Page 204 of River & Crown
"That's not why you're here," I said calmly. "If this nigga wanna shoot me, let him. I'm tired of this fucked-up place, anyway."
"Aye, Crown, tell me what the fuck is going on," Lynx insisted, his eyes still darting to the grave like the devil himself was gonna crawl out of it.
"Nigga, you tell me. You're working with our enemies now? Sincere... Rakim... you down with them niggas?"
"Man, let me explain. It's not what you think. I'ma put the gun down so you don't think I'm trying to get over on you. Just... hear me out."
Lynx tossed his gun far out of reach, hands up.
"Aight." I grimaced. "Speak, nigga."
"I was playing them. Luci?—"
The bullets caught him mid-sentence. His body jerked like a puppet on strings before collapsing into the grave.
"Damn, you didn't wanna hear what that nigga had to say?" Rize asked, wide-eyed.
I stared down at the grave, voice low.
"I'm tired of hearing muthafuckas talk."
I walked to the duffel I had brought and pulled out the machete, then jumped into the grave. Grabbing Lynx by his hoodie, I swung until his head separated from his body. His blood soaked the earth and my clothes.
"Aye, nigga, watch where you're throwing that shit!" Rize fussed as I tossed the head in his direction.
I climbed out, dumped Sincere's bones back into the grave from the duffel Rize brought, then tossed Rize a shovel.
"Help me cover these niggas."
"What you doing with the head?" he asked.
"Sending a message. Rakim's been moving throughout my city too easily. I gotta go away soon, and before I do, I gotta tie up these loose ends."
"Where you going?"
I let his question sit in the air while we started shoveling dirt into the grave.
On the way here, I called Navy before I sent texts out to both Rize and Lynx telling them to meet me. I didn't say shit to Navy about what happened at the hospital but told her I needed info on some treatment options. She said she'd look into a few options for me, and that was all I needed to hear to make up my mind.
"To get the help I should've gotten when it was first offered to me."
Chapter 52
Emersyn Teixeira
"Ican slit your throat, tell him to let you bleed out, and then have him bury your body."
For whatever reason, River's words still echoed in my head, even a week after she said them. I couldn't shake the memory, and it wasn't because of the threat or the fact that Crown allowed it. It was the way she said it. Until that point, anything River said to me was shaky like she was unsure of herself, but when she yanked me across the table and placed that knife to my throat, she came alive. It was the way she believed Crown would let me die. How she could say it, and his silence confirmed it. There was a special kind of closeness that came with that certainty, and I wanted it, but I wasn't sure exactly whatitwas.
It wasn't love. I knew that for a fact. Love was reckless, unstable, a distraction wrapped in a pretty lie. People got drunk off it and lost themselves in it. That wasn't what I wanted, but whatever it was between Crown and River made something inside me ache, and I hated it. Forever didn't seem appealing to me. I wanted a connection that didn't need flowers and promises to be real. Something like Crown and River, only stripped down to its rawest form. No love, just a bond that couldn't be broken. Undying loyalty without the illusion of a happily ever after. Iwanted someone who knew how to bleed with me without asking me to fall. That was the difference. They loved each other as if it were war. I wanted someone tochooseme... like it was survival. I sipped from my glass of tea, wondering if something like that even existed.
"I don't want cute." At the sound of Killian's voice, I turned in his direction to see what he was fussing about today.
"I want loyal, protective. Mrs. Maroux is calm, but she saunters in mayhem. I want a companion who resembles her aura. One who will stroll beside her confidently and not blink if she chooses to wreak havoc, but join in."
Ignoring my entire existence, Killian walked through the kitchen with a woman walking beside him. At the mention of a Mrs. Maroux, I followed behind them out the double glass doors that led to the backyard.
"Nice of you to join us, Emersyn. Maybe we'll be able to find a companion for you, too," he said.
