Those three words hit me somewhere deep and quiet, the same place that had been empty for most of my life.
The sirens arrived first, then the rumble of engines underneath them, low and unmistakable. I already knew.
I heard the steps before I saw him.
Duke took the stairs fast and came through the doorway with something in his eyes I had never seen there before. Not the calm, controlled version of fear he kept locked away. This was raw. He took in the room in one sweep, and then his eyes found me.
He crossed the space in three steps and I met him halfway, jumping up into his arms and wrapping around him like I was trying to disappear into him entirely. His arms came around me so tight it almost hurt and I didn’t care even a little. I pressed my face into his neck and everything I had been holding together since I walked through that door came undone all at once. Every tear I had pushed down. Every moment I had told myself to keep moving. Every night I had spent afraid and alone and convinced that I was too broken to ever feel safe.
It all came out.
Duke held me through every bit of it, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other pressed flat against my back like he was keeping me from falling apart completely.
“She the only one you see?” Juelz said from the floor. “I’m the one that got shot.”
I laughed and cried at the same time, which was probably the most honest thing I had done all night.
Duke looked down at him and shook his head slowly.
“Looks like a flesh wound to me. You need to work on pulling faster.”
“Flesh wound.” Juelz groaned and tried to sit up, then immediately thought better of it. “Fuck you very much.”
Duke finally looked over at Henderson.
He didn’t say anything. His arm tightened around my waist and he pulled me slightly in front of him, like even now, even with Henderson still and gone, he wanted to be between me and that side of the room.
Voices came up the stairwell.
“Clear up there?”
“Clear enough,” Duke called back. “Body and a gunshot wound. Need paramedics for the wounded one.”
He guided me out of the apartment as the officers and paramedics moved in, one hand on my back the entire time, steady and certain. Outside on the steps he turned me toward him and looked me over slowly, checking every inch of me the same way he had checked my knuckles at the block party.
“Talk to me,” he said quietly. “You good?”
I looked up at him.
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I actually was.
“I’m good,” I said.
He kissed my forehead and held it there for a moment.
The officers came to me next and I told them everything from the beginning. Every detail I could recall. Duke stood beside me the entire time, and when I started to flag he stepped in and let them know he would bring me to the precinct in the morning for anything more they needed.
By the time they wheeled Juelz out, the street in front of Sugar Kissed had a crowd gathered at the edges, kept back by the officers. Duke walked beside the gurney holding my hand.
“Thank you,” Duke said to him.
Juelz looked up with that same boyish smirk that somehow survived everything.
“You straight. Solana’s family. You know that.”
Duke nodded once.
“We’ll be at the hospital.”
