*A/N: ⚠️Mentions of abuse and rape⚠️

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What a long day of presenting products and managing accounts. My bathtub was calling my name, alongside my vanilla bath soak. Soaking in a warm bath with my beau was a beautiful thought until it faded away with more important thoughts.

The ghost of mortgage, the spirit of car payment, and utilities floated around in my mind, pushing away the idea of having a relaxing moment in my bathtub after a lingering day in the office.

Speaking of car payments, that's the shortest loan I've ever had to pay on. Usually, you pay on your car for so many years after you put a down payment on it, right? Well, it only took us a month to get Trent's truck paid off.

Trent doesn't know that he has money in high and low places. My poor baby doesn't even realize that he has three separate accounts he hasn't touched since I was in high school and they kept stacking up due to partners just throwing money his way. Just racking up dollar bills here and there and everywhere else.

He's too busy staring at my ass, groping my chest, and nibbling on my right ear to even worry about where his money is going. Sometimes, there's that small hint of doubt if he's staying with me because I'm better at handling his finances than he is...or if he needs some ass every time he gets home. Surprisingly, after a few years of marriage, he's not tired of me...yet.

Anyway, he sees money as no object. That he can get everything he ever wanted and more. Then there's me, whose never had this much money before. Call me frugal I guess but I have no problems with it and neither does Trent or our kids.

Kids at their school have phones and iPads already. Troy would rather have a game system while Raina wishes for a vanity mirror to do makeup on. Candy just wants to play with her dolls and that makes me feel better.

When marrying Trent, I thought that Troy would be one of those pretentious kids that has everything these other rich kids do. I thought that Raina would be influenced by him but she was more intrigued by what kind of video games he played. Thank Rena for Raina's knowledge on that. Gamers, I swear.

Back to being frugal. We may need that extra money in our times of need. That's why I had to 'negotiate' with a few people to knock down price on certain bills. The water bill was one of them. We have a huge family that loves to shower and take baths so it's best to convince a certain worker to lower our bill with a nice air kiss. That's all he really wants.

Walking into the building, I'm looking around for my discount friend and my eyes catch a familiar man sitting in the same seat he once sat in. My heart dropped along with my jaw. My eyes widened at the sight of an old 'friend' I hadn't seen since my late teens, early twenties.

Cheeks turning red hot like I had a fever and toes curled at the sight of this man. Clean-cut dark brown beard, shaped undercut, thick evergreen eyes, pearly white teeth. Damn, someone's been to the dentist and these past few years have been good to them.

"Carmon Barrett? It's been a while. What's got you here today?" His dark tone was always lower than his good friend, Heath's. It shook any building he was in and turned the women on in an instant...

Including me.

Cain was Heath's closest friend and a good time for about three weeks with me. Once he confessed his feelings for me, I ran off on him. Every time he saw me, Cain could never keep his eyes off me nor keep his feeling to himself.

I didn't want to leave Heath permanently but things were rocky in our relationship, so Cain was my crutch and he didn't mind it until his feelings got involved. Last time I saw Cain was at Heath's biker party in a dark alley.

Oh goodness. Those same evergreen eyes made me release in missionary on my 19th birthday. They shined in the bright florescent lights and a throwback sensation raced through my body.

It's surely has been a while.

Clearing my throat and taking a deep breath, I walked up to him and tried to play it cool. "Just here to pay a water bill which is high as hell. It sucks how high it is. I used to get a discount on it but I'm guessing things have changed."

I blame this bill on Trent, to be honest. If he doesn't stop playing with himself in the shower, we're going to fight. Not just that but washing Candy's hair takes such a long time because she wants to hear the hair-washing song that Trent used to do with Raina. Over and over again he'll sing it and that's why her hair is so long.

I sound so much like a mom and wife. Let me punch Trent in the chest and make him hard later. Let me get a break from the kids one weekend then take them out for ice cream the next. It's a never-ending cycle.

"You? Paying bills? You're not with Heath anymore, are you?"

Should I or should I not answer that question? It wasn't any of his business, was it?

"You're not with that busty brunette anymore, are you? What's her name? Gari? Because if you were, you wouldn't have asked me that question."

Something told me to just give him the check and make sure it processed just in case he fucked around with our family's money. Couldn't trust him with a ten-foot pole. He could still be friends with that fucker behind bars.

Chuckling at what I said, he came out with "Absolutely not. She was crazy as hell. Been single for a while. But you have yet to answer my question. You wouldn't be here if you had a man in your life. You don't have a man in your life, do you?"

And that's what ruined his unbeatable charm. It was none of his business and what made him think I needed a man to pay bills?

Putting the check out in front of him, I kept my lips sealed. There was nothing else to say at his snarky remarks. At this point, the discount was off my mind and wasn't worth sticking around to hear the shit that came out of his mouth.

Once he looked up our account from the account number listed on the check, his eyes widened then his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "You know this is Trent Carter's account, right?"

No shit, Sherlock. Oh wait! He doesn't know yet and, for a split second, I even forgot. Though I feel a bit guilty, it was a nice thought until Cain ruined it. Good thing he did.

Running my fingers through my hair intentionally, I sighed at his new discovery. "Oh, I know. Married people pay each other's bills when the other can't."

He sat up and cleared his throat while looking at me with broadened eyes. They caught on to the rock on my hand and his jaw dropped. That receipt came back to me quicker than he probably did with Gari. A faint 'damn' fell from his lips, looking foolish as hell.

"Carmon, I-"

"Look, just save it. We both got caught up but it's a good thing you turned me off when you did. Tell your prison friend and you'll wish you never met me. Got it?"

Taking the receipt, I walked out of the building and got in the car, feeling a small bit of guilt. Though Cain is sexy as hell now, he's still got that arrogant ass personality that he learned from Heath.

Anyway, as I drove home, my eyes caught onto my glowing phone screen and the screensaver. It was of Tiff and I as kids with our arms wrapped around each other in a huge hug.

Tiff hasn't been herself lately. Ever since she married Bryce, she hasn't talked to me nor Rena. After her honeymoon, she hid out away from everybody but Jess. She's been a mess since Bryce went on tour. Jess told me that she hasn't been herself since then. That's all she'd tell me though.

This is my own sister and she didn't feel comfortable telling me anything? You'd think that she'd want to talk to me but some people work better with others, I guess.

What has Bryce done to her? She hasn't even been married that long and she's already changing. She won't even talk to her nieces or Trent and Trent can get anybody to open up to him. Wait, he hasn't gotten through to Tiff yet.

Tiff's always been a hard shell to crack. The only person that's gotten through to her was Jess after Mom and Papa died. Not even Bryce can get her to really open up like she needs to. It took him months just to get her to take her clothes off.

She wouldn't talk to me much and make nasty comments at me since we were teens. I knew where they came from but she ended up forgiving me for it. Why would she still make crude insults and ignore me afterwards?

Once I got home, I was met with a sexy-smelling man and some broad arms wrapped around my body. Instantly turned on and a moment in the bathtub sounds nice since the kids weren't home yet.

The fact that Trent got home before I did didn't even bother me. I just wanted some nasty time with my man but that couldn't happen because...

"Babe, you know why your sister's here in tears? She said she needs to talk to you and wouldn't tell me why."

Trent telling me that surprised me because Tiff barely stays around our house. For her to come over and talk, there had to be something bad going on. My eyes moved over towards a face-covered Tiff and a concerned Jess rubbing her back. Why'd that bother me a bit?

Taking off my heels, I placed them in Trent's hands and gave him a quick kiss before walking into the kitchen where Tiff was located. This had me worried because something must've been wrong if Tiff is looking like this. Face in her hands, eyeliner dripping down her arms, her nude heel tapping against the polished floor...but no sobbing.

"Jess, please leave. I want to speak to my sister alone," Tiff warned as she kept her face in her hands. Jess came over to me in a quick step just to give me the rundown on everything.

Speaking lowly, she started with "Look here, all I know is she came to meet me at the kickboxing place I go to and we talked. She started slapping a punching bag after a while and then began wrestling with it, tearing it up like a wild animal. I was a bit worried because she said she was coming here without telling me why so I followed behind. Now, Katie's gonna be pissed as hell when she comes back to see her shit tore up-"

"We'll get the bucks for that. Don't worry about it. Thanks for the update on my sister." Jess furrowed her eyebrows then rolled her eyes before leaving.

I know that was pretty defensive and gave a terrible attitude but Jess was Tiff's right hand and I accepted that for a while. Now that my sister needs me, I want to be there for her and help her. Jess has been in the way for a while now. It's my turn to be there for my sister.

Plus, what the hell did she have Tiff doing over there? Tiff never touches any workout equipment or deals with sports. How'd she end up at a kickboxing place? Punching? Wrestling? Tearing things up? This sounds like how I was when I was two. Where'd all that come from?

Tiff wonders why I tell her to watch herself when hanging out with Jess. She's become aggressive in the wrong area. She's never aggressive with her hands but with her words. Something is wrong.

Sitting on the other side of the table, my eyes studied Tiff still in the same position. Hands covering her face, mascara falling down her arm, heel tapping the floor, and shaky body.

"Tiff, what's wrong? Talk to me."

Covering her face with one hand and grabbing a paper towel with another, she wiped her face after and came out with "While hitting that punching bag, I saw you and I know why. Carmon, I'm still mad as hell."

Woah, what the hell did I do to make her almost tear up a punching bag? She's 'still mad'? What is she talking about?

"Tiff, remember that-"

"Fuck that, Carmon. I tell you I'm still mad and here you go bring up your words of 'endearment'. Remember the 'he'd never mess around with you because he loves me' or the 'I'll pay you back. I promise'? Or how about the days when you said 'I'd never hurt you, sissy' and 'I'm sorry you're on punishment but this is why we're sisters'? Broken promises, being thrown under the bus, kept secrets, all of this just so you could play me like a Rubik's cube."

Well, that's getting us somewhere. Okay, we were both young and there were times where I snuck out to see people. I'd do things as a kid like break dishes I didn't like or drink up all the juice in the fridge and blame it on Tiff. She took the blame because she always said we were sisters and she'd do anything for me.

I never wanted Mom or Papa disappointed in me and, when we lived with Aunt Clara, I wanted to impress her. She loved Tiff but hated me and I wanted her to love me too. It was also easier when Tiff got in trouble because Aunt Clara just shrugged it off and kept it moving. Tiff helped me sneak back into the house, she took the blame on so many things for me, I just got used to that and kept it pushing.

When that thing with Heath happened, I was naïve and in love. What did she expect? I didn't want to believe that he touched her or did something to her. Heath was my perfect man, in my mind, and nothing was going to stop him from being with me. Not even my sister.

Looking back on that situation, I felt terrible and we've talked about it before when we lived in the apartment. What else did she want from me?

Eventually, I was frustrated thinking about everything again so I stood up from the table and announced my departure until...

"Ignoring the problem once again. This is what you do all the time. Forget it like it's no big deal because you don't want to believe that this is what's going on then expect me to do the same. When it's bothering me, it's not a problem and I don't understand that. It's not fair that I have to live with my feelings about all of this every day while you prance around as if nothing is wrong."

Sighing at her thoughts, I sat back down and actually listened. If I wanted her to talk to me again, I had to listen. Even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear.

"Carmon, I trusted you. As my big sister, you were supposed to believe me and had you done so, you wouldn't have to deal with that predator."

"That was twelve years ago, Tiff-"

"Twelve years of nightmares, fear, and frustration with you, Carmon! All because you never even thought to apologize or love me the way a big sister should. You were looking out for yourself. That's why I talk to you like shit. That's why I barely even talk to you now. When everyone else saw what you did to me, I had to forgive you because that was the 'Christian thing to do'. But now? Now, I'm about 1.5 seconds from smacking you."

My eyes grew at her threat and why she felt the way she did. It left me speechless. I honestly had no words.

"You're my big sister and I needed you. You weren't there for me. You call when you need something but when I need you, you're never there. The fact that I still believed you and followed you after all of this makes me wonder what was going on in my mind. I had a chance to leave your ass hanging but no. I stayed because I loved my big sister and I never wanted to see you hurt. You were like the only friend I had. Even though I'm still pissed off at you, I still love you, Carmon."

Biting my bottom lip, I tried to hold back my tears. All of this came out of nowhere and I couldn't say anything. I was blinded by what I thought was love in the moment. I was willing to do anything and everything to keep him, even put my sister on the line for me.

I live with my mistakes every day. I sleep with guilt, eat with fault, and try to wash off all these things in the shower to feel better but that never works. I constantly battle these demons without thinking of a better way to deal with them.

"Tiffany, my actions were uncalled for. We were young and I had no idea how to apologize. I was too busy trying to keep Heath around and wanted to help you but I thought of which one would be easier to lose and wanted to keep him around. I can't tell you how sorry I am."

Hearing her sobs and cry for help made the tears burst from my eyelids. If only she knew what was going through my mind back then, I think she'd understand.

"You were my role model, my best friend, and was supposed to be my hero. The way you talked at me-"

"I know. You have every right to be angry and disappointed in me. If I could take it back what I said to you, you know I would. Your feelings are valid, Tiffany. If you give me a chance, I want to repair our bond and stop pushing the issue off. Because we are sisters and I miss you coming to me about your problems. Remember when you broke your nail and cried when you were six?"

I got a chuckle out of her as she walked over to me and said "I thought I was seriously dying. Mom had just painted my nails and I thought she'd be mad at me so I ran to you for help...and that's the one time you did help me. I just don't want to keep being mad at you so I appreciate and accept your apology."

We smiled at each other and came in for a huge hug before wiping each other's tears. My fingers ran through her hair as she forced her face into my shirt to cry a bit more.

I always thought she was over this and that she forgave me without even having to apologize. Her small insults were cries for help and her silence was a sign that she needed me.

This may not move past quickly but I'm willing to work with her if she's willing to do the same. She finally opened up about why she's been so quiet lately and everything that's going on with Bryce. It made me feel better because, for once, I wanted to be that big sister she can tell anything to.

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What's up, folks?!

Happy Screwed Saturday!

So what do you think? Do you think this will stick with Tiff and Carmon?

Do you think Carmon can help get Bryce to talk to Tiff?

Why can't Trent handle his money the way he's supposed to? Why Carmon gotta do everything?

Don't do it in the shower unless you got coins to go a few rounds. The water bill will grow sky high. Lol just kidding

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next Saturday!

Love ya!