_OceanofPDF

“But… I thought the Collective closed.”
“No, you ran off to marry some rich guy.”
Logan texted me back, but I didn’t look at it.
“You’re saying I abandoned you?”
“Not what I said.”
“So what are you saying? That I closed the GAC and now you all are
saying fuck you, Fancy, we’ll do shit without you? At the river? The LA
River? What is it?”
“You know how it’s called Frogtown over there—?”
“And who’s financing it? Where are you based? Who’s handling
logistics? What if you get caught?” The raw energy of betrayal brought me
to my feet. “Why did you leave me out?”
“Are you fucking with me? No, no, you have got to be fucking with
me.”
“I started it! I put everything into that crew!”
“And you left! We didn’t all drop dead,” Amilcar said.
“I didn’t think that.”
“So what did you think? We couldn’t do it without you? Or what? We
wouldn’t want to? You’re the big inspiration? You leave and we all flop
down like those balloon men? Turn the fan off and we stop waving our
arms or some shit?”
“No! I—”
“You need to check yourself, girl.”
“Stop it!”
The vehemence of my protest was a tell for the fact that I hadn’t given a
thought to what I thought the rest of the crew would do while I was on
hiatus. I’d put myself in the center of a group of people with their own
dreams and desires. They had enough talent and the capability to surpass
anything I’d done with them. I’d known that, but at the same time, I hadn’t
let myself believe it.
“Done!” Tasha cried, slapping her book closed and packing it all away.
“Amilcar,” I said, “do you guys need anything? Money? Space?”
“Nah.”
“You sure? I have so much.”
“We’ll get you the deets. You can come see it. The crew would be cool
with that.”
“If you get into trouble, will you call me?”