Thy Neighbor II: Lovin' The Crew

Chapter Twenty-One

Trevante pretended to put mad numbers into his phone and flirted with too many bartenders for free drinks when Ciara received that text from Y'lan. Staring into the laptop she hid from her friends, she trades looks between her paper and her phone going off from multiple texts from Y'lan.

The texts get sloppier by the second.

He's a fuck nigga. Straight up.

You deserve better.

I messed up with you. I'm sorry.

What does he do that I couldn't do for you, yo

I mis us.

Ciara tries to ignore each text message but that challenge becomes even more difficult. She knows that Y'lan is mad that Trevante won a war that, in all honesty, Y'lan never took part in. Of course Y'lan is jealous of Trevante, she thinks. Look at him, his career, his girl ... emphasis on his girl. Y'lan may be saved by Jesus but he's nothing but a sanctified fuckboy in Ciara's eyes.

A fuckboy that she wishes she could fuck.

Ciara's feelings for Y'lan went absolutely nowhere after Y'lan spilled his guts to her at the coffee shop. Y'lan was always who Ciara wanted. Y'lan just couldn't claim her and despite what he did to her, she knew he'd changed for good. She could see the redemption and remorse in his words and actions.

She also knew Trevante to be a brat when it came to women who maybe couldn't change. Ciara wasn't naive. She would see the gym manager leave his apartment on the nights Trevante thought Ciara would be late from school. He couldn't hide the fact that he satiated his need with other women until Ciara gave the green light. She wanted to drop Trevante for not being honest with her about what he couldn't handle but yet she relented. She was tired of being single. And maybe wanted to get back at Y'lan.

Her live and real vengeful tick takes a backseat once Mahalia knocks on her door. "Umm, Ci ... there are three dumb fine dudes at our door and one of them is asking for you. Girl, uh...those prayers actually are working for me, huh?" Ciara sits bewildered at the thought of who it could be. Once she walks down the steps and catches eyes with one of those three manifestations, she answers with a smile.

"Winston, what's up?"

Winston couldn't get Ciara off of his mind as he sat in planning meetings after meetings, so much that his friends, Aldis and Luke, had to snap him back into reality. Once he told him about who had him on edge and that she had two homegirls up here with her, they hatched a plan to take a trip over to the house. Faith without works is dead.

The works included dinner and a bottle of wine.

"They came with gifts, shit." Ashley quips as Ciara gently smacks her shoulder. "...and I ain't talking about what's in their hands." Ciara smacks her again with even more force. "Y'all excuse her..."

Luke bites his lower lip. Ashley responds with a lip bite of her own. Mahalia changed into something a bit more comfortable.

Ciara grows scared.

Winston's heart grows.