“Girl, you got that look. Like you’re counting down the seconds.” She put down the magazine. “What’s he like?”
How do you even describe Prime?
“He’s… everything,” I said finally. “He’s the type of man who would tear down the whole world if somebody hurt me. But he’s also the type to talk to our baby every night through my belly. To take in my nephew when he had nobody else. To drop everything and fly across the country just to be close to me even when he can’t even touch me yet.”
LaLa shook her head slowly. “That’s real love right there, mami. That’s that once-in-a-lifetime shit.”
“It is.”
“Hold onto that. Tight. Men like that are rare.”
“Trust me, I know.”
She reached under her mattress and pulled out a honey bun. Tossed it to me.
“Here. For the baby. I know the food in here is garbage.”
I caught it, surprised. “LaLa, you don’t gotta?—”
“I want to. You eating for two. That little girl needs something sweet.”
I looked down at the honey bun, then back at her. This woman I just met. Sharing what little she had.
“Thank you,” I said. “For real. For everything.”
“That’s how we do in here. We look out for each other. Especially us.” She gestured between us. “We gotta stick together. The real enemy is those CO’s.”
I smiled and opened the honey bun. It was stale as hell but I didn’t care. It was the best thing I’d tasted since I got here.
That night, I laid in the dark with my hand pressed against my belly.
She was moving around in there. Kicking. Restless. Active as hell. Just like her daddy.
“He’s here, baby girl,” I whispered. “Right here in LA. Waiting on us. Just hold on a little longer. We’re almost there.”
I closed my eyes and tried to picture Prime’s face. His hands. The way his voice dropped low when it was just us. The way he made me feel safe even when everything around us was falling apart.
Bail was coming. My lawyer was fighting. My man was waiting.
But underneath all that hope, there was something else. Something darker. Something I couldn’t let go of.
Thad.
He was out there right now. Walking around free. Probably smiling. Probably laughing. Breathing freely like he had any right to exist.
He had no idea what was coming for him.
I’d carried his face in my memory for five years. Five years of not knowing his name. Five years of waking up in cold sweats, seeing him run out that door while my sister bled out on the floor.
Now I knew exactly who he was. Prime’s cousin. A Banks. Comfortable. Protected.
But not for long.
I was gonna get out of here. Beat this case. Hold my daughter. Marry my man.
And then? Then I was gonna find Thad.
And I was gonna make sure he remembered my sister’s name right before I sent him to meet her.
