"See, this is exactly why I wish we never met. You came into my life and you just keep shaking everything up!" She stressed, her stomach rumbling with rage. He only stared before his lips twitched into a smirk. "You don't even believe that dumb ass shit." --- She thought running would set her free, but freedom came with a price she wasn't sure she was ready to uphold. She ran from one trap straight into another. Dreams of dancing slip through her fingers when survival forces her into a world she would have to endure. She's dragged into the dark corners of Onyx city and life is nothing as she knew it. Then he appears. A boy who feels different, who makes her believe she might have more to live for than pain. Unfortunately, in the streets nothing is ever as it seems. Every bond comes with secrets, every touch with consequences. And when betrayal cuts deeper than love, she'll learn the hard way what it really means to be slimed out. STARTED; September 18th 2025 PUBLISHED; September 27th 2025

"Bruh that's twin fa real"

She runs a luxury beauty lounge. He runs routes in the NFL. When soleia Carter and Jeremiah smith cross paths, neither is looking for love - but the chemistry? Instant. She's not impressed by status. He's tired of women chasing his name. But the more they collide, the harder it gets to stay in their own lanes. Because some games aren't played on the field... and hearts don't always follow the rules. 🥇#1 in athlete 🥇#1 in latto 🥇#1 in black fiction 🥇#1 in Atlanta 🥇#1 in entrepreneur 🥇#1 in Jeremiah smith 🥈#2 in romance fiction #4 in urban fiction

Riani, feeling eyes on her Iooked over seeing Kiari staring at her. "Why are you staring." Riani chuckled playing in Kiaris hair. "You're just beautiful." He shrugs still not looking away. "Oh for real." She asked breaking out into a smile and he hummed in response. Riani stares back into Kiari's low redish eyes before smiling and pecking his lips. He grabbed her neck kissing her back, then backing away and running his tongue across his bottom lip as he stared at her some more. "I love you, Riani." He finally got it off his chest. Something that he has been waiting to tell her for the longest.

" 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓? 𝑶𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 " 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 - 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓, 𝑺𝒁𝑨 "𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔?" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅. "𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉," .𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉, 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 "𝑶𝒉 𝒆𝒎 𝒈𝒆𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 -" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒕..

"they got nothin on you baby"!

Two people from two different worlds falling in love with each other ..

𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 ♡

Damn, college really is the best part of yo life. Especially at an HBCU.

" I don't even like you like that." Her face scrunched up in disgust watching water drip from curls in his hair. " 'Cause you love me. Just like I love you." He retorted with a grin, disregarding the deflecting she was doing. --- They were two sides of the same city-until one move split them down the middle. Elijah and London were inseparable once, bonded by childhood summers, beat-up bikes, and secrets too deep for anyone else to know. Unfortunately, when Elijah's mom packed up and moved her family across Onyx to a rival neighborhood, everything changed. She always thought when she spoke to him again he would've changed like her. She was witty, sarcastic, and had a low tolerance, but he was still the same calm , sweet, cute boy with a heart the size of the sun. Some things haven't changed. Some things never change. The pull between them, the memories that still burn etched marks in their brain, and the words they never said out loud. In a world where loyalty can be life or death, and love isn't always enough to cross old lines, Elijah and London find themselves circling each other again. --- STARTED; MAY 26th, 2025 PUBLISHED JUNE 6th, 2025 FINISHED; SEPTEMBER 27th 2025