“What you gonna do with her? Huh? Run away with her? She’s a liability with her own fuckin problems! Worry aboutourproblems!”
Slim squeezes her legs around my waist and clambers up my body.
“Shhh…” I mutter, bouncing her up and down while another trickle of blood flows over my eye. “Don’t listen.”
“She needs to listen! That’s the problem! She needs to hear this!”
“Go home, Arnez.”
“She’s gonna get you caught up or get you killed. I know you. I know that look in your eyes, Rich. If you do something to that boy, that’s it for you. Melo’s reign doesn’t cover millionaire NFL players. He’ll throw you straight to the wolves, and they’ll bury you under the jail. Then all the rest of your skeletons will come out no matter what we been paying.”
I see my truck’s tailgate through my blurry vision, and I walk faster toward it while she follows us.
“I ain’t listening to you right now.”
“Fine, Rich! I’ll entertain you. I’ll entertain this stupidity!” she yells. “Tell me what the fuck kind of life you gonna give her? Huh? You can’t even leave the city. If you leave, he’ll put a bounty on your head and they’ll merk you as soon as you step foot back in Houston. She ain’t built for this life. You saw her in there! You telling me she’s gonna sit up here with you every Sunday and watch you get your head knocked around to pay her bills? Because you can’t quit. If you quit, what job you gonna get that’s gonna allow you to pay this man fourteen hundred dollars a week and still have money left to survive? If you don’t pay, he’s gonna kill you. Just let her go. Me, you, and Daddy can figure this out without all this outside noise from her and Faye. She’s just a distraction.They’rejust distractions. Why can’t you and Daddy just let them go?”
Every word she yells out feels like a blow to my weary body. My knees buckle and my stride slows and Slim sobs louder.
“We…we almost there…” I huff, rounding my truck and making a beeline for the driver’s side door.
I yank the door open and climb inside with her still in my arms. I slam the door shut just as Arnez runs up behind us.
She slaps the window, and her muffled voice seeps through the glass.
“If Daddy couldn’t even keep Faye, what makes you think you can keep her? Huh?”
“Rich…” Slim whispers.
“Man, get the fuck away from my truck!” I holler while that giant boulder sinks in my stomach.
“Fuck you and her!” Arnez hits the window again, backing up and stalking over to her car.
I wait for the sound of her engine before reclining the driver’s seat and staring at my truck’s roof. Slim’s soft sniffles fill the quiet air around us.
“Shhh…” I rake my fingers through her frizzy hair. “Close your eyes.”
“I can’t. I need to look at you.” She pushes up from my chest, and her soft eyes pierce my face like two daggers. “You weren’t listening to her, were you? She’s grieving, and she’s angry. She wants us to feel as bad as she feels.”
I pinch my eyes shut.
“You can keep me, Rich. I’m the only thing in this world that’s yours. Remember? You never had anybody who just belonged to you until I came.”
A sharp burn trickles through my nose, and I can’t see what’s in front of me again. I swipe my hand across my eyes to clear my vision, but all I feel is hot wetness.
I’m fuckin crying… again.
“We’re not them. We’re not Senior and Faye. I’m not leaving you,” she mutters. “I willneverleave you.”
“Close your eyes, baby?—”
“Rich.” She shakes her head. “You made love to me last night. You…you told me we would do this together.”
“Shhhh.” I pull her head to my wet chest and rake my fingernails across her scalp. “I know. I know. But I want…I needyou to stop for a second and breathe. Did you even breathe today, baby?”
Tears well in her eyes, and her mouth falls open. “We don’t have time for this. We need to go home and figure out a plan?—”
I stoop down and steal a kiss from her hot mouth before swiping my thumbs across her face. “Breathe.”
