Samir leaned forward to kiss Nina's lips a few times in a row while she used a small white towel to wipe the charcoal mask from his forehead, being careful not to get it in his eyebrow hairs. She'd learned her lesson when she put the mask on herself a few weeks ago.

It was currently a little past four in the morning and Samir had to leave for work in an hour and they still hadn't been to sleep yet. He was sad and a bit frustrated that she was going back home today, but since he couldn't do anything about it, they were enjoying the little time they had left.

Bloom by Aqyila played at a low volume on the TV in his bedroom, and Nina stood in front of him with a white towel wrapped around her body, singing along with the song. Watching her made Samir want to melt. He was so in love with her.

"What is it you see in me? Tell me why do you believe in me, hmmm." She kissed his clean cheek in the midst of her singing, and he wrapped his arms around her waist after returning the kiss to her face.

"I love it here, you pleasing me." He sung back, and Nina smiled big at how he knew the lyrics. She played the song around him so often because it kind of reminded her of the situation-ship she had with him and it made her fall in love with it.

Her smile slowly fell as she continued to stare at him, getting lost in her favorite pair of brown eyes. He was such a beautiful man and he had the sweetest soul she'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was truly one of a kind and it made her feel guilty for being with him.

Nina hated that she had to put him second to her husband, and she hated that Samir was okay with her doing that. It made her afraid to think about it, but she wished another girl would come into his life and fall in love with him. He deserved to be put first and Nina couldn't give him that.

Any girl would be lucky to be even a friend of his. She knew that God had sent them to one another, but why would He choose her? There were a billion women in the world that He could've picked, but Nina was the chosen one. Why? She was no good for him.

What did Samir see in her? What did God see in her? What did they see that she couldn't? Searching for the answer stressed her out.

"I love you so much. Stop thinking. Just be here with me." Samir leaned his forehead against hers, reaching up to wipe away the tear that slipped out of her eye.

Nina quietly gasped, just now realizing that she was crying.

"I'm sorry." She sniffed.

"Do I even have to ask what you're sorry for?" His smile held a hint of sadness in it, making her sniff again.

"I want you so bad but I—I don't know what to do Mir."

"You don't have to cry ma. I'll be here when you ready. I'm not going nowhere." He told her.

"Why do you wanna wait around for me? What if I'm never strong enough to leave?"

"You are already strong enough. I believe in you." He said at the same time that the song repeated the lyric, and a faint smile returned to Nina's face.

"I'm scared.."

"Of what?" He asked.

"Starting over?" She said as if she wasn't sure of her answer.

"That's the best part of life. You should never want to succumb to the same thing every single day, especially when that thing is bad. You should want a clean slate where you are finally in control."

"Stop knowing what to say all the time. You need to let me stress." She playfully frowned at him but couldn't help but to smile as soon as he did.

"Never. You've done enough of that." He kissed her forehead before wrapping her up in a hug, and Nina dropped the dirty towel she held to hug him back.

Letting out a small sigh, Nina reached up to cover her face since she couldn't stop her tears and she was tired of continuously wiping them away. Samir held around her torso in a warm hug, now leaned against his Trackhawk that was parked two doors down from Nina and Tyler's house.

He wanted to tell her that if she was so sad to the point where she was crying, she should just stay with him, but he knew that the devilish figure on her shoulder wouldn't let her.

Tyler had been controlling her for five consecutive years, and before that it was her father. She'd never been in control of her own actions or her own mind, and that's why she felt the need to keep going back to the man who could never love her as much as Samir did.

But as he said, he would wait for her. He didn't know why he felt the need to, but he would. For however long it took.

"Ugh, I'm sorry. I know you have to go to work. I'm fine." She sniffed, seeing the time on his CarPlay screen that read 6:07a.m. and he usually left for work at 5:30 to clock in by seven.

"I'll come pick you up as soon as you call me. It don't matter what time it is, I'll come. Okay?" He tilted her head back to make her look at him, watching her nod.

"I love you so much my baby. So so much."

"I love you more Tinkerbell. I'm here for you." He gave her a kiss, and Nina pecked his lips six times in a row after he pulled away.

"Like the sun is for the sky. You see it everyday, huh? I'll be here for you everyday. No matter what." He kissed her forehead next, and her pout returned along with more tears.

"That is so corny but soooo cute. That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Why are you real? Oh my god I'm 'bouta kill myself." She dramatically hung her head back, then laughed when Samir tickled her neck.

"Ok I'm going, for real. I love you. Have a good day at work baby, I'm sorry for making you late." She gave him one more kiss before taking a step backwards so that he couldn't give her one because then she wouldn't leave.

"I love you more. Text me and let me know that you're okay." He blew a kiss at her, and she pretended to catch it then put her hand between her legs, earning a laugh in return.

When she made it to her house, she looked back to see that Samir was still leaning against his truck, watching her. She stared at him for a few moments before waving, and once he waved back, she walked up the stone pathway to her front door.

She tried not to cry as she approached the door because she knew Tyler was awake and getting ready for work and she didn't want him to think that he was the reason for her tears. She couldn't care less about him.

Reaching into the side pocket of her duffel bag where her keys were, she frowned once she pulled out a small stack of twenty dollar bills and a tiny piece of paper with Samir's handwriting on it.

If you still want braids, this is for that. If you changed your mind, this is for whichever hairstyle you decide on. Or you can keep the bun cause I think it's beautiful. I love you Tinkerbell. I miss you already.. 𖤓

Now she couldn't help but to allow a few tears to fall.

After swallowing the lump in her throat and drying up her face, she walked into their depressing house. The first thing she noticed was that her living room looked like someone had been sleeping in there.

Two blankets that were normally in the hall closet was thrown over the couch, a dirty plate and half full cup of an unknown liquid was on the coffee table, Cartoon Network was playing on the TV, and a familiar pair of jandals were scattered on the ground.

Although she didn't have the energy for it, Nina cleaned the mess up because she hated when any part of the house was dirty. That's the whole reason she didn't allow anyone to sleep over—and it looked like Tyler's brother, Jace, had done just that. That man was 31 and acted like he was still 10.

She figured he went to sleep in the guest bedroom since it took her ten minutes to clean up and he still wasn't back to lay on the couch. When she was done, she washed her hands and went to the bedroom.

The water running from the sink of the bathroom could be heard as she dropped her bag off in the closet and tossed her phone on the nightstand. Then, Tyler walked out just as she sat down on her side of the bed.

"What the fuck happened to you?" She stood right back up with a concerned frown at all of the bruises and swelling on Tyler's face.

"You should know. You've probably been at his house the whole time you've been gone." He told her, and genuine confusion replaced her expression.

"What are you talking about?" Though she was at another man's house, how did he know that and what did his face being beaten to a pulp have to do with Samir?

"Don't play dumb with m—,"

"Tyler why the fuck would I be playing right now? You think I would've been gone if I knew you were—like this?! Did you go to the hospital yet? What happened?" She began to get frustrated, and Tyler could tell, which meant that she really didn't know.

Both of his eyes were blacked—well, they were purple now—his nose had a bandage and splints as if it was broken, the right side of his jaw and his bottom lip was swollen while his top one and left eyebrow had stitches, and his neck had slight bruising as well.

He was shirtless and Nina could see more of the purple marks on both sides of his torso and a few on his stomach, too. What ever happened to him, it was bad and if he hadn't been to a hospital yet, it was definitely time to go.

"You didn't know?" His sore eyebrows furrowed in a small frown.

"Tyler what the fuck happened to you?" She repeated.

"A man came to the house and attacked me. I couldn't see his face because he was wearing a mask, but I made a report. I was released from the hospital last night and Jace was here with me but he left after he dropped me off. I called you a million times Nina. Where were you?"

"I was with Zyriah but I—I didn't know anything was wrong. My phone was powered off. When did this happen? You didn't see anything?" She grabbed his hand to pull him towards the kitchen, and he followed her even though he didn't know what she was doing.

"Like no description? Was it somebody you work with or something?" She grabbed a potato out of the pantry and a knife from one of the drawers.

"No, couldn't be anyone that I know. He had long hair—dreads I think. The one sticking out of the mask was blonde but that's all I saw. He was black." Tyler told her, and she almost froze in the middle of cutting the potato in half.

"I thought you knew him..I assumed you were cheating on me or something. I'm sorry."

"Why d—why did you think that?" She stuttered. Samir couldn't have done this. There was no way.

"He said 'next time you touch her I'll kill you', and that I wasn't going to 'hoe her'. Who've you been talking to? What other woman would he be talking about?" He asked.

"I literally have no idea. It could've been somebody that Brit knows. Maybe her ex boyfriend found out about y'all?" She came up with a lie on the spot while placing each potato half against his black eyes.

"This'll get rid of the swelling and the bruise. Trust me, I know." She turned on the sink to wash her hands, then frowned as Tyler removed one of the potatoes.

"You're lying to me." He said, and her frown deepened.

"I was trying to see if you'd tell the truth about him but you didn't. You just lied."

"Tyler what are you t—,"

"The guy from that Airbnb—he had black and blonde dreads just like the one who came to the house. Britney's ex has waves and you know that. You told me that you didn't know him, but I knew you did. I seen how y'all were looking at each other. And he came the night after you left. Do you think I'm dumb? You think it's a coincidence?"

"I really don't know wh—," Nina was cut off again.

"You don't think I went to Zyriah's house looking for you? You weren't there and you don't have any other friends. So I'm going to ask again. Do you think I'm dumb?" His head tilted to the side, and since she didn't have a lie prepared, she remained silent.

"What did you go and tell him to make him come to my house to fight? Do you see my face Nina?! You knew he was coming and you let it happen! I would never let anybody do this to you!" He raised his voice at her, pointing his finger.

"You're crazy and making things up. You cheated Tyler, not me. Don't try to flip it like I'm the cheater. That could've been anybody."

"And you're still lying. You weren't smart enough to delete the footage of him picking you up on the ring camera Ni—,"

"Well I wouldn't have had to if you wouldn't have raped me!" She screamed at him, and Tyler's hard expression immediately disappeared.

"What are you t—,"

"No, do not play that card with me! I told you I didn't want to do anything and I tried to push you off and you still did it! I was crying and you kept fucking going Tyler! It took me an entire year after we started dating for me to have sex with you because you know how I feel about that shit but you fucking did it anyway!" Tears were falling down her face while her yelling became louder.

"Baby I didn't m—,"

"It doesn't matter what you meant to do because you didn't do that, now did you? No, you raped me. That's what you did. W-when I say no or if I—if I cry, and y—you keep going, that's rape, Tyler. It is. That's what you did." She could barely talk through her cries as she repeated what Samir told her.

"No.. no, Nina I didn't—I thought—Nina you've cried before and I just thought it was the same, 'cause last time you said it was because it was good. Nina I didn't know. I would've sto—I didn't know Nina." He reached to touch her but she moved her arm away from him.

"Baby I wouldn't have knowingly did that to you. I would never hurt you, Nina. I'm so sorry. I didn't know." He wanted to hug her as she broke down in audible cries but didn't want to agitate her further.

"So why did you leave money? And your credit card? You told me to go shopping because you were trying to make up for it. You knew Tyler. You have never seen me cry like that, ever. Not during sex." She didn't want him to manipulate her this time. She was tired of that.

"No I—," he couldn't find an excuse to cover himself which made Nina cry harder. He knew.

"I can't do this anymore Tyler. I can't keep forcing something that isn't there. I can't keep pretending like you love me when you d—,"

"Yes I do. I do love you Nina." He frowned, standing by her near the sink.

"You raped me Tyler. That's not love." Her voice cracked, and he went silent again, losing her gaze.

"I didn't do it with bad intent—," He started to say but was cut off by the back of Nina's hand going across his already bruised face.

"How the fuck can you rape somebody with good intentions? Huh? Tell me how Tyler?" She didn't even feel bad for the slap even though she could see that he was in pain.

"I've put up with so much shit; cheating, a baby I didn't want, being forced into a life I don't want, degradation, you embarrassing me in front of your family and the church, you praising my dad—I just, I can't. I can't do this shit no more! It's not fair to me bro I would never do you wrong Tyler."

"Everything I do, it's to make you happy. I do what you want all the time and I'm tired of that. I deserve to be happy too. I deserve to be with somebody who lets me be me and doesn't judge me for that or try to make me be someone else. You do the opposite and I didn't see it until now but I'm tired, I am." She expressed.

"I want a divorce." Was the last thing she said, and Tyler's face dropped instantly.

Out of all the arguments they'd had, the bad days and the terrible ones, Nina had never asked for a divorce. She could become so pissed off that she wanted to kill him with her bare hands but she would never even think to mention divorce.

He wasn't sure how to respond to that. There was no way he'd divorce her. He wouldn't sign the papers if it paid him a billion dollars. Nina meant everything to him, believe it or not. He wouldn't know what to do without her.

"No. We can fix th—,"

"We can't keep forcing something that's not here Tyler. I'm tired. Here you go again—I'm asking for something that will make me happy and you want me to do what'll make you happy. I'm done with that." Nina frowned.

"I'm sorry, but it's not happening Nina. We can go to therapy, we can move—do whatever you want. I'm not paying or signing for a divorce. It's not happening." He walked away, dismissing the conversation without saying anything else.












I be seeing y'all post my books and stuff in the Twitter forum but I can't respond cause I got kicked out 😆 so don't think I hate y'all cause I don't