melissaeraa
Detroit, late 1980s. Dreams are built fast and lost even faster.
Kayla Robinson has always had a plan. Graduate at the top of her class, leave the city behind, and build a life far away from the streets that seem to swallow everyone she knows. Focused, disciplined, and determined, she refuses to let anything or anyone distract her from her future.
Especially not Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory.
To Kayla, Meech represents everything she hates about the life she's trying to escape-fast money, dangerous choices, and the kind of influence that pulls people down before they even realize they're falling. She's seen the way he moves, the way people look at him, the way trouble seems to follow wherever he goes. And worst of all... she sees how it's starting to affect Terry.
Terry Flenory is her best friend-the one who still believes in school, in doing things the right way, in becoming something more. But the closer Meech gets, the more Kayla fears that Terry is being pulled into a world he doesn't belong in. A world Kayla refuses to let ruin him.
So she keeps her distance. She keeps her guard up. And she makes it clear she doesn't like Meech, doesn't trust him, and wants nothing to do with anything he stands for.
What she doesn't know... is that Meech has been watching her for years.
Long before the money. Before the power. Before the name everyone would come to fear.
And no matter how much she pushes him away, the more her world collides with his, the harder it becomes to ignore the tension building between them.
Because in a city where loyalty is everything and choices come with consequences, Kayla is about to learn one thing the hard way:
Hating someone doesn't make you immune to them.
And sometimes, the person you're trying the hardest to avoid... is the one who changes everything.