Page 41 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

Now, I’m lowkey thanking her.

Snow’s been slowly getting her weight back since the ibogaine treatment. She’s still too skinny, but that's not stopping my dick from stirring as I stare at the beads of sweat that disappear into her sports bra.

And her hard ass nipples stabbing the fabric.

My computer finishes loading, so I lose myself in all the emails I have, and deciphering them so that I know what’s actually being said. I wasn’t lying to Snow about rearranging my whole life. All the other shit I’ve been into is dead in the water with this eye patch.

Most niggas in the Armed Forces will be discharged or retire and find work in the private sector. After all, there’s more money and less oversight to still do the shit you did when you were a slave to the government.

So that’s what I did. The correct term is mercenary. A gun for hire. Me and most of my old unit. Gathering intelligence. Destabilizing regimes. Maybe even setting up scandalous bitches in compromising positions. It was fun, and kept my pockets lined and me out of trouble. I’m attractive, but I have a forgettable face. Tall, but not too tall. Could speak a few languages and dialects, so I could come off American, or Afro-whatever.

Forgettable.

Niggas will remember a nigga with an eye patch. Or a scar cutting into their brow.

So I’ve been communicating with all my contacts that I’m sat down permanently. Shad texted me the picture I sent Asa to confirm what Snow did to me, but I didn’t reply. He’d be on her side, like he always is, and I don’t miss the times where he and Sean would ask me about her and look judgmental when I’d shut it down.

The bros don’t even know just how sick Shad gets with his spying shit. He takes nosy to a whole other level, but since he never presses people like Peanut does, it goes over everyone’s heads.

Not me.

I know that nigga be all into our lives, just like I knew he’d see that picture. I was fifty-fifty on him reaching out, but that’s probably because Snow hadn’t even talked to Auty yet.

Maybe later.

Most of the time, companies committed to causing mayhem in the name of the almighty dollar aren’t too keen on letting you live a normal life. So, I had to get creative with my retirement plans.

Asa doctored up a couple pictures, and boom, Fredo Alvarez is no more.

Shad always laughed that I assumed his identity after I was discharged, but since we had the same DNA, I figured it was a no-brainer.

I wasn’t doing that shit forever.

And since he got caught up in Tiny and Set’s war, it wasn’t like he had a death certificate. The organizations I worked for loved the shadows, so they didn’t ask many questions. They just wanted results, and I more than delivered.

So for the second time, Fredo has died.

I sigh, exiting out of my encrypted email. When my eyes dart to the couch, Snow is already watching me.

I don’t know which is more jarring. Seeing her with freckles again. Seeing her with a quarter-inch of hair. Or seeing the way she’s looking at me.

Like she’s trying to figure out.

It was never hard for her before. Even through all the lies and half-truths, she knew me.

She saw me.

It’s part of the reason I’ve stayed so far away. Snow walks around aloof by choice. Because she doesn’t like what she sees. But that doesn’t mean her eyes don’t work.

I don’t like that she has to figure me out. I don’t like that she doesn’t trust herself anymore, when it comes to me.

You’re so damn confusing, Rick.

I blink hard, ignoring Fredo. It’s one thing to go back and forth with myself when I’m alone. I do not need Snow thinking I’m hearing voices in my head.

I thought you didn’t care about Snow.

“Rico, are you okay?”