Page 48 of Kissed By the Trillest Thug 2

“Pardon me.”

I started, but I hadn’t made it two steps before somebody stepped directly into my path.

I stopped. Slowly, I lifted my eyes. One of the dudes that was standing behind Reemo looked back at me without saying a word. I glanced to my left. Another one had closed the gap. Then another. A quiet laugh slipped through my nose.

“So y’all really tryna do this?”

Nobody answered. I looked back at Reemo.

“If you’re trying to figure out what happened to Bashar…” I shrugged, “I hope you get the answers you’re looking for.”

The words tasted bitter coming out of my mouth.

“But don’t make me a part of that.”

Reemo took a step closer toward me.

“My brother said your name.”

“And your brother ain’t here to explain why,” I snapped.

The sentence landed between us like a brick. I was losing patience with this pressure tactic that they were trying to put on me.

“You know what? That’s the part that’s been eating me alive.”

“Well, I can’t help you.”

Reemo searched my face one last time.

“I think you can.”

“I can’t,” my words came out firmer this time, “so whatever you heard…” I looked around at the men standing beside him before bringing my attention back to Reemo. “Leave me out of it.”

For several long seconds, nobody moved. Then Reemo nodded once.

“Aight.”

He stepped back just enough for the man blocking my path to move out of it.

“But this ain’t over.”

I didn’t answer, because I couldn’t. As I walked toward the entrance of the store, the only thing running through my mind was the fact that the last person Bashar trusted had just looked me in my face. And I was the one who knew why he’d never be able to answer Reemo’s questions. By the time I made it inside the store, I realized I hadn’t grabbed a shopping cart. I stood there for a second, staring down one of the aisles before letting out a quiet breath and grabbing one anyway. My mind wasn’t on groceries. It was still sitting outside with Reemo and his gang of niggas. I pushed the cart down the first aisle without paying much attention to what I was throwing into it. I grabbed bread, eggs, milk, and a few frozen meals.

I reached into the cooler for a bottle of orange juice before my eyes landed on a package of cinnamon rolls. My hand stopped as a small smirk found its way onto my face. Tahari used to tear these things up. Every Saturday morning, without fail, he’d throw some into the oven, and he swore they tasted better than anything you could buy at a bakery. I used to tell him he had the taste buds of a five-year-old. The memory made me chuckle to myself. Without even thinking about it, I picked the box up and dropped it into the cart. I made it halfway down the aisle before stopping. I looked down at it. For a second, I just stared.

Tahari didn’t live with me anymore. Slowly, I picked the can back up. Then stood there holding it. The silence around me suddenly felt loud. Over the last couple of days, everything had changed for me. There were too many names that had trouble tagging behind them that were circling me. There was Ryan, Reemo, the ghost of Bashar, and the Ruiz Cartel.

None of it felt like something I could figure out on my own. My grip tightened around the can before I finally set it onto some random shelf in the store. A quiet breath escaped me. The weight of everything sitting on my shoulders felt heavier than I wantedto admit. And whether I liked it or not… I found myself wishing my brother was standing beside me.

Chapter 10

Trigga

Ihad walked through the front doors of the Browne estate more times than I could count. Somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like Maliah’s house and started feeling familiar. I’d eaten dinner here and watched movies here. I had spent so much time with her family here that there was a time when walking through these front doors felt easy. Today… It felt like a complete one-eighty. The house hadn’t changed, but the people inside had. Mr. Browne knew I’d robbed him. Mrs. Browne knew her husband had put a bullet in my arm. I’m sure MJ knew too.

The only person who was probably still blissfully unaware was Maylee.

Everybody else knew exactly what had happened.