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nineteen

Ahvi’s back hit the wall with a soft thud. Her breath caught in her throat as Lunar pressed into her. His hands were everywhere, slipping under her dress and exploring her skin like he was trying to memorize it…like she belonged to him, like she’d been made for him, like she was a song that only he knew the words too.

“Lunar,” she moaned. The syllables were thick on her tongue.

He growled, his mouth grazing her ear. “I don’t want to hear my name unless my dick is inside of you, Ahvi…and my dick ain’t inside of you yet…”

The heat in his voice made her knees weak and the low rumble of possession in his words traveled down her spine like he was daring her to take what he claimed was hers.

Her eyes shut tight as her fingers fumbled blindly, feeling her way down his chest, finding his belt with shaky, eager hands. She undid the belt and unbuttoned his jeans, her breath coming faster when her palms found his skin…and then him - thick, heavy, and waiting for her.

She cupped him, her fingers wrapping around his growing length, and the groan that ripped from his chest felt like it echoed through her own body.

“Ahvi.” He bit her lip, tugged it, breathed her in like he’d never get another chance.

The way he said her name always made her feel like more. Like she was something rare, something precious. Each version of it came with a different heartbeat. Right now… this one held hunger and need with a hint of desperation.

He’d never wanted anyone like this. Not just her body—but all of her.

She hummed softly, pressing herself tighter against him, his weight grounding her in a way that both terrified and calmed her.

“I meant what I said,” he whispered, his forehead resting against hers as her hand moved slow and deliberately. His voice trembled like the words cost him something. “Ahvi.”

She licked her lips, then his, feeling his heart thunder under her touch. “What you say?”

“I…Love…You.” He kissed her with each word. “And you don’t have to say it back because I know that stupid little word scares the fuck outta you. But just know—when you’re ready to love me back, I’ll let you...I’ll let you love me so good because your love already feels so good, Ahvi.”

Her breath hitched and her hand stilled.

The air between them shifted.

Ahvi’s eyes glossed over, a tight pressure building in her chest as her body screamed yes but her mind fought for air. She didn’t have the tools for this kind of love. Not the soft, all-consuming kind that demanded nothing but still held everything. And especially not from a man like him— who, in every way, looked like he could break her open and leave her hollow.

Her heart screamed - I love you too!

But her mind whispered, Don’t say that shit. Don’t believe it. Don’t fall for the light, ‘cause it always burns out.

The Sun is beautiful and can make your day better by basking it in. But that shit could hurt too—sunburn was real and not just for people with paler skin. Her dark skin - born of the moon, gifted to the sun could burn too.

So instead, she bit her lip and blinked away the tears.

Because deep down, she didn’t think she was built for love like his. Lunar was gentle and wild, devoted and demanding. When he looked at her, it was like he thought God made her for him —like she was some divine answer to a lifetime of aching questions. But she couldn’t see herself like that…not yet…not when her life had taught her that being loved always came with a bill.

She leaned in, brushing her lips over his, tasting the ache in both of them. She didn’t say the words. She couldn’t…not yet…not tonight, but she didn’t let go either.

Instead, she stroked his dick more, beckoning him to her. Ahvi wanted Lunar buried so deep in her, she didn’t hear fear—she could only hear their hearts syncing in a way that scared her when not in a state of bliss. But Lunar brought her bliss and she craved it. His stroke game was deliberate and selfless. That was all she needed after a night of partying and feeling intoxicated.

Lunar could feel the battle in her, so he did what he knew how to do. “Get yo’ pretty ass on the bed. I want your legs so wide open, I can see deep inside.”

Ahvi choked on her words, so she nodded before making her way to the bed.

He didn’t say anything else.

He didn’t have to as he approached her.

Lunar’s fingers slid beneath her dress again, slow this time, not like before. This wasn’t about urgency, it was worship and it was wrapped in need. His hands roamed her body like he was trying to remind her what it felt like to be touched by someone who didn’t just w ant her body, but wanted to understand it…wanted to understand her .

“You feel that?” he asked, voice gravelly, as he dragged his fingers along the softest part of her thigh. “That’s how I know I was right. God really made you for me.”

Ahvi’s throat tightened. Her breath caught somewhere between disbelief and desire.

“You keep saying that,” she whispered, trying to tease but her voice cracked on the way out.

“That’s cause it’s true,” he rasped, lips brushing her jaw. “You think I say that to every woman I fuck?”

His words hit her in the chest. She wanted to believe him so bad it hurt.

“You think I get like this for just anybody?” His fingers found her panties and he let out a sharp breath. “You soaked, Ahvi and I ain’t even touched you right yet.”

“Then touch me right,” she whispered, her lips grazing his, her voice shaking with more than just lust.

He slid his fingers beneath the fabric, dragging them slowly through her heat. She gasped, grabbing onto his shoulders as her knees bent, but he held her steady, pressing his forehead to hers.

“This is mine,” he declared. “This body, this heart you keep trying to guard…you think you protecting yourself, but all you doing is keeping us from what’s real.”

She whimpered when his thumb found her clit, teasing her with his finger tenderly stroking her, making her spine arch and her thighs tremble.

“I’m not trying to save you, Ahvi,” he murmured. “I just want to hold the pieces while you figure out how to save yourself. You gotta let a nigga do that.”

Her hand gripped his wrist, not to stop him but because it was all too much and somehow not enough. Her walls were cracking, not just the ones inside her body either, but the ones around her heart.

“You don’t get it,” she breathed, her head falling back against the bed. “Every time I start to feel safe…it slips.”

He pressed his lips to her neck, kissing her like she was air and he was desperate to breathe. “I’m not gon’ slip.”

“That’s what you say,” she shot back, her words shaky, like maybe she didn’t even believe them.

“Then let me show you.”

Lunar pulled her panties down, letting them fall on the floor before pushing her legs back, twisting her like a pretzel. Her back hit the mattress, but this time, her legs wrapped around his waist and she didn’t push him away.

His pants were already undone. She felt him, hot and hard between her legs, and her breath hitched again when he rubbed his dick against her entrance— teasing circles against her clit that made her eyes roll back in her head.

“Last chance to run,” he muttered, his voice ragged with restraint. “But know if you run, I’m coming behind you.”

Ahvi didn’t run.

She pulled him closer, locking her legs tighter around him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Then stop talkin’ and fuck me,” she whispered in his ear. “If I’m made for you… prove it.”

Lunar kissed her lips, before trailing his aggressive nips and bites down her body. Ahvi’s breath hitched every time the warmth of them pressed against her already hot skin. When he got to her thighs that he loved so much, he placed gentle kisses on each one, making sure to spend enough time there.

“Lunar,” he flicked his tongue over her left thigh, writing his name. “And Ahvi,” he did the same to the right thigh making her legs shake more. “S.T.A.N.D.I.N.G.” he flicked his tongue over her growing bud with each letter like the nursery rhyme. “…In the sun.” Lunar dove headfirst into her pussy, licking and sucking like he needed her to understand how he felt.

“Fuck!” Ahvi halted her scream by biting into her lip.

Lunar showed her no mercy as he went for broke between her legs. Ahvi had never had head so good - dick neither, but the way his tongue did acrobatics over, under, and inside her pussy needed to be taught.

His assault never stopped there neither. Lunar got nasty with his mouth, licking over her asshole, he got it wet enough to ease his thumb inside. Ahvi wasn’t a prude but she never even thought about ass play before he showed her how good it felt. With Lunar, not only did he eat her ass and play with it but he made love to it.

She gripped his head keeping him steady as she wound her hips to meet his tongue.

“You feel so good, baby—” she whimpered, still pushing her body against his face. “Shittt,” her voice shook. “Tell me I’m yours.”

His ears perked up at the same time as his dick jumped. Lunar must’ve misheard her because his Ahvi didn’t talk like that.

“Tell me, Lunar…I want to hear your voice… I love—” she choked out riding a wave. “I love your voice.”

Lunar’s face split into a sexy smile that she couldn’t see but she imagined it there. “You want to be mine?”

“Yess!” she yelled when his mouth turned into a vacuum while his thumb continued to fuck her ass.

“Ahvi…” he said into her pussy ,“you’re mine.”

“I’m yours…tell me you love me too.” Ahvi squirmed under him, her body too hot to simmer down. “I want to be yours.”

“Then be mine,” Lunar fussed, hating how much she doubted what she felt for him. He understood but could never fully agree with anyone depriving themselves of something they knew was good for them.

With anger coursing through him, he removed his thumb, glaring down at her. His bedroom eyes scorched her skin while he lined himself up with her dripping wet pussy.

With a groan deep enough to vibrate through her chest, Lunar sank into her slow—inch by inch—like he was giving her time to feel all of him. Her hands clawed at his back as her head dropped to his shoulder, a ragged moan leaving her lips when he filled her completely.

“Fuck,” he hissed, holding still inside her. “I don’t hear you anymore, Ahvi… talk that big girl shit while I fuck some sense into you.”

“I—,” she gasped, barely able to hold onto her own breath.

“Throw that pussy on me… you said it’s mine, right? Show me how much you want this dick, too.”

He pulled back, then thrust again, and they both moaned—deep, guttural sounds that echoed off the walls and wrapped around them.

Every stroke was intentional. He wasn’t fucking her to get a nut. Lunar was fucking her to show her… to remind her that she could be wanted without being used…that she could be held without being hurt.

“I love you so much, Ahvi,” he declared while hitting her so good and deep her body shook with each stroke. “I’m going to marry you…put you in rooms you never imagined because my Ahvi is a boss bitch, and she thinks I’m trying to make her my shadow when all I want to be is hers…I want to bask in your shine but if putting you in mine gets you all the things then Ahvi, I’m giving it all to you like I’m giving you all the this dick.” Lunar’s words broke her heart so good, tears rolled down her face.

Ahvi couldn’t stop the tears when they came. They weren’t sad tears. They were the release of her last wall crumbling.

How was sex so emotional? She’d never cried so much while getting her back blown out.

From the way he moved like he meant every word he said to the way his forehead rested against hers - eyes open, never looking away, Ahvi knew every word he spoke was the truth and she’d never heard anything more heartfelt in her entire life.

“I love you,” he whispered again, his thrusts deep and controlled. “Even if you can’t say it back yet. I got enough love for both of us until you can.”

Her orgasm ripped through her like an earthquake, making her body shake so hard, she got dizzy.

“Lunar!” she yelled. “I lo?—”

Lunar didn’t let her finish her words. Instead, he kissed her deeply while releasing inside of her.

* * *

Reeling from their long shower, Ahvi’s throat still tingled from swallowing every drop of his release Lunar gave her while they were supposed to be getting cleaned up. Somehow she found herself on her knees taking his heavy dick down her throat. Now, in her swimsuit, Ahvi stumbled barefoot out to the pool, the warm night air cooling her flushed skin. She was glowing and fuzzy from the weed and lust that clung to her like a second skin. Lunar walked behind her, hand lazily tracing the small of her back like he couldn’t stop touching her.

“The hell?” she hiccupped, stopping mid-step.

There were two bodies in the water, blurred by the ripples and moonlight. Her vision was perfect, but her mind was still dizzy from the afterglow so it took her a beat to focus.

Pimp looked up, casually nodding, as he leaned back between Devonte’s toned legs. Devonte sat perched on the ledge, muscular arms inked and folded across his chest, his hand resting on Pimp’s shoulder like it had always belonged there.

There was no awkwardness. They didn’t even flinch.

Just something unspoken but, comfortable in the air.

“Y’all was loud,” Pimp smirked. “Surprised Kamari didn’t wake up from hearing Lunar.”

Ahvi covered her face blushing, as she not only realized what they walked into but that they had heard her and Lunar “You… oh…okay.” She looked at Lunar to gauge his feelings—her own questions being answered in her own head because one plus one always equaled two.

Devonte’s lips twitched. It wasn’t quite a smile, but acknowledgment. “You good?” His perfectly sculpted brows lifted and his green eyes shimmied under the stars.

“Yea,” she said slowly, then turned to Lunar, waiting for some kind of shift. But he just shrugged and dapped Devonte up like it was nothing, like he already knew, like it didn’t matter because it wasn’t his business .

Ahvi was just surprised though she didn’t care one way or another. Pimp’s love and light had grown on her so whatever he was with, she was with too.

Lunar grinned. Before she could say another word, he tugged her into the water with him. “Com’ere.”

He pulled her into the water with him and splashed down hard, her laughter breaking open under the surface. When they came up, Ahvi was laughing so loud she didn’t even realize she was clinging to him, arms looped tight around his neck with hearts in her dizzy eyes.

Devonte pulled Pimp into him more.

Like, Ahvi, Pimp had hearts in his eyes. It felt good being under Devonte. They’d spent their night at dinner before stopping by a cigar bar to just kick it. Pimp let him love on him in public but the butterflies in his stomach made him nauseous. Everything he’d wanted to experience had started to come to fruition, but he’d be a liar if he didn’t acknowledge the fear that sat in the pits of his belly and it was all still new.

He'd never been with a man that liked him in public.

Lunar knew it too. It was why he talked his best friend into going out, when Pimp got scared and almost backed out, claiming he could keep Kamari instead of calling Butta.

Lunar looked over at Pimp and made a face, teasing him.

Pimp shot him a bird but neither of them said anything.

The four of them fell into an easy rhythm. It was warm, tipsy, and playful. Devonte pulled out a bottle of reposado, holding it up like a trophy.

“Shot game?” His dark brown lips curled into a smirk.

Pimp kicked the water from the ledge. “Bet, let’s play Never Have I Ever .”

“Nigga,” Lunar looked him upside his head. They hadn’t played that game since they were much younger in a room full of girls where Pimp kissed Noodle.

That was as far as he was going with a girl and Noodle thought it was sweet. Lunar not so much, when he made her kiss him too. He didn’t have to do much convincing since back then, his crush on her was mutual.

“Don’t start yo’ shit, nigga.” Pimp grabbed the bottle, twisting the top. He was already nice and tipsy but a little more wouldn’t hurt.

“I’m too old for this shit,” Devonte grunted but decided to play anyway. He knew there was a slight age gap between him and them. Devonte was thirty-one while the others were at least seven years younger than him. Still, if Pimp wanted to play, he was game since he was so smitten with him.

Ahvi laughed, her body swaying with the water. Her hair was pulled up and in its natural state from the shower head raining down on her while on her knees just minutes ago.

Devonte poured a shot for everyone into the shot glasses he’d retrieved from the outside bar. “Your home is nice, Lunar.”

“’Preciate it.” Lunar dipped his head.

They posted up on the shallow ledge, drinks in hand, with the water sloshing gently around them. The game started light with stupid confessions, inside jokes, things from years before that left Ahvi and Devonte clueless but gave them an insight to Lunar and Pimp’s friendship.

Smirking, Lunar held up his glass. “Aight, aight. Never have I ever…faked an orgasm.”

Ahvi didn’t even flinch, just threw the shot back and slammed the glass down with a grin.

Pimp choked on his drink. “Damn! You ain’t even hesitate.”

Lunar blinked, pointing at his chest. “With me?!”

She tilted her head, grinning. “I said what I said.”

“You a damn lie,” he muttered, sliding closer to her.

She wasn’t lying about faking an orgasm but she was lying with insinuating it was with Lunar. With him, she didn’t have to fake a damn thing.

“Okay, okay,” Ahvi laughed, licking her bottom lip. “Never have I ever cried during sex.”

Lunar immediately took a sip. Everybody paused.

“Oh, so you emotional,” Pimp laughed.

Ahvi sipped too because sex with Lunar brought tears to her eyes. The way he talked her through it made her heart smile and cry.

“Man, shut the hell up,” Lunar grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was one time. I was high. She said something real poetic and I was in my feelings.”

Ahvi leaned in. “You gon’ cry in this pussy tonight?”

She didn’t even recognize herself in that moment. Who was this free girl with wide eyes and a potty mouth in front of others. She knew Ish was clutching his pearls.

He shot her a look. “Shit, I just might.”

Devonte chimed in, after smiling at the two of them. “Okay, my turn. Never have I ever…sent someone a just thinking about you text and ghosted them right after.” Of course, his question was more grown up.

Lunar and Pimp both drank. Ahvi squinted.

“Y’all toxic,” she muttered.

“I grew,” Lunar argued. “That was the past me. I’m evolved now.”

“You full of shit,” she laughed.

Devonte raised a brow. “You really think he full of shit?”

“Most days, yea,” she smirked, knowing nothing about Lunar gave ‘full of shit’ vibes. She was just kicking shit and having fun.

“Cool,” Devonte shrugged. “Then you’ll be real surprised when you find out he bought you a restaurant.”

The pool got quiet with Lunar shooting daggers at Devonte. It was supposed to be a surprise and he was waiting for the perfect time to share it with her. He’d just really started to break her down and get her used to his world. Lunar knew Ahvi was ready to run for real now, by the look on her face.

Ahvi blinked. “The fuck you just say?”

Lunar stared straight ahead, jaw twitching slightly.

“A fuckin’ restaurant?” she repeated, sitting up straighter. Her tone teetered somewhere between shock and disbelief, the inflection impossible to pin. Her big eyes swam with so many emotions that Lunar couldn’t tell if she was about to kiss him or cuss him out.

Lunar finally looked at her. “I was gon’ tell you, Ahvi. I just wanted it to be right. It’s still being finalized.” He glared at Devonte.

Devonte put his hands up. “I didn’t mean to spoil it, Lunar…real shit.”

Her chest fluttered, confused and full. “Why would you do that?”

He shrugged, “because you deserve it. And I want you to have something that’s yours.”

What was this level of love-- of investment?

It wasn’t a ring or a car or a trip. It wasn’t flexing. It was him planting roots for her - gifting her stability, choosing her dream before she could even fully speak it out loud.

“Lunar…” her voice cracked.

He stepped to her, grabbing her into his arms. Her heart started thudding in her chest.

“Why would you…why would you do that for me?” She was so confused that she asked the same question again. Ahvi needed some clarity.

He leaned forward, laughing at her. “Because I believe in you, because your food good as hell and I seen the people looking for you on social media—they fuck with it just as much as I do. Because you light up when you talk about feeding people and I wanted to give you something that wouldn’t get snatched away the second it started feeling real.”

She swallowed hard, the burn behind her eyes threatening to spill over.

“And because,” he added, “I love you. And I’m trying to build with you, not just fuck with you.”

Everyone stayed silent, like even the water didn’t want to interrupt.

Ahvi looked down at her hands, water beading on her skin, mind spinning.

She didn’t cry…not yet.

Her body was still caught somewhere between awe and suspicion, between wanting to throw her arms around him and wanting to ask what the catch was.

Because people didn’t just do shit like this for her…not without strings…not without it turning into a weapon later.

“I need to…I need a minute,” she mumbled, voice raw. She stood up from the water, her body trembling, not from the cold but from being overwhelmed.

And as she walked away, everyone watched her go. Especially Lunar, whose heart beat hard against his ribs with the weight of doing too much or maybe not enough. He wasn’t sure.

She looked back at him, tears burning the corners of her eyes. Before she could speak, the sliding glass door flew open.

“Butta!” a deep voice cracked.

Ahvi turned around fast.

Her sister burst out of the house barefoot. Her face was red and wet with tears. Monday was right behind her, his voice frantic. “Butta, come here.” His long legs trekked behind her long and fast.

“Leave me alone!” Butta snapped, hugging herself. She looked like a little girl again in that oversized t-shirt, shoulders shaking.

Ahvi’s stomach dropped. “Butta?”

“I’m pregnant,” she said. Just like that. No breath. No preface. “I’m fucking pregnant.”

Silence dropped like a bomb.

“What?” Ahvi blinked.

“I’m pregnant,” Butta repeated, crying harder now. “And I’m leaving. I need to go home and to think. I’m not doing this with him right now. He won’t shut the fuck up about keeping it and playing house and acting like everything’s gonna be okay. But I don’t want this—I want my life!” she sobbed.

Monday stepped forward, face red with frustration. “We did this together. I’m not letting you just disappear and act like I’m not in this too.”

Monday had been smitten with Butta from the moment he laid eyes on her. Her pretty light brown skin, round face, and long legs had his eyes bulging out of his head. What started off as just talking about basketball and school morphed into something no one really saw coming, at least not Ahvi.

“You’re eighteen,” Ahvi said slowly, trying to make sense of it. “And she’s seventeen.”

“Barely,” Monday snapped. “She turns eighteen in six months.”

“Shut up!” Butta shouted. “Stop trying to make it sound okay!”

Ahvi’s body shook, rage and panic crawling up her spine. “You were supposed to be virgins. Y’all were supposed to be focused…I asked you, Porsha and you lied to me.”

“I was focused,” Butta snapped back, voice shaking. “I still am. I still got my scholarship. I still got my dreams. I just made a mistake, But now…” she looked down at her stomach, and burst into tears.

“Fuck,” Ahvi placed her hands on her head trying to figure how her world just went from sugar to shit. Maybe it was an omen—Ish warning her from the grave.

“I don’t want this baby, Ahvi,” Butta whispered. “I want an abortion, but he won’t stop begging.”

Monday stepped forward. “Because it’s not just about her. It’s ours, and I told her, I’ll be there. I’ll take care of everything.”

“You going to college,” Ahvi barked. “You got dreams too, remember? You think you can take care of a baby off potential and promises?”

“I’d drop everything for her,” Monday promised, his baby face twisted up because he had fallen in love with Butta like Lunar had fallen in love with Ahvi.

“Well, she don’t want that!” Ahvi snapped.

“But I love her!” he yelled.

And suddenly everyone was screaming at each other at once.

Pimp and Devonte had stepped out of the pool, frozen. Lunar was still at the edge of the deck, jaws tight, and his fists clenched. He was watching, assessing, calculating—but not moving.

“You knew?” Ahvi turned to him, as it was all starting to register with her. “You fuckin’ knew he was here?”

Lunar’s eyes met hers. “Yea. I knew.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“They grown. They said they had it handled.”

“ She’s seventeen. She’s still a child...they’re babies, Lunar!”

“They’re both young adults, Ahvi, and they’re figuring it out.” Lunar looked at her, hoping she saw things from his point of view. Did he know his little brother had become sexually active - no…but he remembered being young and in love.

“That’s easy for you to say,” she spit out. “Everything’s always chill in your world. You just let people ‘figure it out.’ Must be nice.”

Lunar stepped forward. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you don’t get it!” she shouted. “You didn’t have to raise a baby while still being one. You didn’t have to clean up everybody’s mess ‘cause there was no backup. I did ! And I won’t let my sister drown just because you think life is supposed to be live and learn- and YOLO- or let’s just throw some money at it.”

“She’s not drowning,” Lunar said, voice calm but tight. “She’s scared and I get that. But if Monday’s trying to step up, let him.”

“You think stepping up is enough?” Ahvi snapped. “You think Tiny’s gonna go for that? You think love is enough? Love don’t pay for daycare or protect you from judgment or fix your body after labor. It don’t fix shit!”

They were nose to nose now, breathing so deep using each other’s exhales to replenish their own raging breaths.

“You was waiting for something like this,” Lunar said, voice trembling. “You been holding your breath just waiting for a reason to run and now you got it.”

“Nigga fuck you,” she whispered, “I never wanted to run…I always had to.”

“No,” he said, pain flickering in his eyes. “You chose to. This time you just using Butta as the excuse.”

She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t.

And then he said it, soft but cutting. “I was building a life with you, Ahvi. I was gonna give you the world. I bought you a fuckin’ restaurant because I believed in everything you said you were afraid to dream about. But it’s not about me, it’s never been about me. You been fighting ghosts this whole time.”

Tears welled up in her eyes but didn’t fall.

“If you do this, I’ll never speak to you again,” Monday’s pained voice cut through the other thick argument in the room.

Butta’s eyes bucked, but she would stand firm on what she said and felt. Ahvi was right, they didn’t come from a world where a mistake like this didn’t slow down your motion. Licking her lips after wiping her hand across her face, she looked Monday in the face. “I went seventeen years never knowing you, I believe I’ll be fine.”

That was a dagger to everyone’s gut. It was harsh and cold but rested in her truth. Butta wanted to get out of Jade City—wanted to play basketball professionally, so if she never saw Monday again, then that was something she’d have to talk to God about when that time came.

Lunar stepped forward, his jaw clenched, voice breaking through the heat. He wasn’t done. He had more to say. “You don’t trust nobody, not even me. You been bracing for the fallout since the minute you let me touch you - just waiting on the proof that I ain’t shit like all the rest.”

“You don’t know what the fuck I been through!” she yelled, stepping into his face, her voice cracking from rage and pain all tangled together. “You think I want to live like this? Looking over my shoulder every time I feel happy?”

“Then stop,” he snapped, chest heaving. “Let yourself have something good for once.”

“I can’t!” she screamed. “I can’t, Lunar! Because the minute I let my guard down, the real world reminds me who the fuck I am, reminds me that girls like me don’t get fairy tales. We survive – that’s it…that’s the only thing I know how to do.”

His eyes softened, then narrowed again. “So, you punish me for what your daddy did? For what Dro didn’t do?”

“No,” she hissed, shaking her head. “I protect myself because if I don’t, who the fuck will? That’s what my daddy taught me and he might not be perfect or prolific like yours but he did right by me.”

Lunar’s hands fell to his sides. His voice dropped, hoarse. “So what? You just gon’ take Kamari and bounce?”

The question landed like a punch.

Ahvi blinked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“You think I don’t know what this is?” he whispered. “You leave…you leave with him. I never see y’all again.”

His heart ached so bad already imagining not seeing Kamari grow up. There was so much in that little boy that brought him life—Kamari gave him something to wake up for. He loved Ahvi and would be heartbroken without her but Kamari’s absence would cripple him so bad, he’d really hate the sun forever.

Her lips parted, but no words came out as her eyes darted around the room. Emotions were so high, she could see the vibrations slicing through the air.

Lunar stepped back, dragging a hand over his face. “You think he ain’t mine just ’cause I didn’t help make him?” Tears welled in his eyes before he could stop them. “That little boy…that baby saved my life, Ahvi. You don’t even know. I was fucked up before y’all. I didn’t give a fuck about living…was waking up every day not knowing what I was grinding for. Then y’all came in, loud as hell, with all this fire and chaos and need , and it gave me something to hold on to.”

Ahvi stared at him, wide-eyed.

“You know the first time he called me Dada?” His voice cracked, revealing the secret him and Kamari had been holding from her since she was so excited about him saying mama. “I ain’t even know what to say. I just held him and cried like a bitch, like somebody cracked my chest open and poured light in it.”

He looked away, blinking fast. “So yea, maybe he don’t have my DNA, but that’s my son, that’s my family…and you— you —you’re the first person I’ve ever actually wanted to stay around for. Now you’re standing here telling me I gotta watch y’all walk away because you too scared to let yourself be loved?”

Ahvi’s chin trembled. Her shoulders shook. “I’m not trying to take him from you,” she finally whispered. “I would never do that.”

The thought hadn’t crossed her mind because she never thought Lunar would want to stay even if she didn’t want him too. But now, her heart ached so bad knowing Lunar wouldn’t turn his back on her son when access to her was denied. Still, she was too scared to change it.

Lunar exhaled, hands on his head, like the breath had just been yanked from his lungs.

“But I gotta protect myself,” she said, her voice much lower this time. “You keep saying I’m waiting to run, but you don’t understand what it’s like to have to.” Her voice grew stronger, her eyes hardening again. “Me and Butta didn’t get to grow up soft, Lunar. We didn’t get safety nets. We were taught to make it work, even when everything was working against us. Ain’t nobody coming to save us, so when I see her spiraling? When I see her future slipping? I panic because we don’t have the luxury of making stupid mistakes.”

Ahvi was using Butta as her scapegoat when sister should’ve been replaced with I and Butta replaced with Ahvi .

Her voice shook with truth, with fury. “You think I overreacted? You think I’m controlling? I’m terrified, Lunar! I’m terrified because I’ve been the girl who had no one to catch her. And I’m watching my little sister about to fall the same way.”

“I get that,” he said, barely a whisper.

“No, you don’t,” she shot back. “You don’t live in my world. You got the freedom to make music and mess up and find yourself. But me? I been on survival mode since I came out my Mama I don’t know how to turn it off . ”

Their breathing filled the space between them, ragged and heavy.

Ahvi looked at him, eyes full of pain. “You didn’t tell me your brother was here. You made decisions without me – that’s not partnership, Lunar. That’s just another man doing what he wants and expecting me to adjust.”

His lips parted like he wanted to fight back, but there was nothing left to fight with.

So, he just nodded…defeated.

“Cool, Ahvi… I ain’t ‘bout to fight with you and tell you how I’m better than all the niggas you knew or that your daddy ain’t never met a nigga that came from a real nigga—was surrounded by real niggas and raised by real niggas. Nah, I ain’t gon’ try to convince you to just let me handle this shit.” He pushed his hand down his face. “I’ll leave…you and Kamari ain’t got to go nowhere,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, even when you against us—I’m gon’ show you how real niggas handle not getting their way—how we put our family first. The house - yours. The truck - yours. Kamari - ours. Your heart—” Lunar looked her up and down, his eyes red and glossed over. “That’ll always be mine too. Even if you too afraid to admit it.” He patted his chest walking backwards before turning around to look at Ahvi one last time. “Bring yo’ ass on, Monday,” he hollered knowing he needed to have a real conversation with his little brother.

Ahvi stood frozen, chest cracking open, not from rage—but from sorrow. From knowing that letting go might protect her heart—but it was killing it too.

Everyone stood still. No one knew what to do or say because hearts had been laid out, raw and waiting to be chosen.

Butta held her breath, eyes locked on her sister, silently willing her to move…to say something…to do something. She waited to see if Ahvi would reach down, pick Lunar’s heart up off the floor, and offer hers in return, but she didn’t.

And when she didn’t, something cracked in Butta. Her shoulders trembled, breath hitching like her body understood the weight of the moment before her mind could catch up. If this was what adulthood looked like—what love looked like—she wanted no parts of it.

The way her sister let a love so real, so loud and certain walk out without chasing after it. It shook her. Butta was still young, still believed in big love, wild love—the kind you run after in the rain and build a life around. And there was Ahvi, staring forever in the face and choosing fear instead.

Shit didn’t make sense, not to a girl who still believed in beginnings, not to someone who was terrified of becoming so hardened by life that they couldn’t recognize good when it stood right in front of them.

Ahvi had love. Real love and she let it go like it was nothing.

Butta wasn’t sure if she was heartbroken for her sister, or just terrified she’d end up the same way.