Hey!! Because I love you guys and its #MarchMadness I wanted to give you something fun, loving, and a little bit crazy to read! Sooooo…
Book one of the best selling series Relationship Status is completely #FREE this weekend!! Meet Keyton, Lemonte and Demarco as they go through the ultimate test of love, pain and life.
Three Couples….Three Journeys…One….Destination! Love should feel euphoric…right? Tori has loved the same man for what seemed like her entire life. High school sweethearts, Keyton, and Tori find themselves married and deeply in love with each other. With a list of broken promises and lies being told by Keyton; Tori finds herself at a crossroad. Does she stay and try to salvage her marriage with the love of her life or move on from all of the pain and turmoil that being with Keyton have brought her? How can you keep loving someone that causes you pain? How do you stay in a place that you know is a dead end… literally? TaNia is as independent as they come, thick and beautiful! She keeps her business in order and doesn’t depend on anyone for anything. After losing her father, she moves back home to take care of her mother, which is taking a lot of adjusting on her part. In the midst of all the changes her life is taking, Lemonte is on a mission to make her his. He kept his eye on her over the years and he’s done with just being her friend. He wants more… a lot more, whether TaNia is ready for that or not! Winter has always depended on someone, whether it was her parents or the man she was in a relationship with. She no longer wants to be that girl, so she makes some changes and learns to stand on her own two feet. She lives a lifestyle that she is not particularly proud of, but it makes her goals and dreams that much easier to accomplish. Her parents are traditional and old school so she hides her life from them, but when she lands in the scope of a Demarco, she has to make a choice between love and comfort.
Excerpt!!!
One Year Ago
Tori
“It’s freaking cold”, I groaned as I walked down the street to my car.
I called Keyton’s phone for the twentieth time, just to have my call go straight to voicemail. I shook my head as I slid my phone back into my pocket. I was starting to wish I got dropped off. Texas weather was always crazy. I didn’t know whether to wear a jacket or shorts. You just dressed neutral and prayed the temperature didn’t drop. As I walked swiftly to the student-parking garage, I smiled as I saw my car. I pushed the button to start the engine as I continued walking. I was so happy this day was over. I wrapped my jacket tighter and slid my hand over my stomach. I still remember the shock of finding out I was three months pregnant. Key was so excited, and so was I. I couldn’t wait to meet our princess.
My steps slowed as an eerie feeling washed over me. I wondered where everyone was. We had exams coming up, so I knew I wasn’t the only one that stayed late to study. It was so quiet. I quickened my pace to my car as the feeling grew heavier. When I finally made it, I exhaled and quickly opened the door to get in. Thank God, for push start and heated seats.
As soon as I was in, I laid my head back on the headrest as I placed my bags in the passenger seat. I looked down at my ringing phone, rolling my eyes as I picked it up.
“About time you called back, Keyton! What the fuck was you doing that prevented you from answering the phone?”
“Where you at? School? Your parents? Where are you?” The urgency in his voice sent chills down my spine. Goosebumps formed on my skin as fear crept into my heart.
“I’m at—”
Before I could complete my sentence, I was snatched out of my car. The scream I wanted to release got caught in my throat as I struggled against the strength of the person that grabbed me.
“Don’t fight me, bitch. I’ll break your fucking neck,” he growled as he grabbed my hair, successfully pulling me completely out of the car and threw me to the ground. “Beat the life out of this bitch,” he announced.
I was too scared to look up, but I felt the presence of others. Before I could get a word out, I felt a blow to my face so hard that it knocked the wind out of me. I opened my eyes partially just to see the garage ceiling and four people dressed in all black. “Please don’t! I’m pregnant!”
“Fuck you and that baby bitch,” the man spoke as I heard chains and bats click against the floor of the garage. “Fuck this bitch up!”
I couldn’t describe the pain I felt from the blow of the bat against my arm. I cried out for Keyton in the fetal position trying to protect my unborn child. The pain was unbearable. I could hear my bones cracking and the constant flow of blood from my head falling to the ground. I felt a sharp kick to my back then my stomach as I held her. I tried my best to protect her, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
“Please stop,” I screamed with all I had. “Keyton!”
“That bitch nigga can’t save you! Fucking with bitch niggas get you put in bitch positions!”
“Somebody please help!” Blood leaked from my mouth and ears. I felt moisture between my legs and I knew I was losing my baby. “Please, you’re going to kill her! Please stop,” I mumbled. “Keyton, help!”
My body went numb from pain as I gave up on ever seeing Keyton again. I gave up on life! I gave up on ever holding and kissing my daughter. He was my husband. Why wasn’t he here to protect me?
“Pretty bitch ain’t so pretty no more, huh?” One of my attackers spoke as she punched me in the face with brass knuckles repeatedly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep Keyton’s dick wet while you gone, bitch!” The other one swung the bat against my stomach crushing my hands in the process.
“That nigga doesn’t give a fuck about you! Where he at?” The other spoke as she held me down.
The blows came to an abrupt stop as I shuddered on the floor. I was drifting in and out of consciousness as the world around me turned cold.
“You feel that, bitch?” the man taunted. “That’s death! I’ll see you when I make it to hell!”
I felt myself lose consciousness as moisture pooled between my legs. I knew it was blood though I couldn’t see it. I knew I had lost my daughter; I just needed to see her. I wanted to hold her and tell her that I loved her even though I allowed this to happen. She meant so much to me.
Present Day
Keyton
“You only care about yourself! You’re selfish and self-centered and I hate you, Keyton!”
My hat was low, covering my eyes that were now red because I was dumb high. I was sitting on the couch in the downtown loft I shared with the love of my life, Tori Dior Miles. My estimate was that she had been yelling for the last thirty minutes. From what I gathered, because bitches be coming up with some shit; some chick from Facebook messaged Tori informing her that I knocked her down. That shit was a lie, but I couldn’t get Tori to believe that. See, I fucked up in the past, and shit hasn’t been right since, but I wouldn’t give up on us. I loved her too much. She was all I knew. Man, this was my heart in front of me; my everything. She was about 5’6”, chocolate with these pretty ass light brown eyes. She looked exotic. The thing about Tori was that though she was beautiful, she didn’t have a conceited bone in her body. Speaking of her body, thick ass curves for fucking days. I liked to think I had something to do with that. She had deep dimples and a perfect smile, rocked a piercing in her bottom lip that only added to her beauty. She wore her hair bone straight, falling to the middle of her back, all hers. I dared a nigga to touch my rib. I was fucking shit up on site. The only issue we had was outside bitches dropping bugs in her ear and that she didn’t trust me as far as she could see me. We been rocking since high school, eight years to be exact, married for five. I locked her ass down as soon as we were legally able to do so. It took a minute to convince her father, but he eventually gave me his consent. He still thought we were too young to be married, though.
Been through some shit, but I wasn’t messing up home for nobody; Tori was wifey! Point blank period. Even when her ass was flipping out on a nigga, like right now.
“You hate me, baby?” I laughed. I had to do something to keep from snatching her lil ass up. “You say that every day! I don’t want to hear that shit, ma.”
Tori was in my face in seconds. Sexy ass. Even when she was spazzing on me, I couldn’t help but smile because I loved her and all her craziness. She had this sexy little Boston accent too. I don’t know man. I was crazy about this girl. She could do no wrong in my eyes. Before I knew it, she had hauled off and hit my ass dead in the chest. I had to grab my shit. She was a little violent… shit stung.
“I don’t see anything funny!”
I was still rubbing my chest where she hit me. “Say Tor. Keep your hands to yourself!”
“Fuck you, Keyton!! I do hate yo dog ass! All you do is lie and cheat! Bitches are calling my phone! You even got chicks at my school wanting to fight me and shit all because my nigga can’t keep his dick in his pants! Fuck you!” She screamed at my ass.
Tori grabbed her Coach purse out the chair in the dining room and her keys off the table. We always argued, but she never tried to leave me before.
My heart dropped to my fucking feet.
The fuck? My high evaporated. I was thrown off. At first, I didn’t know whether I was supposed to stop her or let her leave. She was tired; I could see it, but I couldn’t let her just leave over no bullshit another chick said. I loved her too much. Eight years of loving her and I wasn’t letting her go. I accepted my past fuck ups but this shit here wasn’t on me.
In all the years, I been with shorty, I fucked over her once with one of the strippers at the club. Then, I didn’t even have sex with her; I just let her suck my dick. I knew it was wrong and was planning on telling Tori and dealing with the consequences until the chick approached her one night at the club, talking about how we fucked in my office. It took everything I had to get Tori back after that. She moved out, took all her shit, and changed her number. When I tell you, a nigga was sick! I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. I stalked her ass, begged more than a Keith Sweat Greatest Hits Collection until I got her back. I wasn’t losing her again.
She was almost to the door when I stepped in front of her. I was trying to have a chill night, but I had to deal with this shit.
“Aye Tor, how many times I got to tell yo spoiled ass you ain’t leaving shit? We locked the fuck in so put that shit down.”
“Move out my way, Keyton. I’m not doing this anymore. I’m not beat for it. Eight years and you ain’t got your shit together yet? I’m done.”
Tori wiped the tears that gathered from her eyes before she returned her gaze to mine. This was fucking with me mentally; the thought of her leaving had me sick to my stomach. I still loved Tori with all of my heart, but I knew things had not been the same between us since that shit went down. I felt like I was losing her.
“You are blowing my high, man.”
“You ruining your own shit. Just let me leave!”
“Fuck nah! Put that down! You all I fucking got! I’m not about to let you just leave because of what some chick said! I come home expecting to get sexed to sleep but no; I walk into this shit. Some bitch said this; some bitch said that, some bitch told you I was fucking the next bitch. Word of mouth ass hoes. You just eat all that shit up! I’m tired of this same shit, Tori!”
She mushed my ass so hard I had to bite into my bottom lip to control my reaction.
“Say! Watch yo hands, baby girl,” I said, licking my lips again. “Don’t touch me unless we fucking…. Are we fucking or nah?”
“It’s a million females in Dallas willing to have yo dog ass! Go fuck one of them!”
I was stressed. “Damn Tori! You my wife! I don’t want any of them, girls, man. Come on now, my dick hard and yo sexy ass yelling in my face ain’t making it no better. I wanna fuck!”
“That’s your problem, Keyton. That’s all you ever want to do. Run the streets, get high, and fuck!”
I shook my head. “This shit for the birds, man.”
We stood there for a moment, neither of us speaking to each other just looking deep into the others eyes.
Tori probably didn’t realize she was crying again until I reached out and wiped her cheek. I looked down at my hand. Her tears were like my biggest enemy. Seeing those shits was worse than facing my haters in the streets. I would rather go to war with a foe than to see her cry.
“Stop that, man. I can’t take it. I ain’t messing around on you, Tori. I messed up in the past, but that was the old me. I love you, ma. A nigga got flaws I ain’t gone front, but the girls out there can miss me with that shit. I ain’t fucking up home for no one time smash. Not again. Not anymore.”
She tried to wipe her face but the more she swiped, the more tears came, falling from her eyes and into my heart.
“You say things like that then do something different. I’m not a fool, Keyton. I know I can’t believe everything that comes out of these women’s mouths but what the hell, Key? I deal with so much already with you not being here all the time. You have the restaurants and the club, now you working on the hotel. You’re rarely here! I’m always by myself or with Nia. I’m your wife, Keyton.”
“I know that, Tori!”
“Then act like it!” She yelled, as she got closer to me. “Keyton, can’t you see I’m tired of this shit? It’s not just these females coming out of nowhere! It’s this marriage! It’s the fact that I don’t get to make love to my husband every night because he always has other shit to tend to! If you were here with me, I could have some kind of defense against all this, but when a bitch tells me she had my dick, I can’t even say no, bitch, because I had that motherfucker last night! I can’t because that would be a lie!”
I didn’t have shit to say because she was right. Everything she was saying was right, and I couldn’t deny that. I couldn’t say a thing.
“Tori, you know I love you, and I don’t want to lose you. Just give me a chance to get some shit together. I’ll be home more, I promise!”
“Fuck your promises, Key. Keep that! I’m starting to believe you just make promises to me to break them. Because they sound good, right?”
I was beyond pissed off at this point. I knew it was a lot of shit that Tori wasn’t saying. I knew what the real issue was, but if she didn’t bring it up, then neither would I. “Man, what the fuck you want from me?”
“I don’t want anything from you, Keyton! Not shit!”
I exhaled as I ran my hands down my face. “So what are we doing, Tori?”
She sniffed and wiped her eyes again. “I’m leaving!”
“No you not! So what other options do we have?” I sounded like a bitch, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was in the wrong even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I didn’t even know the woman she was talking about. I could admit I hadn’t been around lately, but I was trying to put something’s in place for us. I wanted Tori to always be good with or without me.
“Do you still want to have my daughter? Do you even still love me? You’re my wife, been that for five years. Do you still want to be married to me? Do you give a fuck at all, man?” I asked as I looked into her eyes.
“I love you, Keyton. You know that!”
“I hear you say it all the time, but I can’t feel it, Tori. Not since—”
She looked at him sharply. “Not since what? Say it!”
I held my head down. Fuck! My intentions weren’t to bring that shit up, but I knew that was our problem. When she lost our daughter, she changed. The woman I fell in love with was no longer there behind her beautiful eyes. Everything was just blank. Gone. Empty. I loved my wife with every inch of me, but things between us just haven’t been the same. “I’m not going there-”
She bit her bottom lip and stared at me. “Since what, Key?”
“Come on, Tori.”
“Fucking say it,” she cried, pushing me in the chest. I tried to grab her, and she snatched away from me.
“I just know you don’t love me the same,” I said shaking my head.
She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head. “I need you to let me go.”
“I just told you I can’t do that, ma.”
“But that’s not your choice to make, Keyton. I’m leaving.”
“So what that mean, Tori? I asked you if you wanted to keep being my wife? I asked you if you wanted to try again to have the little girl you keep asking me for. I wanna know. Tell me!”
“I can’t live like this, Keyton. I can’t!”
I can’t remember the last time I shed tears, but I felt as if I was on the verge of letting some go now. “But, Ma…You can’t leave me, Tori. You all I fucking got, man. What I’m supposed to do if you ain’t here? Who do I kiss? Make love to? Who gone hold Key down?”
She bowed my head. “Please Key… just let me go.”
I took a few steps closer to her. “Let you go?” I was disgusted with her for saying some shit like that! “And, do what? You got the plan, right? You know everything? Let you go… then what? What a nigga gone do without his heart and soul, Tori? You might as well take that cute ass bedazzled nine you got in your purse and kill a nigga because that’s the only thing you leaving gone do.”
She looked up at me as fresh tears gathered in her eyes. I walked into her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her into me. Soft whimpers came from her lips as she cried harder. I buried my face in her neck and inhaled deeply.
“Why shit gotta be so hard, Keyton?” She asked through her sobs.
“I’m sorry, Tori. I’m trying to make it right, but you gotta give me a chance. I’ll do whatever I gotta do, ma. I can’t lose you.” I planted kisses on her neck and shoulders as I held her. I needed this woman. I knew it and so did she.
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