“I’m not going nowhere,” I cut him off. “I’m handling this.”
“That’s the same shit!” he snapped.
“No, the fuck it’s not. I’m making sure I come back to you.”
“I don’t wanna lose you, Adore,” he said lowly.
“And you’re not. Can you just trust me?”
“If you gonna turn yo’self in, then I’m ridin’ wit’ you,” Whodie said.
“No! You don’t need to be seen with me right now.”
“Man, I don’t give a fuck ‘bout none of that shit.”
“Whodie,” Hollow said through the phone. “She’s right.”
“If they building a case, I need you to be clean,” I told him.
“And what the fuck stoppin’ me from startin’ this car and drivin’ this bitch somewhere else?”
I looked over at him. This shit was really about to test our loyalty.
“Hollow, tell Love to meet me at the address I’m about to send.”
“I got you,” he said before hanging up.
Whodie drove and parked the car at the location I had sent Love. I chose Love to take me because I couldn’t face walkingaway from Whodie. We used to always joke about us going on the run if it came down to it. Now that we had the opportunity, it was selfish. They wanted me and not him.
I looked over to Whodie, who had his head leaned back against the headrest. His eyes stayed straight ahead. My heart was already breaking having to leave him. Shit was going so good.
“Come here, man, fuck,” Whodie said.
I crawled over and sat in his lap. We didn’t say shit. I just leaned my head against his shoulder as we waited for Love.
“Adore, I love you. Once I figure all this shit out, we’re not lookin’ back. I don’t ever wanna go through this shit again. You was worried ‘bout me leavin’ you and now you leavin’ me,” he said.
“I’m not leaving you. I’m keeping these folks off you and our crews. Hopefully they’ll give me a bond, and I’ll be home.”
He held on to me and kissed me repeatedly. Even when the headlights of Love’s car pulled up, Whodie still wouldn’t let me go. Love had to flash her lights. Out of respect for how late it was, and we both knew how Hollow got about his wife, we kissed one more time.
“I love you,” I told him.
“I love you too,” he replied.
CHAPTER 15: ADORE
As soon as I got in the car with Love, I broke down crying. Whodie didn’t pull off until we did.
“It’s going to be okay, Adore. Hollow has the lawyer coming. Of course, he has to catch a flight, but he will be here.”
I couldn’t believe a night that started out so good was ending with me about to walk in jail and turn myself in. When we arrived, Love helped me clean my face and gave me something else to put on besides the skimpy dress I was wearing. There was no telling how long they were going to make me wait.
“Chin up,” Love said. “I know it’s in your blood. You’re going to be fine,” she reassured me.
The second those doors closed behind me, and Love was no longer there, the air around me changed. It was like the shit got thicker.
“Name?” A guy asked without looking at me.
