Page 28 of You Deserve Good Things

I ran a hand over my beard, trying to keep my shit together.

“You don’t get it,” I muttered. “Silas was my boy. My brother. He was supposed to be straight. We were supposed to have his back.”

Daniale nodded. “But you ain’t pull the trigger, Chase.”

“Shit, I ain’t stop it either.”

She sighed, shaking her head. “And how exactly were you supposed to do that?”

I swallowed hard. “I shoulda been with him that night. I shoulda?—”

“Shoulda, coulda, woulda.” She cut me off. “But that ain’t reality, is it?”

I glared at her. “The fuck you want me to say, Dani? That I ain’t fail him? That I don’t still wake up hearing his name? ThatI ain’t still see the blood on the pavement every time I close my damn eyes? We were meeting up with Keem to pay him back the money we’d gotten for Shaniya’s medical bills. It was supposed to be a drop off and go type deal and I couldn’t even be on fucking time. Then when I saw the car roll up I fucking froze…”

She stared at me, her expression unreadable. Then she moved closer, sliding onto the coffee table in front of me, taking my hands in hers.

“You think he’d want you living like this?” she asked softly.

My throat locked up.

I shook my head. “I dunno.”

“Yes, you do.”

I let out a breath, long and slow.

“You were his boy, Chase,” she murmured. “You think he’d want you stuck in the same pain that took him from you?”

I exhaled, shaky as hell. And I didn’t have an answer.

Daniale didn’t push me. She didn’t force me to keep talking.

She just sat there, holding my hands, keeping me grounded.

And for the first time in four years, I felt . . . lighter. Like maybe I could breathe again. Like maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t meant to carry this alone.

I looked up at her, really looked at her. And for the first time, I let myself admit it.

That I felt something real for this woman.

Something dangerous. Something that could either fix me . . . or break me worse than I already was.

I smirked, tryna lighten the mood. “You really got me out here feeling emotions and shit.”

She grinned. “I got that effect on people.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “You a handful, you know that?”

She raised a brow. “You saying you can’t handle me?”

I leaned in, my voice dropping to a low murmur.

“Baby, I could handle you in ways you ain’t even ready for.”

Her eyes flashed. And I knew, this thing between us? It wasn’t going away. Not now. Not ever.

I exhaled, sitting back.

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