Side by Side: An August Alsina Urban Novel

The halls were quiet while everyone slept. “Who is it?” there was no answer, just a soft knock. Reluctantly, she slipped from her bed and rubbed her eyes as she made her way to the door. She didn’t have to look through the peep hole to know who it was. No words were exchanged between the two as he took his shoes off, then his shirt and finally his pants. “When will this end?” he pulled her close and mumbled into her neck, “Whenever we make it baby girl, you won’t want for anything I promise.” Her mind raced as they laid there in their usual silence, both not wanting to speak anymore on the subject. “I love you, but I can't take this anymore, worrying about you out in these streets.” Her whispers weren’t heard though, he was already softly snoring next to her, no longer worried about whatever bad deeds that were done that night…

Some people considered August to be her best friend, others thought that they had something going on, but nobody knew what was really going on between the two, them included. He was her protector, for as long as she could remember, August was there to save her from whatever trouble was coming her way. No she never asked for it, he just showed up one day, out of the blue really; but from that day on he promised he wouldn’t leave and to this day he hasn’t. When she told him she wanted to go off to college, he turned his application in right along with hers. Even though school wasn’t his thing he did it for her, to be with her. That didn’t mean he would stop doing the only thing he ever knew how to do, what he was bred to do. No matter how much he loved her, he could never give it up.

August knew from the moment that he laid eyes on her, she was different. She didn’t try to figure him out, yet she acted as if she knew his life story. People always gave her a hard time, but he didn’t know why. She was beautiful, standing at 5’7”, she wasn’t thick but her body was amazing and got him hard if he scanned her for too long. Her hair always smelled like peaches and it touched her waist when she straightened it, which was rare. Her skin was the color of burnt caramel and her eyes were a mixture of green and grey. She was like a girl straight out of a magazine, but that’s not what attracted him to her. She was so quiet, not like all of the other girls from their side of town. He never saw her out at a party and when he did see her it was at the corner store where she worked. School was her main priority and she was determined to make it and not have to look back. Valedictorian, #1 in the state academically, that was her. Her intellect drew him to her, and he just couldn’t let go.

She helped him beat the odds and graduate and he helped her see the beauty within herself, together nothing could get to them. She accepted the bad in his life that not even his own family could get passed. But now it was starting to control him. August could see it in her eyes how much it was getting to her and all he wanted to do was quit to make her happy, but how would he make it? His hustle was his survival and without it he wouldn’t know how to get by.