Page 62 of Shâhzâdeh

“The parking lot, the car, wherever. Whatever you got to do, I need you to make it happen in like half an hour, can you do that?”

He glanced at me and I shrugged my shoulders because I didn’t have a fucking clue about what Frankie’s ass was going to do. And I also knew that there was no reasoning with her when she was this determined.

“Yes, ma’am.” Quentin gave her a quick nod, straightened his blazer and grinned.

“Wonderful. Vannie, you good to come with me to this next store?” I hesitated because I knew she wanted us out the way in case the girl turned around and spotted her.

“Quentin, you good?”

“Should be. Let me handle this. You sure you want to hang around?” I didn’t know why he was cautioning me, but I wasn’t going to leave my friend.

“Frankie has never let me down so I’m going to be the same for her. If she needs me to have her back, I’m there. No questions asked.” I gave him a nod as he smiled at me before I turned and followed Frankie to the next store. It was a shame that I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble with whatever was going on. Feeling invincible was probably the first step on the road to hell, but I was sure by the end of the day I would be bathing in flames.

The water splashed against her face snapping her out of whatever trance she’d been in as she sat in this metal chair. She gasped, her hair and shirt drenched with water. “What the fuck?”

“Surprise, bitch!”

My best friend was in rare form. And by rare I meant in a form I hadn’t seen her in before. I thought I’d been exposed to all of Frankie’s sides. I knew that she had to be able to match Liam’s crazy if she was dealing with him. And based on things she hinted at, his crazy was something spectacular. But I hadn’t seen her display anything like it. Now? Now my girl looked like she was a rabid dog ready to get let off a leash.

Frankie was standing there with her two braids hanging looking like she was gonna grab a bat and go full blown Harley Quinn in here. And here was a concrete room in a basement that was somehow high tech while also being desolate.

The woman that Quentin had gotten out of the store had been dumb enough to follow him willingly after only a few minutes of sweet talking. I didn’t think Quentin was bad at what he did, but damn, were women really following behind money that easily? Had us out here looking like fools.

“Why am I here? Where is here? Is Liam coming?” She barely got the sentence completed before Frankie reached back and punched the taste out of her mouth. Her lip was crushed into her tooth because it started bleeding profusely. My mouth was hanging open because I saw Frankie baby wearing and baking bread. This Frankie? She looked like she would go toe-to-toe with Jada and win. I mean, they were friends.

“If you even think to spit that blood on me I will make this shit far more painful than it was already going to be.” Frankie mugged the fuck outta the girl who spit the blood off to the side just like Frankie told her.

“How are you mad at me because of some shit your nigga did, huh? You mad cause you couldn’t keep him and now he’s going to always be looking for something better?” She was laughing like something was funny and looked deranged with blood falling out of her mouth and one of her teeth looking chipped.

I had to step forward because talking to my friend like that wasn’t about to fly. “Hold up! The last thing you can ever do in my presence is talk shit about my friend. Couldn’t keep him? That man is a certified maniac and yet he let her live. You were something to pass the time with. Had him all to yourself for two years and probably hadn’t even looked at his dick but you over here talking slick to my friend? I would slap your ass myself if I wasn’t sure that Frankie wanted the pleasure.”

The people in the room who knew me were all staring at me like they’d never seen this side of me before. It was crazy because Frankie had but she was acting brand new. Frankie told me this girl Katrice had been caught with Liam the night before they got married. This is the same girl who approached her with her baby and tried to touch Skye. The thought of that pissed me off even more.

“Vannie, you good?”

“There are very few people in this world I would go into war for and you’re one of them. Lost her mind talking to you like that.” I backed up thinking we would calm down and I heard Shoaib chuckle.

“I vishshahzadehwas here to see zhis.”

“Bruh you act like he ain’t got cameras that can run this back.” Quentin and Shoaib were standing against the back wall of this nondescript room we were in. The walls were metal, the floor was too and I could only imagine what had happened in this room before. Sho was here when we arrived so I knew he was somewhere on the premises.

Frankie turned to me with a solemn look on her face and I wondered what was up. “Vanya, this is the time. If you don’t want to see some shit that might stress you out—”

“Sometimes violence is necessary. When someone wrongs you I understand that you can’t always turn the other cheek. She doesn’t seem the type to learn lessons. Asking about your husband like she don’t see that big ass boulder on your hand.” I was pissed that she still thought she had a chance with Liam. Like he wasn’t happy at home.

“Fuck you and that bastard baby you had. You think Liam wants to be at home with you playing house?” My mouth fell open and I was tapping my foot trying to keep myself from going off.

Instead of getting mad at the way she was behaving, Frankie just giggled. I wasn’t sure if it was actually funny or if it was the signal that she was dissociating.

“Darling you got the broken version of Liam. The pieces that were left behind when I removed myself from the equation. You got a man that was a shell of himself, so if one of us doesn’t know Liam, it’s you.”

“Call my goddaughter a bastard again and no one here can keep me off you.”

“What you gonna do, bitch? You look even softer than her.”

“Soft? I could’ve sworn that Frankie just slapped the fuck out of you.”

“Whatever. Get him down here so I can talk to him. There’s no reason for me to be doing this with y’all. He and I can more than work this out. Wonder if he’ll tie me up tonight.”

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