“Us?” she questioned, and I nodded. She pinched the bridge of her nose, then slowly exhaled. “I’m not trying to be funny or anything when I say this, but what ‘us’, Amethyst? We have never discussed ‘us’. We fall into this pattern and go with the flow.” She shook her head. “There is no us, and again, this is me not trying to be funny or mean. It’s just what it is.”
“You think so?” I wanted to tell her she was wrong, but I couldn’t. We hadn’t discussed shit, but she was my woman. If I had to shout that shit from every rooftop in the world, then I would.
“I know so.”
“Alright, bet,” I said, nodding. I pushed my chair back and stood. “Go get some rest. I will wake you up when it’s time.” I kissed her forehead, then stepped around her to start cleaning up.
“Amethyst,” she sighed.
“It’s cool, Sunshine,” I said, stacking the plates. “Go lie down. You need your rest.” I picked up our plates, then went to the door I’d come out of and opened it. “Come on before the sprinklers come on and you get wet.”
**
I knocked on Gray’s door and waited. I’d been running around with Yale all day and was getting a chance to step out on my own. When we were on our way to the jewelers, she dropped the bomb on me that Gray was Lavender’s sister. While she worked,I talked with Cross and Nine and got a complete background on Gray. I lifted my hand to knock again, and the door opened.
“I figured you’d show today,” Gray said, stepping back. Seeing her outside her scrubs, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, caught me off guard. She and Lavender shared too many fucking features for me to miss. “Come on.”
“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “Let’s go for a ride.”
Gray nodded, “Let me grab my purse and keys.” She turned to leave, but I put my hand on her arm.
“Leave them,” I said, and she stopped walking. She looked back at me, and I licked my lips. “Gray, if you knew I was coming, then you know how this shit is about to go.”
“I do,” she agreed, then sighed. “Alright, let’s go.” She turned back around, grabbed her door handle, and pulled the door closed behind her as she walked out.
I opened the door for her, then rounded the car to get inside and pulled off. We didn’t say anything as I drove. Gray didn’t look nervous, but that didn’t mean shit. I’d seen this woman pull off some damn miracles in the hospital, so I knew how she was under pressure. I pulled into the hospital’s parking garage and parked in my spot.
“What are we doing here?” she asked when I turned off the car.
“Meeting my family,” I answered and got out. Gray got out of the car and followed me into the hospital. My people already knew we were on our way, so after we checked in with the security team, we went straight to the conference room.
“Gray, these are my brothers, Pyrite and Citrine.” I pointed to each brother so she would know who was who. “Citrine, Pyrite, this is Dr. Graysen Holding.”
“Damn,” Citrine said, looking at Gray. He looked her over with no interest in his eyes, then turned to me. “How come you never saw the resemblance?”
“No clue,” I answered, and he nodded. I pointed to the empty seat across from Citrine, and Gray sat. “You already said you knew I was coming, so let’s get down to it. Where is your sister?”
“Probably with Tank,” she answered, then wiped her hand over her braids. “Listen, you don’t have to believe me, and honestly, I get why you wouldn’t.”
“We didn’t say we didn’t believe you,” I told her. I looked over at my brothers before turning back to her. “Do you know what your sister and her nigga have been up to?”
“No,” she replied and shook her head. “I didn’t even know she knew you all until the week before the shooting happened.”
“What do you mean?” I sat back and moved my chair back and forth. Nine and Cross had already looked into Gray’s history, and we knew she hadn’t spoken to her sister in years. No calls, texts, cards, nothing. They weren’t even friends on social media. I don’t know how she did it because I checked in with my people daily.
“Lavender called me asking for help,” she replied. “We haven’t talked in forever, so I was surprised as hell. She knew I wouldn’t deal with her if she was dating Tank, so when she called, I can’t lie and say I wasn’t excited. I miss my sister.”
“But she didn’t leave Tank?” I asked, and she shook her head. “What happened?”
“Tank’s shoulder was fucked up,” she explained. “She needed me to look at it. When they pulled up in this busted ass Charger, I knew that they’d done something that they shouldn’t have.”
“Wait, a Charger?” Citrine asked. “What color was it?”
“White,” Gray answered. “I asked Lavender what happened, and she said they’d gotten into a wreck, and at first I believed them, but when I was looking over Tank, he mentioned to Lavender something about having other cars for this reason and told her to call Quincy, and he would know what to do.”
“That fuck nigga,” Citrine said, standing. He ran his hands over his hair and started to pace. “That nigga was sitting around us this entire time, watching, and even throwing in a few fucking ideas, and it was him the entire time.”
“It wasn’t just him,” Gray said. “Lavender was a part of it, too. I pulled her aside when Tank was in the bathroom and asked her what was really going on. She said that she was helping Tank handle something for his boss. That the job paid well and all she had to do was get one of you to fall for her.” Gray looked between the three of us and sighed. “I already knew it wasn’t Amethyst because all he ever did was talk about Yale, and I’d met her. Amethyst mentioned that Pyrite was in a relationship, so he was out of the equation, so that only leaves you right?”
