Page 73 of Addicted

“Yeah, aight,” he said, shaking his head.

I smirked and picked a movie. About halfway through, the door opened and Ish walked in, droppinghis backpack on the floor. Then he looked at Stone.

“You still tryna get whooped?”

I snorted. Stone didn’t even look at him.

“Don’t start crying when I beat yo’ ass.”

A few minutes later, we were all in the game room. I just sat back on the couch, watching the two of them.

“You better not pick no weak team,” Ish said.

“It don’t matter what team I pick. I’m still winning,” Stone replied.

“Yeah, we gon’ see.”

The game started and they got competitive fast.

“Watch that,” Stone muttered, already locked in.

“Man, you not about to—YES!” Ish yelled, jumping up when he scored.

Stone just shook his head. “Relax,” he said calmly. “Game just started.”

They went back and forth. Trash talking. Arguing. Competing like they’d been doing this forever.

And I sat there staring at them, something in my chest shifting in a way I didn’t expect. This wasn’t captor and captive. This wasn’t control and resistance. This was Stone, Ish, and me.

By the third game, they were both fully into it. Ish won one. Stone won the next two.

“Man, you cheating,” Ish complained.

“Nah,” Stone said, smirking. “You just not there yet.”

“I am there.”

“Keep telling yourself that, lil’ nigga.”

I laughed, shaking my head. I was enjoying this more than I’d enjoyed anything in a long time. Because it felt like we were… a family.

And I liked the feeling.

Chapter 15

Stone

I woke up alone at the crash pad.

It had been four days since I let Indie go out and see her friend, Aurora. Four days since she’d been happier than I’d seen her since this whole thing started.

She’d been texting me on the iPhone I bought her. Sending me messages throughout the day, asking when I was coming back, telling me about shit she was doing at the estate.

It was wild how much I looked forward to those texts. How much I craved hearing from her.

Yesterday, I’d been out in the LA area handling business until late in the evening. By the time I finished, I didn’t have it in me to drive all the way out to the estate.

So, I slept at the crash pad. But this time, I gave Indie a heads up via text that I wasn’t coming home. She was still upset. I could tell by the way she responded—short, clipped messages that barely said shit. I hoped what I had planned for her later would ease her anger.