Page 21 of Collateral Love
I looked down at the body.
“It doesn’t end fast,” I said. “It endsdecisively.”
He swallowed, eyes still on Martin.
“That girl,” he said after a beat. “She knew this was how you’d handle it.”
“Yes,” I replied.
“That shit is crazy.” He shook his head.
I shook my head.
“No,” I said. “Her decisiveness is necessary.”
Later that night, I sat in my room with the lights off, gun cleaned and back in its place, Martin already becoming a memory nobody would ask about twice.
I picked up my phone.
KingZay111: It’s done.
HotGirlYaYa: Good.
I leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling, feeling something settle into place that I hadn’t known was loose before.
She hadn’t askedhow.
She hadn’t askedwho.
She already knew.
That’s when it clicked.
Kenya didn’t romanticize violence.
She accounted for it.
And expectations like that were heavier than respect. Heavier than fear.
I thought about Xavier about the way he’d watched, quiet and absorbing. How much longer could I keep him clean? About how fast this life ate the unprepared and rewarded the decisive.
Kenya had called what we builtfragile.
She wasn’t wrong.
Not weak.
Not stupid.
Just exposed.
I didn’t like being exposed.
I wanted something sturdier.
Something that didn’t depend on reputation or luck.
Something that lasted even when people started watching more closely.
