“I can take it. You forget I’ve been locked up most of my life.”
“But you don’t have to take it. Please just stop.”
“Okay, baby. I’ll stop. For you.”
“Thank you.” He pushes closer, and I can feel his warmth wrap around me. I close my eyes and savor the moment because tomorrow it’s all over with. Tomorrow I’m sold. The word rings in my head as tears stream down my cheeks.
“Tide?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not telling you that I have all these feelings for you sooner. For trying to keep whatever this thing is between us apart. I should have told you that things with Christian weren’t good anyway.”
“What did he do?”
“He talks down to me. He makes me feel like shit. It just wasn’t working but I’m not a quitter and I didn’t want to give up.”
“You care about me?” he asks. Of course I do. I have for a long time, but it’s been so hard for me to say it because of Christian.
“Yeah, I do.” I feel his lips press to the back of my head, and I cry harder.
“It’s gonna be okay, baby. I’m gonna get you out of there.”
“There’s no way out. You heard him. He sold us, Tide. He sold us,” I cry harder. I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m scared to death. I don’t know who bought me. I don’t know what they’lldo to me. Sadness swirls inside of me. I won’t see Tide ever again. This is the last time I’ll be with him. How is this fair? How is this life? I sob as he presses as close to me as he can. He kisses the back of my head over and over, and I cry harder. This isn’t fair. This isn’t how life should be.
“We’re gonna have babies, Mylah. Maybe two.”
“What?”
“I’ll do it right this time. I won’t mess this up, I promise.”
“Is that what you want?”
“With you, I want everything. I want to see little ones that look just like you runnin’ around and playin’ with the dogs. I want to see your stomach swollen with my baby. I want to see you glow. Mostly, I just want to see you happy, Mylah. I want to see you smile when you look at me. I want to hold you when you cry. I want to make everything right for you.” Now I cry harder. Those are all the things that I wanted in life. All the things that I wanted with Christian but never got. Can I have them with Tide? Is that an option?
“I want all those things,” I whisper.
“I know you do, and I’m gonna give them to you.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want, Tide? You have Christian.”
“He’s a grown man, Mylah. We said what needed to be said. I can’t let you go. I won’t.” I nod my head and sigh as I lean into him. His warmth surrounds me, keeping me warm. It doesn’t take long for me to close my eyes and cry myself to sleep.
“Get up, Mylah,” I hear his voice. I’m groggy from sleep as he nudges me with his knee. “Get up.”
“I’m up.”
“They’re comin’ back,” he says. No. They can’t be coming back. But they are. The door opens, and that’s when I realize it isn’t night anymore. My heart sinks in my chest at the thought. This is it. This is where we leave each other. I bite my lip to keep from screaming. I want to scream, god do I ever, but what good would that do me?
“Time to get up. Your new homes await,” the asshole says as he walks toward us. I feel the vibration in Tide’s chest and know that he’s ready to explode.
“Roll over, Mylah.” I do as he says and roll over quickly so that I’m facing him. “Listen to me. You do what you have to do to survive. I’m gonna find you.”
Now the tears start to fall, but Tide leans in and quickly presses his lips to mine. I let him kiss me before I’m yanked off the floor with a scream.
