He clocked it immediately. “Wassup?”
“You talk to Kilo today?”
He paused, brow lifting. “Why?”
I crossed my arms. “Because I was with Mel at the mall. And guess what happened?”
“What happened, Goldie?”
“Some ex bitch of Kilo’s popped up tryna be cute, then said that her daughter and my nephew are siblings.”
Buck let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Fuck.”
“You knew.”
“I told Kilo to handle that shit,” he said, voice rising slightly. “It ain’t my place to drag you in it.”
I stepped closer. “So you just thought it was cool to say nothing? Let her run into Shayna blind?”
“She was never supposed to run into her in the first place,” he snapped, then immediately reeled it back. “Look, I ain’t trying to fight with you, Goldie.”
I stared at him. “So you kept it to yourself. That’s what we’re doing now?”
“I ain’t keep it for shady reasons. I was protecting you.”
“No. You were protecting Kilo.”
Buck sighed again and stepped closer. “You’re my wife. I love you. But I wasn’t about to throw my brother under the bus when he was already spiraling. I told him to talk to Mel from the jump. I told him she deserved to know.”
“And yet here we are. Her finding out in the damn mall.”
“I get it. I do. But it ain’t my secret to tell.”
“You didn’t even give me a heads-up. I’m not asking you to betray him, Lincoln, but damn. That’s my sister.”
His shoulders finally dropped. The defensive wall cracked just enough.
“You right,” he said. “I should’ve said something. I just didn’t wanna light a fire that might’ve been for nothing. That girl might not even be his.”
“And if she is?”
“Then he gotta deal with that. But I told him he got one shot to fix this before it blows up in his face.”
I looked him over. “So you’re not lying to me now?”
“No,” he said.
I didn’t respond right away. Just turned and headed toward the kitchen.
He watched me walk off, then called out, “You still mad?”
“I’m not mad,” I said over my shoulder. “But I damn sure ain’t done.”
12
Chapter Twelve
Kasha ‘Kash’ DeLuca
