“Shut up,” I hiss, swiping my nose and glancing down at the red left behind on my hand. “Don’t say anything.”
I keep the gun pointed toward him and squat down. I answer the call, put it on speaker, then put both hands back on the gun.
Muffled laughter and music hum in the background. “Baby, I’m on my fifth game of dominoes. Where you at? I can’t be hanging around the house doing nothing all day. I need to go by the bank, and I talked to Senior. He said you ain’t even been by there yet. He said something about somebody owing you money. He was worried. What the fuck is he talking about?”
The sound of Rich’s voice makes AJ’s face contort into a ball of betrayal.
“Rich, I’m…I’m coming. I…I just need to take care of one more thing.” I suck my lip while AJ’s eyes burn my face.
He doesn’t reply.
“Rich?”
“Your stutter.”
“Huh?”
“You lying to me.”
AJ sputters out a loud guffaw that pierces my ears and, no doubt, pierces Rich’s on the other side of the phone. I frown, pushing the barrel into his head even more.
“Who the fuck was that?” Rich asks.
Another trickle of blood cascades from my nose, and I sniffle, but it keeps falling.
“Rich…”
“Where you at, Lovie?”
“I…”
“Smit, where my keys at, man?”
“Rich…”
“Tell me where you are right now, Lovie! I’m…I’m coming.”
“How? I have your truck, baby.”
“You planned this? You planned this shit? You?—”
“Listen to me.”
“Smit, call Arnez. Tell her I need her car!” he hollers into the background.
“Rich, listen to me!”
“Where you at?” he yells.
“Rich, do you trust me?”
He breathes hard, and the music in the background fades into a low hum while a jumble of voices talk around him.
“It’s me! I don’t trustme, Lovie! I hear you sniffling and I hear a man with you, and I…I…you got my head all fucked up right now!”
“Listen to me. Are you listening?”
“How the fuck can you ask me to listen to you at a time like this?”
