Storm's POV

"How do I look?" I asked Josh as I fixed my hair.

"You look beautiful baby" He laughs and kisses my cheek. Right now we were at a private spot waiting for Cali. Josh reached out to her and asked her to meet up with us to talk things out. But of course, she was late.

"Where is this woman?" I said rolling my eyes.

"Be patient baby, she'll be here" Hs says and I looked away rolling my eyes.

"When she gets here, no attitude and don't roll your eyes" He says.

"Josh you don't have to tell me how to behave. I'm a grown women and I'm able to push my issues to the side to be nice" I said to him.

"Ok Storm, whatever you say" He says laughing. I grab my sunglasses and put them on. He can't see me roll my eyes now.

"Sorry I'm late, you know how LA traffic is" Someone says. I looked up and my mouth Instantly drops. But I catch myself and close it quickly. Oh...my....god.

"Hi Josh, it's nice to see you again. Hello Storm" She smiles as she took a seat in front of us.

"Hi Cali. Nice to see you again" Josh says shaking her hand. I sat there stunned at her beauty. Cali was always a pretty girl. She just had a ugly personality and a bunch of followers. But time really did it's thing on her. She was breath taking.

"Say Hi Storm" Josh says squeezing my thigh. I snap out of my thoughts and smile.

"My apologies, Hi Cali. It's been a while" I said going to shake her hand. She grabs my hand and shakes it while giving it a little squeeze. Take notes Storm.

"Yes it has been. How are you?" She asks me.

"I'm great, how have you been?" I asked her.

"I'm doing better then I was a few years ago that's for sure" She says and we all share a laugh. Man, Cali was so beautiful.

"I just wanted to say first, thank you Storm. Thank you for adopting my children and raising them well. After I got sick it was so hard to raise them and be the best that I can be for them. After I got taken away, it was so hard to comprehend that I can no longer be there for them and that my children can fall into the wrong hands and I won't be able to do anything about it. If they did, I would never forgive myself" She says frowning.

"You're welcome Cali. The three of them are amazing kids. You did good for the beginning part" I told her.

"When do you wanna see them again?" Josh asks her.

"Whenever you say I can. I'm not familiar with their schedule" She says looking at him. As the two talked, I couldn't help but stare at her. I just have to ask.

"Hey Cali?" I said.

"Yes?"

"How did you find out we adopted your kids?" I ask her.

"Social media, television. Every time you guys were on the news, they showed pictures of you guys with them. I had to reach out and find out how they were doing. I had no idea what happened to them after I left. Also I was very surprised yet glad they ended up with you guys" She says. I nodded and looked her up and down.

"How'd you get in contact with Josh?" I ask her.

"He had the same number from years ago, so I called him" She says and looks at him with a smile. I look at him and he just had his normal facial expression. I looked back at her and hummed. Funny that she kept his number after all of these years.

"So, why did you start taking drugs?" I asked her. The question was lingering in my head. I have no idea what it was, but it's like her energy changed. Jot this down in my notebook.

"Well that's a sensitive topic" She says and clears her throat.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to" Josh says.

"No it's ok, she's curious. It's ok" She says and looks at me. Yes I'm curious.

"Well. While we were in university, I started seeing this guy. We went on a couple of dates here and there, noting to serious. One night we were messing around and drinking and we ended up having sex. I got pregnant and once I told him, he left me. It was hard still being in school and pregnant so I dropped out. My living situation also wasn't good due to my relationship with my parents so I didn't have any support, but I didn't need it because I was so used to doing things on my own. After I had the twins, my whole world changed. They brought so much happiness into my home and turned my life around. 3 years later, their father comes back around and apologizes for leaving because he wasn't ready to be a father. Me being my stupid self, accepted his apology and let him back into my life. He loved the twins and he loved me, as he says" She says and chuckles.

"Then he got me pregnant again and that's when things went down hill. He was already a drug user and a drug dealer so me getting onto pills wasn't hard. My parents got mad at me that I was already onto my third child and didn't graduate or had a ring on my finger. In their words, I was a disappointment and a disgrace to our family. So they gave me a very hard time about everything. After I had Lola is when they started to put their hands on me again. My baby father at the time was barley around because he was around selling drugs, so he wasn't around to see how my parents treated or be with the kids. And just like last time, I never got any help on raising my kids. But I did the best that I can and I was so happy to be blessed with such amazing, smart, kids" She smiled, which caused me to smile as well.

"But overtime as things got worst, I got depressed and turned to pills to make me feel better. It was good for a while. It did it's job, it numbed the pain and made all the bad stuff go away. But I abused them and started taking more then what I needed. My baby father didn't like how I was taking his drugs and abusing them the way I did so he left me again. But I made sure to steal more then what I needed before he left" She chuckled looking down. I can see she wasn't happy about what she did. Maybe I shouldn't have asked...

"I started to lose myself and I lost the ability to raise my children. They had to take care of me at such a young age, they didn't know what was going on. I remember hearing Lola always question why I can't bathe or eat on my own" She says. She then sniffed and wiped her eye as a tear fell. This was breaking my heart.

"One day I couldn't find any of my pills and I went crazy. My parents have taken them and were making fun of me for being a single drug headed mom. They said they'll give me a pill if I did anything they ask me to. I'm not gonna go in detail about what I did but little by little that day I got one. At the end of the day, I did a task for them and didn't get my pills. I started to go crazy and caused a whole scene in front of my children. Next thing you know, 5 tall men in white coats come and drag me out of my own house. The last thing I remember from that day was my kids crying and screaming for me not to go. I know eventually I was gonna get taken away or leave to get some help, I just didn't think it'll be like that" She says. I frowned as small tears fell from her eyes. I hand her a napkin and she takes it, wiping underneath her eyes.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you Cali. No one should ever go through something like that" I said to her. It was heartbreaking how your own family could really do something like to you. It messes you up later on in life.

"Well what can I do now right? It's in the past and I can only change the future" She says shrugging.

"You're a strong girl you know that?" Josh says and she instantly blushes. Oh here we go...

"Really?" She asks.

"Yea, so much people go through what you went through everyday and honestly don't make it. You pushed yourself to get better and now look at you" He says. She smiles and pushes her hair behind her ear. Anyways...

"Thanks Josh, that means a lot coming from you" She says and he smiles at her.

"Well Cali, I'm guessing you want to see them more often now right?" I said to her. She turns to me and nods.

"Yes I do. But only if it's ok with you" She says.

"I need to make sure you're stable and your area is safe before I let my kids be around you" I said pointing at her. I feel Josh squeeze my thigh and I glance at him. He gives me a look and I wave him off.

"Ok, that's understandable" She shrugs. I then lean on the table.

"Where do you live?" I ask her.

"I live in downtown. I have my own condo and live on my own" She says and leans on the table as well. I'm starting to feel tension now.

"Where do you work?" I ask her.

"Storm, this isn't necessary" Josh says.

"Uh yes it is" I said looking at him.

"I checked her out already, our kids are fine with her" He says.

"Um last time I checked. You checked her out, I didn't. I'll proceed now" I said and give him the hand. He rolls his eyes and sits their silently. Yea, that's what I thought.

"Anyways, where do you work?" I ask her again.

"The strip club" She says. I hummed. Interesting.

"Don't be quick to judge me Storm, I'm not a stripper. I'm a bartender" She says rolling her eyes.

"I wasn't going to judge you. A job is a job right, make your bank however you want to" I said shrugging. If you wanna shake your ass for some dollars, I won't judge you.

"Whatever" She mumbled.

"Do you have any drugs or alcohol in your condo?" I asked her.

"Storm" Josh says sternly and I give him my hand again.

"No Storm. I don't have any drugs or alcohol in my home. I've been clean for a long time now and plan to stay that way" She says to me. She had a base in her tone. Sis ima need you to bring it down before I bring it down for you.

"Hmm, I guess the kids will be fine with you" I said shrugging.

"Can I take them tomorrow?" She asks.

"Yes/No" Josh and I said at the same time. My eyes widen and I look at him. He turns to look at me as well.

"Group game tomorrow night, remember?" He says. Shit.

"I thought we were bringing them to your mom?" I ask him.

"Why not let Cali have them for the night?" He shrugs.

"What about Chelsey?" I said folding my arms.

"She can go to my moms house" He says. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Oh he just gets on my nerves.

"Fine, you can have them tomorrow Cali" I said and she smiled.

"Thank you Josh" She says and smiles at him. Bitch I'm the one who made the decision!

"Well I guess that's it for now. We will be in touch with you Cali" Josh says standing up. We stood up as well.

"Bye Josh" She says and shakes his hand. She then turns to me.

"Bye Storm" She says and shakes my hand. We shake hands slowly as we stared at each other. Ima keep a close eye on her.

"Bye Cali"