DEDICATION | Book Two

C H A P T E R 30

C H A P T E R
T H I R T Y

         Walking into work Ahmad held the same dull and lifeless look he's been sporting around for the past two months and said no words to anybody as he made his way to his office.

Marcus, Shaun and Dave all shared a look towards each other and shook their heads in defeat.

He was slowly reverting back to his old self and everyone who knew him before the change had took notice to it. He wasn't laughing much anymore, he barely spoke or smiled and his eyes constantly held a look of sadness in them.

He was very short with his words since anytime he talked he constantly got choked up and would be on the verge of tears and breaking down. So to save himself he just kept his communication to a miniumn. Only spoke when needed to speak and that was it.

The past two months for Ahmad have been hell mentally and emotionally, he couldn't sleep at night without having dreams and thoughts of Cali and Reggie. Most of his nights where spent with him crying and sulking in pain and he hated that he was really reverting back to the one person he never wanted to face again.

He was honestly ashamed that the person who helped him become a better person and healed his broken spirit was the same one to do him dirty.

Words really couldn't express the hurt he was feeling at the moment and instead of opening up about them he bottled them up.

Eating was almost nonexistent if it weren't for the times when his mama would pop up at his new apartment with food and force him to eat. She and everybody else knew that if they just left it up to him he would probably accidentally on purpose starve himself.

They all knew he was hurting and knew he dealt with pain differently from others, and most of em just wished they could take the pain he was feeling away so he could get back to his old self.

The only time anyone would see him genuinely smile was whenever he was around his kids and spending time with them since they kept him going and made his fucked up life better. He was now only living for them and as the days passed he really couldn't see himself getting back with Cali after this.

He loved her no doubt in his mind, but that trust he had towards her was gone and for her to sleep with Reggie knowing he was basically an enemy towards Ahmad he couldn't respect that or even try to understand why she did that.

So he was done with everything.

His biggest issue was that they couldn't even make it a year together as a married couple and he felt that was a major sign that Cali just may not be the woman for him. And although it hurts him to think this way since he loves her more than words and emotions can express, he knew thinking logically it was all a sign.

Entering his office he wasn't shocked when he seen Travis, Meech and Rakim in his office laid on his floor and couch. It was officially summer and they had all started working for Ahmad basically being everybody's little assistants.

They kept the shop in order, ran errands for them, entertained the customers while they would wait to be seen for a tattoo and brought a little more excitement to the shop. It was a quick easy way for them to get money, and Ahmad was all for helping young black men stay on the right track.

Slapping hands with all of them, he walked behind his desk sitting the bag of food ontop of it before he began pulling out breakfast sandwiches to hand to them.