“Hello?” I answered the phone on almost the last ring.
“Where are you?”
“We were on our way from eating, and then Proctor said that he had to make a stop.”
“Oh, it took y’all that long to get food?” Her tone came with an attitude.
“Yeah. He took me somewhere far as hell to get some bomb-ass food. You should’ve come with us.”
“Nah, I wasn’t really hungry, but I was just checking on you. Be careful.”
“Okay, I’ll be back soon.”
“K, bye.” We hung up the phone.
I stared out the window for another fifteen minutes before Proctor finally came back in the car. I noticed immediately that his chest was rising and falling hard, and he was breathing heavier than before. His hands gripped the steering wheel, knuckles bruised and bloody like he’d just been in a fight. I didn’t know with whom because I didn’t hear anything from the car, and there were barely any cars outside the club.
Proctor started his engine and pulled off fast, the way he usually drove. We hit the freeway, then exited into streets I never would’ve known to take while in Vegas because it wasn’t the tourist spots. I looked out the window, sightseeing, because this was the part of Vegas that wasn’t in movies. It was gritty, dry, and hood and just like most cities, I see that Vegas has a hood too.
When we stopped at a red light, I had my head on a swivel and noticed a gas station to my left. In the parking lot of the gas station was a car that had three men surrounding it, and of course, my eyes went straight to them. I would always check niggas out, even though I was sitting next to one of the finest men I’d ever seen in my life.
The light took forever, and I kept glancing to the left, until the faces I saw started to look hella familiar.
“Wait, is that JoJo and them?”
I said out loud, smacking my lips, and Proctor looked over at me.
“Who did you just say that was?”
“JoJo, I think. He and his family.” I shrugged my shoulder, hoping he shrugged it off too.
“JoJo. The JoJo who shot my son? The one who is on the run from the courthouse.”
“Yeah, I mean, I think that’s him. What, are you about to call the police and tell them where he is?” I asked, getting nervous from the way Proctor was looking at me.
Proctor didn’t respond and made a left at the light, parking across the street from the gas station in front of some run-down apartments. They reminded me of the ones that I grew up in back home. Washed over brick, iron railings, and no one outside their units because everyone slept during the day and stayed up in bull shit all night.
“What are we doing here. Proctor? Are you going to wait here until the police get here?”
“Fuck the police. Just sit back and be quiet while I think.”
He reached his long arms into the backseat and spooked me by pulling a gun from the back and resting it on his lap, as if it belonged there. The gun was heavy-looking, with a scope attached to it like it was for the military. My stomach dropped, and I almost screamed, but I swallowed it back inside because the last thing I needed to do was spook a man who’s already on edge.
“Wha, what are you doing with that?”
My voice came out quieter than I meant it to, but it was because I had to force the words past the lump sitting in my throat.
“I think it’s time for a little payback against this pussy ass nigga. I can’t believe they still hanging around Vegas like the fuckin cops are the only ones they need to be running from.”
The way he was talking scared me more than the gun. Calm, flat, no yelling, and just cold, calculated words. His face didn’t twist up with anger, and it stayed locked, focused, like a switch had already flipped and there was no turning it back off.
My hands started shaking. I pressed them against my thighs, trying to keep them still. My heart was beating so hard I could hear and feel it in my neck, in my chest, and in my fingertips.
Surely nothing was about to happen, right? I mean, it’s the middle of the day, and we were in front of an abandoned building, I’m sure Proctor wasn’t stupid. But then again, I don’t know this man at all besides him being fine, which got me in this position in the first place.
Damn what did I just do.
Chapter 5
