The Black Woman #Wattys2016

The middle.

Double updates tho.

Alani
        Blake held me closely to him and let me lay my head on his chest. He rubbed my back softly and kept his eyes ahead. Declan hadn't said one word to either of us since we left. Blake shook his head and looked down at me. "Are you alright?"

I said nothing. I didn't know how I felt or how I should've felt. I was happy to be back with my family but Jason doesn't have a family anymore. Declan took everything he cared about, including me and that made me feel 100 times worse than what I felt for cheating on him. Although I thought it would help me get out of the situation, it only fucked me over more.

"I'm fine.." I mumbled against his chest. Declan pulled into the driveway of the house and turned the car off. He just sat there in complete silence for a minute or two and then got out of the car, slamming the door behind him. "How long do you think it'll be until he talks to me again?" I whispered to Blake, who just shrugged. "Who knows? Declan isn't one to hurt because he doesn't get over it at all. He's still pissed at me for breaking his favorite CD from the fifth grade and that was over 17 years ago."

I sighed and got myself off of him. "I guess I deserve it.." He opened the door for me and I got out. We both walked up the steps to the house and walked inside. As soon as I got in, Dayja hugged me tightly. "Oh my God! Lani!" I hugged her back with a smile. "We've been trying our best to find you but-" Someone cut her off. "Alani Makao!"

My eyes widened as my mother walked down the stairs with an angry glare on her face. She stepped in front of me and frowned. "I have never in my life thought that I would have to come to the states to find out that my child has been kidnapped and is pregnant!" She yelled in her thick island accent. "What on earth has gotten into you, child?! I should slap the pure hell out of ya right now!" Blake covered his mouth and shut the front door. "Why don't we take this to the living room?"

My mother walked ahead of all of us and sat down on the sofa. I sat beside her with Blake and Dayja across from us on the other sofa. Declan was nowhere to be found.

"Well? I'm waiting, Alani. I had to spend two paychecks to get down here so I ain't come for nothing!" I sighed and covered my face with my hands. "Mama, please, listen to me-"

"Girl don't you be fixin' to tell me that all of this is some joke or I swear for-" I cut her off. "No, mama! It's real! I'm pregnant, okay? I got kidnapped! I fucked up!" I cried in my hands and my mother just shook her head. "Watch your mouth, Alani. You are still my child. You should be ashamed of yourself. Just ashamed. The police called me when the hospital reported you missing to them and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Then they had the nerve to tell me you were pregnant? You don't even call your mother anymore! That should've been the first thing you told me as soon as you found out!"

I didn't look up from my hands but I heard footsteps coming in. My mother sucked her teeth. "Mhm, he's the baby's father isn't he? Go on. Tell me. You can't lie because I could smell him on you before he even came in here."

That's when I cried more. Declan sat in between his brother and sister and watched us. "With all due respect, ma'am, that isn't me that you're smelling." He shot me a pained look. My mother turned her head quick and looked at me again. "So you're one of those little hoe girls now? You go and sleep around with everybody? Huh? That's what you want for yourself?" She stood up and brushed off her dress. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Whether you come home with me or not is your choice but I better not never see you like this again. You hear me, Lani? Never stoop this low." She shook her head and walked out the living room.

Declan stood up as well and I reached out for him. "Declan.." I said with tears still running down my face. He walked up to me and allowed me to wrap my arms around him. "I'm sorry.." He didn't hold me back and he didn't move. He just stood there. "Declan, please. Say something..anything." I cried on his chest. He rubbed his arm with his hand and then backed away from me. "I don't know what to say to you right now, Alani. I don't....I don't know."

I shook my head no. "No, don't you dare say that. You can't leave me!" He scoffed and shook his head at me. "I can't leave you? I never left you, Alani. Not once. Even when you were with him, I stayed right here trying to come up with ways to save you because you were my queen. I would've gone through hell or high water for you, and I did. Just for you. But you broke me, Lani. You slept with him and I'll never be able to get the image of you in his car out of my head. If anything, you left me when you gave yourself to him."

"I did it to get to you! He said I had to earn whatever I wanted and I thought if I have him something big then he would give me something bigger. You."

Declan frowned. "Did you honestly think that he would willingly let you come back home to me? Did you really?" I looked down and he chuckled. "Of course not."

Declan started to walk away but I stood up and grabbed him by the arm. "Where are you going?" He snatched away from me and continued to walk. "Tell me one thing." He turned back around to look at me. "Who are you really in love with? Choose wisely." I hesitated and thought hard. If I said the wrong thing, Declan would be out of my life for good. If I said the right thing, Jason would be out of my life for good. I didn't want to lose either of them but right now, in this moment, I needed my boyfriend the most.

"Declan, I love you."

He slightly smiled for a second and then it turned right back into a frown. "Then maybe you should've thought about that before you slept with him." Declan walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me. "Maybe we need some time apart for all of this to blow over.." I shook my head no and felt the tears coming again. "No, please don't say that. Please." He looked me in the eyes. "I need time to think, Lani. Please just give me that." He kissed me on the head and walked out of the room. Then I heard the front door close again.

[comment what team y'all are on babies! I wanna see who has the most votes 👀 it may or may not effect the actual ending of the book that I'm writing as we speak (well as you read...) so choose wisely. Lol I sound like Declan.]