Let Me Love You | A.G

II

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"Jay, I'm sorry, I just didn't wanna see you get hurt," Ariana says from outside my door. I tried to ignore the noise as much as possible but she's been there for ten minutes.

"Ariana, get the fuck away from my door," I say softly but loud enough to where she could hear.

"Not until you open the door," I hear her sigh from the other side, "Please, Jay."

I get up in a huff and move to open my door, "What's so important that you had to stand here and bang at my door for ten minutes?"

"Let me in," She says, small tears streaming down her face.

"Fuck," I sigh, moving aside to let her in. We both get settled on my bed, "Shouldn't I be the one crying right now?"

"You're not as sensitive as I am," I give her a knowing look which makes her slap my arm, "You weren't supposed to agree."

"What's up, Ari," I cross my arms realizing she's trying to stall.

"I'm really sorry, Jay. I wasn't trying to cause problems. I was only trying to keep you from getting hurt. We both how dangerous these streets are," She says.

"What do you mean we both know? You've never been on the streets a day in your life," I raise an eyebrow.

"My dad died from doing the same thing you do," She looks down at her hands in her lap, playing with the rings on her fingers.

I look at her in disbelief as the tears start to come in heavier, "All these years, you never told me what happened to your dad. Why not?"

She wipes her face yet the tears keep flowing, "It's just something I don't like talking about."

"So that's why you guys don't want me to do it," I mumble in thought. She shakes her head.

"That's not the only reason, Jay. We care about you and would hate to see you get hurt or worse," She wipes her face once more but it's no use.

"Come here," I pat the empty space next to me on my bed. She crawls over to me, putting her head on my shoulder, "You don't have to worry about me you know that right?"

She picks her head off my shoulder with furrowed eyebrows, "You must think that's such an easy thing to do."

"I'm just saying I can handle this. I've lived by the street rules my whole life. They're not gonna just let me leave whenever I want," I shrug.

"And why not?" She turns her whole body towards me.

I shake my head, not wanting to get into detail about this with her, "It doesn't matter, Ari. It's just how this shit works."

I feel my phone buzz from inside my pocket. I take it out and see an urgent message from Mac. Ariana looks between me and my phone, "What happened?"

I put my phone back in my pocket and stand up from my position on my bed, "I gotta go."

"Jayce, you're grounded. Mom would kill you if you left," Ariana furrows her eyebrows, standing up as well.

I ignore her and open my bedroom window. I grab my backpack next to my bed and open it, grabbing a small, black, metal object and tucking it into the waistband of my shorts, "I don't care what you tell her, I gotta go right now."

Placing my backpack back in the place I had it, I step out of the window, ignoring Ariana's calls once again.

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"Where the fuck are you, Malcolm?" I ask my adoptive brother over the phone.

I rushed out of the house as fast as I could once he sent me that text. He claimed that there were some Latin Kings after him. The Latin Kings are a rival gang of ours.

"Bro, I swear I just went around the corner to the gas station when these uppity looking motherfuckers surrounded me," He takes a shaky breath, "I'm not tryna die man."

"You're not gonna die Mac, just tell me where you are," I walk around the area he might be in, holding the phone close to my ear.

"I'm in the store. Them bitches posted up outside still," His breathing began getting heavier, "I think they finna come in."

"Hold up, I'm almost there," I hang up the phone and practically sprint to the gas station.

As I approach, I see about three dudes standing outside, hanging around the door. I try to move past them to get inside the store but they stop me.

"You Jayce?" One of them ask me. He was wearing black and yellow clothes, had short curly hair, and had a crown tattoo on his forearm with the letters 'ALKN' in the middle of it. I immediately turn my head in confusion.

"Who's asking?" I look all of them in the eyes, clutching my pistol where they can't see.

"Santiago wants to send you a little message," The same dude says to me.

Santiago is the leader of the Latin Kings. If he wants to talk to me, there's something seriously wrong, "What the fuck he want with me?"

"Tell your folks to stay out the way and we won't have any problems," He looks me up and down with a smirk.

"And who exactly is in your way?" I raise an eyebrow. He points behind me at Malcolm.

"White boy got a big mouth on him. Next time he threatens one of us again, he gon' end up in a casket," He makes finger guns at my head.

"Hey man, who the fuck you talking t—" He cuts me off with a Glock 19 pointed at my head.

"Settle down before I bust a cap in you. I just came to give you and your folks a warning," He puts his gun back in his pants, "The name's Diego. You don't wanna hear my name again."

I watch as Diego and his crew walk away before going inside the store with Mac.

"Aye man, what the fuck you say to those clowns out there?" I question Mac as soon as I enter.

"I swear to god I didn't say anything. I looked at that motherfucker for two seconds," Mac puts his hands up in defense.

"Maybe he just got fucking schizophrenia or some shit," I shake my head, "Put your hands down man. I ain't one of them."

"That caught me off guard, Jay. I ain't never seen no shit like that," He walks in front of me, "Them dudes really 'bout business."

I let out a small scoff, "Yeah, we'll see about that."

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A/N: Y'all think they're being targeted? Comment your opinions.