painfully awkward dinner, of Kofi babbling on excitedly about school, me listening and answering all his questions and Luis and I barely exchanging any words, I immediately grabbed my finished plate about to wash it, when Luis insisted that he would do it instead.

I muttered a thank you and then excused myself to bed.

It's now the middle of the damn night and I am hungry yet again!

I flip the warm covers off of me and then slowly, plant my feet on the floor, carefully.

I get up and pull on some shorts, making my way to the door.

I open it and step out of my room, and onto the landing.

I listen out and hear light snoring coming from Luis' room and Kofi's room.

I sigh in relief.

Nobody's awake.

I tiptoe to the stairs and make my way down slowly, pressing the balls of my feet around the edges of the stairs, so that it hardly creaks.

After successfully managing my way down, the walk to the kitchen is smooth, since the floors are marble and I'm bare footed.

I look through the cupboards and find some bread and a jar of peanut butter.

I take it down and go through the draws until I find a butter knife.

I open the jar and scoop out some of the peanut butter, spreading it on the slice of bread and then folding the slice and biting into it, nearly groaning at how good it tastes.

Food is my one and only true weakness.

I go into the fridge and as I reach out for the orange juice, I hear movement from the kitchen doorway.

"Jayla?" A sleepy voice calls out.

My heart lurches and I whip round to face him, nearly knocking my face on the fridge while simultaneously giving myself whiplash as I do so.

Luis.

Shirtless.

In. Front. Of. Me.

My brain starts to short circuit and I let my eyes trail down to his hips, which are unfairly hidden beneath his boxers and pyjama pants.

I ogle every single inch of his upper frame.

From his broad shoulders and his muscular, veiny arms to his toned torso and defined v-line.

I gulp.

"You couldn't sleep?" He asks.

He is half awake, so his voice is still quite low and husky, making my core ache slightly with need, but I hold a straight face.

"I'm just getting something to eat and then I'll be back to sleep" I say coldly.

He shrugs, reaching up to the cupboard next to him and plucking up a glass.

I return my gaze to the fridge and continue looking inside.

I find the orange juice again and I pick it up, when I hear Luis ask:

"Could you please grab me the milk, while you're in there?" He asks and I snort a little.

"I think you can handle that" I respond a little rudely.

Silence.

I'm just about to move back to close the fridge, when I feel him behind me.

My body goes rigid.

He holds the fridge door, his arm centimetres away from my head.

"Yeah, you right" he says, almost softly into my ear.

"I can handle it" he finishes, grabbing the milk, his fingers brushing my side as he does so.

Heat trails a path, where his fingers brushed and I nearly whimper.

I stand there as he pours the milk into a glass and returns it to the fridge, wordlessly.

I slam the fridge door closed, when he puts it back and I turn to face him, to see him still directly behind be, looking down, so that he can look me in the eyes.

He holds the glass of milk in one hand and puts the other, above my head as he regards me for a moment.

"What?!" I snap and a small smile appears on his lips.

"Good night Jayla" He says softly and without waiting for a response, he turns on his heel and walks out of the kitchen, leaving me alone.

What the hell was that?!

I look at the still, unused carton of orange juice in my hand and decide that I've lost the appetite.

I put it back, grab a glass and fill it to the brim with cold tap water, gulping it down in seconds.

This...

This is really going to be much harder than I thought.

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Hey all.

What do you think of Luis and Jayla's current state?

Will anything get in the way?

Tell me what you think in the comments below.