Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 136791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
I park and climb off my bike, leaning up against it to watch them play. Now that I'm here, I'm reluctant to go talk to Quan. He was a good dude, someone I considered a friend once upon a time. I'm not sure if I'm pissed he's running around with Kaleo now or if I'm disappointed. I never would have expected that from him, of all people.
He was always more like me than anyone else. When Titan was out chasing pussy, and Boots and Mark were racking up petty theft and pot possession charges, Quan was studying. He had big plans for his life and the brains to achieve them. He wanted to be an engineer or some important shit like that. It's hard to imagine what led him to Kaleo.
Eventually, he spots me watching him and squats down to talk to his son. The little boy peeks in my direction and then nods and says something to Quan. A second later, Quan jogs across the park in my direction.
"Michael Kincaid," he says, a big grin on his face. He reaches out for my hand and pulls me into a hug before clapping me on the back. "Didn't think I'd ever see your ugly mug around here again."
"Didn't think I'd be back," I confess, returning his brotherly embrace before stepping back. My gaze flits across his face. Even with dreads halfway down his back and a neat goatee, he's clean-cut. "You look good."
"Wish I could say the same about you, brother. You look like shit." He points to the cut on my neck, and then his dark eyes land on the knife wound on my arm. His dimple pops out, his smile widening. "You're something of a legend around here. Everybody knows about the boy who made it out of this bitch and then went kamikaze on Seattle's gangbangers. Sounds like you're living up to the hype. Heard you've been terrorizing the neighborhood since you been back."
"Just doing my job," I mutter and lean back, crossing my arms over my chest.
He laughs and shakes his head, amusement gleaming in his eyes. "Always hoped to see your sorry ass again, Kincaid," he says and leans against the bike beside me. "You finally come back for your girl?"
"Something like that."
"How's she doing these days?" he asks.
"You care?" I arch a brow at him in silent challenge.
Hurt filters through his expression, his smile slipping. "Always cared about that girl, man. She was like a sister to me. You know that."
"Yeah? When's the last time you checked in on her, Quan?"
"You think she lets me check in on her?" He shoots me a look that tells me not to be stupid. "Hate to break it to you, but you aren't the only one she pushed away. When you disappeared, she told us all to fuck off. Said she didn't want anything to do with our bullshit. I see her around sometimes, but she doesn't talk to me. Doesn't talk to any of us these days. Hasn't since the day you left her."
The accusation in his voice cuts deeper than he knows, but I don't tell him that.
"Is that why you're running around with Kaleo?" I ask instead.
"You askin' as my friend or as a cop?" he shoots right back at me, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"What do you think?"
He glances over at his son and then back to me. "You left, Kincaid," he says quietly, "and shit around here changed. After what happened, I guess it had to. I did the best I could to keep my promise to Titan, but shit changed, and I had to change with it."
Pain pulses through me at Titan's name. No one's spoken it to me since I got here. No one's mentioned him at all, in fact. Aside from the one time January brought him up before she kicked my ass to the curb, I haven't heard his name spoken out loud in seven years. That's fucked up.
Actually, everything about this situation is fucked up.
"You keeping your promise to him by letting Kaleo target his little sister?" I demand, hitting Quan with a hard glare. "Because it seems to me that's the exact fucking opposite of what Titan wanted. Pretty sure he'd be pissed to find out you're stuck up Kaleo's ass while the motherfucker sends his boys to break into January's with knives and crack rocks in their pockets."
"Fuck," Quan mutters, his eyes going hard.
"You didn't know?"
He shakes his head.
"What are you doing with him, man?" I ask, genuinely trying to comprehend how things got so twisted. "You wanted in his crew about as badly as I did, and we both know how hard I fought to stay out of his clutches."
"I did what I had to do," he says with a shrug. "Not saying I like it or that it's what I wanted, but with you gone, there wasn't anyone else around to keep him in line. Figured I had a better chance of keeping the peace if I did it from the inside."