THE AMERICAN DREAM 3

Chapter 9

MACKENZIE 

I immediately dropped my phone and backed away from it like it was alive and coming to get me. 

"Mackenzie...come back to the phone." I heard him laugh. 

I slowly approached the phone and picked it back up. I tried to steady my breathing but it wasn't helping much. I tried holding my breath but it only made me breathe harder. 

"Are you scared?" He continued to tease. 

"What do you want, Cease? My Uncle will-" 

"Will what?" He cut me off, his voice stern and intimidating. 

'Mackenzie, you're a Cruz, no one can intimidate you. You're the best of the best.' I reminded myself of the words my dad use to tell me when I ran track. 

I still couldn't speak, couldn't find the words - I didn't even know what kind of threat I was going to give to a person like him. He was equally as in control in the East as my uncle was in the West and South. 

"How'd you get my number?" I asked.

"Your friends." 

"So you really had a threesome with two underage girls?" I scoffed in pure disgust.

"I didn't do anything..passed 'em to the homies, if you must know. But anyways, they aren't the brightest, not too good with making passwords for their phones, you should tell them to work on that." He said, his voice filled with pure amusement. 

"What is it that you would like from me, Cease?" I asked. 

"Call me, Cayden. I just want to talk to you, ma." He said, his voice was covered in amusement, and it was aggravating. 

"Okay, Cayden. What is it that you want to talk about?" I asked.

"You. Me. Us." He said teasingly. 

I gave a sarcastic laugh, "Us..You must have lost your damn mind. I don't know you from nowhere, nigga. Now let's skip the games and tell me what you want." 

"Ou, she got a little hood in her, I like it. But, I'm in the city, I was wondering if you wanna kick it with me. I know you with that nigga Nathan, but I bet I can change your mind." He told me. 

"I'm not with Nathan anymore, and it didn't take you to change my mind." I informed him, "I'm sorry to disappoint but you're wasting your time with me. I'm not interested. Sorry." 

Before he could say anything more, I hung up. One thing was for sure, Nathan was cut, and Haley and Natalie were going to get cussed out as soon as I got my hands on them. My dad told me to stay away from guys like that, drug dealers, gang bangers, and I knew how guys like Cease were. He wanted to tell all his homies how he got in Kenny Cruz's daughter's pants, but it wasn't happening; I'm a lot of things, but I'm not stupid.

MALIYAH

I dragged my feet as I walked to Trystan's house. The cool air blew in my face, calming my nerves only slightly. I knocked on the door, and Trystan took his sweet ass time coming to the door. 

He smirked as he opened it and stepped aside to let me in. 

"Make it quick, Trystan." I growled as I stepped inside. 

He led me to his room and I sat on his bed, looking up at him. He just looked down at me, his grey eyes piercing through me. He was so intimidating at times, I felt every hair on the back on my neck stand up, I swallowed hard underneath his gaze.