I knew she wasn’t to be trusted! If Havoc had listened to me, none of this would have happened.
Guilt hit me that I wasn’t there for Hell either. An image of his smile popped into my head, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“Trini? You good?”
My eyes popped open when I felt Shakur tap my thigh. I jumped up to my feet, his touch suddenly feeling like fire against my skin.
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired, that’s all,” I lied and smiled at him.
“Why don’t you go to my crib and relax. I’ll be over there later,” he suggested.
“No, it’s okay, I don’t wanna disturb you.”
I picked up my purse and put it on my shoulder. Shakur stood there looking at me with a blank expression on his face.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked again.
“Yeah. I’ll call you,” I told him before I hurriedly left the room. I didn’t stop walking until I made it to my car. The realization hitting me hard as hell. The realization was so heavy, my legs felt weak.
I felt cheated, so I could only imagine how Havoc was feeling.
Havoc!
My best friend must have been in turmoil, hurt beyond words by someone he trusted.
“I have to save him,” I said out loud. “I have to.”
I wasn’t able to save Hell, but I damn sure wasn’t going to let anything happen to his brother, too. I owed Hell that much!
My phone started ringing again. I expected it to be Shakur, since I left so suddenly, but it wasn’t. It was Sony—again.
I watched his name light up my iPhone screen for a few more seconds before I finally answered it.
“Did you find out for yourself?” he asked, my silence giving him the answer. Sony chuckled.
“So, again, I ask you, which side are you on?”
“Sony, I will forever be loyal to Havoc and Hell. That would never ever change!” I let him know for the second time.
“Good,” he answered. I should have hung up, but my loyalty wouldn’t let me.
CHAPTER FORTY
MAKARI “HAVOC” SANCHEZ
“What do you mean he’s gone?” I asked Oblique before I turned to face him. He was staring at me like he didn’t want to repeat it for the second time.
“He’s gone, Havoc. His wife too. The house is empty,” Oblique explained. I stood there staring at him for a moment before I fell out laughing. Not because it was funny, but because I just didn’t know what else to do.
My father really upped and left town without saying a word to me. I knew he and I didn’t care for each other, but with the escalating tension rising in the streets, I decided to get him somewhere safe just in case. To me, he was nobody but Orlando Sanchez— a fucking stranger to me, I just happened to share a last name with, but he was a father to my brother, and so, I thought about protecting him off the strength of Hell, but the nigga left.
Left and didn’t look back. He didn’t even ask me what happened, but from his actions, I knew he believed the rumors and chose to cut ties with me completely. I would admit that shit hurt, especially because for the first time, I actually thought about him.
When Sincere announced I was the one to take over, Orlando suddenly wanted to play father of the year to me, calling my phone and turning up at my crib. Yet now that trouble had come, he no longer remembered me.
“He really left?” I said and laughed again until I suddenly stopped. The pain tightening my throat. I started to pace, my hands clenched down by my side, my chest tightening.
It hurt. More than I thought it would. My enemies were closing in on me, and that man left, not even caring if I survived or not.
