Chapter 5 "This the last time, Bria. I mean it." Bria had called me and asked if I'd drive from Tampa to Miami with her to drop off some work. I didn't want to do that shit, but she said she needed somebody-and I owed her. "You always say that, friend. But you gonna help me if I need it," she shot back. I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm serious this time. If Miyori finds out what I'm doing, she'll kill me. Then she'll bring me back and have Priest kill me slowly. Your ass gonna die too." My sister had been very clear about me staying away from the people and lifestyle I was involved with before rehab.Bria was one of those people I was supposed to avoid. She'd been with me when everything went wrong with Priest. Her boyfriend had gotten locked up, and we'd seen it as an opportunity. High on molly, we came up with a stupid-ass plan to take the product we were supposed to deliver to him and sell it ourselves for profit. We'd done drop-offs for him before and thought we could handle it.But after five of the nine scheduled drops, we'd snorted enough cocaine to take down a rhino.It was two-day binge I regret.I woke up in a South St. Pete trap house with Priest standing over me like I was already dead. I had been so fucking scared. Never again.I wasn't going back to that life-not after everything I'd been through. Not after getting my sister involved with Priest just to bail me out.I might miss the high sometimes, but not enough to risk everything again. When Bria opened the warehouse door, it felt like stepping onto the set of a 1990s drug movie.The air smelled like bleach, sweat, and cocaine.We passed two armed guards holding automatic rifles. At folding tables, naked women with long acrylics bagged product with blank expressions while rap music thumped in the background. My stomach turned, but my mouth was salivating. There was a cornucopia of drugs. Pills in every color. Little round ones. Long, oval ones. The kind you chew. The kind you swallow. The kind that melt under your tongue and slide you straight into numb. Happy pills, sleepy pills, touch-the-sky pills. They had weed, coke, E, K.Crushed Xanax, bootleg Adderall. Powders, too. Had me remembering the lines I cut with a credit cards on a cracked glass table. I'd gotten so high I'd experience paradise and hell. I shouldn't have been there.Just being in that space made me crave, that old itch crawled under my skin like ants. The only thing that kept me steady was remembering the disappointment on Miyori's face. Not anger. Not fear.Disappointment. That look she gave me before even the Priest incident, when she found me face-down on the bathroom floor, needle still in my arm. I'd never seen her cry like that. I never would again. Not because of me. I straightened my shoulders and kept my eyes forward. Bria nudged me. "Back there." We cut through the noise and heat until we reached the back room.Her man was there-Cedrick. I couldn't stand his fat ass.Three baby mamas and heavy-handed with all of them, including Bria.They'd been together since middle school. I still didn't know what she saw in him.He'd made it from corner boy to middleman and acted like he was kingpin. He had a crew now. Two of them were with him. "Damn. Who's this?" one of them asked. He was cute. Baby-faced. Tatted. Gold cross on his chain. White tee, skinny jeans. Athletic build, my height.He looked me over like he was hungry. I was in deconstructed cut-off shorts, a Whitney tee, and red bottoms-cute, but simple. I wasn't even trying.He was drooling over nothing. "Maya," Bria answered for me. I glared at the side of her face. Why was she telling this random-ass nigga my name? He stood. Came close.Close enough for me to smell his cologne-expensive, but he overdid it. Made my nose burn.His hand brushed my hips, then settled on my waist. "I'm Tray," he said with a grin. "Nice to meet you, Tray." I stepped back out of his reach. Tray kept going."Why I ain't seen you around here before? You look like a good girl. Is you?" I tilted my head. "Don't let the face fool you. I bite."I flashed a full-mouth smile and turned to Bria."Can we hurry this along?" I said before he could respond. The door we'd come through opened again. Heavy footsteps. "What are you doing here, Maya?" My body locked up.I turned slowly. Raziel. He stood in the doorway in a black tee and slacks, arms tense, jaw tight, eyes locked on me like he was ready to put a bullet in somebody-and I had a strong feeling it might be me. I groaned under my breath. "Why are you everywhere?" First his club. Now here. I'd been back to avoiding him, which meant avoiding my sister, too-because him and Priest were thick as thieves these days, and Priest never let Miyori out of his sight. He didn't answer.Didn't need to. He crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed me by the wrist, and yanked me toward him. "Yo, chill, man-" Tray started. I heard Cedrick say, "Nah, man. Let that go." Nobody said shit after that. "Hey-hey!" I stumbled, heels slipping on the concrete. "Chill the fuck out." He didn't. Before he pushed through the exit, he turned to the room. "I don't want to see any of you with her again. Understand me?" Like his words were law, he didn't wait for a reply. He dragged me past the girls bagging dope, past the music, toward a side office.I didn't resist-not because I was scared, but because I didn't want him to embarrass me for real in front of all those people. He shoved me inside. The door slammed shut. It was quiet in there. Too quiet. I felt like I had to fill the silence. Raziel had his back turned, breathing hard. I stepped toward him. "Why you always so mad at me?" I asked, soft. "You ain't tired of being mean?" He didn't answer. I slipped my arms around his waist from behind, pressing my chest against his back. He was warm. Solid.But his whole body was tense. "We could make out again," I whispered, letting my hand trail down to his belt. His jaw ticked. I kissed the back of his neck, then the spot just below his ear."No blood this time." His body relaxed into me-and for a second, just one second, I thought I had him. Then he grabbed my wrist and yanked me off like I burned him. Dragged me around to face him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he snapped, eyes cutting like glass. "You think this is a game?" I blinked. "Damn. Calm down-" "You using again?" he asked, stepping closer. I rolled my eyes. "Relax. I was just helping a friend." "You think I care why you're here when you shouldn't be here?" he barked. "That's not the question I asked you." "You're not my father," I snapped. Pissed.Who the fuck did he think he was? He stepped even closer, until the space between us vanished. "No, but apparently someone has to tell you what to do before you burn your whole life down. Again." I scoffed. "You don't know enough about me to be telling me shit." He scoffed right back. "I know you're throwing your life away and dragging people with you. That's what I know." "Fuck you!!" I shouted, stepping back. "You don't know what I've been through!" Nobody did.Not even Miyori. It would hurt her.Make her feel like she didn't do enough after our parents left.Like she failed me. I couldn't do that to her. So, I held that shit in my bones. Swallowed it and smiled.Let her think I was just wild and reckless-never broken.Because if she knew, she'd carry it.And I couldn't let her carry anymore of my weight. His expression didn't shift. His voice dropped-colder than I'd ever heard it. "Then maybe you should stop chasing the same shit that put you there in the first place." I shoved him. Hard. I put all 180 pounds of my 5'9′ frame into it. He didn't budge. Not an inch. "You don't get to judge me," I snapped, voice cracking. "You a fucking criminal. Murderer." He grabbed my jaw, forced me to look at him."So what? That don't stop you from throwing yourself at me every chance you get. You're childish. Selfish," he said flatly. "Your sister went through hell for you. You almost ruined her life. And now you're standing in a drug den like none of that ever happened. What happens if the police pull you and your stupid friend over?" He pointed a finger to my temple. "You have options, Maya. Use your fucking head." Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall. My chest rose and fell like it was on fire. He kept deriding me. "You don't care who you hurt. You're so desperate to feel something." "Stop fucking telling me how I feel. I came to help a friend," I snapped. "That's it. That's all. This ain't who I am anymore." "Then act like it isn't." He stared at me like I was nothing. Like I didn't matter. That hurt more than anything else. The room felt tight.My skin buzzed with anger. Hurt. Shame. He turned toward the desk, pulled out his phone, and made a call. "I need a pickup. Now. Warehouse on 8th. Take her straight home. No stops." I tried to speak, but he held up a hand. "Don't talk. Go the fuck home, Maya. And stay out of fucking trouble. Do something useful with your life." A few seconds later, there was a knock. He snatched the door open. One of his guys stood outside the door, waiting. I wiped my face.Walked past Raziel without looking back. I didn't say thank you.Didn't say sorry.Didn't say shit. Because I'd done too much of that in my life already. And fuck him. This was the last time his ass got a chance to humiliate me. Five-year-old Annie, who can understand animals, saved Landon Hawthorne, a wealthy businessman, from suicide. Now she's his whole world and he's her legal cheat-code against every villain fate throws ...