The first thing that I noticed that alarmed me was that he was alone.
He had none of his niggas with him, having me assume he was too enraged and sped off without them, or he didn't want to feel the pressure of other people knowing his next victims. The latter made the most sense to me. And with the way he gripped the steering wheel and fiercely focused on the road in front of him. I was mentally losing my shit.
Kaylen and I would talk, and he would ignore us, his silence heightening our fears. He only addressed us once we finally reached our destination. I tried to remember every twist and turn we made, but the anxiety was taking over, and my mind was going blank.
All I knew was I stood in an old abandoned building, arguing back and forth with a man who didn't have any reason within him. And I just hoped I could save Kaylen and I the way I did back when it was the whole Calvin issue.
But unfortunately, all my attempts were failing. The bad and tough Janae was not enough to faze him like it used to.
"This is how you want it to go down?" I asked, trying my best to stand in front of him with confidence.
"I'm not going back to jail!" He shouted, pulling out his gun, making me flinch.
I held my hands out slowly. "Nico."
"You always the common denominator in this shit. You always tryna be somebody's hero while I'm just tryna handle business." He waved his gun between me and Kay. "This wasn't even about you!"
"Whatever goes down with the people that I love is my business, you know that by now." I fought back. "I told you stop fucking with my life Nico."
"Well now both of y'all are tryna fuck with mine." He spoke. "So who's going first?" His gun didn't falter from my body.
"Nico." I whispered, feeling my body go into panic mode. "You don't have to do this."
"You've been a problem since day one Janae." He walked closer to me. "And at first I thought it was cute. But it's getting too messy for me."
"You do this and you know- you know it's all gonna come back to you." My heart started to beat out of my chest as tears surfaced in my eyes. "You're gonna be the first name on the list and it's gonna be over for you."
"It's over for me right now!" He barked back, making my body once again jump in fear.
"Why does it have to be over for me?" I pleaded, blinking some tears out of my eyes.
"Cause I bet the reason why the cops are up my ass is 'cause of you and I'm not about to let that slide."
He was different. Nico had been pushed past his limits and was now ruthless. He wasn't the sly and cunning man that poked at me for fun, he was serious, and had a look in his eyes that made him appear less human. As he held his gun, I had no doubt in my mind he would press the trigger with no afterthought or remorse. Kaylen and I did not stand in front of him as innocent teenage girls, we were bugs he wanted to crush in one fatal move. Our lives didn't matter to him, any excuse we gave didn't matter.
He wanted us gone.
And he wanted to do it himself just to make sure it was definite.
He inched closer to me to where I could almost feel the gun's contact with my skin. I tried to calm my breathing, bracing myself for the pain I was going to feel, if I were to feel anything at all.
"NO!" Kaylen's voice yelled, tackling him from the side, making the gun go off, a bullet piercing one of the already fractured walls, and slip from his grip as both of them toppled to the ground, and I was stunned.
He could've just killed me.
"You stupid bitch!" Nico shouted. He didn't hesitate to push her body off of him, hitting her multiple times with a closed fist, the pair wrestling each other for the gun.
He could've just killed me.
"Janae!" Kaylen screamed, snapping me out of my moment of pure shock and back into the reality of the situation.
Nico had his arm pressed against her neck, while his free hand reached for the gun. I quickly rushed over, kicking the weapon out of his reach, picking it up myself, and pointing it towards Nico's body.
"Get up," I commanded.
"You don't even know what you're doing," Nico replied with a mix of anger and amusement.
"GET UP NOW!" I practically screamed, the gun shaking in my grasp.
Nico just slowly rose to his feet, aggressively yanking Kaylen up with him. He held her in front of his body like a shield. "Do it." He taunted.
"Let her go," I instructed
"No." He hooked his arm around her neck to keep her in place.
"Kaylen." I looked at her, encouraging her to help herself, she tried to fight against his hold, only for him to pull out a knife from his back pocket, holding it to her throat.
"One more move, and she's gone." He smirked. "Put down the gun, Janae."
I shook my head. "No."
He continued to taunt me. "So that's what you want? To kill me?"
"You said it was already over for you. Why not make it true?"
"It's gonna be over for her, too." He nudged Kaylen, making her let out a whimper.
She looked deflated. Her cheeks glossed with tears, her body tired. Tussling with Nico took a toll on her. It looked like she already gave up with her head down looking at her shoes, defenseless.
I couldn't let this be the end for her. Even if I complied with him, there was a chance he would go back on his word.
I had to shoot.
"Do it," Kaylen called out. She lifted her head to look at me, sniffling softly. "Do it."
I only had one shot to get this right, and I had no idea what I was doing.
"Yeah, Janae. Do it." Nico encouraged with yet another one of his sly smiles.
I let out a slow breath, trying to control my shaking as I lifted arm, aiming for Nico's head. I made sure my hand was steady, holding the gun straight with both my hands. To make sure I had the right spot, I thought about if I was playing darts, and I had to aim for the center.
Nico was the center.
It was rare in a regular game of darts that I hit the bullseye, but in moments where luck was on my side, I did.
I just had to trust my instincts on this one.
I got my finger ready on the trigger, closing my eyes and letting out a slow breath as I applied pressure with a soft squeeze.
The sound of the bullet going off was the only distinct sound I remembered from that moment.
My eyes opened, seeing Kaylen and Nico's bodies fall to the ground before me.
"Kaylen!" I screamed, instantly rushing forward after dropping the gun to the floor. "Kaylen, no!" I tried with all of my strength to push Nico's body off of her to see where all the blood was coming from. "Kaylen!"
"I'm okay." Her voice softly spoke as I got to see her face.
"Then wha-"
I looked at Nico's body, noticing the bullet in his back and Calvin and Quincy standing in the doorway, my eyes widening at the sight of the gun in Calvin's grasp. "Did you just shoot him?!"
Another bullet sounded off as Calvin striked Nico's body once more, making Kaylen and I let out an ear piercing screams, holding onto each other.
"Yes, now, let's go." Calvin ordered, tucking the gun in his pants, and coming forward with Quincy to help us up. "We don't have much time. We already called the cops."
"What?" I asked shocked.
This was all too much for me to comprehend at once.
"Now, Janae!" Calvin pulled me forward, leading me to follow in step behind him, rushing to the exit. My eyes glancing behind me, looking to the pool of blood that was now surrounding Nico's body.
There was no doubt that he was dead.
And I didn't do it.