I stood up against the wall and watched as Christian danced slowly over to my sister, his deep dimples crushing every girl's heart along the way. He was singing, and she was blushing, and all of the other girls were staring.

He didn't even notice them.

He only noticed her.

He pulled her into his arms, holding her close, and whispered something to her in her ear that made her turn almost as red as the overhead lights that we had replaced earlier that day in preparation for the youth dance at the community center. Everyone came out, but not everyone was dancing. Just those two. Slowly, more and more boys approached the girls who were lining the walls and took them by the hand, out to the dance floor.

I watched and smiled. Our community needed this after such a horrible tragedy the week before. Horrible murder. It wasn't a "tragedy." It was a murder. And that crooked PIG who took little Michael's life was a coldblooded killer. Everyone felt safer now that the police had stepped back a little and let our own armed guards patrol what was ours. We saw it as a triumph. They probably saw it as...something else.

I frowned at the thought.

"Peace Jazz." My pulse doubled as Remmey strode up and stood with his back up against the wall beside me. "Deep thoughts?"

I smiled and looked away.

His intense gaze drew me back within seconds. He licked his lips and my fingers involuntarily touched my own.

He smiled.

I grinned shyly.

"You're not how I thought you were." I looked at him confused. "You...different." He paused. "Huh, bruh..." I couldn't answer because I didn't know what he meant. "You sound different the other night."

I smiled wider. "Wally B gave me those words."

"Not all of them."

I shook my head. "No, not all of them."

"You talk different when you up there. Like Moses." Again, I had no idea what he meant. "Look different, too." He leaned in closer and I stopped smiling. "Like a woman." He saw my confusion and tried to explain. "I thought you were..." Remmey's eyes squinted in concentration as he tried to find the right words. "Wally B treat you like a young girl. Innocent..." Remmey reached out and touched my arm. I tensed up. He let go. "But you ain't. You...different."

I just stared at him. My eyes were getting wider with every word.

Remmey stepped away from the wall and stood directly in front of me. He stood close. Close enough to make it hard for me to breathe.

He reached out and touched my hair.

Then he ran his thumb across my bottom lip.

I was shaking and hoped with everything that he didn't see it.

"You looked good the other night." I looked down at the floor when I felt his eyes pulling me toward him, into him, from the inside out. "Sounded good. Everything you said sound good. You sound strong. Brave. Tough. Like you grown..." He grinned at me and lifted my face back up toward his. He motioned from his eyes to mine. He paused while he gazed at me. "These niggas will take you if you don't look them in the eye. Don't want nobody to take you..." I frowned and he said even quieter "...take advantage of you." I nodded and kept my eyes trained on his. I didn't want anyone to take advantage of me either. Including him. He placed his hand gently on my face and ran his thumb down my cheek. "You a grown woman. I can see it."

I nodded. I felt that in me. Like Wally B, I had never felt like my own age.

"Why Wally B treat you like that then?" I shrugged. "He act like he don't want nobody to touch you." His eyes pierced deeper into mine. "You a virgin?"

I looked away. Why did he keep asking me that?

Then I looked back at him, right into his eyes and he kind of jumped back like most people did when I looked right at them.

"Do you keep asking me that because that's what Wally B told you?"

Remmey shook his head no. "How Wally B know?" I looked back down at the ground. "He try you?"

I shook my head no.

"He just...keep everyone from around us." Remmey chuckled and stepped closer to me. I heated up.

I know he felt it.

"He don't let nobody near me when he's around. Or my sister...before Christian. Ever since Marguerite..." I dropped my eyes. I didn't mean to say that. Then I looked back up at him. "I don't know why he trust you with me."

I knew Wally B was close by. All of the Organization was there, chaperoning the kids. I assumed that's why Remmey was there, too. That's why I knew that, right then, Wally B was letting Remmey stand that close. Otherwise he would have definitely come over and broke it up by now. Just like he would have broken up Christian and Claire, or tried to, if he didn't know in his heart that Christian loved my sister with everything he had, and would sacrifice his own life before he ever put her in harm's way.

But Remmey didn't love me like that.

So I didn't understand...why he was that close.

I looked up at him and tried hard to figure out what it was about Remmey.

And why he and I felt like a...train that just couldn't be stopped.

By anyone.

I couldn't tell if it was about to be a wild ride or a horrible wreck. Either way, it excited me.

"Wally B kin," Remmey explained, reading my eyes. "He know I'll be careful with you. He know you need..." His eyes plunged into mine and I lost my breath again. "He know you need what you need, and he know you gone get what you need however you need to get it."

I heated up more and he stepped even closer to me.

He was right.

But it made me sound like Marguerite.

I didn't like it.

So I changed the subject.

"You and Wally B kin?" I never knew that.

"Not blood. But he like blood. He know I like you. He know you want me." I blushed. Remmey didn't change expressions. "He told me not to get you in trouble and he know I won't." He looked at me. "I won't harm what my kin protects." His words were digging through my heart and straight down into my pants.

I squeezed my thighs together and blushed more.

"So..." I looked up into Remmey's eyes and my chest heaved up and down as he leaned in close enough to kiss me.

His lips hovered just above mine.

"So...I keep the young boys off you for him." He ran his thumb across my chin and pulled my bottom lip gently down, softly parting my lips. "If you want." I closed my eyes and tried to immortalize the feeling of his hands on my face in case it never happened again. "Do you want that?" I opened my eyes and stared up at him. Remmey leaned in closer. He read the uncertainty on my face. "Wally B say you wit' who you want to be wit'." His body pressed up against mine and our lips almost touched. "This don't have to be that if you don't want that, ok?"

I nodded and closed my eyes, opening my mouth a little more to let him inside.

Remmey softly pressed his lips against mine and ran his hands down my arms as his warm tongue slid slowly in and out of my mouth. Heat traveled through me and hovered right between my legs as I felt him press further into me.

I squeezed my thighs tighter and tighter.

And then I felt him pull away.

Remmey stood over me, looking down, making me feel like a small sapling under a tall oak tree. I felt intimidated by his size, and also protected by it. Remmey stared into my eyes, and then grinned at me. He kissed my forehead and then leaned into me again, whispering in my ear.

"That what you want?" He pulled back and studied my eyes.

I bit my lip and nodded, looking down and away from the intensity of his gaze. He lifted my face with his finger and motioned silently from his eyes to mine.

Then he leaned in and kissed me again.

My whole body shook.

I know he felt it.