I watched the men embrace for what felt like forever. Then I felt Lucky’s eyes. He didn’t look me in my eyes, but he looked at me.
Iso was first to break that. “This is Liora. Baby, this is my cousin Lucky I told you about.” I couldn’t even focus on the fact that he’d called me baby for the first time. I was too busy studying him.
I nodded, forcing a smile at the same time my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. When I pulled my phone out, I realized it wasn’t vibrating, but the other was. I grinned upon seeing Forman had already locked herself in.
I answered and put it to my ear. “Yep, I can see right now I’m not gonna like these hours.” I stood and put my gun into the back of my waist, moving away from the men catching up.
She laughed. “You used to love them. Plus, you’re already up. Old habits die hard. Where are you? I need to brief you and you need to meet your team.”
I looked around. “I’m around. Are you sending a car?”
“Already sent. Waiting on the location seeing as how you frequent in the slums.”
“I’m from the slums, Forman. Uh, yeah. Have them meet me on the corner of Hollis and Aldridge.”
“Okay.”
We hung up several seconds later, me stuffing the second phone into my pocket. I locked eyes with Iso the moment I looked up. He was half listening to what his cousin said because his attention was on me.
Once I was in front of him, he told his cousin to give him a minute. That fast I had all of his attention.
“I gotta make a run. You good here?” I scratched the top of my head, looking him over.
“I’m good everywhere, Killa. You need me to take yo?—”
“Nah, I got a ride.”
He studied me, those weighted eyes holding questions he wouldn’t ask in the presence of another. “You good?” was what he settled on instead.
“Always. I’ll see you later on.”
He nodded.
“I’m good to go out this door, right?” I focused my attention on Cousin Lucky who seemed to be studying our entire interaction.
He nodded. “Yeah, you straight.”
I gave Iso another look before I turned to walk off but he caught my arm and pulled me back into his space. His hand went to my neck and gripped it firmly, pulling my face into his. He lowered his head and what started out as a peck didn’t end that way. By the time he let me go, I was about ready to tell Forman another time.
I was halfway out the door when I heard his voice. “No bullshit, Killa.”
I paused for a moment then grabbed the doorknob.
“No bullshit.”
The moment I stepped out of the shop, I was met with the early morning Briar coolness. I zipped Iso’s jacket up to my neck and began moving toward Hollis. I was only about a block and a half away, then I just needed to cross over to Aldridge. It wasn’t that long of a walk and lowkey I needed it.
Life was doing some strange things to me, fast. I needed the walk to do some thinking. In just a month, I’d started sleeping with and claiming a dead man. Not only that, but my attachment to him had me questioning life in ways I never dreamt of. Yeah, life was turning me every way but loose.
SEVEN
Iso
Watching Liora walk out of that door didn’t sit well in my chest. Like I knew she could handle herself, and would if need be, but that didn’t stop me from considering just how big her world was and what she might or might not have been up against. The only thing that soothed my worrying was the fact that she said oversight, meaning niggas wouldn’t be shooting at her or coming for her head, or so I thought. I didn’t know shit about her world because she never really talked about it and I understood that. Real life was less sitcom-ish. Real life was heavy, hard, and every moment counted.
“Where you know her from?” Lucky asked after a silent five minutes. He was touching up my lining.
“Why?” I asked, my eyes studying him in the mirror. I felt a certain protectiveness when it came to Liora. Even though that was the last thing she needed because baby could definitely take care of herself. It didn’t mean I didn’t have her though. As the man in her life I was lowkey up for whatever she needed. I didn’t have to say that for her to know it though.
