“You need us?”
“Nah. Stay here. Mega is supposed to be here in the morning. Don’t let Camille or Lyric leave this condo. I’ll be back.”
I was in the car and on Route 50 in under five minutes. Mehar had given me her location and I drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on my phone tracking her pin. Every red light felt like a personal insult. Every slow driver in the left lane was testing my patience in ways they would never understand.
I found the spot about twenty minutes later. Back road, no streetlights, exactly where she described. The SUV was on its side in the ditch with the headlights still on, casting a yellow glow across the gravel. Two motorcycles parked nearby. Two bodies on the ground beside them. And about thirty yards into the tree line, my girl crouched behind an oak with a Glock pointed at my chest until she heard my voice.
“Peach. It’s me.”
She lowered the gun and I pulled her up and held her against my chest and felt her shaking. Blood on her lip, a bruise forming above her left eye, glass in her hair. But she was standing and breathing and the two men who tried to take her were not.
I looked over at the bodies. One with a hole where his face used to be. The other with two in the chest. Both clean shots.
“My baby got good aim,” I said.
She laughed and then started crying and then laughed again because that’s what happens when the adrenaline wears off and your body doesn’t know which emotion to land on. I held her until she settled and then we went to check on Rider. He was still in the passenger side of the overturned SUV, just regained consciousness, but and banged up bad. Bruised ribs, a cut on his forehead, and his left wrist was swollen. He’d survive.
We got him out of the truck and into my car. I called the cleanup crew to handle the scene: two bodies, two motorcycles, and an SUV that needed to disappear before morning. They’d handle Davis’s body with respect. He’d been good to us and he deserved better than a ditch on Route 50.
I drove back to Camille’s condo with Mehar in the passenger seat and Rider stretched across the back. Mehar was quiet most of the ride, staring out the window, her hands still trembling even though she was trying to hide it. I reached over and put my hand on her thigh and she put her hand on top of mine and squeezed and we drove the rest of the way like that.
When we walked into Camille’s condo, Lyric was the first one to open her mouth.
“Why is she here?” Lyric said, looking at Mehar with the expression of a woman who thought her night was about to get worse.
“Don’t start with me, Lyric,” Mehar said. “I will beat your ass the same way I did at the grand opening. Try me tonight and find out.”
“And I’ll let her too,” I added.
Lyric’s mouth opened and closed and she looked at Camille for backup but Camille was sitting on the couch with her hands on her belly looking like a woman who had accepted that her living room was no longer hers. Lyric huffed and crossed her arms.
“This is so disrespectful. I’m the reason you even know Mega is her cousin. If it wasn’t for me you’d still be looking for him.”
“And I said thank you,” I said. “You want a trophy too?”
Camille’s head snapped toward Lyric. “You told them? You told them about Mega?”
Lyric shrugged. “He was hiding in our house, Camille. You didn’t even tell me he was here. What was I supposed to do?”
“Not snitch!”
“Ladies,” Prime said from the kitchen doorway. “Save the drama. We got bigger problems.”
He was right. I pulled Prime and Justice aside and told them to go home. Get some rest. Mega was coming in the morning and I’d handle it from here.
“You sure?” Justice asked.
“Yeah. Go get your daughters before Rita kills Storie,” Mehar said from behind me.
Justice rubbed his temples. “Man, I gotta fix that shit. That girl has lost her mind. Rita called me talking about she had to get the belt out.”
“She did more than get it out,” Mehar said. “She used it.”
“Good. Maybe that’ll straighten her out.” He didn’t look convinced. “Aight. Call us if you need us.” He dapped me up and headed for the door. Prime followed after giving me a look that said be careful without saying the words. They ordered an Uber back to Rita’s house since I was the one that drove.
Rider settled onto the couch with ice on his wrist. Lyric disappeared to the back. Camille went to her room. Mehar and I sat in the living room in the dark and waited for morning.
She fell asleep against my shoulder around 3 AM. I didn’t sleep at all.
