Love built them. Danger surrounds them. Three years after choosing each other, Naiari and Zayvion are still holding it down and parenting a daughter who fights harder than most grown folks. But peace doesn't last long in their world. Old enemies resurface, new threats slip in unnoticed, and the past has a way of showing up uninvited. As the lines between loyalty and survival blur, Naiari starts to question how much more she's willing to sacrifice for love... and whether love alone is enough.

"Kassauni, there is more to life than continuous pain and suffering. I am sure you know that, and no one is asking you to go through it alone," She told me. I took a long drag from the blunt and held it in my lungs before releasing it. "Whatever yah talk 'bout sound like a fairy tale and mi nuh want yuh feel like me is a problem fi yuh fix," I stated, staring into her eyes. She frowned, deeply. "You need to talk to someone, or me. I am here for you if you need anything." Her voice came out softer than usual. "Rosalia, left that. It nuh concern yuh," I told her. She hissed her teeth and slapped the blunt out of my hand. "Mi try talk to yuh, but if yuh nah go at least try to get help then mi nuh need fi deh here. Stay by yuhself since a that yuh fucking want." She turned and started walking away. // He was abandoned by his parents. Time and time again they let him down, not realizing that each time it was draining him. He isn't the most sentimental guy, probably one of the most nonchalant and controlling people you've ever met. She was sweet and came from what people would call the perfect family. In a short time, she made him indecisive and question himself. Peeled away every armor he had shielding his insecurities. She broke him but stood by him while he rebuilt himself into a better man. The man he always wanted to be. The man he knew she deserved. _______________________________ - Mature Content (18+) - Violence

Even though I don't look up right away, I feel him. His presence shifts the air, makes it heavier, like the sky right before a storm. A shiver runs down my spine, but I shake it off. I can sense he's here to handle our unfinished business, and I know he won't hold his tongue this time, not without our audience from earlier to keep him in check. "Why yuh really come back Jodie?" He's blunt, as always, and I can tell he's revving up for a fight. Him lucky. "I love Ms. Iva and I respect her for what she does, but dem neva send yuh gah school fi sell yam dung a market...Why'd you leave Kingston?" "I told you already, I'm using my PTO Knox" I dispose of the water into the grass, setting the wash basin up against the tank. He scoffs. "Liad, yuh done tell dah one deh already, betta yuh come up wid a next one." His eyes are daring, challenging me to come clean, but I can't. "Why you cyaa juss believe me? What's so suspicious about me needing time away from work?" I push past him, not yet ready to dive so deep into the unknown. He grabs my wrist, pulling me into his chest and trapping me there. The warmth of him seeps into me, setting off a fire under my skin. He doesn't ease up, but the pressure does something to me that I can't shake. I tell myself to take a step back, create some space, but I don't. I won't. "Because me know yuh, Jodie. Better than I know myself. I know you..." He presses his index fingers to his heart, his breath shallow as it cascades across my collarbone. "I thought we were better than this, I thought we could tell each other anything" I shake my head, my eyes closing as I inhale his scent, it's uniquely him. It's dangerous how familiar it is, how it makes my chest ache. I hate him for making me feel like this, I hate myself for wanting to be even closer than we are now.

'𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐮𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫'

'𝐌𝐢 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐮𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐡 𝐲𝐮𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲'

"Make we keep this professional then, yeah?" I nodded slowly, one hand in my pants pocket. "What?" Her brows creased. "I'll be your tutor and nothing else. Nuh need dis pan a personal level," I explained. Maybe it's for the best. And mi still a convince miself dat cause it still hurt me. Mi vex wid her... Wicked too. Cause she fuck up. She licked her lips and looked down at the desk before saying, "...but that isn't what I want. I have agreed to give you time." Time. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. "Yuh nuh get fi choose that still eno. This is what I want and those are my boundaries. Respect them or find someone else fi tutor yuh, simple." I sighed, scratching my head. Mi just nuh wah di drama and foolishness. Or the back and forth. Cya dweet right now... Or at all. "You...changed," She said, looking at me. "Would'a seh di same bout you too... But change nuh too faze me still..." I shrugged my shoulders. // Liam was once a bright, joyful child until something shattered his world at just nine years old. Whatever happened that year left scars too deep to see, turning smiles into silence and laughter into rage. By fifteen, he was behind bars. Now eighteen, he's out with one last shot: six months to finish high school and finally leave his past behind. He's focused. Detached. Determined to stay invisible - no fights, no friends, no drama. Then he sees her. Kazierah. His childhood crush. His first kiss. The girl he never forgot. ...the one he never stopped loving even when he wanted to. She's changed too. She had more friends and she was more social than he remembered. They never dated, never made it official, but the connection between them always ran deep... too deep to ignore now. And as old feelings resurface, so do old questions - about the past, about that day he was taken away, and about why their paths are crossing again now, after everything. Some stories never really end. They wait. And this one is just beginning.

The scars on her body are nothing compared to the ones on her heart, and the bruises will heal, but the shame will not.

I was so out of it that I didn't even notice when the stoplight switched from yellow to red. Struggling to act on my fight or flight, I have no choice but to run straight into the car in front of me. Oh fuck. Just one of those fucking days... Thankfully, the impact isn't fatal, but it's far from pretty. I exit my vehicle, ensuring to put my car in park before hopping out, the person from the car in front jumps out at the same time. A tall man begins to storm towards me, his brows furrowed as he takes long strides in my direction. Boy look cute and neat eesi... Why did we have to meet like this? "A buy yuh buy yuh license?" he screams at me with rage. Well, that's not nice. Tek back everything me just seh. "It was clearly an accident, mi did distracted" I tell him, trying to defend myself. Mi shame. The road is active around us, drivers are blowing their horns or peeping their heads through their windows to take in the scene. "Distracted? Aye lady, a who teach yuh fi drive?" he asks, a humorous yet frustrated smirk on his lips. Clearly a blind man.

He turned a church girl into his personal freak.