She smiled at him before giving him a quick hug. Something in my chest tightened as he squeezed her back. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude. My mind is just on these books.”
He nodded. Her mind was always on the books. Farrah was smart as hell. She’d just come back from college and had started graduate school in psychology or some shit like that. The girl had goals, and she was what they called a goal-getter. I didn’t have to like her to respect her hustle.
“Yep, I’m ready,” Kera said, giving her brother a side hug.
She looked up at me expectantly. “Your turn.”
I held up both my hands. “I’m good over here, shorty.”
She didn’t even get offended. Instead, she winked at me and mouthed, “Next time.” Yeah, Seth needed to do something with her. We watched as they walked down the driveway toward Kera’s car.
“Shit, I like watching Farrah leave,” Seth mumbled.
“Annoying ass,” I scoffed.
“Nah. I like the way that fat ass be moving.”
I shook my head. “Nigga?—”
“I know you don’t like her, but I know you see she thick-fine. If she and Kera weren’t friends, I’d be all up in that.”
I didn’t miss the fact that he shot me a look, no doubt hoping to get a reaction. Seth was convinced that Farrah and I were on some love-hate type shit, but he was dead wrong. Wasn’t no love in the equation. I had seen that chick like four times in the last four years and that was too much.
“If that’s what you…”
My voice trailed off as I noticed an Impala that had just turned on the street. It was creeping along, and the dark tint made it impossible to see who and how many were in the car. Next to me, Seth cursed. He was thinking like I was thinking. We weren’t so legit that we had forgotten past lessons. And the way that car was looking and moving… I reached toward my back, ready to grab my gun. And then my eyes went back to the driveway where Kera and Farrah were walking.Fuck!I took off, Seth right behind me.Farrah. My eyes were glued to her. I just needed to get to her.
“Kera, y’all get down!” Seth yelled.
They turned, frowning in confusion. I sprinted faster. Instead of doing what Seth said, they started to walk back toward us.
“What—” Farrah tried to ask a question as I reached her.
Grabbing her hand, I pulled her in front of Seth’s car. I pushed her down hard and I heard her make a noise as she hit the concrete. Just as gun barrels started to ease out the windows of the Impala, I covered her body with mine. For one second, I was focused on the feel of Farrah—her soft, shivering body pressed next to mine, the sweet, chocolate scent of her. And then the thunder of bullets ripped through the air.
It seemed to take forever, but I knew it was no more than a few seconds. I pressed closer to her, determined to protect her as best as I could. Shit like this didn’t regularly happen inEmancipation. This had to be spillover from shit we handled in the city. Seth said things were good, and I didn’t recognize the car, so this was probably somebody from elsewhere. Still, somebody over here probably told them that Seth and I were standing out. When I found that nigga?—
“Yo, y’all all right?” Seth asked as the gunshots died, and he stood up.
“I’m good,” I said.
But I wasn’t so sure about the woman beneath me. I could feel her trembling. I looked down at her, and her eyes were wide open, staring at the sky like she was in shock.
“Farrah!”
Rising to my knees, I shook her shoulder. I had to call her name a few more times before she focused on me. Her hands came up and she pushed me, hard as hell.
“Get off of me!” she screamed.
I felt my face twist up. “Bitch, I just saved your life, and you worried about me being on you? Stupid ass.”
I stood up and didn’t even reach down to help her up. She could stay down there as far as I was concerned. I walked over to where Seth had his arm wrapped around Kera’s shoulders.
“She okay?” I asked him.
Kera nodded herself. “I’m fine, thanks to y’all. Farrah and I weren’t even—” she swallowed hard as she thought about what could have happened.
“Don’t even worry about it, ma.”
