𝙄𝙣𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚

Bro Code

Natille's POV •

"Hey. I gotta job for you," I say as I make a quick U-Turn before the light turns green.

"What's up?"

"You used to be my best friend back in high school. I always owed you this favor since the whole fighting incident."

"Yeah. Ian never expected you to give me something in return doh," Kaligh (pronounced Cali) laughed.

"Welp, expect the unexpected which makes it expected bitch," I laugh.

"You gon be my new personal assistant. We finna take this scamming to a whole nother level. We finna be selling Gucci, Chanel, Prada, more Fashion Nova, Vlone, Supreme, allat. Niggas finna be eating this shit up," I then say.

"You know I'm down in Florida right now, right?"

"Come down to Houston. I'll fly you out," I lick my dry lips. "Ian even finna be selling products no more. People gon buy em and nothing finna show up," I cackle.

"I'm on house arrest right now, Nat."

The mood turned sour.

"Well, when you get off?" I ask, concerned.

"May 1945," Kaligh said with a solemn voice.

"Nigga!"

"Girl, tomorrow. That's why I thought you called me up, cause you heard. Been posting about it all over IG."

"Ight. You better be here by Saturday."

"Damn, you got better-be-here-by-Saturday money?"

"Don't worry about the funds," I tell Kaligh.

"Jesus, you selling now, Nat?"

"Hell nahh. I just got something good going for me here. Don't worry about it," I roll my eyes.

"Alright," my old friend says skeptically. "I'll call you tonight."

"Ight."

See, Liviya had placed the idea of having an assistant in my mind one way or another, so since she's heading for prison, I might as well use one of my old high school buddies to fill her spot. I need to take my fake business to another level, and I won't be able to do that alone. Once I have enough money, maybe I'll be able to make a real business, but for now, what I'm doing should suffice.

I pull up to Midnight and see Regina's car parked.

I walk up to the door confidently, prepared to poison her and walk away with another paper signing away the rest of her life. "What do you want now?" Regina grumbles, snatching the side door open.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Regina?"

"No, she actually didn't."

My eyes meet with the cop from Liv's case.

"Sit down. We should all probably have a little chat."

Xiomara's POV •

I pick Zabelle up from my parent's and take her to the nearby park. "What did you do when you were over at Grandpa's?" I ask Zabelle.

"Park!" she shouts, and runs towards the swings.

"Girl, I-

I follow after her as she stumbles with her footing. I put her in the baby swing and gently push her. "Baby likes to swing?"

"Not baby!" she cries.

I play with Zabelle at the park on auto pilot. Should I mention Indigo not coming around anymore to Zabelle, or should I only explain it when she asks for her? Will this new change upset my daughter? How much would a younger child even understand? How will Indigo and I remain friends when I'm trying something completely new and unexpected with Natille? Whatever Natille and I may choose to have.

"Candy!" she chants.

"No candy. It'll make your teeth fall out. C'mon. It's time to go home now," I pick Zabelle up and her baby bag. I was walking back to the car when I spot Tevin. Or, at least that looks like him.

If Tevin had a twin sister with beautiful lips and a lazy smirk. Tevin's twin was mad high, and she slumped against a dark blue sedan the color of the sea. Shawty looked like she was going through some pretty deep shit, but I had a question to ask.

"C'mon Zabelle. We're going to go talk to a stranger," I say, trying to convince her that playtime was over.

Okay, probably not the best thing to say to a kid.

As I approach Tevin's doppelgänger, I hate to admit it but, Zabelle's mama is a hoe. I practically ended a life of happiness when I cast Indigo aside so I could pursue whatever Natille has to offer to me. And now here I am, thinking about this random girl sticking her tongue in between my lips.

"Hello," I say, stopping a few feet away from her.

She moved the blunt from in between her lips, slowly blowing out a steady stream of smoke straight ahead before meeting my eyes. "Do I know you?"

"I'm Xiomara," I readjust Zabelle in my arms. "Do you know Tevin?" The girl eyes my baby suspiciously and I shake my head quickly. "Nah, nah. This not his. I met him at the UPS store the other day, um..." I see that I'm annoying her. "He must not have put his IG in right and he seemed pretty cool. Y'all looked related."

"You look gay," she says bluntly.

Zabelle claps at the smoke floating around us.

"I am," I laugh nervously. "I just wanted to be his friend."

"He got a thing fa studs," she shrugs, then stood up. "Your call though. I also don't remember his IG, and my phone's at home."

"Oh," I pause.

"Are you guy's twins?" I then ask.

"Yes," the girl heavily sighs.

I watch her unlock the sedan and I take that as my cue to leave. "That all?" she calls out, eyes focused on digging something out. She doesn't realize that I was planning on darting away in embarrassment. I clear my throat. "Uh, actually...I was wondering if I could have your number?"

"If you came over here just to fuck wit a nigga, you coulda said that, Xiomara," she sings my name.

I snort. "No, for whenever you find Tevin's IG."

She eyes Zabelle again. "You tryna have another one of those running around again?"

"It'd just be nice to have more friends," I mumble.

I start walking away but I hear the girl's car door slam aggressively, so I look back. "Calm down. What's ya IG? I don't give my number away to random females I meet on da street."

"Tell me your Instagram, since you so cocky and rude," I roll my eyes. "You the one who need my help," the girl scoffed, then smiled. "I like ya vibe. You was smart wit me but still didn't ruin my high. That takes a special type of personality. I'm Kaligh."

"How you spell it? With a K or a C?" I ask.

"It's actually with a K and a twist to it. It has a "gh" added after the "i"," she explained. I shook my head, laughing. "Girl you better come and type that shit in, cause ima fuck that shit up." I gesture to my practically full hands. "Plus I don't have much to work with here."

Kaligh types in her IG and follows herself.

"Nice meeting you, Xiomara," she smiles.

"Call me X," I wink.

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