Page 78 of Stay Dangerous

Set grinned. “Nah, but foreal. Y’all the most thurl muthafuckas I know. All of y’all, including Wyn and Auty, or Haze, right?”

Autumn tried to get from under Set, but he just tightened his arm around her.

“Quit it, girl. I’m tryna say some shit. Anyways, besides like, grown niggas, like Tiny and G-Pops and my grandma and shit, y’all the only niggas in the world I give a fuck about. Y’all family, and it’s Family Over Everything. And we warriors, battle tested, thanks to Nutty. We on some exclusive members only type shit, Dub.”

“Told y’all it was a secret club,” Ty-Ty muttered, breaking the seriousness of the moment.

“Ain’t nothing secret about how we finna take over the city, on my mama,” Peanut cackled.

“Tomorrow, though,” Fredo said, yawning. “We can start tomorrow.”

“Yup. ‘Cause today I’m dethroning yo’ weak ass.”

Set cheesed again, finally letting Autumn go before chasing her around the house.

We were all scraped up, covered in ointment and bandages. But we were all together, and for once, not worried about anything but who was next on the game.

Shattered Illusions

Wyn

WhenitcametoRico, I didn’t ask any questions. I figured I knew enough.

Set was a drug dealer, and Rico ran with him, so I knew he was a drug dealer, too.

Set and Turkey were from the Birch Babies, and wore green. So did Rico, and all the other boys they hung with, so I knew Rico was a gang member.

Naturally, that took up a lot of his time. I wasn’t nosy enough to want to know everything he was up to. In fact, I liked plausible deniability. Besides, when we were together, it was like our own little bubble. For over a year, he’d been my boyfriend. We told each other we loved each other.

I’d given him my virginity.

We’d made plans. I knew he wanted to go to the Armed Forces. He knew I was basically signed to Get Money Records.

Now, I wasn’t stupid. Rico wasfine. Even without being biased, he was objectively one of the finest dudes in the city, andhe was rumored to like older women. In fact, every girl I’d heard about was at least five years older than us. I’d never heard of him being with someone his age until me, and I was a year younger than him.

But we had plans. We saidI love you. And the deeper he got into the Birch Babies and then Foe Dub, the more Rico, or Luney, was known for how ruthless he was, not how many girls he had on his jock.

I was secure in my place as Lady Luney. I had no reason not to be. Even with my fucked up parents, Dad only cheated on Mom with Roulette or Blackjack. Not another woman.

How fucking stupid I was.

Porscha had a pregnancy scare. She begged me to go with her to the clinic, and in solidarity, I got a pregnancy and STD test with her.

Well, that, and my period was late, as well.

That’s how I found out I was pregnant.

A week later, that’s when the clinic called me back and told me I got the clap.

Pregnant and burned.

Everything I thought I knew about Rico was a lie.

Or maybe, I just saw the truth.

I knew a girl who got pregnant in our ninth grade year. She kept it, and now she had another kid, and worked at the grocery store. Both her baby daddies were still on the basketball team, and acted like they didn’t have kids running around.

Her life was over, and they were probably going to a D1 school.