Creed-
Noah’s soft hum filled the room as he cooked dinner.
It sounded like "Take Me to Church," one of my favorite songs.
The initial shock of him locking me in my father's old room had worn off, replaced by a growing anxiety.
I was so anxious I could barely think. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. My priority was to get out of this situation, and that meant understanding Noah so I could talk him into letting me go. There was no way I was about to talk about co-parenting.
"You're shaking; you’re scared," Noah said, breaking the silence.
I hadn’t realized he had stopped cooking to stare at me.
I met his blue gaze.
"No, I’m not scared.
I’m frigging perplexed as to why the fuck you would lock us down here."
He chuckled.
"I didn't want it to be this way.
I wanted you to be reasonable, to work with me like an adult, but you couldn’t, so here we are."
"We don't lock up people because they aren’t behaving the way we want them to, Noah," I replied, trying to reason with him.
He sighed, his fingers raking through his hair.
"We shouldn’t do a lot of things, Creed.
Should I list all the things you’ve done to me that you shouldn’t have? Let's start with the incident in the van and work our way to 'you’re going to give me a baby.'"
I sneered at him.
"That’s not the same."
"It’s exactly the same.
Sometimes, you have to push boundaries to get what you want."
"I was horny, Noah.
I used you because you were there."
He shook his head, wagging the spatula he was holding at me.
“See, lying won’t get us anywhere,”
he said before he turned back to the stove.
My chest tightened.
I wanted to scream.
It was clear Noah had created a narrative in his mind, one that justified his actions.
Nothing I said would get through to him. I’d just have to play along until he let me out. I was almost certain he really intended to keep us locked away for a month. What if an emergency happened?
"When did you even do all of this? As far as I knew, this place had been empty," I said, looking around.
With new eyes, I could see that everything here was meant to make it feel like an actual home.
"When I found out Tempest had her baby, I knew you would be in Florida for a while longer.
Then this plan came to me.
I had contractors come by.
It took them three days."
"So you had this all planned out? What about Tempest? She calls me three to four times a day, and I always answer.
She’ll know something's wrong when I don’t."
He turned and smirked.
“Don’t worry.
I enlisted AJ for some help.”
My mouth fell open. "How?"
He chuckled again, something he seemed to do a lot now.
“Everybody has secrets, Creed.
Aj has secrets.”
he said before he walked in my direction holding two plates.
The chicken Alfredo made my stomach growl.
I could have protested and said I wasn’t eating, but I was too hungry for that.
I’d figure out how to get out without starving myself.
He set each plate on the raised coffee table and took a seat across from me on the loveseat.
After a few bites, I asked, “How did you even start selling guns?”
When he didn’t say anything after another two bites, I looked up.
Hesitation was written all over his face.
"Noah."
He sighed.
“Three Six Deuces.”
I frowned.
“What did he have to do with you?”
Two years earlier, I’d dealt with him.
He was signed to my godfather's record label.
He was a menace.
I paid out nearly ten million to women he had assaulted, then another fifteen to him after I broke his contract. Whenever he was confronted about his misdeeds, he claimed, “the man was trying to keep him down because he was a Black man.”
When I publicly stated I was letting him go because I didn’t want my godfather's company associated with violence, he couldn’t use that excuse.
He threatened to beat my ass.
Tempest didn’t like that and had her husband and father pay him a visit on my behalf.
He didn’t even glance my way in public after that.
"When his daddy tried to buy his way into music, Tiffany took a lot of money from him.
She was supposed to take Three Six on a world tour.
He played a few nightclubs.
They told her she would end up missing if she didn’t get the money back to them. When she came to me, I didn’t know how serious their threat was, and I couldn’t ask your parents for the money. Someone I never planned on doing business with until then offered me a lot of money to be the middleman and run logistics on a big gun sale. According to him, the person would do business with me because of personal ties. That person ended up being my cousin.
“I didn’t know you were in contact with your father side of your family.”
“I’m still not.
They don’t deal with him, just like they don’t deal with me.
But don’t worry, that part of my life is officially over.”
I wanted to unpack the part about his family not dealing with him, but that wasn’t my business.
"You saved your mother's life.
Three Six and his family are not above hurting women."
"I know, but I don’t want to talk about that anymore." He pushed his half-eaten food away.
Noah leaned back into the cushion of the chair, his eyes darting around the room.
Our conversation seemed to have put him in a mood.
Silence settled between us.
I pushed my plate back too, the fork clattering against it.
“So, what is your endgame here, Noah?”
“Us.
Married with our kids, doing this family thing right.”
“And you think this will lead to that?”
He nodded.
“Just as sure as your father was when he did it."
I rolled my eyes.
"You're back to that story again.
My daddy did not kidnap my momma," I half-yelled, and only half believed it.
I hated that tell-all book my uncle Kyle wrote about my parents, but I wasn't so sure it was all lies.
A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
He was really planning to keep me there.
He snickered, "Sure he didn't, Creed."
Troy-
Exhausted was an understatement.
I was drained, running on empty.
Every muscle in my body ached, and my throat was sore.
I had spent all day preparing for a charity event, and the way I felt reminded me why I retired. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, constantly threatening to shut. When I opened my hotel room door and saw Scarlett naked in my bed, I thought I had fallen asleep standing up.
My eyes roamed over her body.
Fuck, she looked edible.
Her dark skin glowed against the white sheets.
Her hair was wild, just how I liked it—long enough to wrap my fist around when I fucked her from the back. Her thick thighs were spread, giving me a perfect view of the pink and brown flesh I loved stroking into. It felt like forever since I’d indulged in my favorite pastime— fucking the hell out of my wife.
I groaned and closed the door.
My dick strained against the jeans I was wearing.
I had already taken a few steps in her direction before I remembered I was mad at her.
Lust turned to aggravation.
"Scarlett, please leave," I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
She propped herself up, looking directly into my eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere, Troy." She spread her legs and ran her fingers through her slick folds.
Resisting the urge to get trapped in her little web, I looked away, bent down, and removed my boots.
She was trying to kill me.
"Fucking you won't make me forget you had divorce papers drawn up."
"But it'll make us both feel better," she shot back.
"I'm going to shower, Scarlett," I said, heading toward the bathroom.
"I hope you're gone when I come back," I muttered, hoping she heard the frustration in my words.
It was crazy that she thought I would just forgive her after she planned to divorce me and lied to our daughter about something that drastically affected her life.
Forgiveness would take work.
A loud crash startled me.
My feet were suddenly wet.
I looked down to find the vase of flowers left on the nightstand every morning, by the housekeeper on the floor.
I spun around to face Scarlett.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
Her legs were hanging off the bed, and the sheet covered her.
Her eyes were narrowed, and her nose flared.
"Fight with me." She screamed.
"This is what we do. We fight, have sex, and make up."
I shook my head and took a deep breath, trying to find the right words.
"It may be time we broke that cycle."
Her eyes brimmed with tears as she bit her lower lip.
"Why now, after everything that's happened? After everything you've done."
"Don’t start with the Tiffany bullshit, Scar.
You said you forgave me.
Stick to it.
And even though I didn't ask you at first about Maine because I was panicked and didn’t know what to do, I did ask you just days later, and you agreed to help raise her. You insisted. If you changed your mind, you should have talked to me instead of running to Compton. This is part of the cycle we need to let go. You can't keep using what happened twenty years ago to dig your way out of the holes you dig."
"Why change now, Troy? When I mess up," her voice was shaky, "I'm terrified.
You being away from me this long has me terrified of losing you."
I felt bad because she was crying.
"You're talking stupid.
I married you to spite our parents.
If I leave, they win," I said, trying to lighten the moment. "But I do think we need to break some old habits. Like this." I pointed to the broken vase. "Fighting, then fucking, then letting whatever happened fester until it gets to this point doesn’t work for me anymore. We have adult children. We’re too old for this. We need counseling. The entire family. Our children are messed up because we're dysfunctional as hell."
She nodded.
"We get counseling as a family, and you'll return home?"
I nodded.
"Yes.
But you also have to apologize to Creed and talk to Maine and tell her why she was wrong."
She sniffled, her lip poked out.
"But Creed is mean."
I shook my head.
"Where do you think she got it from?"
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, rolling them.
"Can I stay with you until you move back?"
"Yes, Scarlett.
And put on some clothes—no dick for you.
You’re on punishment."
Just like that, her demeanor switched.
Her crocodile tears cleared right up.
"Sucker," she slid back into bed and chuckled.
"I knew the tears would get you. You said you're coming back and can’t take it back."
Part of me knew she wasn’t really crying.
Scarlett was a lot more violent when her tears were real.
I wanted to choke her a little bit, but I had a better way to get her back for her little performance.
"Can I take a bath now that your little show is over?"
"Sure, then we can watch Love After Lockup and order room service."
I gritted my teeth.
"Sure." I hated reality TV, only pretending to like it because I wanted to be laid up with her.
I just wanted to go to sleep but knew I'd be up for hours discussing that nonsense.
Before walking into the bathroom, I hit her with the news I dreaded telling her but was happy to tell her now.
"By the way, Creed is pregnant by Noah, and I gave him my blessing to marry her.
Tiffany's son is marrying into the family."
"What the fuck did you just say?" she screamed as I closed the door and locked it.