Page 38 of A Boy Is a Gun: Part II
I finally glanced at her.“You’re talking in circles.”
“No.”Her tone cut glass.“I’m telling you to get your priorities straight.Let Taylor live her life.You chose the street over her—this is the cost.Keep pushing the wrong way and she’ll learn the real reason you’re acting like this.That heartbreak will be on you.”
She kissed Mia goodnight, smoothed the blanket like she hadn’t just pulled a pin from a grenade, and left without looking back.
Que stepped out from the corner once she was gone.“She’s right.But I also know you.”He cut his eyes to me, voice low.“Does Taylor know her granny helped set up her father’s murder?That same sweet old lady’s been trying to put you in the ground ever since.”
I didn’t blink.Didn’t move.Eyes stayed glued to the monitor.
Que didn’t stop.“Sharon’s fingerprints are all over this.Lamont.Alicia.Laurie.Ayesha—thank God Tesh lived, but she’s not out of the woods yet.Patrice at the hospital?Targeted.Why the hell would someone rob your old nanny unless they were sending a message?She’s coming after everyone tied to you.”
He shook his head.“She already moved through the police—Jacqueline and Ethan’s affair?Sharon and Jacqueline fed him intel on you.Deuce and his crew?Reporting back to her.She’s getting frustrated because you keep outsmarting her.Frustration doesn’t make her quit, Cam.It makes her bolder.It’s only a matter of time before she skips the games and goes for Taylor.”
I turned to him, voice flat as a blade.“If she touches her, I’ll take out every single member of that family.”
Que met my stare and didn’t flinch.“Then focus on Sharon, Stephanie, Pharaoh, and the EAC.Put all that fire where it belongs.And leave Taylor the hell alone.”
I didn’t answer him.Just leaned back in my chair, eyes on the frozen frame of Jiro holding Mia, Taylor laughing like she didn’t have a care in the world.Que was right.He knew it.I knew it.Hell, anybody with sense would know it.But I’d stopped letting “sense” run the show a long time ago.
“Noted,” I said finally, the word tasting like a lie.
Because we both knew—whether she wanted me in her life or not—Taylor was never walking out of mine.
Five
Taylor
Iwas still floatingfrom Jiro.
The smell of roses lingered in my apartment like perfume I couldn’t wash off, and the half-empty box of chocolates on my counter kept daring me to skip breakfast and just give in.
Jiro had that effect on me.
He’d been showing up everywhere lately—sliding into Fresh Espresso like he’d been a regular for years, smiling at me like I was the only thing worth seeing.When he wasn’t here, I’d spot him over at Earth, Wind, and Flour, always ordering something new, always making me laugh.
Jamie noticed it too.And for once, there wasn’t that quiet wall between us.“He’s good for you,” she said with a knowing smile, sliding into her usual seat by the window.
