temptation «:|:» the weeknd

forty-three

forty-three

A bit over a month had passed since Abel decided to terminate all negative energy in his life and started going to church regularly. He hadn't missed out on any days aside from the Sunday he attended the Grammy's, where Drake was nominated for rap album of the year for the first time and won. Being able to share a part of that moment with him was something Abel would never regret. For all that, they had made history together and having his own name credited with arguably one of the greatest rappers on a come up let Abel know that he was on a path to bigger and better things.

The best part had to be having the people he loved surrounding him. From Cash and Hawk to his mother and Lamar, he knew one hundred percent that he couldn't have done it without them. It was them who stood by him when he decided to change his life for the better, even if they didn't share that same interest. It was his mother that brought him into this world and it was his team that accepted that he would always love Valerie.

And Valerie, his favourite attribute to the dwindling world he lived in. The brown-skinned goddess accompanied Abel everywhere he and his boys went. She sat backstage at all of the shows and right next to him on the pews at church. If Abel started to think too much and give in to the pressure of giving up, Valerie refocused his thoughts and encouraged him to push through. She supported his crazy-ass ideas and picked up on the little things that he said, mentally adding them to her personal notes.

They both were actively giving Temptation the middle finger and working on bettering themselves through the help of each other. Valerie didn't have to text Abel every ten minutes to determine if there was another female in the room and Abel didn't have to sugarcoat things with Valerie to protect her feelings anymore. Having her by his side made him no longer stressed and he was willing to go to extreme measures to show her how much he appreciated that. Living the lifestyle that he did was reckless enough for him alone so he understood that he had to keep his girl happy no matter what.

Abel furrowed his eyebrows while rolling his window down, waving his hand out at Hawk and Empress. His sister was blushing at something Hawk was whispering in her ear, which could only mean two things. One, Hawk is trying to get at Abel's sister and two, Abel is not going for any of that shit. He shook his head and looked over at Valerie, who was already peering at him with a funny look on her face. "You see these niggas right now?"

Valerie leaned forward to get a better view of the scenery from the driver's window. You could probably see Empress from a mile away beaming at whatever Hawk was saying to her. His arms wrapped around her from behind. His lips constantly moving by her ear. His lower body area a little bit too close for Abel's liking. "Aww, how cute."

There was nothing Abel could do or say to her response so he stared at her with narrowed eyes, occasionally blinking before refocusing his attention back to the two outside. "Ain't shit cute about that. That's my sister and he knows that I specifically told him that she's off-limits."

"Abel, she's grown as fuck. She doesn't need you to pick out who she's going to be in a relationship with."

Before she had the chance to say anything else, Abel was swinging the handle of his door open and removing himself from the seating position he was in. And Valerie expected what would happen next because he was the exact same way with her. Protective and perhaps a bit smothering at times, but in a good way nonetheless. But because she knew his tendencies and bad habits in addition to knowing that he was trying to work on them and better himself, she tugged on his arm before he could do the damage, only catching onto his wrist. Thankfully, it was enough to gain his attention.