Nayeli is a 30-year-old single mother raising her spirited 7-year-old son, in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. After enduring heartbreak from failed relationships, including the painful fallout with her son's father, Nayeli has sworn off the idea of romance. Instead, she pours herself into her career and focuses on being the best mom she can be. But life has a way of shifting even the most carefully laid plans. When news spreads that a mutual friend from Nayeli's close-knit circle has tragically passed away, old bonds are rekindled. Among those returning to town for the memorial is Shai Smith, a 36-year-old successful sports trainer who has spent years traveling for his career. Nayeli and Shai have known each other for over a decade, always sharing playful banter and harmless flirtation. They've laughed off their chemistry as nothing more than jokes - two people who were never in the right place at the right time. In the wake of loss, Shai stays in town longer than planned, reconnecting with old friends and reflecting on the fragility of life. As he and Nayeli cross paths more often, their once lighthearted interactions deepen. Despite the spark between them, both Shai and Nayeli carry the weight of past heartbreak. Shai's last relationship left him wary of trust, and Nayeli is terrified of exposing her son to a love that might not last. But as the days pass, their connection becomes undeniable. Through laughter, tears, and the lessons of loss, Nayeli and Shai learn that healing isn't about forgetting the past, but finding the courage to embrace what's ahead. In the echoes of shared memories they discover that sometimes, love doesn't come when you're searching for it.

"Damn. Hasn't even been that long and you got a whole rock on your finger now, huh?" "...What are you doing here?" She unthinkingly rubbed her swollen belly, the tight knots forming in her stomach at the same time. "What you mean? I came for the art." His tone was sarcastic as he gestured at the paintings on the walls. She watched his eyes drift down her body, before he tightly clenched his jaw. "But I see I have more than one thing to congratulate you on." He said, bitterly. • • • • • • 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛? ❤️‍🩹👻 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝟸 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 (𝚜𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚕)

"I'm not ready to forget you, Lavender."

After eight years of estrangement, the untimely death of her father calls Keyser Gooding back to her family home, forcing her to relive the physical and verbal abuse she endured growing up at the hands of her foster brothers, Deon and Joel.

Book 1 of 2 ❤️ Soriyah and Derek's story. 18+

Hate that love can, get so dangerous

𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐈 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮

"So you just wanna fuck me forever, and that's it, huh?" "I ain't say-" He sucked his teeth. "We already talked about this shit, Z." "Nah." She chuckled dryly. "You just keep shutting me out." "Why you doin' this to me, Ma?" He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hm? Why you tryna fuck everything up?" • • • • • • 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚗𝚘𝚗-𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌, 𝚊 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚋𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌 💌👻 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝟷 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜

𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐗𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐚 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭?

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭, 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡'𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.