“Yeah. I know…school,” Quise assures him. “I got five Bs and two As.” Akeem smiles, proud of Quise.
“Just two?” Akeem jibes.
“Pops! Come on. That’s good.”
“I know and I’m proud of you. I’ll send the money as soon as I stop driving. When does the class start?”
“It’s online. I can start when I want. I just gotta do six hours. The fifty is for the class and my permit exam but you gottatalk to moms. She not letting me drive and I gotta practice. She tripping,” Quise groans.
“I’ll talk to her,” Akeem assures him. “She’s just nervous and having a hard time seeing you become a man.”
“Become? I’m already a man. I’m taller than her.”
“A’ight. That’s still your momma. You can be two feet taller than her and that don’t mean shit. You know how your MeeMee is with me and your uncle,” Akeem warns, referring to his five-foot, petite mother who’s larger than life.
“MeeMee don’t play,” Quise says, then laughs. “I talked to her this morning and she said that her and PawPaw are coming to my homecoming game,” he reveals and Akeem smiles. His parents love Quise as much as him and they are all in his life, even his brother Axton. “You coming, right?”
“You know I’ll be there.” No matter the job or location, Akeem shows up for Quise whenever it counts.
“Imma ask Unc too,” he says. “But where you at now?”
“Still in Florida but in the peninsula by Panama City,” he says.
“They have y’all at the beach?” Quise asks.
Akeem and Quise are tight. Akeem loves his son and is honest with him about everything,almost everything.Like everyone in his family besides Axton, Quise believes Akeem is still in the military, just in the reserves. The true nature of his travel is shielded from them.
“No time for the beach.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“Nah. I’m good. I have plenty to occupy my time,” Akeem says, then glances at Sunjiya.
Her seat is reclined and her sexy body is stretched out as she sleeps. She was knocked out before they made it to I-10 a little over two hours ago and she hasn’t moved during his entire conversation with Quise.
“Okay, Pops. Gotta go. Coach yelling,” Quise says.
“Love you, son.”
“Love ya too,” Quise says, then ends the call.
Akeem glances at his phone then places it back on the cup holder ring. After looking back at her, he stares at the signs on the highway. They are ten minutes from Tallahassee and he could use a smoke, at least a hit from one of his rolled blunts. When he sees a sign for a rest area twelve miles ahead, he smiles.
I can fire up there.
Nine minutes later, Akeem exits the highway, following the signs to the car side of the rest area. The side for RVs and trucks is pretty packed with weary drivers taking a reprieve but his side is fairly empty. His rental takes the total count of cars to four. He pulls into the farthest park on the right under two large trees. Their grandeur and shade provide a hint of privacy.
After grabbing a blunt and his lighter from his bag in the backseat, he checks on Sunjiya but she’s still knocked out. He leaves the car running then slides out. His blunt is lit and he’s hit it twice before nestling between the two trees a few feet from the car.
As the smoke fills his lungs and THC seeps into his bloodstream, he relaxes against the large trunk of the tree and takes in his surroundings. The sun is starting to set and the brightness of the day is dulling. Traffic on the highway is steady and moving and this rest area is quiet and calm, a stark contrast to his last few days. The simple track and snatch job he thought he had is far from simple. Shit is complicated as fuck.
His original mark, Tanjaya, is in trouble and clearly running. He has to find her before Marcelin discovers Akeem isn’t going to fulfill the contract and sends someone else to find her. He’s in a rental with his mark’s twin sister and crossed a professional line with her. He’s risking it all for her because he’s falling. Sunjiya has awakened a need in him he long pushed aside afterCharis. Her cheating on him bruised him and he couldn’t see himself falling for another woman until Sunjiya. Her feistiness, obvious resilience, and eyes have him hooked. Even when she was tied up, she never looked at him with fear and that says a lot.
The feel of his cell vibrating in his pocket pulls him from his thoughts. When he pulls it out, he remembers his promise to send Quise money.
“Shit!” he mumbles before looking at the screen. It isn’t Quise with a reminder; it’s Axton. “What’s up, bruh?” he answers.
“Seeing if you made it to Port St. Joe?” Axton says.
