The Crossfire | Revised | Sample

i | 34.5 | the a l e r t

❝ THE ALERT ❞
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|| Sunday. . .

"Welcome back, bro," mi lean offa the car fi dap him up.

"Respect," him seh. "Nuh know how me can eva thank unu," he looks at me and the lawyer with appreciation beaming in his eyes.

I got him free so mi nafi have that good fi nothing old man as a right hand man anymore. And for Chayanne, too, of course. She will definitely be pleased to see Trav.

"I'll be in touch, Mr. Bartley," his lawyer says. The pretty piece a browning turn to me, tightly clutching her briefcase in her hand. With a nod of acknowledgment to me, she says, "Mr. Welsh," she walks off to wherever her car is parked in the small parking lot.

Trav walks to the other side of the car. "Waa gwan upa yaad?"

"Fuckry," I say, getting behind the wheel. "Pig a roam the place."

Sounding surprised, he asks, "Wapm?"

I shrug. It doesn't involve me nor Blood Paw so I do not care. Still, I remain on high alert.

"Me wi see wa mi can do."

I nod, appreciative.

This is how a second in command should operate - not like Elder. All dat man good fa a randomly disappear and fraid fi hold gun like a fassy. He only got the temporary promotion because he's good with getting information.

"Waa gwan wid Shottaz?"

"Dem lay low since e lockdown."

"And Chichi?"

Sometimes me just waa kill this man fi eva a ask boh Chayanne.

She's with me now. She's going to always be well taken care of.

I force myself to remember that he's her brother and nothing more. "She's going to be happy to see you."

He grins. "Wid ar miserable self."

"Exactly."

"Yu love her?" he asks after a brief silence.

Mi tense fi a second.

Love?

Sure - I love seeing her do her little dance whenever she gets food; I love how dedicated she is to her education; I love how she's curious about the world, despite how nagging her questions might be at times; I love her beautiful face; I love the sound of her voice; I love that she's not interested in my pockets but in me as a person.

But. . . love? As in the thing where two people grow old together and live happily ever after like in those sappy chick-flicks and romcoms my mother insists on watching? That kind of love?

"It good if yu nuh have an answer right now. Long as unu happy."

Happy. . .

Chayanne does make me happy.

Truth is, I've never felt like this towards another girl before.

I've been with others. . . but no one like her.

'Love'. What else do I love about Chayanne Bailey?

I love that my mother genuinely likes her. . .

I love that she's a person I can show my best and worse sides to, and I'll still be accepted. . .

I love holding her for a few seconds longer than needed so that I can simply savor every shared moment with her. . .

I love fucking her raw and seeing that gorgeous face contort from pain to pleasure. . .

Me ago breed ar.

Cho bloodclaat. Cya even fuck ar again cause of wa mi do. I never meant to hurt her. . . Yet I released my anger in her pussy instead of taking it out on someone. I don't know if choosing not to do the latter is commendable. . . This woman keeps me grounded, I believe.

And if that's love. . . then maybe, maybe I do love her.

But a neva time fi love nobody. Not when fucking Antaro can threaten her and use her fi mek mi stay ina him fuckry gang. Not before that bastard Fabian come outta prison and become back the player in Antaro's games. Not when there's people who would gladly hurt her to hurt me.

"Can check if she home?" Trav asks. "Waa shout her."

"Sure. . ."

Glancing at the road, I open her chat. The corner of my lips tug into a small smile when I see her new contact name. She cuss me boh she nuh know why her name afi dry and soso, then changed it to this herself.

She should have felt special. Everyone else's ID is saved with their first and last name while hers is only her first name.

I put the phone in the cup holder. Minutes later, I drive onto Chayanne's street just as a police car drives off it.

Wa the fuck a gwan?

My mind flashes to Chayanne. I feel as if she is hiding something from me and it activates something sinister in me. . . I shake away the thoughts. No, she was tense around me because I unknowingly bruised her.

So wa really a gwan ina Steer Town? I double check the clip of my gun just as Chayanne bursts through the door of her house.

Cya be too safe.

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