Page 39 of Kobalt

“Y’all, he was wearing some dark gray slacks like the uniform ones, a white T-shirt with an open blue button-down, and some dark gray Vans on his feet. Somebody, anybody—please help me find my baby. Ohhh, God!”

My heart raced in my chest, and a chill ran down my spine before Skylar snatched her phone from my hands.

“Nobody is asking the questions that need to be asked. They on here talking ’bout, who we need to roll up on, and girl you better call the police and all this bullshit. Sis, who would want to take your man? And why?” Skylar read aloud as she typed.

Passion sighed and crossed her arms as she moved away from us. “Sky, don’t go there. You already know why no one’s asking that. Those same folks that are on Nashika’s live probably know the same thing that the three of us know about our cousin⁠—”

“He ain’t shit,” Skylar and I replied at the same time.

“He does have a good heart, though. His intentions are sometimes just misplaced,” I stated.

“Girl, please. Jaziel wouldn’t know what to do with a good intention if it screwed him in the ass. Every so-called good deed that he does, he does it expecting something in return. There’s always something with that boy. Grandma Nona said a long time ago that he wasn’t gonna come to a good end,” Passion explained.

“He’s done a lot of dirt to a lot of people. I’m surprised he hasn’t been found underneath an underpass or in the water long before now,” Niagara chimed in.

“I know a lot of ladies who cross the street when they see him coming, myself included,” Tamia declared.

“This has the markings of a professional though,” Passion stated.

My head was banging, and a knot tangled itself in my belly. I stood and headed to the room that I claimed as my own.

“Where you going, bookie?” Niagara asked.

“I’ve gotta use the bathroom,” I lied.

I rushed to the bedroom and dialed Kobalt. When I didn’t get an answer, I paced the room for a few seconds before I dialed him again. This time he answered.

“Hey, baby. You ladies having fun?”

“Uhm, yeah. Where are you?”

“Chilling at Charly Mac’s with Nate, Royal, Revere, and EJ. Wassup?”

I was just easing the tension in my belly until he said my brother’s name. I knew what type of time EJ was on, and it wasn’t anything that I wanted my boyfriend involved in. Hell, I didn’t want my little brother involved in the stuff that he did, but there was no stopping him.

“Did you hear about Jaziel?”

“Nah. What about him?”

His voice sounded innocent enough. “Nashika was on her live crying about him being snatched up in a black van. She says that she was looking out the window when he got home, and she saw the van park beside his car. She says when the van left, he was gone.”

“How she figure he didn’t ride out with his boys or something? He might be on some hood shit as usual, babe. You know how they get.”

“Baby?”

“Yeah?”

“His phone got left behind on the ground—cracked. He wouldn’t have done that.”

“Damn. That’s fucked up. I don’t know, baby. She might wanna call the police.”

“Could you and the guys ride around and see if you can locate him?”

There was a pregnant pause before he sighed and then asked, “Do you really want us to do that, Kai?”

There was something in his tone that answered my true question without him verbalizing it. My question was: Did you have anything to do with his disappearance?

SAME NIGHT