“Don’t tell her nothing, Whoop. She gon’ find herself lonely, acting like she don’t need friends or family to have her back,” Shabu said, pouring a double shot into a cup to pass Kennedy, whose face screwed up.
“I have a family. People that don’t set me up or keep secrets that everyone know but me.”
Shabu’s brows knitted before he tipped his head with one corner of his mouth curling at her accusation. The dry look Kennedy shot him back evoked a nod from him as he poured a cup for Savvy and handed it to her.
“What’d you mean by that, Kenn Dog? Elaborate,” he pressed in a casual tone.
Kennedy took her shot to the head, declining to speak because hurt feelings had her close to exposing a hand she would rather play close to the chest until receiving her just dues. The malice laced within Shabu’s suggestion also left her stuck.
He had never treated her anything less than kind, but she picked up on the warning in his tone and the flicker of cockiness in his smirk that made him favor his big brother. The side of Shabu that Relic believed he’d unintentionally helped create was rearing its head at her slight toward his family. Heat filled her chest, and her heart beat a bit faster at the realization; his insidious nature unnerved her more than Relic’s upfront malevolence.
“I’m sure, you know exactly what she’s talking about, Shabu. Why’d you let Relic do that?” Savvy blamed before grilling him as he frowned in genuine confusion.
“The hell you going on about, Whoop?”
“You really don’t know?” Kennedy asked, searching his face for a sign of him lying. After she spotted none, she passed her cup to him for a refill and exposed, “Relic is the reason Lomarrobbed me. He sent me home with a duffel of money, knowing Lomar was tracking my car. Slim and Lomar were best friends, but I didn’t know.”
Shabu’s head jerked up mid-pour of the liquor to see if she was bullshitting him. Her dejected gaze sent his eyes back to the drink, catching it just before it spilled over the brim.
“You got proof of what you’re blaming my brother of, Kenn Dog?”
A hurt laugh escaped her as she broke her corn bread in half and told him, “Relic admitted to it when he walked his ass in my apartment. He was there, and he obviously didn’t tell you that part.”
“So, let me get this straight. You were fucking an opp. My brother found out and used you to get rid of the nigga, and then showed up to make sure shit went smooth?” He glanced up for confirmation. Kennedy chewed with a nod, and he let her know, “You shouldn’t be alive then.”
“Shabu!” Savvy gawked at his brashness, but he paid her no mind.
He trained his eyes on Kennedy, his curiosity piquing tenfold about her and Relic after hearing the uncut version of the story. His brother always stressed to him that he’d have to handle his wife if Savvy ever did some flaw shit or violated the family, yet Kennedy was in his home chilling as if she hadn’t.
“He’s right.” Kennedy whispered her agreement but followed up with, “Tell me why I’m still alive.”
“Why do you think?”
Her shoulder rose in a halfhearted shrug since for the first time, she couldn’t calculate Relic’s moves. His actions were burning a hole in her fucking brain, knowing that he could’ve taken her life, or set her up to take the fall, but he did neither.
“You’re alive because he wants you to be. I bet that he was gon’ play it to the family like y’all planned it together, the sameway y’all did with Slim, because if not...” Shabu left the rest open for interpretation, assuming she could fill in the blank that one of his folks would’ve finished the job. “Don’t tell anybody else the truth. Whoop, you know how it goes.”
“Fasho,” she replied, sipping her drink with a dutiful nod. Her face scrunched before she asked, “So, are any of the family allowed to hurt me if—”
“Fuck, no,” he spat before she could finish. “It’s levels to this shit. You’re my fucking wife, so I wish those niggas would try it. A random bitch, or even a girlfriend, ain’t off limits, though. It depends on what they did.”
“Welcome to the fold.”
Their sacred phrase coming from unaffiliated lips sent Shabu’s head turning toward Kennedy, who’d said it. His brows furrowed as he passed her cup back to her.
“Where’d you hear that from?”
“Relic before he left my apartment. He told me, it was a first for him and not to make him regret it. So, what level does that put me on?”
“A level you gon’ wish you never made it to. Have fun with that.”
Savvy cackled, while Kennedy’s chin dropped to her chest as Shabu handed over the bottle, shot her a pitying look, and then exited the room without another word. The same foreboding that’d took up residence in her gut when Savvy had warned her to choose carefully before sinking into Relic’s word returned. She chugged her shot, hoping to wash away the glaring signals that she’d gone beyond a point of no return.
Relic despised wasting time, but he’d done just that as he sat in his car outside of his brother’s home for the past fifteen minutes, debating whether to knock on the door for Kennedy or drive off.
Morrone had informed him about her release, and not long after, a call from Shabu followed to let him know she was with Savvy. Relic figured it was best to leave her with her friend while she sat with her emotions about what had transpired between them. In hindsight, he realized leaving a woman like Kennedy alone with her thoughts wasn’t the wisest move on his part.
As if his brother knew that he was ducking smoke for the first time in his life, Shabu moseyed out onto the front porch with his attention on his phone and a plastic cup in his hand. Relic set aside his reservations and exited the car after Shabu peered up, pausing before he pocketed his cell while a taunting grin spread across his face.
