Before the crowds screamed his name, before the league talks and the magazine covers, he met her. Calista Marchand. Not the kind of girl you run game on. She was sharp where it counted, soft only when she wanted to be. Real Brooklyn - pretty in the face, slick with the mouth, and solid with her hands if you stepped wrong. She kept her circle small, her loyalty tighter. The kind of woman who knew how to turn silence into safety and side-eyes into shut-ups. Men feared her. Girls tried to be her. She didn't chase, didn't fold, didn't need nobody. Until Ibrahim Montaigne walked into her life like he had all the time in the world. He didn't come with sweet nothings or flashy promises - just steady presence. Intent in his eyes, patience in his chest, and something rare behind the way he looked at her. Like he saw through the polish and the fire, like he knew the woman behind the defense. He didn't try to tame her. He studied her. Let her be exactly who she was. The shift was slow. She still fought when needed, still had a rep in the streets and in the salon chair. But somewhere between nursing exams and late-night block parties, she started saving parts of herself just for him. The quiet parts. The delicate ones. The ones nobody else got close to. And when she crossed that graduation stage, RN-BSN stitched behind her name and her grandmother crying in the crowd - he bragged harder than anyone. Didn't care who was listening. Forget MVP, forget the championship rings. She was the win. She was the headline. The girl from Brooklyn with spitfire in her lungs, gold in her smile, and a softness only he ever got to see. This isn't a story about being chosen. It's about choosing each other. No fairytales. Just Brooklyn grit and a love that never let go.

A Saudiah B & PJ Washington story. Inspired by Be Your Girl by Teedra Moses.

Pushing himself from the door Gulian neared her, standing in front of her. "I want you to stop seeing 𝙝𝙞𝙢, that's what I want." Kyomi scoffed as she shook her head. "Why would I stop doing that? Just 'cause you call yourself asking nicely?"

After moving to Chicago to start a new life, Sveya isn't looking for nothing beyond a fresh start. Between church, school, and learning how to exist without losing herself, her life feels limited...until she meets Solomon.

Yasir Love's hopeless romantic tendencies have seemed to fallen for a girl in his lecture. Determined to win her heart, he tries every way he knows to get her to notice him, never realising just how hard it would be for her to truly see him as a person. Though, a question lingers. Will Yasir continue to show her the same unwavering affection, or will he grow weary of trying so hard to win her over.

Janeisha "Neisha" Bambi has always survived by keeping a low profile. She don't get caught up in the kind of business that comes with bodies, secrets, and street names that echo. But all it takes is one night-one favor for her best friend-to slide her straight into the orbit of Seven "Saint" Carter. Saint is discipline wrapped in menace. A man the streets don't just respect,they fear. The type Neisha promised herself she'd never look at twice. He doesn't chase, beg, or explain. Yet somehow, he does all of this for her. And when that calm, unreadable gaze settles on Neisha, her careful world starts to crack. Now Saint's patience is running out, Neisha's defenses are falling apart and the pull between them is starting to feel less like a choice and more like fate. He's trying to shield her from the life he lives. She's trying to decide if loving him is salvation or self-destruction.

"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 FINISHED; FEBRUARY 7th 2026

"Even when we departed you never left me. I carried everything you said to me and did for me even when we were apart. You were inside of me. You'll always be a piece of me." Detailed description in story.

He left a mark I never asked for. Now he wants to finish the piece. Amina Westbrook didn't choose motherhood. But when her younger sister dropped a baby and disappeared, Amina stepped up, raised that little girl as her own, and never looked back. Seven years later, the past comes tatted, cocky, and fine as hell-standing in the grocery store with the same hypnotic eyes her daughter sees in the mirror. Santiago Vega. Zuri's father. The man who left before he ever knew she existed. Now he wants in. He wants time. Forgiveness. A chance to be a father. And every time he shows up with that deep voice and soft smirk, Amina hates how badly she wants to let him. Santiago isn't just showing up for Zuri-he's showing up for her. Fixing things she didn't ask him to fix. Dropping money in her hand like it's his right. Touching her like he already knows how she breaks. Amina's been holding everything together for so long, she doesn't know how to let go. Doesn't know how to want someone who actually stays. But Santiago stays. Through the attitude. The boundaries. The sparks that keep catching fire. And when he finally gets his hands on her? There's nothing soft about it. Now she's spiraling in his sheets, clashing with him in front of her family, and falling harder than she ever meant to. Because Santiago doesn't just want to play daddy. He wants the whole damn family. And this time, he's not leaving until he has them. Ink Don't Lie is a gritty, emotionally charged, standalone romance about second chances, found family, and the kind of love that refuses to walk away.