“I already was.”
I closed my eyes and smiled.
“Bye, baby.”
“Bye, ‘Lo.”
The phone clicked and the second it did, that warmth dropped outta my chest and left me cold again.
I got walked back down the hall by the CO. The jail felt even louder than usual. A nigga yelled somethin’ down the tier. Another one banged on his bunk. Somebody else was arguin’ over damn noodles. I ain’t care about none of that shit. My head was full of Toni and our baby and the fact that I wasn’t there.
I got in my bunk and leaned back against the wall with my hands locked behind my head. I felt like I was drownin’ in my own thoughts. I tried not to think about rubbin’ Toni’s belly. I tried not to think about her legs tappin’ when she got nervous. I tried not to think about the way she laughed through her tears. I tried not to think about how good she looked when she smiled.
But that shit flooded me anyway.
Twenty minutes passed slow as hell. Then I heard footsteps. Two guards stopped at my cell. The CO unlocked the door and looked at me.
“Mensah,” he said, motionin’ with his chin. “Get up. Time to go.”
I blinked, confused as hell.
“What you mean time to go?” I asked, swingin’ my legs over the bunk.
He shrugged like it wasn’t nothin’. “You got bail. Pack your shit up. You leavin’.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. For a second I thought he was fuckin’ with me. Then I saw the paperwork in his hand and the keys hangin’ loose and the way the other CO stepped back like he already knew this was gon’ be a moment.
I stood slow, lettin’ the words settle into my bones.
I was goin’ home…
Home to Toni… home to my baby… home to my family. And for the first time in a month, my lungs actually opened.
“A’ight,” I said, my voice low and thick. “Say less.”
I grabbed my shit.
And walked out that cell…
They had finally let me out this hoe and when that last door buzzed open, somethin’ in my lungs stretched wide like I ain’t breathed in months ‘cause I hadn’t. Not for real or in the way a nigga breathe when he free.
The CO pushed the paperwork into my hand like he couldn’t wait to get rid of me, and I ain’t blame him. I had been givin’ him hell since the day they threw me in that bitch.
I folded the papers, stuffed ‘em in my pocket and walked out with my head high, my shoulders loose and that jail scent already fallin’ off me like it knew not to stick.
The air hit my face warm and clean. I stopped right at the bottom of the steps ‘cause it felt too damn good to rush. For the first time in months, I felt like myself again.
Before I could take another step, I saw a familiar shape leanin’ against a black Cadillac truck with the engine runnin’. Renza pushed off the hood the second he spotted me and started walkin’ fast with that half grin he only got when he was actually happy.
“Boyyyy!” he yelled, rushin’ up on me.
We slapped hands back-to-back, hard as fuck, our palms poppin’ loud enough to echo across the lot. Then he grabbed me in a tight hug that snatched the wind outta me.
“You free, bitch!” he shouted in my ear.
I laughed. “Hell yeah, nigga. I’m out this bitch.”
Everything in me felt light, wild and damn near floatin’. And before I got in the truck, I turned around and looked at that jail one more time. I grabbed my dick with my whole hand like I owned the world and pointed at that bitch with the other.
