Page 75 of Addicted

“Then we keep looking,” I said. “Zo keep vouching for this nigga, but my gut telling me it’s him.”

Antoine crossed his arms. “So, what we gon’ tell him?”

“We gon’ say we got a shipment coming in next Friday,” I said. “Give him a fake location. Somewhere we can watch and see if anybody shows up trying to intercept it.”

Kenzo nodded slowly. “That could work. We set up surveillance, wait and see if them Riverside niggas or anybody else show up.”

“Exactly,” I said.

We spent the next twenty minutes going over the details like who would feed Wes the information, how we’d set up surveillance, what we’d do if somebody actually showed up.

It was the oldest trick in the book, but it worked. Once we had everything locked down, I switched the subject.

“Y’all free next weekend?” I asked.

Kenzo raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I’m having a little barbecue,” I said. “Nothing major. Just us really.”

All three of them stared at me like I’d just said I was retiring from the game.

“You?” Kenzo said. “Having a barbecue? At yo’ shit?”

I shot him a look. “Yeah, nigga. Me.”

Antoine and Deacon exchanged glances, clearly surprised.

Kenzo smirked. “This about ole girl, ain’t it? She got you throwing parties now?”

“It ain’t about her,” I lied. “I just figured it’s been a minute since y’all came through. Thought we could kick it.”

Kenzo’s smirk widened. “Man, you whipped as hell.”

I glared at him. “Yeah, whatever, nigga.”

He laughed, holding up his hands. “I’m just saying, bro. I ain’t expect this shit from you of all people.”

I didn’t respond. Because he was right. Iwasacting out of character. Indie had me doing shit I’d never done before. Having barbecues at the crib. Caring about whether she was happy or not. But I wasn’t about to admit that shit out loud.

“So y’all coming or not?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Kenzo said. “Bout time you put Brady ass to work for real.”

Antoine and Deacon nodded in agreement.

“Good,” I said. “I’ll text y’all the details.”

We dapped each other up again, then went our separate ways.

I walked back to my car, my mind already shifting to Indie and the surprise I had waiting for her. I couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw it. Couldn’t wait to see those pretty brown eyes light up.

I was gone over this woman. Completely fucking gone.

***

The drive back to the estate felt longer than usual. Maybe because I was eager to get there. Eager to see Indie.

I hadn’t seen her in almost two days, and that shit was eating at me. I was used to waking up next to her now. Used to her presence. Used to the way she looked atme, the way she talked shit, the way she gave herself to me.