Page 52 of Addicted

Ish frowned.

“Why?” he asked. “Are y’all in a relationship? Indie? Is he your man now? What the fuck is going on?”

Stone’s jaw tightened, and I could see his patience wearing thin.

“Don’t worry about what we are to each other,” Stone said, his voice hard. “Just know y’all coming with me. And you need to be thankful to Indigo for you being right here breathing.”

Ish looked confused.

“What do you mean?”

Stone leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his eyes locked on Ish.

“Do you know what yo’ sister did because of your fuck up?” he asked. “She offered herself to me in exchange for you. You know what could’ve happened to her if I was another nigga? You lucky it was me. So quit asking questions.”

My eyes widened.

“Stone!” I snapped. “What the fuck!”

I couldn’t believe he just told Ish all that. Ish looked back and forth between the two of us, his face pale.

“Indie...” he said, his voice small. “Is that true?”

I glared at Stone, furious. But I couldn’t lie to my brother.

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “It’s true.”

Ish looked like he was about to be sick.

Stone took a deep breath, like he was trying to calm himself down. Then he stood up.

“I’ma step out and let y’all catch up,” he said. “I’ll be back later. We heading out in the morning.”

He grabbed his keys and walked out the front door, leaving me alone with Ishmael. For a long moment, neither of us said anything. Ish just stared at me, his eyes filled with guilt and regret.

“I’m sorry, Indie,” he said finally, his voice breaking. “I fucked up and got you mixed up with this nigga. Thank you for what you did. I don’t... I don’t deserve you.”

I sighed and pulled him into another hug.

“It’s okay, Ish,” I said. “I forgive you. You my brother. I’d do anything to protect you. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said, his voice muffled against my shoulder.

We sat there for a while, just holding each other. Then I pulled back and wiped my eyes.

“You hungry?” I asked.

Ish nodded. “Yeah. Starving.”

I smiled.

“Alright. Let me make us some dinner.”

I got up and went into the kitchen, and Ishfollowed me, sitting at the island while I pulled out ingredients.

As I cooked, we talked. About school. About his friends. About what he’d been doing for the past few weeks. He told me about Stone’s men watching him. About how they’d shown up at the condo and packed my stuff. About Aurora coming by and asking questions.

I told him I was okay. That Stone hadn’t hurt me. That we were going to his estate tomorrow and we’d figure out the rest from there.