Ceasar wasn’t exempt either. Both of them would burn in hell before I actually sent them there. As much as it hurt for Carteay to leave me, I was even more worried about her going back to those monsters who saw her as nothing more than a business and a brand.
I knew she was probably terrified when she ran, but I wasn’t in the business of making excuses for anyone. She chose toleave me. I told her that I could protect her, and she still went back to them on her own. That didn’t mean she deserved to be mishandled. That nigga wasn’t a pharmacist. He could have killed her putting something in her drink or whatever he had done. In my eyes, he was trying to kill her.
I took all threats seriously. I couldn’t afford not to. The last time I let a threat slide, it cost my brother the love of his life. I wasn’t taking this shit lightly. If I would have gone to Kross instead of listening to Audrey when she said she had everything under control, she might still be here. I had never even told my best friend in the world that two weeks before she was murdered, his wife told me somebody had been threatening her. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I knew somebody was after her.
The secret burden I carried changed the way I did everything. I wasn’t letting Carteay out of my sight again. I had already made that mistake once. With that in mind, I hit the phone screen to open my home security app and tuned into the cameras in my living room. The sound of Carteay screaming my name made me smile.
They’d discharged her from the hospital after all her tests came back clear. She was so tired that she barely woke up when we left and had been in my bedroom knocked out for almost sixteen hours.
“Good, she’s awake,” I mumbled.
“You ain’t worried about her leaving again?” Kross asked, causing me to look up from my screen.
I shook my head. “Nah, she can’t.”
“She can walk on a sprained ankle if she wanted to.”
“She can’t leave because she’s tied up,” I explained, picking up my cup of lemon spearmint tea.
“Nigga, what?” Keywan chimed in.
“You holding her hostage, Bro? That’s some shit I would expect from this nigga,” Kross said, pointing at our younger brother.
“Ditto.” Keywan agreed with a chuckle.
“She’s not a hostage. I just don’t want her walking on that ankle. She was sleep, and I didn’t want her waking up and forgetting the doctor’s orders.”
“Yeah, right! You just pussy whipped, nigga. You trying to keep that thang in place while you’re gone.” Key grinned.
“You heard the man. She has a sprained ankle. The doctor said she needs to stay off her feet for at least three days,” I explained.
“So, your first instinct was to tie her up?” Kross asked.
“Well, yeah.” I shrugged, not understanding what the question was.
I already told him that I tied her up to keep her off her sprained ankle. So what if those same ropes were keeping my pussy in its rightful place. That was just a plus.
“So, you got that girl tied up at your house, and your ass is over here with us drinking tea like an old ass man?” Keywan asked.
Kross shook his head. “She gon’ kill you, Bro. I hope you got your affairs in order. Leave me that smoker in your will. That bighead joker right there don’t need it. Pastor Cook gon’ preach a good one over you.”
“You might be scared of Janelle, and Key, we know your ass is scared of Iyla, but I got this under control.”
“Aight,” Kross said with a simple shoulder shrug before picking up his cup.
“Nah, I have more questions,” Keywan said, still shaking his bighead.
I sighed and shook my head. “What is it?”
“How the hell did you manage to tie her up in the first place? You mean to tell me she just sat there and let you do it?” My response was a smile that caused him to smile too. Then that oblong head of his was shaking again. “Nah, you know what? Don’t even answer that with your freaky ass.”
“Y’all some freaky ass frogs. That girl just got out of the hospital,” Kross tossed in.
“She was sleep, man.” I chuckled.
When Kross threw his head back, I started to consider that I had gone too far. This nigga did anything that came to mind. His disapproval came as a slight shock.
“Oh Lord, you tied her up in her sleep?” he fussed.
