Movement in her peripheral sent her head swiveling, and her hands trembled once seeing Drish standing in her living room with his eyes on Lomar. When they wandered to her, she tried to speak, but cottonmouth—and a frog in her throat that accompanied suppressed tears—wouldn’t allow her to utter a word.
“The police are probably on their way already.” His voice volleyed between urgency and caution as he tucked his gun away since it wasn’t needed. Drish noted the same shock and wildness in her eyes that he’d seen reflected at him in the mirror the first time he’d taken a life per Relic’s command. “I need the money, boss lady. If the police sees a dead body on the floor and a bag full of cash, shit ain’t gon’ end good for you.”
“Where is he?”
Kennedy ignored his warning and croaked the main question that she cared to know as numbness imbued her body. It coasted through her limbs and enclosed her heart like a pine coffin, burying her feelings six feet deep as the confirmation of Relic’s treacherous deeds settled in. Lomar being the man behind the mask had almost persuaded her that Relic played no hand in what had gone down. Drish’s presence, along with his knowledge of the money in her possession, proved her dead wrong.
“I don’t know where he is. We were on the phone and—whoa!” Drish tossed up both hands when she aimed her gun at him. “Fuck are you doing?!”
“I like you, Drish. I really do, but I’ll put yo ass down and say you were with Lomar if you lie to my face again. Where the hell is Relic?”
“I’m right here, Larenn.”
That monotone voice she hadn’t expected to hear, but hoped she would, entered her space and sent her emotions clawing at the pine box she buried them in after realizing Relic did the one thing she had warned him not to. He had cautioned her that he’d kill her if she fucked him over, and she’d returned the sentiment. Her finger twitched against the metal beneath it since he obviously assumed her threat wasn’t bona fides.
Her lungs constricted, making her lightheaded as he came into view, gunless but commanding attention even without a weapon. Lomar’s words immediately replayed in her head.Relic had set the fire. It clicked that his job offer, her car, and the cash he tricked off had been in penitence or bribery for reasons she wasn’t aware of. The heat of the moment sent the cogs in her head spinning, formulating a countermove that’d hurt him more than a bullet from her weapon ever could.
“Drish, grab my bag and head to the hideout until I send back word that you’re in the clear.” Relic gave that directive with his eyes on Kennedy as sirens blared in the distance. “Larenn, lower your gun.”
“Fuck you. If he moves, I’m shooting him.”
“I don’t put it past you, but don’t take your anger out on Drish. If you’re pissed, aim for who you really want to hurt, baby.”
Drish dipped past her and toward her bedroom when Kennedy followed instructions—shifting her gun to Relic, who licked his lips and then cracked a doleful smile.
“What’d I tell you, huh? If you pull that muthafucka, you better shoot it. Why are you hesitating?”
“I swear to God, I will...”
She pushed out a fractured warning through clenched teeth as Relic stepped toward her with a fearless stride.
Her sweaty hands quavered as she worked overtime to disregard the ache in her chest at the thought of hurting him at any capacity. It enraged her how he could do it to her so goddamn effortlessly.
“You set me up. You knew Lomar was coming here but left me a sitting fucking duck!”
“Like you knew it was him that drove past us but said nothing?” When Kennedy opened her mouth but clamped it shut with no retort, he closed in on her with a roll of his neck to ease his tension and continued. “You were fucking with the enemy, but I didn’t take that out on you. I didn’t send someone in to kill you, knowing there was a chance I can’t trust you. I still made sure that I was here, you were safe, and that Drish was nearby.”
“That’s not the same, and you know it. I didn’t know Lomar was gunning for you, but you could’ve told me! I would have fucking—”
Her words caught in her throat before she bit her lip after digesting the fact that she would’ve helped him set up Lomar just as she did Slim if he’d asked. She wouldn’t have thought twice about it because with Relic, she was that young girl again, enraptured by the power and thrill of his status while falling for every shortcoming that he’d shown her, just as she’d done with her first love. History was repeating itself.
That harsh truth embittered Kennedy and soured her stomach since she had believed she was exempt from the repercussions of those flagrant flaws back then, too. Her vision distorted and mind fogged because she’d let Relic suck her intohis world so fast and deep that the only way she could see herself free of it was to take his life while she had the opening.
As if he’d read her mind, Relic took that final step to close the gap between her, him, and the barrel of her gun. Kennedy gasped for air, but Relic didn’t break a sweat.
“I know I fucked up,” he whispered with that fleeting contrition in his voice. Hurt swarmed her gaze more than anger, and it sent a pang to his chest that only his son and brothers could inflict within him untilher. “Do what you feel, Kennedy. I won’t hold it against you.”
He pressed his torso against the smoking gun like he was ready to go—like he was using the opportunity as an out since prison was in his foreseeable future anyway. Her inflated chest collapsed when his unwavering eyes synced with her dark ones he loved. For the first time since she’d known Relic, his frosty gaze softened like his silent way of saying he didn’t blame her.
She couldn’t pull the fucking trigger.
Even knowing the violations he’d committed against her and hidden, Kennedy couldn’t convince her finger to react with ease like it’d done with Lomar or the last nigga who’d cut her so fucking deeply. Her face contorted into a scowl when Relic reached out to graze a knuckle along her scarred cheek.
“Your emotions are showing, Larenn. We’ll talk more once your head is clearer.”
He backpedaled toward the door, making her hands tremor in uncontainable anger as Drish breezed past with the duffel hooked over his shoulder as if shit were sweet. Kennedy didn’t attempt to stop either of them.
“I won’t be too far, baby. I’ll never be too far,” Relic asserted, his piercing eyes searing into hers with brazen conviction.
