Under the Influence

Fire & Desire

Shawnie's POV

"I'm so happy you're okay," Aubrey said, hugging me and caressing my hair.

"Did you call the police?" I pull away and look up at him, getting straight to the point.

"Nah, I just came straight over when you called." He says

"Well, who the hell called them? We're at the top of a damn hotel building, who could've heard anything going on?" I say frustrated.

"I did." Mercedes slowly comes around the corner.

I let go of Aubrey and ran over to her, hugging her tightly. I'm happy she's okay. She tried to stand up for me.

"Are you okay?" I ask

"You know I'm good, but are you okay? All I saw was him slap you to the ground...I saw red. I can't believe he did that." She says

"I'm fine." I pull away from her, "Why did you call the cops?"

"I didn't know what he was going to do. I was scared for you." She says, "He literally picked me up and threw me out."

"I know, but you shouldn't have called them," I say

"I did what I needed to do. I don't know what he was doing to you. I've always told you when it came to that I was not gonna lie for you." She says

"Yeah, but I didn't want him to get arrested."

"Well, you could've lied like you always do." She says with a slight attitude. "Would you rather have your ass beat? I'm confused. At some point, you have to stop covering for him." Mercedes says, and I know she's right.

"I know, but he got arrested." I feel so sorry for him. I should've lied about it.

"Shawnie, I feel bad too, but that wasn't okay." She says

"Well, you did the right thing." Aubrey speaks up, "Thank you." He says to Mercedes.

Mercedes doesn't say anything; she smiles at him, being polite. I don't think she knows how to feel about him yet.

"Aubrey, this is my cousin, Mercedes. Mercedes, this is Aubrey."

Aubrey smiles, "It's nice to meet you."

She looks him up and down, "I know what you did, and I don't like you." She says with a straight attitude.

Aubrey shrugs, "That's fair." He says, "I did what I had to do..."

"So you broke up her family?" She says

"Mercedes!" I yell

"What?" She looked at me for a few seconds, "It's true."

"Technically, we were a family first. She might've been with him, but we created a family before all of this." He says

"No, you're not going to do this," I say to her, turning her around and trying to walk her away from him.

"Baby, it's fine. We have to have this talk." He says, stopping me. "We have to get this out, so we can move on and be a happy family."

She laughs, "...a happy family? Nigga, I don't like you." She says, and I hit her on her arm.

"Mercedes, I know you loved Chris, but as you can see, that had to end. You shared with me and everything. Not only did he put his hands on me multiple times, but he also did it to you. Aubrey is a good man—come on, we've talked about this."

"I know, it's just a lot to process. It all happened so quickly, my head is still spinning." She says

"I agree, but it's Aubrey and me now...the better option. Remember?"