no justice, no peace

( In his profession, anything but that level of devotion was close to negligent. )

“I’m not sure, I’d assume not. Probably in their best interest that they don’t know anything about where we are or why. Safety and all.” 

It’s only when he says it does the reality start to really sink in for him, with the shock wearing off. There could be people after them now, looking to make sure their eyewitnesses were permanently silenced. 

He exhales softly, abandoning his pacing entirely in favor of stillness, his body soon occupying an empty armchair near to where his present company was. 

“So, what did you do? Before all of this?”

tupina's brows furrowed, lips pulling slightly more south as he pointed out that it might not be safe for her family to know where she was. "still, there should be some protocol. otherwise families would be reporting people missing constantly, wouldn't they?" it was hopeful thinking, the thought of her family worrying over her disappearance more than she could handle on this already emotionally exhausting day. 

he came in nearer, the absence of his pacing making her shoulders relax. she hadn't even realized that she'd tensed up, feeding off of his restless energy. she reached out in front of her and brought a glass of water to her lips, sipping slowly and then going back to braiding her hair into a single dark braid down the center of her back. "it's a complicated question," the woman admitted, chuckling slightly. 

“aye,” trevaunn raised his hands up, surrendering to the woman before him, “i don’t want no smoke, miss designer.”  a playful chuckle slipped past his lips before he licked them.  he couldn’t say that naphina’s well-earned confidence and boasting about her brand wasn’t attractive to him.  he might or might not have been a little turned on by it – mostly, he was just proud.  they both had a come a long way from their old lives in atlanta.  

once they were finally settled in naphina’s luxury car, trey announced his navigator-status.  he set her up for her google maps reference, and even after knowing that joke was coming, he still let out a genuine laugh.  trey hadn’t felt this comfortable around a woman he was supposed to be on a fancy date with.  it was the sort of comfort only naphina could evoke.  he made the comment about people posing in front of her car at the hole-in-the-wall soul food spot and kept on laughing with her.  “i don’t know about the thugs, but them young boys’ gon’ do it for the ‘gram.  i’m tellin’ you,” a little bit of his southern drawl was coming back to him the longer he was around naphina, and he didn’t even notice.  “aye, but they got this– phina!” he yelped out the swift and unexpected merge she just made.  “of course you do,” trey rolled his eyes, though a smile was still plastered on his face, when she introduced a change of plans.  “oh, so you don’t gon’ tell me where we goin’ now?” he nodded as she changed the subject.  “right now, i’m working on another book – always writing nowadays.  i need to take a break before i burn out.  but…it’s another nonfiction, just a compilation of essays on all the shit black people go through in america, especially queer black people.  i’m learning a lot in writing this…might dip my toe in some fiction stuff too,” he shared, always down to talk about his work.  he was just excited to be doing something he loved – something that wasn’t slinging dope.

"just because you don' want no smoke don mean ya won get none," naphina twanged back, her usual desire to hide her accent and speak 'properly' melting away into the comfort that she already felt around trevaunn. his yelp only made a canon of giggles erupt from her, cheekbones shimmering in the passing city lights the bigger her smile got. "damn boy, ain't no one said my name like that in a long time," she joked with him. her driving was notoriously a little reckless, but surprisingly her accident record was nearly non-existent. “nope, it’s a surprise.” once he started talking about another book her was working on, pride swelled within her. not pride for herself, but pride in him, happiness that he was also going places and doing well in life. “i know,” naphina admitted, voice a juxtaposition of hesitancy and shamelessness, “i read your last book,” she explained as he went on to talk about the new non-fiction he was doing. 

she didn’t want to admit how much she’d been keeping up on him, afraid of insinuating that she still had feelings for him after all this time. of course, she still had some feelings. she’d loved him fiercely when they were together, and though their parting was a mutual decision, it had still ripped her heart up to leave him and move to new york. emotions like the ones she’d had for him never just went away, only became dormant, suppressed, forgotten until a reminder reared its head. seeing him now was the biggest reminder of all, but she was afraid that she was the only one that felt like no time had passed at all between them. that maybe this was a second chance for them. fate. “i’m really proud of you, trey.” her tone softened, genuine.

Winnie glared threateningly at him. “You are so grody.” Winnie scowled at the way he checked her out. Why was she always stuck dealing with Tony’s friends? She watched him interact with his brother and turned her head when her aunt walked in. Shit. Her aunt loved all her brother’s friends, and that was not going to be easy for her. Winnie scoffed at the way Tuck looked at her aunt before she was about to just walk off, but then she heard her aunt’s voice say her name. “Yes?” She sighed. ‘Why don’t you hang out with Tuck for a while? You need to talk to more people your age.’ Winnie rolled her eyes and groaned. ‘Don’t let her discourage you.’ Her dad told Tuck. “Great.” She grumbled, walking up the stairs and into her room. “You can sit on my chair. I don’t trust you on my bed.” The girl pointed at said chair as she flopped onto her bed, folding her legs.

“Of course. No problem.” She really needed a ride. Sadie wasn’t just making all this stuff up this time. That’s what he was telling himself anyway. “Yeah. I know so.” He nodded, frowning. “You're gorgeous, Sadie. Forget that asshole.” Wyatt told her with a smile. He led her out of the house and chuckled at her words. He knew what that look meant and it led his mind right to what her words and eyes alluded to. Even he had trouble going into his car without thinking about all those times they spent in the back seat. And to be honest, he sort of missed the sounds she’d make and the way she said his name. “Yep, it sure does.” He agreed, his laugh awkward before he opened the door for her then got into the driver’s side. He turned on The Clash’s “Train in Vain” before starting to head to her apartment.

sadie's lips pursed softly as he told her how beautiful she was, the warm pit in her stomach growing. just because she was terrified of commitment didn't mean that she didn't love him, want him, need him in her life. she remembered all of the rushed make-outs in his backseat when they just couldn’t wait until they got home after an event or plans they’d made, the leisurely caressing and exploration of their bodies parked out in the middle of nowhere just to get away from everything. the road trips, the spilled drinks, tossed foods, sing-a-longs and sunroof screaming. the clash wasn’t uncommon to be playing, and the girl even found ‘should i stay or should i go’ to be a personal anthem of theirs. once they got to her apartment, sadie looked over at him, eyes searching for any sign that he wanted what she wanted in that moment. “thank you for bringing me home wy,” she whispered, voice soft and inviting as she moved in toward him with only slight hesitation. her pink-stained lips pressed against his cheek, body lingering and the smell of her perfume rising off of her in wafts as she pulled away again. continuing to gaze at him, sadie clicked her tongue, “you know, i actually have something i’ve been meaning to give you in the apartment ...” she began, hoping she could get him to come inside and not leave her.

BASED / It was none of his business, he knew that. At first, it had been easy to remain ignorant and disregard his friend’s behavior towards his girlfriend, for he didn’t notice how much he was actually hurting her. Aaron was one of his closest friends, after all. They had known each other since toddlers and Holden was more than used to his nonchalant personality, but to see how much of an asshole he was to a girl who had stuck with him despite it all— that was something he couldn’t just ignore. Not anymore. Not when she didn’t deserve such treatment. It was none of his business, but boy, did Holden feel the urge to punch him in the face every time he listened to him talking and bragging about other girls, even when his girlfriend was around. That night wasn’t the exception. So when Aaron finally headed to his room after too many beers, Holden decided to go after the girl, who had been in the kitchen for a while now. “Hey,” he hesitated, not really knowing how to approach her. “Aaron went to sleep… I, um… Is everything okay?”