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Britain wasn't sure what Priest was gearing up to do to handle everything, but from the look that seeped through his eyes, she knew his mind was working on being two steps ahead.

THE NEXT DAY

As the rays of the sun crept into the bedroom, Priest rose from his slumber. His eyes fluttered open as he instinctively rolled over to pull Britain closer to him. When he didn't make contact with her, his brows furrowed, and he sat up. Running his hand down his face, he cursed himself for sleeping in later than he intended to.

He got out of the bed, dropping to his knees for his routine morning prayer. With his hands pressed together, his eyes shut,and his head bowed, Priest prayed to God for guidance and strength through the chaos and confusion he was enduring. He made sure to express his gratitude for everything and everyone he had before closing the prayer with anAmen.

Standing to his full height, he made the bed before navigating to the bathroom so he could start his morning routine. In the midst of his skin care routine Britain curated for him, he felt Britain's arms wrap around his torso from behind. Looking at her through the mirror, a smirk etched his face and reflected onto hers.

"Good morning. Where were you when I woke up? I missed you," Priest told her as he rotated around to face her.

A smile canvassed Britain's face. "I was downstairs making breakfast for everyone. I feel like we should gather at the table one more time," she suggested with hope beaming within her soft eyes.

"Do we really need to, though?" Priest chuckled as she nodded her head in response.

"Yes, P, and I want you to come downstairs with good energy. Your face tells it all, so smile," she encouraged him.

Priest smacked his lips as his face panned with his infamous stale face. "I'll see what I can do."

A laugh poured from Britain, who was amused by the look on his face. "Thank you for trying, playa." She grinned in excitement before sprouting up on her tippy toes to lay a kiss on his tender lips. As she parted her lips from his, her face screwed up into a funny look. "I hope you brushed your teeth already," she teased.

Priest laughed as he showcased his Colgate smile, confirming that he brushed his teeth prior to her kissing him. "You're good," he assured her.

Britain pecked his lips a few more times before advising him that she would be expecting him downstairs once hewas finished getting ready. As she joyfully skipped out of the bathroom, Priest sent a rough smack to her rear, causing her to curse him and yelp in pain.

He continued getting ready for the day. As promised, after getting dressed, he made his way down. He could hear laughter and talking circulating throughout the home coming from the kitchen.Truth be told, he didn't want to be forced to have his breakfast with J'Ru, Kaymen and Jazzy. There was thick tension between them, and he was sure a seat around the table to have breakfast wouldn't be able to ease that tension. It just may make it worse. Navigating to the kitchen, he saw Jazzy, J'Ru and Kaymen gathered around the island with Britain having great conversation.

"Morning," Priest dryly greeted them as he bypassed them to grab a mug from the cupboard.

"Why you gotta be so fucking prideful?" J'Ru let out in response to Priest's half-ass greeting.

Britain threw her hands up in defeat as she shook her head. The men couldn't even last a minute before they were going at it with each other. Kaymen and Jazzy were used to this. They always went at it with each other, and not much could diffuse their disputes until they were ready to forgive each other. The best advice Jazzy and Kaymen could offer Britain was to just stay out of it unless they were being downright disrespectful to each other or if things got physical.

"Ain't nobody being prideful. You fucked up, and I called you out on that shit," Priest spat as he helped himself to a cup of coffee.

"Son, you tripping out about the fact that your little sister came through and saved our asses while you was kicked up out here," J'Ru sneered with a scoff.

Jazzy shook her head with a sigh. "C'mon, let’s not do this. Just let it go," she pleaded desperately, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire of their back and forth.

"Nah, lets fucking talk about it," Priest gritted out in his baritone voice. "That’s what this shit really about? You think I'm kicked up out here. You’re so fucking ignorant when it comes to whatever you don't like. You hate everything about me being out here, Ru, so you do little dumb shit like throw Jazzy in the mix so you can have me back in the city on your timing."

J'Ru shook his head, debunking Priest's theories. "Nah, PJ. I just feel like you can't do both. We know that; you know that. Hell, even your girl know that," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "You all the way out here in Italy putting restrictions on what me and Kay got going on in The States. That shit just don't make sense, especially when me and Kay are the ones busting our asses doing the day-to-day shit. As a collective, when the three of us had the conversation about you relocating, we agreed on you being back and forth just so shit could function smoothly. Now, this shit has snowballed into something bigger than any of us could have expected. You can't step foot in the city, even if you fucking wanted to, my nigga. You got us going on with this sick narrative that we laid you to rest, not thinking about how that shit impacts how we have to move as a unit. I just feel like you should compromise when it comes to executive decisions being made by me or Kay."

The truth really did cut Priest deep. He felt like he was getting shut out of something he created from the ground up. When it came to his business and how his money came in, he became territorial, and that came to light with his response to J'Ru.

"Ain't shit changing, Ru," Priest denied and shook his head. "Don't shit move until the three of us is on one accord. That's how it's always been, and that's how it’s fixing to fucking stay.Ain't no executive decisions to be fucking made. I honor each of you niggas’ opinions and decisions when it come to this shit, so I expect y'all to do the same."

Britain, Jazzy and Kaymen all fixed their eyes on J'Ru, waiting for his response to Priest. They watched as J'Ru bit down on his bottom lip for a moment, contemplating exactly what to say to him. Eventually, he shook his head once more. "I ain't going for that," he stated. "Whatever benefits the business is how I'm moving from now on. You can either deal with it or meet Kay and I halfway by coming back to the city," J'Ru stated, presenting Priest with the ultimatum.

This caused Priest’s jaw to clench as he slit his eyes in J'Ru's direction. "You really want to do this?" he questioned in hopes of gaining clarification.

Sure enough, J'Ru offered him all the clarification he needed. Upon seeing J'Ru nod his head, Priest felt the heat that was trapped within him from his anger begin to fester. "Aight, bet," Priest concluded as he grabbed his coffee to exit the kitchen. Everyone watched as he navigated toward the entry of the backyard of the home, isolating himself from them once more.

A silence fell over the ones who remained in the kitchen. Britain had it all planned out. She wanted breakfast to be the thing that made everyone come to their senses. Unfortunately for her, J'Ru and Priest always had to say exactly what was on their minds.

"Y'all niggas tripping." Kaymen shook his head with a light chuckle, ultimately ending the silence. Kaymen never picked sides when it came to the feuds between J'Ru and Priest. He was the mediator who rode the fence most of the time. Although he knew he played a role in Jazzy working alongside them and Priest was coming for him too, he was just going to stay out of it until J'Ru and Priest could work it out. They were brothers at theend of the day, and they understood that, so things never got to the point of no return.

Britain glanced out of the tall paned windows that looked out to the backyard. Priest pressed his phone up to his ear, taking a phone call. She decided to serve the breakfast she made to Jazzy, Kaymen and J'Ru before making a plate to take out to Priest.