“You asking cause you actually care or because her friend was looking hot as fuck last night?”
“I…” I don’t know how to answer.
Amelia was nothing like I first judged her to be.
“Did something happen last night?”
“Nah, we just talked and then she fell asleep.”
“You talked?”
“Yes, asshole. Tell me what you know about her.”
“I don’t know much. I’ve seen her a few times, I don’t think she likes me much. Clare said she’s single, but the guys at their school all want a piece of her.”
I bet they do.
I do too.
“Let me know when you next see Clare.”
“I don’t think you’ll get far with her, she pretty much looks down her nose at us.”
I don’t agree. She was different this morning. When the housekeeper was about to call the cops, I saw the moment the penny dropped for her. She saw me as a person and not another criminal from the rough parts of Dog City. She sat beside me, so close I could smell the faint traces of her perfume from the nightbefore. The guy she first met, who in her mind thought was going to rape her, disappeared.
“At least three dropped from what I saw,” Tariq says from the backseat.
Looking down at the gun in my hand, I wind my window down and wait for Jermaine to pass by the river coming up.
A text comes through from Rodrigo. He was in the second car, and he tells me they got two more.
Jermaine comes to a stop, and I collect Tariq’s gun and jump out of the car. I toss them both into the water. Jermaine and Tariq get busy burning the car out and I read another text from the third car to hit the assholes. They managed to get one of them down on the ground. Their retaliation is going to be brutal but we’re ready for it.I’mready for it.
The car goes up in flames and the three of us back up and start running for the alleyway leading back onto Central Street.
We already have a car waiting and we jump in, and Jermaine starts the engine. Tariq’s phone goes off and whoever it is, his response is to growl.
“This bitch is too much,” he says, and I look over my shoulder to see him holding up his phone.
Clare has sent him a tit pic and again, not even a twitch. The adrenaline from the drive-by is coursing through me and when he says he wants to be dropped off at the fair, I’m down.
“The fucking fair?” Jermaine huffs.
“It’ll give us an alibi if needed,” I point out and he swings the car around the corner and slams his foot down.
“Hey, cool it. You wanna get pulled over?”
He releases the gas, and I roll my neck to try and calm down. The fair comes into view, and the place is heaving.
“There could be 2-Guns around every ride, this is close to their turf,” Jermaine informs us like we don’t already know.
“It’s free territory,” I remind him.
He parks up and we each replace our guns from the glove compartment. The three of us pay at the gate and head inside. It’s easy to blend into the crowd, a mix of rich and poor have turned out, and I make sure our gang colors are visible and hang my bandana from my back jeans pocket. Green and black. The rich will definitely notice, thus giving us an out.
Tariq presses his phone to his ear, walking off to somewhere quieter and Jermaine sulks beside me.
“You know he said to come here because his bitch is here.”
