Page 37 of Trading Places

“Yo ass ain’t cold?”

“Why don’t you come warm me up?” she says, sitting up, motioning for me to come closer to her.

I take my leather jacket off and sit on the couch. “Where the fuck you been at?”

“Getting everything straight. I’m officially single now,” Zari asks, lifting her left hand, showing off her bare hand.

“What? I thought you said you had to do that shit.”

“Anthony fixed everything.”

I stand up. “I was going to handle that shit, Zari.”

She scrunches up her face. “Look.” She raises her hands. “I didn’t ask him to do shit. He ended things once he found out everything was riding on that property.”

“Fuck. Well, Trell kicked me out of his organization,” I say.

“How do you feel about it?”

“For real, though, it’s all I know,” I say, rubbing my beard. I put my arm across the back of the sofa. “But Trell doesn’t trust me anymore, so it is what it is.”

“I moved out of the guest house.”

“Word?”

“Yeah, that’s where I been. Anthony gave me a spot in Solomon’s Island. But, Kye didn’t snitch.”

“Who did?”

“We still don’t know.”

“It had to be Tank but he’s gone.”

“Damn, baby. What happened?”

“It was me or him.”

“Well all of them are dead to me except Kye.”

“Damn, but that’s your blood.”

“They don’t want me to be happy. They’d rather I give my life up for their comfort. I’m done with all of them. I left everything. My G-wagon.”

“We’ll figure this out together.”

“You already got enough on your plate. You got your mama and daughter to take care of. I’m okay,” she says, nodding.

“What you saying? You done with me, too.”

“No, but I’m the reason you lost your job. I shouldn’t have come onto you at the club. You wouldn’t be dragged into my mess.”

“It’s been a two-way street since day one.”

She sighs. “But I ruined things for you.”

“Nah, fuck all that. Me and you make a great team. I stand by that, so your ass ain’t going nowhere.”

“You still want me?”