❝ ɪ ɢᴏᴛ ɪꜱꜱᴜᴇꜱ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴄʜᴜ' ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ. ❞ STARTED: MAY 10TH, 2024. ENDED: JUL 1ST, 2024.

Everybody expected Jalen Carter to crash out after prison. Instead, he came home trying to be a father. Trying to stay free. Trying to move differently. Trying not to lose himself again. But Amir Johnson makes that shit difficult. His best friend has been attached to his side since they were kids, still loud, still reckless, still the only person who can get under Jalen's skin without trying. And the closer they get, the harder it becomes to ignore the tension building between them. Now with his baby mama wanting their family back, old street problems resurfacing, and feelings neither of them knows how to handle... everything they built together could either save them- or destroy them..

| 𝐚𝐡 • 𝐠𝐚𝐡 • 𝐩𝐚𝐲 | 𝟏. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞; 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. (EXTENDED SUMMARY INSIDE.)

ᴛʏ ɪs ᴀ ʜᴀɪʀsᴛʏʟɪsᴛ. ᴍᴀʟɪᴋ ɪs ᴀ ᴛᴀᴛᴛᴏᴏ ᴀʀᴛɪsᴛ. ✩｡:•.───── ❁ - ❁ ─────.•:｡✩

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬' 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐧𝐮𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚' 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞. STARTED: NOV 25TH, 2024. ENDED: MAY 17TH, 2026.

"Explain to me why this not right baby, please." "Nyzir I'm not suppose to feel this way about you."

"I'm not bout' to complicate yo life baby, you don't want this." "Elijah, you don't get to choose what I want to do with my life !"

the 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞 and the 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤. it was 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 supposed to happen - but 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 of them can 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. it started as a 𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐫. it ended as something 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬, and a whole lot of 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫.

❝𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬." 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠.❞ "You listening to me for once? Crazyyy." He put his phone down, full attention on me. "C'mere den, sexy. We ain't got nothing but time." He bit his lip. Oh yeah, he was sumn serious cause that lil one two gon get me and him in trouble. . . . Dominic Winters didn't believe in love. Well, that sounded a bit harsh. He just didn't really think it was worth the effort. Why settle for one person when there were so many people who wanted him? So many to romance? He wasn't trying to be a playboy but it just ended up that way. His whole philosophy was "Marriage is a scam. Divorcing is inevitable. Every man and woman alike fell to his feet. There was no discrimination with him. Black, White, They, Them, She, He. He liked them all. It was mere fun to him, like a hobby to go along with his career he was building in college as the quarterback who was on a mission to make it to the big leagues all while keeping his grades in check and hanging with his boys. That's all it ever was for him. Then.. someone new came around. Someone who changed his routine of jumping from one person to the next. Dom was cool with everyone. He said wassup to everyone but when the new sophomore gave him nothing, no reaction, no interest, he was butt hurt to say the least. It even bruised his ego a bit. Messiah Hughes transferred to this new, better college. A fresh start to a shitty past year. It took a toll on him and he needed to get away, he had to. EXTENDES SYNOPSIS INSIDE. Updates every 3-7 days.