Thy Neighbor II: Lovin' The Crew

Prologue

I ain't trying to win you back, Ciara. So that's not my move. You just need to know how trash this dude is. You deserve better, straight up.

Y'lan had enough as he witnessed Trevante flirt with another waitress at the bar where he sat with Yahya, Michael and a litany of fraternity brothers. He became enraged watching Trevante put another woman's number into his phone. It was the fourth of the night and at this point, he blamed it on things beyond the alcohol. Trevante didn't care about Ciara, he thought. He just wanted to add her to his roster. She was his trophy to be won, waiting for Ciara to finally give him what he wanted. Because the Ciara he knew wouldn't give in.

Even though he and Ciara failed to speak to each other since the Proverbs event that past summer, Y'lan would often see Ciara at events and other church functions across the city. He struggled to keep his eyes off of her, wanting so desperately to break the wall of ice she built between them. Unfortunately, he knew that he didn't deserve to hold even a second of conversation with her.

But then one day, she somewhat relented. Ciara saw Y'lan at Archie's, the hoagie spot near campus. Eating lunch with one of his mentees, Y'lan made a haphazard peace offering and got up to pay for Ciara's cheesesteak. Y'lan didn't know that Ciara just got off the phone with Trevante, who tried and failed to start another round of phone sex with her inside of her office. Trevante broke her down enough to have that happen a few times. She felt so damn trashy afterwards. Phone sex inside the office of a Christian non-profit? What special seat in Hell was waiting for her?

But she thought that if she did that enough – if she gave him a taste of her within her bogus limits – then he'd hold on for her. She thought she was ready to make things official, to have sex with Trevante. It'd been close to four months since that morning when he kissed her after making her eggs. They were walking sex bombs. She couldn't take it and she thought he couldn't too. He couldn't ... but he satisfied his cravings. Gym manager – and a new girl – found their way into his apartment even after he and Ciara decided to see where things would go. So as Ciara acted as a girlfriend, Trevante acted non-committed as usual.

So after Y'lan paid for her food, Ciara wanted so bad to go back to what she knew, her way to prove that she was desired and wanted. And since she knew that Y'lan always wanted her that way, she picked him out of the lineup for a potential revenge plot. Nevermind that she still hated his guts.

She asked Y'lan if he was busy that night and he said no, even though he had a work meeting. He waited for this moment to happen and right before his eyes – the faint smell of beef and lamb surrounding them – she asked him to come over for dinner. "So they can catch up."

Y'lan never made it over.

Ciara found herself in Trevante's bed. She broke down and gave him what he wanted. She didn't want to lose him. While the sex was almost everything she thought it would to be, she kept her back to him as they slept in his bed. She wouldn't let Trevante hold her. Ciara left his apartment before Trevante could wake up in the morning and ask for more.

But as Ciara reads Y'lan's text, telling her that she deserves better, she's not surprised. No anger courses throughout her body. No desires to "get Trevante back" pop into her mind. She places her phone down next to her laptop and continues to work through her thesis paper. However an unexpected knock at her door changes her escape route from the pain...