Nina sat at the entrance of the neighborhood she and Tyler lived in, trying to see if she was actually about to waltz right back into the house to hear him out, though she couldn't imagine what explanation he would try to give her.

As much as she wanted to act like she hated him and pretend like she was strong enough to drop him cold turkey, Nina couldn't front like she didn't miss him already. How could she not? She'd been with him every single day for the last five years; they literally hadn't spent a day apart until now.

She ended up back over here after receiving a few texts from Tyler this morning, which seemed to get through to her more than the plethora of messages he sent yesterday and the day before.

The messages didn't make her feel better but the one where he stated that she was hardly in the mood for him made her want to slap him and that's what got her to come to the house. He pissed her off so much with assuming he was entitled to her body just because they were married.

"Nina," Tyler seemed relieved to see that she was there, wasting no time to wrap her in a hug despite her making no effort to hug him back.

"I'm so sorry Nina. I've never made a mistake like this in my life. You are my life. To think that I'm losing you ov—over a quick nut—I just—I can't apologize enough. I'm so sorry." He kissed the top of her head, and a pout set in on her face as the waterworks started.

"You told her that nobody could ever love me Tyler. Why would you say that? Why would you comfort her over me?" She grabbed his arms, and he tightened his grip on her when she tried pushing him away.

"I can't even answer that baby, I just wasn't thinking.. she was too easy and I guess I just wasn't trying to give that up because I'm a man at the end of the day, a weak one. I lost sight of what was right in front of me. I made a mistake, Nina."

"I'm sorry love. I'll do whatever you want to make it up to you. Anything." He tilted her head up to look at him, wiping underneath her eyes with his thumbs.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I mess up so much with you and I try to fix it but I realize I'm not trying hard enough. I don't wanna lose you, ever. And I know how selfish I sound by trying to make sure you stay after I made a real mistake, but I mean it. I can't lose you Nina."

"There's never been a moment where I didn't think you were enough for me, so don't think like that 'cause I know you feel that way sometimes. You are more than enough. Sometimes you're even too much for me, like, I feel like you're out of my league.. I'm so thankful to have you. I don't know what I would do without you."

Nina laid her head down on his chest as he consoled her cries, rubbing down her spine to help calm her down. He kissed her wherever he could; on her cheeks, her forehead, her lips, her hair, wherever his lips could reach. He repeatedly mumbled how sorry he was, squeezing her in a light hug every so often.

"Me stepping out had nothing to do with you..i-it was from my own insecurity. Maybe now is not the time to talk about it, but I know that I can't please you the way that you do for me, and I thought that was the reason you weren't in the mood anymore, so I tried to fill my ego with someone else. That's all it was. There were no real feelings from my end. You are the only woman I could ever love." He revealed.

"That doesn't make it any better Tyler. She still had you. I always beg you to talk to me, to listen to me, to check on me or something. And every time you always tell me to just talk to God, but I need you! I don't wanna talk to anybody else. I want to talk to my husband!" She exclaimed, letting her frustration get the best of her.

"I know baby, I'm so sorry. If it's not too late, I'm here. I'm listening to you. We can go to counseling, anything. I'll learn to be better, to be here for you more. I'll put my focus on our reality instead of always forcing you to focus on your spiritual journey alone. I'm here for you Nina. I'm sorry." He apologized again, holding such sincerity in his eyes as he stared down at her.

"I can be better, love. But I can't do it without you. I can't do anything without you."

"I love you so much. Please don't give up on me yet, Nina." Tyler spoke softly to her, then lowered his head to kiss her cheek when her arms wrapped around his neck in a hug.

"You don't know how much I missed you. I'ma fix this, I promise." He hugged her tighter with his arms draped around her waist, holding her close to him.

"I feel so weak Tyler." Her voice cracked with a small cry.

"You're the strongest person I know by far."

"I'm sorry that I force you to be strong by yourself.. we're married, we're supposed to deal with everything together. I promise, no matter how long it takes me, I'm going to get right for you. I'm going to be better." He added.

Listening to him apologize and profess his love for her was so new, she wasn't even sure how to respond. A part of her felt like he was only telling her what she wanted to hear, but another part was more than ready to forgive him because all she'd ever wanted was for her husband to be this vulnerable with her.

She hated that it took their current circumstances to bring it out of him because that made her feel like it wasn't genuine, but she could only hope that wasn't the case. She hoped he meant every word that he said. She yearned for nothing more but for him to love her the way that she loved him.

She wished they could go back to the beginning; the puppy love stage. He was overly obsessed with her then.. he loved and admired her more than life itself at one point in time. She'd been fighting for them to get back to that for quite a while now.

Would it ever go back to then? If so, was it worth it to wait until it did?

"I love you so much." Tyler repeated while intertwining his hands with hers when she pulled away from the hug.

"Are you just telling me what I want to hear?" She mumbled, avoiding eye contact with him because she knew she'd cry if she looked him in his face.

"No, baby.. hold me to it. The moment I make a mistake—even a small one—you can call it quits, and I won't blow you up asking you to come back."

"Not making a small mistake is unrealistic." She hesitantly let go of his hands, leaving hers actually at her sides.

"Hold me to it then." He said again, and his fingertips met her chin moments later to guide her head upwards so that she would meet his gaze.

"Do you love her?" She asked.

"No. She was just easy, that's all it was."

"That's hard to believe. You've mastered the art of lying. You telling me one thing and telling her anothe—,"

"Because I didn't want to lose easy access to head or sex when I wanted it. If I loved her I would've been with her, Nina. I haven't bought her nothing, haven't took her nowhere, she's never even been in my car. Ask her."

"I'm not capable of loving nobody but you. Sex doesn't equate to love and I—look, I know I messed up. I keep saying that 'cause I didn't even realize how far I took it until now, but I know where my heart is. I know who I want to be with. I lost you for just a couple of days and I never want to go through that again. Just let me prove it to you."

"Okay.." was all that she managed to get out, unsure of what else to say.

"I love you. Thank you. I'ma make sure you don't regret this." He leaned down to her level to kiss her cheek again, and then his head lowered to the crook of her neck to blow raspberries against her skin, which finally earned a genuine smile from her.

Her hands traveled up to grab his face as he continued to do it because he knew how easily ticklish she was, and a smile that matched hers graced his face when she laughed.

"Stop it. I'm not supposed to be laughing right now. This isn't funny Tyler." She chuckled with a roll of her eyes, pushing him away from her.

"I know baby. I just missed you, that's all." His lips met hers in a brief surface kiss, and her smile slowly faded away as he kissed her a few more times.

"Can I have a kiss?" He asked her, and Nina's eyes darted over the different features of his face as he waited patiently for her to kiss him back.

She returned the same light kiss to his lips, then pulled his bottom lip into her mouth to intensify the kiss since she knew that was what he wanted. Nina felt like it was too soon to give in sexually so easily, but for some reason she felt like she needed to in order to make sure he didn't try to go find his release in someone else; in Britney again.

Nina lifted a glass of Stella Rose tropical passion to her lips, taking a slow sip of the smooth wine as she watched Jody from Baby Boy attempt to sell some clothes on the flat screen TV mounted on the wall in the bedroom.

On the side of her lay an asleep Tyler, who was as naked as the day he was born with his arm wrapped around her waist. He'd been asleep for about two hours now, and during that time, Nina managed to clean the kitchen and take care of the laundry she left unfolded a few days ago.

She should've been napping too but her mind was still racing, unfortunately, so she couldn't. The sex was definitely good enough to put her to sleep this time though. She assumed he did his big one because he was trying to make up for sleeping with someone else.

The way he lasted longer than usual made Nina wonder if he'd figured out how to control his stamina by having sex with Britney. The thought upset her so much that she had to stop thinking about it before she slapped him out of his sleep.

She figured there was no point in acting irrational behind his infidelity any longer since she'd damn near forgiven him already. If not mentally, physically for sure. The sex they had this evening was proof of that.

Nina's attention was redirected from the TV as she gazed down at Tyler once he began to turn in his sleep. His eyes opened soon enough, and his arms tightened around Nina's waist as he moved himself to be between her legs.

"I missed you." He laid his head down on her thigh, raising the other to rest over his shoulder.

"I can tell." She answered vaguely, keeping her eyes on him as he raised up, placing his hands on each side of her head.

"Tyler," She grabbed his face with a smile just as it went in her neck, stopping him before he could tickle her.

"Nah let me go." He reached up to grab her arm, and she started laughing as soon as she felt his lips on her skin.

"You ain't told me you missed me back or that you loved me. Tell me and I'll stop." His hands lowered to graze her sides in a taunting manner, signaling that he was about to tickle her there.

"I missed you too Tyler, damn." She held both of his hands in hers to stop him, not even attempting to hide the smile on her face.

"And what else?"

"And I love you." Her tone was soft but held light humor behind it as she scanned over the features of his face.

"My girl." He kissed her cheek, and she rolled her eyes with a small smile as he reached over her to grab his phone from the nightstand once it begin ringing.

"Who is it?" She couldn't help but to ask, and he turned his phone around to show her that it was one of his friends, Aaron.

"Probably calling 'cause I'm not at the church." He told her, and her mouth formed an O shape when she realized that it indeed was bible study night.

"You're not going to go?"

"Nah.. not tonight."

"How come?" She asked, watching him grab his boxers from the floor to pull them on.

"You've been gone for two days. I wasn't lying when I said I missed you. I would rather be with you right now." He spoke to her from the bathroom, turning on the faucet. Yeah, that sounded good.

"Took you cheating to put me above the church.. sickening." She shook her head at him, then let out a laugh when he turned to look at her with a frown.

"You not funny Nina." His voice came out muffled from his toothbrush being in his mouth.

"Sure I'm not." She waved him off, grabbing her wine from the nightstand to drink the last little bit left in the bottom of the glass.

"Where you been hiding at anyway? I tried to find you from the charge on my card but I couldn't." He chuckled, and she did as well because she figured he'd try that.

"At an Airbnb downtown. Speaking of, I need to go back and get my stuff. I left my phone and my purse over there. And my suitcases too.."

"Will they refund the money since you aren't going to stay? That was like six thousand dollars. You was staying with the mayor or what?" He dried his hands off with a napkin before walking out of the bathroom.

"It's because I booked it for two months. I thi—,"

"Two months? Did you really think we'd be apart for that long?" His eyebrows rose in genuine curiosity.

"No.. it wouldn't have hurt for me to try though. I was trying to stand on business and I ended up having sex with it. I don't know what I was thinking, really." She shook her head at herself, then rolled her eyes when he laughed.

"Six grand though, Nina? Then you went and took another five off. I thought somebody stole my wallet or something."

"Well you never locked or reported the card so you couldn't have been too worried." She chuckled.

"I seen it was you when I checked the app. No need to."

"If I would've stayed gone, you would've let me keep spending money?" She tilted her head to the side with a smile.

"Yeah. I mean, at least for a little while.." He shrugged.

"Why? 'Cause you knew I was gone be dumb and come back?"

"You are so unserious." Now it was his turn to shake his head, which earned another laugh from her.

"C'mon girl. Put some clothes on so we can go get your stuff and something to eat." He pulled the cover off of her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck when he picked her up.

"I did miss you, you know? As much as I hate to admit it." She left a soft kiss on his cheek as he lifted her against his body, holding underneath her thighs.

"I know baby. I'ma make sure we wont have to be apart again. I'm sorry." He returned the kiss, and Nina lowered her head to meet his lips for another one.

Together, they got dressed in lounge clothes and headed downtown to the Airbnb to go pick up Nina's things. On the way there, she started a conversation with the host to see if she could get some of the money she spent back, if not all, since she'd only stayed there for two days instead of two months.

"It's a condo or a hotel?" Tyler asked, grabbing Nina's hand as they entered the surprisingly busy lobby area of the condominium.

"Definitely a condo. I have no idea what they're doing." She shrugged, leading him towards the elevator.

The double silver doors opened within a few seconds, and Nina immediately frowned at the sight of Samir standing there in the elevator. He was too busy with his phone to notice her, but when they stepped on, he glanced briefly at them before focusing his gaze solely on Nina.

He didn't attempt to hide the fact that he was staring at her, so Tyler noticed almost immediately. He glanced down at his wife, only to see that her attention was now on the buttons on the wall. She clicked the one with the number seven on it, and because of it already being highlighted, she figured that was Samir's floor too.

Coincidental?

Nina wanted to roll her eyes so bad when Tyler let go of her hand to drape his arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She knew he was just trying to make it known that they were together, especially when he leaned down to give her a kiss.

She found that so ironic since she'd literally just caught him cheating a couple of days ago. Samir was a complete stranger—well, mostly, but completely to Tyler, so what was he trying to prove?

The scent of Samir's cologne caught Nina's attention for the second time, and it made her look over at him. He was still staring at her, holding that same small frown he wore in Starbucks. He seemed thoroughly unbothered by Tyler's possessive antics.

Today, he was dressed in all black; a plain black sweatshirt, black sweats, and a black beanie, paired with all black Yeezy slides. He looked good and he smelled good. What a wonderful combination..

Nina's eyes lowered to his hand that was at his side once it began to move, and she watched him spell out 'husband?' with his fingers in ASL, letter by letter, instead of doing the one hand movement that represented that word; probably because it would've been obvious that he was communicating with her.

She discreetly signed back 'yes' the same way he had, and she fought a smile when Samir briefly sized Tyler up before cocking one of his eyebrows as if he was unimpressed by the man she chose to marry.

The elevator ride seemed to be extremely and unnecessarily long—way longer than usual—but Nina didn't mind it. She continued staring at Samir, and he stared right back at her while disregarding the view of Tyler still kissing her. She was so pretty to him to where Tyler could hardly be seen.

Would she be upset with him if he told her that? A part of him wanted to, but he was so afraid of rejection that he just couldn't, especially in front of her husband. He would prefer being swallowed by a sinkhole over accidentally embarrassing himself.

Eventually the elevator did come to a stop, and Samir stepped off first. They went opposite directions, and as Samir approached his door, he glanced back to see Nina one last time.

She looked back at the same time, and that made his body heat up in ways that he couldn't quite explain.

















I really learned my lesson from Jayda's Remembering to never put a sex scene in a Von book if the scene isn't with him ✌️✌️✌️ y'all really ate Toosii clean tf up I'll never forget it I was so mad cause I thought I ate ✌️✌️✌️✌️