𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙽𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃...

"Hey, bae—what happened to your face?" Asia smiled quickly fell after opening her door and seeing Priest standing there with a cut on his face and dried up blood on his lip. It was pretty late, but the flight back home wasn't as long. Priest knew Malaysia was asleep, so he decided to get the conversation with Asia over with.

"Nothing. I'm cool. My bad for stopping by so late—"

"Since when do you apologize for coming by late? It's never been an issue before?" Asia tilted her head in confusion.

Priest had to lick his lips. Asia was looking fine per usual, the black lace teddy she was wearing hugged her body like a glove. Despite that, she honestly wasn't doing anything for him at the moment. He wasn't thinking, forget what he came to do to tear her pussy up. Not like he was thinking with Cherish earlier. That took a lot of self-control out of him.

"We need to talk, ma." Priest spoke in a serious manner, Asia nodded then stepped to the side to let him in. He sat on a chair at the table in her dining room, while Asia stood across from him; putting on her robe. She thought she was about to get some good dick, but something told her that wasn't about to happen.

"What's going on? I knew when you texted me about needing to talk earlier that it was serious." Asia sighed.

"C'mere." Priest said. Asia walked over and stood in front of him. "I'mma just get straight to it. I don't want to hurt you, but I feel it's best if we break up."

"Because you're still in love with Cherish? It's always going to be Cherish no matter what?" Asia replied with rhetorical questions as Priest looked at her. "I'm not stupid, and I'm definitely not blind. You two shared something deep that no one could duplicate. I haven't been around your friends much aside from Matthias since he's my boss. A handful of times, he told me these stories about her. Although, you would think it was from a standpoint of him having a crush—"

"I don't mean to cut you off, but what you mean by that? A crush?" Priest knitted his eyebrows.

"I'm not saying he has a crush on anyone. I'm saying you would think he did since he talks about her—Cherish in such a high standard. Then again, everyone talks about her that way. When you invited me to your friends wedding and even though she wasn't in attendance, everyone at the table had stories to tell about her. None were bad. I saw how you fought like hell not to smile at the memories that were being shared and at the mention of her name. She's something special to everyone, especially to you, no doubt about that."

"No lie, that's my heart—I apologize." Priest sighed, but he wanted to be honest. He also didn't like hearing how Shooter was supposedly speaking about Cherish, but he knew his brother. His best friend. Shooter would never look at Cherish in that way.

"Don't apologize for being in love, Soul. While I fell in love with you, I knew that you weren't in love with me. I do believe you love me, which is why you would reply telling me that you do, but only in a Platonic type of way. You have become a good ass friend to me. I don't talk to my family, you know that, but you've become such an important person in my life in such a short amount of time. I once had a Cherish in my life. Only mine is dead, so I understand." Asia sighed.

"Cherish as in..."

"A woman. Yes." Asia smiled with a chuckle. "I'm bisexual. I've been in a relationship with one woman and was very much in love with her, but I've had sexual relations with more than one. I also had a couple of stable relationships with men. I thought somewhere down the line you would feel the same and this would be my last relationship. I'm 27. I'm not really into dating a lot of men or women to find my forever."

"Damn, so no threesome?" Priest joked.

"We can still make that happen. We can always be friends with benefits." Asia winked, causing Priest to smile.

"You're taking this better than I thought, but don't get it confused. I do have feelings for you. You're the first to ever who isn't Cherish; make me feel something. I like your vibe, and you got some contagious energy, which is why I enjoy your company. You're dope, ma. And a good ass friend as well." Priest told her.

"As I said before, I did fall in love with you. Trust me, you're easy to fall for. I'm glad you're being honest before things got way deeper between us." Asia grabbed his hand and noticed his knuckles was were busted up, but said nothing about it.

"Topics switched before I could get the rest out, but I wanted to tell you that I kissed Cherish this morning and I almost slept with her, but I stopped it. I apologize for that because we weren't broken until now. I'm not a cheater, and I don't want to be labeled one. I want you to know that I'm not breaking up with you for Cherish. I needed to end things because I'm not ready for a relationship until I deal with some personal demons on my own." Priest was honest again, and she respected the hell out of it. He didn't water it down, but gave her the truth, not knowing what her reaction would be.

"Thank you for being honest once again. While I feel a certain type of way about you kissing her and almost sleeping with her, I feel better knowing you shut it down, at least until you ended things with me. As I said before, it's always going to be Cherish. You moved on the best you could, but still being in love with someone else means you didn't move on the way you thought. You will never fully move on until you fall out of love with her. A woman can't compare to someone you're still in love with, meaning a relationship won't work as long as you are. I knew that, but didn't want to face the truth." Asia smiled.

"It's no drama with you. This whole conversation went different from I expected." Priest chuckled.

"We're grown. You know I'm not with that drama. Although your mom seems to think I'm trouble." Asia laughed.

"Don't take that personal. She doesn't like anyone who isn't Cherish. She would've come around if we continued this, and she got to know you. We could still be friends, I hope."

"I'd like that. I guess that means no Christmas with your family?" She gave a tight-lipped smile to hide the sadness creeping in. She couldn't remember the last time she spent Christmas with a family or with people she knew in general.

"Malaysia says she okay with it, but I don't think she is. I can't have her uncomfortable with you there. It might make a difference if she knows we broke up, but I'm not sure. I get she's the kid, and I'm the parent, but her happiness means everything to me." Priest stood while looking down at her.

"I understand. I'll see you around? Or whenever you need a release, you know where to find me." Asia chuckled. Priest wrapped his arms around her as they hugged each other.

__

Cherish moved the covers away from her body a bit. His stare was so intense and filled with lust, it made her shiver with shame. She pushed the covers just below her breasts before looking back at him. His eyes were no longer on her face. They traveled down to her hardened nipple. She wore a low cut dress that has a plunging neckline with no bra since it wasn't needed. It was just her luck that she'd had a nip slip. The corner of her nipple was spilling out of the fabric of her dress and playing peek-a-boo with Priest's best friend.

"Um, that's embarrassing." Cherish giggled. She had a few shots but was sober enough to know what she was doing.

"Slim." Shooter's deep voice caused her to chew the inside of her cheek. He licked his lips as he stared at her dark areola that was calling his name.

Cherish looked down and bit her lip. She moved to cover her nipple, but couldn't because Shooter's head was now in the way. He had moved toward her body at the same time she tried to fix her dress. She didn't know when it happened, but his wet tongue grazed the top of her breasts before swirling down to the part of her nipple that was showing. Cherish gasped. Not believing what she was allowing him to do to her. It felt sinfully good, but both knew how wrong it was. A secret that was best to take to the grave.

"Matthias." She forced out, barely audible. "Maybe we shou— "A throaty moan cut her words short as his tongue twisted and pulled at her nipple. Her hand went to the back of his head the moment his hand pushed her dress down, allowing both of her breast to spring free. His hands were on both of them, massaging and rubbing wherever his mouth was not.

"I don't know what it is about you, Slim, that got me risking doing some shit like this to my boy, but..."

"Shhh!" She placed a finger against Shooter's lips. "I don't give a fuck about Priest." A deep sigh left Cherish's mouth as she shifted in the bed so that she was on her back. Her hand found its way back to the back of his head. She rubbed up and down the back of his neck before stopping. Her hand stilled him for the first time in minutes. His eyes rose to her in question. When she pulled him toward her mouth, he came willingly.

Shooter's tongue felt so good inside her mouth as he kissed her passionately. His eyes were closed, and his hands were busy groping her body with a desire he never felt before. Cherish wanted so badly to not like what was going on or at least have the willpower to stop it, but she didn't. It felt too good. He felt too good.

"Slim, if we keep this up, I'mma end up fucking the shit out of that pussy. Stop me, Cherish." She heard him loud and clear, but ignored him just the same.

"Slim." He pulled away again and looked down at her.

"Be quiet and kiss me." She paused. "I want you to fuck me."

"You're drunk."

"Nah, I'm not. You know I'm not, so either you want to do this or not. What Priest doesn't know want hurt his ass. We're not even together. I'm his ex. The mother of children. That's it. That's all." She rolled her eyes as he nodded and lowered himself back onto her.

"Spread your legs, Slim." He was hovering over her body with desire etched all over his face. She rubbed her hands all over his face as he looked down at her, waiting for her to open up for him.

"I never realized how handsome you are." She smiled while opening her legs wide. He bit his lip, seeing the thong she wore was soaked.

"You wet as fuck." He licked his lips.

"I wonder why."

Taking in her natural scent sent him over the edge. His dick was hard as hell and begging to be freed. Her hand running down his chest until she reached the top of his briefs. "Last chance to back out, Matthias."

He leaned down and kissed her roughly, biting her lip as she moaned. Freeing his length, he moved her thong to the side. Cherish looked down with approval. Rubbing his tip up and down her wet lips, he closed his eyes, not believing this was happening. "Put it in, Slim. Put the dick that's about to fuck ya life up in."

She rubbed her hand up and down his thick dick, stroking it before slowly pushing him in. "Oooh! Fuucck!" They both moaned simultaneously.

A knock outside his office door woke Shooter from the dream he was having. Wiping the slob from his mouth and looking down, seeing how hard he was, he shook his head. He really couldn't explain what was happening to him. Cherish had him willing to go against the grain for her. Against his brother for her, and that didn't sit well with him. No woman ever had him tripping like that. Crazy part, Cherish had done nothing to encourage what was happening in his mind. He was mad that whoever knocked on his door had disturbed his dream when it was getting to the good part.

He went straight to his gym after making it back from with Priest. He needed to clear his head, only to fall asleep and dream about the person he was trying to forget.

"Come in." He cleared his throat while sitting up in his chair.

"Hey boss, just wanted to let you know Alaïa and I will be taking our break in a few. Are you coming down or—" Erika spoke.

"I'll be down in a few. Even if I'm not down by the time you both take your break, you two could still go." Shooter told her.

"Alright, cool." She blushed nervously at him before closing the door. Women were always seeking attention from Shooter.

After having to release his pent-up tension on his own, he left out of his office. Two steps at a time, Shooter made his way down to the lower level of his gym. Shooter owned two gyms, and each one stays packed. Hustle Fitness is a multi-purpose gym. Whether you wanted to lose weight or gain it, he had trainers prepared to help someone with it. He knew how the name sounded, but he hustled like hell for his businesses, which is where the name comes from. There's one small smoothie shop built in each of his gyms that people love lounging in during or after their workout. The smoothies were so good, yet healthy. He was even making money from that.

Shooter loves looking good, aside from smoking and drinking here and there. He was in good shape, so he also was a personal trainer. A gym owner and personal trainer that lives a double lives. As stated, he owns two gyms and a couple of smoothie shops, but loves the drug game a little more. Plus, his gyms were how he was cleaning his money. Shooter loved his promiscuous lifestyle. He didn't know when or if he would be ready to settle down. If there was one woman who he'd settle down for, it'll be Cherish and he knew that was a fantasy that'll never happen.

Weights and machines could be heard in the distance as he moved around the gym. As always, it was packed. People were everywhere training and exercising. As he looked around his gym, his attention fell on a woman who had just walked into his establishment. Shooter bit his lip as he stared at the curvaceous beauty. He was making his way over to her when one of the personal trainers blocked his eager stride.

"Hey, boss man. I didn't know you came in today. Do you plan on staying for a while?" Egypt spoke. She was one of the best personal trainers aside from Asia at his establishment. He didn't know why they always called him boss or boss man when he told them it wasn't necessary.

His attention went from the woman to Egypt. Egypt was a beautiful, thick, brown skinned woman. He wasn't one for business and pleasure, but they slept together a few times until he found out she was married. It's been professional between the two ever since. Egypt's hair was pulled into a neat bun. She was dressed in a dark forest green Hustle Fitness polo collared shirt and some black spandex leggings. Her smile was so warm and friendly. Had she not been married, he definitely would have gotten with her.

"Yeah, I'mma be here for a while. A few newcomers signed up and want me to train them." Shooter told her while looking over the list of new clients.

"Well, don't let me keep you. I got a training session in a bit as well. I'm about to go get me a smoothie first, then it's work time." Egypt replied. "You know, I learned from the best." She winked at him with a smile before walking away.

Gon' have this dick right in her mouth again if she keeps that up. Shooter chuckled to himself before making his way through his gym with ease. He stopped and had brief conversations with people until he finally made it to the woman he's been attempting to get to. It was best he got Cherish out of his head before doing something he can't come back from.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Shooter asked the woman, when she turned around, he fought the urge to lick his lips. The woman looked familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint from where.

"For starters, some better service. I've been standing here for a good fifteen minutes and I haven't seen not one employee at this front desk. Can you tell me where I can find the owner or the manager at least?" The woman spoke with a little attitude.

"You're looking at the owner." Shooter smirked.

"Oh." The woman cleared her throat, but her little attitude was back as quick as it left.

"Listen, ma. Before you try to say something slick out of your mouth, there's only two employees on each shift that works at the front desk and as the sign right in your face reads; they are currently on a fifteen-minute break." Shooter smugly told her as her lips parted from embarrassment.

"I'm so embarrassed." The woman said. She wasn't the smallest, and being in front of Shooter was intimidating. While she wanted to lose some pounds, she didn't want to lose too much because she felt like she looked good. She wasn't self-conscious, but men weren't exactly checking for her. Only her toxic daughter's father.

"You look familiar, have we met before?" Shooter asked.

She squinted her eyes before realizing that he did look familiar, yet she couldn't pinpoint either. "You do look familiar. Let's start over." The woman smiled, and he got lost in it for a moment. "I'm Monica and I wanted to check out this gym. I'm all for a black-owned gym."

Monica is friends with both Cherish and Yazmine. Despite that, and even though she braids out of Yazmine's shop, she had never seen Shooter before. He looked familiar since she caught a glance of him at Cherish's fashion show. She mostly kept to herself and anytime she hung out with her friends, it would only be with one of both of them. Never a crowd.

"Matthias." Shooter held out his hand as her soft one shook it. "Wait, Monica as in Cherish friend? You modeled in her fashion show, right?"

"Yep. That was me." She chuckled. "I gained some weight since then, that's why I decided to come here. It's best to work out late at night and mornings."

"I can help you with that. Are you looking for a trainer or just want to work out a little." Shooter eyes shamelessly roamed her body. Now, she was feeling a little self-conscious under his gaze.

"A little bit of both, I guess. From the way you're looking, I know you may think—"

"Let me stop you right there. At the risk of sounding unprofessional, you look good to me. Good as fuck. That's why I was looking at you. If there are things about yourself that you're unhappy about and want to change, then do so without the validation of someone else. Do it for you and only you." Shooter spoke his truth. A smile etched across her face, which made him smile.

"Wow! This is what it's come to?" Paris interrupted them with a frown. "Some fat bitch has your attention now."