Page 42 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

My sight focuses back on Snow, and her eyes are pinched in concern.

I relax my face and smirk. “You good to walk? We got a lot of ground to cover.”

She frowns instantly, and I barely have enough time to dodge the empty water bottle she launches at me.

“Ay, you getting too fuckin’ comfortable,” I grit without thinking. Standing, I grab the bottle and toss it in the trash. I narrow my eyes at her victorious smile.

“Oh, you real mad,” she cackles, before wincing as she stands. “My bad, Patches.”

“This shit is temporary. All them wigs you wear, you don’t know if you finna be a plucked bird for right now or for the rest of your life.”

Shock registers on her face at my comeback. Shit, I don’t know where it came from either.

I’d never been one to really go back and forth, except with the bros. Snow would try to get off her jokes, but I always laughed at her, never threw one back.

But that Patches shit was weak. Too fucking soon.

“You’re a dick. My edges are growing back same as my crown,” she says, but she still rubs her fingertips to make sure she’s telling the truth.

Hasn’t she seen herself when she looked in the mirror?

You know Snow never liked her freckles.

My gaze shifts to them. Her face is still flushed from the gym, making them stand out more.

Though, no matter how much makeup she caked on, I could always see her freckles. They, much like their owner, have never been able to blend in.

“You know, Shad drifts off like that.”

My jaw ticks. “Don’t compare me to no other nigga, Snow. Let’s go.”

I storm out of my office, not even sure where the flare of jealousy comes from. Both Shad and Sean always had a crush on her, ever since she spent the night giving them pointers on their music. She’d never seen him like that, even if the world speculated that she was in the middle of Cochise and Shad’s public rap beef last year.

No, Wyn never crossed that line with Shad. Not even because he’s Set’s brother, or because fucking two of my bros is too much.

Somehow, some way, they formed a bond that rivals mine with Haze. She’s fiercely protective of him, and he’s the same with her. He left his phone in the car the day Pooh ambushed me when we met with him, and while he was gone, Snow kept blowing his line.

His phone was open to the thread, so it was nothing to read their messages. After she cussed him out for disappearing on us, she agreed to appear on stage with him. From there, they talked about everything; Shad’s baby mama Mace, advice about Wyn’s first album, even her fears about getting sober.

She was unapologetically honest with him. He knew everything about her, and didn’t have to pull teeth about it, either.

I wish I could have lurked more before he came back.

Though, knowing Shad, he would have let me look if I’d asked.

“We gon’ start at the hotel, and make our way through the grounds until we end up back home… Now, technically, it’s a boutique resort, since we got activities and shit, but that’s a lot of words, I guess.” We’re in the lobby now, by the gold La Villa de Abedul sign on the wall.

One of my cousins is manning the concierge, and she waves at me before handling a guest. Nearly all of our rooms are full, since it’s still January, and the foyer is bustling with activity as the experiences for the day are beginning.

The hotel itself is shaped like a hollow square, with the middle courtyard covered by glass ceiling panels, so the rain doesn’t disrupt pool activities.

I thought of everything.

Snow keeps her head up, lips forming an o as I show her everything; the few empty rooms we had, the activities board and adjacent rooms, my different cousins and locals who work, as they rush past us.

Our hands keep brushing as we stroll. It would be nothing to slip my fingers through hers, but I don’t. In fact, I shift over, so they stop.

It’s bad enough that something like nervous pride begins to build, the more I show her.