Page 349 of Kentrell

Me… Wani… Kensei… Ahmad… Rashad… even Darius?—

All of us broke out laughing at the same time.

Loud. Ugly. Unfiltered.

The kind of laugh you feel in your chest and behind your eyes.

“Whatever!” Zoe yelled, smacking my leg but giggling right along with the rest of us.

I pulled her in tighter, leaning over to kiss her forehead, still laughing into her curls as she snuggled deeper into my side like she wasn’t the main one fueling half this chaos.

“Aye, Zoe, pipe down!” Wani pointed at her with his fork, still chewing. “I’on care that you hidin’ under my brotha… he ain’t gon’ do nothin’ to me.”

I smirked, shaking my head as I reached over and grabbed my plate back from her little greedy ass.

“Nah… but I might let her getchu, though,” I said low, just for her to hear.

And judging by the way Zoe smiled up at me… yeah…

Wani didn’t want that smoke.

Oshon’s phone started ringing loud as hell, slicing through all the noise like it had something urgent to say.

“Aye… wussup—ahhh!” He laughed, catching a few eyes from around the room.

“Nah, I was there earlier. Yeah… a’ight, bet.” He ended the call just as quick, glancing down at the screen for a second before sliding the phone back in his pocket, and asking, “Aye… what time the game start? Somebody turn the TV on!”

I grabbed the remote off the coffee table, flipping through channels until I landed on WGN.

WGN Breaking Newsflashed across the screen in bold red letters, cutting off whatever daytime rerun had been playing before.

“WGN Breaking News… we’re coming to you live with details of a deadly crash and shooting on the city’s South Side…”

The anchor started, her voice sharp, paced like she was juggling breaking updates in her ear while reading off the teleprompter.

I didn’t say nothing at first…

Just let the screen linger… remote still in my hand… eyes drifting across the room… waiting.

“Authorities are on the scene now at the 600 block of East 79th Street… just off Cottage Grove… where a black sedan pulled up alongside another vehicle and opened fire—letting off more than thirty rounds before fleeing the area. The gunfire caused the targeted vehicle to crash… triggering a multi-car pileup. Multiple injuries have been reported, and traffic in the area is being rerouted.”

It was only a matter of seconds before somebody caught it.

“Wait… what they say happened?”

“Turn it up!” someone said from the other side of the sectional.

I hit the volume button as the room got real quiet.

“We’re now going live to our reporter on the scene… Jasmine Parker… who’s been following the story since it first broke about thirty minutes ago.”

The screen cut to a live shot—camera shaky for a second as they adjusted focus on a young Black reporter standing just outside the yellow crime scene tape. Wind whipping her hair into her face as she clutched her earpiece and fought to keep her voice steady.

“Thank you, Denise…”

She said, nodding toward wherever her anchor was back at the studio.

“We’re here on East 79th Street, just blocks away from where neighbors say they heard what sounded like automatic gunfire erupt earlier this afternoon. Witnesses report seeing a black sedan speed off moments after the shots were fired. The vehicle that was targeted… a silver Lexus RX 350… lost control shortly after, crashing into several parked cars along the curb.”

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