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“He got that close to her?”

The elevator carrying us downstairs suddenly felt too small. Tahari handed my phone back.

“Did he touch her?”

“No.”

“Talk to her?”

“Barely.”

I answered the same way Penelope was just answering me. He nodded, but I could tell that wasn’t making him feel any better. It hadn’t made me feel better either. The doors opened to the lobby, and we walked outside. The cold hit me immediately, but I welcomed it. I needed something to cut through the heat sitting beneath my skin.

Tahari stopped near the side of the building.

“Is Penelope good?” he asked.

“Physically.”

He looked at me. That one look was enough.

“She scared,” I admitted, “Mentally, I know it fucked with her.”

I hated even saying it.

Tahari nodded slowly.

“And that got you fucked up.”

I looked away.

“Yeah.”

There wasn’t any reason to pretend otherwise. For a while, Penelope had just been this girl I liked being around. Somebody who didn’t come with all the complicated shit that seemed to follow my family. Being with her was easy. She would come to my apartment, sit on my couch, talk shit, listen to music, act like we were studying, and forget about everything else for a while. Somewhere along the way, it had stopped being casual, and I had to let her know. I wasn’t expecting my feelings toward her to be mutual, but they were, and we had been locked in ever since. I just hadn’t realized how deeply until I saw Ghost standing beside her. It was the feeling I had in my chest when I looked at the picture that confirmed it. I loved this girl.

“If something would’ve happened to her…”

I didn’t finish because I couldn’t, and Tahari didn’t make me because he knew. I’m sure that he felt the same way about my sister as I felt about Penelope. I dragged a hand over my face and looked toward the parking lot.

“I wasn’t there for her.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“That don’t change shit.”

I knew that how I was feeling wasn’t logical, but emotion didn’t give a fuck about logic. I had walked Penelope to her car and watched her drive away, thinking the only thing I needed to worry about was whether she made it home safely. She had it was just that danger had walked into the building right behind her.

“I don’t want him near her again,” I stated boldly.

I knew that Pops wanted Tahari to handle things, but now I felt the need to step in.

“He won’t be.”

There was something in Tahari’s voice when he said it. It was something final in his tone.

“I know that’s your brother. I know you know him better than any of us. But he shot my pops, he came for my sister, and now he’s bringing this shit to Penelope.” I paused. “I can’t keep standing around while everybody else handles shit that affects the people I love.”

Tahari’s eyes stayed on me. People I love. I heard it after it came out, and so did he. The corner of his mouth moved slightly. I frowned.