Page 3 of Cooly

I caught the jacket. My reflection stared back from the window—tired, broken, pathetic.

I thought about the toys on the table.

I thought about her voice, flat and final.

"No more, Cooly."

And I thought about how empty the penthouse felt.

I turned and went to shower. Thirty minutes later I was downstairs. The car was idling.

Diamond was already in the back seat, scrolling through her phone.

I slid into the leather interior beside her. The driver—a massive dude with a shaved head and a neck like a tree trunk—shifted into drive without saying a word.

“Where are we going?”

“Nigga, just relax.”

“I hate surprises.”

“Lie again. You love surprises. You just hate not being in control.”

I didn’t bother arguing.

The city slid past the windows like a fever dream. I watched the lights blur together—red, white, gold.

I'd been coming and going from New York all my life. Running from my daddy's legacy. Problem was, no matter how far I flew, that nigga's shadow always got on the plane with me. So it always felt like borrowed peace, though. Then Indigo came along again and, like the first time when I was too young to know what she was to me, I didn't really think about the reality of my life.

"You still thinking about her, bighead?"

"No," I lied.

"You know what your fatal flaw is, Cooly?"

I turned my head toward Diamond.

"You think wanting something means you should get it. That's not how the world works. The world doesn't care what you want."

"I know how the world works."

"No, you know how your world works. Your daddy's world. The Black Axe. The money. The power." She shook her head. "But you don't know how love works. That's why you lost."

"Nah. I didn't lose."

"Yes, you did. You lost Indigo the moment you told yourself she was yours, knowing there was a chance she was always gonna choose another man."

My hands curled into tight fists against my knees. “She didn’t run back because she wanted to. She went back because she needed protection and didn’t think I could give it to her. That was my mistake.”

“She went back because she loves him, Cooly.” Her voice dropped, gentle, but every word cut like a razor blade. “She loves him. She always did. Even when she was hiding out in New York. Even when she was dancing for strangers. Even when she was laughing at your jokes and letting you buy her dinner.” She paused, letting her words settle into my head. “She wanted to fuck you, wanted to bask in the high you gave her. But she was just passing time, waiting for an excuse to go home.”

I sank deeper into the leather seat, staring straight ahead.

“I like Indigo,” Diamond added quietly. “She’s good people. But she’s messy, Chine. And she used you.”

She wasn't lying. I let out a heavy breath, dragging a palm over my freshly buzzed Caesar—still missing the dreads I’d chopped off weeks ago in a fit of rage. "Change the fucking subject."

Diamond cut her eyes at me, a soft, wicked glint in her gaze. “You always hated hearing the truth.”