I squat down and slide Slim into the front seat. As soon as I pull my arms from underneath her, her eyes jolt open. They dart from me to Faye.
“Rich…” she garbles, reaching for my bare chest and scraping her nails into my skin. “What’s going on?”
I can’t even look her in the face.
I grab the seatbelt and try to pull it over her body, but she pushes up, digging her nails deeper into my chest. “What are y’all doing?”
Faye grabs hold of the passenger door. “Lovebug…let me take you back home so you can get some rest. Today has been a lot on you mentally and physically. We need to get some food in you and get you cleaned up.”
“I can do that at Rich’s. I…I can eat and take a shower there.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Faye says.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
I stare at the seatbelt in my hands while they talk over me.
“Why wouldn’t it be, Rich?” she asks. “Why can’t I go home with you and shower and eat?”
“Baby…”
“Don’t ‘baby’ me right now. Did you call her here?”
I swallow what feels like a mouthful of marbles. “You heard Faye. You need to go home and get some rest.”
“Answer me.” She sits up and tries to force her leg out of the car, but I hold it down. “Did you call her here?”
“Lovie—”
“I’m…I’m just going to get my stuff from her and Uncle Kenny’s and then you’re gonna come get me, right?”
I bite down on my swollen lip and shake my head. “No.”
“What? What do you mean, ‘No’?”
“You need to go with Faye.”
“No, I don’t. I need to go with you. I told you what I want. I wanna go with you. You said you’d always give me what I want.Always.”
“Lovie…” Faye raises her voice an octave.
“This is between me and Rich! This is us—not you! Tell her this is between me and you, Rich. Tell her.”
I pull back, but she wraps her fingers through my necklace and pulls it.
“Go with Faye, bab?—”
“No.” She yanks my chain harder until it snaps. “No.”
Her mouth gapes open, but nothing comes out. There’s just painful silence until a deep wheeze crawls from the back of her throat, making me shiver.
“C’mon, Junior,” Faye whispers between sniffles, tugging my shoulder. “Let me close her in.”
I pull my shoulder from her grasp and bury my head in Slim’s lap while her body trembles.
“Don’t do this,” I mutter between her legs. “Don’t. You know how I feel when you cry over me.”
Another deep, ugly gasp fights its way out of her chest as she bashes her fist against my head with my broken necklace tangled between her fingers. I eat every hit because I know she doesn’t really mean it. It’s just the result of all the fucked-up shit that’s happened in her short life and I guess I should be proud she’s finally balling her fist up and using it.
