Page 70 of Kissed By the Trillest Thug 2

“I will.”

He quickly repacked the lunch he was given, and I watched him climb into the truck a few minutes later. The engine came to life before he slowly eased out of the parking lot. Sha stopped beside me. We both watched the truck disappear onto the street.

“You trust him.”

I slipped my hands into my pockets.

“I trust my daughter.”

“That ain’t what I asked,” Sha said with a smirk.

Neither one of us said anything for a minute. I kept my eyes on the road long after the truck was gone. Finally, I offered him a response.

“I think he’s trying.”

Sha nodded.

“That’s all any man can do.”

I looked away from the road and back toward the shop.

“I just hope…”

My voice trailed off, and Sha looked over once it did.

“Hope what?” he asked.

I thought about the streets and all the mistakes we’d made. I thought about the people we’d buried and the life I’d spent years trying to leave behind.

“I hope his past don’t come looking for him.”

Tahari was out here in the streets robbing muthafuckas. I just hoped that whatever dealings he had in them were truly done. Sha didn’t answer. He didn’t have to because he knew like I did that some ghost had a way of finding you no matter how far you ran.

MALIAH

I rolled the windows down as I pulled out of my dad’s shop. I let the late afternoon breeze fill the car. The second my phone connected to Bluetooth, the last song that was playing hadpicked up where it left off. I couldn’t help but smile. I turned the volume up another notch and sang right along with it.

“She said, she said, you ain’t no good, no good…”

I laughed to myself while tapping my fingers against the steering wheel.

“But you feel so good…”

The light ahead turned red, and I eased to a stop.

“She said, she said, what if I could? But I gotta leave you alone… She said I gotta leave you alone…”

Life felt… peaceful. School was back in session. Tahari was doing good. And Daddy wasn’t walking around with theI’ll shoot you againfacial expression every time he looked at him. For the first time in a long time, it felt like everything was finally falling into place. My phone lit up across the dashboard.

MJ

I answered through my steering wheel.

“What’s up, favorite brother?”

He laughed.

“That’s because I’m your only brother.”