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I don’t know shit about Vin. Do you? They were probably like Bonnie and Clyde. Robbing banks. You remember Sharonda? He likes them criminal-ass bitches.”
🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭 my girl is spiraling
“And keep ya money!” Tahli screamed from her stomach, none of her musical talents coming into play. She knew how to sing.
yaaassss Tahli!
eleutheromania.
frantic zeal for freedom
Tahli’s reputation for making sound decisions earned her perks, like free rein to credit cards.
she was rewarded for feigning perfection
The girl fiddled with her fingers, an empty space before her. No tray. No milk. Nothing. “I mean…unless you want something? If not, I’m a just throw it out.” The tasted wet her lips, eyes on the food before raising them to Tahli. She shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. What you want me to eat?”
always been selfless
Karl was out of sight. But if not, she could handle him like she handled all men. Maintain the control.
hmmm
“Which factors things like blood loss, infection…hypothermia. Although my overthinking behind would probably just go into shock from the realization…that I don’t have skin.”
...are Tahli and I the same person?
Robert Hall would never humiliate her to this degree with hateful words.
not quite these words; no
“Sometimes the people we think we need so much and that we think we can’t live without, they end up leaving us. And guess what? We live anyway.”
we do
“Ayo. You got about a 60-second window before you either pick your head up or pull your pants down. Only my bitches get cuddles.”
🤣🤣🤣🥰🥰
Tahli had been tasked with one duty at her mother’s doing. To know herself.
she never learned that
It’s like Vanessa, just the way your father likes it – predictable, reliable, good old faithful, always-there, never going anywhere, Christmas Eve party.”
hmmm
That Tahli’s inability to forgive him tied in with some deep-rooted, running-from-scary-shit, issues with her mother.
that is one reason
“I believe who our parents were and what they did or didn’t teach us can only carry us but so far. Eventually, we have to take responsibility for the decisions we make and recognize we are fully capable of breaking old cycles and implementing new ones. We are not predisposed to anything,”
hmmm I can dig it
But today, Doll’s angry face on that status change washed Tahli with guilt.
poor girl
“I’ve been pretending like I’m holding it together. Even my getaway didn’t do what I needed it to. But talking to someone who didn’t know and love Vin, who I don’t feel like is silently judging me for ruining our family. It’s been kind of relieving.”
need you to let that go babes
“I was so happy and now I’m not. What did I do to deserve this?” Tahli was disgusted with the question the second it rolled off of her tongue. “Maybe it’s too soon,” she muttered, smearing her wet face.
youre notbweak for wondering babes
Infidelity could crush even the most secure woman’s confidence, but compliments from a man like Drew would make nun stain her panties.
“I always thought he’d protect me,” she uttered, pain stuck in her throat. “I never thought I had to worry about my heart with him.”
Dalvin Hayes. The supplier of her greatest love and greatest heartache. He made her float from earth to heaven. He knocked her back down to the pits of hell beneath it, too. There was no love like Dalvin Hayes. There was no torture like Dalvin Hayes.
“So while I would love to take you back to my hotel and show you everything I’ve fantasized about, more than I probably should’ve. I don’t want to do anything that ruins my chance of being your friend first, then being there for you through this, courting you when you’re ready, and then sweeping you off of your feet and us living happily ever after.”
‘Grief is the price we pay for love’. Sometimes you have to let the pain run its course.”
“I have a P365 nine-millimeter pistol on my waist.”
🎵...that lil p365 was just fat's starter pistol...🎵
“DJ doesn’t have a mom,” Vin brutally reminded Milo of Sophie’s death and watched Milo scratch at his thick hair, pout deepening. “He’s got a dad, though. He’s got my dad.”
cold wor
“Way too much time worried about things that don’t matter, distracting you from the real things that you should be concerned with.”
hmmm
“Grow up, Dalvin. Learn how to deal with your emotions. Better yet, learn how to deal with your consequences.”
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
“My pops was around.” “I’m not sure you believe that,” Larry challenged. “Around doesn’t always equate to there. No disrespect to your pops. You speak very highly of him. You speak very highly of him despite his issues with infidelity which we will revisit because I think it has a lot to do with how you view the scale of infidelity.
“It’s self-sabotage, man. Anytime shit gets a little scary, you go and do something to jeopardize it all. Because deep down, Dalvin, you don’t think you deserve the life you’ve worked hard to achieve. Come on, man. You’ve made it out of the jungle. You managed to escape from the other side of that cage. And now, when shit got out of your control, you’re not running to get a little piece of ass on the side. No, you default to your other vice: violence. You gotta do something to risk putting yourself right back in that cage. Because somehow, someway… you’ve been conditioned to think that’s where
...more
a read
Selfish, not by choice but by self-preservation. Minimal human contact, and hardly any positive ones. No empathy allowed. No sensitivity allowed. No love allowed. Then you came out here and tried to walk the way everyone walks and talk the way everyone talks. No wonder you had a tough time maintaining healthy relationships. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve made even larger detrimental choices, beyond infidelity, rooted in that self-sabotage.”
You have to love her enough to want her happy; however she finds that happiness. She’s a smart woman. She’ll know if you love her enough for that.”
that part
“Every time that I think I can be cordial with you, you say something that diminishes the gravity of what you’ve done, and I just hate you all over again.” Tahli had always been expressive and emotionally intelligent…to an extent. “And I don’t want to hate you, Dalvin. You’re the father of my children.”
“I just wanna try to get through this without losing my mind.
Keep following that pure heart of yours. And fuck whoever don’t like it.”
👏🏿
Drew got me Robin Thicke, y’all,” she grinned at Abby and Paige.
based on the uneasy smile...no he didn't
He was a businessman. A negotiator. A fucking pest when he wanted something that Dalvin Hayes.
always getting his way...
“Dalvin, you’re not responsible for my happiness.”
“Birthday girl. Look how they shine for you,” was the last thing she saw him mouth before shutting her eyes, trapping in the tears. What a perfect moment. Her birthday. High. Loved. Weightless. Twinkle lights and mild nights. Mist from a fountain. Coldplay. Vin’s rough fingertips tracing her skin.
Vin would never let that happen to Tahli. All of these women were beautiful in their own ways, but you could smell the insecurity life had dealt them from too many years of putting everyone else first.
hmmmm
“She may be little Tahli, but she’s also Big Tah-Tah.” “What does that mean?” Erica frowned for the first time. “You don’t wanna find out.”
sighs...why did you have to fuck up so bad
“And you must really love me, laying up with me like this. You’re gonna get sick.” “Yeah, well…I need to hug on you and kiss on you and watch scary movies with you as much as I can. While I can.”
...there were always signs
But I’m sensing in some of the earlier stories of your past, a bit of bipolar tendencies.
folks are never mentally stable 🤣🤣🤣
“But one thing, the most dangerous thing in fact, about bipolar disorder is this: when people are no longer in fight-or-flight, fear, or anxiety mode, nothing feels right. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, and you have to take the time, years usually, to rewire your brain to accept a calm life. But until time or medication or therapy does that rewiring, when you’re living that simple life—no danger, no brushes with the law, no yard fights, no survival mode—you create situations for that adrenaline. For that rush of danger. For that I’m not supposed to be doing this feeling. That
...more
now look Ms. Allen, the nigga dropped the 4:44 but I'm not joking the excuse 😤
“The goal has nothing to do with you, Vin. The goal was always to find my peace. I’m sorry if that disturbs you in the process. But you’re a big boy. You’ve been through worse.”
I think we all misjudged her, too
Don’t give these licensed-to-carry racists a reason to play duck hunt with you.
Tahli Musical Hall of Fame. Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life. Bob Marley’s Exodus. Beyonce’s Lemonade. For today…Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers.
Erica!
He was a beer-and-baseball man. A simple man. The kind of man who could fit into the life she’d already established without disrupting it. A good man who warmed her from the inside with enough hardness. Like a perfectly baked cookie.
a slight tug in her chest by one line. Because the question was if I told you who I am, would you use it against me?
Happy Birthday, sis.
oh you dead bitch...
“So, I figured, why not give you a birthday gift? The gift of sight. See, I’ve had this gift the whole time, while your dumb ass lived in the dark. It’s time to pass it to you. For twelve fucking years I watched you live the life that…what? I wasn’t good enough for? Well, now you get to see the life I’ve been living.”
Dalvin loves a jealous hoe
Her face tightened in a cry, and she shrank down, resting her head on the table. Sobs shook her body as she clamped her wet lashes to her cheeks. Every kiss was tainted. Every declaration of love was sordid. There was someone else in their marriage almost the entire time. After a minute, Tahli sat up, sniffing in composure.
how do you get out of this?
