Page 54 of Gang of Roses: Rebel

“Nigga, you better not say anything outta pocket,” I snapped, cutting him off.

“No, it’s time for me to be real. Julie and I are together now,” Nico confessed.

For a second, I just stared at him. Then I laughed hysterically, rage flowing through my body. His confession had me all the way fucked up.

“Together?” I repeated. “Oh, so that’s what we calling it?”

“Rebel—” Nico said.

“Nah, shut the fuck up,” I spoke through gritted teeth.

Julie’s eyes widened as I pointed between the two of them.

“So y’all expect me to believe this shit just magically happened?” I said, angrily.

“It did,” Julie finally chimed in the conversation.

“The fuck it did,” I said sarcastically.

“It wasn’t like that,” Julie’s voice cracked.

“Then what was it like?” I barked. “Cause from where I’m standing, it look like y’all been fucking behind my sister’s back this whole damn time.”

“No!” Julie cried.

“I loved Rose,” Nico said firmly. “The thing between Julie and me happened because of our grief.”

“Our grief?” I repeated.

My face twisted. “Our grief?”

I stepped closer until I was damn near in his face. “You don’t get to stand here and use my sister’s death as an excuse to justify this bullshit.”

“I’m not using her death,” Nico said.

“The hell you ain’t,” I grunted.

“Rose has been dead four years, and this the shit y’all doing? Out of all the people in the world, you pick one of her closest friends?”

“Feelings happen, Rebel,” Nico said nonchalantly.

“Nah. Loyalty happens. Respect happens,” I shot back.

Julie started crying, but I didn’t care. All I could see was betrayal. Maybe they weren’t together when Rose was alive, but I was so mad that I didn’t want to think rationally. In my mind, they had taken my sister’s memory and stomped all over it. So, I wanted to let them know they were on my list. Without another word, I reached into the waistband of my jeans and pulled out my Glock. Nico threw both hands up as Julie let out a terrified sob and stumbled backward.

“Rebel!” Nico shouted.

“Did you know my sister was pregnant?”

The question caught him off guard as his eyes dropped to the ground, and for a long moment, he didn’t say a word.

“Yeah.”

The single word hit me like a bullet.

My jaw tightened as I stared at him. “So you knew.”

He nodded. “I found out a couple weeks before the robbery.”