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I scoffed before getting up making a beeline towards Nasseem who was also in the kitchen. I didn’t even bother exchanging pleasantries with him or Royal, there was no need. I was already annoyed.

“Nasseem, can I talk to you for a second?”

He scratched the back of his head before replying, “Yeah, what up Ave?”

I pulled him away from Royal, towards the hallway. “Why the fuck is Royal here?”

Nas didn’t even flinch. “Because I invited him?”

“You couldn’t give me a heads-up? Nigga, you got my number.”

“I figured you a grown-ass woman, you’d be aight.”

“Nas—”

He took a sip of his drink, all cool and unbothered. “Look, Royal a good dude. He ain’t perfect, but he fuck with you heavy. If you wasn’t so damn stubborn?—”

“Oh my God.” I threw my hands up. “If you were really my friend, you wouldn’t have invited my ops to be in my space.”

He choked on his drink, laughing. “Ops is crazy. But I ain’t apologizing for shit. Y’all got unfinished business, and honestly, I’m tired of watching you walk around sad as hell. You need to straighten up and get your shit together Ave. Shit ain’t that deep.”

I flipped him off and walked away before I said something out of pocket. Instead, I made it up in my mind that I would just try to avoid Royal at all costs.

But avoiding Royal at this party was damn near impossible. Everywhere I went, there he was.

When I poured myself a drink—boom, there he was grabbing one too. When I reached for a slider—he was already standing by the tray. When we played Taboo—he was sitting across from me, his eyes never leaving my face. He was everywhere. Like he had made it his personal mission to shadow me.

Hours later, the party had mellowed. The music was low, people were drunk, and the vibe had settled into soft laughter and warm conversation.

I needed air. So, I stepped outside, slipping my heels off and sitting on the edge of Sevyn’s pool, my legs dangling in the warm water.

I lit a blunt and exhaled into the night sky, letting the silence wrap around me like a weighted blanket.

Of course, I should’ve known the peace wouldn’t last. I heard footsteps.

Felt the energy shift. Then I heard him .

“Mind if I sit?” I didn’t answer, but I didn’t tell him no. Royal sat down next to me, the side of his jeans brushing against my thigh. “I wanna play you somethin’.”

I blinked at him before pulling the sativa into my lungs. “Right now?”

“If you don’t mind.” He replied and I exhaled the smoke before nodding. He pulled out his phone, already scrolling through his music. “It’s a track I wrote for King. I’m adding it to the album, but I feel like it’s missing somethin’. I just… I wanna know what you think.”

That got my attention.

He handed me his phone, and I handed over the blunt to him before I pressed play.

The beat kicked in low and heavy. A somber, haunting instrumental; my beat.

The one I heard him playing the day he kicked me out of his life on my last day in Atlanta.

Then his voice layered over it—raspy, emotional, cracked in all the right places.

He was grieving in real time. The chorus was full of his raw unadulterated emotion. The second verse was gut-wrenching. Then I heard King’s voice playing at the end, it was a recording of him telling Royal they were going to put on for their city.

I let it loop twice, tears stinging the back of my eyes. “I miss him.” I whispered, staring down at the phone. Royal didn’t say anything. “Can I send it to myself?” I asked.

He raised a brow, lips twitching. “You’d have to unblock me first.”

I actually laughed. Shaking my head, I unlocked my own phone and unblocked him then I went into his phone and sent the song to mine. After sending the song, I locked his and went to hand it back to him before I froze. His lock screen… was of me.

It was a photo I didn’t even know he took. I was wearing my favorite hoodie of his that I used to steal, curled up on his couch, lips slightly parted in sleep. I handed him the phone back without a word, my chest tight. Then it all came flooding out.

“You know what pisses me off the most?” My voice cracked as I looked out over the pool. “You ruined it. You ruined us. I know you were grieving, Royal. I know you were hurting. But the shit you said to me? You had no fuckin’ right.”

“I know.”

“No. You don’t.” I turned to face him, tears slipping down my face, my volume increasing. “I would’ve never hurt you like that. And you—God, you made me feel like I was the reason King died. Like I was nothing to you.”

“I didn’t mean that shit?—”

“But you said it Royal.” I snapped. “And you can’t unsay that shit.”

“I was broken Ave, grieving.”

“So, you decided to break me too.” I snapped; it wasn’t a question but a fact. “Do you know how fuckin’ selfish that is?”

Silence stretched between us.

Then he said it.

“I love you, Averi.”

I froze, confusion very clearly written all over my face. “What?”

“I’m in love with you.”

I stared at him, the weight of those words hitting me like a wave. I wanted to laugh because he had to be fuckin’ joking, but I couldn’t even bring myself to do that.

“You sure know how to pick the worst moments to say shit like that.” I wiped my face, my chest burning. “How do you say you love somebody and still treat them like that?” He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. I shook my head. “Exactly.”

I stood, grabbing my heels, my back to him. But he moved just as fast as I did, grabbing my arm to stop me. “Averi…”

“No Royal. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to say that and expect me to forget everything else. You should have left me alone, let me fuckin’ be. But here you are, invading my space against my fuckin’ will. Just leave me alone, I am begging you to please leave me the fuck alone.”

By now, a few of my friends had wandered outside, catching the tail end of the conversation. But I didn’t care. I walked away from him and out the front door of Sevyn’s house with tears on my cheeks and a weight on my chest I didn’t know how to carry.