Drunk in Love 2: An Original Love Story by Tiece D Mickens, Cole Hart

France.” Zoe quickly frowned. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. My mom was a flight attendant before she had my brother and I. She fell in love with this black entrepreneur; a smooth brother that had a lot going for him. He swept her off of her feet while also getting her pregnant with Zay. Long story short, she quit working and moved to Paris to be with him. A couple of years later, I was born. All I could ever remember was that my dad was a serious businessman that traveled a lot. Life was good. Hell, supposedly all was good.”
    “Uh-uh,” Zoe chimed in while clearing her throat. “What happened?”
    “My mom found out that my dad had a whole nother family. He was actually married when they met. My mom just didn’t know it until years later.”
    Zoe disappointedly shook her head. “Damn, that’s fucked up.”
    “That ain’t nothing. After she found out, he came clean. Then he asked her to accept it because he wasn’t leaving his wife or his other four kids. He didn’t want to leave her either, but she had to accept him having another family.” 
    Zoe rolled her eyes. “That’s some bullshit.”
    “Apparently, mom thought the same thing and we found ourselves moving back to her hometown which was here. That’s when shit got real.” He explained.
    “Wow, what happened?”
    “My mom didn’t have a job. She put in endless applications, but found herself on government assistance for the next few years.”
    “I thought your daddy had all this money. What happened to him?”
    “When my mom moved us, Dad cut us off. We only got two-hundred dollars on our birthdays and Christmas. He’d call only on those days to say that he loved us and it was because of our mama that we weren’t in a better space.”
    Zoe smacked her lips. “He had some fucking nerve.”
    “Zay stopped taking his calls once he turned eleven. He was angry with him. He didn’t understand why a man would stop taking care of his kids, knowing that they were having a rough time. I, on the other hand, just wanted to hear his voice. I mean, that was still my dad.”
    Zoe felt bad for him, being that she’d always had her dad in her life. “Do y’all have a relationship now?”
    “We don’t. The man I look to as my father has been my mother’s husband since I was twelve. He took us in as his own and helped my mom get up on her feet.”
    “Well, that was good.” Zoe said with a smile. “How’d your brother accept him?”
    “Zay and my Pops get along good. He’s a kick boxer instructor with his own businesses. So our meeting up with him was a blessing to us both. See, we’d started acting out and fighting nigga’s in school. Once he entered the picture, he showed us how to channel that anger, but in fighting inside the ring.”
    “You don’t look like a fighter.” Zoe said with a light giggle.  
    “Don’t let the looks fool you. These hands are quick and could be lethal if pushed.” He said with a sure nod of his head.
    “What all can those hands do besides knock a nigga unconscious?” Zoe flirted with a seductive bat of her eyes.
    Dillon grinned. “You ain’t ready for me to show you all that.” He stared at her for a moment with a satisfied smile on his face. “You and your sister look so much alike. Your skin is just lighter.” He said, thinking that her caramel smooth skin looked so good that all he wanted to do was lick on her to see how sweet she was.
    “We get that a lot, but if you really see our parents then you’d think that O’ looks more like our dad and I look more like our mom.”
    “You think I’ll get to meet your parents one day?” Dillon teased, but was really trying to feel her out.
    “Whoa, you’re moving too fast.” She giggled, but she really didn’t know what she wanted at the moment. She was surprised that she even showed up, being that she’d been taking it easy in the men department.
    Dillon was trying to read her, but she wasn’t making it easy behind the sweet