Turned Out

Chapter Thirty One

Dedicated to all of my lovelies 😘 You guys are the real MVP's 😂😩❤️

Shannon.

I sat in the living room with my head in my hands. I couldn't figure out what I had gotten myself into. Since Ashleigh left I've been fighting with myself over if I should call her or not. Cortez still recommends that I let her come to me, but it's been three months. Three. Damn. Months. That's too long to go without Ashleigh.

When we first broke up, I hated being without her. Then I realized that if she didn't want to be here I couldn't force her to. It was my fuck up that lead me here anyways. Now I'm back in the same boat, I miss the hell out of her. None of these girls compare to her...

A little flirting, a little dating, a little sexing. But still those girls weren't my baby. And that's where my trouble came in- being involved with the wrong ones. Aniya Rum to be exact.

Aniya is tall, Hispanic and Black, light skin, thick thighs, little waist. She was a cute girl, no doubt, but put a hoe tag and nasty attitude on it and the image is tarnished. I don't know what made me get involved with her. The pretty face or the nice body. I never wanted to be with her, I just wanted to be in her. That's it.

Aniya, for whatever odd reason, held a strong reputation with young girls. She started out as just a chubby, mixed girl, so the bullying came naturally. She had teeth that threw up westside whenever she smiled. I never believed in the ugly duckling theory, but her pictures proved me wrong. She wasn't exactly ugly as a child, just tremendously flawed, but now she appeared flawless. I guess that's why young girls loved her. She proved her haters, bullies, and enemies wrong and they aspire to do the same.

Because Aniya is so known with these girls, her PR didn't want her labeled as a one night stand. I never meant for us to get caught leaving that hotel... Even so, what's the point? Everyone in the industry knows Aniya's track record, myself included, but her publicity crew does their damnedest to keep it out of the public light.

Thousands of dollars spent to keep mouths closed. Every date Aniya and I have been on- paid for by her crew. Everything I've "bought" her something- paid for by her crew. Their plan is to set us up as a couple and when the time is right, plan the perfect break up where we just "didn't work out". I don't want to do this, but the money is good and if my daughter were still here I wouldn't want her looking up to a hoe or thinking it was okay to be one.

My phone rang loud. I had set a certain ringtone so I knew when Aniya was calling. I picked up, sighing into the phone. "Yeah?" I answered.

"No hello, Shannon? You really are a terrible boyfriend." She snickered. "Any who, I want to go out tonight. Just me and you, Dana doesn't have to know about this one." She spoke of her head manager and PR.

"I'm good." I spoke slow. I'm not trying to be with her more than needed. She's annoying as hell and doesn't want to have sex anymore. I got what I needed, no point in backtracking. Yeah, it's probably an asshole thing for me to say and do, but I'm not going to get my feelings involved with this girl especially when I'm invested in another.

"This is really about the money to you, huh? I'll have Dana pay you off then, damn, I really can't stand a broke ass-"

"Broke ass what? We all know I make more than you. Ain't shit about the money, it's about the fact that I don't like your dumb ass. I'm here to help you out so you don't look like the hoe you are. I don't disrespect women and you taking me out of my character. I'm hanging up so I don't say something else rude that I might regret. Goodbye, Aniya." I hung up the phone without waiting for her reply. Aniya likes to provoke me. It's all like some big joke to her. She'll say the most disrespectful things and expect me to go with it just because I signed a contract. I don't know who she dealt with in these contracts before, but I'm really not the one. All I have to do is get paid to go on paid dates with you. I don't have to take your bullshit, so I won't.

Not even ten minutes passed before my phone was ringing again. This time it read Dana. I groaned out loud, banging my fist into the couch. After gathering myself, I answered the phone with a low sigh. "What's up, Dana?"

"Hello, Mr. Shannon." I could tell her face held the same annoying grin that seemed to never leave. "There's a festival tonight. You'll be accompanying Aniya to it."

"Fun." I spoke with no emotion.

"Listen. I know you don't want to do this. I already told you the steps to take if you want to get out of this contract easy, no problems." Just like Aniya, Dana was a hoe. Sleep with her and the contract no longer existed. I couldn't even begin to understand how they worked as a team.

"I'm coo on that... Just end this shit fast."

"Timing. Patience is key, young grasshopper!" She laughed at herself. She took a few deep breaths in between laughing and I could hear her patting on something through the phone. It wasn't that funny. "Anyways," she had finally calmed down, "we'll be by around six to further arrange tonight's events. Smooches, Shan!" The other line clicked off and I sunk into my seat... I really have to find a way out of this.

*

Six o'clock came sooner rather than later. I didn't know if that was a good thing- get this shit over with- or a bad thing- having to deal with Aniya and Dana so soon. I sat on the couch, flipping through channels as Dana continued to talk. She kept going over amounts of money and what all Aniya and I would do tonight. I didn't really care.

The festival was going to have a few local guest artist playing their covers and original pieces as well as games and rides setup around the area. I was supposed to take Aniya on every ride she wanted to go on and do cute shit with her like win her bears from the games, buy her food, and share churros. Everything that I did not want to do...

From the moment we stepped out of the car, girls were screaming and cameras were flashing. I liked attention, but never this much and definitely not with Aniya as my arm candy. The fans came in flocks to get pictures and autographs from Aniya. a few were for me, but I didn't expect any of these kids to know about me.

I sat down at a near by bench as Aniya helped the never ending line ahead of her. It seemed as if every time she got rid of one two more came. "She must be an amazing person." A small voice came from behind me. I turned and met with the dark hazel eyes of a yet another teenage girl. This one was different. She was a shade of dark brown, had a large puff of curly hair pulled tight in a ponytail, and her face was speckled lightly with dark colored freckles.

"Why do you think that?" I asked unsure of what else to say.

"Everyone likes her, she's pretty, she's light, her hair is long, she dresses nice... All those types of things..." Her big eyes stayed focused on Aniya the whole time she talked. She seemed to be mesmerized by her...

"Inside beauty and brains count even more than all the things you just named off... Remember that..." I couldn't put a finger on it, but I was drawn to this little girl. "You're probably just as amazing as Aniya. If not more." She giggled slightly, as I turned back to the crowd of people that was now beginning to part... "You should get a picture with her..." I said to the little girl as Aniya walked towards me.

"Who are you talking to?" Anaya's eyebrows furrowed as she stood in front of me...

"He-" I stopped talking when I turned to see that the girl was no longer behind me. It was weird. "No one, come on."

The night went along fast. I took Aniya on the rides of her choice and won her a bear. surprisingly I wasn't as annoyed with her normal. It was a simple night that we shared as friends, in my opinion. Like the dating agreement had never even existed.

At the end of the night I waited for Aniya's ride to come and decided I would call my own. Her driver opened the door for her and she got in. "Are you sure you can't stay over tonight?" She asked after I told her my plans after we parted ways.

"I'm good, Aniya." I assured her and closed the door. They drove away and sat at the nearby bench waiting for my own car to pull up. Sitting on the bench across the street from me was the same little girl from earlier staring straight ahead at me. It had to be near midnight, I wondered what she was doing out here alone. I stood up, prepared to walk over to her just as my car arrived. Shaking my head, I got into the car.

As I turned to look out the window, again the little girl had disappeared into thin air.