I ran until my fingers were stiff, and I saw a sign on a nearby hotdog cart that readwarm hot chocolate served, along with atwo-for-one hotdogsign. Usually, I liked to get hot chocolate from the coffee shop near my old office, but this cold out here today was bringing my expectations way down. Hot chocolate, probably made with lukewarm water, would have to do.
I approached the stand, taking off a glove to work my phone since the gloves weren't touchscreen friendly.
“Mustard, mayo, or both?” The attendant asked, already grabbing a bun.
“No hot dog, I’ll just take a hot chocolate, please. Do you have marshmallows?”
“Yeah, I do, but it's $1 more.” He kept it short, reaching below the cart for a cup.
He opened the pot and steam raised from the hot chocolate. He put a few marshmallows in the bottom of the cup, then scooped out a helping with a ladle and handed it to me.
“$7.”
He said the ridiculous total, but I paid it anyway because I would pay anything just to feel a little warmth.
I wrapped my hands around the cup of hot chocolate, letting the heat soak into my palms before taking a sip. It was honestly way too sweet and almost burned my tongue, but the more I sipped it, the more I could deal with the heat and the taste. I found another spot on a nearby bench and sat down, trying to keep the peace floating in my mind while not being at home right now.
I remember in the past, when I would feel stressed like earlier, I would go see my sister because her house was always full of noise and chaos, and it always gave me enough mental stimulation to not stress about anything. When she was alive, the person who had me feeling down was Marcus’s no-good ass. I remembered how she used to tell me how dumb I was for even caring about a married man, but unfortunately, I never listened. I hated that she even knew about him because it went against everything that I tried to teach her growing up. How could I have truly led by example when I was doing shit I should have been embarrassed of? Sleeping with a man who would never actually belong to me. Shit, but to be honest, I am still doing that now to this day, only it was with Crew.
The only reason I was questioning Crew was because I had reached out to him several times since he left my apartment, and the only text I got back from him said that we needed to talk about something important. At first, I thought maybe he was in trouble somewhere, or even worse, hurt or dead. That made me check his Instagram, and I’d learned enough from cases to know that when someone dies, the comments are flooded with rest in peace statements and heartbreak emojis. His page was however clear, which let me know that he wasn’t dead. He was obviouslyignoring me for whatever reason, and that bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
“Hey, you.” I jumped, hearing a man’s voice directly behind me.
“When did you start sitting in the park working out?” I turned over my shoulder.
“Marcus? What are you doing out here?” I rolled my eyes, turning around to continue sipping on my hot chocolate.
“I knew you were out here, and I had to come see you.”
“And how did you know that, Marcus?”
“You know there are ways.”
“Ways, huh? I’ll be sure to take the tracker you have under my car off when I get back to it. Don't worry.”
He laughed because he knew I was correct about him tracking my car.
I wasn’t dumb, and I was sure he’d put one on there recently because if there had been one on there before, he would’ve seen what happened to Juke that night. This one had to be new and something he slipped on after I cut his ass off. He just couldn’t take not having control of me anymore.
“Why are you out here drinking hot chocolate in the park all alone? Why are you not with your man?”
“Crew, what man are you talking about?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head because I had just fucked up by saying the wrong name. Crew had been on my mind so heavily that I called this jackass his name.
“You know, Bria, I’m just going to say it. You dealing with him is the worst thing you could’ve ever done, and I’m being serious.”
“Marcus, who said I was dealing with Crew?”
“Well, if you weren’t, he wouldn’t be coming out of your condo building early in the mornings. Yeah, I saw him the day I was denied entry.”
My chest tightened because him stalking me really wasn’t sitting right.
“Abria, Crew is going to land you in prison. I’m telling you.”
I turned around and stood up, facing him.
“How the fuck is he going to land me in prison? I didn’t do anything with him. What are you even talking about, Marcus?”
