Page 127 of Addicted

“I missed you too, boo. Hurry up!”

I hung up and started scrolling through Instagram, not really paying attention to anything. Just killing time. I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going. Wasn’t paying attention to our surroundings. Until Troy’s voice cut through the silence.

“Where you going, nigga?”

I looked up, confused, and that’s when I saw it.

Javion had pulled a gun. Before I could even process what was happening, he shot Troy in the head. Point blank. Blood and brain matter splattered across the dashboard and windshield, some of it even hitting my clothes.

I screamed.

A raw, primal scream that tore from my throat.

My phone slipped from my hands and clattered to the floor. I lunged for it, my hands shaking, my heart pounding. I needed to call Stone. Needed to tell him what was happening. But before I could reach it, the back door of the SUV was yanked open.

Javion grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out.

“No!” I screamed, fighting against him. “Let me go!”

But he was too strong.

I kicked and clawed and screamed, but it didn’t matter. He was dragging me toward a white van parked on the side of the back road. The back doors of the van opened, and I saw men in black ski masks with guns in their hands.

“No!” I screamed again, thrashing harder. “Please! No!”

But they were too strong and there were too many of them. They grabbed me and threw me into the back of the van. I tried to scramble to my feet, tried to fight, tried to dosomething. Before I could even get my bearings, one of them hit me over the head. Pain exploded through my skull, and then the world went black.

Chapter 24

Stone

I was standing in the warehouse with Kenzo, surrounded by my crew. Antoine, Deacon, Julio, Terrell, and a few others. We were supposed to be having a meeting. Going over shipments, territory, money counts. The usual shit. But something was off.

Wes wasn’t here.

That nigga hadn’t shown up. Hadn’t called. Hadn’t texted. Nothing. And that bad feeling I’d had in my gut for months? It was back and that shit was stronger than ever.

“Ain’t nobody heard from Wes?” I asked, my voice cold.

Everyone shook their heads.

“Nah, boss,” Antoine said. “Ain’t heard from him.”

“Me neither,” Deacon added.

I exchanged a look with Kenzo. He could see it on my face. Could see that bad feeling eating at me.

“You think something up?” Kenzo asked quietly.

“Iknowsomething up,” I said. “That nigga been moving funny for a minute now. And now he just don’t show up? Nah. Something ain’t right.”

Kenzo nodded slowly. “You want me to send somebody to check on him?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Do that.”

I tried to push the bad feeling aside and focus on the meeting. We went over the numbers, discussed a few territory disputes, and made plans for the nextshipment. But I couldn’t shake it. That feeling that something was wrong.

And then Kenzo’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen, then looked at me. “It’s Aurora,” he said.