While slowly shaking her head, she asks, “I do but I don’t remember exactly what was on it. What’s the lead? You know who she is?”
“My partner found five possible Aunt Pris in the zip code. It’s Port St. Joe, a small town about four hours from here. They each have names with Pri in them and fit the age range of a possible aunt, forty to sixty-five. I really think we should head there next and meet with them. I have addresses.”
“You don’t think that’s a long shot? Knocking on random doors, looking for an Aunt Pri and asking about Tanjaya?” she asks and her questions actually surprise him. He definitely thought her reaction would be more hopeful than skeptical.
“It’s better than what we got, and with the town being so small, I think it’s worth going to check them out. There’s nothing here, and if Honey is really avoiding us, she probably left anyway.”
“Or that Marcelin nigga got to her. Everybody I talked to knew him and only had horrible shit to say.”
“We just gotta make sure he doesn’t get to Tanjaya. Going to Port St. Joe might be the lead we need. She kept that postcard for a reason. We can leave after we eat.”
“You’re keeping the rental?”
“Yeah. It’s easier to drive four hours,” he responds.
“I hope you can handle four hours by yourself,” she says before taking a big ass gulp of her mimosa. “I’m going to kill this and get another one.”
“Drink what you want. Four hours ain’t shit for me to drive.”
“Thank you,” she sighs, relieved, before drinking more.
“We’re gonna find your sister,” he assures her and she nods.
“I really hope so,” she utters.
“We will. I really feel like this Aunt Pri lead might be the one,” he says.
Dreka returns to take their food orders. Needing something to absorb the drinks she plans on filling her belly with, Sunjiya orders their hash bowl. Akeem orders a bowl as well but opts for the grits bowl. After seeing a food runner place a chicken biscuit on the table to the left of them, he adds one of those as well.
The minute Dreka walks off, Sunjiya studies his handsome side profile then places her hand on the side of his face. After lightly turning his face toward hers, she peers into his eyes. Too many times in her life, when deciding to let anyone in, she has missed signs, warnings, and clues. People she believed would love, care for, or even protect her did not and she suffered in the end.
God, please let him be different. Please.
“Why are you helping me, for real?” she wonders but the words fall off her lips in a low mumble.
“What’d you ask me?”
“Why are you still here helping me? You could be back to your regular life back in,” she says, then pauses.I don’t even know where he’s from or lives.“Back home. Wherever that is.”
“Austin. Austin, Texas,” he offers. When she gave her body to him, they crossed a line he doesn’t plan on going back on. He’s willing to tell her whatever she wants to know about him.
“Then why aren’t you back in Austin instead of being in Florida, in a random ass restaurant with me, chasing dead ends?”
After closing the small space between them, he shifts his body to face her more. His hand caresses the side of her face then he moves it to the back of her neck. While slightly gripping, he stares intently into her beautiful, soul stirring eyes.
“Because I like you,” he says plainly and she starts to shake her head at his simplistic response. He continues though. “Let’sbe clear. I’m a man who appreciates a beautiful ass woman, so when I saw you, I definitely liked what I saw but it’s more than that. I had you tied up but you never caved, never showed fear, and never let up on me. You have more heart than most men I encounter and that is sexy as hell. I really like you, and plus, you already let me taste you,” he says, then winks.
“So I’m going to do whatever I can to help you, and right now, that’s finding your sister. She’s clearly in trouble and the nigga hurting her is the one who hired me. I don’t like that shit at all. So, for you, we’ll find her and then for me, I’ll go kill him.”
“We’ll go kill him,” she corrects him adamantly.
“We’ll go kill him,” he repeats. “Then I want to see where this can go with us. Even in the midst of all this shit, I know you’re feeling me as much as I’m feeling you.”
“I am. I really am but it’s a lot. I’m a lot and I just need you to know that,” she says seriously.
“I peeped that already,” he says with a smirk, hoping to ease some of her seriousness. “I’m used to a lot though, and trust me, I handle anything you got or come with.”
“Just remember you said that. If you really want to try this with me, there may be a day your ability to handle anything comes into question,” she says as her eyes peer into him.
