a story about falling in and out of love. Bear with me, this is my first book! Book 1: Published 02/2020, Completed 04/2022 Book 1 Shut Up & Listen (complete) __/ When the one secret that kept childhood best friends Cole and Cobe at a distance is finally revealed, they become closer than ever in both the best and worst ways. Book 2 Shut Up & Listen: A Little Late (complete) __/ New relationships shed light on old forgotten ones, bringing up heartbreak and trauma. When familial strings long frayed are tied back together, will it the knot hold or will the effort be a little too late? Book 3 Shut Up & Listen: The Nullification of Black (complete) __/Feeling wind-like, Lonnie aka Black fends for himself in this long awaited growth spurt. History is revealed. Reputations are put to a halt! Friendships become love! Wounds are healed! But, something has to die for a new thing to thrive, right? Right?! no1 in #blacklit [12.16.2020-present] no2 in #detroit [12.31.2020] no1 in #celebrateblackstories [04.01.2021] no1 in #lukejames [09.04.2021] no4 in #socialissues[05.13.2022] no2 in #blackbxb[05.15.22] no1 in #urbanbxb [10.22.2022] no12 in #youngromance [11.23.2023]

𝖔𝖍 𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖞, 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑 𝖉𝖔𝖊𝖘𝖓'𝖙 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖆 𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝖋𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖘, 𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖘 𝖙𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖉𝖎𝖘𝖌𝖚𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖘 𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖞𝖔𝖚'𝖛𝖊 𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖉 ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ love is dangerous, loving him is deadly, i tasted the sweetness of sin once, and i became addicted, am i crazy? maybe. but my dark King is worth more than any knight in shining armor. and beautifully fucked up are we. ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ a/n : mature viewers only you will meet the love interest in chapter 4/5 ♡ ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ #boardingschool : 1 #bad : 17 #richkids : 1 #romance : 7 #teenfiction : 5 #teenromance : 1 BOOK 1 IN A TRILOGY

If my life is without you, it may never be the same. I crossed that street, only for debris to set me back. The busy streets washed past us trampling over everything we once had. The honking blocked my ears of the lies you told only making me want to prolong my stay. The cars, trucks and buses ran over my overly tired pumping heart that seemed to mean nothing to you. We let the bystanders come between us distancing us farther and farther away from each other. The tug you had on my heart stopped traffic, only allowing me to realize that I was All Grown Up, and I still couldn't manage to cross the street to His Block.

Fifteen years have passed and a whole new generation of the Sinclair's, Smith's and Jones's are in full affect and ready to take on the world and all that comes with it. In this big world that many people call home, one may struggle with trying to find their purpose or who they truly are and with this being a very trying time in most of their young lives each of them are about to experience something about themselves that they didn't even know existed. Doing the best that could as parents, they all laid out the blueprint on how to survive this world to create the perfect path for each of their kids to follow so they wouldn't make the same mistakes they did growing up. But as one may know, as a young-adult life just seems a lot harder and the pressure of wanting to just stay young or to grow up is always a constant battle to deal with. So the question now is will each of these young individuals make it to the destination each of their parents have set for them to follow to help guide them in the right direction? Or will they let the world's distractions & temptations lead them astray?

"Woah, slow down. What?" I heard him say and I furrowed my eyebrows, looking up. "Ma.." He trailed off and I already knew it was his mother. "That has nothing to do with you." He said and I sat up because I could hear him getting angry. "What's wrong?" I asked him and he put his phone on speaker. "I can't believe you got that little.." She trailed off, too angry to even get her words out. "..whore pregnant, Sage." "And then the little slut gets an abortion, I hope she knows that she will rot in hell." She said and my heart dropped. He hung up the phone on her before she could say anything else. "Baby." He looked at me as I bit my lip, standing to my feet. "Olive." He stood to his feet as well. I quickly walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind me before Sage could catch me. I broke down crying as he stood on the other side of the door. "Babygirl, I love you." "I love you too." I told him, breathing heavily. "Don't cry, love. Nothing she says matters, she's just mad because I love you so much and there's nothing she can say to change that." "Open the door for me please?" I wiped my face before I slowly opened the door for him. "I'm done with her." He said, shaking his head. He pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around my waist as he shoved his head into my neck. "Until she can learn to respect you as my lady, she's out of our life."

"I'm not giving up cause without her..." "What" "Without her I am nothing... I know I did some fucked up shit but me and her ... we inseparable."

My dad was a drug lord, biggest drug lord there was. His name was Carlos Cortez but in the streets they called him Lucien, why? I don't know and I don't care. My dad kept me away from everything that he did in the streets, he even changed my name just so people wouldn't find out who I really am. My dad was always there for me, him, my mother Tasha and my brother Malcom but that changed when I turned 12, then it changed again when I turned 15. They say it's in my blood, they say it runs through the Cortez family but I'm not so sure about that. I was born a Cortez and I can't do the shit that Cortez's do. I guess I'm just not cut out to be a Cortez.

[I initially wrote this in 2017, but I am doing a big re-write in July of 2021, I hope you enjoy the updated version!] Bria is a straight A student in high school, who at 17, is faced with the responsibility of taking care of her younger brother, balancing school..and social activities. Christopher isn't as much as a star student, he's not great when it comes to school, but he's a social butterfly and popular with girls. After being assigned as permanent partners in a class, the pair (who aren't very fond of each other) find themselves growing closer over a rumor, a fake relationship, and their common struggle with abuse and family issues. When they're both faced with deep, dire situations, they look to each other for help. [UNDER EXTREME EDITING]

[COMPLETED] "You're so beautiful." He whispers, his thumb brushing against my bottom lip. "It's a shame you won't be so much when I'm finished with you. I'm gonna play you like a piano, my precious girl." "We shouldn't be doing this Cyrus." I whisper staring up at him. His face hardens and he slips his thumb in between my lips. "Open your legs for me, pretty baby." In which a dominant, thirty year old man, who has never been in a serious relationship, becomes infatuated with a twenty-three year old black girl.

He lied to her for a month about his true identity so in retrospect he lost her. Sadly he fell in love with the woman who is now his executive assistant and he still wants her. He takes a last shot to get her back. Will he get back the only woman he has ever loved? _______________________________________________ Excerpt His head snaps up when I speak. I quickly turn around and wipe my face. "I'm really sorry." "It's ok." The Liar says. I take a deep breath and turn back around, taking the seat next to Mr. Bennet. "Mr. Heights. It is very nice to meet you." I say as I cross my leg over the other. Changing soon