“I’m not putting a hit on Parker.” I run my tongue over my teeth, squeezing my hands into fists on my knees. “But he isn’t taking Bristol from me. And I’ll be damned if he’s gonna hurt her. I just want options.”
“Corpse ain’t an option. Ever.” Amir glances at the raised glass partition insulating our voices from the driver’s ears. “And I’m gonna forget we had this conversation.”
“I don’t want you to forget.” I level a hard, narrow look at him, everything in me pulled tight. “He’s your cousin. Just reach out to him.”
“I don’t fuck with Corpse, and you know it.”
“I got pulled over for no damn reason Sunday before we got to Ma’s, Amir.” My voice carries the bitterness of that memory. “Bristol was right there while some no-nut cop threw me against the car and cuffed me. He had me hemmed up, sitting on a curb. He could have hurt her. He could have touched her, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing about it. Do you know how that made me feel?”
It’s quiet in the car while Amir studies me with grave eyes. He’s been beside me on that street before. The two of us in a line of our friends, bellies scraping asphalt, plastic cuffs cutting off circulation, dogs sniffing around us like hounds scenting prey. All while cops searched the car for drugs. And me, a music student making straight A’s.
“The power we have, the control we think we have, it’s an illusion. We can lose it in an instant." Cynicism roughens my voice. "Now, I’m a lucky man with more blessings and opportunities than most people, no matter what color they are, but in the end, it comes down to this skin I’m in. And I know all cops aren’t bad, but it’s the damn system. I can’t even call it broken because it’s functioning exactly how it was designed to - profiling us, prosecuting us for shit other people get away with, scot free.”
We pull up to the imposing glass building housing Prodigy, but I’m not getting out until I know Amir understands how serious I am about this.
“You know how it is, Amir. There’s a whole system stacked against me, and this motherfucker who’s out to get my girl has every advantage. I just want options. Ya feel me?”
I sit with a stony face while Amir weighs what I just told him.
“I’ll call Corpse,” he finally says softly.
“Good.” I open the car door.
“But,” Amir reaches over and grabs my arm, “I’m talking to him, not you. We can’t have any of this shit anywhere near you if things . . . if anything ever happens.”
I stare at the face I’ve seen evolve from acned adolescence to the grown ass man still trying to protect me.
“It won’t come to that,” I assure him. “These are just precautions, but yeah, you can deal with him. Unless I need to.”
Amir drops my arm, sucks his teeth and shakes his head. “Fool.”
“You the fool.” I chuckle. “And don’t think I didn’t see you tryin’ to holla at Shondra Sunday.”
He groans, but a smile illuminates his face. “We’re going out this Friday.”
“No way.” I lean into the open door, arms braced against the car. “You finally grew some balls and asked her out.”
If his skin wasn’t so brown, I bet his cheeks would be red. Chagrin and embarrassment sit together awkwardly on his face. “She actually asked me out.”
“She . . . so wait. You been crushing on this girl half your life, working up the nerve to ask her out, and she . . .” I press my fist to my lips to stifle the laugh. “So what you’re saying is Shondra’s balls are bigger than yours.”
“Hey, some might say the same about you and Bristol,” he says defensively.
“Oh, no, homey. Bristol loves these big balls. Trust.” I propel myself away from the car with a deep laugh and yell, “Deeze nuts!”
Chapter 29
BRISTOL
“BRISTOL, GIVE ME YOUR PHONE.”
Sarah is posted against my office door when she makes the odd request. She came in, closed the door behind her, and demanded my phone.
“What?” I return my attention to my laptop with a laugh. “My phone? Why?”
When she doesn’t answer, I look back up. She’s still standing there, back pressed to the door as if she’s keeping something at bay. Her eyes are round. Her lips are tight. Her hands wring around one another at her waist. She catches sight of the phone on my desk at the same time as I do. We both dive for it. Somehow from across the room, that little ninny manages to snatch the phone that was only two inches from me.
“Give me my phone.” I hold out my hand. “Right now.”