"REDRUM- 21 SAVAGE"

They were posted up on the rusted rail behind the liquor store, music low, smoke curling into the air. Huddy was the first to notice you again—same spot across the street, hood up, calm like you owned the pavement.

“There she go…” he said with a crooked grin, flicking ash from his cig.

Jay leaned in, squinting. “That’s her?”

Huddy nodded. “Big bro’s little shadow. Don’t let the quiet fool you.”

Dre laughed under his breath. “Man, she don’t even walk like a gang chick. She walk like she got secrets.”

“Because she does,” Huddy said, tapping his temple. “Whole damn street knows it.”

Jay chuckled. “She ever talk?”

“Not to us,” Dre said. “I said ‘hey’ once. She just looked at me like I wasn’t worth the air.”

Huddy smirked wider. “That’s ‘cause you’re not.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

Huddy kept his eyes on you. “She’s not just in that gang, bro. She’s bred from it. You know what it does to someone, growing up with that kind of blood on the floor?”

“Didn’t she—” Jay started.

“Yeah,” Huddy cut in, “she dropped someone. They say her brother made her. I say… maybe she didn’t mind as much as she was supposed to.”

Dre gave a low whistle. “Kinda cold.”

“Kinda hot,” Huddy said without missing a beat. “She’s got that dead-girl stare like she already saw the worst and got bored of it.”

Jay raised an eyebrow. “You tryna flirt or make us scared?”

Huddy shrugged, still watching. “I’m tryna figure out if she’s poison or the antidote. Either way… she’s got my attention.”