Santana lowly groaned to himself as he began to stir in his sleep, feeling the pounding sensation at the back of his head from the hangover he had. He hissed under his breath at the same time that he opened his eyes, and luckily Bria had blackout curtains in her bedroom.

"You okay baby?" Bria asked, still half asleep.

"Yeah. Go back to bed." His voice was much raspier than usual, and Bria tightened the grip she had on him while laying her face in the crook of his neck.

His hand rubbed down her back to help her fall back asleep, which took no time at all. When her arms loosened around his torso, he knew that she'd gone back to sleep. He stayed there for another ten minutes, before carefully removing himself from the bed.

Once he was on his feet, he stretched his body out to let his bones snap into place. He looked back at Bria to see her now laid up against an asleep Israel, and Santana knew she'd probably be up soon from how she turned.

He went to the bathroom to freshen up, spending around twenty minutes in there to shower and do his morning routine. He got dressed in a pair of sweats and a black muscle shirt, then left out of Bria's bedroom with his phone in his hand.

Grabbing the weed he left on the living room table yesterday, Santana then went out on the back porch because he wanted to listen to the rain while he smoked.

Usually he would invite Bria to smoke with him since this was their favorite type of 'date', but he decided against it this time. He was still trying to figure out how he felt about last night.

The sex was great-the proof was in the pudding, literally-but he knew that he wouldn't have had a threesome with her if he was sober, especially with the third being a man that she had actual romantic feelings for.

He still was trying to wrap his head around the fact that Bria even liked another man because he was so used to being the only one in her life. It hurt his feelings more than he'd like to admit, but he hadn't told her because he didn't know what would happen after that.

Bria was his best friend before all else, but for the first time since they'd met, he didn't feel comfortable talking to her about how he felt. She was usually his go-to person, even when the subject he wanted to discuss involved her. So now, he didn't know what to do.

She was one of the only people he talked to on a daily basis besides his mother, so there wasn't anyone else he could talk to about his situation. He was mad at himself for even feeling a way towards Israel and Bria.

He wasn't sure if he was envious of the new man and relationship in her life, and if he was envious he didn't know if it was because of the emotional bond the two shared or the sexual one. Most likely, it was both.

"Why didn't you wake me up Tana?" Bria mumbled, snapping him out of his thoughts as she moved his arms in order to sit down in his lap.

She stretched her blanket to wrap around his body along with hers, then she grabbed the blunt from between his fingers after he held it out to her. He watched with low eyes as she inhaled from the wood that was now half the size it was when he first sparked it half an hour ago.

"How you feelin'?" Santana's eyes scanned over the bruises that were on her neck, then put them on her face.

"Like a slut. My body so sore and my headache going crazy. I didn't even wanna leave my room but I had to come find you." She shook her head, passing the blunt back to him after taking another hit from it.

Santana could smell her body wash as both of her arms hooked around his neck, bringing him closer to her underneath the blanket. The rain began to come down a little heavier, causing him to advert his gaze.

"What's going on with you?" She turned his head to look at her, somehow able to feel that his energy was off with her.

"Santana?" Her voice softened from concern at the same time a small frown took over her face.

"I'm good. I'm just high." He tapped the edge of his blunt in the ashtray before holding it out to her.

"Since when we start lying to each other?" She did a waving motion to tell him she didn't want it, keeping her eyes on his.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said without thinking, and Bria's frown faded into a softer expression.

"I never lied to you about nothing, so what you getting at?" She asked, wanting him to say whatever it was that was on his chest.

"Hiding shit and lying is damn near the same thing. I don't really see no difference."

"Soooo, you waited until I fucked y'all to say that? Why wouldn't you speak up before, back when we first talked about it and I literally asked you if it was static?" She moved her arms from around his neck as her frown returned.

"'Cause it wasn't none then. Shit change." He relit the end of his blunt with his lighter after the wind dimmed the spark.

"Stop tiptoeing around what you tryna say and just say it. What is it Santana?" She could feel herself becoming upset, actively trying to postpone her emotions.

He took a few moments to come up with a response, unsure of what he wanted to say and if he even wanted to say anything at all. He hated confronting his feelings and this situation was more difficult than any other he'd previously dealt with.

"I can't be with you no more, B." His prior harsh tone disappeared, and Bria could literally feel her heart drop to the pit of her stomach.

She was expecting him to say something about Israel-like maybe he didn't want to have a threesome again or that he was uncomfortable with Israel's presence or something of that nature. She definitely wasn't prepared to hear him say that he was done with her.

"What?" She spoke in a low voice, almost like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I tried, mama. I did that shit last night 'cause you asked me to, and I thought that maybe I'd feel better about you and him if I pretended that I was cool with him but I-man, I can't fake that shit B. I tried." He ran his hand down his face, irritated with himself.

"You love him more than I thought. I seen that shit with my own eyes yesterday and it made it more clear to me that I really am losing you to him, even if you don't see it yet. I gotta cut this shit off before it get to a point we can't go back from."

"Santana I told you I'm not going nowhere. I haven't treated you any differently than before-or have I? Did I do something?" She asked, willing to apologize for whatever she'd done to make him feel like this.

"Nah, I just can't see myself sharing you with nobody else Bria. I want it to only be me and you or I don't want nothin' at all. And I can't keep lying to you like it don't piss me off to see you with him. If you love him, then just be with him. It ain't no reason for me to keep fighting for what we got when it's clear that you building the same shit with him."

At first Santana thought it would be cool if she still had the best of both worlds-as long as nothing changed between them, he was fine with it. But seeing the way she looked at Israel last night was the same way she usually looked at him and he wasn't sure if he could handle that.

He honestly didn't know how he'd made it the last couple of weeks without flashing out on her or Israel because their relationship really did piss him off. He hadn't had the energy for a lot of shit lately. There were too many stress factors in his life right now and he figured it was finally time for him to deal with them.

"I'm so sorry Tana. I don't know what to do." She reached up to cover her face as soon as the tears started to fall, and he wrapped his arms around her to console her audible cries.

He knew it was selfish of him to hope that she offered to leave Israel for him, and the fact that she didn't kind of made it all the more real that she and Israel were forming a bond that was stronger than she even realized.

Santana had always been first in her life-well, second right after her sister-so feeling like he was now fighting for his spot was such a foreign experience for him.

"Quit cryin' like you soft or something. I taught you better than that." He kissed the top of her head, trying to lift her mood.

"I am soft when it come to you. I don't have to fake hard 'cause you know me for me. And you should know me enough to know that I need you-for you. I don't need no money, no cars or none of that. I love you because of how much you love me and I don't wanna lose that Santana." Her voice cracked, and he looked away from her because he couldn't stand to see his baby crying.

"I should've been loving you harder when I had you to myself and maybe I could've avoided this. I think it's time for me to accept the fact that you found somebody who ain't gon' take you for granted like I did." Santana got up from the chair with her in his lap, putting her down on her own two feet once he was up.

"Stop putting him on a pedestal like he loves me better than you or something! He's married with a whole kid on the way Santana! Eventually he not gon' want nothing to do with me either because I'm just some random bitch he met at a club. The only reason he loves me is because I was there for him when he needed somebody. If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't even want nothing to do with me."

The sound of the patio door creaking made Bria stop her emotional rant, and both of them looked over to see Israel watching Bria with an unreadable expression on his face. She sniffed, turning her head to meet Santana's eyes again.

He stared back at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out what to do. He wanted to stay just so she wouldn't be sad but he knew that this fight for their relationship to remain what it was wouldn't change anything. There was no point. He couldn't continue faking it even if he wanted to.

"Santana, I'm so sorry baby just let me fix it-I'll figure something out, okay? Just don't leave me, please. Please?" She grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away, feeling like her heart was shattering into a million pieces.

"Ain't no point mama. I'll get up with you later on if it's meant for us." He tilted her head back, then leaned down to kiss her wet cheek.

"I love you." His voice lowered after her arms wrapped around him in a tight hug, and her soft cries became louder.

"I love you so much. I'm so sorry." She cried, unable to stop her tears from falling. His presence meant so much for her sanity, she just knew that her world was about to come crashing down.

Santana swallowed the small lump in his throat as he let her go, realizing that it was time for him to go before he started crying with her. He kissed her cheek again while pulling her arms from around him, and his heart broke at the look on her face.

He walked past Israel without saying anything, and once Bria heard her front door shut, she sat down in his previous seat with her blanket wrapped all the way around her, trying to console herself the way that Santana usually did.

That man really was her best friend-he was far more than that, actually. Since day one he'd been her closest friend, her protector, her lover, her peace, her caretaker when she was sick, and the one who picked her up whenever she felt down. There was never a moment that passed where he wasn't there for her.

She couldn't believe that she'd ruined that because of her own selfish decision to have the best of both worlds-even with knowing how this could've panned out.

"I'm sorry." She apologized to Israel too, knowing that he was still standing near the door. She was messing everything up, maybe it would be best if both of them just left her alone.

He walked out onto the patio, sitting down in the seat across from her. He didn't say anything for a minute, and instead just watched the silent tears trickle down her puffy cheeks.

"Is that how you really feel?" He asked. "You think I only love you 'cause you filled a void?"

"You know it's the truth so don't try to make me feel better about myself." She sniffed, keeping her eyes on a puddle that was forming in the corner of her backyard.

"Nah, you know what the truth is. You was tryna put me in a bad spot to make him feel better. I don't love you 'cause of your sympathy and you know that Bria."

"Do I?" She mumbled, turning her head to stare blankly at him.

"You literally pay me a weekly allowance for 'filling that void'. If Jada would've finally got her act together just a day before we met, where would you be right now? Stop acting like I'm talking BS."

"Any other stripper could've did what I did that night; I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I don't have nothing to offer, I don't have no real goals or anything going for myself other than tricking niggas out of money so I don't understand why you wanna stick ar-,"

"Bria quit talking about yourself like that. And quit putting words in my mouth to try to prove a point." He stood up from the chair, walking to stand in front of her.

"I love you because you put other people's feelings before yours, I love you because you nice to everybody you meet, I love you because you know how to make me smile even when I'm pissed off, and I love you because you don't change for nobody." He squatted in front of her, watching as her pout returned.

"You said you wanted to build a shelter for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence-that's a real goal right there. You have everything going for yourself. You not in jail or a casket so that's proof right there. Stop speaking so negatively about the person you supposed to love the most." He told her, tired of hearing about the hatred she had towards herself.

"I know he just did a number on you and I'm not coming after him to one up him by pretending like I care just to make you feel better. I'm being serious, Bria. You gotta stop doing yourself like that mama." His mug was no longer on his face, and at this point Bria's tears wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

She let go of her cover to give him a hug, and he picked her up from the chair with ease. He lifted her body up higher against him, rocking her gently in his arms.

"If you want some time to think and figure shit out, let me know, aight? I'll leave if you want. But I'll also be here for you if you want that instead. Quit shutting me out just 'cause I ain't been with you as long as he has." He continued rocking her, hearing her cries quiet down.

Israel carried her back in the house since it was chilly outside, locking the sliding door once they were in. He sat down on the couch with her after making it to the living room, remaining quiet until she was ready to talk.

Although he thought it was unfair that she didn't trust his love for her as much as she trusted Santana, he didn't fault her for it. He understood that his presence was new-to both Bria and Santana-and he was sure that it disrupted the relationship they previously had, even though that wasn't what he intended to do. Hell, he didn't even know about Santana at first.

He couldn't say that he regretted his love for Bria though, even with knowing that his love for her had possibly ruined her relationship with Santana. He definitely wasn't sorry for loving her so quickly either. With the type of woman Bria was, it was hard not to-even if she couldn't understand how.

Israel hoped like hell that she would decide to let him love her the way that she should've been loved all her life.

"Can't nobody make me feel bad for loving you Nicole. Not you, not him, nobody. Don't let him make you feel bad for loving me either." He looked down at her, halting the way he rubbed on the small of her back.

She picked her head up from his chest to slightly tilt it back, and he pressed his lips against hers so gently that it made her melt. He kept kissing her until a smile replaced her sad expression, and then he kissed her teeth.

"I love you so much." She spoke softly, causing a smile that matched hers to spread across his lips.

Whatever