Saved By An A-Town Millionaire 2: An African American Romance by Mack Tasha

Author:Mack, Tasha
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cole Hart Signature, LLC
Published: 2023-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Royce

When I got the call from one of Alex’s staff members, I immediately knew something was wrong. Since I was listed as her emergency contact, I had to call both Rylo and their mother, Ms. Monica, to let them know what happened. When I found out she got shot in the head, I nearly crashed my car. I was on the way to Rylo’s to hang out with Chi for a few hours but made a quick U-turn. The ride to the hospital seemed like the longest ride of my life. What usually took less than twenty minutes felt like hours.

Ms. Monica was distraught, which was understandable. She’d already lost one child to gun violence. I was sure she had just as many questions as I did. Was this a random act of violence, or was it targeted? I was sure the police would do what they could to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, I would sit there until I got answers.

I walked over to Rylo, who was deeply engrossed in conversation with Ronnie. Arrington kept staring at me but wasn’t saying anything, which struck me as odd. We hadn’t spoken since the day we had words at the shop. It created a hostile work environment, but I no longer gave a fuck.

“Rylo, can I talk to you for a minute?” My heart went out to him as well. I knew he was hurting just as much as Ms. Monica. We all were. He motioned for me to follow him to the vending machines. “How are you holding up?”

Rylo looked tired. The hopelessness that lingered in his eyes almost brought me to tears. Alex meant everything to me. Losing her wasn’t an option. We had our ups and downs, but I wouldn’t trade her for the world.

“What you think? My sister just got shot, and we don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”

Rylo had never snapped on me before, but I didn’t take it personally. He had a point, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t check on him. Everybody expected him to be the strong one, but he was human like the rest of us. He was entitled to go through his emotions.

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just trying to figure out how all of this happened.”

“I was there right before it happened. Had I stayed a little longer, Alex would be okay. I fucked up.”

The guilt was consuming him, but I also knew it was coming from a deeper place. Rylo hadn’t processed Brandon’s death. He needed to realize there was nothing he could have done. That’s the thing about death. When it was your time to go, it was your time, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

“Hey, it’s not your fault, Rylo.”

“It’s my fault because I was busy trying to save your fucking cousin. How did I save a complete stranger but couldn’t manage to save Brandon or Alex? Tell me that shit ain’t backward.”

I was speechless. I prayed he didn’t direct his anger toward Chi because right now, it looked as if he was.

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