Page 66 of Kissed By the Trillest Thug 2

“I promised him that I wouldn’t touch the streets again.”

Ghost just stared at me. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

“So…”

He finally spoke.

“You are telling me because of a promise, you gotta think about helping your brother?”

I didn’t have an answer. Because the truth was that wasn’t just a promise to Mr. Browne. It was a promise to myself. Suddenly, keeping it didn’t feel so simple anymore.

He didn’t pressure me, though he nodded his head toward the front door and told me to think about it then. Knowing that he wasn’t pushing me to break that promise honestly felt good. I stood from the couch. And when I did, he did the same. I then dapped him up before I made my exit. I needed a shower and to get myself ready for work the next day.

Chapter 13

Ghost

Istood there for a long time staring at the closed door.“I gotta think about it.”Those five words kept replaying in my head. A year ago, shit, six months ago, Tahari would’ve grabbed his hoodie before I even finished explaining the situation. Now, he had something to lose. He had school, that job, Maliah, and a future. Somehow, all of that mattered more than me. More than everything we’d been through. I clenched my jaw and paced the apartment once before stopping in the middle of the living room.

I couldn’t even say he was wrong. But that didn’t stop me from being pissed. Because from where I was standing, it felt like he was choosing them over me. The same nigga we had robbed. He was siding with the same nigga who put a bullet inhisarm. All because he’d fallen in love with his daughter. All because he had made a mistake. In my eyes, it was fuck that girl’s daddy. I ran a hand over my face and let out a hard breath. The crazy part was Trigga was finally doing everything we’d talked about when we were kids. He always wanted to live a normal life. Just how his daddy had, and I should’ve been happy for him.

Instead, all I could think about was the fact that my best friend had to think about whether he was going to stand besideme. That shit sat wrong with me. I dropped onto the couch and let my head fall back against the cushion. My eyes landed on Ryan’s business card sitting on the coffee table. I picked it up, turned it over between my fingers, and then tossed it back down. My phone buzzed, and quickly I looked at the screen. I hoped that it was Trigga telling me that he was going to have my back on this one.

Ryan

I let it ring. Eventually, it stopped. A few seconds later, another vibration echoed through the apartment.

Ryan: We need to talk

I locked the screen without replying, and then there was another vibration.

Ryan: The longer you wait, the fewer options you have, Giovani.

“This white boy doesn’t know when to quit,” I mumbled lowly as I tossed the phone onto the couch beside me. Not even five seconds later, it buzzed again. I snatched it up, already expecting to see Ryan’s name. Instead, it was a call from an unknown number. I answered anyway.

“Yeah?”

A man’s voice came through.

“You’ve been hard to find.”

Every muscle in my body stiffened.

“Who the fuck is this?”

A soft chuckle answered me.

“You already know.”

My grip around the phone tightened because instantly I picked up on the voice.

“Reemo.”

“I just wanted to check in to see if you remembered anything yet.”

“I told you everything I know.”

“I don’t believe you.”