Page 55 of Kentrell

“I know.”

“Fuck you, pussy.” He yawned straight into the phone, making me smirk. “I can’t wait till a bitch catch yo ass slippin’. I’ma dog walk yo ass for real.”

“You ain’t gon’ do shit but try to fuck.”

“Yeah… I am.” I could hear the grin spreading across his face, lazy and unapologetic. “Soon as I meet her… I’ma hit her with the: ‘I just really wanna be like my big brudda.’”

That took me out. We both cracked up, laughing like we used to back when shit was simple.

“She ain’t gon’ go though,” I said once I caught my breath.

“Oh?” His tone got slick. “So she do exist?”

“Nah… I’m just sayin’... any bitch I make mine… ain’t gon’ never give another nigga the time.”

I let the words sit. Let the weight of them roll around while I merged off onto State.

“Damn…” Wani finally broke the quiet. His voice a little more settled now. “Lemme get my ass out my feelings. You gon’ pull up to the spot this weekend?”

“Maybe.”

“Aight… be safe, bro.”

“Bet.”

The call ended.

Silence took the truck again. But not my mind.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter, feeling my jaw tick like it had its own pulse.

And before I could stop myself…

I reached over… grabbed my phone off the seat… thumb hovering for half a second longer than I should’ve…

ZOE DAVIS.

Her name lit up the screen like it’d been waiting on me.

I stared at it.

Then hitCall.

SIX

ZOE

The silencein my office was fake as hell.

On the outside, everything looked tight—papers stacked neat, case files color-coded, two open notes on my screen like I was really grinding.

But the truth?

I’d been pretending to work for damn near an hour.

I read the same line in this lease contract six times and couldn’t tell you what it said if my job depended on it.

Three days.

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