Page 25 of Give Me a Shot

“No, probably not,” Rachid said, shaking his head.

Mo looked at Khalil.

“So he saved the kid’s life, right?” Khalil asked Mo.

“Sounds like it to me,” Mo said.

Rachid shrugged.

“It was a group effort.”

“Rachid,” Mo said, scooting forward. “There’s nothing wrong with accepting credit for helping people. Jess told me that, and she’s right. I know it’s hard to feel seen, but this is one instance where it’s important to accept the credit.”

Both Rachid and Khalil looked at him sharply. He thought it was because he’d said a lot.

“Jess?” Rachid asked.

“Who isJess?” Khalil asked.

Mo’s face got hot. His ears were on fire, his heart felt like it was going to shoot out of his chest.

“Uh…a person…” he stammered. He scratched the side of his beard, then smoothed the hair into place.

Khalil’s face bent into a wicked grin.

“Afemaleperson,” he said.

Mo slipped back, wanting the couch to swallow him up.

Rachid cleared his throat and tapped his glasses higher on his nose. Mo caught the grin he tried to stifle.

“I appreciate what you said,” Rachid began. “I will take that under advisement. But…um…I am curious. About Jess? She sounds wise.”

Mo ran a hand through his hair. He wanted to curl into a ball. This was ridiculous. Now, to make his comment make sense, he was going to have to tell them not only about Jess, but also explain about Petra and finding the tracker. He most certainly couldn’t tell them that Jess was going to be in his car for an hour the next day. It was all way too much.

“I thought we were talking about you,” he said to Rachid.

Khalil shook his head.

“Nice try, bro,” he said to Mo. “Tell us about Jess.”

Mo flushed hot again and growled under his breath.

“No,” he said.

“Don’t make me bring out the big guns,” Khalil said, smiling.

“Huh?” Mo asked.

“MA!” Khalil called out at the top of his lungs. “Mo’s talking about a girl!”

Slack-jawed, Mo couldn’t even collect his thoughts before their mom called back.

“What?”

“Mo’s talking about a girl, come quick!” Khalil answered, laughing.

Mo was dead. No. He wasn’t dead. He was going to kill Khalil, then he could die himself. Their mom was in the room with them in half the time it should have taken to get down the hall.

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