

The Outsider

An Outsider Series Novel

Book 2

Valenciya Lyons

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Valenciya Lyons

Smashwords Edition

Cover Design by FrinaArt of SelfPubBookCovers.com

All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

~ ~ ~

Prologue

Bitch.

Slut.

Whore.

Each word seemed like it covered every ounce of Emma's locker.

Her best friend, Amina Hamilton, rolled her eyes as she stared at the hateful words. "If I find out that she did this..."

Emma Brisson looked at her with pleading eyes. "No, please don't," she begged.

"Why the hell not? Besides, no one here really likes her. The only reason some people bother to deal with her is because her family has money."

Some of the girls snickered as they passed by the duo.

Amina pointed at Emma's locker while glaring at the girls. "Would you think this was funny if it was on your locker?" They stopped and gave her their full attention but said nothing. "You probably would especially since your #boss has a fucked up way of thinking. This shit is not funny."

"What is she talking about?" one of the girls whispered to a friend.

Her friend's response was a slight shrug.

"Does it matter?" Ashlynn Lindley questioned, shoving her way through the two girls until she was standing face to face with Amina and Emma, with her best friend, Marcella, at her side. She glared at Amina who she could see didn't like her one bit. Amina, unlike Emma, was unfazed by her and wasn't as easy a target to get to. Emma, on the other hand, had a blank look on her face that Ashlynn took as a sign of weakness. And she couldn't help but to use this as an opportunity to get to her.

"You slutty, skinny, bitch," she spat with a verbal razor blade that threatened to cut her down to pieces.

When Ashlynn started spewing verbal rants at her, Emma would usually walk away in tears. With her home life in shambles, she was starting to become immune to things she would say to her. Like now for instance, her eyes didn't water up and no tears fell onto her cheeks.

Emma opened her mouth and was surprised at the words that came out. "I'm not a slut. So what if I'm skinny and I'm not a bitch," she stated in a steady voice.

Ashlynn was losing her power.

She was shocked. Since when did Emma stand up for herself? She'd called her names before with Amina at her side and she didn't defend herself so she wasn't sure what had changed now. But she definitely didn't like it.

"What did you say to me?"

Emma repeated herself again, while continuing to maintain a steady voice. "I'm not a slut. So what if I'm skinny and I'm not a bitch."

Amina swung her newly dyed flowing blonde locks over her shoulder. Then, she turned to Emma. "She said that you are a 'slutty, skinny bitch.' Then, she turned back to Ashlynn and added, "I'm going to tell you what's wrong with that statement you just made about my best friend."

Ashlynn folded her arms. She didn't like it when she wasn't in control of a situation.

"First off," Amina began, pointing at Emma, "she's not slutty. She doesn't have a reputation in this school like you."

She was right. Ashlynn had sex with countless boys they attended school with so she'd been deemed "the school slut" by her peers.

"Second round," Amina continued, making sure that she was giving Ashlynn eye contact, "she is skinny but there's nothing wrong with that. You're fat but there's nothing wrong with that either." Some of the girls laughed and Ashlynn was beginning to feel their eyes on her in the worst way possible. She was short so it wasn't easy to hide her size twelve body. She'd been called a "pig" and a "fat bitch" on numerous occasions. She'd tried several diets in the past but so far nothing seemed to work for her; she'd even considered surgery but was scared of needles.

"This is the third and final round. You called Emma a 'bitch' but she's not a bitch. She's actually nice—a little bit too nice. If I were her, I would've cussed you out a long time ago. I know you remember Pamela."

Ashlynn slightly flinched at the mention of that name.

"Pamela—you know from the senior class last year—couldn't stand you. You talked shit to her one time and she put you in your place. You were quiet for the rest of the school year. It was like you were a ghost. Now we're seniors and it's like Ashlynn Lindley has suddenly found her voice in the worst way possible. Emma and that new girl you were talking shit to didn't do anything to you. But you are messy and you like to start trouble. That's why people don't like you. But I will tell you this. I can't stand you. If you say one wrong thing to me, I am going to fuck you up worse than Pamela."

Ashlynn didn't say a word as she looked on at Amina. She didn't expect her to say all of this in front of everybody. This was the first time that she wished a teacher would actually walk down the hallway to intervene but she knew that wasn't going to happen. The high school they attended, Meredith Joseph High, was in a good Atlanta neighborhood; the principal, Linda Springs, prided herself on the school's high attendance and graduation rates and low disciplinary rates so the teachers were very lenient and didn't watch the students as much as they should. Instead, they were usually in the teacher's lounge enjoying a cup of coffee and eating donuts.

She watched Emma and Amina make eye contact before leaving her standing in the hall with Marcella and the other girls whose hands covered their mouths as they tried to stifle their giggles.

"You see she couldn't say anything, didn't you?" Amina said to Emma as they walked into the cafeteria.

"Yeah," Emma answered her mind elsewhere. "By the way, I love your hair. The color looks really good on you."

Amina ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. "Thanks. I just really wanted a change."

Emma could sense there was something she wasn't telling her but she didn't question her about it. She knew that if Amina wanted her to know something, she'd tell her.

Amina flashed her a smile. "You were great out there against Ashlynn."

Again. Here was the topic that she didn't want to speak about. "Thanks," she managed to say. "I'm just tired of dealing with her."

"Keep standing up for yourself. Don't let her or anyone bully you or disrespect you in any way. When you let people do that, you start losing yourself. You're telling them that you deserve to be treated the way they're treating you. And you don't deserve to be treated the way that Ashlynn treats you. No one deserves that."

"Too bad she doesn't see it that way."

"She's not that fucked up in the head. She knows exactly what she's doing. She didn't pull all this with Pamela and those other girls from the senior class last year."

While standing in line to get breakfast, Amina and Emma both chose a sausage and biscuit with orange juice.

"Why is she like that?" she asked Amina once they both sat down to eat.

"She might not have a very good life at home or she could've been the victim of abuse. She might just be jealous of you. I don't know if any of that is true. I just know that normally when people act the way she does, something in their life is not right."

Emma nodded in agreement.

"I'll tell you something else." She drank some orange juice before continuing, "All of the things I've heard her say to you and other girls are things that she was called when Pamela and those girls were here last year. If they were here now, you wouldn't hear Ashlynn's mouth; you wouldn't even know that she was here."

"I remember last year. She kind of looked...sad," Emma added.

"That's because Pamela and those girls cussed her ass out. She tried to talk shit and got the surprise of her life."

She eyed a girl who was making her way to the table she and Emma were seated at. It was the new girl. She was tall and skinny with dark brown eyes and long, silky jet black hair that she wore in a bun. A gold necklace with a bear on it complemented her beige skin.

"Hi," the new girl greeted them. It was obvious that she was shy. "My name's Vanessa."

"Hi, Vanessa, I'm Amina."

Emma offered a smile. "And I'm Emma. You can sit down and join us if you'd like."

"No, thanks," Vanessa said hurriedly with a sigh. "I just wanted to say that I think it's really cool that you stood up to Ashlynn." She turned to Amina. "And you, too."

"You have to say something or else she'll keep doing it," Amina pointed out.

Vanessa focused her attention on Emma again. "I know why she's been so mean to you."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She nodded. "She likes some boy named Dylan. I have no idea who he is but she's angry because he won't go out with her. So now she's going after every girl that she sees him speak to."

Amina frowned. "Are you serious?"

Vanessa nodded. "I overheard her talking about it to Marcella in the girl's restroom."

Emma sat in silence as she thought about her encounter with Dylan about one month ago. He'd asked her for a pencil in English class and she handed him one and told him he could keep it. She had so many more things that were going on in her life. And this is what Ashlynn was so upset about?!

She could feel her cheeks flush.

"She's angry with me because Dylan asked me for a pencil? That's the most stupid shit I've ever heard of."

Amina chuckled at her friend. It was funny to hear her use profanity because she didn't do it unless she was angry.

"I gotta go now but I just wanted to stop by to let you know about Ashlynn," Vanessa said.

"Nice meeting you," Amina said.

"Nice meeting you, too," Emma said with a frown on her face. She still couldn't believe that Ashlynn was mad at her over something so innocent. The boy only asked her for a damn pencil! And they weren't even dating.

Vanessa walked away but heard Emma say, "She's angry with me because he asked me for a pencil."

Amina saw Vanessa exit the cafeteria and added, "Yes and I know it's stupid."

"It's actually worse than that."

Amina sighed and glanced at her watch. "We have to get to class."

She and Emma exited the cafeteria and walked to class in silence. She kept looking at her best friend but she didn't seem to notice. Amina was glad that she'd stood up for herself. She'd never seen her like this before. She wondered if she'd snapped.

Throughout the school day, Emma didn't hear a peep out of Ashlynn. Even when they were both in English class together, she didn't hear Ashlynn's voice. They made eye contact in class for a brief moment and Emma rolled her eyes.

She's angry with me because Dylan asked me for a pencil? Something is seriously wrong with her. I have to deal with so much at home; and then I have to come to school for this.

As the end of the school day grew closer, Emma's stomach began to knot. She'd stood up to Ashlynn so she should've been happy. But happiness was an emotion that was not within reach.

She was going home.

Emma's heart raced as she entered the house that was no longer a home. She headed straight to her room and locked the door.

She dialed her brother's number but only got his voice mail. Within minutes he called her back to let her know that he was on his way.

She walked into her bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Then she dried her face with a towel and took a long look at herself in the mirror.

Between her life at home and school, she'd lost a considerable amount of weight and it showed. She didn't feel comfortable eating much in the cafeteria knowing that Ashlynn was such a short distance away. Since she didn't feel comfortable enough to go into the kitchen in her mother's house (thanks to her mother's boyfriend), Keelan purchased a mini-fridge that she kept in her bedroom. Her bed sat so high up (thanks to Keelan) that she hid the mini-fridge underneath and her long comforter and sheets that touched the floor allowed her to keep this secret. If she had to microwave something, she would only do it if her mother and boyfriend weren't home. Lately she hadn't been doing this since she suspected that her mother had given him a key to the house.

The only time she ate a decent meal is when she was at Keelan's apartment. She couldn't wait until her eighteenth birthday so she could move into her brother's apartment.

The longer she thought about it the more she realized that she was an outsider both at school and at her mother's house.

She exited the bathroom and filled her duffel bag with clothes and shoes.

Several minutes later she was startled by the sound of a car door slamming. She looked outside her bedroom window and was pleased to see her older brother, Keelan. She grabbed her duffel bag and backpack and raced down the stairs.

Any time that she could get away from her mother's house was much appreciated.

Only two more weeks until she turned eighteen and all of this would be over with.

Chapter 1

Emma cried in the shower as she thought about her dreadful past with Ashlynn. At twenty-two years old, she thought she'd be over all of this by now but she couldn't help but cry sometimes. She wished that she could be just like her best friend, Amina, because she was brave and didn't let anyone push her around.

It wasn't long before she heard Keelan knocking on the bathroom door to check on her.

"You okay in there?" she heard him yell. He worried about her when she stayed in the shower too long.

"Yes! I'll be out in a second!"

After she dried her body off with a towel, she put her naturally red hair in a ponytail and wore her brand new pink pajamas.

"I was wondering if you were ever coming out or not," Keelan said as soon as she stepped out of her bedroom.

"Of course I was coming out. I can't live in the shower." She walked into the dining room and grabbed a fresh apple from a fruit basket that was on the table.

Amina stood up from the couch and walked towards Emma, whose back was facing her. "You stayed in there so long I couldn't tell."

Emma was so startled that she dropped the apple as she turned around to face her friend. "Amina?"

Keelan picked up the apple, rinsed it off, and placed it on the kitchen table.

Could it really be her? Emma thought to herself.

She took in Amina's youthful face with friendly brown eyes. Her long, flowing hair was still blonde and her glowing skin matched the color of the sun. Her outfit was as bold and daring as she was; she was wearing a purple sweater, black skinny jeans, and black boots that came to her thighs.

Amina playfully rolled her eyes and then smiled. "I guess I'm going to have to come over there and hug you myself." Before she could, Emma was throwing her arms around her neck, with tears in her eyes.

It had been one year since the two girls had seen each other. It was the longest amount of time that they'd spent away from each other. Amina's mother passed away and shortly afterwards her grandmother grew ill and had to be hospitalized. Once she was released, she and Amina packed their bags and left the state of Georgia.

"Were you crying?" she whispered in Emma's ear.

"No," she lied.

She released Amina from the embrace.

"I really missed you."

Amina continued to smile. "I really missed you, too."

"So how's your grandmother?"

"She's doing a lot better. I think getting away from here did the both of us some good."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that."

"I'm really glad that I got to see you but since you're getting ready..."

"No, I'm not going to bed now. It's only six." She turned around and reached for a box of donuts on the counter before grabbing Amina's hand and leading her to the bedroom. "I have so much to tell you."

"I'm sure you do."

Keelan got comfortable on the couch in the exact same spot Amina had sat in earlier and watched a movie.

Meanwhile, both girls got comfortable on her bed and ate donuts while she filled her in on what she'd missed. Emma informed her that she'd met Ashlynn's sisters, Seina and Mallory, while attending Seina's yoga class at a local gym. While attending lunch with Seina, Mallory, and Keelan, she found out that her brother was dating Ashlynn. She admitted to being bullied by her when she was in high school. To her surprise, Ashlynn's sisters weren't aware of it; she at least thought that Ashlynn would brag about her antics at home. Keelan didn't know anything about it because she'd never told him.

Amina's mouth fell open. "Are you serious?"

Emma nodded. "I couldn't believe it either and neither could her sisters. They didn't even know that she treated people like that when she was in high school."

Amina sighed. "I'm still trying to process the fact that he dated her. I mean, Keelan's really kind and she's..."

"...A bitch," Emma finished.

"Did he break up with her?"

"Oh, yeah. It's so done between them."

"What else did I miss?" Amina grabbed another donut.

"I've had a few run-ins with her," Emma shared.

"And?"

Emma put a finger to her chin as if she was thinking about something. "Let's just say I like to leave her speechless."

Amina high-fived her. "That's the way to do it. She should keep her damn mouth shut anyway. It's not like she has anything useful to say."

Before the night was over, Emma had caught her up with the latest happenings. Amina also informed her that she'd be returning to college in spring. "I'm actually nervous about going back to school." She sounded scared. Emma had never known anything to scare her.

"You're smart so don't worry about it. You'll be fine," Emma encouraged her.

"Thanks."

Emma wasn't sure when she fell asleep. When she awoke the next morning, it was nearly nine o'clock. She quietly eased her way into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning," Keelan said from behind her.

"Good morning, Keelan." She took a sip of coffee and said, "What time did she leave?"

"Around eleven."

"Wow, I don't even remember falling asleep."

He chuckled while he helped himself to a cup of coffee. "So are you going to tell me why you were crying in the shower last night?"

His question startled her. "I wasn't crying."

"Emma," he began, his voice stern, "don't lie to me. Now this isn't the first time that I've heard you cry in the shower. Why were you crying last night in the shower?"

She slowly turned around and looked into her brother's brown eyes. "Saying her name is like poison to my tongue."

Chapter 2

Amina Hamilton pushed herself to the limit. Each time her body wanted to give up, she'd do just five more push-ups.

And then sometimes five would become ten.

With the amazed looks she'd get from men at the gym, it was obvious that they were not use to seeing a woman work out to this extreme.

But the memories always pushed her.

Amina remembered the last day that she saw her mother alive quite vividly. It was a day that she'd never forget.

She pushed the door open to her mother's hospital room; she quietly walked inside and seated herself in a chair beside the bed. A stroke sent her here and her heart was dying each second from heart disease.

Amina wished that her mother was sleeping but she was awake. Her dark brown eyes were glazed over with sadness. She acknowledged her daughter's presence but didn't greet her. By the sad look on her face, Amina wasn't sure if her mother was happy to see her or not.

But she had to see her to get some things off her chest.

She leaned down to kiss her mother on the cheek. Her cheek was very soft and fragile—just like the rest of her. "Hello, Mom."

She gave her only daughter a sad smile and slightly squeezed her hand.

"Hey, Amina, I'm glad you came."

She offered a smile. "I'm glad, too."

Her mother briefly looked away from the young woman who resembled her so closely. "I didn't think you were coming."

"I wasn't going to come at first but...I changed my mind," Amina admitted. "I still can't believe I'm here. I hate hospitals."

"I hate hospitals, too, but I have to be here," she said still holding on to her daughter's hand. She couldn't believe how fast time had passed. She'd graduated from high school and now she was a double major in marketing and fashion merchandising. She almost broke down in tears knowing that she wouldn't see her only child graduate.

"Amina," she began, as she tried to fight back the tears, "I was a good mother to you. I did the best I could." She wasn't sure if she was saying this for her benefit or for Amina's but she could tell that something she said struck a chord.

Amina removed her hand from her mother's grasp. She was a good mother? She did her best?

Since she was a child, her mother always had a boyfriend. She always thought it was because of low self-esteem. She hated it when her mother was dating someone because that meant she'd be put in second place. Her mother would give her boyfriend her paycheck and the food in the home would be gone in no time. While he ate a steak meal, five-year-old Amina would consume rice and butter. Once that ran out she'd be forced to starve until her mother received her next paycheck and then the cycle would begin again.

"I went days on end without eating when I lived with you as a child. You treated your boyfriends better than you treated me. While they ate, I was starving so your best wasn't good enough," she said to her mother, with her thoughts still focused on the past. "The best thing that ever happened to me was Grandma taking me in. That was the absolute best thing." Her grandmother was the only family member she really knew besides her mother. She hadn't ever met her father and her mother never talked about him.

Her mother frowned. "I should've made you stay with me but you didn't want to," she snapped. She sure didn't sound sick anymore.

"I was tired of starving. The only time I really ate a decent meal is when I was at Grandma's house or at school."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "How can you look in my eyes and say a bold faced lie like that?"

Amina wasn't looking at her mother but she could still see the faraway look in her eyes. Her daughter was elsewhere.

"It's not a lie," Amina insisted.

"Amina, you didn't starve. You ate."

"Rice and butter."

"Like I said I did the best I could. Some people have nothing to eat and here you are complaining."

She turned her head towards her mother and took a long, hard look at her. The complexion

that use to resemble her own was now dull; her hair was thinning and now fell just below her shoulders. Even though her mother was angry, her eyes still held the same look of sadness that couldn't be hidden. She wasn't sure where the sadness came from but she knew from the stories she'd told her that she had a great life as a kid. And that her weakness was men. Her sadness came from the life that she'd lived as an adult. She didn't want to grow old alone so she'd always find herself in a relationship—with the wrong type of man.

"Do you want to know what good your best did me? While your boyfriend's eating a steak, I'm eating rice and butter." She lightly chuckled with no tears in her eyes but she couldn't say the same for her mother. "When I moved in with Grandma, she took me to see a doctor. The doctor said that I was underweight and I started to cry. I've never cried so hard in my life. I begged Grandma in front of the doctor to let me live with her. After they walked me into a playroom, I overheard him telling her to obtain full custody of me."

Her mother remained silent as her lower lip slightly trembled.

"You put me in second place to your boyfriends," Amina continued, "and that is something I will never do to my kids. It's not right. Even though you did all of that to me, I still love you."

She looked away from her mother. "I still love you," she repeated a little lower.

"I love you, too, Amina," she said, reaching over to caress her daughter's face. "I've always loved you." She dropped her hand from Amina's face and laced her fingers with hers.

"I want you to be better than me. Graduate from college..."

"I love school," Amina interrupted. "I'm not leaving college until I get both of my degrees."

"I know but it doesn't hurt for you to hear it again." She paused before continuing, "And whatever you do...do not ever let a man make a fool out of you." She wanted to say more but was beginning to feel tired and sleepy.

"Do you have class today?"

"Well...yes, I do but I could..."

"...Go to school."

Amina was surprised. "I'm here visiting you in the hospital and you're telling me to go to school?"

"Didn't I just tell you to be better than me?"

She nodded. Then she leaned down and kissed her mother on the cheek and hugged her.

"I love you, Amina," she heard her mother say.

"I love you, too." And she meant it. Despite what she'd been through as a child, she still loved her mother and she'd forgiven her.

"Do you have class tomorrow?"

"No," she answered and then added, "but I will come tomorrow with lunch so we can eat together."

That night her mother died in her sleep.

Sweat dripped from Amina's face as her arms pushed her body away from the floor. She felt as if all of her energy had been drained.

It was time to leave.

When she made it to her apartment, she grabbed an apple from a fruit basket on the kitchen counter and took five bites. She tossed what remained of the apple into the trash can before removing all of her clothing and then she showered, hoping the warm water would soothe all of her sore, achy muscles.

She wanted to call Emma but she was so exhausted the only thing she could manage to do was get into bed. She was thirsty but she didn't feel like getting up and taking a short walk to the fridge. In a matter of minutes, her eyes were closed and she was sound asleep.

Chapter 3

"Just two more weeks," Emma whispered to herself on the drive back home, which was usually quiet.

She always hated it when Keelan had to bring her back to their mother's house. She'd wanted to ask her mother countless times if she could live with Keelan but she already knew what the answer would be. Just like she knew what her mother expected her to do when she turned eighteen: get a job. She didn't mind getting a job because that meant she'd spend less time at home. But she didn't want to give her mother all of her hard earned money either.

One night she managed to overhear a conversation her mother and boyfriend were having about her. They wanted her to work part-time when she turned eighteen and hand over all of her paychecks. She was not allowed to keep one red cent.

"Our house. Our rules," she heard the boyfriend say. "If she doesn't give us every penny, we'll have to kick her out."

So he's planning to get rid of me just like he did Keelan.

She considered telling Keelan but decided against it; she didn't want him to have a big blow-up with their mother before her eighteenth birthday. Her mother still hadn't said anything to her about getting a job so she'd keep it to herself for now. But one thing she was certain of: as soon as she turned eighteen, she was moving out of her mother's house.

"We're here," Keelan said once they arrived at the house.

Emma laid her head back against the seat and sighed.

Her brother placed an arm around her shoulder. "You only have two more weeks."

She sighed again. "I know."

"Just remember what we've talked about. Don't say anything to them about moving in with me. And if that bastard touches you, call 911 and then call me."

"Okay." She kissed him on the cheek.

"I love you, Emma."

"I love you, too, Keelan."

She looked at the front porch where her mother was impatiently waiting. Standing directly beside her was her current boyfriend with his hand on her hip.

Emma grabbed her duffel bag and backpack from the back seat of his SUV and then got out of the vehicle and walked sadly to the house she wanted so badly to leave.

"Hello, Emma," her mother greeted her.

"Hi," she said in a low voice. She looked over her shoulder and waved at Keelan, silently counting down the minutes until she saw him again. She couldn't bear to watch him drive away so she entered the house.

"You know," her mother began, "one day your brother is going to get a girlfriend and he's going to forget all about you."

Emma stood below the staircase and looked at her mother, Celine Well. They didn't resemble each other at all. Her mother looked as if she'd stepped out of a fashion magazine. Appearances were very important to her. Her dark brown hair had been dyed blonde and neatly framed her heart shaped face. Her face was wrinkle free thanks to her weekly Botox injections. Her closet was full of designer clothing (some of which still had the tags attached). Emma always suspected that her mother's boss, a well-respected Atlanta attorney, gave her money for more than just her job as his assistant.

She stood before her mother with a pale complexion (that had more color before all of the stress of her home and school life began). Her beautiful freckles highlighted her cheekbones and her green eyes and naturally long red hair complemented her complexion.

Emma was pleased that she didn't resemble her mother. She wanted to separate herself from her as much as she possibly could.

"Keelan has a girlfriend and he's not going to forget me the way you forgot him." She wasn't sure if her brother had a girlfriend or not. She didn't allow her mother's words to hurt her because she knew in her heart that he'd never forget her. And she thought that it was very cruel of her mother to say such a thing.

"I didn't forget your brother," Celine retorted. She tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. "It was time for him to move out."

Emma didn't say anything; she just glared at the woman she wanted so badly to get away from. Her mother tried to hug her but she backed away. She couldn't remember the last time her mother told her that she loved her so she didn't know why she suddenly wanted to show her affection.

Emma didn't want to be bothered at all; she just wanted to be left alone. She walked upstairs to her room and shut and locked the door behind her. Then she prayed for her safety and for the days to fly by so that she could finally move in with her brother.

Chapter 4

"Nice place you got here," Emma said to Amina while her eyes roamed Amina's two bedroom apartment.

Amina sighed, exhausted from unpacking many of her belongings. "Thanks. I'm still not finished unpacking everything yet. For now I'm just going to take a break. Moving is very tiresome."

"I can help you," Keelan offered, eyeing several suitcases and a few boxes that was in the hallway next to the second bedroom's door.

"Thanks but maybe later. I'm just too exhausted to get into that right now. By the way, I ordered a pizza since I knew you guys were coming over." She gracefully picked up the pizza box that was on the kitchen counter and balanced it on one hand before setting it on the golden brown coffee table in the living room.

Emma raced to the love seat, opened the pizza box, and grabbed a slice of pizza. "You don't know how happy you've made me," she stated after taking a bite of the pizza.

"Damn. You sat down faster than I did to eat and I'm the one who actually paid for the pizza," Amina said.

Keelan tucked his hands into his pockets while stealing glances at Amina. Even in red sweatpants and a white t-shirt, she looked beautiful. He couldn't believe how much she'd changed since the last time he saw her. She'd outgrown her teenage body and now had curves that were very appealing to his eyes.

But that wasn't the only thing that caught his attention. She still had the same outspoken personality that he adored. And that beautiful, infectious smile...Wait! What was he thinking?! He couldn't be thinking about Amina in this way. She was his baby sister's best friend. On the other hand, she was an adult now.

Amina, who was pouring sodas into red plastic cups for them in the kitchen, didn't seem to notice. Emma, who was on her third helping of pizza, glanced at her brother between bites but said nothing.

Amina set two of the plastic cups on the coffee table for Emma and Keelan and then she retrieved the third one for herself.

"Emma, you still like root beer, right?" she asked her.

She nodded, glad that she finally had something to chug down the pizza with.

"Great." She turned her attention to Keelan, who had now averted his eyes elsewhere. She walked up to him and he caught a whiff of her sweet smelling perfume.

"You're a guest in my home so I don't want you to stand there—dead as a door knob." She pulled his hand out of his pocket and held his hand as he willingly trailed behind her to the sofa and sat beside her.

Emma lightly chuckled while she eyed her brother who was blushing.

"What's so funny?" Amina said.

"Nothing," Emma lied, still noticing her brother stealing glances at her best friend who seemed oblivious to it all. "I'm just really happy that you're finally back and we can all spend time together." And that was actually true.

"Me too," Amina added. "But we should enjoy it while we can." She took a sip of root beer.

Emma frowned. "You're not leaving again, are you?"

"No, but I start my new job next Monday at Opulence boutique."

Emma clapped. "Congratulations."

"So what are you going to be doing there?" Keelan asked, taking a gulp of soda.

"Cashiering and stocking. I'm supposed to be at the register most of the time but if there aren't many customers in the store, I'm supposed to stock."

"Are you still going to college next semester?" Emma said.

"And you're going to work?" Keelan shot at her.

"Yes, I'm still going back to school. I'm taking my classes during the early day hours and I will still be able to work part-time during the evenings." She didn't tell Emma that she had fifty thousand dollars in her savings account from her mother's insurance policy. Her grandmother tried to convince her to take some time off before returning to work so soon but she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to live off that money; she wanted to bring in a second income.

"At least we'll be spending one semester in college before I graduate in May," Emma added cheerfully.

"We'll have to do something special for you." Keelan took another gulp of his root beer. "If you needed a job, you should have come to me. I would've hired you at Brisson." (Brisson Auto Sales is Keelan's used car business.)

Amina patted his knee. "Thank you but I really wanted to get a job in my field so I can see what it's like. But thank you for thinking about me." She had no idea that he'd been thinking about her since he stepped into her apartment, his knee still tingling from her touch.

"We could've replaced that other girl who works the evening shift with me," Emma added, with an eye roll. "She tries to help but she just messes everything up."

"She's new," Keelan said to his sister.

"She's been there for what...three or four months now?" She shook her head and then turned her attention to Amina. "Anyway, I hope everything works out for you at Opulence—especially with your hours."

"Thanks." She tensed up. Something in her gut told her that she may not get the hours she really wanted.

"You know, when you work in retail, they give you crazy hours. One day you work mornings and the next day they may want you to work in the afternoon."

"I already told the manager that I can only work evenings because of school. I don't mind working the early day shift on the weekends but if she tries to give me days during the week while I'm in class, I'll have to find something else."

"Are you getting an employee discount?" Emma said to her.

"Yes, I think it's fifteen percent."

"Maybe now, Amina, you and I can drag Keelan into a boutique and help him choose something for a special someone he really likes."

His cheeks flushed. What is she trying to do to me?

Amina slightly turned her body to face him. "I'd love to help you choose something for her. So what kind of colors does she like to wear?" He could literally feel the warm heat coming from her body. Being this close to her was driving him crazy and she was completely unaware of it.

"Emma's jo-joking," he stammered.

Emma tried her best to hold back her giggles. She'd never seen her brother act this way around a woman before.

"So, Amina, what is your love life like?" Emma said, as she helped herself to what she hoped would be the last slice of pizza.

"I don't have a love life," Amina admitted.

"Join the club. Neither do we," Keelan added.

"Honestly," Amina began, "men are scared of me."

Emma almost dropped her pizza and Keelan laughed. "Men aren't scared of you. I think that because you're so outspoken and you have a strong personality, some men may be intimidated. But there's someone out there for you. He's going to approach you the right way and he's going to treat you with respect," Emma said.

Amina jaw slightly dropped. "Can you believe this?"

"What?"

"Nothing," she said, doing her best imitation of Emma.

"You give me advice all the time," Emma said, as she stood from the love seat. "So it's not going to hurt me to help you. Now where's the bathroom? This root beer has gotten me already."

She pointed to her master bedroom's door. "It's in my bedroom. It's the second door on the left."

"My offer is still on table," Keelan said to Amina.

She gave him a puzzled look. "What offer?"

"To work at Brisson Auto Sales. You'd be a part-time receptionist working strictly afternoon hours earning twelve bucks an hour."

It sounded like a really great offer but she wasn't so sure she wanted to work for her best friend's brother. She smiled at him. It was very thoughtful of him to think of her. "I'll keep that in mind."

He blushed at her response. He blushed even harder when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. "Thank you for always being so kind to me and...for looking out for Emma."

"Always," he said in a whisper. She was taking his breath away with her closeness.

She pulled away just enough to look into his eyes but her arms were still around him. "You and Emma are my two best friends and you guys mean a lot to me."

He smiled and nodded. She was so close to him; he could've kissed her right then and there.

Emma smiled to herself as she watched her brother and Amina while standing quietly outside Amina's bedroom door. Neither of them acknowledged her presence so she was going to retreat to Amina's room to look at pictures on the nightstand but Amina caught her first.

"Emma..."

She returned Amina's smile. "Hi, lovebirds."

Amina, who was still sitting beside Keelan on the sofa, gave her an annoyed look. "Please, don't start that."

Emma wandered into the dining room area and Amina, with Keelan's hand in hers, followed pursuit. The trio enjoyed each other's company for thirty extra minutes before Keelan and Emma announced their departure.

Emma gave her dear friend a tight hug, squeezing her neck. "I'll see you later, okay."

"Yeah."

"I'll call you when I get home."

And before she knew it, Keelan's arms were around her, his voice in her ear. "Do you still have my number?" He pulled apart from her to look in her eyes for confirmation.

She nodded.

"If you need me, call me."

Emma smiled at the sight of them while standing beside the front door. "Love birds." Keelan gave his sister a look but quickly softened it when he noticed Amina looking at him.

"Goodnight, you guys. Drive carefully."

"Yeah, Keelan," Emma chimed in. "Drive carefully."

Amina watched them get into Keelan's SUV before closing the front door. She tossed the pizza box into the trash can and tidied up the living room. Then, she retrieved a blanket and pillow from her room and made herself comfortable on the sofa. She watched a little reality TV before finally closing her eyes to sleep.

Chapter 5

Sunlight made its way into Emma's room and seeped into her eyes. She'd planned on getting up a few hours early to study for an upcoming marketing exam before heading to class.

Should've known that wasn't going to happen since I stayed up late last night studying after leaving Amina's place, she thought.

She slowly rose to her feet and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. Then, she selected an ensemble for the day: a cute, girly belted pink dress that fell right above the knee, a white blazer, and black flats. She picked up three individual necklaces from her nightstand that Keelan had given her: Love, Emma, and Hope; she set them on her bed next to her outfit and then showered.

She tried her best to push dark memories to the back of her mind. She didn't want Keelan asking her why she was crying again nor did she want him to hear her cry. She was tired of crying about things that had happened in the past. She didn't understand how she could still cry about something that happened in high school. How could she let Ashlynn get to her like that? It had been four years since she'd been in high school.

The memories of her past with her mother were just as dark and she really did not want to relive those times—even if it were just for a minute.

After getting dressed for the day, she knocked on Keelan's door.

"It's open," he called out.

She opened the door and saw him sitting on the edge of his bed holding a cup of coffee while watching the morning news. "You're up already?" he said with his eyes still on the television.

Emma took a seat beside him on the bed. "Yes, I'm up."

His eyes were still fixated on the TV. "Nothing's wrong with getting an early start."

She knew how to get his attention. "I'm actually surprised that I'm up so early since we stayed out a little late at Amina's."

He turned his head to the side to look at her at the sound of Amina's name just as she'd expected.

"I saw the way you were looking at her last night," she went on.

His cheeks flushed.

Emma smiled as she looked down at her hands. "She's a really good person. I can't tell you how many times she stood up for me in high school." She wasn't going to say Ashlynn's name. "If you want to date Amina, you can. I won't get mad at you for dating my best friend. You have my blessing."

"I'm that obvious, huh?"

"Yes." She placed a hand on her brother's shoulder and their eyes met. "Amina has been through a lot in the past year...you know with losing her mother and all. She doesn't really talk to me about it but I can tell that her mother's death is still affecting her." She sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is if you're going to pursue her, please..."

"I'm not going to hurt her," he said softly.

"I know," she added. "Just be careful. Sometimes it's better to take things slow than it is to rush."

He blinked in disbelief. He couldn't believe his little sister was giving him relationship advice. "You're just bursting with wisdom, aren't you?" he joked.

She playfully nudged his shoulder. "What are sisters for?" She wrapped one arm around his neck and kissed his cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I have to take my marketing exam this morning so I'm going to leave now." She left his room to retrieve her purse.

He was waiting for her by the front door. "Drive carefully," he said, as she approached him.

"Always," she stated. "After class I'll get us some lunch and then I'll drop by work."

"Okay." He opened the door for her and watched her get into her red Mazda 3i Touring. She waved at him and he waved back. She sped off and he kept watching until he'd lost sight of her completely.

As soon as she'd arrived on campus, she headed to her marketing class and studied until the professor arrived with the exam. Within twenty minutes, she'd completed the exam; she checked over her answers before handing the test in and left class.

While driving to get lunch, she thought about her brother, Keelan. She didn't know where she'd be without him; he was the only relative she had that loved her. Their father died in a plane crash when she was an infant so she didn't remember him. But she recalled Keelan telling her when she was a teen that their father fled after discovering that their mother had been cheating on him. The plane he'd boarded crashed and debris was discovered in the Pacific Ocean.

Just as she pulled up into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, she saw an older woman staring at her car but she couldn't make out who she was. Emma carefully opened the driver's door and got out of the car. She heard stilettos pounding the pavement. She had a sinking in her stomach that it was her mother. The sound of the stilettos came to a stop. She turned all the way around.

She just had to be right.

"Hello, Emma, I'm surprised to see you here," her mother said.

She'd rather see anyone but her. "Hey, Mom."

Her mother snorted. "I'm surprised I got that out of you since your brother turned you against me."

That angered Emma. None of it was true. She didn't understand how her mother could say such a thing. "Keelan didn't turn me against you! He doesn't even say negative things about you—or talk about you." She pointed her finger at her. "You're the one who turned me against you. You did that—not Keelan."

Her mother crossed her arms. Now she could tell that she really had her attention. "And how did I do that?"

"Keelan and I were always last in your life. We were never first. It was like we weren't even important to you."

"You kids meant the world to me."

"But you didn't show it. I can't even remember the last time you actually said that you loved us. But I do remember you always said that to your boyfriends. Since I could remember you've always had a boyfriend. Always..."

Her mother did a dramatic eye roll. "Ohhh, so this is what this is about?"

"You always dated someone who didn't like us. He'd make us feel uncomfortable, and when we'd tell you about it, you'd tell us to 'suck it up.' Like it was no big deal."

"You two had a beautiful house to sleep in and gourmet food to eat..."

Emma could feel herself getting angrier by the second. Her mother was still all about appearances.

A beautiful house to sleep in.

"That beautiful house was a façade and hid what was really occurring behind closed doors." She heard her mother scoff but continued, "Do you even know why I was so skinny when I was in high school?"

She shrugged.

"It's because I hardly ate anything at home. Keelan purchased a mini-fridge for me to keep my own food in so I wouldn't starve to death and then I would microwave my food as long as your boyfriend wasn't home. I'd keep my bedroom door locked so that no one could get in because I didn't trust him, and I was so disgusted with you that I didn't want to see your face."

She observed her mother open her mouth to speak but she wasn't interested in anything that she had to say. She wanted her to hear everything that she'd been keeping bottled up inside for all these years.

"Senior year in high school was hell for me. I was constantly bullied and the one person I wanted to turn to, I couldn't. My brother, Keelan, and my best friend, Amina, were the only two people I can say was always there for me when I needed them but you weren't."

"And how was I supposed to know that all of this was going on?" Her mother finally spoke up.

"All you had to do was ask but you never did. You didn't care about me enough to ask me anything. I hardly came out of my room because being around your boyfriend made me uncomfortable. But you should have come into my room to ask me 'why are you staying in your room so much?' or 'how is your day?' but you never did that."

"You two had a beautiful home to sleep in and food to eat. What more comfort did you need?" It was as if she was ignoring everything that Emma was saying.

She frowned again. Her mother wasn't getting it. "After you allowed your boyfriend to kick out your own son—my brother—I started to hate you. That command didn't come from you; it came from a man who wasn't our father. I couldn't even talk to you about anything because being around you made me sick. The only time I really ate is when I was at Keelan's place and even then I still looked like a skeleton that was fighting to breathe. Through all of that you still never stopped to ask me if I was okay."

Her mother sighed but didn't respond.

"You can blame my brother if you want to but I am telling you that he didn't turn me against you. You did that. There was nothing wrong with you dating someone, but you dated men who didn't like your kids. You let them push us away and now we're gone."

Emma lost her appetite but she knew that she should at least put a little something on her stomach. She quickly began to think of other restaurants to go to.

"You're my mother and I wish I could forgive you but right now I hate everything you did and everything you didn't do."

Tears swelled up in her mother's eyes but she didn't seem to notice.

"Keelan and I are the ghosts of your past. You didn't care about us then and I know you don't care about us now. And I'm sure you're happy now that your two kids are out of your life; it's as if we never existed."

"Emma," her mother said barely above a whisper, as she watched her daughter get into her car. Emma revved up the engine and took off, leaving behind a crying mother.

She went to a different restaurant and then drove to Brisson Auto Sales.

As soon as she walked into the building, Keelan could sense that something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" he inquired, while following her into the front office.

She was certainly glad that the new girl hadn't arrived yet. She set the two bags of food on a desk that was behind her.

"Nothing," she answered quietly.

"If it's nothing, why do you look so upset?" He crossed his arms.

"I saw Mom today."

He uncrossed his arms and looked away from her for a moment. "What did she say?"

"Nothing interesting. She doesn't get it."

"What did you say to her?"

She sighed deeply. "Everything that I needed to." She went into details about the conversation that she'd had earlier with their mother.

She sighed again after finishing. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about this anymore."

About fifteen minutes later and ten minutes late, the new girl, Debby, walked into the building. Emma's jaw dropped at the sight of her but she quickly shut it. Debby was wearing a white tank top that showed a lot of cleavage and denim shorts that were so short her butt cheeks were showing. Her bouncy, curly blond hair framed her round face which bore a big smile.

She peeped into Keelan's office since the door was open and didn't hesitate to speak. "Hi, Keelan, how are you?"

He barely looked up from his desk and answered, "Fine." He didn't bother to ask her how her day was because he didn't care and he didn't like the way she was dressed. He hated to admit it to himself but she kind of reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, Ashlynn.

Debby, who was a little disappointed to say the least, walked into the front office and took a seat beside Emma. "So slow day or busy day? What are we working with here today?" It sounded like it all came out as one sentence.

"Slow day," Emma answered, trying to keep a straight face.

She dressed like a whore to impress my brother?

"You're late," she said in a dry voice.

Debby pulled her phone out her purse and began to snap selfies. "Traffic was terrible."

"This is the second day in a row that you've been late."

Debby glared at her boss. "So what do you want me to do drive 200 miles per an hour and kill myself?"

"If you leave early for work, you won't be late. If you're late again, you won't have a job. And next time you come to work, put more clothes on."

Debby turned her nose up. "I think you're jealous of me and I think you're mad because your brother likes me." She set her cell phone down in front of her on the desk.

"No one is jealous of you, Debby..."

"Yeah, you are."

Emma wasn't going to say what she really wanted to say because she didn't want to hurt Debby's feelings. "You can't keep coming to work late. That's not just true here. That's true anywhere you place an application to work. And I'm not mad because my brother likes you. I'm mad because you're late again."

She was starting to get heated so she stood from her chair and walked out of the front office, leaving only Debby inside.

Debby sighed, as she glanced at her phone. She was twenty-three years old with only a high school education and little job experience. She couldn't lose this job. Her parents were on her case about moving out of the house because they were tired of paying for her expenses.

She noticed Keelan walk outside the building.

Since Emma was nowhere in sight, she quietly slid the drawer open that contained cash and a receipt of the customer's payment. She slid two twenty dollar bills into her pocket.

Not a soul was watching but the security camera was.

Chapter 6

The sky was cloudy but that didn't stop Emma from wishing for more sunny days. It had been almost a week since she'd had a conversation with her mother in a parking lot. Although she was able to confess everything to her that she'd been holding in, the situation still left a bitter taste in her mouth. She also hadn't received a call or text from her mother but that didn't surprise her.

She replayed their last conversation over and over in her head. And it made her angry. Her mother didn't apologize and she wasn't going to hold her breath for one since she didn't believe she did anything wrong.

Emma sighed, as she ran a hand through her hair. She closed her textbook and gazed around the library. She came to the school's library to study but the peace and quiet was more noise than anything.

She needed to talk to someone and not just anyone. She called Amina and asked to meet her at her apartment in twenty minutes.

"Hi," Amina greeted Keelan as soon as he opened the door to the apartment.

"Hi," he said, almost like a shy school boy. "You must be here for Emma." Like she'd ever come here just to see me.

Amina nodded with a smile.

He instinctively stepped aside so she could enter. She made herself comfortable on the couch, leaving him standing at the front door. He pushed it closed with his foot. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you," she responded.

He was a little disappointed. He was hoping she'd want something that way their skin could touch when he handed that "something" over.

"I actually ate before I came here. I probably would be asleep by now but Emma called and asked if I'd come over." She smiled again and added, "And now I'm here."

"She should be here shortly."

Amina watched him take a seat beside her. "I've actually asked around town about Brisson Auto Sales."

He slightly leaned forward.

"And the people I spoke with didn't have anything bad to say about you guys."

He felt himself relax a little and leaned back into the couch. "I'm glad to hear that but why did you ask about us?"

"Because..." She sighed. "Let me just make a long story short. My grandmother needs a new car. Well, it'll be used but it would be new for her." Keelan nodded as she continued, "Grandma's old school so she doesn't want a brand new car and she doesn't want anything fancy either. Sometime this month—as long as she doesn't change her mind—we'll be dropping by to pick something out for her."

He chuckled. "I look forward to seeing you two."

"I'm sure you do. Not many people can say they've made a pretty penny off their sister's best friend's grandmother."

Keelan laughed harder.

"If you really are as good as people say, I might be your next customer." She paused to think and then shook her head. "I didn't mean that. I really don't need to be your next customer. My car is brand new and I don't want to get another one unless I just have to."

Just then they both heard a key turning in the lock on the front door and knew that it was Emma.

"Hey, you guys," she mumbled as a greeting.

"Hey, Emma," Amina said. She closed the front door and noticed her brother giving her a concerned look. She gave him a hug and said, "I'm okay so you can stop looking at me like that."

She glanced over her shoulder at Amina who was giving her the same look. She broke the embrace with her brother. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," she stated as she looked from Keelan to Amina.

"You weren't," Amina insisted.

"Cool. So are you ready?"

Amina nodded.

Emma walked back to the front door to open it and then looked back at her brother and said, "I'll be back soon."

"Okay. Just be sure you keep up with your key. I'm going back to work to check on a few things so I might not be here when you get back."

"Bye, Keelan. See you later." Amina flashed another beautiful smile.

Of course I'll see you later, he thought even as he watched her and his sister get into Emma's car.

Amina and Emma had been sipping smoothies while they strolled through the mall. Amina knew something was bothering her because she hadn't said much since they'd arrived. They walked in silence for several minutes until Emma broke the silence.

"I saw my mother," she admitted, before taking another long sip of her strawberry banana flavored smoothie.

"Oh, really?" Amina knew she didn't have a good relationship with her mother. Emma had told her that she didn't trust her mother's boyfriend and that she'd tried talking to her about it. When she tried, she was told to "suck it up" or "get over it" because "he wasn't going anywhere."

"She doesn't think that she did anything wrong. I poured out everything to her but she thinks that Keelan turned me against her."

"Wow that sucks."

"Yes, it does," Emma agreed. "I told her that we were always last in her life. Basically whichever guy she was dating at the time was more important than us." She sighed, feeling angry at her mother all over again. "It's not enough to have a house to live in; I was a child who didn't feel comfortable living in my own mother's house because she always had different boyfriends who just seemed suspect. And she couldn't even be there for me."

Amina twirled her straw around in her strawberry banana smoothie while listening to her friend.

"Even though it's been almost a week since I saw her, I'm still angry about everything. She should have went about things differently and listened to me and Keelan. My brother tells me that he loves me more than she ever has. I can't even remember the last time she told me she loved me."

"She didn't tell you that when she saw you?"

"No, she didn't," Emma responded coldly. "And I didn't say it either. I told her that I wish I could forgive her, but I hate everything that she did to Keelan and me."

A moment of silence passed between them. As they rounded a corner in the mall, their eyes landed on a store that was advertising a 50% off sale.

"Did she say anything after you said all that?" Amina asked.

"No."

Emma didn't have to say anything else about her conversation with her mother. Amina knew exactly what was going on.

"So Emma," she began, as she watched her best friend turn to face her, "when you were younger, your mother put men over you and Keelan. She neglected you and you're still angry because you haven't forgiven her."

"Yes."

"When I was a child," Amina began, "my mother always had a boyfriend. She'd give him her paycheck every time she got paid. There wasn't always food in the house to eat. Her boyfriend would buy himself a steak meal with her check and bring it home to eat. While he ate his steak meal, I ate rice and butter."

Emma was surprised by what she was hearing because Amina hadn't ever shared much information with her about her mother.

"The only time I really ate is when I was at my grandmother's house or at school." She couldn't believe that she was admitting this to Emma. She was a very private person who didn't like to reveal too much about her life to people. But here she was admitting all of this to her best friend.

"I eventually ended up living with my grandmother. I told my mother all of this as she was dying from heart disease. Plus, she'd had a stroke so that didn't make it any better. The next thing that I told her was that I loved her. And I did love her. I still do."

Emma gave her a look of surprise. "You went through all of that with her, starving and being..."

"...Second place," Amina finished for her. She wanted Emma to understand that she wasn't a dummy on the subject. She'd been through the exact same thing.

"And you still loved her?"

"Yes, I still loved her but I had to forgive her to do that."

Emma looked away from her. Could she forgive her mother for everything she'd done?

"Emma," she said softly, "the pain is killing you. The stress is making you sick. You have to put this behind you and move forward."

"I am moving forward."

"Emma, you're still stuck in the past. You're holding on to something that is making you sick. Letting go of the past is not easy especially when you still have your memories."

Both girls wandered over to the food court to sit down and set their plastic smoothie cups on the table.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Emma said in frustration. She'd prepared herself to hear the word "therapist."

"Write your thoughts and feelings in a journal," were the words that came out of Amina's mouth.

Emma crossed her arms. "A journal?"

She could see that Emma was skeptical but went on anyway. "Yes, I use to write in one about my mom. She always had a boyfriend, and I think it was because she had low self-esteem."

Emma's arms fell to her side. She'd never even thought that her mother could possibly have low self-esteem. The more she began to think about it the more she felt pity for her.

"Forgiveness is not easy and it does not happen overnight, but you will feel so much better when you let your past go. Let your past be in the past so you can enjoy your present and future."

Emma almost cried as her arms flew around Amina's neck. "You understand me."

Amina hugged her back. "Yes, Emma, I understand you."

Emma pulled back from her. "I have to forgive her," she admitted in a low voice.

Amina nodded.

"I already knew that I would have to. It's just...it's so hard."

"Like I said forgiveness isn't easy."

"No, it isn't," Emma agreed.

They tossed their empty plastic cups into a trash bin before heading into a clothing store.

Chapter 7

Emma was beyond excited when the day finally came that she turned eighteen. She could hardly sleep the night before. She had no interests in partying it up in an Atlanta night club; she just wanted to move out of her mother's house and move in with her brother.

In the days leading up to the move, she'd pack a little bit at a time and would leave her clothing and shoes at her soon-to-be new home so she'd have less to pack. Her mother's eyes began to linger on her more than usual when they were in each other's company; each time Emma's eyes met hers she'd quickly look away.

She can't even talk to me or look me in the eye.

That morning she could hear her mother getting ready for work down the hall, her heels making a clucking sound with each step. She didn't expect her to wish her a happy birthday. And she didn't. She could hear the clucking sound of the heels as her mother descended down the stairs and opened and slammed the front door shut. The only time she'd ever known her mother to slam doors around the house is when she's angry about something.

Emma sighed as she stood in her room with her arms crossed. She was the only one in this house who should be angry. She could hear her mother's car door slam outside her window. (Her boyfriend had already left the house in the early morning hours before the sun rose.)

After her mother left, she called Keelan who showed up in record time. The first thing he did when he saw his little sister was hold her tight in his arms and wish her a happy birthday. Tears swelled up in her eyes. Keelan didn't have to ask; he knew their mother was the cause of it. He doubted if she even remembered Emma's birthday but he had not forgotten.

He followed her into the house and helped carried her suitcases out to his SUV. Then, he drove her to school so she wouldn't be late and went back to his apartment and unloaded her belongings into her new bedroom.

"Happy birthday," Amina said with a bright smile when she spotted Emma by her locker.

She smiled. "Thanks."

Both girls ate breakfast before heading to their first class of the day.

Emma was not able to focus much in class. She watched a bird sit on a tree branch near the window and chirp in joy. She loved birds and always believed that they symbolized freedom because they could fly wherever they wanted to. If this wasn't a sign that it was time to leave her mother's house, then she didn't know what was.

She wondered how her mother would react once she returned to her house and discovered that she was no longer living there. She probably wouldn't care; she barely acknowledged her when she lived there. So what would be the difference with her gone?

When the bell rang, Emma found herself walking into the halls to her next class. She spotted Ashlynn walked directly towards her and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel nervous or scared. She continued to walk with her head held high and her guard up, knowing that Ashlynn would not be able to resist saying something cruel to her.

"You may be eighteen but you're still an anorexic slut," Ashlynn spat. Several of her friends burst into laughter including her best friend, Marcella.

Emma stopped dead in her tracks. She had two choices. She could either ignore Ashlynn or say what was really on her mind. She chose the latter. "Don't worry about my weight. Worry about your overweight issues. And don't worry about what's between my legs. You need to start worrying about who has been between yours and what they could have given you."

She did it.

Emma Brisson stood up to Ashlynn Lindley. And it felt so damn good.

Ashlynn's reaction was priceless. Her mouth fell open and she began to feel self-conscious. She'd always been self-conscious about her weight. She'd had her fair share of guys but she didn't feel as if it gave Emma the right to throw it in her face and let the entire school know about it. Even if she did deserve it.

Many of the teens passing by in the halls clapped for Emma and Ashlynn really didn't like that. But what could she do? A guy who was applauding Emma was a guy she'd had a one night stand with a few days ago.

Later that day Emma and Amina seated themselves in the school's crowded cafeteria.

Amina didn't waste any time jumping into what was on her mind. "I heard about what happened with Ashlynn."

"Oh, yeah?"

She nodded. "I'm so proud of you. I wish more people could be like us."

Emma glanced at her best friend questioningly. "Us?"

"See, if more people here were like us and would stand up to her, she wouldn't be able to bully them and talk so much shit," Amina explained.

Emma tucked a loose strand of her flowing red hair behind her ear. Amina was right. More people should stand up to Ashlynn. She knew that she didn't want to allow Ashlynn to talk to her any kind of way without saying something back to her. She tried ignoring her in the past and that definitely did not work. But her new approach seemed to be working just fine. She'd proven to Ashlynn that she wasn't a doormat that she could step on whenever she wanted.

And boy was she proud.

"So what are you going to do for your birthday party?" Amina said to her.

Emma smiled and was relieved that she changed the conversation. "I don't even want a party."

Amina was shocked. "What?!"

Emma shook her head. "I don't want a party," she repeated. "I just want to be happy," was all she could tell her without her emotions spilling over.

"And I want you to be happy."

Emma gave her a small smile but it didn't reach her eyes. "I know you do."

Maybe now that I'll be living with Keelan I can finally be happy.

After Keelan picked her up from school, she unpacked some of her suitcases and put her things away. She was happier than she'd been in a long time and he noticed it, too. In about two hours, he was going to take her out to eat at a restaurant (that he'd made reservations at a month prior) and then they'd return home to cake, ice cream, and presents. After all of that he'd have just enough time to study for one of his college exams.

Following college graduation, he was going to convince a bank to give him a loan large enough so that he could open his own used car business. He'd completed enough research to know how the business worked and he used to work at a dealership before the owner closed the shop. He'd work at his auto dealership and Emma could be his receptionist. He would keep his current job working at a fast food restaurant until he began to make a profit from his car business.

He got up from his bed and stretched. That forty-five minute nap re-energized him.

He walked out of his bedroom and knocked on his sister's door which was half-way open.

"Yeah?" she called out, putting the finishing touches on her room. She'd finished unpacking everything and was trying to figure out where she wanted her plush pink rug.

"You're not ready yet?"

"No, I finished unpacking but now I'm decorating my room."

"Emma, you can decorate your room later. I'm giving you twenty minutes to get ready so we can make it to the restaurant on time for our reservation."

"Okay," she responded.

They were both startled by a sudden pounding sound on the front door. They both had a sinking feeling who was on the other side.

"Stay here," Keelan told her, heading for the door. He debated whether or not to open the door but he knew that he'd have to face her eventually. He just wished she'd chosen a different day and time—especially since today was Emma's birthday.

He knew that their mother, Celine Well, was angry the moment he saw her face.

"Where is Emma? I want her out here now!" she yelled in his face.

Emma didn't like the way that she was speaking to him. He'd helped her in more ways than he knew and he didn't deserve to be treated this way.

She brushed past him until she was face to face with the very woman she was trying to get away from.

"Why do you want me to come back to your house? And don't say it's because you love me. You never say it and you never show it."

"You belong at home with me, not here with Keelan, who's trying to turn you against me," their mother argued with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

"You only want me at your house so that I can work while you and your boyfriend keep my paychecks."

Celine looked surprised. She didn't expect to hear that. She didn't even know that Emma knew about that.

"Yeah," Emma continued, "I heard you and your boyfriend talking about me one night and how if I didn't give you every penny, you'd have to kick me out."

Celine could feel Keelan's eyes burning into her so she looked away from both of her children.

"Our rules. Our house," Emma recited her mother's boyfriend. "If she doesn't give us every penny, we'll have to kick her out. That's what your boyfriend—the same man you let kick your son out of the house—said to you about me."

"To sum it all up," Keelan added, looking directly at his mother, the woman who let her boyfriend kick her son out of her house, "she's eighteen years old now and she doesn't have to stay with you if she doesn't want to."

She turned her attention to Emma. "So you think you're a woman now?"

"I feel safer living with Keelan." Was her mother serious?

"Did you forget that today was her birthday?"

Celine scoffed. "You kids are so damn unappreciative. Since you're an adult now, Emma, don't come back to my house. You no longer have a home with me."

"She has a home with me and she doesn't have to worry about me abandoning her."

"On my birthday," Emma mumbled but it was loud enough for her mother to hear.

"So that's what this is about? Some stupid ass birthday party?"

Emma and Keelan didn't know what to make of her.

"It's about more than that," Emma stated. "We're your kids—the only kids you have. And you have always put your boyfriends over us. When you didn't have a boyfriend, you were the best mom, but as soon as you found a new one, things would change for us and suddenly we were last again. You even let your current boyfriend kick your son out of your house. He was in college trying to do something with his life. When he was kicked out, where was he supposed to go? And where was I supposed to go when the time came for your boyfriend to decide that it was time for me to leave?"

Celine gave her a blank stare.

"Exactly," Emma said. "You don't love us so there's no point in you being here."

Keelan tucked his hands into his pockets. He knew in his heart that his mother didn't love him. She didn't have to confess it aloud for him to hear. Even though he knew it was abnormal for a woman to not love her child, he had accepted it a long time ago. The only person he knew really loved him was Emma and he loved her even more. If Emma had not been living with her, his mother never would've seen him when he had to pick her up from her home.

He glanced at his watch. Almost ten minutes had passed.

"I don't have to listen to any more of your nonsense," their mother said aloud, not looking at either of them in particular.

"It's only nonsense to you because it's the truth," Emma retorted.

"Frank is a good man and he doesn't deserve to be talked about this way," Celine spat.

Keelan rolled his eyes. He hated Frank.

Emma smirked. "I hope he was worth losing your kids over." Her hand found her brother's and before she knew it, she was shutting the door in their mother's face.

Emma was still holding her big brother's hand as she took a deep breath.

Today was her eighteenth birthday and their mother just had to come by. But she wasn't going to let her ruin it.

She let her brother's hand go and hugged him. "She may not love us, but I'll always love you," she said with her head against his shoulder.

He hugged her back. "I'll always love you to. Now will you please get dressed? I don't want us to be late."

A smiled spread across her face as she ran into her room to get dressed for the special day that he'd planned for her.

The mood was a little sour when they first arrived at the restaurant, from their mother's visit no doubt. They arrived just in time for the reservation.

Emma was feeling pretty in her white blouse with a lace heart on the back, pink jeans, and black studded flats.

The mood picked up as the night continued on. They both enjoyed their meal and Emma refrained from dessert since Keelan told her they'd eat dessert once they returned home.

When they did return home, he told her to go to her bedroom and close the door. She did as she was told. She could hear doors opening and closing but she could hardly hear anything else.

Wait...was that a woman whispering?

"Okay you can come out now, Emma," her brother called out to her.

She opened the bedroom door and peered into the living room. "Keelan?" she said aloud but got no response. It was dark so she flipped on a light switch.

"Surprise!" everyone said in unison. "Happy birthday, Emma!" It was Keelan, Amina, and Amina's grandmother, Essie. Emma was so happy that she could've cried but she didn't. She just hugged all of them.

Keelan led her to the birthday cake and everyone began to sing happy birthday. She made a wish and blew out all the candles. Next, she began to open her gifts. Keelan gave her a brand new gold watch, a pink handbag (that Amina's grandmother helped him pick out), perfume, and he put $100 inside her birthday card. Amina and her grandmother, Essie, gave her a cosmetic bag filled with body wash and lotion, a charm bracelet that Amina made herself, a $50 department store gift card, and flowers.

Emma set the flowers inside a vase with water on the coffee table in the living room. Then, she joined everyone for cake and ice cream and chatted the night away.

After Amina and Essie left, she plopped down on the couch next to Keelan.

She wrapped both of her arms around his neck. "Today has been the best day ever."

He squeezed an arm that was around his neck. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

She yawned.

"Sounds like someone's sleepy."

"I am," she said, getting up. "I'm going to bed. Good night, Keelan. I love you."

"I love you, too," he said back to her.

While making the short trip to her room, she stopped abruptly and turned around to see him still sitting in the same spot on the couch.

"Thank you, Keelan. Not just for the birthday party but for everything."

His tired eyes looked at her. "You don't have to thank me."

"Yes, I do," she said and then walked into her room, got underneath the comforter, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Keelan made himself get up from the couch and go into his own room to sleep. Today was the first day in a long time that he felt peaceful. He'd been worrying about the welfare of his little sister since he was kicked out of his mother's house. It wasn't until he confided in Amina's grandmother that he learned he could've filed for emergency custody of Emma. He kicked himself over and over on that one. He didn't know that he could do something like that. He was just thankful that she was finally at home where she belonged.

Maybe now they could finally get some real sleep.

Chapter 8

Amina had been working at Opulence boutique now for almost two weeks and it didn't take her long to realize that she should've applied for a job elsewhere. The girls who worked there were petty. They would steal each other's food from the fridge in the break room to enjoy for themselves and others would simply take the meals and discard them in the trash. Amina avoided the break room at all costs; she hated to see the foolishness that went on in there. One of the troublemakers had even added hot sauce to one girl's food. Two of the troublemakers even succeeded in getting one girl fired and it didn't help that the manager, Jess, was their friend more than she was a manager.

Most of the girls didn't like Amina but many of the customers preferred her and would go to her register feeding her compliments on her long blonde hair and stylish fashion choices. That marked her as a target for the other girls, the troublemakers. Amina was certain that because of this her manager, Jess, was trying to get back at her by giving her irregular hours. One day she'd have to arrive to work at 10:00 a.m. while on others she was scheduled to arrive at 5:00 p.m. She'd told Jess when she applied for the job that she wanted regular hours and Jess agreed to that.

She frowned when she checked the time on her watch. It was 5:50 p.m. almost time for her shift to end. 6:00 p.m. couldn't get here soon enough. She could see one of the two troublemakers watching her but she didn't care.

Amina walked by Troublemaker #1, whose name she did not care to know and whose eyes followed her as she made her way to the back office.

She knocked on the office door once and caught a quick whiff of a strong odor.

What is that smell? Is that...?

"Come in," Jess called out.

Amina opened the door and couldn't believe that Jess had her feet on the desk and was polishing her nails during the work day. She gazed around the tiny office. It wasn't much to look at. Piles and piles of paperwork covered the floor behind her desk. Jess didn't bother to look up at her when she'd entered. What for? She wasn't one of her "favorites."

"Hi, Jess," Amina greeted her.

Jess didn't respond. Instead, she just continued to polish her nails. She didn't care much for Amina. She was just like everyone else she'd met that was attending a university; they all thought they were better and smarter than everyone else. She would've been one of them if she would've gone to college and graduated prior to giving birth to her four children.

Following high school graduation she was a single mom who worked a full-time minimum wage job. She worked as a sales associate for six years before applying for an open managerial position at Opulence. She never expected in a million years that the owner would select her as the new manager but she did. And now here she was blowing it all to hell. Instead of doing her actual managerial duties, she was resting on the job; the owner always called prior to arriving at the store so if and when she called, Jess would get everyone to straighten everything up to make it look more professional. She wasn't attending college or about to return like Amina but she had a job that she was proud of. The best part was that she was getting paid to support her family and she could do whatever she wanted and not get caught for doing something that she shouldn't.

Jess may have ignored her but Amina knew exactly how to get her attention.

"I'm actually surprised to see you doing your own nails," she admitted aloud. It was the first time since she'd walked inside that Jess actually looked at her.

"Your family owns this place, right?"

She didn't give her time to respond. She knew that her family didn't own Opulence. She was trying to prove a point.

"So you could go to any nail salon and just pay someone to do the work for you."

Jess stared at Amina in disbelief. How could Amina think that her family owned Opulence? Was this the new gossip that was going around about her?

"Your time is important just like my time is important," Amina continued, frowning slightly. "When I filled out the application, I told you I needed regular hours. I cannot work at 10 am one day and 5 or 6 in the evening the next day. I need a set schedule and you agreed to that."

Jess smirked. "I don't recall that conversation."

"I know you don't but don't worry." She mimicked her smirk. "You will get yours."

Sooner than you think.

And as soon as she'd walked in, Amina exited the cramped office and clocked out for the day.
Chapter 9

"How is your new job going?" Amina's grandmother, Essie, inquired. Amina was driving to Brisson Auto Sales so that her grandmother could purchase a car.

"Slow this car down. You're driving too fast. You're going to give an old woman a heart attack!"

Amina slowed the car down some just to make her grandmother feel more comfortable. "Grandma, you're not old."

"Yes, I am. I'm almost 70 years old, Amina. I'm old," she insisted.

Amina chuckled.

Her grandmother turned her head to look at her adult granddaughter. "When I was younger, I used to be able to play with you on the floor when you were just a little girl. I'm old now. I can't do that anymore."

"Are you sure you want a car, Grandma?"

"Of course I'm sure! I don't want to depend on you just yet to take me places. I still have my strong mind. Now five or ten years from now we'll talk about me giving up my driving."

"Ok, Grandma."

"People in Atlanta drive fast and crazy anyhow. Makes an old woman's heart race."

"When that time comes you'll be moving in with me, too," Amina added, as she made a turn. "I'm not going to put you in a nursing home."

"Like I said we'll talk about all of that five or ten years from now." Essie looked at the buildings and homes they were passing by and then added, "I'm hoping for the latter."

All of a sudden Amina made an abrupt stop.

"Why are we stopping?" her grandmother asked.

"Traffic."

"Well, are you going to answer my question?"

"About what?"

"About your new job. How is it?"

Amina rubbed her forehead with her hand. She could feel a headache coming. "I don't like it. The work isn't hard, but the manager and the girls who work there are hateful and do evil things to other people for no reason. The two girls who do most of the damage are still there because they're friends with the manager."

Essie shook her head. "You aren't telling me anything new. Honey, I have been through it all in the workforce." She heard her granddaughter breath in and exhale deeply. "That's why I've always stressed the importance of education to you, and I'm so proud that you're going back to school to finish your degree."

She didn't tell her grandmother how nervous she was about going back to school. She'd always told her that she was a smart girl and Amina didn't want her to think less of her.

"You can do something that you love or you can invest in yourself and open your own business." Essie held up her arm and jiggled her wrist back and forth as the charm bracelet rattled.

"You still have it," Amina said, admiring the bracelet she'd made her grandmother while she was at a stop sign.

She nodded. "I can't tell you how many people compliment me on this bracelet. They always ask me where I purchased it and I'm always honest and tell them that my grandbaby made this for me."

She beamed brightly. "Now you don't have to take the advice I'm about to give you but I hope you'll listen to it."

"I'm listening to you, Grandma." When do I not ever listen to you when you talk?

"If I were you," her grandmother began, "I'd take the talent God gave me and make money off of it. Make bracelets and sell it to people—market it to little girls preferably. Girls love bracelets and cute things; if they tell their parents they want something, nine times out of ten they'll get it. And that puts you in business."

Amina smiled, at her grandmother's idea. It was brilliant!

Now why didn't I think of that?

She'd been making charm bracelets since she was a little girl. She always wanted some type of beading or bracelet kit from the crafts section of the store and her grandmother had given her plenty of them. She still had many of the bracelets that she'd made all those years ago; she had also given Emma several of them as gifts.

She'd have to sort through many of her pieces to decide which ones she'd keep and which she'd sell. She could flip through beading magazines to get new ideas on bracelet trends; she could advertise on social media and sell them online and in person. Maybe one day she'd expand to clothing and even open a boutique.

If—no—when her business grew large enough, she'd make sure everyone acted as professional as possible. She didn't want them to be anything like the people who worked at Opulence.

She smiled to herself. They were due her two weeks' notice.

He'd reviewed the financial records more times than he could count hoping the numbers would change. But they remained the same. Money was missing.

Emma yawned while she pulled a cute pink blouse over her head and slipped her feet into a pair of denim jeans and pink flats with rhinestone embellishments.

She eased into the kitchen with an empty coffee cup and refilled it.

"Emma," her brother called out in a low and steady voice with a hint of anger.

She poured her coffee and set the hot mug on the countertop. "What?" she said, her eyes searching his.

"Four thousand dollars is missing."

"What?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Four thousand dollars is missing from Brisson," he repeated.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God. But how...?" She could sense his anger. She looked away from him and then turned back. "You don't think one of the girls did this, do you?"

He nodded.

"When I find out who has been stealing money, they will lose their job and they better pray that's the only thing they'll lose."

Debby stood outside the front door to Brisson Auto Sales and watched Keelan sell a four door sedan to Amina's grandmother, Essie.

But that wasn't what caught her attention. It was the way he looked at Amina. It was the look of...love. Was she his girlfriend? She didn't think that he had a girlfriend. Maybe this was why he didn't act as if he was interested in her was because of this...Amina Hamilton.

And what was so impressive about her?

Debby took in her features. She was taller than her and slim yet curvy in all the right places. She had beautiful blonde hair that hung loosely over her shoulders and matched the color of her glowing skin. Debby couldn't help but wonder if Amina's hair was real or extensions. And the girl's fashion sense was on point. Amina appeared effortlessly chic in her white shirt, blue studded jacket, grey jeans, and black stilettos.

Amina may have been hot but she—Debby—was hotter. She was sure she'd get Keelan to see that one way or another.

She rolled her eyes in disgust and walked back inside Brisson. Since Emma was standing outside chatting away with Amina, she might as well help herself to some of the company's funds. All she needed was just a little bit more and she'd move out of her parents' house for good. She was tired of hearing them give her constant lectures about "responsibility" and "self-reliance." They believed that she'd failed in those two areas miserably but she was going to show them. She was going to show everyone who had never believed in her what she was truly made of.

As she pocketed another five hundred bucks, she thought about all of the brand new clothes she could buy. Brand new clothes? She had to stay focused and use this money for her new apartment. The only thing that she'd treated herself to was a cup of cappuccino.

She was super nervous the first time she stole from Brisson Auto Sales but when Emma and Keelan didn't say anything to her when she returned to work the next day, she thought that they hadn't found out about it or didn't know who did it. She waited a few more days before pocketing any more money. When she did, she only took forty bucks here and one hundred bucks there; she didn't want to steal large amounts of money all at once—for fear that she'd be discovered sooner.

She smirked. This five hundred dollar steal should (she hoped) bring her somewhere close to or over the four thousand dollar mark. She wanted this to be the last time she took anything from Brisson.

She observed Emma talk to the other girl who worked on the morning shift earlier this morning and she hadn't returned since their conversation. She wasn't sure if the young woman was fired or not but she wasn't going to take any chances. Without her Emma was the only other person who worked in the office. Keelan would never believe that his own sister stole from him which would leave her as the only suspect.

Debby had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Amina looking at her. Keelan, Emma, and Essie's voices soon filled the lobby, startling her. It felt as if her heart was beating a mile a minute. She could see everyone through the clear window but no one was facing her.

She sighed. I'm in the clear.

She watched Amina take Emma by the arm before walking outside with her.

What was that all about?

"What's wrong?" Emma said to her, standing outside with her best friend.

Amina couldn't hide her frown. "Do you guys have video cameras in this place?"

Emma nodded.

"Then, I suggest you look at them."

"Why?"

"Emma, trust me. Look at them."
Chapter 10

Emma viewed the video cameras just as Amina instructed and was surprised when she saw Debby stuffing her purse with money. Another day on the video showed her stuffing her pocket with even more money.

She closed her eyes, wishing this was some sort of nightmare but it was real. And she felt responsible even though she hadn't stolen any money because she hired Debby.

She didn't bother to look over at her brother who she knew was fuming was anger.

Keelan's face turned bright red the more he watched the video so he walked out of his office at Brisson Auto Sales.

"She's fucking fired!" she heard her brother scream outside the door. He hurried back inside the office and pounded his fist on his desk. "You're going to be the one who will fire her. I don't want to look at her fu...I don't want to look at her face."

Emma sighed while running her hands through her long red hair. She'd never seen her brother this angry before. She knew she'd have to act fast but she had a plan.

"I'm pressing charges," he announced, with his eyes glued to his desk.

"What if I can get her to return the money?" his sister said.

He lifted his eyes from the desk, watching her as she spoke. "Good luck but I doubt she has it."

"She's going to come up with it some way if she doesn't want to go to jail."

Keelan glared at her. "Fine," he mumbled before walking out of his office. He didn't think that she could get the money back.

And she was determined to prove him wrong.

Emma waited patiently for Debby to walk out of her parents' home. She called her fifteen minutes ago and told her that she'd be here.

"I don't think this is going to work," Keelan said from the backseat of her car.

"It's going to work. I'm not going to let that bitch get away with stealing money from Brisson."

"You didn't even tell her why we're here."

"You mean why I'm here," she corrected him. "She doesn't know you're with me."

He sighed loudly.

"She has a major crush on you. So when she walks out and sees you, she'll be really excited. That is, until I tell her why I'm here. And then I'm going to crush her dream."

He eyed his little sister in awe. She was serious about this.

Debby emerged from the home with a frown stamped on her face. Emma had never shown up to her house before so she knew this could only be bad news. She caught a glimpse of Keelan sitting in the backseat of Emma's Mazda; he looked pissed off.

She swallowed hard before speaking. Emma rolled down the driver's side window, her eyes filled with anger. "Get in and not in the back. You'd be safer sitting in the front." Then, she rolled it back up.

Debby highly doubted that but went along with it anyway.

"I do hope that you've been having a good day," Emma said, as soon as she was settled in the passenger's seat in the front.

Debby hesitated. Something was up. "It's been an okay sort of day."

Keelan cracked his knuckles. "And I guess spending my money made it okay, huh?"

"What?"

They know.

"We saw you stealing company money on camera," Emma added. "We know exactly how much you've stolen and if you don't give it back, Keelan's going to press charges."

"But...but I was," she stammered.

Guilty.

"Don't talk to me," Keelan stated angrily with his arms crossed. "Talk to Emma. She's the one who's trying to save you from going to jail. If it weren't for her, I'd be at the police station pressing charges."

Debby looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

"If you don't give us the money back that you stole, he's pressing charges. So you're giving it back today to avoid charges. Now where is it?" Emma demanded.

"It's...it's in my room," Debby said in a small, almost child-like voice.

"Then get it now."

She rushed out of the car. They knew. She'd been found out. Caught red-handed. She was crushed and not just because she'd been discovered. Her plan to move out of her parents' house was dashed temporarily. She'd have to get the money elsewhere.

Emma caught a glimpse of her brother in the rearview mirror. Her eyes locked with his.

"What made you suggest looking at the security cameras?" he questioned her.

"I was told I should check them out," she answered, looking away from his brown eyes.

"Did Amina give you that idea by any chance?" He smiled as he thought about her.

"Yes."

"I wonder what would make her suggest that to you."

"She saw Debby stealing money."

"And she said this to you?"

Emma rested her head against the driver's seat. "No, she didn't say that she saw Debby stealing money but I know that's what she saw. That's why she told me to look at the cameras."

She sighed, her eyes watching the front door of Debby's home as she impatiently waited for her to come out.

A silent minute went by.

And then two.

And then three.

"Do you hate me, Keelan?" Emma asked, with her body turned around to face him. She needed to know and she needed to know now.

"No, of course not!" he practically screamed. "You're my sister, Em, I could never hate you."

He leaned over the seat and kissed her forehead. "If I didn't have you in my life, I don't know what I'd do with myself," he admitted.

"You'd still be the same old Keelan."

He shook his head. "No, I'd be someone much worse."

"Don't say that. Look, you'd still be my sweet Keelan. You see the best in people and give them a chance. That's who you are."

He smiled at her. "Thank you." She always knew just what to say.

"If she's not out here in the..." Emma's eyes darted back to the front door where Debby was standing watching them. She really wanted to keep the money, but she didn't want to go to jail for it.

I'll just give the money back. There's no way I'll survive in jail.

She sat down in the passenger's seat next to Emma again and pulled all the money out of her purse and handed it over to her.

"And don't get out until it's all counted," Emma barked.

She waited for what seemed like forever until she finally heard Emma say, "It's all here."

Debby nodded.

"And you're fired," she added. "You will be receiving your last paycheck via direct deposit."

"I'm really sorry," Debby apologized.

"Are you apologizing because you got caught?" Emma said.

"I'm sorry for what I've done." She looked down at her hands. "I know that what I did was wrong but I was trying to save enough money to get my own apartment before my parents kick me out."

"And so you thought you'd steal from us?" Emma rolled her eyes, glaring at Debby with each word she spoke.

"Like I said I'm sorry." With that she raced out of Emma's car and back inside the house.

Emma handed all the cash over to Keelan. "No need to thank me. I got what I came here for."

Chapter 11

All of the money that Debby had stolen had been deposited in the bank. Keelan was grateful for his little sister. Without her he probably wouldn't have gotten his money back.

But there was still one person who clouded his thoughts.

Amina.

He hadn't seen her since the day he'd sold her grandmother a Camry. That was three days ago. A little too long to go without seeing her.

It was the urge to see her beautiful smiling face that propelled him to visit her place at 7 p.m. at night. He remembered feeling his heart rate increase when he knocked on the door. His heart felt as if it was going to jump out of his chest the moment she opened the door.

He surprised her; the look was evident on her face.

"Keelan...hey." Her eyes roamed each side of him.

"Emma's not here," he stated, as if reading her thoughts. "It's just me."

"Oh?"

His smile was friendly. "Amina, I just wanted to stop by and thank you for helping us get our money back."

"By us you mean...?"

"...Emma and me," he finished. "You told her to watch the video camera. We both watched it and observed Debby helping herself to company money."

Amina nodded.

"To make a long story short, we got our money back."

Heat ran through his body when she placed a hand on his shoulder. She had the sweetest touch. "You don't have to thank me."

He squeezed the hand she'd placed on his shoulder. "Yes, I did." He closed the small gap between them with his eyes on her lips. He'd wanted to kiss her ever since she came back into town. And now he was finally going to get his chance. He leaned down to meet her lips and tasted her for the first time.

Her hand moved from his shoulder to his chest while he used an arm to pull her body closer to his, as he deepened the kiss.

She pulled apart from him first, not surprised that he'd pulled this one on her. It was obvious by looking in his brown eyes that he wanted more. So much more. And yet she wasn't going to let him get it.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked him curiously.

He grinned mischievously. "Why'd you let me?"

Why did I let him kiss me?

"Why'd you let me?" he repeated. He actually couldn't believe it. She was speechless.

"It happened so fast. I didn't know it was happening until it was over," she finally said. "And I don't think it should happen again."

This caused his smile to fade. "What? Why?"

"Because you're my best friend's brother."

"And?"

"Keelan..."

"We're not a trio," he interrupted.

"What?"

He knew exactly what she was thinking and he wanted to put her fears to rest. "You being friends with me isn't going to damage your friendship with my sister."

She opened her mouth to protest but he continued. "And it isn't going to damage your friendship with me."

She stared at something in the distance and licked her lips before bringing her attention back to him.

She had to know that he was enjoying this.

Her tongue looks as sexy as her lips.

"Dinner will be served here at 7 p.m. tomorrow night," he said with a smile.

"And how do you know I don't have any plans?"

"I overheard you talking to Emma the other day while I was selling your grandmother that Camry. You don't have any plans for tomorrow night."

He was better than she thought.

"So what...?"

"It will be delicious and I'm not telling you what I'm cooking. It's a surprise."

Amina chuckled.

"What's so funny?" he questioned.

"Nothing," she answered, before the look on her face turned serious. "I'll have quite an appetite tomorrow night so you better be as awesome a cook as you say you are."

"I didn't say I was an awesome cook but thank you, Miss Hamilton for the compliment."

He kissed her on the forehead.

"I'll see you tomorrow night then?" he said.

She nodded to confirm. "Might as well. At least I don't have to cook dinner."

He kissed her on the forehead again and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

"What? Is there something else?" Amina said, after standing there for a silent minute or two.

"I'm waiting for you to go inside and lock up. I'm not leaving until you're safely inside."

He heard her sigh before closing the door and hearing a click on the other side. It was locked.

He almost hated to watch her close the door. Who was he kidding? He hated seeing her close the damn door. All the things he could do to her if he were inside her place with her.

He'd finally met the woman of his dreams and he was not about to screw it up.

Chapter 12

I was falling—falling faster than I ever had before. If I fell any further, I would've been so deep in hell that I wouldn't be able to get out in time before the flames consumed my body.

My mother's house was hell and she was the flames. There aren't any angels in hell but my brother, Keelan, rescued me.

He'll never know how much I love him for that. I tell him—my big brother—that I love him all the time. Even with those admissions, I don't think he'll ever understand how much I truly love him.

Tears came to Emma's eyes as she thought about her brother while sitting on her bed. He'd rescued her from their mother. After he was kicked out of their mother's house, he continued his college education, got a loan from a bank, and opened Brisson Auto Sales. Every day he drove back and forth to their mother's house to pick her up. Celine usually made it a point to not speak to her son if she was home at the time. And Emma hated it. She hated seeing her treat him, her own son, so badly. It tore her heart to pieces.

Since her father passed away when she was an infant, she didn't remember him. The only man who was a part of her life that she truly loved was her brother, Keelan Brisson.

She focused her attention back on her notebook.

Do I love my mother? After always putting her boyfriends over my brother and me, do I love her? I know that I'm supposed to love her because she's my mother. But do I love the woman who gave birth to Keelan and me?

She couldn't bring herself to write an answer to the question.

"You're my mother and I wish I could forgive you but right now I hate everything you did and didn't do."

Hate everything you did and didn't do.

Hate is a very strong word. The words I want to write are: I forgive my mother for everything she has done to my brother and me. I can't say this now because I'm not there yet. But I'm working really hard on it.
Chapter 13

Keelan was stressing over every little thing from what to wear to what to cook for his date with Amina. He couldn't understand why he was stressing over this so much. He'd been on dates before but for some reason this one felt different.

He studied his appearance in the bathroom mirror. He was wearing a white and blue plaid button down shirt and blue jeans. He ran his fingers through his hair. He considered putting it in a ponytail but decided against it.

This is sink or swim.

"Wow, someone certainly looks nice," Emma complimented him, as soon as he stepped out of his bedroom.

"Yeah, I, uh, got to, uh, go somewhere."

"Uh-huh." She wasn't going to ask him where he was off to because she had a pretty good idea.

He opened the front door and looked over his shoulder at his sister before he walked out. "I'll see you when I get back." He wasn't about to tell his little sister that he was going to see her best friend. He'd tell her when the time was right.

She locked the door behind him and walked back to her room to power on her laptop. The last four years of her life went by so fast and in just several months, she would be graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in business administration. She logged on to her school's website to begin registering for spring classes. The first class she registered for was her capstone class which she was not eager to take. She wasn't a fan of group projects because she was usually stuck with doing most of the work; nor was she a fan of public speaking (it made her nervous). She then signed up for three more classes.

She was pleased with her progress so she powered off her laptop. Then, she grabbed her remote and flipped through several channels.

A knock on the front door startled her. She smiled to herself as she thought about her brother, wondering what he could've possibly forgotten this time. She was almost certain that he had a date with Amina tonight even though he didn't mention anything to her about it.

Emma swung the door open expecting to see Keelan on the other side but it wasn't her brother.

Her smiled faded.

It was her mother.
Chapter 14

Her mother, Celine Well, looked the same. Nothing about her appearance had changed since she'd last seen her but her smile...It was the same smile she'd seen her mother give her boyfriend when she wanted something—whether it was sex or money. She didn't genuinely drive all the way across town for nothing.

Dressed in a black pencil skirt and matching power jacket with a white low cut blouse underneath, she continued to showcase her pearly whites to her only daughter. She could tell right away that this wasn't working but she was willing to give it a shot—if it meant getting what she wanted.

"Aren't you going to invite me inside?"

"What do you want?" Emma asked in a dry voice.

Still showcasing her smile, her mother responded, "What makes you think I want something?"

"What do you want?" Emma repeated in the same dry tone.

Celine couldn't believe it. Her smile, her charm it wasn't working. Well, so much for trying to play nice. "Brisson Auto Sales seems to be doing very good. But I must say, I never imagined Keelan running a car business."

Emma frowned. She better not ask for money.

"Do you remember someone by the name of Debby Karlston?"

Emma remained silent. She remembered Debby. She fired her from Brisson Auto Sales for stealing. But how did her mother know Debby?

"Debby came by the law firm this week."

And? What the hell does that have to do with me?

Her mother frowned as she crossed her arms. "She applied for a job and was hired and since that day, my hours have been cut."

"Talk to your boss about it."

Celine raised a perfectly plucked brow at Emma. "I'm talking to you because your former employee is taking my hours."

"She's doing what you did to please your boss. So now it's out with the old and in with the new."

"What exactly are you getting at?"

She could've easily said, "Don't sleep with married men" or "just get another job" but she didn't do that. Celine Well was old enough to know right from wrong. And honestly, she didn't even want to talk to her.

"What do you think?"

She watched her mother take a step back and give her a nasty look. "So you think I'm a whore because I slept with a married man?" She laughed nervously. "That's where you and I are different. You care what people think about you but I don't. Just like I know that it bothered you that Keelan was kicked out of my house. I didn't care that you were upset or that you didn't like it. It was time for him to go."

She uncrossed her arms. "Since you want me to tell you why I'm here, I'll get right to it. Since you're former employee, Debby, is the reason why my hours at work were cut, you and your brother owe me."

Emma's frowned deepened. "I am going to make this as short and sweet as I can possibly can. But it will be sweeter for me and sour for you. Keelan and I don't owe you anything. If you need money, get another job. That's something a smart woman would do. But do not come to my home and ask me or Keelan for money. You threw us out, remember? Go and ask your boyfriend, Frank, for money—the one you let kick Keelan out of the house." Emma slightly leaned forward while looking directly into her mother's eyes. "Do not come back here."

"You don't pay the rent so you can't tell me not to come back," Celine snapped.

"You don't live here to know who pays the rent and it's none of your business. This isn't your home and we don't want you here! Why do you think we don't call you? We don't want to talk to you!" She was so angry she could almost feel fumes coming out of her ears. "Good-bye, Celine Well."

Not able to stand the sight of her mother any longer, she retreated inside the home she shared with her brother and slammed the door shut.

She'd gotten everything she needed to say off her chest. No word had been left unspoken. If she never saw her again, she'd be just fine with that.

Chapter 15

Keelan knocked on Emma's bedroom door. "Are you going to sleep all day?"

No answer.

"Emma?"

Still no answer.

The door wasn't shut all the way so he lightly pushed it open with his hand. Odd. It was after 1 p.m. and she was still asleep in bed with the covers pulled over her head.

He walked over to her bed and shook her shoulders. "Wake up!"

Her eyes fluttered open and quickly landed on her brother's worried face.

"What's wrong?" she yawned.

"It's after 1 p.m. in the afternoon and you were still sleeping. Did you go to bed late?"

She shook her head no. "I went to bed early. I just..." Thoughts of the conversation she had with their mother last night flooded her mind. "...Didn't sleep well last night."

She rose from her bed and stretched.

"One of the neighbors asked me if you were okay. They said that you and a woman were arguing."

"Mom came by asking for money last night," she admitted.

"What?"

"Actually she told me that we owe her since her hours at the law firm have been cut."

He tried his best to hide a surprised expression on his face. "I'm really glad I wasn't here when she said that. Then again I probably wouldn't have answered the door."

"Debby, the girl who stole from us, is the one who's getting more hours now since she's probably doing what Mom was doing which is sleeping with her married boss," she added.

"That's why you were sleeping late?"

"Yes. I would sleep maybe one or two hours and then wake-up. Plus, I could hardly breathe through my nose so I took two sinus pills."

Keelan was relived. "It's probably the sinus pills that made you sleep."

"Yeah."

She propped herself up on the bed and sat down beside her brother. "So did you enjoy your date with Amina?"

His mouth slightly opened in surprise. "But I didn't..."

"Yes, you did. You think I don't know, but I do know that you like her a lot."

"A lot?"

"Yeah, a lot."

He could feel his face flush with heat.

"But I'm not mad about it."

He sighed a breath he didn't even know he was holding in. "Really?"

She nodded. "Amina's a really sweet girl. I mean, she acts all tough but she has a really good heart." She placed her hand over her brother's beating heart. "Just like yours." She removed her hand.

The corners of his lips curved upward in a smile. "You're something else, you know that?"

"Yes, I do. Now will you please get out of my room so I can get dressed?"

He walked out of her room with a smile still on his face.

With her brother gone, she closed her door and pulled her notebook from underneath the mattress and started writing.

I do not know what my mother was thinking when she decided to show up on our door step asking for money. Or better yet telling me that Keelan and I owe her money. Has she completely lost...? I'm not even going to finish writing that down. She knew exactly what she was doing. Debby is sleeping with her boss. Now that he's hired someone younger, he's cutting her hours. And yet she has the nerve to tell me that we owe her.

She didn't want to look at the question that she'd written on the second page but she did it anyway.

Do I love my mother?

She wasn't ready to answer that question, even though she already knew the answer.
Chapter 16

Amina lowered her body down closer to the sweat stained floor beneath her before she pushed her way back up.

Push-ups can be a pain in the ass but at least they give you killer abs.

She took a deep breath and slowly stood up after she'd reached her push-up goal. Her goal wasn't a particular number. She always strived to push her body to the limit, until her entire body felt as if it would collapse. She knew that feeling when she felt it and she was almost there. A few laps on the track would do it for her.

She glanced at her watch. She'd have just enough time to run two laps. Afterwards, she'd go home to shower and get dressed for work. She wouldn't miss arriving on time to Opulence for anything in the world. She wanted to see Jess' face when she handed her the two weeks' notice.

As soon as she'd completed two laps, she returned home to her apartment. Then she headed for the fridge and gulped down an entire bottled of cold spring water before heading into the shower.

Her body wanted nothing more than to rest on her comfortable bed but rest would have to come later. She still had to put in her two weeks' notice and make it through dinner with Emma tonight.

Amina learned a lot in the short amount of time she'd worked at Opulence. She would've learned more if she'd stayed longer but she could no longer deal with her two troublemaking co-workers or manager anymore. She'd rather quit while she was still ahead.

Fifth Harmony's "Worth It" filled her ears the moment she stepped into Opulence. And she was feeling as beautiful as she looked.

Jess, the manager, and Troublemaker #1's jaw dropped while Troublemaker #2 rolled her eyes in disgust.

Just who does she think she is?

Amina's choice of fashion for the day was a white, sheer, lace short-sleeve blouse with a built-in white tank top, a black skirt that fell just above the knees topped off with a cute gold belt she'd purchased from a vintage shop downtown; the black booties and gold headband she wore added to her luxe vibe.

"Hi, everyone," she greeted her haters with a smile. "How are you guys?"

"Fine," Jess and Troublemaker #1 mumbled.

Since she had twenty minutes to spare before her shift started, she let her eyes roam to the juniors clothing department. Yeah, that's right. She was going to shop and make good use of her store discount before she left for good. Since it was the holidays, many of the blouses, jeans, and shoes that she chose were on sale.

Jess checked her out at the register in silence. The only time she opened her mouth was to inform Amina of the total cost of the merchandise. She reached into her handbag to get the correct amount and handed the cash over to Jess. She didn't want to use any of her debit cards because she didn't trust Jess or the other girls. Then, she walked outside with her shopping bags in tow and set them all inside the trunk of her car.

Jess was still at the same register while Troublemaker #1 and #2 were whispering to each other.

As soon as she re-entered the boutique, Amina reached into her handbag and pulled out a white envelope. "This is for you." She laid the envelope on the counter in front of Jess.

"They say good things come in small packages," she added with a smile.

"Yeah," she heard Jess say. "Either my mom or Grandma told me about that one but I can't remember which."

She opened the envelope and read the letter while Troublemaker #1 and #2 slowly eased their way to the register next to Jess.

Jess frowned. Out of all the employees who'd quit, she couldn't name one in the last six months who had given her a two weeks' notice.

She's smarter than I thought. Too smart for her own good. And just like that she's quitting like all the rest. I'm not sure why she applied for a job here anyway. I'm not even sure why I hired her. I should've known a college student was going to think a job like this was beneath her.

"So you're quitting?" Jess inquired with her eyes still glued to the letter.

"Yes," Amina answered.

"Why are you quitting?" Troublemaker #2 spoke up.

Wouldn't you like to know?

"I really just want to get some rest before spring semester starts," she answered.

She observed a small smirk appear on Jess' face.

That's it. I'm giving you a few minutes to actually think you've won.

"Do you have another job?" Troublemaker #1 asked.

Thank you so much for asking me that. Now I'm going to crush your boss' dreams.

"I do actually," Amina said truthfully.

This time it was Jess' turn to speak up. "Why would you get another job if you want to take time off? That makes no sense whatsoever."

"I got another job with better hours so that I can work around my school schedule. And it works out great for me since I now run my own business." She watched Troublemaker #2's jaw drop and #1 stared in awe while Jess crossed her arms. She wasn't going to tell them that she was selling bracelets online. She wanted them to Google it and find out.

"So what...?"

Amina looked down at her rose gold watch. "I would love to stay and chat...I really would but I have another appointment I have to get to." She gave them a parting smile before pushing the door open to exit the store.

She noticed one familiar face staring at her from the parking lot. It was Becky, the same girl who helped her when she was in training. And Becky wasn't alone. There were two other women with her. One was young with blue eyes and blonde hair and looked like a teenager and the other woman appeared to be a little older, mid-thirties, and had green eyes and dark brown hair. She resembled an executive in her black blazer, white blouse, and pencil skirt.

"Hi, Becky," Amina said, hugging her.

"Hey, Amina, how are you?"

She sighed. "A lot better now."

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"I couldn't take it anymore."

"You quit, didn't you?"

Amina nodded. "I couldn't deal with it—or maybe I should say them. The job itself isn't hard but it is difficult working with Jess and those girls."

A smile appeared on Becky's face. "Which is why I contacted the owner," she said referring to the older woman in the jacket and skirt.

The older woman stepped forward. "I can't believe that I actually let my husband—or should I say soon-to-be ex-husband—talk me into letting his daughter be a manager in my store."

Amina raised both eyebrows in surprise.

"After Becky told me what was going on, I did a little investigating of my own and I'm not pleased." The woman straightened her shoulders just a little and looked directly at Amina and Becky as she spoke. "I am not pleased one bit, and I'm really sorry that you both had bad experiences while working in my store."

She offered her hand to Amina. "By the way, I'm Brenda Galkins."

And Amina gave it a firm shake. "And I am Amina Hamilton."

Brenda then turned to the young girl who Amina now noticed resembled her. "This is my daughter, Bria."

Bria waved shyly. "Hi."

"She's very shy and she's going to school to be a plastic surgeon, but I'm hoping that she'll change her mind," her mother added.

Bria rolled her eyes. "Mom, we've been over this so many times. I don't want to manage your store or design anything. I just want to be a plastic surgeon."

If Brenda was disappointed, she didn't show it. "Well, at least you'll be doing something you love."

"I'm only here to do some shopping," Bria explained.

"And I'm here to take care of business. Amina, you're welcome to join us inside. I've already offered Becky 50% off anything she chooses in the store and I'm doing the same thing for you. I just feel so bad that you guys had to go through well God knows what with Jess and those girls."

"I told you it was a bad idea to hire her," Bria mumbled.

"Thanks for your offer but I'm running late for an appointment," Amina said. If she couldn't get away from these people, she'd be late making it to the restaurant with Emma.

"Whenever your available, come by Opulence and choose to your heart's content; my 50% off offer remains on the table."

"Thank you and it was nice meeting you," Amina said to Brenda. Then she turned to Bria. "Graduate from college so you can give the Atlanta plastic surgeons a run for their money."

"Thanks," Bria smiled.

"See you later, Becky."

"Bye, Amina."

Even as Amina turned to walk away, she could still hear Bria.

"I'm going to be the best-dressed plastic surgeon in Atlanta. I'm going to give all the old geezers a run for their money."

Now all Amina had to do was meet Emma at the restaurant.

Chapter 17

"Your outfit is really cute," Amina complimented Emma. Emma was sporting a black blazer with a black ruffled blouse underneath, a leopard print mini skirt, and black spiked heels.

"Thanks," Emma blushed. "And you look really nice, too."

"Thank you."

This time Emma smiled. She needed this night more than Amina knew. She wasn't going to bring up the subject of her mother; she needed this to be a night filled with happiness.

"I bet Keelan would love to see you in that," she added, referring to Amina's white, sheer, lace short-sleeved blouse with a built-in white tank top, a black skirt that hit above the knees, a gold vintage belt around her slim waist, and black booties.

Amina tried to hide her blushing face by turning away from Emma and pretended to look at something else.

"You're just as bad at this as Keelan," she heard her best friend say.

"What?"

"I know you guys are dating."

Amina turned back to Emma. "He told you?"

Emma shook her head. "No, I guessed it. I'm a good guesser."

Amina reached into her purse and pulled out a bracelet she'd made and handed it to Emma. "This is for you."

"Thank you." Emma put the bracelet on and admired the golden charms that spelled out her first name as well as the car and lipstick charms.

"You're welcome. I hope you like it."

Emma looked at her with a smile still present on her face. "I love it. You know, you're really good at this."

"I actually sell them online now."

"Cool. So you're your own boss now."

Amina nodded. "I wanted to have some form of income coming in especially since I quit Opulence."

"You didn't like it?"

"It was the irregular hours and the people I worked around. Now I understand why the manager couldn't keep anyone there."

"Yeah," Emma added. "Retail can be something else. I would only work in it as a last resort. I think it's different if you own your own store or if the hours really don't bother you."

Amina was growing hungrier by the minute. Where is the waitress with our food?

"You're going to have to give me the website so I can see what you have online. I'd love to buy some of your bracelets."

"Thanks. Yeah, I'll give you all the information you need."

"Do you just want to make bracelets or do you want to expand your brand into clothing?"

"For now I want to focus on designing the best product that I possibly can which are bracelets because I really enjoy making them. After two or three years, I might expand into clothing or handbags but for now I'm just focused on designing my bracelets."

"Cool."

"Since you're such a good guesser, tell me when that waitress is coming back with our food. It's been almost twenty minutes. We didn't come here to eat air," Amina said to Emma.

She laughed and Amina was glad. Anything to keep the topic away from her and Keelan. She smiled to herself as she thought about the chicken, rice, and broccoli casserole he cooked the other night at her place. He was more nervous than she was but it turned out to be a really good date and the food was delicious. She wanted to bake a cake but he insisted on her "not lifting a hand to do anything."

"Dinner's finally here," Emma interrupted her thoughts.

"It's about time," Amina mumbled. "We could've died."

"Thank you," she said to the waitress after she set her steak dinner on the table in front of her.

"Can I get you guys anything else?"

"No, thank you for me," Amina said.

"No, thanks for me, too," Emma added.

The two young women enjoyed their steak and bake potato meal in silence.

Emma ate three bites of her steak before she dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.

"You can't be full that fast," Amina said.

"No, I'm not full." Emma swallowed a large gulp of sweet tea before resuming her meal. "This steak is just so delicious. It's so nice and tender...and juicy."

"Yes, it is really good," Amina agreed.

"You know," Emma began, "there was a time when I didn't eat as much as I should have. Dealing with everything at home and school took my appetite away."

She could feel Amina's eyes on her but she focused her eyes on her plate. "I didn't trust my mother's boyfriend so I didn't eat at her house half the time."

Amina suddenly felt a big pang of guilt. She didn't know things were as bad as they were for her best friend. She felt as if Emma's weight should've been a dead giveaway to her when they were in high school but it wasn't. She'd seen so many other girls Emma's size and just assumed that she was naturally thin.

"The only time I ever really ate anything is when I was over at Keelan's," she heard Emma say.

"We're more alike than I thought," Amina admitted in a low voice, but Emma still heard her.

Emma smiled. This was too sad; she needed to change the conversation now. "By the way, I actually took your advice on something."

"Really? What?"

She knew that would get her attention.

"I've been writing my thoughts and anything that comes to mind in my journal," Emma admitted aloud.

"Oh, that's really good. I'm glad you're taking advantage of that."

"I can't believe it but I actually like it."

"Do you think it's helping you?"

Emma nodded. "I know it's helping me." She sighed, as she tucked a loose strand of red hair behind her ear. "I'm trying really hard to leave the past behind me but it's really hard when my past just keeps following me."

"Are you talking about Ashlynn?"

"No...my mother." She didn't want to talk about her mother while at dinner but here she was talking about her.

"Ohhh."

She didn't want to give Amina all the details of the conversation she had with her mother.

"She keeps popping up wherever I go and I'm really sick of it."

"Maybe she feels bad about everything and just wants to apologize," Amina suggested.

"Her apologize? Please," she said. "Celine Well is perfect; she doesn't do anything wrong—well at least in her eyes."

"If she keeps showing up wherever you are, there has to be something she wants to say. She's not showing up just to be there. She wants something. Maybe if you ask her, she'll tell you."

"Thanks. I'll try that if I ever run into her again."

Pleased with her answer, Amina resumed eating. She was right. Her mother wanted something: money. And she was not going to get it from her or Keelan.

Emma took a sip of sweet tea. As she was setting the glass onto the table, she accidentally spilled tea on her leopard print mini skirt. She reached for a napkin and rubbed it on her skirt but it didn't help much.

"What's wrong?" Amina inquired, looking up from her steak meal.

"Nothing," Emma responded quickly. "I just spilled tea on my skirt. I'm going to run to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

When she entered the bathroom, she spotted the paper towel dispenser next to the sink. She pushed the handle down but nothing came out of it. "Great. Just my luck."

She hadn't heard anyone enter the bathroom after her.

"More like bad luck," a voice said from behind her.

Emma's body stiffened at the sound of her voice. Just hearing it made her feel disgusted but not with fear. She'd come a long way since high school. So instead of letting this get to her, she tried a different approach.

She turned around and faced her high school nemesis. "It's more bad luck for you than it is for me. Considering how much you hate me, I'm surprised that you'd allow yourself to be in the same room as me."

She loved seeing a look of shock on Ashlynn's face when she put her in her place. This wasn't high school anymore. She was no longer the scared girl who tried to blend into the crowd in hopes of going unnoticed. She was no longer the outsider. She was Emma Brisson—a young woman who had learned to speak up for herself and she was here to stay. She didn't want to go back to the way things used to be.

Ashlynn glared at her until her body reminded her why she came into the bathroom. She gave Emma one final eye roll and then walked into a stall and slammed it shut without a word exiting her mouth.

Emma rubbed hand sanitizer on her hands and seated herself at the table with Amina.

"I saw Ashlynn go in the bathroom right after you," Amina stated.

"You did?" Emma said casually.

Amina nodded. "Did she talk shit?"

"Doesn't she always?"

Amina grinned.

"But not so much this time."

"And why is that?"

"She realizes now that she can't bully me around; this isn't high school."

"Isn't post-high school life more challenging?"

This time it was Emma's turn to grin at her. "Challenges can make things a lot more interesting."
Chapter 18

Emma was feeling pretty good today. She'd completed all of her final exams so the fall semester was now behind her. Only one more semester of college to go and then she'd finally receive her bachelor's degree. And she was ready for it. School was beginning to tire her out. Or maybe it was school and work tiring her out.

She slung her backpack on her bed.

Keelan stood near her bedroom door. "How'd the final exams go?"

She smiled. "Pretty good. I know I passed all of them."

"You should. You're a smart girl."

She nodded. "I studied hard and I knew most of the answers." She paused for a moment. "There were only two questions on that marketing exam that stumped me but I did my best."

"That's all you can do is your best." He walked towards her and hugged her. "I'm so proud of you." He pulled back to kiss her forehead.

"I'm proud of you too."

He smiled back at her.

"It can't be easy starting your own business but you did it."

"Brisson has been doing well financially and it has given me the opportunity to save extra money that we can put towards our dream home."

"And where would our home be? Will we still be living in Atlanta?"

"Yes, we'll still be living in Atlanta. Brisson's here. I want us to stay in a quiet suburb away from all the noise."

Emma remained silent. She hadn't really thought about what she wanted to do after college graduation. She wanted to keep her job at Brisson Auto Sales. But what if she decided that she wanted a career change? She didn't mind living in the same home as her brother. But what if things between Keelan and Amina get serious and she moves in? Would Keelan kick her out?

"Emma, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she responded quickly.

Keelan frowned. "Don't lie to me."

She sighed. "I know what I want to do now but I don't know if it's going to work out," she admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she began, as she looked into his confused eyes, "I know that I want to continue working at Brisson. After college graduation I'll probably take a few weeks off before I return to work full-time."

The confused look left Keelan's face. "Okay. I don't see anything wrong with that."

"I also would love for us to move into a new home together...but I just..." She looked away from him and let her eyes wander out the window. "What if things change between you and Amina and she moves in?"

"Emma..."

"Maybe I should get my own place," she suggested.

Keelan stood in front of her and blocked her view out the window. "I would never leave you behind. You will always have a home with me. Always."

She smiled at his words. "Maybe we can get a home that has a guest house and I could live there." There was a playful twinkle in her eye.

"A guest house? Really?"

"You'd never even know if I'm home or not."

"Now I really don't like the idea."

Later that afternoon Emma sat on her cozy bed with her journal in hand. As she opened it, she realized that she didn't really have anything negative to write.

Today was a good day. Fall semester is finally over with. Keelan and I are getting a brand new home so I'm really excited about that. He doesn't know it yet but after college graduation, I might get my own apartment. I love living with my brother, but I've grown more independent over the past few months and I've considered living on my own. I'm not going to make any rash decisions; I'm just going to take it day by day to see how it all plays out.

She heard someone knock loudly on the front door. She left the journal and pen on the bed and made her way to the door but Keelan beat her to it.

When he opened the door, he saw one of his neighbor's teenage sons standing there with an awkward look on his face.

"I know that you probably don't know me but I live two doors down from you...I live with my mom. My name is Sonny Carpenter and I'm Debby's cousin." The nervous boy with long skinny legs and a child-like, innocent face cleared his throat. "Your mom was injured in a house fire."

A look of shock settled onto Keelan's face while his mind registered the young man's words.

Emma placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. "What did you say?"

"Your mom was injured in a house fire," he repeated.

"What house fire?" Emma questioned.

"Her house."

"How can you be so certain that it's our mother?" Keelan spoke up.

"Is her name Celine Well?"

Keelan and Emma nodded and answered, "Yes."

"She works for that slimy lawyer guy across town, right?"

They nodded again.

Sonny didn't know anything else so he left.

Emma and Keelan learned from authorities that Celine was upset with Debby because her hours had been cut at work and she told her to quit. Debby refused so Celine later asked her to meet her at her house. Debby turned down the invite. Celine called her back to tell her that their boss was coming to her house for a meeting and for her to be there. She arrived at Celine's house prior to their boss' arrival.

While the two women argued, a woman deliberately set Celine's house and car on fire. The woman was their boss' mistress as well. After setting Celine's house and car on fire, the woman departed the residence and went to her lover's home. She observed him get into his vehicle but before he put the key in the ignition she shot him twice in the chest. He never saw it coming. Then, she turned the gun on herself to take her own life. Letters retrieved from her home included details about her plan to kill Celine and her lover. Their boss' wife lived in a different state and was going through a divorce with her husband; her name wasn't included in the hit list.

Celine and Debby survived the attack. Debby suffered first degree burns to her legs and she's progressing nicely. Celine's injuries were minor cuts and bruises. She's currently residing with her new boyfriend, who has no wife or children.

She hasn't made any attempt to visit her children. She felt as if they were better off without her. They want to be away from her. Maybe one day she will give them an apology or maybe that day will never come.

She was somewhat surprised when Emma and Keelan didn't call her or make a trip to visit her at the hospital. She wasn't sure why she was surprised. It wasn't like they were ever that close to her and she blamed herself for that. They'd drifted so far away from her that getting close to them may actually have done more harm than good.

Her son, Keelan Brisson, owned a popular Atlanta dealership, Brisson Auto Sales, and her daughter, Emma Brisson, worked as a receptionist and would soon graduate from college. They probably wouldn't have accomplished as much as they had in their lives in such a short period of time if they'd been living with her.

She sighed deeply as she eyed the plane she was about to board. She was going to Miami for several weeks on vacation with her investment banker boyfriend. She hadn't revealed to him that she had no intention of returning to Atlanta. The two children she'd failed were living here. She'd make Miami her new home.

And maybe just maybe she'd finally be able to succeed at something herself.

Chapter 19

"I ne—need to t—take a break," Emma panted. She couldn't believe she'd let Amina talk her into taking a boot camp work out class. There wasn't a muscle in her body that didn't ache.

"Don't give up. I know you can do it," Amina encouraged her. "Drink some water and then get back in the game."

Emma took a quick gulp of cold water from her water bottle but that didn't do her much good. The cold water was refreshing when it traveled down her throat but her body was dripping with sweat, giving her that sticky feeling.

"Here's the last round of push-ups," the instructor announced. "Ten...nine...eight..."

"I'm not listening to you for the rest of the month," Emma said to Amina.

"You'll change your mind when I ask you to go shopping with me," Amina smiled.

Emma rolled her eyes before her lips turned upward into a smile. "I'm choosing the next work out class so get your ass ready."

"I stay ready."

"Is that so?"

Amina nodded.

"Then, you better be ready to go shopping in two hours," Emma stated.

"Thank you all for attending my class today and for being brave enough to attend. I hope to see you all next week," the instructor said. "Drive carefully people."

"It's about time," Emma mumbled, getting to her feet. Although her muscles ached, she knew the results would make the work out worth it.

When she arrived home, Keelan wasn't there so she knew that he was at work. She walked into her bathroom and closed the door behind her. She stripped naked and turned the shower nozzle on. Then she climbed in the hot, steamy shower.

Her thoughts were as pure as the clear water that was running down her body and soothing her sore, achy muscles. She didn't think of her past with Ashlynn or her mother. No tears fell from her pretty eyelids. She was stronger now.

She showered for about fifteen minutes. Then, she dried herself off and selected an outfit to wear.

She hummed to herself while she grabbed her notebook and pen and made herself comfortable on the love seat in the living room.

Today I feel really great. I'm sore (thanks to Amina) but I feel great at the same time. Maybe the Christmas spirit has gotten into me. This shopping excursion I'm taking with Amina is really more for my brother than anyone else. I want this Christmas to be memorable for him.

She flipped to a previous page in her journal and read the question: Do I love my mother?

She wrote: Yes, I love my mother. I have forgiven her for what she did to Keelan and me, and I do hope that one day she finds happiness in her life.

She flipped through her journal and read earlier journal entries from when she wasn't in such a good place in her life to her present more positive sounding entries.

She smiled. She'd cried so much that she never wanted to shed a tear again. She was not going to let anyone take her sunshine away.

~ ~ ~

***To my readers: I hope you enjoyed The Outsider. Please consider leaving an honest review at your favorite e-book retailer.

Peace, Love, and Cheesecake

Valenciya

~ ~ ~

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank God for hearing my prayers and always being there. Thank you Grandma for all of your love and support. You will always have my heart. Thank you to all of the readers. You'll never know how much you mean to me. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.

Author Biography

The Mississippi native's love for writing began around the age of ten. During this time, she wrote short stories and poems and was encouraged by her grandmother to pursue a career in writing. She attended The University of Southern Mississippi and received a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising and Apparel Studies. She currently resides in Meridian, Mississippi. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading fashion magazines, shopping, and hanging out with friends and family.

Connect With Me On:

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8591692.Valenciya_Lyons

Wordpress https://valenciyalyons.wordpress.com/blog/

Blogger http://valenciyalyons.blogspot.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/ValenciyaLyons

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/interview/ValenciyaCLove

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/valenciyalyons/

