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She nodded before turning her attention back to whatever she was watching. I stood there for another second. Looking at her, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong, and maybe that was a good thing. I pulled her door almost closed before heading down the hall to my room. The second my door shut behind me, I felt like I could finally stop pretending I was good. I sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed both hands over my face. The hospital was still stuck in my head.

I had spent hours around everybody else trying to keep my shit together because somebody had to. Now it was just me. I pulled my phone from my pocket and finally looked at it.

PENELOPE

Her name was all through my notifications. I had missed calls, texts, and some more missed calls.

I opened our messages and scrolled through everything she’d sent. She had been checking on me for hours, asking where I was, if I was okay, why I wasn’t answering. My thumb hovered over the keyboard. I could have called her. I probably should have, but I didn’t feel like explaining anything over the phone. Not right now, anyways. I opened my location and sent it to her.

Then I typed one message underneath it.

Some shit happened. I need you.

Chapter 6

Penelope Hayes

The vibration of my phone against the coffee table immediately pulled my attention away from the television. I reached for it without even looking at the screen first. I had been doing that all day, checking every notification as soon as it came through and hoping to see MJ’s name. This time, I finally did. Relief hit me before I even opened the message. MJ had shared his location. I sat forward on the couch and tapped the notification, watching the map load before a message appeared underneath it.

Some shit happened. I need you.

My relief disappeared just as quickly as it came. I read the message again, even though there wasn’t much to misunderstand. MJ needed me. He had only been gone for a day. When he left, there hadn’t been anything unusual about it. He was going to his parents’ house to help his mother with the nursery for the new baby, and I knew how close he was to his family. I hadn’t expected him to spend every second on his phone while he was there. It wasn’t until hours started passing without hearing from him that I became concerned.

By that afternoon, I had called. By evening, I had texted more than once. As night settled in and there was still no response, every little sound in the hallway had me getting up from my couch and walking toward the door. I had looked through the peephole more times than I wanted to admit, hoping to see MJ standing across the hall unlocking his apartment. His door had remained closed. Now I finally knew where he was. More importantly, I knew he was okay enough to reach out to me. I typed a response without asking any questions.

I’m coming.

Whatever had happened was obviously bigger than something he wanted to explain through a text message. MJ wasn’t the type to tell me he needed me for no reason, and those two words were enough to get me moving. Once we had established that we were both interested in one another, that was it. We had spent even more time together. What scared me most about what we had going on was that I was starting to fall in love with him. So yeah… I was prepared to make the drive to Coral Gables because he simply said that he needed me. I pushed my glasses higher on my nose as I stood and headed toward my bedroom. My purse was sitting on the dresser where I’d left it earlier, and I grabbed it before slipping my feet into the first shoes I found.

Normally, going to MJ’s parents’ house would’ve been a much bigger deal. I had never met his family. I knew about them because MJ talked about them enough that I felt like I knew pieces of everybody already, but knowing about his family and walking into their home were two completely different things. Under any other circumstances, I would’ve cared about what I had on, how my hair looked, and whether meeting his parents for the first time this late at night was appropriate. None of that crossed my mind long enough to matter. MJ had asked for me. That was the only thing I cared about. I grabbed my keys and left the apartment, locking the door before my eyes automatically traveled across the hall.

MJ’s apartment was dark and quiet. For most of the day, I’d been waiting for that door to open. Now I was going to him instead. The elevator ride to the parking garage felt longer than usual. I kept checking my phone even though MJ hadn’t sent anything else, and by the time the doors finally opened, I was already moving before they finished sliding apart. I got into my car, tossed my purse onto the passenger seat, and pulled up the location he’d sent me. The route appeared on the screen, and I started the engine before backing out of the parking space.

The streets looked different this late at night. Traffic had thinned, but the darkness made every set of headlights seem brighter. The glare bounced against the lenses of my glasses whenever another car approached, briefly washing across my vision before disappearing behind me. Normally, I hated driving at night for that exact reason. Headlights reflected off my frames, streetlights stretched across the lenses, and I always felt like I had to concentrate twice as hard as I did during the day. Tonight, I barely cared. I kept both hands on the wheel and followed the directions on the screen; my mind started running through possibilities that I couldn’t answer.

Something had happened. That was all I knew. I didn’t know if it involved MJ or someone in his family. I didn’t know why he had disappeared for most of the day or why he hadn’t been able to answer any of my calls. But I knew MJ. And I need you wasn’t something he would’ve sent unless he meant it. Another set of headlights approached, the brightness scattering across my glasses until the car passed. I blinked against the lingering glare and kept going. A repetitive chime sounded somewhere underneath everything else. At first, I didn’t pay attention to it. My focus stayed on the road as I made another turn and glanced at the navigation. The chime continued. It wasn’t until I was several blocks away from my apartment that the sound finally registered. I glanced toward the dashboard. It was my seat belt.

I looked down and realized I hadn’t put the damn thing on. I had rushed out of my apartment, gotten all the way downstairs, climbed into my car, and pulled off without noticing the warning that had probably been going off since I left the parking garage.

I reached for the belt with one hand, pulled it across my body, and clicked it into place.

The chime stopped. I pushed my glasses higher on my nose, tightened my hands around the steering wheel, and kept going. Whatever happened, MJ needed me. And I was going to him.

ETERNITY

I didn’t want to leave the hospital. Malik had practically forced me. The second he told me he wanted some time alone with Ty, my first instinct had been to tell him I wasn’t going anywhere. After everything that had happened, leaving my husband in that hospital while I went home didn’t feel right. I had spent too many hours wondering if he would survive to willingly put any distance between us now that he was awake. Then Malik reminded me about Maylee.

That was the only thing he could’ve said to get me out of that chair. She still didn’t know.

MJ had done exactly what we asked him. He picked his sister up from her friend’s house, kept her occupied, and brought her home without telling her anything that I wanted her to hear from me. I appreciated him for that, but it also meant I spent the entire Lyft ride home trying to figure out how I was supposed to tell my baby that her father had been shot. The driver must’ve sensed I wasn’t in the mood for conversation because, other than confirming my name and the address when I got in, he hadn’t said much of anything. I was grateful for the silence. I sat in the back seat with one hand underneath my stomach and watched Miami pass outside the window while my mind stayed at the hospital.

Leaving him had felt wrong even though I knew he wasn’t alone. Ty was there, and there were nurses and doctors close enough to reach him within seconds if he needed anything. None of that stopped me from checking my phone more than once during the ride, half expecting the hospital to call and tell me I needed to turn around. When we made it to the gate of our estate, I gave the driver the temporary code that changes every hour. By the time he pulled up in front of the house, exhaustion had settled into every part of my body. I thanked the driver and slowly climbed out before making my way inside. The house was quiet. After the noise of the hospital, the silence almost felt strange. I made my way upstairs and eventually stopped in the doorway of Maylee’s bedroom with one hand resting underneath my stomach.

She was fast asleep. Her television was still on, casting a soft glow across the room while she lay buried underneath her covers, completely unaware of everything that had happened while she’d been at her friend’s house. For a moment, I considered waking her. I had come home because she deserved to know what happened to her father, but standing there looking at her peaceful face changed my mind. Tomorrow will come with enough tears and questions. I couldn’t bring myself to wake her in the middle of the night just to break her heart. She could have a few more peaceful hours.

I heard footsteps behind me before MJ stopped at my side. He looked into the room at his sister before lowering his voice.

“She been sleep about an hour.”