Page 158 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

Snow nods lamely as her hand rises to meet his, but I intercept it and lead her to the dance floor, leaving a chuckling Mekhi to go bother someone else.

“Up close, that man is terrifying,” she shivers, melting into me as I lead her in a slow dance.

“He gotta be to be on top of the world.”

“But you’re not terrifying. Annoying. Clinically insane. But terrifying? No.”

“Then I’m not doing my job… take a ride with me tonight.”

Snow leans back to meet my gaze. “Where?”

“You want the truth or you trust me?” It’s an unfair question to ask. The pendulum can swing either way if Snow would willingly ride with me if she knew what I was doing. Fredo’s standing next to us, waiting for me to be honest. Waiting for me to show him I can be a good man and do right by her, and not have her in no bullshit.

Snow’s hand cups me over my pants, just long enough to feel what she wanna feel. Her smile turns seductive as she nods. “Yeah, I’m starting to trust you.”

“Yo freak ass… when you get some free time, I’m taking you to Dionysus. But for real, Snow. You trust me, and you can’t ask no questions the rest of the night. If you don’t, I’ll tell you the real.”

She pulls me closer to her and I bend down to receive her puckered lips. They taste minty from her gloss, and I have to remind myself it’s kids here.

Snow ends the kiss and begins to wipe my mouth for me. “No questions. I’ll ride… as long as I can ride you whenever we get to our destination.”

I bite her finger, before sucking it into my mouth, giving her my answer.

Hell fuckin’ yeah, she can ride me all the way to Hell as long as I die in her pussy.

Almost too ready to leave, I walk her over to our table. She crouches down to speak to Mars, who is barely hanging on in Pooh’s arms. I snap a picture of them and send it to Ju just as Snow kisses Mars goodbye. His eyes are fully closed, and his lips twitch as he moves to stretch out over Pooh.

“Let me know when you get home, cariña,” Pooh says, causing me to freeze.

He must realize what the fuck he just said, because he averts his eyes, and suddenly Mars is the most interesting thing in the room to him, not the fact he just called Snow what he used to call Ma.

“Me, too, Snowball. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t, if you remember to bring all our stuff back. I think we packed it already in the car. Ready?” Her smile falters when I meet her gaze, but I take her hand and lead her outside before I cause a fucking scene up in this bitch.

Pooh’s slip up, among other things, has me wanting to rethink this ride. I keep hitting the alarm on the key fob, scanning the parking lot as I go over all my fucking options.

“Maybe–”

As soon as I speak, the alarm to the Honda goes off, and of course it’s right in front of us.

“Whose car is this? Wait, nevermind. No questions. I forgot.” Snow mimes zipping her lips and skips over to the front passenger side.

Pushing all these bullshit thoughts away, I open the door for her and let her slide inside before popping the trunk. But when I get to the back of the car, it’s empty.

“This fucking nigga…” I open the back seat and sure enough, there’s an olive green case half lit by the moonlight. I go to pick it up, but at the last second, I decide to leave it in the backseat and close the door.

“Ay!”

I look up, hand on my holster, as I lock eyes with Slime. G is behind him mean mugging the fuck out of me with a few other niggas from the hood.

Slime grins, and throws up the set chunky. “Stay dangerous, Luney.”

It would be so easy to murk this nigga. Right here, right now. But I don’t even need Fredo to tell me that shit dead the fuck wrong. No matter how weird he is, or hurt he’s acting, that’s who Fredo decided was worth settling down with, and unlike Slime, I know how Fredo really operates when it comes to loved ones.

I guess Mekhi was wrong, and me and Set are more alike than he thinks.

I throw up a B and round the car to get in.