Loved By You

Twenty-nine

Maja

"Nope," Arnell said. "Nell!" Nadia said. "No, she needs to stay with Angelo. Dimitri only wants her because he feels like he wasn't there to protect you from Richard's nasty ass. Oh, and please believe he will be dealt with." Arnell said sipping her fourth glass of wine. "That may be true but the two of them never had the chance to be together as parents. Giving Samiya both her parents." I opened my mouth to speak but Arnell cut me off. "She has both her parents now though." "You know what I mean. Together in one household." Arnell shook her head. "No, you're just trying to romanticize this instead of being realistic." I sat there annoyed because they were talking about me as if I wasn't even there. My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked seeing it was Angelo. I quietly made my exit and answered my phone. "Hello." "You okay?" I leaned over on the counter. "As good as to be expected." "That's good?" He said. "Yeah, my sisters are discussing today's events."

"Good." He said. "Are you okay?" I asked. He chuckled. "Even after today you still manage to worry about everything else besides yourself." I sighed. "And you're avoiding the question." I chimed. "I'm going to send you an address. Will you come?" I looked at the time seeing it was going on 11:45 p.m. "Yeah."

--

I followed the directions to the address Angelo sent me and it brought me to this high rise. "Wow?" I mumbled as I parked. I slowly walked towards the entrance only to stop when I saw Angelo standing by the door. He grabbed my hand and leading me inside. He greeted the workers as he made his way to the elevator. I stood there next to him confused with several questions running through my head. I was knocked out of my thoughts when he pulled me out of the elevator. We walked down the hall before he came to a door that said 1090. He pulled out his key and opened the door letting me go in first. I walked inside looking at everything but stopped when I came to this huge picture frame collage. There were several family photos but the ones that stood out to me were the ones of Angelo when he was younger. They looked like professional headshots. "I used to do a little modeling when I was younger." I turned and looked at him seeing his low bloodshot eyes. "Angelo are you okay?" I asked once again. He chuckled. "Come smoke with me."

He went and sat on the couch and looked at me before he pulled out a blunt. I took it and sat on the couch with my feet propped up. He came and rested his back against me before he grabbed the remote turning the tv on. "Oh no, we're going to talk," I said taking the remote. "Come on Maja..." He groaned.

"Nope after the day I had, I just want to talk." He looked up at me before sighing, "I found out somethings about my mother side of the family. My birth mother's family." He whispered the last part. "What things?" I said wrapping my arms around him. "I've never told you how my mother died." He said. "No," I said softly. "She was killed by a drunk driver." My heart sank when he said that.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I never asked for any details because I didn't want to think about my mother dying like that. That was until today." Confusion quickly became evident on my face. "What do you mean?" I asked. "I had my uncle looking into Richard to try and find anything that could possibly be used against him. He dug around and found a news clipping about Richard and my mother." My eyes widened. "He was the driver that hit my mom. The only reason more people don't know is because his family has had a long-standing relationship with some police, judges, and several government officials. They made it go away. Like my mother's life meant nothing." He said as his body tensed.

He took a breath before continuing. "After I left you today I went to talk to my dad. They threatened him with several sanctions that would leave him locked up in federal prison if he said anything." He explained as he released a puff of smoke. He got up and walked out of the room and soon enough I heard a loud crash. I got up and rushed off in the direction that he went only to find an array of things scattered across the floor. He was about to destroy something else until I went and stood in front of him. He stared at me with a hard gaze before tears welled up in his eyes.

He buried his face in the crook of my neck as he cried. I wrapped my arms around him as I rubbed his back trying my best to comfort him.

Angelo

I tightened my grip around Maja as I felt her massage my head. "Are you feeling any better?" She asked. I stayed quiet because honestly, I didn't know how I was feeling. She sighed. "Okay you don't have to talk, but your phone was ringing while you were sleeping. It was your mom." I was starting to fall back asleep as she kept playing with my hair until she said that last part. "What did she want?"

"You didn't tell me you stormed out on your parents." She said sternly. "I didn't necessarily storm out but I did leave abruptly." She laughed. "But do you know what would make me feel better?" I asked. She had picked up her phone when she said, "What?" I leaned up and kissed her neck before I reached her ear. "Let's get some food," I whispered making her yell with laughter.

--

After we finished our ice-cream I was laying on Maja and I had noticed that she kept looking at her phone. Maja sighed before rolled her eyes and locking her phone. "Something wrong?" I asked as I rolled off her. She looked up at me hesitantly. "Go on you can tell me," I said nonchalantly. "Dimitri kissed me." I looked at her for a minute. "Tell me what happened," I asked softly. She sighed. "He says he changed and he wants me back." She said softly. "He wants me to give him another chance for Sami's sake." She said as she leaned her head on my shoulder. "Which led to a kiss?" I asked. "Yes." She said softly. "Do you want him back?" She hesitated before she finally spoke. "I don't think so," Maja said. "You don't think so?" I mimicked. "I'm confused, alright."

My eye narrowed. "How don't you know? You either want him or not." I said. "I'm not saying it like I just want to be with him but he made some good points about giving Sami a chance at having both her parents together. Then Arnell made some good points on why I shouldn't." I stared at her which made her sigh. "I'm conflicted, alright. I don't know if I should give Dimitri another chance because if things don't work out it would just confuse Sami." She whined. When I called Maja to come over to my place I was a little more than fucked up and the only person I wanted to see was her.

Then she tells me Dimitri kissed her and honestly, I'm not mad at her. Seeing her today and how she was able to handle Richard, her parents, her child and her ex-was impressive. But yet in the back of my head, I felt like I was blocking her chance of being with Dimitri and giving Samiya a chance at a complete family. After spending one day with Samiya I could tell that having both her parents together was the highlight of this entire vacation for her. "....so, I feel like he might have a point but he's still full of shit." I tuned back in just as she finished. I couldn't help but laugh as she always managed to throw a jab at any chance she got. "Then there's you." She said looking down at me as she straddled me. "Me?" I asked genuinely confused.

"I've come to terms with the fact that I like you." I faked gasped. "You like me. I would never have guessed." I said making her roll her eyes. "Shut up." I laughed as she smacked her lips. "When I first got to college I jumped into a relationship because I was trying to get these thoughts out my head." She said looking away from me. "What thoughts?"

"Richard really fucked with my head. He used to say if anybody ever found out that I slept with the governor for that matter I'd be labeled a whore and my reputation would be fucked. Or that if someone found out about things we did no one would want me. So I jumped into a relationship with Alexander he tried but I was so hot and cold with him which eventually led to him cheating on me. Then Joseph he really cared a lot about me but I couldn't be myself with him because I felt like I wasn't good enough for him. I realized that's how I felt with Alexander so I just decided to quit dating and stay to myself. Then you came." She said climbing off me.

"Maja, Richard was and is a predator. They get into their victim's head and fuck it up so it will be easier for them to manipulate their victims. You're a victim, yes but you're still healing. Like you said you used to be closed off and look how much you've opened up to me. Don't let that man hinder your growth, baby." I said pulling her into my arms. I laid us back down and she wrapped her legs around my waist as I rested my head in the crook of her neck. "You're an amazing woman and don't let that man's words get to you because he's a sick demented person who will get everything that's coming to him," I said meaning every word.

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