AHEAD OF THE GAME | BXB

XXVII

I sat in the chair across from Jayda's bed and just waited.

Rico was on the other side of the room looking stupid, almost like he was just so innocent.

I couldn't even look him in the eyes without feeling disgust.

He knew not to look over at me, or even talk to me, otherwise I probably would've beat his ass.

After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Jayda finally stirred and opened her eyes. She looked disoriented and confused, but as soon as she saw me, she gasped weakly.

"Hey," she whispered. "What happened? W-why are you here?"

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my anger in check. "You overdosed," I said, my voice low. "Rico's fault."

Jayda's eyes widened in shock and anger flashed across her face. "What? Overdosed? What the f—."

"-Man I ain't do shit!" Rico cried hysterically. "She wanted to do the drugs! I didn't make her."

"Shut the fuck up!" I screamed.

Jayda winced at my outburst, but I didn't care. I was too angry, too frustrated with Rico and his stupidity.

"You gave her the drugs," I said, exhaling. "Now, get out of my face, please."

"W-wait! Are you gonna tell KyRon?" He asked, his voice almost sounding like a desperate whimper.

I glared at him, my eyes moving from his feet to his face. Then, I turned back to Jayda. After that, I heard Rico Trotting away helplessly.

"I'm sorry you had to find me," she whispered. "T-this wasn't apart of the plan."

I narrowed my eyes in her direction, leaning forward. "What you mean? What plan, Jayda?"

Jayda hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I-I knew what I was doing when I met Rico. I ran into him on purpose."

My jaw dropped at her confession. "What? Why would you do that?"

Jayda looked down at her hands, tears welling up in her eyes. "Anthony, I know. I know everything. I know about KyRon, I k-know what he did to-," she took a breath, "Tray. I know you were involved."

My heart felt like it stopped beating for a moment.

I wasn't gonna confirm it, not until I heard it come out of her mouth.

"What exactly do you know?"

Jayda looked up at me, her eyes filled with sadness and regret. "I know that KyRon was involved in Tray's death, and I know that you were there too. I know that you've been keeping it a secret all this time."

My calm expression didn't falter.

I'd expected someone to find out, but not her of all people.

I took a deep breath and leaned back in my chair, running a hand over my face. "Okay, so you know. How does this all relate to Rico?"

"After I talked to you about the whole police situation, I just needed extra help. So, I started calling people that Tray used to be cool with. I ain't get that many replies, but this one dude directed me to this girl named Tally. Somehow, she knew everything about you and KyRon and the entire night of how it went down...down to where he hid the body and everything."

I clutched the arm of my chair desperately.

How the fuck did Tally even know about that!

Jayda continued, "She gave me some more information, and that's when I found Rico. I was just gonna use him to get to KyRon, that's it. But, then I started doing the drugs, and everything just went downhill from there."