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CHAPTER SEVENTY :
PROVE HIMSELF

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MAURICE

Cotton's coming over to Maurice's place because she needed to tell him something. He didn't know what to think about it, but she didn't sound happy. She sounded nervous actually, so this was probably gonna piss him off.

Why did he feel like it had to do with the baby lion? Because Cotton has been a little too close to Jamal lately. They hugged at the funeral and they even teamed up against El Diablo.

That whole argument was nerve wracking. Maurice didn't know what was going to happen. He wanted to defend Cotton since she's his woman, but he decided against it. He just stayed back and watched everything go down because he was not about to get himself killed.

El Diablo is not to be trifled with and Maurice didn't even know the man, so who was he to step up to him? That's why he wasn't even mad that Jamal came to Cotton's defense. El Diablo is his father so Jamal should handle him, not Maurice.

Cotton's there now. Maurice greeted her. "Wassup baby."

Cotton shut him down quick. "Yeah, that's the problem right there. That baby stuff is gonna have to stop, Maurice."

Maurice was lost. "You don't like that word?"

"I do, but you can't call me that anymore. Only Jamal can."

Maurice was already getting hot. "What do you mean only Jamal can?"

She exhaled deeply. "Look, don't get mad okay?" Oh he was gonna get mad. "I forgave Jamal and he and I went back to being friends. Being around him made me realize how much I missed his company. It made me realize how much I miss him."

Oh he was about to be mad for real.

"So we worked things out and I decided to give him another chance," Cotton finished.

"Another chance at what?"

"At being my boyfriend."

Yeah, Maurice was officially upset. "So you're telling me you date that dude?"

"That's what I'm telling you. So we can't be together anymore, Maurice. I can't have two boyfriends."

"You're right. You only need one which is me! Not that Lyon!"

"What I need is for you to respect my decision!" Cotton shouted back. "I have to follow my heart!"

Maurice had to laugh at that. "There's no way in hell your heart is telling you to go back to the man who broke it in the first place!"

"I forgive him for that. And Jamal has enough sense not to do that again. I trust him."

Maurice just laughed and laughed and laughed because this can not be happening. This has to be a fucking dream right? No way was he getting dumped right now.

Cotton didn't understand why he was so hysterical. "What's funny?"

"This whole shit is! Just give it to me straight, Cotton. Are you doing this because I didn't defend you at the funeral?"

"I'm doing it because I love Jamal and I can't keep denying it. But you not defending me played a major part in my decision too. You're supposed to be my man, but you sat back and watched another man disrespect me."

"Cotton, I couldn't defend you if I wanted to! Jamal jumped at the chance!" Maurice pointed out.

"Yeah and that's the problem, Maurice! You didn't want to! My ex boyfriend didn't hesitate to defend me, but you did! That shouldn't be the case! So should I really waste my time with you? I don't want a weak man."

Maurice didn't like that jab. "Chill out. I ain't weak. I just know my place and arguing with El Diablo is not my place. That's Jamal's father, so I let him handle it."

"All I'm hearing is excuses. Just say you're scared of the man!"

Maurice didn't deny it. "Hell yeah I'm scared of him! The whole city is scared to him! The man is a killer!"

Cotton was so disgusted with him. "Well I'm not scared of him and I don't want my man to be either. So thank you for being a coward because you proved that Jamal's the better man. So I'm choosing him."

"And you think I'mma sit back and watch you two be happy together?" Maurice replied angrily.

"You had no problem sitting back and watching at the funeral, so this is your fault."

"Yeah whatever. Get the fuck out of my house before I show you how wrong you are about me being a coward."

Cotton just waved her hand dismissively. "Boy bye. I don't got time for this shit."

Cotton stormed out and Maurice slammed the door right behind her, damn near hitting her with it. And if he did hit her, he could care less because she really just played him.

Cotton's mad over some stupid shit and now Maurice was mad, so he had to cool down. He was about to walk away, but there's knocking on the door. He looked at it angrily because didn't he tell her ass to leave?

"Cotton, I said get the fuck out!" Maurice said as he opened the door, but it's not Cotton standing there. It was a familiar woman. He saw her sitting on Jamal's lap last week.

"I'm not Cotton. I'm Raven."

"Yeah, I seen you at Empire. You were sitting on Jamal's lap."

"Yeah I was because I was his girlfriend, but I'm not anymore."

Maurice's ears perked up. "He broke up with you?"

"Yup. For Cotton. And based off your energy, you just got dumped too huh?"

Maurice felt his skin getting hot all over again. "Yeah I sure did. For Jamal."

Raven laughed angrily. "Those bitches played us real good. Jamal told me he was just using me to get Cotton back."

"Damn, he's that foul?"

"Yup."

Yeah, Maurice believed it. He was related to the devil after all. "Well I wouldn't be surprised if Cotton was using me too. She wanted to date me out of nowhere."

"Well I told Jamal he's not going to get away with playing me and I meant that. We need our revenge."

Maurice leaned in the doorway. He was super intrigued. "What you wanna do? Break them up or something?"

Raven smirked evilly. "Oh no, honey. I wanna do far worse than that. I wanna make sure they never see each other again, if you know what I mean."

"No I don't know what you mean, but it sounds sinister. The type of shit that will land us in jail."

Raven didn't care. "Maybe we will go to jail. Maybe we won't. But it's well deserved."

She was talking a little too crazy for Maurice. He just met her ass. "How about we don't do anything rash right now because I barely even know you."

"So we're gonna let them get away with this?!"

"I didn't say that. We'll keep an eye on them for now. Wait for the perfect time to strike."

Raven smirked again. "And when we do strike, we're striking hard."

Yes they are because Cotton swears that Maurice is a coward. He was going to prove he wasn't.