Page 107 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

“Sorry,” he repeats, chuckling mirthlessly.

“I am,” I stress. “At first, I was hurt. I thought I didn’t matter to him, because I knew if he’d told you, you wouldn’t have gotten at me. So I did entertain you. But I wasn’t just outright using you… You have to know how much your friendship means to me.”

“I don’t mean shit to yo ass, bro.”

“Casey–”

“Nah.” He lifts his head, and his blank face sparks terror in my belly. “Don’t ever in yo fuckin’ life call me that. You know, I always felt bad that I never fucked with you on that level. I felt like I played with your feelings, but now I see the real. All my niggas was right about you; I shoulda never even took it there witchu. You and Rico prolly had a good laugh about this, but you should know by now how I do muthafuckas who think they can get over on me. Stay dangerous, Wyn. You and yo nigga.”

I don’t get a word in before he clicks in my face.

That felt… ominous. Just a day ago, I would laugh at the notion of me being on Set’s bad side. I would laugh at Set having a bad side.

Now… now I’m opening a text thread with Brina. Damn right I’m snitching!

She takes a second to answer, but as soon as she does, my thumbs are flying across the keyboard.

Me

U up?

Brina

Barely…

Just a heads up. Ur husband is going to kill me. Me and my man. Big ask, but can u talk him down? Put it on him? I’ll owe u

Brina calls me immediately, just as heavy knocks sound off on the front door.

“Why is everyone up so early,” I groan, answering the phone. “I want to text so it’s documented–”

“Casey isn’t going to kill you. Even if you deserve it. Why the hell did you not tell anyone you had history with Rico?!”

Rolling over, I slide off the bed and amble over to my bag for some sweats. “Look; he was my first boyfriend. How was I supposed to know we’d reconnect?! I had no reason to ever bring up my past, Brina. It was a moot point until–”

“Until you fucked him again.” Brina sighs, and I put her on speaker to throw on a hoodie.

“I mean… I get it. But you gotta look at it from his side. This is exactly why–”

“Yes, Sabrina, I know. This is why you don’t fuck friends. Please; a condition of our friendship is to not bring up the fact that we are Eskimo sisters. You said that, not me.”

“Well, your sexual history is a hot topic right now,” she snaps. “Believe me, hearing my nigga question another nigga about another woman is not something I ever wanna hear again. I threw three pumps at his head while packing a go bag last night.”

“You have to know it’s purely male ego shit, right? Set and I–”

“I know,” she breathes. Unlocking my bedroom door, I go to the kitchenette to pour some water as more knocks sound off.

“I’m not obtuse, Wyn. We are the more evolved gender for a reason. Last night was… a lot. A lot of info was thrown from all sides. Look–I’ll talk to Case. You know he likes to be petty, but he’ll listen to me once he calms down. And I’m sure once everyone meets Mars, it’ll all blow over…”

I stop at the door and peek into the peephole, eyeing Shad and YT.

“What are you not saying?” I ask, opening the door for them. YT is dressed down, which means it’s not a good day. Shad rushes past me to inspect the suite like he’s ready to drag someone out and beat them silly.

“Was what you said to Autumn true? About your parents?”

Closing the door behind them, I rest my back on it. “Why would I lie about that?”

“Why haven’t you said anything before now?”