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“You made me your girl, so what’s yours is mine.”
I smiled, hearing her say that out loud. I rinsed the dishes and went to my room to get dressed. I threw on a white tee, jeans, and sneakers. I made sure the bathroom door was still closed before grabbing my piece from the safe in my closet and tucked it into my waistband.
Belle came out of the bathroom with my shirt knotted at her waist. She had her gown folded over one arm and her heels on. I made a mental note to get some clothes for her to have here.
“I haven’t done a walk of shame like this in forever.”
“Ain’t no shame when you coming from my crib.”.
The drive to her place was quiet, in a good way. The traffic was light and Belle kept nodding off, her head tilting toward the window and then snapping back up every few minutes.
She stirred awake when I pulled up in front of her building, blinking.
“We’re here,” I said.
She sat up and stretched, then got out to grab her things from the back. I rolled my window down as she came around to my side of the car.
“I guess I’ll talk to you later?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ll hit you up when I’m done taking care of this business.”
She looked at me, doing a quick scan trying to read into what I was saying.
“Okay.” She leaned in through the window and kissed me. “Thank you for last night, Papa,” she said, giving me another quick peck. “And for this morning.”
My chest tightened. She said it differently than when she said it in bed—no heat, no desperation. This was soft and sweet, like she was finally letting her walls down.
“Go upstairs before I park this car and change my mind about work,” I said.
She grinned and turned toward her building, wiggling her fingers at me over her shoulder.
I sat there until the door closed behind her. Then I took out my phone to text Priest and let him know I was on my way.
1 Play We should be together by Pia Mia
18 CARDEZ MONTAGUE
The one thing I hated about the city in the summer was how the heat amplified every smell—good and bad. The warehouse was worse. It was the first one we ran our restaurant supply business out of, but now it sat mostly abandoned, the poor ventilation letting the air go stagnant. It smelled like dirty water and rust, but it was useful for shit like this.
Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, washing everything in a flat, ugly glare despite how sunny it was outside. Deonte was in a metal chair in the center of the floor with his wrists zip-tied behind him. His lip was already busted and one eye was swollen shut.
Priest had gotten the welcome party started before I arrived.
Marco was leaning against a beam, eating an ice-cream sandwich and Priest wasn’t too far from him, smoking a blunt.
Deonte’s head came up when he heard my footsteps.
“Dez—man, listen—”
“Shut the fuck up.” I pulled a chair and sat directly in front of him, close enough to smell the sweat and fear rolling off him. I took off my watch and put it in my pocket.
“You know what’s funny, D?” I said, crossing my arms. “I liked you. When you came on, I told Priest—give the young nigga a chance. He’s hungry, he got good hustle.” I tilted my head. “Priest, what’d you tell me?”
“I didn’t trust his ass,” Priest said, blowing out a plume of smoke.
I nodded solemnly. “You did. And I ignored you ‘cause I thought your ass was being paranoid. Turns out, you were the smart one, and I was the dumb nigga giving a snake a place to sleep.”
“Dez—”
