Page 118 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

“Oop; I know that look. Cochise tell you about his damu princess? I hate her for you off GP, but from what I heard, I’m prolly gonna hang with her when you’re not around.”

Dori blows another bubble as she takes a section from the front of my hair and lays the wand on the lace to mold it to her liking.

“Nope. That look isn’t for Cochise. Only Rico can get Wyn that mad. You won’t let me talk to Autumn; let me talk to him instead.”

I cut my eyes to a grinning YT, before shaking my head slightly. “No talking to anyone on my behalf! And me and Cochise already spoke. I’m happy for him.”

“You better than me,” Dori scoffs, bumping the ends of the bob.

“I was never gonna be queen of East Kenton,” I chuckle. “No, I just had a random thought. Um… YT… how do you know Reem isn’t–”

“Reemie Pooh would never play with his life like that.” YT shakes her head vehemently, before grabbing one of the beauty blenders and the blush off the counter. When she tried for the foundation, I told her I wasn’t covering my freckles, which almost made her emotional.

“My ex was a cheater. But Reemie is not my ex, and thankfully, Reemie is so perfect that he reassures me whenever my mind begins to play tricks on me. But, in your case… Rico is your ex. How is that gonna work?”

“He’s not my current either.”

“Which ex is this? You gon’ bring him around? Cochise finna be sparse after his album comes out. That’s the deal he has with Chief.”

“Seeing Rico and Grimey go head to head is something I’d pay to see!” YT cackles.

“Nah,” Dori giggles, “Tripp is the one who you wanna see press this new nigga. They’re all protective of their Freckles cuz, but Tripp do not play about her at all! He kicked Coach’s cane when he found out they were messing around! All them jokes go out the window if he feel like someone’s finna try her.”

My phone lights up, and of course it’s my G$ groupchat. Tripp says they’ll be at my show, with all of them blue hearting the message. I heart it as well, and go back to my text thread with Rico.

“Everyone will be fine because I am single.”

Dori takes off the band of my lace and grabs the spray to melt it. “You sound just like me when some shit finna pop off,” she cackles, spraying some onto her finger. “He coming tonight?”

I just shrug, over the conversation. It’s not my girls; I figured YT and Dori would mesh well. It’s the images of Rico fucking other women swirling around in my brain over and over that’s fucking up the vibes. Usually, to get in the zone, I have a little help. Help that is now obsolete.

“YT, can you hand me that gum? And can we turn on some of my songs? I bomb this shit and Sheisty said I’m done.”

Dori puts pressure on my forehead with her finger as she dabs more spray onto my hairline. “I mean, I guess you should believe that so you kill it tonight, but you already know Shaka don’t know how to cut no one off. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

We giggle some more before the beginning notes of one of my earlier tracks begins to fill the bathroom.

Two chews of this menthol gum have me relaxing immediately, and I lock my phone and toss it onto the counter.

I’m Wynter Snow. I’m a lot of things, but insecure has never been one of them.

“Why she got on sunglasses if she ain’t high?!”

“Because, nigga, sunglasses are a part of the ‘fit! Back up, Shaka. You know you supposed to stay sixty yards away from me!”

“Can’t no fuckin’ court tell me where I can and cannot go, Dori. Dead that shit now.”

“I’ll dead you–”

“This is a lot. And I’ve avoided Reemie long enough. Let me know how everything goes.” YT pulls me into a hug before slipping out of my hotel room.

Leaving me with G$.

Red throws his arm over my shoulder and leads me out of the room next. His locs are crinkly from the two-strand twists and hang in his face, and he doesn’t have on a shirt under his jean jacket, so his boxers are out, too. I’m tempted to give him a wedgie as I curl my arm around his waist and lean into him.

“You sure you not on shit?”

I look up at him from my cute new slim rectangular sunglasses. “I’m literally clenching my ass cheeks to avoid sharting on myself, so trust me, I couldn’t drink if I wanted to.”