adorned flames || the housekeeper series. (3)

Chapter One

~Aliyah's POV

"Miss Johnson, you have a visitor."  I look up from my computer at my assistant, Sandy. Sandy's a timid little girl, no older than 18, with big round glasses that magnify her freckles and light brown hair. She's cute, really.

"Ok, who is it?" I'm not expecting anyone. Jayden came by last week, and Brooklyn is in New York visiting her boyfriend.

"She said not to-"

"GUESS WHO'S BACK?!" Oh my God. No way.

"KAYLAN!" I jump from my seat and we cash into each other, like in the movies. How I missed her, Lord knows.

"Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?" I cheer, not letting go for a second. I'm so happy I give her a big kiss on the cheek. Aside from Brooklyn, Kaylan is my only other true friend. No, scratch that. She's my sister.

"I used my sick day to come by, I couldn't wait for Christmas! But I'm only here for the weekend."

"We have to go out!"" I run to my desk and grab my purse.

"But Miss Johnson, you have a meeting with-" Sandy begins. I probably do have a meeting. I always have a damn meeting.

"Reschedule it for tomorrow." I say before turning off the light to my office and walking out with Kaylan, arm-in-arm.

We drive down to a local grill and bar, talking the whole time. She's still studying to become a physician, but is currently a nurse, doing night-shifts. Her parents paid for her tuition, but she pays her a little apartment in Tampa.

"I, uh, also met a guy." she says, a little less enthusiastic.

"Ooh! Tell me about him."

"His name is Dominic. He's great. A doctor, works in the hospital I'm at. He's cute, and really kind."

"Kay, that's great!" I'm happy for her.

"Yeah, it's just-"

"Just what? If he hurts you, I'm down there with a baseball bat, gloves, and a trash bag."

"No! No, it's just that... I still kind of miss Chresanto." Oh. My heart sinks a little. I can see where she's coming from. The boys blew up worldwide, and neither of us have heard from not one of them since. I wonder if Dana and Emerald have.

"Kay, I love you, you know that. And Roc is like a brother to me, but you're gonna have to move on. I know when we were 17 and 18, it seemed like we would all stay young forever, and get married. But we're older now, and we have to realize that it's just not much of a realistic dream anymore." Easy for me to say, Jacob and I have closure.

I can't even turn on the damn radio without hearing about them. Apparently, Jacob, or Princeton, has a thing with Bahja from OMG Girlz, or whatever. And I'm over it, really. I don't give a damn. I haven't met anyone new, though. I'm glad. I don't need that type of distraction right now. I'm married to my money, and that's all I need. I'm so close to becoming an record producer, I can taste it. I've already worked with big names, like Tinashe, Sam Smith, Ariana Grande, Miguel,etc. I actually helped produce Ariana Grande's hit Love Me Harder. I also worked a bit with Trevor Jackson and even Diggy. That's the type of stuff I'm aiming for, and  I'm not letting anyone, especially Jacob, get in the way of that.

Fuck Jacob.

"I know, I'm trying." she sighs. The more we dwell on the subject, the angrier I get, so I decide to change it.

"Where are you staying?" I ask as I take a french fry from my plate.

"Oh yeah, about that. At your condo. My stuff's there already." Only Kaylan.

"How'd you get-"

"Brooke made me a key."

"Of course." Brooklyn is a hot mess, but you just gotta love her. She's currently working as a tattoo artist part-time, and going to a cosmetology school in hopes of opening her own salon.

We eat, go get our nails done, shop a bit, and get ice cream. Just like old times.

That night, Kaylan and I sit at home and watch stand-up comedy until we're both knocked out.

It feels good to have her here.

~Jacob's POV

"No! I'm not doing it!" I exclaim.

"Come on Jake! Just sign the damn contract! We've been here since 3!" Roc says, obviously frustrated.

"So?"

"IT'S 9 FUCKING THIRTY." I don't give any amount of a shit. Ray Ray's just sitting there with his dumbass, and I know Prodigy doesn't want to sign it either, but he doesn't want to back me up.

"50% of all sales?! That's bullshit! No, I'm getting my lawyer to read over this before I sign anything, thank you."

"Can we just-" the executive producer guy starts, but I stop him. Old rich bastard. None of us know this guy, so why should we sign with him?

"Fuck out my face, dude." And with that, I grab the stupid contract and walk out of the room, and drive my ass home.

Since Mindless Behavior became famous, it's been a constant pain in my ass. Sometimes I wish we didn't win the Talent Search.

But then I look at my 5 Rolex watches, my gold iPhone 6+, and my silver Lamborghini and suck it up. Stacey is so stoked about having a famous older brother, I spoil her like crazy every time I visit. Dad is proud as hell, and I'm proud to be his son. Janelle's step-son, not so much. Al doesn't work for my dad anymore, but we still keep in touch, and I send him a little money sometimes.

One thing I do regret is not keeping in touch with the girls, though. I miss Emerald, Dana, Kaylan, shit, even Yasmine and Imani. I grew up with them. (Well, except Dana but she still fam) But, we had to cut off all ties in order to focus on the music.

Aliyah, she's another story. I've moved all the way on, you can bet on that. Aliyah Marae Johnson broke my fucking heart. She's nothing but a distant memory now. I'm on the bigger and better things. Speaking of...

"Hey baby." Bahja's sultry voice rings in my ear, instantly turning me on. I haven't even taken my shoes off and all I can think about is fucking her. I kiss her hard, in need of relieving some of this stress. We strip down in a matter of seconds and I'm taking her up the steps to our room, not breaking our kiss. Bahja's great for sex, believe me. But the romance and passion just isn't there. If anything, we're together for publicity. But I would never wife this girl up. Sorry 'bout it.

She moans as I lay us down on the bed, and grab a condom from the nightstand. I roll it on before shutting the lights off.

This is what I need. Love is for suckers.

Fuck Aliyah.

(A/N) ah!!!!! LAWDLAWDLAWD.

im so excited for this book i cnat brheathe.

im not officially starting this book until january 12, & i'll be updating every monday, and if i have time i'll do double updates. but i couldn't leave you guys waiting any longer (sorry about that), so here's chapter one. it's not much, but fjgnognngogrsdf it's about to go down.

i hope everyone has a happy new year!  i love you all!

until next time,
xo, diamond.