He powered off his phone and placed his eyes back on the ceiling. It would be a long night. A long life. Without Morgan. A knock at the door pulled him to his feet, and his brow bent, heart stalling a bit because not many people knew about the location of the loft. He knew it had to be Mo. She had called from outside his door, and now she was knocking. She was there to apologize. To tell him she loved him. To figure out how to work it out with Messiah as the twins’ father and still keep Ahmeek in her life. They would fix the shit. They could because they loved each other too much to let the shit rot and die. That was the story he’d pieced together in his head before he even pulled open the door.

“Hi…”

The reality that greeted him on the other side threw him off. Livi stood before him, and Ahmeek felt like his insides were spilling out. He hated this shit. This feeling. Feeling anything, in fact. The lack of control he had over this entire situation made him uneasy. No one had ever manipulated his emotions before. Morgan Atkins was the first, and he promised himself she would be the last.

Ahmeek wasn’t particularly happy to see her, but she was the perfect stroke for a bruised ego.

“I don’t mean to pop up—”

“Yet here you are,” he interrupted.

His crass response shocked her. “I just can’t stop thinking about you,” she admitted.

“It’s four in the morning,” Ahmeek said, frown so deep that it made Livi nervous. “You drove an hour…”

Livi loosened the belt to her tan trench coat, revealing neon-yellow lingerie, a full set because Livi wasn’t a halfway bitch. If she did something, she did it correctly. Thong, lace bra, and the garter belt to match. See-through stiletto heels revealed white paint on her pretty toes. “I mean I really, really, missed you,” she said. “I got niggas on my line all day and all night, but never you. When all I really want is you.”

Somebody wanted him. Somebody needed him. He wondered if she felt the rejection Morgan made him feel. Had he put the same feeling of unimportance on her soul? If he did, he regretted that.

“That’s how you feel?” he asked.

She nodded and stepped across his threshold, tracing the front of his jeans with her stiletto nail. She reached for his neck and leaned into his lips. Ahmeek moved his head slightly. Livi paused and stared at him. “One day, you’re going to let me in, and everything you thought mattered won’t even be a thought anymore.”

He loomed over her like a gray cloud as storms of indecision took over his body. Livi placed the softest lips on his neck.

“I would be so good to you, Ahmeek,” she whispered. “Just let me…”

TO BE CONTINUED IN