"𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘢 i thought you was gone give up on me" ( there's no smut in this book )

"𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲" "𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 ..."

𝐁𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙆 2

Based in 2020, outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia Capri Laurent, a 19 year old community college student pursuing a degree with no real end goal in mind. Living at home with his parents, sister and baby bo, his life isn't as easy as it appears to be. Having his son at the ripe age of 17, Capri has to make ends meet for his kid, especially when the mother wasn't exactly in the picture. As if his life wasn't hard enough, after his son is diagnosed with autism Capri isn't sure how their lives will look for them. Playing the cards he was dealt, he grows, like a rose through concrete- with help of course. Harlem Santino, a 20 year old with dreams higher than he can reach. Harlem had always been amazing in sports, you name it- football, soccer, baseball, but basketball owned his heart. It was his passion, what kept the light shining bright in his big brown eyes. With a once in a lifetime opportunity with a full basketball scholarship to GSU Harlem would have been stupid to turn it down. However life had a twisted and fucked up way of making good people hurt. When his mother and only living family member is diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer Harlem is forced to touch bases with old connects and pick up a not so safe side hustle. All while balancing his sport management degree and his grilling basketball requirements. Seemingly both alone in their own ways, who knew that an old hardly in use skating rink, a few joints, and good old r&b story telling would bring two drowning souls together and make life seem all the more bearable.

𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗩𝗢𝗡 Ｘ 𝗟𝗜𝗟 𝗗𝗨𝗥𝗞 "𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥..." ©AnotherNegro2021

𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚠, 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚞𝚜.

Watty's 2024 shortlist, Watty's 2024 Best Characters winner A story of boxing, drugs, and love Tyreek Nixon is a 26 year old underground boxer who goes by the alias Pretty Boy. He's known he was attracted to boys for as long as he could remember, but one man really catches his attention during one of his fights. All he wants is even the chance to get to know this man better, no matter how many fights he has to win to impress him. DeAndre Kingston is a 28 year old New York native who is known around the city for his product- weed and pills. One day when DeAndre is selling at an underground boxing event, he finds himself suddenly enraptured by one of the fighters. DeAndre may have never felt an attraction for a man before but that sure didn't stop him from wanting this "Pretty Boy" The two embark on an intertwining story of romance, blood, and drama, enduring it all for the sake of being able to call each other "mine"

SEQUEL to Below The Belt It's been five years since the ending of Below The Belt. Tyreek Kingston has retained his WBO championship since then, while also keeping his home life just as happy with his husband and son. Though his reign as champion has gone smoothly so far, he is forced to realize that he is quickly approaching the age of retirement for boxers. His only hope is that his retirement will be of his own free will by time he is far into his forties, and not forced upon him in his thirties when he's just getting started. Meanwhile, Antwon Kingston is now an eighteen year old senior in high school waiting impatiently for graduation day. He's a top scholar of his school, a valedictorian, a straight A student, and the son of the heavyweight champion of the boxing world- Despite that, he still has problems of his own. Namely, the six year long crush he's had on his best friend, Zavier, who has made it clear several times that he only has interest in women. Antwon's life starts to get confusing when he's forced to deal with his crush on his best friend while also navigating budding feelings for a new kid on the block.

Dontavius has been in love with Diamond since they were kids. When they were 23 and 22 respectively and finally began exploring a relationship together, Dontavius thought he finally had everything he'd ever wanted. But when Diamond ended up cheating and coming out of it with a baby, Dontavius realized that the love of his life didn't love him as much as he does. Diamond claims to love Dontavius, but even three years after making his son, he still can't bring himself to stay faithful to his boyfriend, even when the looming threat of Dontavius leaving him becomes apparent. Neither of them expects a bright eyed, Spanish speaking young man named Raymonte to approach Dontavius and suddenly start fighting for his heart and showing him the love he should've been getting the whole time while Dontavius continues to fight for his shattered relationship. Dontavius has the choice of staying with Diamond and letting him continue to hurt him, or giving Raymonte a chance to show him a better life.