Page 26 of Breaking the Rules
Savanhi sniffled. “Okay. We have to make a stop first.”
For the amount of pain Savanhi had to carry throughout her life, Zayden being shot and arrested all at the same time seemedto fit the story of her life. Life amongst vultures, life affiliated, life in L.O. It was all tiring.
Savanhi climbed over the console and sank into the passenger seat. Dropping her head back, she took a deep breath and blew it out. “Do you know the details?”
Lawryn’s brows dipped. “Are you sure you want to know them?”
“I feel like I should know something.”
“They’re saying fifty kilos. The thing is,” Lawryn started, as she buckled her seat and put the car into reverse. “Zayden was moving weight, but he never ever had that much at one time. At least not in one spot.”
“And you know this…”
“Because how do you think I got the shop in The Village? All of this is a part of the game Vanhi, he just kept it from you. Because this was bound to happen and he prepped for it. Zay is smart. Too damn smart to have that much product stocked in one spot.”
“So you’re thinking set up?”
“I know it is. We just got to figure out which one in the crew is the rat.”
“Anyone new?” Savanhi watched the hospital disappear from her view.
“No. It’s been the same program.”
Savanhi asked, “he told me to reach out to a lawyer to help some girl named Kym. Do you know her?”
“Kookin’ with Kym. Yes, I know her. She used to have a food truck. She and her dad ran it, and then, when he passed, she moved her attention to a storefront. You know your brother.”
“Always got his eyes on the hustle and the come up.” Savanhi huffed. “Hustlin’ ass.”
“And apparently, he was in business with her dad before. Girl, it’s a whole thing. What I need to know is what’s your plan now?”
“Zay wants me to take the money and invest it in a studio. But after all of that, I really feel like it’ll be better used getting his charges and hers reduced. I can still dance and stack and be out in three months.”
Lawryn looked at Savanhi with a soft smirk over her lips. “You can never take the elevator. Always the stairs. Always the hardest way.”
“Got to get my muscle up. Zay’s been hustling all of my life. No way a nine-year-old boy should have been taking care of his five-year-old sister. No way. But I understand. And I know what I saw him do for me, I got to be able to handle myself on my own. It’s a must. So if that means I’m shaking ass for a few more months, then that’s what it is.” Savanhi sank deeper into the seat.
“Y’all being each other’s keeper really makes me upset Dame is away,” Lawryn shared. “You’re doing what I wish I was able to do for him.”
Savanhi held her hand out. “I’m your keeper too. We got this shit. I think, anyway.”
The two shared a silly look and then laughed through the tears.
“Can you be serious for a minute?” Lawryn huffed, swiping her hand over her face.
“If I get serious, I’m going to be mean and crying all the time. I am so tired of this space. Tired of fighting, tired of waiting on the other shoe to drop.” Savanhi punctuated her sentence with a sniffle only to laugh with Lawryn replied.
“Well, bitch, we might just have to be barefoot.”
ELEVEN
“Unc-Unc,” Areli’s soft voice crept into the main bedroom of the JoyBed Noble rented until he got the keys for the house he’d charged Carl with finding in the wake of everything sending him into the spin cycle. Yes, Sincere opened his home up to them, but a bachelor pad wasn’t any place to have a four-year-old child.
Noble lay in the bed with his hands clasped behind his head. It’d been two full days of balancing her needs and his new team schedule. After his team meeting, he took her to the beach and ran behind her for hours before bringing her back. Areli had been knocked out since seven-thirty, and his mind had been racing since she’d fallen asleep. At least one of them was remotely rested. Areli was standing in the doorway with a pink bonnet, pajamas, and a bear he’d picked up earlier.
“Babygirl,” he replied, giving her the go ahead to enter. “Why you not sleepin’?”
“I want mommy,” she whimpered, tossing her teddy bear on the bed and then climbing up to lie down on Noble. Noble adjusted his position to offer her comfort. Hell, he needed the comfort himself. “When is she coming back?”
