Redemption | A Drake Duology (2016)

F & D • 11 • New Publicity

Roman

The California sun shone brightly into Sadie's bedroom. I groaned waking up from my short nap. I was still adjusting to the time difference. It was rough but I was sleeping much better than I did my first night here.

"Rise and shine again," Sadie chuckled looking up from her book. "Driz called you... a few times,"

"Thanks," I mumbled rubbing my eyes and grabbing my phone. As soon as I grabbed it, it lit up with a message from him. I didn't even bother to look at it. I just tossed my phone back onto the night stand and sat up.

"Don't be like that, Ro." Sadie mumbled. "Take it from me, you'll never fix your marriage by avoiding your problems,"

I sighed preparing for a lecture. If anything, I should be listening to her. She was fresh out of a marriage that failed due to her lack of communication. He was much like Aubrey when it came to talking things out but she was never able to do so and it drove him away. Now she had to watch him love another woman—one who created insecurities that Sadie never knew existed.

She was well put together and financially stable, not to mention she was a stallion—curvy, perfect cheekbones, and a small waist. She was humble, and never spoke bad about Sadie even after her attempted attack. She was even caring for their son, Isaiah, as if he was hers. That scared Sadie to death but she wanted him to have the life that she didn't have when she was child and if Ayana could make that happen, she would compromise. Lord knows that I didn't want to be in a situation like that. I just needed time to figure out what I was feeling before bringing it up.

"I know," My reply was quiet. I'd been blowing Aubrey off all week. I acted busy so that I didn't have to talk to him. He would read me in a matter of seconds and I wasn't ready to talk about how Ellis' words bruised me. Though I knew his words were spiteful, they still made me insecure. Part of me already believed that Aubrey was just stringing me along because he knew that it was hard to let him go but the other part of me believed that he was really trying to help us get back on track.

"What time are you meeting with Bleu?"

"In about an hour. I should probably start getting ready,"

"You should, you know your ass is never on time for anything." Sadie chuckled closing her book. She was right, I always needed a head start if I was expected at a certain time.

I got out of bed and sauntered into the bathroom to perform my normal hygiene routine. I dressed appropriately for the stuffy weather and left. The entire ride to the park, I was nervous. My palms were sweaty and my heart was racing. I hadn't spoken to Bleu since returning home from the hospital and I couldn't lie, I missed him dearly. Aside from Sandi, he was my only support system so moving to Dubai was a challenge. I had to adjust and really learn how to deal with certain things alone. It helped but it was painful.

I parked and made my way to the area we agreed to meet at. He was standing alone with his hands in his pockets. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet and looked around for me.

"Hey," I called out making him look back. His smile was wide making me join him in the excitement as I reached out to hug him tightly.

"It feels like I haven't seen you in decades!" He chuckled pulling away. "How have you been?"

"I'm making it," I said lowly. "At least I'm trying to,"

He nodded. "I get it. We miss you man," He admitted. "All of us. Even 40. It's been one hell of ride with OVO,"