Page 154 of The Wright Man

My phone buzzed from the table, and I damn near knocked the lamp over trying to grab it.

Not her.

A text from my lawyer.

Good news about Kareem's exoneration. News I'd been praying and fighting and bleeding for over the past year.

And I couldn't even let myself feel it.

I replied with a quick "Good." Nothing else. He was gonna side-eye the shit out of that tomorrow.

I tossed the phone on the couch and paced again.

Did I ruin everything?

Did I just lose her all over again because I couldn't keep it together?

The way she looked at me before she ran—it haunted me. Like I was a stranger. A danger. Like I'd become something she didn't recognize. Something that scared her.

And maybe I had.

Maybe I'd taken everything she trusted about me and burned it down with one kiss.

She was my best friend. My home. My heart. And I acted like a horny teenager instead of the man she needed me to be.

I dropped onto the edge of the coffee table, elbows on my knees, hands covering my face. My breaths came sharp, like my ribs were trying to cage something that refused to stay still.

I just needed to know she was okay.

I didn't give a damn if she never wanted to speak to me again. I didn't care if she cussed me out or sent Tina to collect my teeth one by one.

I just needed to hear her voice. Know she was safe.

I'd already lost her once. I wasn't sure I'd survive losing her again.

Not like this. Not because of me.

I looked up at the dresser, eyes locking on that Halloween photo of Kareem and Tina—the one I found while unpacking boxes in Kareem's room. Tina's scowl. Kareem's smug grin. A memory frozen in time that somehow kicked something loose in my chest.

Before I even knew what I was doing, my fingers were dialing her number. She answered on the second ring.

"Leek, you're interrupting an evening with a muscular Mexican man and a very expensive bottle of tequila," Tina answered, her voice dry as hell. "Talk quickly."

Normally, I would've laughed. Probably would've cracked something about STDs and her taste in men. But right now, I couldn't even breathe, let alone joke.

"Tee," I rasped, and it came out like I'd been underwater for hours. "Have you talked to Angelica?"

The tone of her voice sharpened instantly. Gone was the tequila-soaked vacation mode. She was full big-sister mode now, and she could smell blood.

"No... not since yesterday," she said carefully. "Why?"

"Just wondering." The lie came out weak as hell. I knew it. She knew it. We both sat in the silence of that bullshit for half a beat before she let out a sigh.

"...What the hell did you do." It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact.

"Nothing. We—" I rubbed the back of my neck, pacing. "We kissed."

Long pause. Then—