Page 67 of Fight for You

A couple of seconds later, Titan pulls off, headed away from the school.

I don't follow him this time. There's no point. I've seen more than enough to know what I've been missing for the last year. Titan is dealing for Kaleo.

I feel like I'm going to throw up, but I don't. Instead, I do the only thing I know how to do…I go back to my girl.

I'm waiting on the front porch when Titan gets home a couple of hours later. January and Jana are in bed for the night. I told January I was going next door to Ma Lucia's to crash. I've been out here since, waiting for her brother to get home. I still don't know what to say to him.

"You sleeping on the doorstep now?" he asks when he sees me sitting on his front porch.

"You're dealing for Kaleo."

His body goes rigid, his jaw clenching. He doesn't deny it, though.

"What the fuck, Titan?" I growl, pissed he's not even going to respond. Pissed he's doing this in the first place. It would kill January and their mom to know he's selling dope to kids at the high school.

"Mind your business," he growls right back at me. "I told you I'd handle shit. I'm handling it."

"By slinging dope for him?" I shake my head, acid burning up my throat. "That's fucked up. You aren't like Kaleo, man. You shouldn't be doing this shit."

Titan laughs, the sound bitter and mocking. "Wake the fuck up, Kincaid. I've always been more like Kaleo than you. The only reason I was never part of his crew was because of you. Because you convinced me there was a better way to keep January safe. We made it work for as long as we could, but shit isn't that simple anymore."

"One of his boys tried to rape her," I snap, pushing myself to my feet. "You forget about that? You really going to stand there and tell me you're cool working with the bastard when your little sister still has nightmares about that shit?"

Titan flinches but doesn't back down. "Kaleo didn't know Tony was going to do that. He was just trying to push your buttons. But I put a stop to all that."

We both know that's a fucking lie. Kaleo knew.

"Do you even fucking hear yourself right now? You put a stop to his bullshit by selling yourself to him!"

"So what? What does it matter to you? You're not even going to be around once you graduate. You'll take January and get the fuck out of here. I'm doing what I have to do to keep her safe until that happens. I don't need your support or blessing. I never asked for it."

"How do you think she's going to feel if she finds out about this, huh? Do you think she's going to feel safe knowing her brother is dealing at her school? Or that she's going to be cool with the fact that you're running around with Curtis Kaleo, doing his bidding so she has a shot of getting out of here unscathed?"

"Doesn't matter," he mumbles. "You aren't going to tell her."

"Don't bet on that."

"You also going to tell her you attacked Kaleo on his own turf? That he was going to tear this block apart to retaliate, but I stopped it? You going to tell her the only reason she's been safe for the last year is because I fixed what you broke?"

My stomach sinks because he's right. This is my fault. "I never meant for this to happen."

"Yeah, well, it did," he says, looking at me like he actually pities me. "I'm doing what I have to do to get her out of here in one piece. If bowing to Kaleo means I accomplish that, then that's what I'm going to do. You don't have to like it. Truthfully, I don't care if you do or not."

"I'll take care of it," I tell him.

"You're not getting it," he says. "I've already taken care of it. He isn't going to send anyone else after her or after you. And you aren't going to say a fucking word to her. As far as she's ever going to know, he backed off because he felt bad about what happened with Tony."

"So that's it, huh? You make all the choices now, and we're just supposed to fall in line?"

He shrugs. "What did you think would happen when you went to college? You're barely around anymore. When you are, you're with January. Someone had to step in and call the shots. And hate to point out the fucking obvious, but I'm doing a hell of a lot better job of keeping him off this block than you ever did."

"And all you had to do to accomplish it was give him exactly what he wanted all along," I snap, clenching my hands into fists to keep from taking a swing at him. "The only reason we ever started this shit was to keep January safe and keep ourselves out of his clutches."

"I did what I had to do. Deal with it."

"You do this, we're done," I warn him. There's not much I wouldn't do for Titan, but watching him ruin his life messing around with Kaleo is where I draw the line. Nothing good will come of that. He knows it just as well as I do. Maybe he's destined to live in this neighborhood for the rest of his life like he seems to think, but that doesn't mean he's destined to turn into another Kaleo. If that's the choice he's hell-bent on making, I'm not going to stand around and watch him do it.

He stops with his hand on the doorknob and then shakes his head. "You do what you have to do, Kincaid."