Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Nineteen

    Mia handed Soraya to Bri, but didn't know what to do with her hands. Hooking her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans, she walked further into the living room and sat down on the couch. "So...hi."

    "You already said that." Drake turned his head to the side, a signal that Chubbs and Tank picked up on. The two men made themselves scarce.

    Her eyes lingered on Chubbs and Tank; for some reason, she didn't want to be alone in the room with her boyfriend. This was a conversation that she didn't want to have. She knew what he was going to say; she knew why he was here. But he couldn't undo the things he'd done, and he couldn't undo the plans that she'd made for herself. "You're here because you think that I'm going to leave you. You think that you have to keep me from leaving you by making some big, grand gesture to prove to me that you love me."

    "I fucked up."

    "So did I," she admitted. "When Rihanna and her team brought this arrangement to us, you didn't want to do it. I wanted to show you how secure I was in our relationship. I wanted to support you, and wanted to show that our relationship was strong enough to overcome anything - even this silly setup with her. But that was stupid of me. It was me setting both of us up."

    To say that he looked relieved to hear her words was an understatement. His face relaxed, and he took a step forward. "We can have your stuff moved back in. Go back to how it was before, how happy we were before."

    "We can't do that, Aubrey," she said after a sigh. "Not quite yet."

    His brows furrowed in confusion. "Why not?"

    "Because the goals that I have for myself, they're still there. I still want to take my career to the next level. I still want to be a boss bitch."

    "You already are."

    She slowly shook her head. "No, I'm not. I'm on my way, but not quite there."

    He frowned and paced in front of her. "All right, we can release another collaboration track. Or pull a Sean and Jhene, and release an entire album together. Announce a joint tour, shoot a few music videos."

    Her initial urge was to laugh at his words, but he'd spoken in such a serious tone that she held back her laughter. There was so much love and determination in his voice. "A boss bitch doesn't need to rely on her man to help bring her up, Aubrey."

    "No, I know you don't need to," he asserted. "But you have me. I'm here. So why not?"

    "Because..." She shook her head exasperatedly. "You don't get it."

    "You want to take your career to the next level, and you don't want my help to do it. You want to do it on your own."

    "Yes," she replied vehemently. "You've already been sweet enough to give me that first push, when you brought me onstage at OVOFest."

    "That feels like a lifetime ago, now," he said softly.

    A sad smile curved her lips. "It does." She looked away from him. "You gave me that first push, but I want to go the rest of the way on my own."

    He ran a hand across his forehead. "Yeah, okay, but...you can still stay with me while you do that."

    "I need some time on my own, Aubrey."

    The little bit of color he had rushed from his face. "So..."

    "I'm going to stay in my own condo while building my own career up."

    "What about us, though?"

    "We do us. I work on my thing, and you continue building up what you have."