Quest let go.
I headed for the stairs, my mind already running through scenarios. None of them ended well for those two niggas.
Farah might’ve been reckless. Might’ve been trying to get my attention in all the wrong ways for years.
But she was still Rashid’s daughter.
And that made her untouchable.
2
PRIME
I took the stairs two at a time, moving fast but controlled. The music was loud enough to drown out most sound, but I could still track Farah’s location by the way people moved around her, giving her space because she was stumbling, or giving her attention because even drunk and sloppy, she was still fine. Farah was thick as hell and had the sexiest pair of lips. But she was forbidden fruit.
By the time I hit the main floor, she was near the bar, swaying between those two niggas like a rag doll. One of them had his hand on her lower back, fingers spread too wide. The other was leaning in close, saying something that made her giggle.
I moved through the crowd like water, people parting without even realizing why. Maybe it was the look on my face. Maybe it was just instinct. Either way, I was on them in seconds.
“Farah.”
Her head snapped up, eyes unfocused but recognition immediate. “Prime!”
She threw herself at me, nearly falling in the process. I caught her by the arms, steadying her, and the smell of alcohol hit me like a wall. Vodka, probably. Mixed with something sweet that wasn’t doing her any favors.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here!” She was loud, slurring, hands grabbing at my chest. “I’ve been texting you, did you get my texts?”
“Yeah.” I hadn’t responded to a single one.
The two men she’d been with stepped closer, territorial. The taller one, dark-skinned with a fitted cap pulled low, looked annoyed. “Yo, we was in the middle of something.”
“Nah,” I said, my eyes on him. “You done.”
Farah was still hanging on me, practically draped across my chest. “You guys are so nice,” she slurred, looking back at them with a drunken smile. “Can we all go back to somebody’s place? Like, all of us?”
My jaw clenched.
“Walk away,” I said to the men, my voice low enough that they had to strain to hear it over the music.
The shorter one, lighter-skinned with a fade and too much jewelry, squinted at me. Then his eyes widened. “Yo… you—you Prime Banks?”
“Yeah.”
He took a step back immediately, hands up. “Aight, man. My bad. We good. We good.”
But his boy wasn’t moving. The tall one with the fitted cap looked me up and down, then looked at Farah like she was something he’d already claimed. “Nah, fuck that. She came with us. Shewantedto come with us.”
“Bruh,” the shorter one hissed, grabbing his arm. “Let it go. That’s Prime.Prime.”
“I don’t give a fuck who he is,” Cap Boy said, shaking him off. “She was leaving withus.”
I tilted my head slightly, still holding Farah upright with one arm. “Your boy’s smart. You should listen to him.”
“Fuck you.”
He swung.
Sloppy. Drunk. Slow.
