Page 102 of Addicted

Indie’s mouth dropped open, and she threw a roll at him.

“Shut up, Ish!”

He laughed, dodging the roll. “I’m just saying! Stone got you draped in designer everything. You living in a mansion. You got guards following you around. You ain’t even got no job. If that ain’t sugar daddy vibes, I don’t know what is.”

I chuckled, shaking my head.

“Watch yo’ mouth, lil nigga,” I said, but there was no heat in my voice.

Ish grinned. “My bad, Stone.”

We kept eating, the conversation flowing naturally. This was what I’d built. A family. Something I never thought I’d have. I wasn’t letting it go.

After a while, I set my fork down and leaned back in my chair, looking at both of them.

“Yo, I got something to tell y’all,” I said.

Indie looked up, her eyebrows raised. “What?”

Ish stopped chewing, his attention on me.

I let the moment hang for a second, then said, “We taking a trip to St. John this weekend.”

Indie’s eyes went wide. “What? Where’s St. John? Me and Ish don’t have passports.”

“Ya’ll won’t need one. It’s in the Virgin Islands,” I told her. “Private jet. Four days at a villa. Full staff. The whole shit.”

Indie’s mouth dropped open, and she just stared at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Ish, on the other hand, was grinning like a kid on Christmas.

“You for real?” he asked. “We ‘bout to hop on a PJ?”

“Yeah,” I said. “And you can bring one friend from school if you want.”

Ish’s grin got even wider. “Bet! I’m bringing my girl. This shit gon’ be lit!”

Indie’s head snapped toward him. “Yourwhat?”

Ish looked at her, suddenly sheepish. “My girlfriend.”

“Since when do you have a girlfriend?” Indie demanded.

“Since like... a month ago,” Ish said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Her name’s Destiny. She goes to my school.”

Indie blinked, clearly processing this information. I smirked, amused by her reaction.

“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend, Ish,” she said, her tone somewhere between surprised and annoyed.

“I mean, I was gonna tell you,” Ish said. “It never came up.”

Indie shook her head, but I could see the smiletugging at her lips.

“Okay, well, I wanna meet her before we go on the trip.”

“You will,” Ish said. “I’ll bring her by this week, if it’s cool with Stone.” He looked at me.

“It’s aight,” I said.

Indie turned her attention back to me, her eyes still wide with excitement.