“I’ll send it to her when I get home tonight and have her look at it.”
His phone lit up in his hand.
“Brick is on his way back and Gas just pulled up,” he announced after glancing at the screen.
“Let’s rock.” I tucked the blunt between my lips and sparked it.
I was my brothers’ keepers. I didn’t have to always agree with them, and the same was true when it came to me. I was just happy that all of us were still here considering the life we were born into. Ivo and I were going to drive ahead of Brick and try to scout the area to where this mansion was located. After dropping the bag of guns in the trunk, Ivo and I loaded up in one of the old schools and drove off into the night.
Sixtine Trevino
“Six! Hold up!” Brick yelled from behind me, his footsteps picking up pace when I neared the corner.
My phone vibrated in my hand just as the black Nissan pulled up matching my Uber description. I had to get the fuck out of here! Reaching for the door handle, I immediately got inside and told the driver to take off. I spotted Brick stopping in the middle of sidewalk surrounded by flickering cameras as we sped away. The notifications on my phone were ridiculous. I kept them on because people were always reaching out now about different products and asking me to do live reviews for cash. In just the last week, my bank account had fluctuated in the right direction. All because of him. Now all I wanted to do was jet! It was one thing to fall for Brick, but the humiliation was not what I signed up for.
Seeing his screen name pop up on the display, I quickly sent his ass to voicemail before blocking him altogether. This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go. I noticed I’d been tagged in all kinds of shit.Might as well get this over with.I went right to the Instagram app. The first video that was shared was that man Raphael’s live where he caught the tail end conversation between his wife and Brick outside. The minute that bitch lookedat me and tried to sneak diss, I knew what it was. It was just embarrassing to now have the rest of the world know too. I told Brick from jump not to do this to me. I didn’t deal with shit like this well.
Twenty minutes later, my car came to a stop outside the Guardian Lodge. I was just going to stay here tonight because I couldn’t deal with any of this until I figured some shit out. Right now, I wanted to get out of these clothes and into something comfortable then crawl under the covers to tune the rest of the world out. I had enough saved now to leave and try to have a fresh start somewhere, but I didn’t know where to go, so I’d have to regroup and figure that out. Omaha wasn’t an option, and now Oak Bluffs was losing its appeal.
“Hey! Six, what are you doing here?” Kiara emerged from the living room when I passed.
I was so deep in my own head I hadn’t even noticed her sitting there. Shoving her cell phone into the back pocket of her jeans, she looked me up and down. I wasn’t in the mood, and it wasn’t even Kiara’s fault. Brick had pulled the rug from under me with this bullshit.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at the event?”
“Kiara, don’t act like you didn’t see what’s going on. You comment on shit all day, every day. By now it’s gone viral all over this city, I’m sure. I came here because I need a minute alone.”
“Okay. No need for the attitude though.” She turned her nose up and popped her neck.
“If you had the night I did, you’d have one too.” I gripped my clutch a little tighter in my hand.
“Brick is going to be Brick. It’s always going to be a bitch that don’t like you because of him. You might as well get over that now, or not even bother being with somebody like that.” She shrugged. “Maybe think about going back to your old life.”Kiara’s gaze shifted behind me to something, and my veins ran cold with ice.
I didn’t have to turn to know that something evil lurked behind me. My stomach did karate kicks, taking in the cold satisfied grin on Skully’s face when I saw him. The stitches across both cheeks had him looking like a character out of a Tim Burton movie. His glossy, bloodshot eyes told on him. He was high as hell, probably off some A1 narcotics for the pain. In slacks, a gray button-up shirt, and a black vest over it, he exhaled from the cigarette in his hand. Slowly pivoting my eyes back to Kiara, a slow rage brewed inside me.
“You did this?”
“Not on purpose,” she answered. “I was asking around about you and Skully got wind of it, so he hit me up. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Me and Kiadra are out of here first thing smoking. So . . . I guess I should thank you. You became the meal ticket I didn’t know I needed.”
“Nice doing business with you, sweetheart.” Skully grinned. “Six, come outside and talk to me. Now.” He turned to leave, but my feet were still cemented where I stood. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”
Each step behind him to the sliding doors was like a death sentence with lead weighing down my feet. I’d been dreading this moment since fleeing Omaha. Pausing beside one of the columns, he put his cigarette out in one of the ashtrays.
“What do you want?” I paused, leaving a few feet of space between us while he inhaled and brought his eyes up to the night sky.
“Ain’t never been here before. I would have never found you in this small ass town.” He chuckled. “I guess this what a muhfucka call fate, or whatever.”
“I have your money. You can take it and leave me alone,” I offered, voice quaking.
He was calm. A little too calm for my liking, as something in the air shifted, causing me to take in my surroundings. The suspicion crawled up my back like a spider, paralyzing me.
“We’re beyond that, Six, because now the debt has gone up.” He swiped his beard and faced me, eyes raking over me in a way that left me feeling naked. “You look good. I mean, you really selling this shit. Kiara told me this nigga you fucking with papered up . . . like old school money. He got you all fly and shit. Draped in diamonds and designer like a bad bitch. How about you help your family out.”
“You ain’t never been family to me, Skully,” I scoffed. “And Darlene . . . that bitch ain’t winning no awards for motherhood.”
“Well, we all you got.” He threw his hands up and sniggered before stepping into my space. “Shit, you practically famous now.” His tone was low as his tongue swept over his lips and his eyes drifted over my breasts.
He lifted his hand to touch me, and when I smacked it down, he snatched me up, knocking my clutch from my grasp. With his hands locked around my wrists, he jerked me into his chest. Jaw locked tight, his dark beady eyes bounced around mine.
