fallin' out of love (stemxstud)

13

Valentine

"And so this guy tells you that this dark figure was looking for Dom to offer her a deal?" I repeated, staring down at Mark.

"Y-Yes."

"Alright. What sort of deal?"

"Everyone is entitled to their own privacy and-

Anaela's entire body shuddered as her lips spread into a grin. I took a step towards her, trying to make sure she was alright as she stopped moving. She moved me out of the way and grabbed the kid by the neck, surprising me and him. "What was the deal about, punk?"

"Anaela," I said softly, watching the interaction, then sweeping my eyes over the people lingering around that hadn't went inside of the building just yet. No one was watching. Maybe this was a typical occurrence here.

"Money to kill," Mark said in between quick gasps, "Money to kill a woman. A lady."

"The name?" Anaela asked with pursed lips, squeezing his throat tighter as she lifted him above the ground.

"Sierra Walker, I believe," he whispered.

Anaela dropped the boy to the ground, and turned to me. "The unknown killer put a hit out on Sissy. And kidnapped Dom before murdering Dom. Dom knew something. Dom- Dom must not have wanted to kill Sissy, and so the unknown person, can we agree to just call them Unknown? They killed Dom instead."

"Fuck. So Sissy's probably in danger. Somebody wants her dead," I stated.

"But that still doesn't answer who the Unknown is," she tapped her chin. "It has to be somebody that Dom knew a lot about. Dom's just a kid, for them to go to her directly to get her to kill someone when there's way more experienced people out there."

"It has to be someone from your old friend group," my gaze slid over to hers.

"Mayah. Ariana. Raneah. Sierra," she shrugged.

"Or Siara Love," my eyes met hers.

"Pouty wouldn't," Anaela's jaw clenched.

We both turned to the kid at the same time.

"Thanks, lil bro. We'll probably be back," I nodded at him. Anaela pulled some cash out of her pocket and looped her arm through mine. We started walking away, that same shuddering coming over her body before she relaxed further against me.

"Thanks, AS," I could've sworn I heard her whisper.

"Tell me everything you know," she glanced over at me as we crossed the street.

"Well, it all started when I got a janitor job working at your old high school..."

After I explained everything to her, both of us now in  her car, she turned to me. "I never would have imagined Pouty killing someone. But...people change. And, since we're on the topic of people changing, what's...what's up with us?"

"I thought there couldn't be an us," I whispered.

The car was dead silent, the light on the ceiling the only thing illuminating us in the dead of night.

"I did some digging," she admitted, her voice barely audible. "Or rather...I had someone do it for me. They came across it while looking into Dom, funny enough."

"What is it?"

"We're not first cousins, and...Keris never put out a hit on you last year," Anaela sucked in a deep breath, "Teece set us up. Twice."