"Montana, come here." He nodded his head toward the door, leaving out of the room. Staying silent as Ms. Carol looked at me, I kissed the back of Josiah's hand before leaving out of the room. As I walked out, Messiah stood there looking at me in disgust while I closed the door. "What are you doing that shit for?" "Huh?" I said since I had nothing else to say, just trying to stall time to get my words together. "Why are you stripping, Monty?" Sighing, I decided that I wasn't going to lie like I'd originally planned to do after listening to Chocolate's stupid advice. "Money." I spoke simply and he scoffed as I looked down. "Why not just ask Josiah for money instead doing hoe shit?" "First of all, It's not doing hoe shit. I don't have sex with anyone. I just dance. And I don't want to ask him for any money. It's not his job to take care of me." "So stripping..." He trailed off with a laugh. "..stripping was the last resort? Instead of putting your pride aside?" Saying nothing, I just looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't tell him, Messiah." I could already tell by the look on his face that he was going to tell him. "I ain't gon' tell him.." Thank God. I thought. "..you are." "What?!" I shrieked. "No. I'm not." "You are." He spoke in a demanding tone. "Please. You know how he is." I expressed "And you know how he is too but you made that bed." "Messiah, he's going to kill me." I begged. "I know." He shook his head, walking away from me. "Better figure it out. You got until the end of the day to tell him or I will." He mumbled before walking back into the room.

"Hello, Sincere. How are you feeling today?" "Same as everyday, can't sleep, can't eat.." I trailed off, looking down at Sinclair who had a perfect mixture of both V and I. "That's not good." She said and I shrugged. "None of this is." I said and she nodded understandingly. "Have faith." She said, placing her hand on my shoulder and I nodded. I tried hard to keep the tears in because I had to be strong for everybody. The family was really going through it and I just wanted her back in my arms. V had my heart and if I lost her for good, I'd never look for love again. The doctor walked out as I sat there quietly and Clair looked over my face while she made spit bubbles. I bit my bottom lip, holding back tears as I looked at V laying there with tubes in her. Not able to hold on any longer, I broke down. "Baybeh, I need you..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "I need you so bad, I can't do this shit. I can't do life with you." I explained, looking down at the floor. "We need you, ma." My voice cracked, looking over to Sinclair who was still looking up at me. "Our baybeh girl is so beautiful, ma. I want you to see her, I want you to see her grow up. I want you to be here with us.." I trailed off, collecting my words. I wiped my face as more tears poured down and I shook my head, sighing deeply. "Wake up, baybeh." I spoke, breaking down as I bit my bottom lip.

𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐓𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞, 𝐊𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬.

"𝖨'𝗆 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗋𝗒𝗇𝖺 𝗀𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽, 𝖠𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗌. 𝖠𝗅𝗅 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗀𝗈𝗍𝗍𝖺 𝖽𝗈 𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝖺𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖾𝗍𝗌 𝗍𝗈𝗈." (Shooting Stars, Book 1)

Every time Isaiah looked at himself in the mirror, he was constantly reminded of the most traumatic moment of his life. He grew to hate himself until Namiko randomly waltzed into his life one day and began teaching him how to love himself again. It was as if she was his second chance. He'd been so pissed off all night to the point where he was physically shaking like a ticking bomb. This one hug from her felt like the rainbow after a severe thunderstorm. He couldn't believe that his sanity really depended on her. He'd never reached this point of love before. She brought him so much peace. That's why he loved her the way that he did; the reason why he couldn't stand to spend a single second away from her and why he depended on her to keep him sane. She was just it; like a breath of fresh air. He never expected the woman that ended up stealing his heart would be a real life Disney Princess wandering cluelessly around New York City; an autistic one, at that.

In a world where most believed toxicity was necessary to go through in order to find real love, she brought it to him in the purest way possible. His Angel, the Obsession.

First time we fucked, we ain't really plan it.. But now I'll be making love to you through him...

Sometimes life gets weird. You lose hope, then you'll fall down, but then you'll get back up again. Sage did. So hang in there; it gets better, with time. A short story.