Reece's POV

"Are you not sick and tired of getting the snot kicked out of by black boys?" Liza droned on, sitting at the edge of my desk. "Your face is becoming to black fists what cheese is to mice."

One day removed from fighting with Dennis on the bathroom floor of The King's house and I still had the aching feeling in my back. Needles felt like they were being pushed through my skin and threaded into my bones whenever I pressed against it. Sleeping on my stomach looked like it was going to be become the norm for a while.

"At least I got a few shots in this time," I grinned. "Besides, trying to murder someone can be therapeutic."

"Okay, Jeffrey Dahmer," she chided. "How did Ashley respond to it?"

"Well," I exhaled, "I had to buy the door back. But that wasn't nearly enough to appease him."

Liza almost smirked. "What's the punishment?" she asked, angling her body now, so that one of her legs furnished the table. "Is he going to make you get a vasectomy now?"

"I wouldn't do that if my life actually depended on it ...or yours for that matter," I barked and Liza rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure what my punishment is going to be, but he told me it's a fate worse than death so..." I took a sip of beer, "It should be fun."

"Mother isn't happy either," she noted. "The entire reason we went there was to get Ashley to move in here, and that whole fiasco sort of made that moot."

"Well mother can't always get what she wants, now can she?" I replied. "She'll get over it, Morris Chessnut is in town." I paused. "Speaking of attractive black men...what's going on with you and Kenzie?"

"Nothing."

"Liza."

"Nothing is going on with Kenzie and I," she said, fixing her necklace all of a sudden, as her cheeks turned a bright pink. "And until something is going on with Kenzie and I, I would like it if no one asked me what is going on with Kenzie and I."

"That was a lot of Kenzies and I's," I blurted and she threw a pen at me, but missed.

"Don't tease, you hairless ape," she chided. "At least my love life is in better shape than yours."

I waved her off. "It'll be alright."

"Really?" she asked. "By the way, what is Declan planning?" she asked.

I raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

She lifted her other leg now, so that she was wholly on top of my desk. "After the fight, Declan said that he was going to fix this Dennis problem once and for all." Liza scratched her head. "Is that hyperbole, or?"

"Declan only speaks in hyperbole," I replied. "Although I'm pretty sure spilling that red wine on Dennis's shirt wasn't an accident at all."

"You think?" Liza snorted. "He might've as well poured it on him."

"Strange that he had it, though," I commented. "Declan usually goes for white wine."

Liza shrugged her shoulders, going for my beer, but stopped when there was a knock on the door. "You wanted to speak to me?" Lola, poking her head in, asked.

Liza looked back at me, curious and I stared for a moment at her. She jumped down off of the desk. "I'll talk you later."

She greeted Lola, before opening the door wider and exiting. Lola fully came in, and closed the door behind her. "Usually I'm the one who makes the meeting appointments."

"Yeah," I said, softly. Unusual for me. I gestured to the chair in front of me. "Take a seat."

"I prefer to stand," she replied, slowly creeping over until she was standing in front of me. "I have a lot of things to get to."

"Sure, sure." I coughed. "Lola, um, why did that blackface party happen?"

She blinked. "Because you're friends with racists?" She put a hand on her hips. "What is this about, Reece?"

"You oversaw that party for me, Lola," I said, "why was that party allowed to happen? Why were you in my mother's room that night?"

She didn't look like she was breathing anymore. "Why are you asking me all of this?"

"So you can explain yourself," I answered. "My father loved you, Lola. He respected you and I want to be able to trust you like he did. But if you're lying to me and if you and Erika and...Ashley are u to something, I need to know what it is. Maybe I can help."

"Ashley has nothing to do with this," Lola said. "Leave him alone."

I could breathe a bit. At least he's innocent. "Then tell me why you allowed that party to happen."

"I didn't," she said. "You friends did. I just followed their lead."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a subordinate, black glorified secretary and they are Ivy League, trust fund babies and I value my job." Her eyes were so narrow now that the mascara that she had on had eaten them. "I'm not going to say sorry, Reece. So, can I please get on with my job?"

"No you can't," I blurted and almost regretted it.

Lola...well, Lola's face was indescribable. "What are you saying?" she asked.

I exhaled. "I'm saying you're fired, Lola."

She took a full minute before she responded to it. Hell, I would have left her standing there for ten if she needed the time to.

"Thank you for the opportunity," she said, stunning me. "I will always be grateful for the years I spent here." She wasn't smiling, but at least she wasn't spitting acid into my eyes either.

She turned to walk out the office, but stopped at the door. "By the way, you have a visitor."

I furrowed my brows. "Who?"

She turned her head and waved to someone that I couldn't seen beyond the door's frame. "Your punishment," she answered and in walked Kenzie King.

Ashley's POV

I looked at my hands and then down at the letter in front of me.

Usually, I'd resigned to leaving the letters that came into Urban Life & Times when I used to work here in a bin, because staring at blacks and whites and shades of grey is an awful way to start a day.

But sleeping on top of Erika's black and white office desk, with her black And white furniture and just below my black and white hands, was a letter and my name was spelled out on it in red ink.

I was so lost in the words – scanning them back and forth, reading it backwards, taking out every third word – looking for some secret code, that I hadn't registered when Erika entered the room until her black shoes and white pants-suit was hovering above me.

"Is that the invite?" she asked, holding two cups of coffee. She placed mine next to me on the desk and started to lightly sip hers. "What time will it be?"

"It starts at 8 and ends at around 11," I said, tracing Dennis's name at the bottom, painted with crimson. "I guess he still wants me to go."

"He's really persistent isn't he?" Erika huffed. "Men don't seem to understand that the meaning of the word 'no' isn't synonymous with the phrase 'try harder'."

I shrugged that observation off. "I haven't really told him no," I replied, being honest. "Truthfully, I don't think I want to tell him no."

Erika tilted my head upward to her face. I can still remember her skin as being that dark brown and her lips painted dark blue before I lost both of those colors. I'd just realized how colorless she was and how much the hues that once made her look vibrant made her look so beautiful to me, and without them, she just looked dark. The lines in her face showed, the bags under her eyes were heavier than I remember. Her pupils weren't as alive.

"Forget about him," she said. "You're going to have to learn to live without him."

I cocked my head. "I don't want him out of my life completely," I whispered. "If I don't end up with him, I still want him near."

"Then keep him in your heart," she told me. "You might find that will be the only place you'll be able to find him."

I nodded, and smiled. "Being fake engaged hasn't been so bad," I mumbled. "Should I tell Reece about my color blindness?"

"Why?" Erika replied. "He's a means to an end, remember?"

I felt those worms again. "Right."

Erika put her cup of coffee down. "You really need to stop emotionally depending on these boys, Ashley."

"I resent th-"

The door crashed open, smashing the wall and bouncing back close with a loud slam. Erika and I traded glances. It opened again and Lola barged in.

"He fired me!" she shouted, exploding into the office, throwing her purse across the room. "That little spoiled brat fired me!" she screamed. She marched over to Erika's desk, leaving a trail of fire behind her, slamming her first so hard on it, I was sure it would trigger an earthquake. "I gave years to that place and that bitch got him to fire me?"

Erika blinked. "Slow down, Lola," she tried. "What bitch?"

"Anna," I sighed, massaging the bridge of my nose. "How?"

Lola had steam coming from her hair. "I was in charge of the party and I allowed the blackface party to happen. So, I encouraged it, ergo, I was fired for it." Lola started pacing the room, hands locked to her waist, spewing under her breath every single curse word she could find in every language she knew them in. "I want his head on a stake, politically speaking."

"I'll do you one better," Erika said. "I'll get Anna's head on a stake."

Lola stopped pacing and settled on just tapping her feet. "How? Are we going to cut off all her hair? Are there saggy tit pictures of her on the internet? Card carrying kkk member? Cause she looks the type. I want in."

"I think that it's better of you actually go home and rest," Erika offered her little sister. "I'll call you when it's over."

"No way," Lola boomed. "She got me fired, I want the blonde peeled from the hair."

"Go home, Lola," Erika hissed at her. "I said I'll handle it."

Lola opened her mouth to reply, but one more glance at Erika - who wasn't the least bit playing - and she  decided against it. Instead, grabbed her bag off of the floor, almost taking a patch of the carpeting with her and charged out of the room.

Erika jogged over and closed the door, pulling out her cellphone.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, trailing behind her like a duckling behind its mother. "What are are we doing?"

"We...aren't doing anything," she said. "I'm going to handle this." I could hear her phone ringing. She sat on the top of her desk with half of her body. Someone answered. Erika took a moment. "Meet me at the train station like we previously discussed," she said to whoever was on the other line. "At 7:30. Bring us whatever demands you have, Anna."

I approached her, eyes narrowed. 'What are y-"

Erika threw up a shushing finger. "I have no time for games, Anna. This is your one chance. We will talk once there, where it's private or I swear to God I will do everything in my power to rip your fucking head from your body." She hung up and she looked up at me. "It's choice time, Ashley."

I internally sighed. It's always choice time. "What choices?"

"Either we go and talk with Anna, or we can go to Dennis's dance."

I scoffed at her. "You aren't serious, Erika."

Her lips held that straight line. I could drive a car down it. "Clowns and conservatives aren't serious, Ashley," she said. "Heart attacks and I always are."

I stood so still I was sure I'd be frozen like this forever. Hands to my side, feet pressed together, heart not really beating, lungs not really taking in breaths, eyes not really seeing and ears not believing what they thought they were hearing. "I promised Dennis, Erika."

"And you promised me too," she said. "You're going to have to break one of those promises, Ashley." Erika slid off of her desk, resting her phone on the top of it. "I need you here with me on this," she pleaded. "This one is personal for me. This is my sister and this is the woman that has been a thorn in our side since we started our mission. Let's just get freaking rid of her once and for all."

"I," I exhaled, "Dee will be crushed Erika." Now I started pacing. It seemed to be contagious, maybe it was an airborne. "We just started getting on good terms, despite he and Reece trying to murder each other, you know?" I stopped to look at her. To see if she had registered any kind of emotion. But nothing. Her face remained blank, a blank canvas with no reaction. "I'm trying to not let anyone down Erika."

"You're letting me down," she said, the words marching out of her mouth in a single filed line, tense and hard. "And our fathers and our cause."

I shook my head. "I know this is bigger than me," I said. "But why can't I be selfish for a moment?"

"Because those of us who have chosen to do this work can't be," she said. "Martin Luther wasn't, Rosa Parks wasn't." She stopped. "Could you even imagine if Jesus stopped and thought about himself before they crucified him? The implication of that selfishness? We'd all be damned to burn in Hell if he said 'nah I don't want to do it'. We've decided this path is the one we are going to take, Ashley. To serve our community. To be a voice for those who don't have a voice. We don't get to be selfish; we don't get to think about ourselves. Only of others. "

"Is Dennis not supposed to be considered another person?" I asked her. "He's...I'm thinking of him."

"No, you're thinking of how he's going to react to you not being there," she said. "It's still about you Ash."

Jesus. Jesus Christ. Jesus Holy Holy Christ. "How long to I have to decide?"

"Three seconds."

Reece's POV

"So, what is this place?"

Kenzie opened the door, and on the inside looked like an empty apartment. Except for the single couch that was seated in the middle of the first room with white tiles on the floor.

He stretched and went over, taking a squat on it and patted the space next to him, taking out his phone. "Sit down, white boy."

I dragged over, sitting down as far to the corner as I could. "Are you going to kill me?"

Kenzie looked up from his phone and treated me to the most ludicrous look I had ever seen. "You really need to let out of these prejudices you got." He allowed a few seconds to pass. "Besides, if I was 'bout to kill you, I'd straight up tell you that I'm about to kill you."

I still felt uncomfortable. "Then why did you bring me here?"

"Relax," he said. I heard a door open and close from inside of the house and a few guys, all black, came out with different household items in their hands. Lamps, dishes, a few chairs. They headed outside the front door. "Just helping some people move out."

"That, uh, doesn't explain why I'm here," I said.

"You're here because you broke my fucking bathroom door," he barked back. "And now I can't jerk off in peace."

"I paid for a new one," I replied, swallowing. "It should be there tonight."

"Look," he snapped, "the only reason there isn't a cap in your ass is because you rich and white and I don't wanna do life in prison –not with this face – you got me out jailo so I owe you a don't get shot freebie and because Ashley obviously really likes you for some dumb ass reason." He put his phone down. "But it's time that I do my duty as a man, a brother and a homie and put an end to the bullshit that is you and that redbone pussy-whipped negro I call my day-one."

"I...understood nearly none of that sentence," I mumbled.

Kenzie, for the first time, rolled his eyes and looked over my shoulder.

I followed his eyes behind me quick enough to witness the knob turn and the door cry as it opened. And, of course, Dennis walked through it, with a big ass duffle bag on his shoulder.

When he saw me, any smile he had dropped about as fast as he dropped the bag. "Really, Kenneth?" he barked. "I've got the biggest dance play I've ever been in tonight and this is what you're distracting me with right now?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Kenzie responded. "This is on you two. You fight like a peer of broads over the last pack of afro kinky in a hair shop."

"That's because lover boy over here," I began, pointing at Dennis, "won't get a grip and move on."

"Look fuck the both of you, honestly," Kenzie snapped. "For real. The both of you. You grown ass men. Start acting like it. My brother ain't some prize that you can hang on a shelf. If he want to be with you, he gon' be with you. So, kill one another right here and right now, or suck it up, move on and get on with yo lives." Kenzie bounced up to his feet and used either of his hands to point at the both of us. "You're starting to hurt my baby brother, and that shit won't fly with big brother."

"It's not like that," both Reece and I echoed, throwing glances at one another. He grimaced, I shuddered.

"It's exactly like that," Kenzie replied. "The both of you just ain't wanna lose him – guess what: there ain't a copyright stamp on his ass. No one legally owns him. He gets to choose and should without you two breaking down fucking doors because you can't control your hormone levels."

"He pushed me onto it," I whined, but Kenzie wasn't having any of it.

"I don't care who pushed who. You two are going to sit here and work this shit out." He picked up his phone again. "I'm going to finish help the homies take the things out this house, I'll be back for the couch and by that time, I want racism to literally be over."

Kenzie walked out, and Dennis and I stared at each other for at least ten minutes without saying. And before I literally imploded, I spoke. "Look, I know you hate me or whatever, but Kenzie is sort of right here."

He slowly walked over, leaving the bag by the door and took a seat on the couch.

"I don't hate you, white boy –Reece – whatever, but you gotta just realize that I still love that redbone kid." He shrugged his shoulders. "I just can't imagine some other guy saying how much he loves him."

"It's not about what you want," I told him. "It's about what Ashley wants."

He clenched his jaw and bowed his head, eyes either close or in his lap, I wasn't totally sure. "You make it sound like it's so easy to let someone who you love go. Like all that lovey dovey crap about setting someone free is easy and that you should smile while it's happening. It hurts. It's not fun. It's not romantic, it's shitty."

"I never said it was easy," I murmured. "I'm saying that it's the right thing to do."

"It's the right thing for you," he responded. He lifted his head back up. His eyes were red and full of water. "Shit ain't easy, bruh." He dropped it back. "I fucked up and I don't want him to hate me for it as much as I already hate myself." He quickly wiped his eyes before anything leaked out. He sniffed. "You are enjoying this."

I shook my head. "Not really." I reached into my shirt's pocket and offered him the handkerchief that I had never used. "I don't like seeing anyone hurt. Not my brand of humor."

Dennis hesitated for a moment. He lifted his hand for a moment, placed it back down, then picked it up again. "This isn't laced with anything is it?" he asked, expecting it.

I almost laughed. Almost. "No."

He eyed it for a second longer, before wiping his eyes. "Boys shouldn't cry."

"Why not?" I asked, frowning. "I cry all the time. First time I bottomed I cried for like three hours after it was over."

Dennis moved the handkerchief and stared. "I'm a masc top, so I wouldn't know what that feels like."

I thought. "Imagine trying to fit a bowling ball up your nose and at the same time your entire body is on fire and your Mom is drowning in a lake a few feet away from you and you don't have time to save her because Beyoncé just announced she's retiring from music."

"Sounds...awful," he muttered. "Ashley never complained."

"Yeah not to you, probably," I snorted. "Bottoming might be the hardest thing any gay guy will ever have to do."

"So why do it?" he asked. He leaned in. "What's...like the point?"

I shrugged. I'd never given that much thought. "I didn't choose the verse life, the verse like chose me."

I laughed. He laughed.

woah.

Then, it went quiet. "I guess I should back off of Ashley," he murmured, almost sounding like he was talking to himself rather than me. "I don't want to make it hard for him to just choose or pressure him into taking me back when he doesn't want to."

"Y'all sissies done making up?" Kenzie asked, jogging in from the back and stealthily creeping over to the front window, peaking from behind the blinds.

Dennis shrugged. "We trying."

"Well, try  a bit quicker, cause the owners of this house are back and they gonna wonder who's robbing them."

Ashley's POV

I looked at my watch. I had twenty minutes to get from this train station, go home to get ready and get to the theater. Kenzie had already called me two times, I was afraid to answer Reece's text and Dee's whatsapp message. So, I resigned to just silencing my phone and stuffing it in my pocket.

"About time," Erika said, as Anna walked up to the platform, at the end of the tracks here we were huddled. The station was empty as it usually was on this side of the station.  "We've been waiting for thirty minutes."

Anna sauntered to the end of the tracks, her back to it and we stood across from her, facing them . "I don't have a lot of time," Anna said, smirking. "The next place I go is Red Corp with every bit of information I have dug up on you, and your phony sense of justice. What do you have to offer?"

"Nothing," Erika answered. I could hear the rushing of a train coming our way. "You're going to get onto that train that's coming."

Anna laughed. "Why on earth would I do that?" she asked Erika. She looked over at me. "And why bring the puppy dog?" she asked. "You that brain washed kid that you skipped out on that stupid dance that Reece has been talking about for your friend, to come here behind this hypocrite?"

"This is your last chance Anna," Erika warned. "This is over."

"Nah," Anna answered, kicking a few rocks with her red-bottomed stilettos. "I think this is all just starting." She eyed Erika intensely. "I did a little research, Erika. You're not some civil right activist. When you were 16, you worked for Dennis Ailman, a noted publicist and big time racist. He ended up pushed out his window. When you were 19, you worked for Brianne Lexx, who has been connected to several alt-right groups. She had her throat slit. You were living right around the corner at the time. Jasmine suddenly gets pushed out a window the night you're a ball. You got a restraining order put out against you against Jasmine three weeks prior to her death because you could not stay away from her house."

My eyes widened. I stared at the back of Erika's head. I couldn't tell what her eyes were saying, to know if this was true.

"You're psychotic," Anna continued. "You're using this movement as a way to feed not just your inflated sense of importance and you're brain washing others to create your legacy. You're a black Charles Manson."

"I'm not brainwashed," I blurted.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Honey, the whole idea behind being brainwashed is not realizing that you are."

"You have one more chance," Erika said. "Get Lola back her job and back off."

"The way I see it, Erika, you've met your match and it's you who is running out of time," Anna said. "I got to your sister and I'm coming for you next."

The train was closing in. Its roaring had gone from that of a lion to a t-rex. Anna looked down tracks, in the tunnel where it was approaching from. "You have offered me nothing," she said. "Guess I'm going to miss this train."

Erika turned around, looking defeated and stared at me for a moment. Her eyes angled downward, drooped. Then. Then. They sat back up straight and narrowed. "That's where you're wrong," she said.

Suddenly, she span back around and shot her arms out, pushing Anna backward. The blond stumbled back, tripping over her heels and slipping down into the tracks with a yell. Before I knew what was happening, the blur of a train shot passed me and the sound of a human body being hit by a speeding train rang through the building.