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Britain felt the aching tension in her shoulders alleviate at Priest’s soft touch. His hands were lathered in lavender scented massage oil as his palms soothingly kneaded through the kinks and knots in her shoulders and back.Instead of lying down flat on her stomach, Britain sat topless between Priest's legs while he sat with his back against the headboard of her bed.

“Could you stop playing?" Britain playfully chastised him as she swatted his hands from maneuvering to her bare breasts.

Priest slowly retracted his hands as he let out a chuckle from behind her. "A'ight. I'm done."

"You better be," she warned him.

Priest continued to work his oily hands over her shoulders before gliding them to the small of her back. The feeling was great as he circled his thumbs deeply within her plunging back dimples.

"Wow, I never knew I needed that." Britain exhaled a breath of relaxation at the feeling of Priest massaging her lower back.

Behind her, Priest let out a joking scoff. "Diane can’t fuck with me," he teased as he continued to work wonders on her back with his hands.

Britain laughed, shaking her head at his silliness. A silence settled between them. Priest was far too absorbed in determination to be Britain's favorite masseuse over Diane, while Britain was too captivated by Priest's firm hands conforming to the structure of her body.

"How have you been?" Britain asked spontaneously as she reached up to secure her bun tighter.

Priest squinted his eyes in confusion about her question. "What? You're asking me that like I haven't been with you every day of the week," he pointed out to her, still folding his hands softly on her back.

Britain laughed lightly at his confusion. "I have been, but I haven't asked how you've been in a while," she pointed out.

"Because you know already," he shrugged his shoulders. "I've been chilling.”

Britain rolled her eyes. "Can we skip all this and get to how you're really feeling… like seriously," she encouraged him to dig deeper. Priest liked masking things, especially his inner thoughts and worries.

Priest went silent again. He continued massaging her back; however, he no longer found the will to speak. Britain figured he needed a moment to gather himself. When that moment lasted longer than she expected, she peered over her shoulder at him. Priest had given his undivided attention to the task of relaxing her body. He didn't seem to be even paying attention to her anymore.

"You don’t wanna have this conversation?" Britain asked him.

Priest shrugged his shoulders, finally lifting his head to eye her. "I just don't want to get deep right now. That's all," he truthfully stated.

Britain eyed him for a brief moment, searching for any sign in his eyes, but there weren't any. She nodded her head, deciding not to harp on anything Priest didn't want to. "Alright," she agreed. "We'll talk later?" she asked.

Priest licked his lips before shrugging. "Maybe," he dismissed the suggestion. "Can we just not kill the vibe? I'm enjoying just being here in the moment with you.”

Britain rotated herself in Priest's hold to face him. His hands immediately drew to her side as she straddled his lap. "Thank you." She smiled lightly, expressing her gratitude for the wonderful massage he had given her.

"You're welcome." He leaned in and pecked her lips.He wrapped his arms around her small frame as she cupped her tender hands around his face. Britain could tell Priest had a lot on his mind, but he wasn't going to say. The worst thing to do to Priest was to pry. He would come to eventually.

"Ride somewhere with me?" Priest asked with a hopeful look on his face.

Britain’s brows raised at him. "P, it's like six in the morning. Where we going?" she asked him.

"Trust me." He smiled confidently. "Go get dressed."

"Priest, where are we going?" She reiterated her question in laughter as he lifted her from his lap and sat her down beside him.

Priest smacked his lips. "Just go put something on. Nothing too fancy, though," he advised her.

Britain got out of bed, side-eying him. "Since you're requesting, you should just go pick something out for me," she said, evoking a laugh from him.

"Britain, could you just go get dressed before I change my mind?" he warned her.

Hearing the mild bass in his voice, Britain eyed him momentarily. Seeing that she was initiating one of her silly staring contests, he shook his head. "So fucking childish,"he laughed.

As always, Britain dragged out the process of getting dressed. She was being indecisive about which pair of sneakers she wanted to wear until Priest made the decision for her. He got dressed rather quickly alongside her, and hand in hand, they exited the apartment together with Britain locking up."Where we going?" she asked once more as he aided her into the car.

Priest chuckled at her persistence in trying to figure out where he was taking her. Remaining vague and short, he replied to her question. "For a ride,"was all he said, earning a roll of her eyes.

It was just like Priest to keep her wondering. He got off on how nosy she was and his own ability to keep his mouth shut. He got into the car, revving the smooth engine before pulling out of the parking space.

"I'm drained," Priest let out spontaneously in the middle of their drive.

Britain furrowed her brows as she turned her head to face him. "What?" she asked after his statement came from left field.

Priest kept his eyes on the road, his left hand gripping the top of the steering wheel. "You asked how I've been," he reminded her, recalling the attempt she had made to have the conversation prior to leaving her apartment.

Britain took her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn't really know how to assess the situation. Priest hated to be smothered, but hearing that only made her want to coddle him. Priest went through so many things in a day, all he ever did was suppress his feelings, thoughts, and sometimes his actions just to please everyone around him, which even included Britain sometimes.

Britain couldn't help but feel guilty about not asking about his well-being more often. She was just so wrapped up in the fact that he cared and loved her so much that she basked in it. "What's been going on?" she asked him, reaching over the console to caress the side of his face with her soft hand.

Priest shrugged. "Just dealing with a lot. Right now, I feel like it's crunch time for me, but everyone still moving like I have all the time in the world," he vented. He kept his eyes glued to the road, not even glancing at Britain to peep her reaction to what he was saying.

"Priest, why are you talking like you’re dying?" Britain asked him with a look of confusion still etched on her face.

Priest let out a sigh as he stopped the car at a red light. He leaned back in his seat, still not bothering to look in her direction. "Britain, you gotta accept the fact that I may not be here a few months down the line," he urged her. He had no intentions of sounding harsh, but that was how Britain took it.

"I thought we had this conversation already," Britain reminded him.

Priest nodded his head. "We did, but I led you to think it was okay not to accept me not being here with you, and I don't wanna ever leave you thinking like that. Your life shouldn't end with me, Britain. I'm going away for life. The quicker you and everyone else come to terms with that, the better," he shrugged.

"Oh, so you've already come to terms with everything?" Britain weaved her perfectly arched brows together in question. She was quickly overcome with agitation as she spoke to him on the matter.

"Pretty much," he stated passively with a nod of his head.

Britain retracted her hand while shaking her head. "Wow," she breathed as she turned herself around to face the opposite direction.

A tension-filled silence thickened the air between them. Priest had never really dealt with an upset Britain. Their time spent together was always joyous and relaxing. He knew he had angered her, but this was his reality, and he needed everyone to start living and accepting it, starting with her. "What does ‘wow’ mean, Britain?" Priest asked with a sigh.

Britain rested her head on her fist as she gazed out the window. The sun was beginning to rise, and the skies were a mixture of pigmented pink and yellow hues, holding her attention and preventing her from glancing back in Priest’s direction."Exactly what it sounds like, Priest," she eased out in a monotonous voice.

"So, this what we doing now? I thought we had an open line of communication?" Priest asked her. He didn't mean to cause her to shut down, but these types of things were so hard to talk about without crushing feelings. Priest was so used to just ripping the Band-Aid off when it came to conversations like these, but he failed to realize that things were different with Britain. She needed situations and her feelings to be handled with care.

Britain finally snapped her head back in his direction. He had touched a nerve. "I thought so too, Priest. When we had that conversation in the Hamptons, we agreed there was no longer a concern about me accepting you being away because that wouldn't be our reality," she fumed in frustration.

"I'm sorry, Britain, but this is our reality," he clarified for her. "The quicker you come to terms with that, the easier it’ll be for you."

"I've never thought I would feel this way about you, but you're a disappointment ," Britain spat without regard. She was so angry that her emotions and heart got the best of her.

Priest's nostrils flared in fury as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. His cheeks were chiseled inward in anger as he glanced at Britain with a glare webbed in his orbs. "Yo, what the fuck you just say to me?!" he shrilled at her aggressively. Priest had his fair share of people speaking down on him and others belittling his worth, but he never imagined Britain would be one of those people. Yeah, she was blinded by anger, but that didn't take the pain away from her blow.

Britain felt so small on the inside. He held so much authority and power in his rugged, baritone voice. Britain hated to be yelled at. It made her feel shallow and childlike, and it almost always brought tears in her eyes. Priest was so soft with her. He loved her dearly and treated her with so much honor that she thought he would never raise his voice at her.Britain fought hard to prevent the tears brimming her eyes from cascading down her face. "You heard me! You preach on and on about not wanting others to lose faith in you, but here you are losing faith in yourself! It's disappointing !" Britain bellowed passionately. Her words collected in Priest's heart like bullet after bullet.

"I'm not losing faith in myself, Britain! I'm living my reality!" he countered.

"Right now is not the time for accepting! This is when you're supposed to figure shit out like you’ve always done! From every story you've ever told me, that’s all you ever did when shit got rocky! Why are you giving up on yourself now?!" Her chest heaved in anger as she spewed as much as she could to Priest.

"You don't think I'm tired of figuring shit out?! That's all I've ever done, Britain! I've been maneuvering myself out of deep shit since I could remember, yo! This is it! I can't get myself out of this one! Now I have to deal with the consequences!" Priest jeered at her, trying desperately to get his point across.

Britain turned her head away from him. "You aren't the only one dealing with the consequences, Priest. Remember that," she mumbled before taking in a choppy breath to withhold her tears.

Her last words resonated with him as they inflicted deep blows to his gut. He had hurt Britain, and those weren't his intentions or motives. He honestly thought this conversation would run its course like any of the other conversations they'd had. This one was different, though. They had finally reached the realization of what needed to be done to not only serve themselves, but also each other.Britain had grown attached. She loved Priest with every bone within her and didn't feel like it was right for her to have to live without him. He was hers. The little piece of peace that belonged to her and only her. Her cycle for Priest had begun far before the day they expressed their love for each other. The good thing about this time around was that her cycle was now mentally and emotionally healthier. She was finally getting her happiness back. The love she'd always dreamt of. Her reason to wake up in the morning. And now, that was all going to be taken away from her.

"Why?" she croaked, quickly trying to wipe the tears that managed to slip out of her eyes.

Priest ran a hand down his face in distress. He felt horrible about lashing out at Britain the way he had. "Why what?" Priest asked her in confusion.

"Why'd you make me fall in love with you just for me to have to accept you leaving me? Priest, you are a very calculated person, so I know you've gone over every scenario that could unfold, and this had to be one of them. Why'd you let us get this far if you knew you would give up on yourself?" Britain honestly didn't know what to make of any of this, but she did feel played. She felt like Priest was finding an easy way to tell her that he would be skating out of her life.

"Some people aren't meant to be in your life past a certain point. I'm that person for you," Priest stated with a light shrug of his shoulders.

Britain shook her head. "That's not for you to decide."

"Britain, you think I want this to happen? This isn't something I prayed for. Shit seemed to finally fall into place. My money is right, I have no worries, and I found you. Then I had to face reality. If I don't prepare you for my absence, that would be the worst thing I could ever do to you," Priest stressed.Britain remained silent. She wasn't sure what more she could say. Priest had made up his mind, and there was no changing that.

The vehicle eased to a stop.Britain glanced around at her surroundings. "Why are we here?" she asked.They had stopped in a residential area she wasn't too familiar with. The home they were parked in front of looked to be abandoned, but it was in fair condition aside from the unkempt lawn that was practically up to Britain's knees and the damagedgate surrounding the perimeter.Britain could tell the home was nice when it had tenants to upkeep it. The two-story single-family home was a brownstone brick house that had grand windows and a peaked high ceiling. At the top of the house was a chimney that was wrapped with loose vines and a scatter of fallen leaves.

Priest let out a sigh. "Look," he said while grasping her hand in his. "I know you're not really fucking with me at the moment, but you're the only person I trust to show this to."

Britain’s orbs shifted from the house before them to Priest. "What is there to show?" She raised a brow.

"C'mon." He made his way over to her side of the car where he assisted her out. He kept her hand in his as they approached the gate of the home. The unstable wooden fence lacked strength. Priest pushed it open with ease.

Britain took a skeptical look around. She had watched far too many episodes of Forensic Files to just willingly go into empty homes without asking a few questions. Her feet halted from making anymore movement, which alerted Priest. "What?" he looked over his shoulder and asked.

“This is scary and creeping me the fuck out," she admitted shakily as she took a look around.

"Don't trip. I got you," he assured her as he wrapped his arm around her.

Britain mustered up the courage to continue the way up toward the door with Priest. "How are we gonna get in? Maybe we should just—" Priest interjected her worries with another chuckle as he extracted the key from his pocket.

Britain let out an uneasy huff before nodding her head. Priest used the key to open the door. The pungent smell of rotten wood and mold invaded their noses immediately. Britain tucked her nose into the crook of her elbow, hoping to overpower the rancid smell with her own scent instead. "Priest, what the fuck?" Her eyes widened at him.

"My bad. Last time I stopped by, it didn't smell like this," he said as he too stuffed his nose into the crook of his own elbow.

"When's the last time you stopped by?" She peered up at him, raising her brow.

Priest shrugged as he took a step inside. "Three years ago."

Britain shook her head as she followed behind Priest into the repulsive smell of the home that hadn't been aired out in years. The wood panels that floored the home creaked with every step that was taken. Glancing up, Britain realized that cobwebs crowded every corner of the house. She caught an eerie vibe from the place, but she was confident that Priest wouldn't let anything happen to her.

She followed him past what would’ve been the living room of the home, and then to the stairs. Priest looked over his shoulder, noticing how afraid Britain looked. He extended his hand to her to go up the stairs as one to lessen her fear. The flooring on the stairs creaked with every step they took. Arriving at the top of the stairs, Britain expected Priest to take her into one of the rooms along the hall, but he didn't.

She eyed him suspiciously as he squatted down toward an air vent that was clogged with dust and cobwebs. He gave it a shake, but the frame of the vent was screwed on tightly.

He stood up from his squatted position, glancing over at Britain. "Go stand down the hall and cover your ears," he instructed her as he reached into the waistband of his jeans, extracting his gun.

Britain’s eyes widened as he motioned his head in the direction he wanted her to go. She did as she was told, covering her ears.

She watched as Priest extended the black gun out in front of him. He pulled the trigger twice, aiming at the top corners of the vent frame. The booming shots of the bullets spewing out of the gun startled Britain, making her heart race. Unplugging her ears, her right hand clutched at her chest in hopes of calming her racing heart. She observed as the vent frame came crashing down to the floor.

"See?" Priest smirked as he crouched down again. "That was easy."

Britain remained in her spot, wanting to keep a safe distance just in case whatever he was retrieving from the air vent wasn't something she could stomach. She watched as Priest pulled a dusty black leather bag from the vent.

He assessed the bag and its heaviness, satisfied with it.

"What is it?" Britain asked, her ears still ringing from the two gunshots Priest had fired. He stood up, sitting his weapon back into his waistband.

"C'mon. I'll tell you in the car," he said while gripping the straps of the leather bag. He allowed Britain to lead the way downstairs since she was so antsy about leaving.

Exiting the home, Priest locked up behind them. He assisted Britain back into the car before getting in himself. He sat the leather bag down on his lap.

"There's no corpse in there, right?" Britain raised a brow.

Priest chuckled. "Nah," he shook his head. "Can't fit a corpse in here,Gioia," he enlightened her as he began pulling the zipper back on the bag.

Once the bag was unzipped, he widened the opening, revealing it was at full capacity with a hefty amount of money nestled inside. Britain eyes widened at the amount of money in the bag. She was sure she had never seen that much cash in her life.

"How much is that?" Britain asked while glancing from the money and then up at Priest.

"A mil," he announced casually as he zipped the bag back up and tossed it into the back seat.