Forever Mine

by Shelli Marie

Genres: Women's Fiction

Synopsis

When a woman's fed up... there ain't nothin' you can do about it.

Being at the right place at the perfect moment brings two totally different souls together. Magic is made and young hearts intertwine when Oaklyn meets Braxton while he's singing on the streets, making money to survive. As their eyes lock, she instantly sees far beneath the grit and decides to take a chance on love, something neither of them is familiar with. With all the walls down, their relationship soars.

Oaklyn has absolutely no regrets until Braxton's career takes off and his loyalty flees with it. After showering him with unconditional love, respect, a daughter, and the last ten years of her life, Oaklyn has had enough and is ready to walk away. When she does, it allows Gunner West to step in and not only steal the show, but her heart as well.

When Braxton finds out, will he change his ways, or will it be too late once another man falls for Oaklyn? Will she stick it out in a toxic relationship or follow her heart and be with a real one? Dive into this drama-filled standalone and become acquainted with these wild characters. They will warm your heart one minute and have you screaming the next!

Release date: October 28, 2025

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

A Decade Later …

My life slowly went from sugar to shit, but I persistently fought for my relationship. No matter how much it drained me, I did everything in my power to make things work until I ran out of options. After ten years of heartbreak and disappointment, all I had left was hope, and that too began to dwindle.

Had I been foolish to think that Braxton would change? That same question had been floating in my mind for the past few years while he continuously cheated on me. True enough, I thought for sure he would straighten up after I got pregnant and gave birth to our baby girl, Brazil, but it only got worse. So bad that I had to quit more than a dozen jobs and got evicted several times, all because Braxton couldn’t be reliable or responsible. Why didn’t he have time to help me with Brazil, but he had plenty of time to visit the mall? Why couldn’t he get us a place to live instead of carelessly spending his royalties on unnecessary shit? Ugh, that man made me mad!

“You must have something really heavy on your mind, Oaklyn, because I’ve been yelling your name for the past couple of minutes. You didn’t hear me?” my best friend, Koola, hollered in my face.

“No, I didn’t. I was busy looking at all these receipts from the crap Braxton has been buying. You know how much he paid for that diamond grill?”

“I don’t even wanna know, and stop worrying yourself. Things will be different once he gets signed. That’s when the real dough is gonna come. Just watch.”

“I’ve been watching for the past decade, Koola, and I’m tired. I’m tired off all his bullshit.”

“Please don’t tell me Braxton is cheating again. I’ll be so disappointed in him.”

Koola sat down beside me and frowned. She was overprotective and hated it when anyone hurt my feelings.

“Well, get ready to get disappointed because I know he’s exchanging numbers with at least half the females he meets while he’s at these places performing, and I don’t wanna know how many he’s fucking out of those. Ugh.”

“Why did you stop going to his shows, Oaklyn?” Koola probed. “I never could understand that.”

“I’m not built for that shit,” I explained. “It bothers me when all these women throw themselves at him. All that hugging and kissing shit for the pictures and autographs gotta go.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“Hell yeah, but he insists that he has to be nice. Says that if he’s rude or mean, it would taint his image with the public. What about me, shit? It’s tainting my image of that muthafucka!”

“Oaklyn!”

“No, Koola, I’m serious. It’s like I don’t even matter anymore. Ever since I moved into housing and he ain’t gotta be responsible for bills, he does what the hell he pleases. If we ain’t arguing about him cheating, I’m fussing about him slacking on his responsibilities. He’s barely been helping me with Brazil. She be beggin’ that nigga to take her to play basketball or even to the park, and he can’t even do that shit. He’s either too tired or too busy. I’m telling you, girl. I’m tired. Fed up and tired. Thank God for my mama.”

“Girl, for real, but why you ain’t been telling me this shit?” Koola fussed angrily. “We are like sisters, Oaklyn.”

“I just wasn’t ready to admit that we may be better apart.” The thought of calling it quits with Braxton broke my heart, but it was his deception that crushed it. I wasn’t sure if there was any coming back from this pain.

“Give him one last chance, and if you find out he’s actually cheating on you, give his ass the boot, Oaklyn. I don’t care how famous he thinks he is. He is foul for doing you wrong. Fucking bastard!”

“Maybe he’s tired of fucking with a fat girl,” I grumbled, trying hard to face reality.

“Fat girl? Where?” Koola gasped. “I wish I had your flawless chocolate skin and beautiful, curvaceous body. You got ass, hips, and tits, while I’m stuck with this little flabby fupa, size B-cup titties, flat ass, and these scarred-up legs.”

“Hush!” I said, then laughed.

“No, seriously, Oaklyn. Please tell me that nigga ain’t been tryna fat shame you.”

“No, never that.”

“I was about to say.” Koola had become more upset than I was. She was cussing Braxton out, and he wasn’t anywhere around. “Ugh, I hope he walks through that door.”

“Don’t worry. He ain’t. He done already called me to tell me that he had some type of rehearsal at Chachi’s place.”

“What happened to the studio he was recording at?”

“Koola, that dude was a fake. He bought that building with stolen identification, and they seized it.”

“Damn, that’s messed up,” she warned playfully. “God don’t like ugly.”

“Sho’ don’t,” I agreed as my mother came knocking on the door to bring Brazil home.

As always, she entered the apartment with an arm full of bags. When she set them down, I noticed the scratches on my daughter’s face and immediately questioned her about them.

“Leave her alone, Oaklyn. She is okay,” my mother answered before Brazil got a chance.

“What happened, Brazil? Who put their hands on you?”

“I didn’t even start it, Mama!”

“What happened?” I repeated, losing my patience with this little girl. Brazil wasn’t but six years old and already kicking up dust. I’d had it with her grown tail.

“Amy talked mess about my daddy. Talking about he was at her house singing to her mama.”

“What?” I gasped while my mother stood there shaking her head.

“She said Daddy was kissing on her mama and everything,” Brazil snitched and nearly gave me a damn heart attack.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope,” my mother answered. “Soon as I went inside her school to pick her up, her teacher informed me that the principal needed to speak to me.”

“Why didn’t they call me?” I gritted and went to check Brazil’s scratches. “I sent you to the school in your nana’s neighborhood thinking it was better, but shit, you over there fighting too.”

“Did you whoop her, Bitty B?” Koola teased, making Brazil giggle and clown.

“You know I did! Ain’t nobody about to be talking about my mama or daddy.”

“Get yo’ ass in the bathroom and run some water. I don’t even wanna talk to you right now. Fighting at school!” I sighed heavily and cut my eyes.

As Brazil ran off, I walked Koola to the door. After we said our goodbyes, I turned around and shot daggers at my mother. She had to stop babying my daughter.

“You are turning that little girl into a real B.R.A.T.,” I fussed. “She gets in trouble at school, and you still bring her home with a bunch of gifts? Mom, you gotta stop.”

“While you’re worrying about how I’m spoiling Brazil, you need to check her daddy for sleeping around. He’s the one to blame, Oaklyn,” my mother fussed. “I can’t believe he’s the same person we met out on them streets. He used to be so sweet and such a gentleman, and now I look at him. I don’t even know who he is anymore.”

“I don’t care who you wanna blame right now, Mom. You still should’ve punished Brazil for her actions,” I complained.

“Well, I did take her basketball.”

“Wow, really? Like she ain’t got five more of ’em.”

“Well, I took her favorite one. Shit! Little heffa broke that thousand-dollar vase I got in China last year.” My mother sneered and jingled her keys. “I’m leaving, and I’ll see you Sunday because when I pick Brazil up tomorrow, she staying the weekend with me, right?”

“Yeah, Mom, but you gotta be stricter with her. That attitude of hers is getting to be too much.”

“I’m gonna stay on her, Oaklyn.”

The promise that my mother made went right out the door with her because I knew better. There wasn’t a thing she wouldn’t do for Brazil, and although I loved and appreciated her for that, she still needed to tighten up those reigns.

“Little girl! We need to have a talk,” I yelled out as I locked the door and went into the bathroom. Filled with questions about what my daughter’s classmate had said to Brazil, I started to ask but quickly refrained when I heard her daddy coming through the front door. Like clockwork, he began hollering my name.

“Oaklyn?”

“You wash up, get out, get your pajamas, and get yo’ tail in the bed, Brazil. I’ll come check on you in a minute,” I told her before going out to the living room to see what Braxton was screaming about.

“Why didn’t you answer me?” He frowned.

“Because I was talking to Brazil about getting in trouble at school today.”

“That mouth of hers, Oaklyn. I done told you.”

“For your information, she got in a fight.”

“Please tell me shorty whooped whoever it was.”

“Hush that shit up, Braxton,” I hissed lowly, then cussed him out about what was said about him.

“You know what? I ain’t even gonna entertain some shit a kid said, and you’re crazy if you do.” He laughed to downplay his foul actions, but I knew better. That nigga’s excuses were faker than a three-dollar bill. “Now, I’m tired and I’m about to go to bed, Oaklyn. I got a busy weekend coming up, starting with this private gig.”

“Whatever, Braxton. Ugh!” Yes, I cut him off again. No need to listen to his lies and explanations. I’d had quite enough of that mess. What that man needed to do was hurry up and pull it together. If he didn’t, he was about to lose his family.

That was for certain.

Two days later …

Right when I was trying to earn back Oaklyn’s trust, Brazil got in a fight with Jen’s daughter, Amy. The altercation between the first graders caused the tension to tighten. Oaklyn stayed on me, bringing up shit from ten years ago.

“Braxton,” she yelled through the bathroom door. “I was just out here thinking. Remember that shit you did when we got our first apartment? Remember that bitch Stacey?”

How the fuck could I forget the chick when Oaklyn beat her ass for pushing her way into our apartment? That was the very first time I got busted for cheating.

“Remember how I snatched her when she called herself coming up in our place to get you? Then you wanna try to hop up and help her, but I had that bitch in a chokehold and wasn’t no getting out of that shit! She broke the window and the door off the hinges.”

“And they took her ass to jail?” I added.

“And we got kicked out. Remember that shit, Braxton?”

“Whatever, Oaklyn!” I hollered while I adjusted my ass on the toilet before my leg went to sleep. “Can a nigga get some peace?”

“What the hell are you doing in there?”

“Damn, I can’t take a fucking dump?” I hissed.

“You’ve been in that fucking bathroom thirty minutes, Braxton. You better not be in there on your phone being sneaky and shit.”

With her, it was always something. She was tripping for real. “I’m coming. Damn, Oaklyn!”

After I rose from the toilet, flushed, then washed my hands, I thought about the high-paying singing gig that I had that night, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit leery. Shit, I really thought it was a scam until dude sent me a thousand-dollar deposit via CashApp and told me that I would get another nine after his daughter Teagan’s surprise party. That was more than I had ever made in my life for one performance. For this muthafucka to pay ten racks just for a couple of songs and a bunch of autographs for the guests, he had to be rolling in the dough. How could I turn that down?

With the gig heavy on my mind, I walked out of the bathroom and damn near ran over Oaklyn who was standing there with her hands propped on her wide hips. “Damn!” I huffed with a frown, then backed up to walk around her.

“Why were you in there so long?”

As I turned to her and silently searched for an answer, I got caught up in Oaklyn’s beauty. The sight was truly breathtaking. The fresh twists she sported looked damn good on her, but then again, she could have a fucking mop on top of her head and dressed her thick, shapely body in rags, and she would still be the most beautiful brown girl in the world. Why couldn’t I just do right by her?

“You ain’t got shit to say, so I’m gonna assume that I was right.”

“Right about what?” I grumbled, becoming irritated all over again.

“Right about you being in that bathroom on your damn phone, Braxton.”

“If we had two bathrooms—”

“Let me cut you off before you even get started, because how dare you even come at me like that? Have you forgotten so quickly, sir? It’s because of your careless decisions that I’m staying in housing now.”

Oaklyn was right, but she didn’t have to keep rubbing that shit in my face. I fucked up, and I couldn’t change the past.

“Now, tell me. What were you in there doing, Braxton?”

“Damn, baby, I was taking a shit,” I snapped harshly and shook my head. “If you don’t believe me, take yo’ ass in there and get a whiff.”

“Nigga, no!” Oaklyn clowned and went to shut the bathroom door behind me. As soon as she did, she used her fingers to plug her nose. “Damn, stanky ass.”

“Well, it ain’t supposed to smell like roses.”

As I went to get my shoes, Oaklyn was right on my heels. She wanted to know where I was going.

“Well, since I can’t leave all my shit over here, I gotta go over to my uncle’s to get dressed for my gig.”

“If you get us another place so Brazil and I can move out of housing, then it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“It’s coming … slowly but surely, and you can believe that.”

“You always say that shit, and every time you make a decent amount of money, you either spend it on some flashy shit like that diamond grill in your mouth or all that damn jewelry you’re sporting. Then, when you’re not spending it on yourself, you’re giving a nice chunk of it to Uncle Pete,” Oaklyn complained.

“If it wasn’t for him looking out for me, I would’ve been in the system when I was ten. I’m just returning the favor, baby. Don’t trip.”

“Trip? Shit, Braxton. What more do you need to do for him? I mean, you already helped him get on disability and got his veteran benefits going, and we even got him a nice place. Hell, he’s doing better than we are.”

While Oaklyn was correct, she still didn’t get it because she grew up in a home with at least one of her parents. I had no one except Uncle Pete, and he had always been there for me. Aside from her, her mother, Draya, our daughter Brazil, and my boy Chachi, he was the only family I had.

“I’m not about to argue with you, Oaklyn, because I gotta go. I’ll be back after this gig. Is that cool?” I checked just in case she was on that bullshit and didn’t want me back over there.

“You got a key, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but—”

“But nothing, Braxton. Just make sure you bring yo’ black ass home after this party you’re doing.”

“I am,” I replied, knowing damn well that it wasn’t my home, and it was all my fault just like she had stated. If I had kept my job while pursuing my career, we would have had another place by now, but no. I was too stubborn and hardheaded to make it happen. Now, I had another chance to do it by using the money I was about to get. It was definitely enough for a security deposit and the first and last month’s rent, but not much more, considering the current rental rates were extremely high. On top of that, how was I going to guarantee that I would have the rent each month when I didn’t have a steady job? Folks were out here charging over two grand a month for a simple two-bedroom apartment. It was ridiculous, but also the very reason I wasn’t confident that I would be able to support Oaklyn once she got out of housing. What would I do then?

As I sat there trying to work things out in my head, my thoughts were interrupted. Once again.

“What time is this party over, and exactly how much are you making tonight, Braxton?” Oaklyn questioned as she walked me to the door. “I’m only asking because I wanted to get Brazil a few things. She’s been bugging me about some new sneakers.”

“I’m not sure what time it’ll be over, and I gotcha on that dough, baby.” Without giving her a specific amount, I promised to take care of them, then sealed it with a juicy kiss. Just like the first time, her lips against mine gave me an indescribable feeling, one that always put a smile on my face and made me a little giddy on the inside. Oaklyn was the only chick that could make me feel that way.

“Okay then, babe.” She giggled and hugged me. “I’ll see you later, and I love you.”

“I love you too,” I reciprocated as I walked out the door, then jogged to my olive-colored Dodge Charger. That bad boy took me four years of forking up a grand a month in order to finally obtain full ownership. It was a hefty price to pay, but it was well worth it.

“This is my baby.” I laughed to myself when I climbed into my ride and patted my camouflage-designed padded leather steering wheel grip.

After I tapped my push-start button, then pulled out of the space in front of Oaklyn’s apartment, my boy Chachi was ringing my phone. As soon as I connected the call, he was yelling loudly.

“What’s good wit’ ya, playa?”

“Cut that shit out, nigga. You know I’m tryna be faithful, Chachi,” I clowned. “I’m tryna stay straight.”

“That’s what you would want to do if you wanna keep yo’ family together.”

“You got jokes.”

“Nah, I’m just fuckin’ with ya, Brax. I was just calling to see if you still had that gig tonight. I know you were worried about the folks not paying you.”

“Yeah, ol’ boy shot me the deposit. I’m about to go get ready now. Why, you wanna roll with me?”

“Hell nah! I’m good.”

“Why?” I asked Chachi.

“I don’t feel like being around a bunch of bougie folks. You can have that shit, bruh. I just wanted you to call me if there were any bitches there worth fucking with. I could use a rich chick to finance me right now.”

“Stick to yo’ day job, nigga.”

After all the shit he had just talked to me, I had to clown him about his position over at the Frito Lay warehouse in Vancouver, Washington. Chachi didn’t like that shit.

“At least I got my own crib. You won’t even buckle down to get one for you and yo’ baby mama. You be too busy splurging on unnecessary material shit and taking care of Uncle Pete, while he’s spending his money over at Viewpoint.”

“The strip club?” I laughed loudly. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Nah, I wish I was, Brax, but I saw that shit for myself last night when I walked up in there and caught him getting a lap dance from Trixie.”

That was it. Me and Uncle Pete needed to sit down and discuss some things because if he had money to go to the strip club, he definitely didn’t need the extra five hundred that I had been giving him every month. I had to make it quick, though. I didn’t want to be late to my show.

“Let me go, Chachi. I’m just pulling up at my uncle’s spot.”

“A’ight, one.”

When we hung up, I parked and ran up into Uncle Pete’s and let him have it. Funny thing was, he wasn’t even bothered by it. In fact, he found the shit hilarious.

“I didn’t tell you to give me no money, nephew. You do that shit out the kindness of your heart, and I’m thankful because without it, I wouldn’t be able to get me no ass on the regular.”

“That’s enough, Unc. I gotta go,” I replied as I ran to the bonus room he had and got my black slacks, black blazer, and a white button-down shirt. After I sh. . .