Scarlett: Zoe has it all covered, but thank you. You’ll definitely see me tomorrow. The question is—will I see you?
Because the app shows you if and when someone sees your message, I wait and stare at the screen like a teenage girl, hoping my crush will reply.
He doesn’t. But that doesn’t change a damn thing.
I fall asleep with Legend’s name on my lips and wake up with him on my mind.
Why I’m fixated on him, I can’t explain. Maybe because he lives in the shadows, while I live in the limelight. Maybe because his was the first face I saw when I rolled out of that rug, and instead of terrifying me, he captivated me. Maybe because my life is all too orderly and scripted, and his seems dangerous and exotic.
Regardless, I haven’t felt this alive in years, and I want more of that feeling.
Which means, I’m ready to put my war paint on and go save his damn club.
Twenty-Five
Legend
If I look at the clock even one more time, I’m going to break it.
Friday night, the club started rocking like it already had new blood pumping through its veins. When I asked Q what the hell was going on, he handed me his phone, which showedNYCelebSightingsand a picture of the woman I can’t get out of my head walking into the club that morning.
It took everything I had not to yank the phone from his grip and zoom in on her blue-and-white dress and the smile on her face.God. I bet she’s even more beautiful when she laughs.
Stop it, asshole. You can’t have her. Stop thinking about her laugh, her smile, her fucking lips, face, and everything else.My orders to myself didn’t do a damn bit of good to get the thoughts out of my head, but thankfully Q couldn’t read my mind.
“Just wait until she’s here with her crew, Gabe. You’re not getting in the ring again. This is going to work. She’s going to make it work. Bump might have risked us all going to prison, but the kid might just have saved our asses too.”
We made a profit Friday night. All because of Scarlett, who wasn’t even here.
Maybe Q was right. Maybe it will work.
I glance at the clock one more time, before I lose patience with myself. Five thirty. Only a few more hours.
“Come on, Roux. We’re going for a walk, baby girl.”
As soon as I say her name, Roux’s head lifts from her bed in the corner, and a thought slams into my brain.
I messaged her as Roux yesterday. Fuck.What if she responded?
I don’t normally use those social media apps because I don’t give a fuck about being social. Plus, I’ve tried to keep my face low profile because I’m not ready to be found by the person whohas wanted me dead for fifteen years.Not ready to be foundyet,I silently correct myself.
Moses Buford Gaspard’s time is coming. One way or another, I won’t leave this world without putting him in the ground first. For what he took from me. For what he did to Bump.
He’s living on borrowed time.
Just like I am if he gets to me first.
All thoughts of Moses slip from my mind when I see the message from Scarlett.
ScarlettPriestOfficial: Zoe has it all covered, but thank you. You’ll definitely see me tomorrow. The question is—will I see you?
I can practically see her in front of me right now. That’s how fucking obsessed I am with this woman, even though I shouldn’t be. I’ve got her burned into my memory like she’s meant to be there.
Fuck.
I want to reply. More than anything, I want to tell her that she won’t be leaving this club without me stealing her away from her friends, sneaking her through the hidden exit, and making sure she can’t stop thinking about me the way I can’t stop thinking about her.
But I don’t.