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“I second that,” I said, raising my glass for her to clink.

Once our food came out, I took my pictures, and we dug in. The food was so damn good that I damn near inhaled it. Hasan had taken all of my energy, and now I felt like I might be able to make it through the night without needing a nap. Being that we were headed to the party once we left here, I knew that wasn’t going to be an option for me, so hopefully putting something on my stomach did the trick.

“Funny seeing y’all here,” I heard Carter say behind me.

I was convinced he had a death wish. Sure, Hasan wasn’t here with us, but people talked. And I’d already seen the videos going around of what Hasan did to him at the haunted house on Instagram and TikTok. I was embarrassed for him, but clearly, he didn’t give a damn. I was starting to think that maybe I shouldn’t either.

“Yeah, what are you doing here?” I asked, looking up at him. I knew that I needed to get this conversation over with before it went too far.

“Shit, I gotta eat before the party, too. Besides, I need my strength back so when I’m aiming at that bitch ass ex-boyfriend of yours, I don’t miss,” he said, winking.

“Oh shit,” Oaklyn said, shaking her head.

I hated that all of this was because of me. He was playing with his life all because he wanted to go on a date, and I led him to believe that he had a chance with me. Carter was a good guy, but tonight had already proven that no matter what I did, my heart would always belong to Hasan.

“Please don’t say shit like that, Carter. You’re really playing with fire right now, and you won’t be able to blame anyone but yourself if you get burned.”

“Ain’t nobody scared of that nigga but you, ma. He caught me off guard, but I can promise you that shit won’t happen again.”

The way Oaklyn started choking and laughing, I thought I was going to have to get up and help her ass. We both knew that Carter was just saying shit. Anybody who was smart stayed out of the way of the Holloway family, especially when it came to Hasan and Takoda. Those two motherfuckers were in a different class of crazy. Hell, knowing what I know now and despite how much I loved Hasan, I would’ve kept walking when his crazy ass asked for my number while I was out with my then boyfriend.

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said, shrugging.

“Yeah, okay. Anyway, when are we going to go hang out? I didn’t come over here to talk about his ass.”

“I don’t think that will be a good idea. Hasan and I are still trying to figure our shit out, so I need to focus on that right now.”

Nodding his head, he said, “I can respect that. He’ll be out of the way soon, and then I’ll circle back around to you.”

With that, he walked off, and I knew he was going to be a problem. Although I didn’t really think that he was a threat, I knew that I couldn’t not tell Hasan what he said about essentially shooting him. If he was crazy enough to try something like that, I wanted to make sure that Hasan was prepared to defend himself.

“What’s up, bae?” Hasan asked as he answered on the first ring.

“Hey, are you busy?”

“Not for you. What’s up?”

“I just ran into Carter, and he may or may not have alluded to the fact that he was gunning for you because of what you did to him at the haunted house.”

Sucking his teeth, he laughed. You would’ve thought he would be upset about someone threatening him, but he thought the shit was funny. That was that crazy shit that I talked about when it came to him and his brother.

“He’s not going to do shit, but I’ll take care of him. Are you good?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Cool, I’ll see you in a few at the party.”

Deciding to drop it and let him handle it the best way he knew how, I said, “Okay. I’ll see you at the party. Be careful, Hasan. I love you. And remember that we just made up and have a lot more making up to do.”

“Shit, we were never not good in my book. But I hear you. I love you too, ma. I gotta go.”

“Okay, talk to you later.”

SIX

HASAN

After I hung up with Xiyah, I stepped out of the car and walked over to where Takoda stood. Dapping him up, I looked behind him and watched as the men took the product off the trucks. Years ago, I could’ve only dreamt of handling this much product at one time, but now this kind of drop was light work for us.