E’LEVYN DAYS

S. YVONNE

Copyright © 2026 by S.Yvonne (Shalaine Powell)

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THE BEGINNING

INTRODUCTION

Most brides probably spent their wedding day crying, throwing up, praying, pacing the floor, or doing whatever people did when they're about to walk down an aisle and promise somebody forever, but me? I'm sitting in a bridal suite trying to get this damn prosthetic leg attached while my family loses their minds downstairs. People had been arguing for the last twenty minutes, and my best friend Tasha is down there acting like she's head of security; knowing her, she's probably threatening somebody right now. The wedding didn’t even start, and I can already guarantee at least three people done got cussed out by her. Every time I heard her voice elevate, all I did was shake my head.

The crazy part is none of that is what's stressing me out. I reached down and adjusted the prosthetic leg before shaking my head. The first time I ever put this thing on, it took me almost an hour. I cried half the time, cussed the rest of the time, and almost threw it across the damn room twice. The physical therapist kept telling me to be patient while I sat there wanting to tell everybody in the room to kiss my black ass but back then I couldn't even look at the prosthetic leg without getting mad at life, at God, and at my damn self… hell, I was just angry at everybody. However, these days I can get it on in less than ten minutes and be halfway dressed before most people figured out what shoes they're wearing. It’s funny how that works because the things you swear will break you forever eventually become part of your routine. It’s not even because you're okay with it, and not because it doesn't hurt anymore either, it’s just that you just learn how to keep living anyway.

Now I know how us females are, so before y'all get all emotional, don't even do that. Like seriously… don't because I don't need nobody feeling sorry for me. I only need y’all to ride with me through this crazy ass journey. Matter fact, the first thing y'all need to know about me is I hate pity and I always have unless it’s genuine. Trust me, I’ve had a lot of fucked up people around me who acted like they loved feeling sorry for somebody else's situation until it's time to actually help and then everybody is suddenly so busy, so I’m at a point where they could just save it. If you're reading this expecting some sad story about a poor girl who lost her leg and spent the rest of her life feeling sorry for herself, you're already reading the wrong book. Besides, if we're being honest, losing my leg isn’t even the craziest thing that happened to me; not by a long shot.

I glanced over at my twenty-thousand-dollar wedding dress hanging across the room and smiled despite myself. That dress was BEAUTIFUL! It was the kind of dress little girls dreamed about when they imagined their wedding day. It was the lace, the beading, and the long ass train dragging across the floor for me because it was like something out of a movie. Honestly, I stopped asking how much stuff cost halfway through planning this wedding because every time I tried bringing up a budget, E'Levyn would look at me like I was speaking another language and tell me to get whatever I wanted. After a while I stopped arguing because clearly that man wasn't listening anyway and one thing about my man E'Levyn 'Lev' Laurent, if he loves something, he isn’t bullshitting about it. Hell, half the people downstairs probably think I'm marrying a billionaire. Whether that man is or isn’t, I couldn't tell you because every time I asked about money he looked at me like I was asking the dumbest question on earth.

I looked back at myself in the mirror and laughed. I’m not even gonna lie to y'all, I looked good as hell. The makeup artist did her thing with my face. My hair was laid because I hired the best of the best for me and my bridesmaids and even with everything I'd been through, I could still look in the mirror and recognize myself. That might not sound important to some people, but trust me, there was a time when I couldn't. There was a time I didn't recognize nothing about the woman staring back at me. There was a time I spent more nights crying than sleeping and I thought my life was over. If somebody would've walked into a room back then and told me I'd eventually end up here, getting married to a man who loved me the right way, I would’ve laughed right in their face and it wasn’t because I didn't believe in love, it was because I didn't believe it was meant for me anymore. Nobody tells you about surviving hard shit, they only talk about getting through it instead of what happens after.

Whenever somebody finds out about my prosthetic leg, they immediately want to know what happened. That's always the first question every single time and it never fails. They don't ask who I am or what I do. They go straight to the leg, and I swear I've heard the same questions so many times I could answer them in my sleep. The crazy part is people always assume the wrong fucking thing. Some people think it was a car accident, some people think it was cancer, and others think I was born this way. I remember one cashier at Publix asked if I lost it in the military. I fell out laughing cause baby the only war I ever fought was with myself.

The room outside erupted with laughter once again, followed immediately by Tasha's voice getting louder than everybody else's. I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but I knew that tone. Somebody was getting checked again and I smiled. That girl has threatened to fight more people on my behalf than anybody I know since the playground and truth be told, if it wasn't for Tasha, I probably wouldn't even be sitting in this bridal suite right now. Matter fact, there are a few people in this story that deserve trophies for putting up with my situations because I was hardheaded and not regular hardheaded either. I'm talking about the kind of hardheaded that'll ask for advice and ignore every bit of it to do the exact opposite but that’s what I get for giving the wrong motherfuckers grace.

The biggest lesson I learned was to stop believing tomorrow was gonna be different than today when it comes to certain shit. I was a registered nurse, I had my own career, my own money, my own goals and I wasn't sitting around waiting for a man to save me. Matter fact, the last thing I was looking for was a man during all that bullshit I was dealing with. Then life did what life always does and that’s whatever the fuck it wants to do because this story didn't start with a wedding and it damn sure didn’t start with a prosthetic.

Now before y'all start getting ahead of yourselves, no, I'm not talking about the man waiting downstairs for me right now. If I was about to marry the same man who turned my life upside down, this book would be filed under crime instead of romance. I'm laughing but I’m serious too. The man waiting at that altar earned his place there although he could’ve killed my ass if he wanted to, and the other one? Well, y'all will meet him soon enough and trust me when I tell you that man is a story all by himself.

If I keep talking, I'll be telling y'all the middle before I tell y'all the beginning, and that's exactly how my mouth gets me in trouble now. So let me slow down and start where I'm supposed to start. Let me tell y'all how a bad-ass registered nurse from Miami ended up with a prosthetic leg, enough damn trauma to keep a therapist employed for the next twenty years, and a fine ass, ex-convict, gangsta ass businessman named Lev changing her life when she least expected it in the most unimaginable ways… because baby, this story right here? It's a lot.

CHAPTER 1

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Ihad been moving my stuff out this house piece by piece for the past two weeks, just enough at a time so it wouldn’t look obvious. It was really only a bag here, a few pairs of shoes there, some of my favorite wigs, a couple boxes of uniforms, and things I knew Rome wouldn’t notice missing right away because that man only paid attention to what he wanted to pay attention to but tonight wasn’t about being careful anymore. Tonight I was grabbing whatever I could get my hands on and getting gone for real, because after everything that had happened, I was done playing house in a place that had started feeling more like a trap than a home.

The house was beautiful, and that was the part that used to mess with my head. Anybody walking through that front door would’ve thought I had it made with a big open kitchen, marble countertops, high ceilings, glass staircase, and a master bedroom big enough to fit a whole damn apartment inside of it. Rome loved that part, because he was a showoff and loved when people walked in and looked around like we was really living some perfect life. He loved the compliments, the pictures, and the way women side-eyed me like I had won something because I had a man who could put me in a house like this. They just didn’t know half the nights I spent in that same pretty ass house crying in the shower with the water running so he wouldn’t hear me. They didn’t know pretty didn’t mean peaceful, and a big house don’t mean shit when you feel small inside of it.

My closet didn’t even look like mine no more. Half of it was empty with hangers spaced out and for once, I wasn’t putting shit back in place to make it look right. I had spent too much time fixing things that wasn’t mine to fix, straightening up messes I didn’t make, and pretending me and Rome was better than we really were. After the last time he put his hands on me, something in me changed in a way I couldn’t talk myself out of. It wasn’t the first argument, and it wasn’t the first time he called me out my name, threw something across the room, or stood too close all up in my face while I tried to explain myself like I was on trial. However, it was the first time I looked at him after it happened and didn’t see a man that could one day change. I saw a man who had gotten too comfortable thinking I was going to keep taking whatever he gave me.

I yanked another drawer open and started stuffing my scrubs into my bag, not even bothering to fold them this time. I had worked too many twelve-hour shifts, and wiped too many grown people asses, standing on my feet until my back felt like it was breaking to let a man with good dick and a controlling, cocky ass attitude make me feel like I didn’t have nothing without him. I had a good career and my own money and somewhere along the way Rome had made me forget that because he had more than me.

My phone kept lighting up on the dresser behind me, and I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was, and that alone made me madder because he wasn’t even supposed to be calling me like that. He was supposed to be out of town, doing whatever business he claimed was so important, which really meant running around with whoever he wanted, while pushing dope and thinking I was home waiting like a damn fool. At first, I had been grateful he was gone because it gave me space to move the rest of my stuff without having to worry about him walking in and causing drama. Now the way he kept calling had my nerves jumping because Rome didn’t call back-to-back unless he wanted something, knew something, or was trying to make sure I wasn’t doing something.

“Boy, please,” I mumbled, snatching a stack of leggings off the shelf and shoving them into the bag with my scrubs. “Now you wanna act like you care where I’m at. You should’ve cared when your little pregnant bitch was calling my phone like she was giving me an appointment reminder, the fuck.”

That was the part that still had me hot and I had to laugh because if I didn’t laugh, I probably would’ve lost my whole mind and everything I worked hard for. Out of everything Rome had done with all the lying, sneaking, gaslighting, and disappearing, that phone call from his other bitch had been the final straw and it wasn’t because I thought Rome was faithful, because I wasn’t slow, it was because the girl had called me too comfortable and too damn bold like she had been waiting for her little moment to let me know she existed. She had the nerve to tell me she was pregnant in this soft little voice, like she expected me to break down or beg her for details. Then she followed it up by saying all the bills in the house were in Rome’s name, like that was supposed to hurt my feelings or scare me.

I almost laughed in her ear because she messed up by telling me all of that. Her silly ass managed to give up the address thinking she and I would have a real face-to-face, woman to woman talk. Like bitch please, you are not Shirley and I am not Barbara, I thought to myself the second she suggested it. Since everything was in his name and she wanted to remind me so bad, I got off that phone and made a few calls of my own. I called FPL and cut the lights off. I then called Miami-Dade Water and Sewer and cut the water off too. Xfinity was next, and I cut it off as well, bitch didn’t need WI-FI anyway, she needed a fucking life with some morals. I didn’t care if the lights blinked off mid-shower, mid-Netflix, mid-pregnancy craving, or mid-lie. Congratulations, hoe, since you wanted him and everything attached to him, enjoy sitting in that big pretty house with no Wi-Fi, no water, and no power. The joke was on both of them because I already had my storage unit, my important documents, and enough sense to stop letting that man use me as his peace in his world full of chaos.

My phone lit up again, and this time I snatched it off the dresser. Rome’s name flashed across the screen, and underneath all those missed calls were messages I already knew were going to piss me off. I didn’t open them right away, I just stood there holding the phone, trying to remind myself that I didn’t have time to argue with him. I needed to finish packing, get this last load to the storage, check into whatever hotel had availability, and figure out the next step after I got away from this house. I didn’t have the whole perfect plan, but I had enough of one to move and sometimes that had to be enough. Before I could talk myself out of it, I called my best friend and Tasha answered on the second ring like she had been waiting for me to call anyway.

“Pleaseeee tell me you on the way to my house and not still in that damn mansion of misery,” she said, not even bothering with hello.

I rolled my eyes and held the phone between my ear and shoulder while I zipped one bag and reached for another. “I’m not coming to your house, Tash. I already told you I’m not bringing this shit to your door.”

“Navy, I don’t give a fuck about that, it’s little but you can come here. My couch is open, my guest room open, hell, my bed open if you need me to sleep on the floor. I don’t like you over there by yourself, especially after what he did.”

“I’m not by myself for long because I’m leaving. I just gotta get the rest of my stuff out before he get back.”

“He supposed to be gone until tomorrow, right?”

“That’s what he said, but you know Rome lie like it’s second nature. I don’t trust nothing that come out that man mouth unless it’s attached to a receipt, and even then I’m checking the date.”

Tasha made this muffled sound like she was trying not to laugh, but I could hear the worry all in it. “You still mad about that girl calling?”

“Mad?” I said, placing all of my perfume into my bag and let out a dry laugh. “Tasha, that bitch called me like she was calling from the front desk at Jackson Memorial. Talking all calm and official. ‘Hi, Navy, I just felt like woman to woman, you should know I’m pregnant.’ Girl, woman to woman, you should’ve known better than to get pregnant by a man with a wife.” I used to think Rome was a prize, but we were high school sweethearts and got married fresh out of high school. Now some years later, things just aren’t the same.

“That’s what she said? She really said woman to woman?” Tasha rambled like she couldn’t believe it.

“Yes and then had the nerve to tell me all the bills here in his name like she had won a prize. Like, okay, baby, since you keeping inventory, let me help you update the list. I had allll that shit turned off… disconnected immediately. If she wanted to play house with my headache, she could play Little House on the Prairie too.”

Tasha burst out laughing then, and for a second I laughed with her because the shit was funny. It wasn’t funny in a happy way, but it was funny in a this is my life and I cannot believe this man had me acting this crazy kind of way. My laugh didn’t last long though, because the second my eyes moved back toward the closet, all I saw was the rest of my life sitting in piles, waiting on me to decide what I was willing to leave behind.

“You petty as hell,” Tasha said.

“No, I’m tired as hell and it’s a difference. Petty is when you got time boo, and tired is you finally realize you been living a life that don’t even love you back.”

She sighed, “Nay, just come here.”

“Tasha.”

“I’m serious, just stop being proud for five minutes. You my best friend, not some random girl from work asking for a favor. If you need somewhere to lay your head, come here.”

“I love you for real, but no. Rome knows where you stay, he knows your car, he even knows your mama house. He knows too damn much, and I’m not about to have him pulling up on you with his bullshit because of me. I’m going to a hotel tonight, and tomorrow I’ll figure out if I’m going to stay there a few days or look for something short-term.”

“With what money? You said you was moving stuff to storage, but hotels add up.”

“I got money.”

The second I said it, something in me told me to check. I didn’t know if it was God, my nerves, or just that little voice women get when something didn’t feel right, but I pulled the phone from my ear and put Tasha on speaker while I opened my banking app. I had been checking that account all week, making sure I had enough for the hotel, gas, food, and anything else I needed until my next direct deposit hit. Rome had access to certain things from when we first got serious, back when I thought sharing meant building and not handing somebody a key to ruin you. I had been meaning to move my money around, but between work, packing, and trying not to look suspicious, I kept telling myself I had time. Yeah, Rome had money, but he was the type to spend it on me before he actually gave it to me so everything I had in my account was literally off of my own muscle.

The app loaded while Tasha kept talking, but her voice started sounding far away the second the balance popped up. I stared at the screen, trying to make the numbers make sense, but they didn’t. I refreshed it, signed out, signed back in, checked the transactions, and each second I stood there looking made my blood boil even hotter. The transfers were there, but not one big amount that would’ve triggered me right away, there was enough little moves to clean me out without making it too obvious before I looked for real. That was Rome all day, just sneaky when he wanted control over the outcome.

“Nay?” Tasha called. “Why you quiet?”

I didn’t answer right away because I was too busy scrolling through the account, reading each transaction. My hotel money was gone and so was my emergency money. The little cushion I had been proud of because I earned every dollar of it was sitting somewhere else and Rome had me messed up. My hands shook from anger, and I wanted to punch something and cry at the same time.

“Navy, what happened?” Tasha asked, in a lower tone.

“He took my money,” I said, and the calmness in my own voice almost scared me because I didn’t feel calm. “That bitch ass Rome took my money.”

“What you mean he took your money?”

“I mean it’s gone, Tash. The money I had put up to leave, it’s gone. He moved it out little by little like I wasn’t gone notice.”

“Call the bank! Call them right now! I’m so sick of Rome’s ass!”

“I am, but that ain’t fixing it tonight.” I said sounding frustrated as hell.

“Then come here.”

“No!”

“Navy, stop saying no to the only person trying to help you!”

“I’m saying no because I know Rome. You think he took that money for no reason? He knows I’m leaving. I don’t know how he know, but he knows. He didn’t just wake up and decide to play accountant with my shit tonight. He did it because he wanted me stuck here.” Every word I spoke was the truth and this is the part that partially made me love his toxic ass, at the same time, toxic wasn’t peaceful and I was tired of the bullshit.

I went back to the messages and the first few were the usual telling me to ‘answer the phone’, ‘stop playing with me’, where you at?’ as if he didn’t already know. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had all kind of hidden cameras in the damn house. Next, he asked why my side of the closet looked different. He asked why the blue tote from the garage was missing. He asked who I thought I was sneaking around on and by the time I got to the last message, I had stopped moving completely as my eyes locked on the screen while my stomach twisted into knots.

‘You really thought you was gone leave while I was gone?’

I read it a few times and each time it got worse because that message told me he hadn’t just guessed, his ass had been watching. With Rome, it could’ve been anything because that man didn’t believe in boundaries unless he was the one demanding them.

“What he say?” Tasha asked.

I swallowed hard, still staring at the phone. “He knows.”

“Know what?”

“That I’m leaving.”

“Navy, listen to me. Get your keys and walk out right now. Don’t worry about them bags. Don’t worry about none of that shit, just leave it.”

I looked around the room at everything I had left from my documents I had already pulled from the safe earlier to my grandmother’s ring sitting in the small jewelry box on the dresser. I looked at the bag with my nursing school pictures and the old cards my mama had written me before she passed. People always tell women to just leave, and I got it, because being alive mattered more than stuff, but it’s different when the stuff in front of you is the little pieces of yourself you’re trying to take back.

“I’m not leaving my important stuff,” I scoffed.

“Navy,” she sighed once again. “As smart as you are, I swear sometimes I wonder if you have a brain, but then again, you love him… I don’t. So, I can’t even sit here and act like I don’t know how hard it is to actually leave.”

“Listen, I got a few more things and then I’m gone.”

“You being stubborn as hell right now.”

“I’m being real, if I walk out with nothing, I’m still trapped, just in another way. I need all of my shit.” I told her in all seriousness.

Tasha let out a deep breath of frustration. “Then keep me on the phone.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can’t, I need both hands.”

“Put me in your pocket then heffa.”

“Tasha!”

“Don’t Tasha me. You called me, so now I’m here. You don’t have to let me come get you, but you not about to hang up and have me over here pacing holes in my damn floor. I’m already trying not to roll a fat one and smoke my nerves away.”

I didn’t argue because I didn’t have the energy, and truthfully, hearing her voice was the only thing keeping me from flipping that whole dresser over. I set the phone down on the bed, still on speaker, and started moving again grabbing the rest of the stuff I needed.

My mind was running through everything at once. The way Rome had smiled at me last week like he wasn’t plotting on keeping me stranded and the way his other bitch had sounded so proud on that phone, like being pregnant by him made her untouchable. I almost wanted to call her back and tell her to ask her baby daddy why he was stealing from a woman he claimed he didn’t need but I wasn’t about to give either one of them the satisfaction of hearing me unravel.

“You still there?” Tasha asked again.

“Yeah girl.” I answered damn near breaking a sweat trying to get everything.

“What you doing?”

“Grabbing everything. I told you that,” I mumbled rolling my eyes.

“Good, get all that shit and go.”

“I know Tasha! Damn, I’m trying to think.” I snapped slightly agitated although she meant well.

“No, you don’t know because you still over there grabbing scrubs and shit like you got all night. Navy, if he know you leaving and he coming back, you need to move like he already at the light down the fucking street.”

That made me move faster because she was right, and I hated when Tasha was right while I was mad. I grabbed my purse, slung it across my body, and reached for the duffel on the bed. It was heavier than I expected, and I cursed under my breath while dragging it toward the bedroom door. My second bag was still open, stuffed halfway with clothes I probably didn’t even need, but I couldn’t make myself leave it yet. I turned back, grabbed the last of my shit, and shoved them down inside.

A new text came through before I could zip it up. The sound made both me and Tasha stop talking. I picked up the phone and opened it, already knowing it was him. ‘Don’t make me come in there and embarrass you.’

I stared at the message with a funky frown on my face. Embarrass me? As if he hadn’t already embarrassed me by having another woman call my phone pregnant. As if he hadn’t embarrassed me by putting his hands on me and then sending flowers to my job like roses could cover bruises. As if he hadn’t embarrassed me every time he made me defend staying with him to the little piece of myself that still knew better.

“Tash,” I said, in a ‘oh shit’ tone.

“What?”

“He just texted me talking about don’t make him come in here and embarrass me.”

“Come in where?” she asked, and I heard her moving around on her end. “Navy, where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look outside.”

I didn’t want to, I really didn’t, because some part of me already knew what I was going to see, and once I saw it, I couldn’t pretend I still had a few more minutes, but I walked to the window anyway, careful not to move the curtain too much, and looked down toward the front of the house. At first I didn’t see anything but the driveway lights shining over the pavers and the palm trees moving a little from the breeze. Then I looked toward the curb, and my whole attitude got even worse. Rome’s black truck sat across the street with the lights off and I shook my head cause his ass was already here.

CHAPTER 2

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

“Rome, let me go,” I said again, trying to pull free. Had he been a female, I knew I could’ve easily broken away and rocked her shit, but the strength of a man was something different.

Rome’s hands got tighter around my wrists, hard enough to make me wince in pain, and the second he saw it, that evil, ugly ass look flashed across his face. This man had the nerve to look irritated like I was the one getting on his damn nerves, like my reaction wasn’t warranted and I was truly in the wrong instead of the fact that he was hurting not only my body, but my heart too.

“You got all this mouth tonight,” he hissed, pulling me closer instead. “All this energy cause some bitch called yo’ phone.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Cause some bitch called my…” I paused and just glared at him through my red eyes, “are you hearing yourself right now? You got me fucked up.”

“You acting like you caught me with a whole second wife Nay.”

“Motherfucker! You got a baby on the way!”

He tilted his head to the side but refused to let me go. “And what that got to do with me and you?”

I blinked at him because there was no way this man was standing in our garage asking me what another woman carrying his child had to do with our marriage. “You know what,” I said quietly, shaking my head. “You really a sick ass person.”

Rome clenched his jaws. “What you not gone do is disrespect me.”

“Disrespect you?” I yelled in disbelief. “Rome, you stole my money!”

“You talking about that weak ass little savings account?”

I worked for every dollar in that account. I knew what it felt like dragging myself through nursing school while working doubles and crying in hospital bathrooms from exhaustion. Rome always acted like money just magically appeared because he moved around with cash in his pockets and designer clothes on his back.

“That weak ass little savings account was mine!” I snapped. “Not yours.”

“We married. The fuck you talking about?”

“No, you use marriage when it benefits you. That’s what you do.”

Rome let my wrists go so suddenly I almost stumbled backward, but before I could even move away, he grabbed the back of my neck hard enough to make me gasp for air. “I’m getting real tired of your fucking attitude,” he said through gritted teeth.

Fear and anger hit me at the same time, but I still pushed him in his chest. “Get off me!”

The slap across my face came so fast it turned my head before my brain even caught up. For a second, all I heard was ringing, followed by heat and then rage. “You’re such a bitch!” I screamed, throwing whatever I could grab at him. My keys hit the floor somewhere near the Benz while Rome grabbed my wrists again before I could swing on him for real.

“Navy, stop fucking playing with me!” He warned.

“Fuck you!” I yelled, struggling to break free. “Fuck you and that dirty ass bitch too! And that bastard ass baby. I hope the head comes out whop-sided like your mama’s.”

That did it, I saw the switch in his eyes. One second he looked mad and the next second he looked gone. Rome pushed me backward hard enough for my lower back to slam against the Benz, causing pain to shoot through me instantly. Before I could straighten up, his hand was wrapped around my throat, and it wasn’t tight enough to choke me unconscious, but enough to let me know exactly how much stronger he was than me. I didn’t understand how a man so fine could be so evil.

“You think I’m one of these lame ass dudes in the streets?” he snapped. “You think you gone disrespect me in my face and walk out? I’m the Boss behind all this shit Nay. Honor your fucking husband.”

The tears burned my eyes more from humiliation than pain. “I hate you,” I choked.

He tightened his grip again. “No you don’t.”

“I do.”

“Stop fucking lying.” He said all confident before he placed a wet kiss on my mouth. I abruptly jerked my head back.

The garage suddenly felt too small as my phone started vibrating on the ground, and both our eyes dropped toward the sound. Tasha’s name popped up across the screen before it disappeared again, then she called right back.

Rome looked at the phone, then at me. “You got everybody in our business now?”

I didn’t answer him because I knew if I opened my mouth, I was either going to scream or cry, and I refused to do either one in front of him. Rome finally let me go pushing me so hard it sent me stumbling sideways. I caught myself against the hood of the Benz and caught my breath. My damn cheek burned, and my throat hurt. I already knew tomorrow there would probably be fingerprints somewhere on my skin again. My phone kept vibrating because Tasha refused to stop calling. Rome looked down at it with annoyance before picking it up off the floor.

“Don’t answer my phone!” I snapped.

He ignored me and declined the call instead before tossing the phone onto the passenger seat. “You not leaving tonight,” he said like it was nothing.

“Yes the fuck I am.” I groaned.

He shrugged. “No, you not.”

“You can’t keep me here!”

Rome laughed, but there wasn’t shit funny about it. “Navy, look around. Your money gone, your car blocked in, and it’s damn near midnight. Where exactly you think you about to go?”

I hated that he was right and that was the worst part. I hated that no matter how much I wanted to run out that garage, I didn’t have nowhere to go tonight without money and without him finding me eventually anyway. My eyes started burning harder, and I looked away before he could fully see it. Rome noticed anyway like he obviously noticed everything else.

“That’s what I thought,” he muttered.

I wanted to spit on him. Instead, I grabbed my bag off the floor and walked past him toward the door leading back into the house.

“Navy.” He called.

I kept walking.

“Navy, I’m talking to you.”

“I don’t give a fuck.” I spat.

When I made it into the kitchen, the hot, angry tears finally ran down my face. I wiped them away quickly because crying after arguing with Rome always made me feel weak even when he was dead wrong. My chest hurt from holding everything in, and all I could think while climbing the stairs was that I was going to kill this man one day if I stayed here long enough. Not literally, or at least I didn’t think literally, but I understood now how women snapped. I understood how somebody could wake up one day tired enough to poison a drink, stab somebody in their sleep, or hell, even set a whole damn house on fire.

Rome had a way of pushing people to limits they didn’t recognize in themselves. By the time I made it back to the bedroom, my breathing was shaky all over again. I snatched my clothes out the duffel and headed straight for the bathroom, slamming the door behind me harder than necessary on purpose before turning the shower on full blast. I stepped under the water without even waiting for it to fully heat up. The cold water hit me first and then the warm water followed. It only took a few seconds before everything I had been holding in came pouring out.

I stood there crying so hard my chest started hurting, as I pressed my hands against the tile while water ran down my face and mixed with my tears. My cheek still stung from where he slapped me, and every time I thought about my money being gone, I got mad all over again.

“That bitch ass motherfucker,” I whispered to myself, crying harder. “That…bitch…ass motherfucker!”

I already knew Tasha was still blowing my phone up, but I couldn’t answer right now though. I couldn’t let her hear me sounding like this because then she was really going to panic, and I still didn’t even know what I was going to do next. All I knew was I meant what I said. I was leaving him one way or the other even if it wasn’t today. I didn’t care about none of this shit. I was getting away from him if it killed me. I stayed in the shower until the water started getting cold again, mostly because I didn’t feel like facing him yet but eventually I turned it off, wrapped myself in a towel, and wiped my face before looking in the mirror.

My eyes were swollen already and just like I thought, my cheek was red as hell. Around my throat the faint marks were starting to show up. I stared at myself for a long time before laughing under my breath, but there wasn’t a damn thing funny. “You look crazy,” I said to myself.

I didn’t mean in an ugly way, I meant crazy for staying. I changed into one of my oversized shirts and opened the bathroom door slowly. Of course, the master suite smelled like weed. Rome’s ass was stretched out across the chair near the window like nothing had happened, with one arm resting against the side while smoke circles filled the air from the joint sitting between his fingers. The TV was on low, with the Dolphin’s game while he looked way too relaxed for somebody who had just put his hands on his wife.

I rolled my eyes and walked right past him without saying anything. “Navy.”

I ignored him and climbed into bed, immediately turning my back toward him. For a minute neither one of us spoke and then I heard him sigh behind me.

“Come on, man,” he muttered. “You know I hate when shit get like that.”

I stared straight ahead at the wall in silence while anger burned all in my chest all over again. I don’t even remember falling asleep, one minute I was laying there staring at the wall listening to Rome trying to talk like we had just gotten into some regular little argument instead of him putting his hands on me again, and the next thing I knew, loud banging had me jumping awake so hard my heart started immediately racing. Shit, I thought somebody had called the laws.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“NAVY!” Tasha’s voice yelled. I sat up too fast, still half asleep, and my head became foggy while the pounding kept coming from downstairs. Feeling damn near like vertigo. “Navy! Open this damn door!”

The room was still dark except for the TV glow bouncing off the walls. At some point during the night Rome had climbed into bed beside me, and now he shifted next to me with an irritated groan before rubbing his face. “The fuck is she doing here?” he muttered.

Before I could answer, there was another and then the bell. “NAVY!”

I reached for my phone on the nightstand and immediately saw the missed calls. Tasha had called me so many times the notifications damn near filled the whole screen. My stomach turned in knots because I already knew how she got when she was worried, and after the way I hung up on her last night, there was no way she was just about to sit at home peacefully.

“I gotta open the door,” I said, pulling the covers back.

Rome grabbed my waist before I could get up. “No.”

I looked down at his hand on me, then at him. “Rome, move.”

“You not opening that door looking like that.”

The bruise on my face damn sure throbbed and then another loud bang hit the front door. “Navy, I swear to God if you don’t open this fucking door!”

“Tasha!” I called out even though she couldn’t hear me from upstairs.

Rome fully sat up now, shirtless, with his tattoos covered across his chest with irritation all over his fine ass face. “Why she making a scene outside my house this early in the morning?”

“Your house?” I snapped. “Please stop saying that shit.”

“I’m serious.”

“And I’m serious too. Let me go downstairs.”

He still didn’t move his hand. Outside, Tasha started beating on the door again. “Rome! I know your ass in there too!”

Rome sucked his teeth hard. “See? This exactly why I don’t like your loud ass friends all in our business.”

“My loud ass friend worried about me because you put your hands on me!” I couldn’t even believe he was coming like that because he had known Tasha just as long as me and she’s the one who hooked us up in school. We all started off as close friends.

“Navy…”

I shook my head. “No, don’t Navy me this morning.”

The banging stopped for a second, and then I heard Tasha’s voice again, louder this time. “If y’all don’t open this damn door, I’m calling the police!”

Rome’s whole expression changed because the last people he needed snooping around were the police since he was on papers. “Oh, she got me fucked up.”

He finally let my waist go and swung his legs off the bed before standing up. I watched him pull on a pair of sweatpants over his waist as his long, thick dick hung between his legs. The whole time he was muttering under his breath, and honestly, if the situation wasn’t mine, it probably would’ve been funny watching him annoyed this early in the morning.

Another knock came, this time faster. “Tasha, stop!” I yelled toward the hallway.

“Then open the damn door!”

Rome looked over at me while running his hand down his beard. “You better tell her calm the fuck down before she create a problem she don’t want.”

I laughed sarcastically while climbing out the bed. “Oh, now you worried about problems?”

“Navy, chill the fuck out man.”

“What? You should’ve thought about all this before last night.”

The room got quiet for a second after that because we both knew I was right. Rome looked away first, grabbing his shirt off the floor before throwing it on. “Just go open the door.”

I snatched my bonnet off the bed and pulled it down over my hair before heading for the bedroom door. My body still felt sore, especially my back, and every step downstairs reminded me of it. The house was quiet except for Tasha’s muffled cursing outside and Rome walking behind me like he didn’t trust what I might say once that door opened.

The second I unlocked it; Tasha pushed her way inside so fast she almost knocked me over. “Oh my God.” She gasped. Her whole face changed the minute she looked at mine. “Navy…” she hissed. Tasha turned slowly toward Rome standing behind me near the stairs. “You one bitch ass dude Rome.”

“Tasha,” I warned. The last thing I wanted was them into although they fought like cats and dogs. He could say what he wanted about Tasha, but he loved her like a sister.

“No, fuck that!” she snapped, pointing at him. “What the fuck wrong with you?!”

“Ain’t shit wrong with her,” Rome calmly said calmly like the whole situation was getting on his nerves more than anything. “She good.”

Tasha stared at him like she wanted to kill him. “She good?” she repeated. “What the fuck, are you stupid? Look at her face!”

Rome shrugged like it wasn’t nothing serious. “Me and my wife had an argument. Y’all females always dragging shit.” He leaned against the wall looking unbothered standing at six feet, one inch, with his tape perfectly lined and chestnut-colored eyes glaring right at me. The ice from his chain sparkled around his neck.

I closed my eyes briefly because there he was again minimizing. The acting like I was dramatic for being upset he slapped and grabbed me around like a damn rag doll had me baffled.

Tasha looked back at me, with disbelief written all over her face. “Navy, get your stuff.”

“Tash…”

“No! Fuck no! Get your stuff right now!” Tasha was a good five-five, the same height as me and feisty as hell.

I rubbed my forehead. “Please don’t start.”

“Start?” Tasha got loud. “Girl, look at your damn face!”

“I said I’m good.” I assured her.

“You are not good!”

Rome walked past us toward the kitchen like he was done with the conversation already. “I told you she fine.”

Tasha turned around so fast I thought she was really about to swing on him. “You need your ass beat.”

Rome laughed under his breath. “Yeah aight.”

“You think this funny?”

“Nah,” he replied while opening the fridge. “I think you doing too much, as usual. You need a man Tasha, or some dick, one or the other.”

The look Tasha gave him could’ve set the whole house on fire. I grabbed her arm gently before this turned into something worse. “Come here.” She let me pull her farther toward the living room, but the whole time she kept looking over my face like she was trying to assess how bad everything was.

“Navy,” she said quietly once we got a little distance, “please don’t tell me you staying here.”

I looked toward the kitchen where Rome stood pouring himself juice like this was another regular episode this morning. “You see what I’m dealing with,” I sighed.

“That’s exactly why you need to leave.”

“I know.” I replied looking over her. Her long boho knotless plaits were wrapped up in a sloppy bun, and she literally looked like she’d just run out of the house with sweats, house slippers, and a sweater.

“Then come on.” She pulled at my hand.

All I could do was tell the truth. “It’s not that simple.”

“Yes it is! Fine as you are, bitch you’ll have another man in no time.”

“No, it’s not.” My voice cracked from frustration. “Tasha, he took my money. My car is still blocked in, half my stuff still here, and I can’t just run out the door emotional without a plan.”

She raised a brow. “So what? You gone sit here and let him keep beating on you till you come up with one?”

The words stung because they sounded too close to what I had been thinking myself. “I said I’m figuring it out.”

Tasha stared at me hard, and for a second neither one of us said nothing. We had been friends too long for everything between us to need words anyway. She knew when I was scared, angry, embarrassed, or trying to hold myself together by a thread even if I never admitted it out loud.

“I’m serious,” she said quietly. “You can stay with me.”

“I know, stop telling me that.” I frowned.

“You don’t deserve this.”

My eyes started watering again, but I blinked it away fast because I was not about to cry in this living room with Rome ten feet away acting like none of this mattered. “I know,” I repeated softer this time.

From the kitchen, Rome sucked his teeth. “Y’all done?”

Tasha shot him another nasty look. “Nobody talking to you.”

“I’m just saying. You in my house yelling early as hell like we on a damn reality show, go home.”

“Cause you beat on women!” She snapped.

Rome leaned against the counter completely unfazed biting into an apple with his gold teeth shining. “Ain’t nobody beat on her.”

Tasha laughed in disbelief. “You know what? I really can’t stand men like you.”

“And I can’t stand loud ass females who don’t know how to mind they business.” He winked. “We even.”

“This is my business!” she snapped. “That’s my best friend!”

I stepped between them before this turned into a whole screaming match. “Tash,” I said. “It’s cool.”

She looked at me and I looked back at her. Right there in that moment, without saying it out loud, I tried to tell her with my eyes what I couldn’t say in front of him. I’m good girl, not good-good but calm down. Please stop pushing right now, I got this. Tasha stared at me for another second, reading everything all over my face the way only somebody who really knew me could. Her expression relaxed just a little, but I could still see the anger in her eyes.

“You sure?” she asked searching my eyes. “It is not okay to let a motherfucker pound on you.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Girl, this is not ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’,” I told her. We were little girls sitting in the living room watching that movie with my grandma years ago and now here she was quoting it. I once again assured her I was good, because I needed her to leave before Rome’s mood changed again. Behind us, Rome walked into the living room smelling like weed and cologne while acting like he hadn’t terrorized me less than twelve hours ago.

“I told you she fine,” he said again. “Y’all making this bigger than what it is.”

Tasha looked him dead in his face. “One day somebody gone kill you behind playing with women like this.”

Rome smirked. “Ain’t nobody worried about all that. You know what’s up with me. I’m the same one who protected ya’ll from every fucked-up nigga in your past.”

“Tash,” I warned again.

She let out a frustrated sigh before grabbing my hand and pulling me a little closer toward the front door. “If you need me, call me,” she said low enough so Rome couldn’t hear. “I don’t care if it’s three in the morning and stop worrying about that damn money right now.”

Shit, that money still hurt. Of course I could make more, but it was the principle. Rome wanted me trapped. He wanted me depending on him long enough to stop trying to leave altogether. Whole time all he was really doing was making me hate him more. Tasha squeezed my hand once before letting it go, but before she could move away, Rome’s voice came from right behind me.

“You staying or you leaving?” he causally asked, like nothing had happened.

I slowly turned around to look at him and the calmness on his face aggravated me more than the bruise throbbing across my cheek because that man really knew how to stand there pretending everything was normal after turning my whole world upside down. For a second, I just stared at him.

“I guess I’m staying,” I rolled my eyes.

Tasha made a noise behind me like she couldn’t believe what she had just heard, but I didn’t stop walking. I headed straight for the stairs, with my emotions all over the place. I could feel both of them watching me while I climbed up each step, but I honestly didn’t have the energy to deal with either one of them anymore.

“Navy,” Tasha called after me.

“I’m good,” I lied without turning around.

“You don’t look good.”

I lightly chuckled under my breath because ‘no shit’. By the time I made it upstairs, I heard the front door open downstairs followed by Tasha still cursing Rome out while she left. He laughed at something she said, which only made her louder, and honestly, if my life wasn’t actively falling apart, it probably would’ve been funny hearing her threaten to beat his ass at eight in the morning.

The front door slammed hard then it got silent. Well, as silent as this house could get with Rome walking around in it. I went back into the bedroom and shut the door behind me before sitting on the edge of the bed slowly. My whole body ached in little places now that the adrenaline from last night was gone. All I could think about was how badly I wanted to disappear for like a week. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and checked my messages. Tasha had already started texting me.

Tasha: Girl call me when he leave the room.

Tasha: I’m dead serious.

Tasha: Don’t protect him.

I sighed and dropped the phone beside me before rubbing my hands over my face carefully so I wouldn’t touch the bruise too hard. The crazy part was that I wasn’t even embarrassed anymore. I felt past embarrassment at this point. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs a few minutes later and then there was Rome pushing the bedroom door open like he belonged there, which technically he did, but still, even looking at him move around this room made me want to punch his ass.

“You hungry?” he casually asked like it was nothing.

I looked at him like he had lost his damn mind. “No.”

“You ain’t eat since yesterday.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Rome sighed and leaned against the dresser. “Navy, man…”

“No, don’t ‘Navy man’ me.” I stood up off the bed and grabbed one of my pillows before moving toward the couch near the windows. “I really don’t wanna hear shit you gotta say right now.”

“You dragging it.”

I immediately stopped walking and looked back at him. “That’s the problem with you,” I said. “You really don’t think you do nothing wrong.”

Rome rubbed his beard with a slow stroke. “I already told you I was wrong for putting my hands on you.”

“But not wrong for stealing my money?” I raised a brow. “Or fucking other bitches right?”

He had that tight look on his face again. “There you go again with this money shit.”

I laughed in disbelief. “This money shit? Rome, you cleaned my account out.”

“I moved it.” He shrugged like it wasn’t shit.

“Without asking me.” I snapped.

“We married.”

“Please stop saying that like it erase everything else, and please stop throwing up the marriage when it’s convenient for you!”

Rome pushed off the dresser and slowly walked towards me. Usually when he moved like that, confident and calm, it did something to me. Rome had always been fine and wasn’t no denying that. He was tall, dark smooth ass skin, tattoos everywhere, pretty teeth, deep voice, smelled good all the damn time. Even now, after everything, I hated that my body still noticed him before my brain could stop it, but then I’d look at my reflection in the mirror and remember exactly who he really was underneath all that pretty shit.

“You know why I moved that money,” he said.

“Because you controlling.”

“Because you was about to do something stupid.”

“What’s stupid is putting your hands on your wife and getting another bitch pregnant.”

Rome clenched his jaw, and there went that look again. It was that same look when he was trying to stop from taking it there. “You keep throwing that in my face.”

“Because it happened!”

“And I said I was wrong.”

“You keep saying that like it magically fix shit!” My voice cracked at the end, and I hated it because I sounded too emotional and too affected, and Rome always acted different when he realized he was really getting to me.

He stepped closer. “Come here.”

I moved back.

“Navy,” he said more firmly.

I shook my head. “No.”

“You acting scared of me now?” He questioned.

I stared at him for a second before answering as honest as I could. “I don’t know what version of you I’m waking up to anymore.”

That fucked him up hard and I could tell it did because his whole expression changed a little soft before it got all hard again. “You know I love you Nay.”

He did, and I know he did, but he just didn’t know how to be that man for me without letting his own ego in the way. I almost laughed because men like Rome really believed love covered everything… the cheating, lying, manipulation, bruises, apologies… all of that shit.

“I used to think that mattered,” I admitted. “But you changed when yo got money.” I sighed. “You really did.”

Rome looked at me hard after that, like he was trying to figure out what exactly had changed. The old Navy would’ve already softened by now. The old Navy would’ve cried, argued some more, then eventually let him pull her into his lap while he apologized and promised to do better while he fucked me to sleep or bought my love, but the old Navy wasn’t slipping away, and I think he was finally starting to realize it.

CHAPTER 3

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Afew days later, the bruise had finally started fading, but it was still there. Every morning I stood in front of a mirror convincing myself it looked better than it did the day before, and every morning I was lying my ass off. The deep purple color had turned yellow around the edges, and the swelling had gone down, but it was still obvious enough that I wasn’t taking any chances. I leaned closer to the employee restroom mirror and carefully dabbed more concealer across my cheek before blending it out with a makeup sponge. If anybody from work noticed, nobody had said a damn thing. Maybe they believed I walked into something or maybe they didn’t but either way, I wasn’t interested in answering questions.

The bruise on my neck irritated me more than the one on my face and my scrubs covered part of it, but not enough. I tilted my head from side to side, checking the mirror from every angle while trying to figure out if it was visible. Working in an emergency room meant spending twelve hours around people trained to notice shit, and the last thing I needed was one of my coworkers pulling me to the side asking if everything was okay at home because truth be told, nothing was okay at home and nothing had been okay for a long time. The only difference now was that I had finally stopped lying to myself about it.

I sat my makeup bag on the counter and stared at my reflection cause looking at myself felt strange these days because a week ago, I thought I was finally leaving. It made my skin crawl, but for now I needed him comfortable because comfortable people got careless, and I was counting on Rome getting a little too comfortable. If my big mama Lulu knew what was really going on, she’d knock me upside the head with a cast iron skillet because one thing she didn’t play about was taking shit from a man.

My phone started vibrating, snapping me out of my thoughts as I glanced down at the screen and immediately rolled my eyes. Of course, it was Rome and for a few seconds I just stared at his name lighting up my phone. There was a time I would’ve answered on the first ring. Hell, a few months ago I probably would’ve smiled when I saw him calling. It was funny how fast that kind of shit can change. Now every time his name popped up on my screen my stomach dropped.

“Hey,” I answered.

“What’s up, baby?” Rome asked, sounding entirely too damn cheerful for somebody who felt like he could do whatever the fuck he wanted when he wanted.

I grabbed my makeup bag and started putting everything away while he talked. “At work.”

“I figured that. You eat yet?”

“No.”

“You hungry? I can bring you some Airline’s. You know that’s our shit.”

‘Boy you know you wrong for that’, I thought to myself. I loved some Airline’s! See, shit like that used to make me feel special back when I thought checking on me meant he cared. Now all I heard was bullshit because the same man asking me if I was hungry had no problem taking every dollar I had with his stupid ass.

“I’m good,” I told him. “I brought something.”

“Aight, I was thinking about bringing you lunch but if you good then I got you for dinner.”

I walked toward the restroom door and pushed it open. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Why you always saying no?” He quizzed like he didn’t know what was up.

Because I can’t stand your ass! Is what I wanted to say although truth was deep down inside I still loved him. I just loved myself more now. The answer sat right on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it back down.

“Because I’m working, Rome.”

“Aight, aight. Damn, I was just asking.” He sighed sounding like he was moving around in traffic. “I’ll call you later on.”

“Okay,” was all I said before I paused.

“Navy…” he called.

“Yes?” I answered sounding all innocent.

“I love you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I love you too. Gotta get to these patients Rome, I’ll talk to you later.”

I ended the call and when I stepped into the hallway; the overhead speaker crackled above me as a familiar voice came across the intercom announcing a trauma alert, and the energy around me changed. It was no longer calm as the nurses started moving faster. A respiratory therapist hurried past me pushing equipment and two techs jogged toward the trauma bay while somebody else was yelling for a stretcher. One thing about an emergency room, all that quiet shit could disappear in seconds that’s why we had to value when we had it. One minute everybody was talking about lunch plans and what drama they had over the weekend and the next minute somebody was fighting for their life.

I shoved the phone back into my scrub pocket. Rome could be irritated if he wanted to be. At the moment, I had bigger things to worry about than hurt feelings. By the time I made it to Bay Three, the paramedics were already rolling the patient through the doors as the entire trauma team moved automatically moved into position. After enough years working in an emergency room, your body learned what to do before your brain caught up. Everybody had a job, and everybody was already doing it.

The patient looked like he’d been through hell with blood covering the front of his shirt. Meanwhile one side of his face was swollen, and there were cuts across both of his arms. Even with all that, he was still trying to fight the paramedics who were trying to help him. One of them looked exhausted as he gave the report to the trauma physician while helping transfer the patient onto the bed. Apparently there had been a vehicle accident, but judging by the amount of blood and the way he kept trying to sit up, I had a feeling there was more to the story than a simple crash.

“Where the fuck is my phone?” he demanded as soon as they got him onto the trauma bed.

“Sir, stay still,” Nurse Trinity told him.

“Man, fuck all that. Where my phone?”

The doctor completely ignored him and started calling out orders. Everybody moved at one time to check his blood pressure, start the IV, get some labs ordered, as well as get the monitors rolling all while asking questions. The room immediately got noisy as machines started beeping and people began talking over one another. The patient groaned and tried to push himself up again before immediately falling back against the bed. Whatever adrenaline had been carrying him was starting to wear off.

“Tell them muhfuckas I ain’t dead,” he slurred, but nobody responded. “Y’all hear me?”

His eyes bounced around the room before landing on me for a brief second. He looked young, probably around the same age a me in his late twenties but even beat up and covered in blood, he was one of those dudes who would’ve had women staring if the circumstances were different. Unfortunately for him, this wasn’t that. This was an emergency room, and everybody in the room was more interested in keeping him alive than admiring him.

The doctor cut open the front of his shirt and paused. “Hold on,” he said while examining him. The room got a little quieter as we waited.

“What you got Doc?” another physician asked.

“That’s not from the accident.” He replied moving even faster.

I looked down and saw the gunshot wound. Suddenly the entire mood in the room changed. Well damn, I thought, that explained a lot from all that swelling and panicking, or the way he kept asking for his phone and kept screaming worried about talking to somebody than he did about the fact that he was bleeding all over the trauma bed. One of the other nurses immediately started asking questions while another prepared additional supplies. The patient laughed, then winced from the pain. This man is crazy; I whispered under my breath while still in action doing my job.

“I told them muhfuckas…” he muttered before dazing off.

“Told who?” I asked.

His eyes started to flutter and then opened again. “I want my damn phone.”

The doctor wasn’t interested in his phone, so he ignored him and spoke to us instead. “We need to get him upstairs.”

The patient cursed even louder this time. His words were getting harder to understand, but hell, the anger behind them wasn’t. “I swear when I find them…” he started.

Then his voice drifted away as another nurse helped cut away the remainder of his shirt. My eyes landed on the tattoo across the center of his chest that said ‘EMPIRE’. The letters were impossible to miss, that’s how damn big they were. I had no idea what it meant whether it was a street name, a damn business, or some kind of crew… who knew. People tattooed all kinds of random shit on themselves these days. Hell, I know I did that’s why I had Rome’s name tattooed right above my pussy. The patient mumbled something else before his eyes closed again. The doctors kept working while preparing him for emergency surgery, and after another few minutes they started wheeling him toward the operating room.

As the bed disappeared through the doors, one of the nurses handed me the pile of bloody clothing and personal belongings after I tried to calm the patient down. “Can you inventory everything and get it bagged?” She asked.

I nodded and carried the pile toward the counter, already reaching for one of the patient’s property bags. Between the torn clothing, the big chain, Burberry wallet, brand new I-phone, and whatever else was mixed into the mess, it looked like it was going to take a minute.

I carried everything over to the counter and started sorting through it. I was halfway through documenting everything when I picked up the hoodie and noticed it felt heavier than it should’ve. At first I figured the extra weight was coming from the blood, but when I shifted the garment in my hands, something inside moved. I couldn’t help but to become curious so what I do? I turned the hoodie over and ran my hand along the interior lining until I found a hidden zipper pocket sewn into the fabric. As soon as I unzipped it and reached inside; my entire body froze. Three thick stacks of cash held up in rubberbands were stuffed inside the compartment. I immediately looked up from the counter and glanced around the department realizing nobody was paying attention to me. Everybody was focused on whatever emergencies was happening around us. I slowly pulled the money out and stared at it because I didn’t need to count it to know it was a ridiculous amount, and it was the kind of money most people didn’t carry around in a checking account, let alone inside a damn hoodie.

My stomach did flips as I looked back down at the stacks. The timing couldn’t have been worse or better depending on how somebody wanted to look at it considering the fact that just a few days ago Rome had emptied my account and left me feeling completely trapped. Even when I called the bank it wasn’t shit they could do about it. Every damn plan I’d made depended on money I no longer had access to, and now I was standing in an emergency room holding enough cash to make a difference. I hated that my mind immediately went there, but it did. The longer I stood there holding the money, the harder it became to ignore what was running through my head.

I swallowed hard and closed the zipper pocket before anybody could walk by and catch me standing there looking guilty. My heart started racing so bad I could actually feel it in my neck as my entire body got hot. Maybe that should’ve been enough to tell me to leave the money well enough alone. It should’ve been the very moment I zipped the hoodie back up, documented everything exactly the way I was supposed to, and kept it moving. Instead, I stood there staring at the pile of belongings while my mind ran in circles.

The problem was I wasn’t looking at the money the way I normally would’ve. Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been an easy decision. Bag the belongings, document the contents, and move on with my shift… end of story. Unfortunately, my circumstances weren’t normal anymore.

A stretcher rolled past behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts and I immediately started moving again, trying to look busy even although nobody was paying attention to me. My eyes kept bouncing back toward the hoodie. Whoever this man was, he clearly wasn’t hurting for money because his ass was carrying more money in one hoodie than most people saw in months. The thought should’ve made me put the money back and mind my damn business, but nooo Navy always had to be hardheaded. Instead, the anger I’d spent days trying to keep buried started creeping back up again.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I picked up one of the bundles and slipped it into the pocket of my jacket. My heart immediately started pounding. The emergency department kept moving exactly the same way it had thirty seconds earlier and then another bundle disappeared into my pocket followed by a third. I stood there frozen for a few seconds after that, staring at the now empty zipper compartment. My hands felt shaky as I zipped it closed and shoved the hoodie back into the pile. Every instinct I had was screaming that I had just crossed a line I couldn’t uncross, and the worst part was that I knew it.

“Navy.” Nurse Valerie called my name. She was older and had more seniority than me and she was always in somebody’s damn business. I jumped so hard I almost knocked the shit off the counter causing her to look at me funny. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I quickly answered. “Why?”

“You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I forced out a fake laugh and grabbed the property bag before she could study me any harder. “I’m fine, I’m just tired.”

“Aren’t we all,” she nodded and walked away. When she disappeared around the corner; I deeply exhaled a breathe I didn’t even realize I was holding. My chest felt tight as hell, but my pockets felt heavier too. I finished documenting the belongings, sealed the bag, and attached the identification sticker before setting everything aside. For the rest of my shift, I couldn’t stop thinking about the money but ironically it was because I felt guilty… shit, what was done was done and I couldn’t take it back now.

Every time I passed a mirror, I was convinced somebody could look at me and immediately know what I’d done causing my stomach to drop. Every time I heard a phone ring, I wondered if somebody had already discovered the money was missing and was about to investigate my ass, but nobody did, at least not that day and ironically somehow that made me feel even worse.

CHAPTER 4

E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

Most people really only knew the version of me that wore tailored shirts and sold luxury real estate without knowing the full story, but moral to it all is they saw the polished cleaned-up version that sat across from investors and developers talking about contracts and property values. What they didn’t see was the nigga who used to stand on corners counting money until I moved up in rank, or the years I spent in prison sitting in jail fighting a premeditated murder charge that should’ve buried me for the rest of my life.

By the grace of God, with the right price and a good lawyer I beat what they accused me of although I absolutely killed that dude and that was the one they knew about. Every single thing they through at me, I did that shit but instead of walking away with life, they sat me down for five years. After that, I came home focused cause I was lucky enough to get a second chance, and I was gone make sure I never needed a third.

That decision turned into more money than I ever imagined, and the funny thing was people always assumed my success was old money, but it wasn’t, cause when the Feds came for me, they took all that shit with them and everybody knew they was the biggest criminals on the streets that’s why I didn’t fuck with no police. If it were up to me those punk muhfuckas would never be nowhere around in my presence.

So nah, that old money shit was dead. The is what made me the newer version of rich… the developments and the buildings with my name attached to the paperwork did that. Real estate wasn’t just something I sold. Nah, it was something I owned. While everybody else was trying to impress people, I was buying assets. That’s why I could front my people bread without blinking or walk away from a deal if it didn’t make sense. I slept good at night cause money wasn’t something I chased no more, instead money found me.

I parked my Range Rover in front of the listing and stepped out, taking a second to adjust the cuff of my shirt before locking the door. The property sat in one of the nicer parts of Coral Gables, and even from the curb I could tell the seller had spared no expense. I glanced toward the front entrance and immediately spotted my client waiting near the doorway. She was the type of woman men noticed as soon as she entered a room with caramel skin, long black hair flowing down her back, and a white fitted dress that showed off every curve God gave her. She wore a pair of Red bottoms with a small Chanel bag hanging from her wrist. She was definitely pretty enough to get attention without asking for it and confident enough to know exactly what effect she had on men. When our eyes met, she smiled all extra wide, and I already knew what kind of showing this was about to be.

I walked up the driveway with one hand in my pocket and the other holding my phone with my gun tucked in my waistband underneath my shirt. The closer I got, the bigger her smile got. Women always thought they were slick with that shit like I couldn’t tell the difference between somebody excited about a house and somebody excited about me. She had had spent the last three weeks texting me questions she could’ve Googled herself or calling me at random hours to discuss properties she wasn’t serious about buying and somehow finding a reason to laugh at damn near everything I said and not that I blamed her cause I was very aware of what I looked like. I just wasn’t one of those dudes who needed constant confirmation from women to feel good about himself either.

“E’Levyn,” she said, stepping forward and reaching for a hug instead of a handshake.

On the inside, I was shaking my head. I politely smiled and gave her a quick side hug before stepping back. “How you doing, Ms. Monroe?”

She furrowed her brows with a smirk on her face. “Why are you always calling me that?”

“That’s your last name, and you paying me. I gotta act professional.” I told her. We had a little history, but I stopped fucking her before I even did my bid only because I couldn’t police no pussy from behind bars and I wasn’t trying to. Matter fact, I left every female alone who I was dealing with telling them all to go on about their lives.

She laughed and lightly touched my arm. “Oh please, you know that’s not why.”

She was right, I did know, although her last name really is Monroe, she always said ‘let Ms. Monroe take care of daddy’s dick’ right before she gave me the best head of my life, but that didn’t mean I was about to entertain it. That’s when she was just a hood girl on the block, just regular Monica, but now a few years later she was one of the top bankers in the city.

I glanced toward the house and nodded. “You ready to spend some money today or are you just here to waste my time again?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”

I chuckled. “I’m joking.”

“No you not.” She smirked.

I glanced at her with a straight face. “No, I’m not.”

She shook her head and laughed again before turning toward the front door. One thing about me, I wasn’t about to flirt my way into a commission. Either somebody wanted the house or they didn’t. I made enough money to leave games where they belonged. When we stepped inside, I watched her entire expression change and that look right there was the reason I loved real estate too because I also loved the reaction.

People spent months looking at pictures online while watching videos and scrolling through listings then they walked into the right property and everything changed. The foyer alone was bigger than most people’s apartments with natural light pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the backyard. The spiral staircase curved upward, and the marble floors were so clean it practically reflected our footsteps.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

The deal wasn’t done yet, but I could already see where this was headed. We moved through the house room by room while I pointed out features and answered questions. She asked about the schools, the neighborhood, the previous owner, property taxes, and the renovation history. I answered everything without missing a beat because I always did my homework and that’s what separated me from a lot of these realtors running around Miami. I wasn’t selling houses; I was selling confidence and people trusted me because I knew what the hell I was talking about.

By the time we made it upstairs to the primary suite, she was already standing in front of the oversized windows looking out over the pool. “This is beautiful,” she said in a softer tone.

“It is.” I agreed.

“No, seriously, I think this might be the one.”

I leaned against the doorway and watched her take it all in. “I know.”

She turned around with an eyebrow raised. “You know?”

I shrugged. “You stopped looking at the house twenty minutes ago and been picturing yourself living in it ever since.” I winked.

A slow smile spread across her face. “Damn, you always did know how to read me.”

“Yeah, something like that.” I told her ready to make an offer.

She slowly tilt her head to the side and began to take steps towards me. “What makes me different E’Leveyn?”

Before I could answer, my phone started ringing causing me to glance down at the screen. My expression immediately changed because the problem was who was calling, it was just that Marvelous didn’t have the type of people around him who called just to talk. Meanwhile, Monica was talking about where she’d put furniture, and I glanced down at the screen once again.

“Excuse me for a minute,” I said, giving her a quick smile.

She nodded. “Everything okay?”

“We’ll find out.”

I stepped out into the hallway and answered while making my way downstairs. “What up?”

“You busy?” Kev asked like I wasn’t always busy.

I didn’t have time for no rhetorical questions when money was on the line. “If you gotta ask, then whatever you calling about probably ain’t worth interrupting me for.”

“Aight then, I’ma let you get back to work.”

I laughed. “Man, what happened?”

“Marv got shot.”

I stopped near the bottom of the staircase and gently rubbed my jaw. “He alive?” I asked. Marvelous was my cousin and always in some shit.

“Yeah.” He informed.

“Aight.” I told him while glancing back up towards the stairs.

He paused for a second and then continued. “That’s it?”

I frowned. “What the fuck else you want me to say?”

“Damn, I don’t know, shit… something.”

I pushed the front door open and stepped outside. “Look, if he breathing, we got time to talk. If he dead, then that’s a different conversation so which one is it?”

“Oh, well, he breathing.”

“Then keep talking.” I said.

“They rushed him into surgery though.”

That got my attention. “Where he at?”

“He’s down there at Jackson.”

“Damn.” I mumbled.

“That’s what I said.”

I leaned against the driver’s side door of my truck while looking out across the street. Marvelous had a gift for finding trouble. He could walk into church and somehow leave with an enemy. Half the time I couldn’t tell if trouble followed him or if he went looking for it.

“You know who did it?” I questioned.

“Nah.”

“Do he know?” I asked.

He chuckled. “He was shot, Lev.”

“That ain’t what I asked.”

Kev was still laughing. “I’m serious.”

“So am I… plenty of people get shot and still know who shot them.”

“Man, something wrong with you.”

“Something wrong with Marv. I’m just trying to get information.” I shook my head and looked down at my watch. “How long ago it happen?”

“Maybe an hour or so.”

“Anybody else know?”

“Probably.”

I sighed because that was the part I hated once news started getting around, everybody suddenly became detectives and had theories and rumors and nine out of ten the shit they came up with was bullshit.

“I’m heading over there when I leave here.” I informed.

“Wait, so you finishing the showing first?”

A low grin spread across my face. “You asking me if I’m about to leave money sitting on the table?”

He chuckled again. “Nah.”

“Exactly.” I told him before ending the call.

I stood outside for a second with my phone still in my hand, looking toward the street. Marvelous getting shot wasn’t nothing I could fix from the driveway of a Coral Gables listing, and if he was already in surgery, then the doctors were either handling it or they weren’t. Me running through Jackson acting crazy wasn’t gone make them move no faster, and it damn sure wasn’t gone tell me who shot him. The only thing I could do right now was finish what I came here to do, get the offer locked in, and then go see what kind of bullshit Marv was dragging to everybody’s front door this time.

I slid my phone into my pocket and walked back toward the house cause that thing about having money and problems was both of them required composure. You couldn’t let every bad phone call have you moving like you forgot who you were. By the time I stepped back inside, Monica was still upstairs in the primary suite, standing near the windows with her arms folded and her thick hip leaning against the wall like she was ready for me. She wasn’t looking at the pool anymore though; her ass was looking right at me.

“You okay?” she asked allowing her eyes to scan over my face like she was trying to read what I wasn’t saying.

“I’m good,” I told her, coming back into the room and stopping beside the doorway. “You still buying this house or you just up here enjoying the view?”

Monica smiled once again just like she had been doing since we got here, but she didn’t move from the window. “You leave in the middle of my showing, come back with that serious face, and the first thing you ask me is am I still buying the house?”

I glanced around the suite before looking back at her. “You already told me you loved it before I walked out.”

“That don’t mean I was ready to write an offer.” She said in a playful sarcastic tone.

“It does when you say it like that.”

She shook her head. “You are so damn arrogant.”

“Accurate,” I corrected her, pulling my phone back out. “It’s a difference.”

Monica rolled her eyes, but that smile stayed on her face though. She pushed herself off the wall and walked farther into the room with her heels clicking against the floor while she looked around again. “I hate that you be right. That’s really the annoying part.”

“Most people hate that.”

“Most people probably hate a lot of things about you.”

“They still call me when they ready to buy… like you.”

She pointed at me with a laugh. “See? That’s the shit right there that I’m talking about.”

I smirked and sent a text to my assistant while still talking to her. “You making an offer, Ms. Monroe?”

She took one more look toward the windows, then around the room like she was trying to pretend she still needed to think about it knowing damn well she wanted it, especially since it was coming from me. I let her have the moment though because I understood buying a house like this wasn’t just about money, it was also about ego, and comfort while giving you that perfect vision.

“Yes,” she finally said. “I want it.”

I nodded and started typing. “Good.”

She looked me up and down with lust in her eyes. “Sooo, that’s it? Just good?”

“What you want me to do, jump up and down?”

“I mean, most realtors get excited when somebody says they want a two-million-dollar house.”

“Yeah, well I’ll get excited when it closes.”

Monica furrowed her brows. “You always been like that, just nonchalant as hell even back then, you didn’t celebrate nothing until the money was in your hand.”

I looked up from my phone. “That’s because people had a good talk game when they wanted something, but money tells the truth.”

The look in her eyes changed and for a second and the banker standing in front of me disappeared and I saw the girl from back in the day, just regular Monica from the block who used to pull up with gloss on her lips looking for trouble while talking slick like she wasn’t already planning to end up in my bed before the night was over. She had cleaned up nice; I’d give her that.

“I guess that means I should be offended,” she said.

“No, you should be ready to sign.”

She walked over and stood close enough until her perfume filled my nostrils. “You don’t ever get tired of acting like business is all you care about?”

I finished sending the text before putting my phone back into my pocket. “Around you? No, not at all.”

She slowly licked her lips but then parted her mouth like something slick was coming, almost like she wanted to be offended, but the smile gave her away. “You know what? I should’ve picked another realtor.”

“You should’ve,” I agreed. “But then you would’ve overpaid for a house you didn’t love.”

“And you care so much about what I love?”

“I care about you not wasting my time.”

Monica stared at me for a brief second and then laughed under her breath. “Damn shame, still mean as hell.”

“And you still dramatic as hell.”

She shook her head and looked away, but she was still smiling when she did it. “Send the offer to the sellers realtor.”

“I already did.” I informed her. See Monica was blowing me up for personal time and when she couldn’t get that, she went a different route, one that she knew would get my attention when business was involved. Although she was sexy and all that, I wasn’t trying to slide back through no females I already had because the dude I was back then, ain’t the same man I am now and if I remembered right, she was possessive as hell. She wasn’t even my girl and was fighting and busting windows of every female I was dealing with back then so hell no; I couldn’t deal with Monica. I liked to run a tight ship over here.

Her eyes shot back to mine. “That fast?”

“You said yes, that’s all I needed to hear.”

“I could’ve changed my mind.”

I glared in her eyes. “You won’t.”

She folded her arms across her breast studying me like she was trying to decide if she wanted to cuss me out or flirt some more. “You’re still the same Lev, just with a suit on.”

I slid my keys from my pocket and looked toward the hallway. “Yeah, only to people who forget what I am.”

“See? There foes that arrogance again.” She laughed pointing her finger. “You always gotta have the last word.”

“I usually do.”

“Just cocky.”

“I’m successful.” I winked.

She rolled her eyes and I ignored it and looked down at my phone as my assistant’s response came through. Everything she needed for the offer was already ready. I shot back a quick reply then confirmed a few details.

“I need you to do better.” Monica said.

“What?”

“You just sold a two-million-dollar house and acted like somebody ordered a damn sandwich from Robby’s corner store.”

I laughed this time cause we had some memories at Robby’s. “The house isn’t sold yet Ms. Monroe. The paperwork isn’t signed either and because of that the money ain’t moved so ask me how excited I am after closing.”

Monica adjusted the strap on her purse. “Well, congratulations anyway.”

“I’ll take it after underwriting.”

She chuckled. “Such an asshole.”

“Yet here you are with me.” I grinned. “Have a good day, Monica.”

“You too, Lev.”

I headed toward the front door before she could start another conversation and when I stepped outside; the smile disappeared from my face, and it was a good day because business was handled and the offer was in motion. My client was happy and now it was time to figure out why my cousin was laid up at Jackson Memorial fighting for his life. A few minutes later, I pulled out of Coral Gables and headed toward the hospital.

CHAPTER 5

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

It had only been one day since I’d officially labeled myself a damn criminal and I tossed and turned all night because I couldn’t get it off of my mind. It was a good thing that today was my day off, but I hated how Rome took me to lunch like we were just a normal couple right now. I thought of everything I could to get out of it, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, and it really wasn’t worth me starting an argument then getting bruised up again because at this point playing nice was the only thing keeping me from snapping on him in public and making a bigger mess than the one I was already in. I couldn’t understand how men did whatever they wanted but always had that one they didn’t want to let go.

He pulled up in front of the restaurant acting real husbandly, opening doors and asking if I was okay every five minutes while touching the small of my back like he hadn’t been the same man who had my face covered in makeup just to hide what he did. I smiled when I needed to, and I gave him short answers as I kept reminding myself that none of this was real.

We sat near the window, and Rome ordered appetizers for both of us before I even got a chance to open my mouth. That used to make me feel taken care of but now it irritated the hell out of me. Everything with him had always looked sweet from the outside until you realized it was just another way for him to be in charge of something or feel like he was paying the cost to be the boss. I picked up my water and took a sip, pretending to look around the restaurant while my mind stayed on the money sitting in the hiding spot I had made for it in my purse. Fifty thousand dollars, I thought to myself. I had counted it twice after work, then one more time this morning just to make sure my eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on me. I had three big ass knots of cash that didn’t belong to me but felt like the first real chance I had at getting away from him.

Rome’s phone started ringing on the table before the appetizers even came. He glanced down at it, and I didn’t have to see the name to know who it was. His whole demeanor changed in a way that only a woman would definitely notice. I knew every version of Rome’s lying ass so he damn sure couldn’t hide it from me. He flipped the phone over like that was supposed to make it disappear, then he looked back at me and smiled like I was stupid.

“You okay baby?” he asked.

I stared at him across the table and gave him the same kind of smile he had been giving me all morning. Fake as hell. “Yep, I’m good. I’m just fine.”

He reached across the table and picked his phone up like he was about to silence it, but before he could, it started ringing again. I looked down at my menu and didn’t ask one question because I didn’t care. At least that’s what I wanted him to think but then it just wouldn’t stop so I finally broke.

“You gone answer that?” I asked casually flipping the page more interested in deciding between grilled salmon and shrimp pasta.

He glanced at the screen, frowned, then hit decline. “Nah.”

“Oh.” That was all I said and I didn’t question him further about anything. The waitress walked over, smiling at us both as she sat fresh bread and appetizer on the table before asking if we were ready.

“I’ll do the salmon,” I told her, handing her back the menu.

“And I’ll take the ribeye and make it medium,” Rome said before closing his menu. The waitress nodded and disappeared, leaving us alone again. Rome reached for a piece of bread and broke it in half. “You been real quiet.”

I shrugged. “Ain’t much to say Rome.” I told him, because hell, it wasn’t.

He studied me for a little bit before leaning back in his chair. “So, you still mad?”

I looked up at him and furrowed my brows. “What you think?”

His tilt his head staring me in the eyes. “I already apologized.”

I almost laughed because an apology without changed behavior was just another lie like any other time. I removed my Dolce and Gabbana shades and sat them on the table. It was so hot, I was glad I sleeked my hair back into a long ponytail.

“I hear you.” I replied instead of saying something slick.

“Hearing me and forgiving me two different things Nay.”

“I know.”

He took a deep breath before reaching for his drink. “I’m trying, Nay.”

Trying? I thought shaking my head inside at how fine he was. I had truthfully never run into a man finer than him or maybe I felt that way because I had been blinded by love for so long. A man’s word was all he had and that word would’ve meant something if I didn’t know who I was dealing with. Trying didn’t erase all of the bullshit. Right on cue, his phone started ringing once again.

He looked down, irritated as hell, snatched the phone off the table, and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

He walked toward the front of the restaurant before answering. I didn’t need to hear the conversation because I already knew exactly who it was and my bet was it was the chick saying she was pregnant. I leaned back in my chair and slowly exhaled. Good, go entertain your other life. That gave me a few seconds to actually think while my mind drifted right back to the fifty thousand dollars. Every time I thought about it, I went back and forth with myself. One minute I felt guilty as hell. The next minute I remembered why I took it. Yeah, that money wasn’t mine, and I knew that. The problem was neither was the money Rome stole from me but somewhere in the middle of all that wrong, my life had become one big gray area. I pulled my phone from my purse and opened my messages under the table:

Me: Call me in exactly two minutes and make it sound bad.

Three dots appeared almost immediately.

Lulu: What happened?

Me: Nothing! Just trust me.

I locked my phone and slid it back into my purse just as Rome started walking back toward the table with his face was all balled up like whoever had called had gotten on his last nerve. Rome slid his phone into his pocket before taking his seat like nothing had happened, but I clearly knew he was irritated and trying to play it off. His jaws were tight as hell, and he grabbed his glass and took the rest of the shot.

“You okay?” I asked keeping my voice in a neutral tone.

He shrugged. “Yeah man, it’s just people always wanting something.”

I nodded like I believed him because that was probably the most truthful thing he’d said all afternoon. The waitress came back balancing our plates before carefully setting them in front of us. The smell alone would’ve normally had me digging in, but my appetite had been off, and it was probably from stress. My mind was moving too fast to enjoy food as well.

“You barely eating,” Rome said, cutting into his steak as I frowned. I didn’t like a steak if it was well done. I hated to see any pink or blood at all in mine. Meanwhile his ass was eating like it was his last meal.

“I will.”

He raised a brow. “You sure?”

“Mhm.” I nodded my head.

He briefly studied me before going back to his food. If there was one thing Rome loved, it was believing he had everything under control. As long as I wasn’t arguing, crying, or asking questions, he convinced himself things were getting back to normal outside of me being a little quiet. The calmer he got, the sloppier he’d become, and that worked in my favor.

My phone started ringing inside my purse and it was right on time. I didn’t even have to look at the screen to know it was Big Mama Lulu. I pulled the phone out and frowned on purpose when I saw her name then answered it without hesitation.

“Big Mama?”

Her voice came through so loud that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Navy! Baby, where you at?”

I scrunched my nose. “I’m out. What’s wrong?”

“I need you to come over here right now!”

“What happened?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here! Just come.”

My stomach turned in knots in a funny way from trying to hold my laughter because Lulu deserved an Oscar. If she ever got tired of cooking Sunday dinners, she could’ve made a career out of acting.

“I’m on my way,” I said before rushing to end the call.

Rome looked up from his plate. “Everything okay with her?”

I grabbed my purse and forced wore a look of worry on my face really trying to sell it. “My big mama sounded upset and she don’t never call me like that.”

He frowned. “You want me to come over there with you?”

“No.” I quickly shook my head before slowing myself down. “I mean… it’s probably just some family shit. You know how she is.”

He sat there thinking about it while I held my breath on the inside hoping he was going for it because one wrong answer and he’d insist on coming. The last thing I needed was Rome anywhere near Lulu’s house.

“You sure?”

I reached over and lightly squeezed his hand, playing the role I’d been forced to play for days. I was playing straight Hollywood. “I’m sure, just drop me off and I’ll call you later.”

He studied me a little longer this time before nodding. “Aight, finish eating first.”

I looked down at my plate, then back at him. “I can’t eat right now. If she called me sounding like that, I’m already late.”

Rome was staring at me so hard, I almost folded before he finally tossed his napkin on the table and dropped his fork in his plate. “Aight, c’mon.”

I blew a light sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

He waved me off like it wasn’t nothing before signaling the waitress over. “Can you box this up?”

“Of course.” She smiled looking at him a little too friendly but whatever.

While she packed our food, I put my purse over my shoulder and glanced down at my phone, shooting Big Mama Lulu one last text under the table:

Me: Rome is bringing me so just play it cool.

Lulu: Baby, I got you.

I smiled to myself because one thing about Big Mama Lulu, she didn’t ask a thousand questions when you needed her. If she felt like something was off, she’d help first and fuss later. By the time we made it outside, the Miami heat was whooping our ass, literally. He opened the passenger door to his truck for me, and I climbed in without putting up a fight. Every now and then he’d glance over while we drove, reaching over once to squeeze my thigh and shit like that in true narcissist fashion. I fought every urge in me not to push his hand away. Instead, I looked out the passenger window watching Miami fly by while counting down every red light between us and Lulu’s house.

“I know I be in the streets, but I notice shit you think I don’t notice like how different these last couple months,” Rome finally said.

I turned my head. “Different how?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, keeping one hand on the wheel. “I ain’t figured that part out. I just know I’m not letting you leave me. You can try to run Nay, and every time I’ma find you.”

I sarcastically laughed. “You beat on me, stole my money, and got another woman talking about she pregnant, and even more blowing your phone up through lunch. How much talking you expect me to do? What exactly am I supposed to act like?”

He stroked his beard with the palm of his hand and exhaled. “I told you that ain’t what you think.”

I looked back out the window again. “Yeah I know.” I mumbled.

He frowned. “You know what?”

“Nothing.”

“So, you don’t wanna know who was calling?”

I shrugged. “If you wanted me to know, you would have told me.”

The truck got quiet again until Rome finally cleared his throat, adjusted the gun on his waist, lit his joint and turned the music up. Meanwhile, all I cared about was getting out this truck. When we finally turned onto Big Mama Lulu’s street, I spotted her before we even made it to the house. She was standing outside on the front porch with her hands on her hips wearing one of her flowered house dresses and a pair of bedroom slippers like she’d been waiting on me all afternoon. When she saw the truck; she started waving both hands in the air.

“There she go,” I mumbled muffling my laugher.

Rome looked over. “She look alright to me.”

I smiled to myself cause Lulu rode for her grandkids. By the time he pulled into the driveway, she was already marching toward the truck before either one of us could even get out.

“Navy!” she hollered, throwing her hands in the air. “Girl, hurry up! I’ve been calling you all damn day.”

I climbed out before Rome had a chance to say anything. “What happened?”

Big Mama Lulu dramatically grabbed both my hands. “I’ll tell you inside.” She said and then she finally looked over at Rome. “Oh… hey, Rome.”

The way she said it let me know she hadn’t forgotten a damn thing I’d told her yesterday about all the shit he did, and yet and still I wasn’t coming to stay with Big Mama Lulu either because I didn’t want my damn burdens on her. Rome spoke back and told me to call him when I was ready right before he turned the music all the way up again and pulled off. Lulu and I wanted until he disappeared down the street. I had to make sure his ass was really gone before we went inside, and I took a deep breath knowing he was out of my damn hairs for a few hours.

CHAPTER 6

Jerome ‘Rome’ Jackson

Ilooked back one time through the rearview mirror and watched Navy and Lulu watching me. Lulu had her arm wrapped around her as they walked toward the front door when I got closer to the end of the street and only God knows what they were talking about. I watched until they disappeared inside before shaking my head and pressing harder on the gas. Something about the last couple of days didn’t sit right with me because Navy had been too calm and agreeing to whatever I said and if anybody knew Navy they knew my wife always had a mouth on her. If she was mad, you knew it and if she was happy you knew that too but Lately she’d been smiling when she should’ve been cussing my stupid ass out. She was playing nice when I knew damn well she wanted to tell me to go to hell and that wasn’t like Navy, that was somebody plotting, and I couldn’t put my finger on what the fuck she was plotting.

I reached over and turned the volume up until BossMan Dlow started blasting through the speakers as the bass rumbled through the truck while I cracked the window just enough to let the smoke out after taking another pull from my joint. The new Escalades looked like Bently trucks, just straight pressure and I enjoyed every bit of this one although I had quite a few toys. Miami was always a sight to see while riding through it with good weed and loud music.

About twenty minutes later I turned onto 15th avenue in Liberty City where my people were already outside. The block looked like it always did with the old heads sitting outside the corner store arguing over dominoes while the kids weaved in and out of the street on bikes. The music blasted through the streets from different directions, but when my truck pulled up a couple of the younger teenage dudes threw their hands up when they saw me.

Before I even cut the engine off, Bill was already making his way across the street with a black backpack hanging off one shoulder while Dre and Lil Cee followed behind him. I climbed out and shut the door. Bill was the oldest out the bunch, damn near pushing forty with dark skin and grey hairs starting to show up in his beard. Meanwhile Dre was built like he lived in the fucking gym with that thick ass neck and Lil Cee was the youngest and still had that hunger in his eyes that reminded me too much of myself before prison taught me patience although I was only a few years older than him.

“What it do?” Bill asked, reaching his fist out.

I used my own fist and bumped it. “Y’all making me money today or wasting my damn time man?”

Lil Cee laughed showing a mouth full of gold teeth. “We already know how you coming.”

“Hell, you should.” I replied waiting for them to show me the money but deep down inside Navy was still in the back of my mind. I didn’t mean to keep putting my hands on her, she just had a way of testing my patience. We’d been together since forever so how the fuck was I supposed to let her just leave? No other female knew me like she did.

Bill unzipped the backpack just enough for me to see the stacks inside before zipping it back up. He never stood there flashing money around like a rookie that’s why I trusted him like an older uncle.

“We had a good week,” he said, handing me the bag.

I took it from him, walked over to the front of my truck, and placed it on the hood before I opened it back up. My eyes roamed over the stacks held up in rubberbands while I separated a few of them. Of course, I wasn’t counting every dollar but after enough expertise in this shit you could tell when money looked right and when somebody had been dipping their hand where it didn’t belong.

“You short,” I said calmly without looking up.

The smile disappeared off Lil Cee’s face and then Bill frowned. “Nah, Rome.” He shook his head.

I finally looked at him as my eyes met his. “I wasn’t asking Bill.”

It got real quiet for a few seconds because nobody was trying to rush to speak and nobody got defensive either. Instead, Bill took one step closer to the truck and looked down into the backpack himself before rubbing the back of his neck.

“It ain’t what you thinking.” He told me.

I raised a brow. “Shit, I hope not. You ain’t never been short so what’s up?”

He nodded toward Lil Cee. “The short money ain’t on him. We had to pull fifteen off the top yesterday.”

“For what?” I frowned trying not to get irritated.

“Cuzzo got picked up.” He informed like I knew who the fuck cuzzo was.

I closed the backpack. “Who?” I asked.

“Paper.”

My expression didn’t change but I was wondering why the fuck nobody informed me. “What he get picked up for?”

He looked around and then adjusted his gun on his hip. “It was a traffic stop, but they found his pole.”

I leaned against the truck and folded my arms across my chest. “And?”

He shrugged. “They still got him.”

I frowned once again. “For a gun?” Florida was an open carry state, and Paper been got his rights back to carry.

Bill nodded. “Yeah man, you know he got all those priors too plus he had an out-of-town hold for some shit in Brevard.”

I took a deep breath and slightly cocked my head to the side. “Ain’t nobody calling me over no damn gun charge.”

“He on probation too.”

I looked over at Lil Cee, who hadn’t said shit since we started talking about it. He kept looking everywhere except at me, shifting his weight from one foot to the other like this wasn’t his lane. Lil Cee wasn’t no scary ass lil dude though, he just knew better than to challenge me.

“You knew that?” I asked him.

He nodded his head. “Yeah.”

“And you waited until now to say something?”

Lil Cee shrugged. “I thought Bill told you.”

I looked back at Bill. “Dre knew?”

Dru stared me dead in my eyes and frowned. “I found out this morning.”

I was quiet for a second. Not because I was mad. Because I was thinking. Every decision cost money. Every mistake cost more. Paper sitting in jail on a probation violation wasn’t just Paper’s problem. It was everybody’s problem if people started talking when they got scared. I tapped my fingers against the backpack before looking back up at all three of them.

“Aight,” I finally replied. “We’ll deal with Paper.”

I zipped the backpack closed before sliding it back across the hood. Bill caught it with one hand, but I never took my eyes off him. Being in the streets since fifteen years old taught me one thing and that was the money talked long before people did. You could tell when a count was right by the way a man stood and Bill usually stood tall but today his shoulders had dropped enough for me to notice.

“What else?” I asked ready to get the fuck on and check on the rest of my lieutenants.

Dre looked relived as he shifted his weight and adjusted the fitted Miami Heat hat on his head before answering. “Everything else straight through and the south side been moving. We had one lil’ issue on 36th, but it got handled.”

I looked over at him. “What kind of issue?”

“Some crabs in the bucket from across town thought they was gone post up over there.”

“And?”

He grinned all proud and shit. “They ain’t there no more.”

I nodded. “Good.”

The smell of barbecue suddenly filled my nostrils from across the street making my stomach rumble and remember the steak I still needed to finish from lunch. One of the little kids riding his bike yelled, “What up, Rome?” before popping a wheelie down the middle of the street. I lifted my chin at him, then looked back at my people.

“Every dumb decision cost money and every unnecessary body bring police, then the police bring attention, then attention slows money down. I don’t like shit slowing my money down.”

They all agreed in unison. Bill spoke up. “You right, but between you being out of town and whatever else you got going on, it be hard to get you on the phone lately Rome, so as the LT I been handling shit.”

“I know I’m right, but that don’t mean you ain’t right either.” I told him without explaining further because he was right. I had shit going on with my wife and other females too.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out a fresh stack of hundreds wrapped in a bank band, and peeled fifteen thousand from it without bothering to count twice. Money only made people nervous when they didn’t have enough of it. I folded the stack in half and held it out toward Bill to match the other fifteen.

“Get Paper a lawyer.”

He looked at the money, then back at me. “You still gone cover it?”

I frowned. “He my people, ain’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why we still talking?”

He quickly took the money and slid it into the backpack. “I’ll handle it.”

“I know you will.”

Just then my phone ring and I glanced down at the screen. For a second I just stared at it before I swiped my thumb across the screen without taking my eyes off Bill.

“What?” I asked her.

Her voice came through the speaker loud enough to make me pull the phone away from my ear for a second. “So now you answer?!”

I turned and started walking away from them, stopping near the front of my truck where nobody else could hear the conversation. I leaned one forearm across the hood, rolling the unlit joint between my fingers while looking down the block ignoring the hot ass sun.

“I told you I was handling business.” I replied unbothered by her urgency.

“And I told you I needed to see you.”

I closed my eyes for a brief second, already knowing this conversation wasn’t about to be simple. “What happened now? You know what, never mind, I’m coming.”

Before she could drag the conversation any longer, I ended the call and tossed the phone into the passenger seat. Whatever she wanted could wait until I got there. Fifteen minutes later, I turned into her neighborhood and turned the engine off without getting out right away. When I finally did climb out, I straightened my shirt and walked up the cracked sidewalk. Before I could knock, the front door swung open and Tasha stood there wearing a pair of black biker shorts and an oversized University of Miami T-shirt that hung off one shoulder. Her hair was twisted into a messy bun, but she was still fine as hell. She looked at me for a second, stepped back from the doorway, and left the door open.

“Took you long enough.” She hissed rolling her eyes.

I walked past her without saying nothing, shutting the door behind me. The house was just as quiet as it always was. The television played low in the back, but it smelled like bleach mixed with a scent of vanilla and she still had pots on the stover from whatever she was cooking that smelled good as hell. Tasha had family pictures covered the walls from one end of the hallway to the other held up in fancy iced out frames and every other frame had her mama smiling in it, looking healthier than the woman lying down the hall now.

She kept her little place up nice and cozy too and it wasn’t a time that I ever came over and it wasn’t spotless and girly looking. Yeah, she stripped and hustled in the club, but she did what she could with the money.

“Your mama sleep?” I asked, loosening the collar of my shirt while making myself comfortable on her black leather sectional with the fluffy white throw pillows.

Tasha nodded toward the hallway and shook her head while sipping on whatever she was drinking. “That damn treatment wore her out.”

I nodded and continued to look around while still taking glances at her sexy ass too. The last time I saw her was a few days ago when she invaded my fucking house going off on me about my wife. I could’ve strangled her ass, but she loved Navy, I get it. I stared into her dark hazel eyes and soft lips covered in clear gloss and I licked my lips.

“The doctors saying anything different?” I asked.

She finally took a seat but still had that attitude on her face. “They switched one of the medications.”

“And is it helping?”

She shrugged and sucked her teeth. “Man, they said it’ll help… eventually.”

She didn’t sound convinced and neither was I. Without another word, I reached inside my back pocket, pulled out a thick envelope, and tossed it onto the coffee table between us as it landed with a soft thud.

“There.” I told her. Tasha looked down at it without even blinking because she was used to this shit. “You ain’t gone count it?” I asked.

She furrowed her brows. “I already know it’s enough Rome, damn, don’t start this bullshit.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

She finally lifted her eyes to mine. “You always think money fix everything, that’s why you holding Nay hostage.”

“Aye, I keep telling you that ain’t for you to determine. Mind your business Tasha, that’s the best thing you can do.”

“I can do what I want when it comes to my best friend!” She spat.

I slowly rubbed my tongue across my top teeth and cocked my head to the side. “You ain’t living right either Tasha.” I reminded her.

She slid closer to the edge of the couch and took the last shot of her drink before sitting it on the coffee table. She dropped her eyes into tiny slits. “Don’t you fucking dare Rome. Fuck what you’re talking about. Money doesn’t fix everything.”

I was still giving her a blank stare because what was she even talking about. “It fix the bills.”

“It don’t fix this.” She mumbled.

Her eyes slowly drifted toward the hallway and for that split second neither one of us spoke. You could hear the oxygen machine humming from the bedroom if you listened hard enough. Tasha swallowed hard before she picked the envelope up, opened it, and sat it right back where it was.

“You know, my mama asked where all this money keeps coming from to take care of her treatments.”

“What you tell her?” I asked her curious as to if she told the truth.

“The truth.”

That made me raise a brow. “Oh yeah?”

She looked at me and shook her head. “Well, my version of it.”

A small grin showed up on her face, not that she thought shit was funny, but I got it. “I told her I picked up another job.”

“You did though.”

She laughed without a smile this time, more like a sarcastic chuckle. “You know exactly what I mean.” She said now folding her arms across her chest looking everywhere except at me. “I had to look my mama in her face and lie to her again.”

“Well, you keeping a roof over her head and you taking care of everything.” I reminded her.

She finally looked at me again and shook her head. “I’m selling pieces of myself soul to do that shit and I’m betraying my best friend while doing it.”

The room got quiet again, and I watched her fight back whatever she was feeling before finally looking back up at me again. “When she beats this cancer…” She paused, before she continued. “I’m never answering another one of your phone calls again, I’m never talking to your ass again, and I’m going to help my friend find another man too, right after we beat your ass together.”

I looked at her for a long few seconds before I simply gave her a slow nod. “We’ll cross that bridge when your mama’s healthy. Now come sit on this dick.”

Tasha rolled her eyes and slowly walked over to me not wasting any time to remove her tights and her thong while on the way, but she was so player about how she did it, I knew firsthand why all the dudes in the club loved her. I know I did because she had some of the best pussy I ever had in my life next to Nay.

I got comfortable and kept my eyes locked in on hers while stretching both of my arms out across the back of the couch like a King. I didn’t have to do nothing at all besides allow her to pull out my already throbbing dick and let her go to work. Sex with Tasha never lasted too long because it was always business for her while it was personal for me, but she enjoyed the shit just as much as I did although she would never say it.

Did she love Nay, sure she did, but she loved her mama too and I was her only source to getting those high ass hospital bills paid so this was an eye for an eye. Besides, we used to fuck in high school before she decided that Nay would be a better fit for me before hooking us up. Nay never knew that part though. Tasha and I didn’t fuck anymore after that, but when her mama got sick she had to play for me to pay.

Tasha got right in front of me and positioned herself in between my legs before dropping on her knees to grab my hard dick, lightly blew and spit on the tip, before working her magic putting the head in her warm mouth without looking at me. I immediately felt my heart rate pick up as I tucked my bottom lip and tossed my head back before placing one hand on the top of her head guiding her to go down farther.

Tasha was a certified pro at this shit, like the bitches we saw on porn and her throat was damn near like it never ended. “Awe damnnn,” I groaned feeling my fucking toes curl. When I looked down at her, that head was bobbing like a weasel as her spit ran down my shaft and her mouth made gurgling noises.

When I felt myself about to nut, I pulled her up and forced her to sit on my dick. As soon as she straddled me, she went to work giving me the ride of my life. She smelled and looked so fucking good, but she would never look me in the face. I grabbed her ass cheeks spreading them even wider and with every grind of her hips, I slapped her further into me so I could get as deep as I could. The whole living room sounded like skin smacking and somebody whipping up a wet bowl of mac and cheese.

Tasha acted like she hated my guts, but she couldn’t play me and say the dick wasn’t good because even when she didn’t want to, her ass started moaning, like now. She tossed her head back feeling that feeling that came right when she was about to dress my dick up with her sweet juices.

She started fucking and bouncing on the dick even harder. “Ahh, mmm fuck, shit, fuck, damnn. Ahh.” She moaned causing me to place one hand over her mouth while I ripped right through her too, muffling my own moans.

After we both released, she collapsed placing her head on my shoulder trying to catch her breath as sweat perspired all over her forehead. Two minutes later, she eased herself off of me watching my lifeless dick slither right out of her, leaving bodily fluids behind.

Tasha disappeared down the hallway without saying a word and a couple seconds later I heard the bathroom faucet running then when the faucet cut off, Tasha came walking back into the living room drying her hands on a towel before tossing it over the back of a chair. She even looked my way. Instead, she walked over to the coffee table, picked up the envelope I’d left, opened it just enough to make sure it was all there, then slid it into one of the kitchen drawers without saying shit.

“You can go now,” she said in a flat tone as she headed toward the front door.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “Damn.”

She placed her hand on her curvy hip. “What?”

“You always be in a hurry to throw a me out but be happy when that bag drop.”

She glared at me long and hard then she let out a little laugh that didn’t sound like she was amused at all. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

I stood, grabbed my keys off the coffee table, and took my time walking toward her. Besides, I had to bounce anyway. “You acting like I forced you.”

She clenched her jaws. “You really wanna have this conversation?”

“I mean…” I shrugged. “From the way you was holding onto me a few minutes ago, somebody walking in here would’ve thought we actually liked each other.”

She looked at me like she’d slap the taste out my mouth if she thought she could get away with it. “Don’t go there.”

“What?” I chuckled.

“You know exactly what.” She frowned.

For the first time since I walked through that door, I let the grin disappear from my face. We stood there looking at each other for a long time, and underneath all that anger, I saw the guilt in her eyes because of Nay. She carried that girl around on her conscience every day that’s why she went so hard for her, and I could see it all over her face.

“You finished?” she asked quietly.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good.”

She pulled the front door open. “Now get the fuck out my house.”

I stepped past her, stopping just long enough to glance back over my shoulder. “You still gone answer when I call.”

Her she squint her eyes once again. “Whatever.”

“You will.”

I walked out without another word after that hearing the deadbolt lock as soon as my feet hit the porch. Tasha could hate me all she wanted. As long as her mama kept needing me… she wasn’t going nowhere.

CHAPTER 7

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

“Thank you, baby,” one of my elderly patients said after I finished helping her adjust her pillows.

“You’re welcome.” I smiled, pulling the blanket a little higher over her shoulders. “Hit your call light if you need me, okay?”

“I will shuga.”

I eased the door shut behind me and glanced up at the clock hanging over the nurses’ station. It was twelve twenty-three and another thirty-seven minutes and I’d finally get a lunch break. I had just started updating my chart when my phone vibrated inside the pocket of my scrub jacket and I ignored it. Personal calls stayed personal while I was taking care of somebody else’s loved one. Whatever it was could wait. A few seconds later…it vibrated again and I frowned.

Rome usually gave up after the first call if I texted him I was working. Big Mama Lulu would’ve texted first before calling. Tasha already knew I couldn’t answer during patient care unless the hospital was on fire but now I was curious now, I slipped my phone out just enough to glance at the screen and my heart raced when Denise’s name showed up on the screen. My heart skipped a whole beat as I stared at her name before locking my phone again. Don’t do this to yourself. I thought. What Rome didn’t know was me and Lulu went behind his back to apartment search as soon as he dropped me off and I had been hoping and praying that the realtor called and now here she was calling. I was in my own thoughts when I heard someone call out to me.

“Navy?”

I looked up and one of the charge nurses was smiling at me from across the desk.

“You okay?”

I realized I’d been standing there holding my phone without moving. “Yeah.” I laughed “I’m good girl.”

She chuckled but was still staring. “You look like you seen a damn ghost.”

“Shit, I would hope not,” I smiled.

She laughed and walked away. When she disappeared around the corner, my phone rang for the third time and Denise was still calling. I looked around to make sure nobody needed me, then pushed through the double doors leading outside to the employee patio. The Florida heat immediately pissed me off wrapping around me the second I stepped into the sunshine. One thing no Floridian should have ever been lacking was Vitamin D. A couple nurses were sitting at one of the picnic tables eating lunch and talking about her weekend plans and I wanted some privacy, so I walked farther down the sidewalk until I found a little bit of privacy beneath one of the palm trees and then I finally answered.

“Hey, Denise.”

“Hi, Navy. Please tell me I’m not interrupting your day.”

“No, I’m just at work.”

“Good. I won’t keep you long.” She paused just long enough for my stomach to do flips, and I instantly felt like I had to shit. She continued. “I wanted to be the one to call you personally.”

I slowly licked my lips. “Okay…”

“I know how important this apartment is to you. I just got word from the owner this morning and I wanted to congratulate you.”

I frowned. “Congratulate me?”

“You got it, Navy.”

It took everything in me not to start jumping, shouting, and praise dancing although I hadn’t stepped foot in a church since a little girl. I was so happy I could’ve started hitting the damn tootsie roll right here.

“You’ve officially been approved.”

I covered my mouth with my free hand before the tears could beat me to it. “Oh… my God.”

Denise laughed on the other end. “I figured that would be your reaction.”

“I’ve already got my deposit,” I told Denise, trying my hardest not to let my voice shake.

“Perfect,” she replied. “Bring me the cashier’s check before five o’clock and the keys are yours.”

I smiled so hard my cheeks started hurting. “So… that’s it?”

“Yep, that’s it.”

“I don’t have to submit anything else?”

“No, ma’am. Everything else has already been taken care of.”

I laughed in disbelief. “Lord…”

“I know.” Denise chuckled. “Big Mama Lulu stayed on me making sure I didn’t forget about you. She wasn’t playing, she wanted you at the very top of the list.”

That made me laugh even harder. “Yep, that sounds like her.”

“It definitely is. She loves you.”

My eyes started burning all over again. “I love her too.”

There was a brief pause before Denise spoke again. “Congratulations, Navy. I hope you’re really proud of yourself.”

I looked out across the employee parking lot where nurses and doctors were coming and going like it was just another ordinary afternoon. “You have no idea,” I told her in all seriousness.

She chuckled. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

“You definitely will.”

After we hung up, I lowered the phone from my ear, but I couldn’t even make myself move. I just stood there underneath that palm tree staring across the parking lot while everything Denise had just said replayed in my head.

“Damn, the keys are mine and I can finally have my own spot and start over,” I said low enough for only me to hear. A tear rolled down my cheek before I could stop because for the first time in what felt like forever, something had finally gone right.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand, exhaled and then, immediately pulled up my contacts. There was only one person I wanted to call which was Lulu. She answered before the second ring.

I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke to me. “You smiling, ain’t you Navy?”

I laughed. “Lulu…”

“You got approved.”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I got approved.”

“I knew you would.”

“No…” I shook my head, still cheesing. “You knew before I did.”

“I sure did.”

“Lulu! You know you could’ve told me. Had me over here sweating bullets.

“Naw, because I wanted you to hear it from the people handing you the keys. Some news feels different when it come from the source.”

I leaned my shoulder against the palm tree and looked up at the bright Miami sky. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Chile, you ain’t gotta say nothing, you just promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“When you go to your new place, don’t you bring one raggedy thing from that man’s house into your new apartment.”

I laughed through my tears. “Lulu!”

“I’m serious.”

“I know, but that’s still my house too Lulu. However, everything that I need as far as clothes and other things are already in storage. Well, that’s before he caught me trying to take the rest. I do want new dishes, towels, bedroom set, couches… all that like new everything.

“I don’t know if you’re slow or just don’t want to comprehend child. Listen, you leave every piece of that old life exactly where it’s at.”

I closed my eyes for a second understanding what she was saying. “I can finally start over.”

“No, baby,” she corrected gently. “You already have. Go on back to work and I’ll call you later on.”

We ended the call and I slipped my phone back into my scrub jacket and stayed underneath that palm tree for another minute because I honestly didn’t trust my legs enough to walk just yet. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears, and no matter how many deep breaths I took, that smile refused to leave my face.

I finally walked away from the palm tree and walked back through the employee entrance, smiling at every person who crossed my path without even realizing I was doing it. A transporter pushing a patient down the hallway smiled back. One of the environmental service workers held the door open for me, and I thanked him before practically floating toward the nurses’ station. I even passed this fine ass man that damn near made my heart skip a beat again. I don’t know where he was heading but this was my first time ever seeing him. He looked like businessman with money, but he also had that roughness around the edges like he wasn’t to be fucked with. When he opened his mouth to talk to one of the other guys he was with, I could see those perfect gold grills in his mouth. His arms and neck were heavily tattooed, and I instantly noticed that Patek on his wrist. His hair was cut low with a sharp tape and deep waves, and he had the thickest lashes I’d ever seen on a man but in a masculine type of way. He was wearing the shit out of that with two other guys who were dressed in street clothes, but they were equally as fine.

When we walked past each other, me and the one who looked like he was the Boss locked eyes and just as quickly as he looked, he turned his head like I wasn’t even there which made me feel self-conscious because I remembered I used to be pretty enough to turn heads. Maybe I still was, but Rome had a way of making me question myself because of all his antics. So, it was either I looked like shit, or they were heading to see his woman or something, but either way he was fine and smelled just as good.

“Navy!”

I spun around feeling like I was busted. “Huh?”

My charge nurse laughed. “You’ve been smiling ever since you came back in here.”

“Have I?” I cackled knowing damn well she saw those fine men just as I did, but she would never say.

“Girl…” She folded her arms across her chest. “Either you won the lottery or you’re reminiscing about something because you were clearly just in a daze.”

I laughed so hard I had to look away. “No to both.”

“Mhm.”

“I’m serious Natalie.”

She pointed her pen at me. “I don’t know what happened out there, but whatever it is…” She smiled. “I like this version of you. A least you’re not moping the day by anymore.”

Whew shit, if you only knew the truth, I thought. If anybody in this hospital knew the truth, they’d understand why today felt so different. “I actually came in here to ask you something.”

She leaned back in her chair. “What’s is it?”

“I know it’s last minute, but would it be okay if I took a little longer on lunch today? I don’t mind staying late to make the time back up.”

She looked down at the assignment sheet spread across her desk before slowly dragging her finger across each nurse’s name. I stood there rocking back and forth, trying not to rush her while every second felt like a minute.

Finally, she looked back up. “How much longer?”

“Maybe another hour?”

She stared at me for another second before smiling. “You know what,” she closed the clipboard and sat it on her desk. “I think we can make that work.”

The relief that washed over me almost made me hug that woman. “You just saved my life.”

She laughed again and pushed a peace of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I doubt it.”

I smiled to myself instead of saying anything else because again, she had no idea. I clocked out for lunch, grabbed my purse from my locker, and took one last look around the break room before pulling the door shut behind me while everybody else was either eating, complaining about patients, or counting down the hours until they could finally go home. Normally I'd be doing the same thing. It was like my feet barely touched the floor as I walked through the employee parking garage. The envelope with the cash in it was safely inside of my purse.

I unlocked my Benz, climbed inside, and tossed my purse on the passenger seat before letting out a deep breath. For a moment, I just sat there with both hands on the steering wheel, smiling like a damn fool. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been genuinely excited about something.

My first stop was the bank. I walked inside, requested the cashier's check, signed where I needed to sign, and carefully slid the nine-thousand-dollar check into the large envelope the teller handed me. I treated it like it was made out of glass, laying it flat on the passenger seat before pulling out of the parking lot.

"Lord," I mumbled, rubbing my rumbling stomach. "I’m so damn hungry."

I laughed as I cut across two lanes and pulled into the Chick-fil-A drive-thru. The line wrapped halfway around the building per usual. While inching forward, I rested my elbow on the door and looked over at the envelope again and every time I looked at it, my smile got bigger and bigger.

I didn't want to experience today by myself so without giving it another thought, I picked up my phone and pressed Tasha's name. She answered on the third ring, and before I could even open my mouth, loud music blasted through the speaker.

"What?" she yelled over the music.

I laughed. "Well damn, hello to you too!"

"I'm working," she snapped, sounding out of breath. "Why you calling me in the middle of the damn day? You know I'm on day shift."

I smiled even wider listening to her crazy ass. "I need you to meet me somewhere."

There was a brief pause before she spoke again, her voice dropping just enough for me to tell she'd walked away from the music. "Navy?”

"What?" I asked.

"Gir, you alright?" She quizzed as if something was wrong. Knowing her, she probably thought Rome kicked my ass again.

"I've never been better."

She didn't answer right away like she had to think about what I said. "You crying?"

I laughed again. "What? No Tasha."

"You only laugh like that when you crying or when something crazy done happened."

I shook my head, watching the line move up a little more. "Meet me at City Furniture."

"City Furniture?" she repeated. "For what?"

"I'll tell you when you get there."

"Girl, if you don't stop playing and tell me what the hell going on..."

I bit down on my lip, trying my hardest not to blurt it out. "Just come."

She sighed loud enough for me to hear it through the phone. "I got customers."

"I know and fuck them customers right now. Matter fact I’ll pay you whatever you may miss."

She sucked her teeth. "You owe me. You better not have me leaving this job for no bullshit. I'm serious." I could hear a door swing open on her end before the music faded into the background. "I done walked outside because I know your voice. What happened?"

"I got approved."

"Whattt?" She squealed.

A smile spread across my face. "Yes."

"Oh my God." I heard a car door slam somewhere near her before she started laughing. "Quit playing with me."

"I swear."

"Oh, hell no." She was talking so fast she was tripping over her own words now. "Hold on, hold on, did you sign already? When are you moving? Did Rome find out? Wait, where are you at right now?"

I laughed. "Damn, can I answer one question before you ask six more?"

I shook my head as I pulled up beside the employee standing outside with the handheld tablet taking orders. I gave her my meal, thanked her, then eased farther up in line before picking my phone back up.

"I don't care about none of that," Tasha shot back, and I could picture her pacing back and forth outside the club with one hand on her hip. "Answer the important ones. Matter fact I don't even care." She sniffled once before clearing her throat. "I'm so damn happy for you, Navy. So, either the bank gave the money back or Lulu gave it to you?"

Those words were different coming from her because she knew everything. She'd been there the night I packed a suitcase just to unpack it because I got scared. She was there after Rome drained my bank account. She was there every time I swore I was leaving and somehow ended up staying. She knew this wasn't just an apartment. It was my way out.

“I got my money back,” I lied, which was something I’d never do to Tasha. However, I was smart enough to know not to ever incriminate myself. Some things just weren’t meant to tell. “I still can’t believe this is real.”

"It is real." She paused for a second before adding, "Now tell me where you at."

"I'm sitting in the Chick-fil-A drive-thru."

She laughed. "So, you celebrating with nuggets then, when you should be having a Mai Thai somewhere. ?"

"Excuse me," I said, trying to sound offended. "It's a number one with extra pickles and a lemonade."

"See..." she teased. "That's why your little ass stay little. Any time something good happen, your celebration meal is a damn chicken sandwich instead of lobster and steak."

"I happen to like my little celebrations."

"I know you do." She chuckled. "So, what's the plan?"

"I'm heading to City Furniture as soon as I leave here and like I said, meet me there."

"I am, but what’s the rush Nay?"

"Girl, Lulu done put a battery in my back." I told her. "She told me not to bring one fork, one towel or one pillow from that house. She said she wants everything brand new."

Tasha got quiet for a second. "I mean, she’s right."

"I know."

"No, I'm serious." Her voice was serious now. "Don't carry none of that man’s energy into your new place. Leave every bit of that mess right where it's at."

"I plan on it."

"No, but do you hear me?"

"I hear you."

"And don't you let him sweet-talk you into changing your mind either."

The smile on my face faded. "He won't."

There was another brief pause before Tasha let out a long sigh. "Okay then, I'm coming, but if I walk in there and catch you picking out some ugly ass furniture, I'm taking over."

“You just want a reason to takeover,” I teased.

"No," she said giggled. "I'm about to help you spend every last penny. Matter fact don't even look at no price tags. Today isn’t the day for that."

I glanced down at the envelope. "I wasn't planning on it."

Tasha laughed so hard at how nonchalant I was being, and I had to pull the phone away from my ear before the girl working the drive-thru window handed me my food. "Thank you," I told her before setting the bag on the passenger seat.

“Okay Tash… see you in a minute,” I said before hanging up. I laughed at myself damn self before pulling out into traffic tearing those damn waffle fries up. The closer I got to City Furniture, the harder it became to sit still. By the time the giant City Furniture sign came into view, my heart was racing all over again, and I felt like a kid in the candy store.

CHAPTER 8

E'Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

Jackson Memorial had started feeling a little too fucking familiar. Three days in a row I'd pulled into the same parking garage, parked in damn near the same spot, rode the same elevator, and walked the same halls hoping somebody would finally tell me my cousin was ready to get the hell up outta there because hospitals wasn't my thing and never was.

I shut the driver's door of my Range Rover and adjusted the cuffs on my black button-down before locking it. Mike climbed out the passenger side while Kev slammed the back door behind him, stretching like he'd been riding for hours instead of twenty minutes.

"You know this nigga better be awake today," Mike muttered as we headed toward the entrance. "I'm tired of talking to somebody who can't talk back."

"He awake," I said, slipping my keys into my pocket. "The doctor called this morning and said they took most of the tubes out."

"Bout damn time," Kev mumbled. "Been laid up looking like a fucking science project."

I laughed under my breath. "Don't say no shit like that when we get upstairs."

"Why the fuck not?" Kev grinned. "That nigga would say it to me."

"He definitely would," I admitted with a simple head nod.

The three of us stepped through the revolving doors, and that blast of cold air hit us as people moved in every direction. We made our way toward the elevators, and that's when somebody caught my eye. A nurse I’d never seen before crossed the hallway a few feet in front of us with a tablet tucked against her side. She was a pretty little, brown-skinned thing too with a long ponytail swinging against the middle of her back every time she walked. She wasn't rushing, but she wasn't wasting no time either. Another nurse said something to her in passing, and she smiled before answering without ever breaking stride.

"Damn..." Kev mumbled beside me, low enough that only me and Mike heard him. "Jackson hiring different these days."

Mike laughed. "I know exactly which one you looking at."

"I wasn't hiding it."

Neither was I, and I ain't gone lie... she was fine without even begging for attention. She looked like the type that stayed busy and kept it moving, barely noticing three dudes walking the opposite direction.

I smirked to myself. "Y'all cut that shit out," I said, pressing the elevator button. "We ain't here for that."

Mike bumped my shoulder with his. "Says the one that looked first."

I shot him a look. "Yeah, I looked."

Kev laughed. "Exactly."

The elevator doors slid open before either one of them could keep talking, and we stepped inside. My mind left that hallway just as fast as we'd walked through it because right now, the only person I came to see was Marv.

The elevator dinged before the doors slid open onto the ICU floor. Soon as we stepped out, the atmosphere changed. Downstairs was loud with organized chaos but up here, everything felt slower and quieter. The only sounds were the monitors beeping behind the closed doors, nurses talking in low voices, and the occasional squeak of rubber soles against the freshly waxed floors. It was the kind of silence that made people whisper even when they didn't have to, they just didn’t want to be a disturbance.

I nodded at the receptionist behind the desk as we walked past. By the third day, damn near everybody on this floor recognized us. Between me, Kev and Mike coming up there every day and the rest of my family rotating in and out, we'd practically become part of the staff. Every single time I came, the females stared like they wanted to eat my dick off a bone, but I was never hear for all of that.

"Afternoon, Mr. Laurent," one of the older nurses greeted me with a smile.

I smiled back. "How he doing today?"

"A whole lot better than yesterday."

"I'll take that."

She nodded toward the hallway. "He's been asking about ya’ll all morning."

I chuckled to myself. "That's probably because he’s tired of looking at these four walls already. This shit is like a luxury prison."

"He definitely is." She laughed before looking over at Kev. "Just don't let him get too worked up. He's still got a long way to go."

Kev placed his hand over his chest like he was offended. "Me?" he asked. "I'm the calm one."

The nurse looked over at me. "He’s lying?"

I didn't even hesitate. "Bad."

She laughed and shook her head before getting back to the computer in front of her. We continued down the hallway, passing room after room until I spotted Marv's number on the wall. My hand stopped on the door handle for a second before I pushed it open. Soon as I stepped inside, I could see most of the tubes were gone. The oxygen cannula still rested beneath his nose, and the monitors continued doing what monitors do, but he looked more like himself. He was still beat up as hell, with his shoulder wrapped up, and bruises scattered across his face and neck, with busted lips but he was alive and that alone was enough for me.

Marv turned his head toward the door, and the corners of his mouth formed into the weakest grin I'd ever seen him make. "Damn..." he rasped. "Look who finally decided to come see me."

I leaned against the foot of his bed and looked him up and down before shaking my head. "You ugly as fuck."

He laughed and immediately grabbed the side of his ribs. "Agh... damn."

"Told your dumb ass not to laugh," Kev said, dragging a chair over beside the bed.

Mike folded his arms and looked Marv over for another second. "I ain't gone lie..." he smirked. "You look like shit."

Marv rolled his eyes. "Fuck all y'all."

I stared at him thinking, yeah there he go. That sounded more like my cousin. Marv shifted a little, trying to sit himself up a little higher before cursing under his breath. Just watching him struggle was enough to tell me that bullet damn near tore his ass apart. I reached over without saying nothing and hit the button to raise the bed instead. He looked at me, nodded, then settled back against the pillow.

"Appreciate it fam," he muttered.

"Yeah," I said. "Don't get used to me being nice."

He smirked. "Fuck you."

"I was wondering when my cousin was gone show back up. Thought they replaced your ass with somebody polite."

Mike stayed leaned against the wall near the window with his arms folded. Nobody said much for a second because we were all doing the same thing, looking him over making sure we wasn't missing nothing the doctors hadn't told us. The swelling had gone down some since the first day, but he still looked like he'd gone twelve rounds with death and barely won.

"You scared Grandma," I finally told him.

His eyes drifted toward the ceiling. "I know."

"She damn near moved in this hospital."

"I know man, I heard." He replied looking regretful. If that was one thing we didn’t play about, it was Barbara Jean. She loved her grands just as much as we loved her. She raised us all to stick together although we gave her hell growing up, just some bad ass knuckle heads running the streets of Liberty City.

"You know she cussed me out?"

That made him laugh a little. "What she say?"

I shook my head. "Said if anything happened to you, it was my fault because I should've been watching you. I told her I been done with this street shit." I responded with a lot of truth in it. That dog for the hustle was just in me, but my family refused to leave the streets. I was well respected and people knew what was up with me but this real-estate mogul shit for me, is where the real money is.

He smiled, but it didn't last long. "She always did blame you for everything."

I leaned back in the chair with seriousness behind my eyes. "Because she know you hardheaded."

"Nah..." he said with a tired grin. "She know you older."

Kev pointed between us. "I ain't jumping in that shit."

"Smart man," Mike chuckled.

The room settled down again. The joking had done what it was supposed to do and lighted it up, taking the edge off because we all needed that little laugh before getting into the reason I really came up there. I pulled the visitor's chair closer to the bed, resting my forearms across my knees while looking him dead in his face.

"Aight." I said watching his smile disappear. "What happened?"

Marv let out a slow breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "I been trying to piece this shit together ever since I woke up."

"So piece it together." I told him meaning business.

He looked over at me. "I left the warehouse by myself."

I nodded for him to keep going.

"I made one stop like I was supposed to," He paused, squeezing his eyes shut for a second. "Then after that everything happened fast as fuck. I remember seeing a car pull up beside me and next thing I know, they started shooting. I couldn't even tell you how many of 'em it was," Marv continued, staring past me like he was trying to watch the whole thing play back in his head. "Two... maybe three. Hell, I don't know. I just know bullets started flying, and I wasn't about to sit there and let them kill me."

"So you shot back," I said.

"The fuck you think?" He looked at me like I asked the dumbest question on earth. "I ain't just finna let a muhfucka Swiss cheese me."

“Just making sure you ain’t gone soft on me. Keep going.”

"I hit the gas, they kept shooting, and I remember trying to lose 'em. After that..." He frowned, with frustration all over his face. "Everything start getting blurry. I remember getting hit. I remember the steering wheel damn near slipping out my hand, and I remember crashing that muhfucka. Everything after that feel like pieces instead of one whole memory."

Nobody spoke, instead we let him think. I could tell he was fighting to remember every little detail, but brain trauma didn't work like that. The harder you forced it, the further that shit seemed to run and that accident did a number on him.

"You recognize the car?" Mike finally asked from the corner.

Marv slowly shook his head. "Nah."

"The plates?"

"Nah."

"The shooters?"

He closed his eyes again. "I swear I keep seeing one face." He rubbed his forehead. "But every time I think I got it, it disappear."

I leaned back in my chair, studying him for another second. "So this wasn't no robbery."

"Nah." He answered without hesitation. "They came to kill me."

"Over what?"

"I don't know."

"You got beef you ain't tell nobody about?"

He looked offended. "When the hell I ever kept street shit from y'all?"

He had a point because Marv talked too damn much to keep something like that to himself.

Kev scratched the side of his beard before speaking up. "Could be some old shit."

"Could be," Marv admitted. "But if it is, I can't think of who."

The room got quiet again, but this time it wasn't because nobody had anything to say. We were all thinking the same thing. Somebody wanted Marv dead, but the question was who? Or maybe this was something deeper.

Marv suddenly looked over at me like he had just remembered something. "Aye Lev…"

"What?"

"The fifty."

I frowned. "Man, right now ain’t the time to talk in codes. What fifty?"

"The fifty you fronted me."

My expression changed. "What about it?"

He let out a deep breath before looking down at the blanket covering his legs. "That shit gone."

Nobody in the room moved after he said that. Kev stopped tapping his foot and Mike unfolded his arms from across his chest.

I just looked at him. "What you mean it's gone?"

Marv never answered me right away. Instead, he ran his hand over his face before letting it fall back onto the bed. His jaws were grinding back and forth like he was chewing on something as the monitor beside him continued its steady beeping while he stared down at the blanket covering his legs.

"I mean what I’m saying." He finally looked back up at me, “that shit gone."

I frowned, leaning back in the chair while studying his face, he wasn't bullshitting. I knew my cousin too well for that. Whatever was bothering him had been eating at him since he woke up.

"Gone how?" I asked calmly. "Did they take it?"

He immediately shook his head. "Nah."

"So where the fuck it go then?"

"I don't know."

That was the wrong answer for me and he should’ve known that. I rubbed my beard before leaning forward once again, resting my forearms on my knees. "Slow down," I told him. "Start from where you know, not from where you guessing."

Marv let out a frustrated sigh and closed his eyes for a second. "When I left the warehouse, the money was on me inside the hoodie. You know, how we stitch out the hidden spot. When they started shooting," He paused again, rubbing the side of his head. "That's where everything got fucked up. I’ve been trying to remember."

"Take your time then," I told him. It was a difference between if somebody was trying to kill him, rob him, or bring me out of retirement, which I had no intentions on doing, but stealing from my blood was like stealing from me.

"I remember feeling the money still there."

"You sure?"

"I'm almost positive." He looked irritated with himself. "I remember feeling along the lining because I wasn't about to lose fifty bands, ain’t no way.”

Kev nodded from the chair beside him. "Yep, that sound like you."

"It is me." Marv looked over at him before turning back to me. "After that... I got hit. I remember my shoulder burning like a muhfucka and then my torso. I remember losing control of the wheel and crashing. After that…" He shook his head slowly. "I don't know what the hell happened."

Mike finally pushed himself off the wall and walked closer to the bed. "So when you woke up in the hospital…"

Marv cut him off before he could finish. "That shit was still there but now, the money ain’t nowhere to be found. I asked every fucking body.” Marv sarcastically laughed and it was one of those laughs that meant he was ready to kill somebody. "They told me everything they received from EMS was logged into my belongings. My chain was there, my watch was there, my wallet was there, even my Glock was there." He stopped for a second, letting that sink in. “The hoodie was there but where the money was stashed in the hoodie, that shit was gone."

I remained calm while pushing that killer instinct back deep down inside of me. Hell, fifty thousand dollars wasn't gone change my life one way or the other, however it was the principle. Somebody had touched something that belonged to my family and Marv better ad figured out who. I guarantee they wouldn’t touch shit else that didn’t belong to them when got done. On top of that, we had even a bigger problem, somebody tried to take his life, and that needed to be figured out too. In the midst of the convo, I received three emails back-to-back from my assistant with ten different people inquiring about my services, but we all knew more money meant more problems that wasn’t shit to a boss.

CHAPTER 9

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

The vibration from my phone against the nightstand was the first thing that woke me up. I reached for it before I even opened my eyes, already knowing what it was. The furniture company had sent another reminder overnight confirming my delivery window for today, and just seeing the notification sitting on my screen was enough to make a smile spread across my face. Lord... today was finally the day.

After weeks of sneaking around, lying through my teeth, signing paperwork behind Rome's back, and praying nothing fell through, I was officially moving into my shit today! My apartment wasn't just sitting there empty anymore either. By the end of the day, it'd have a bedroom set, a living room, a dining room, televisions, dishes, towels and everything else I'd picked out for myself. Everything inside those four walls would belong to me, and for the first time in a long time, I wasn't decorating somebody else's life. I was building my own.

The smile faded the second I heard Rome's heavy ass footsteps moving around downstairs. Cabinet doors opened and closed one after another before the microwave beeped, followed by the sounds of T.I’s latest hit ‘Let Em Know’ playing low through the Bluetooth speaker he insisted on carrying from room to room. Just like that, reality came crashing back in. I wasn't in my apartment yet. I was still here, sleeping in the same house. Still pretending every kiss, every conversation, every time we had sex, and every ‘I love you’ wasn't part of an exit plan he'd never see coming, or maybe he did with his nosey ass.

I rolled out of bed and stretched before making my way to the bathroom. While brushing my teeth, I caught myself smiling at my reflection all over again. I looked lighter in spirit overall and as the days went by, the less terrible I felt about that damn money. I pulled my hair into a neat ponytail, slipped into a pair of biker shorts and an oversized T-shirt, then glanced at my phone one more time to check the delivery window before heading downstairs. Everything was still on schedule. The smell of turkey bacon and banana pancakes hit me before I even reached the kitchen.

Rome stood at the stove flipping pancakes like we were living inside one of those happy little family commercials wearing his basketball shorts hung low on his waist, shirtless, and his chain glistening around his neck while he nodded his head to the music. If somebody walked through that front door right now, they'd swear he was the perfect man. They'd never guess this was the same person who wanted to control every damn thing and then make me feel like I’m the problem.

He looked over his shoulder when he heard my footsteps and smiled. "There go wifey."

"I've been up all of two minutes," I laughed, forcing my voice to sound as easy as my smile.

"Good baby, cause you right on time." He pointed the spatula toward the table. "Sit down breakfast almost done."

I pulled out a chair and sat down, praying today would be one of the days he stayed distracted enough not to pay too much attention to me. I still had to figure out how I was going to slip away long enough to meet the furniture delivery without raising any suspicions, and knowing Rome, he wasn't about to make that easy.

Rome slid my plate across the table before taking the seat across from me. The pancakes were still steaming, and the smell of butter mixed with the turkey bacon that had just come out the skillet. He reached for the syrup first, pouring way more than anybody needed before finally looking up at me. He wasn't smiling as hard as he was a few minutes ago. Instead, he watched me the same way he'd done for years whenever he thought I wasn't telling him something.

"I don’t know Nay; it’s something up with you and I’m gon’ figure it out."

I looked up from cutting my pancakes and forced myself to shrug like his words hadn't landed exactly where he intended them to. "How Rome?"

"I don't know." He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his beard while he studied me harder. "Just... different."

I laughed, hoping it'd sound natural. "So because I’m not arguing with you every day, now I'm different?"

"It ain't that." He shook his head. "Matter fact, that's what's throwing me off. Usually, you got something smart to say by now." A grin spread across his face. "Lately you've been too damn peaceful."

I took another piece of pancake with my fork, taking my time chewing before answering. The less I talked, the less chance I had of slipping up. "I'm tired, Rome. I work twelve-hour shifts. When I come home, I don't be looking for an argument."

He nodded slowly, but his eyes never left mine. "See... that's the thing. I know you.

I looked up when he said that because the way he said it made my stomach hurt. He continued talking and I pretended like it didn’t faze me.

"You can smile all you want." He pointed his fork toward me before taking another bite. "You can laugh. Hell, you can even start cooking breakfast every morning if you want to but something in here..." He tapped the side of his head, “keep telling me you up to something."

For a split second my heart skipped some beats, but my expression never changed. Instead, I smiled. "What exactly would I be up to?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask."

He chuckled like he'd just said the funniest joke in the world while reaching for another strip of turkey bacon and you know what I did? I laughed right with him. Hell, he had been playing in my face for years, so I wasn’t sure why he felt a way when I decided to start playing back.

Inside, I was trying to figure out whether he was fishing or if he actually knew something. The scary part about Rome wasn't when he yelled. It was when his ass got quiet, when he started paying attention, and when every little move you made suddenly became a clue in whatever story he'd created in his head.

He stood up with his plate, walked over to the sink, and rinsed it off before turning around to look at me again. "You know what..."

I looked up from eating my food. “What?”

"Come here."

I frowned. "What for?"

He smiled looking extra fine. "I said come here."

I hesitated just long enough for him to notice before forcing myself out of the chair. By the time I made it around the table, he'd already reached for my hand. His fingers wrapped around mine before he pulled me against him, sliding one arm around my waist.

"You been working too much," he said, brushing his thumb across my cheek. "I feel like I gotta compete with that fuckin’ hospital for my own woman."

I smiled because that's what he expected me to do. "I’m not going anywhere Rome."

He searched my face for another long torturing second, almost like he was waiting for my eyes to betray me. "Yeah, you better not be."

Before I knew it, Rome had lifted me in his arms wrapping my legs around his body as walked over the same table we were just eating at and gently laid me on my backside. I wasn’t anticipating having sex with him and I couldn’t pretend I was comfortable because it’s not like although he cheated, he used protection. Obviously he didn’t because if that were the case nobody would be saying he’s the daddy.

He wasn’t even trying to take his time acting like a dog in heat the way he tugged at my nipples before he devoured them into his mouth. I tossed my head back and went with the flow until his soft lips met my bare pussy. He placed soft kisses all around my thighs before he focused again and slithered his warm tongue over my clitoris.

“Mhm,” he groaned feeling my body loosen up. “Taste just like water, open up for me Nay.”

For the sake of an argument, I decided to put myself in the moment and deal with everything else after. Rome began to eat me so good, my hands found themselves at the very top of his head as a moan escaped from my lips. “Ouuu,” I squealed biting down on my bottom lips with my eyes shut tightly.

The more he picked up the pace, the harder I bucked my hips trying to work myself into the orgasm that I felt coming. The slurping sounds he made had me ready even more. The more he licked, the more swollen my clitoris became and right when I reached near climax, he abruptly pulled out and shoved his hard dick inside of me.

“Fuckkk!” I gasped squirting all over him as he braced his hands on my hips pumping ferociously before he came as well.

“Got damn! Fuck!” He let out a deep moan while glaring into my eyes with his veins still thumping inside of me. It was quick, but it was good and that one orgasm had me feeling weak because it took a lot out of me.

Rome helped me up and placed sloppy kisses all over my cheek. “You forgive me?” he asked.

“Sex doesn’t fix the problems Rome,” I let him know as I hurried into the bathroom the second he let me go, closing the door behind me before turning the shower on as hot as I could stand it. The water rolled over my shoulders while I stood there with my eyes closed, trying to wash away everything that had just happened. I hated this feeling more than anything, I hated the fact that once again he did what he wanted without giving a damn what I wanted. I reached for the body wash and scrubbed my skin harder than necessary, trying my best not to let it ruin today. Out of every single day this could've happened... it just had to be today.

"Navy!"

Rome's voice boomed through the house loud enough to break my train of thought. I rolled my eyes before sliding the shower door open just enough to stick my head out.

"What?" I yelled.

"The hell taking you so long?"

"I'm taking a shower!"

"I know that! Hurry up!"

I frowned. "For what Rome?"

“Because I need to run a few errands, and you riding with me."

I closed my eyes for a second. Lord, pleasseeee not today. I said to myself. "I'll be out in a minute!"

"Nah." I heard his footsteps getting closer until his shadow stopped outside the bathroom door. "Don't 'minute' me. Throw something on, we ain't gone be gone long."

I waited until I heard him walk away before letting my forehead fall against the cool shower tile. "You got to be kidding me," I mumbled.

Every second counted today. The furniture company had already given me my delivery window, and the last thing I needed was Rome deciding today was the perfect day to drag me all over Miami. I rinsed off as fast as I could, stepped out of the shower, and wrapped a towel around my body before rushing back into the bedroom. If I played this right, maybe I could get whatever little errands he had planned over with, find an excuse to break away, and still make it to my apartment before the delivery truck pulled up.

I tossed the towel onto the bed and started pulling clothes out the dresser without putting much thought into what matched. I wore a pair of light-wash jeans with a simple white fitted T-shirt, gold hoops, and gold and white Nike Vomero sneakers. My mind was far from clothes anyway as I sprayed on a little YSL perfume. Every minute that passed felt like another minute I was losing, and I still had to figure out how I was going to break away from Rome.

I ran a little mousse through my ponytail, swiped on some lip gloss, grabbed my purse, and slipped my phone inside. Before leaving the bedroom, I looked around one last time, making sure I hadn't forgotten anything.

"Navy!" Rome yelled again.

"Damn!" I hollered back, snatching my purse off the bed. "I'm coming!"

"You said that shit ten minutes ago."

"It wasn't ten minutes."

"It felt like it."

I walked downstairs already knowing he was about to have something slick to say. Sure enough, he was standing by the front door jingling his keys around his finger like he'd been waiting forever. He looked me up and down before smirking.

"Damn you look good even when you ain’t trying.”

I rolled my eyes and walked past him. "Whatever Rome. You act like we catching a flight the way you’re rushing me."

"Nah," he laughed, following behind me. "You just move slow as hell."

"I move slow?" I looked over my shoulder. "You the one that stopped me before I could even get dressed."

He grinned like he was proud of himself. "And I'd do it again."

I forced a little laugh, even though hearing him say it made my stomach turn. "You so aggravating."

"But you still love me."

I reached for the passenger door and climbed inside before answering. "Mhm."

He looked over at me after starting the truck. "Damn, that’s all I get?"

"What you want me to say?"

"I don't know." He backed out the driveway with one hand on the wheel. "Something with a little more enthusiasm."

I smiled without looking at him, hoping he'd mistake it for shyness instead of me trying not to say the wrong thing. "You ask for too much."

"Nah." He said, reaching over to squeeze my thigh before turning onto the main road. "I just like hearing it."

I looked out the window as houses disappeared when we reached the traffic, silently praying whatever errands he had in mind really wouldn't take long.

Rome turned the music up a little and started nodding along with the beat. "We just making one stop," he said. "Need to grab a couple things from the corner store."

I finally looked over at him. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"Good."

He laughed. "Damn, you trying to get rid of me already?"

I smiled to myself. "If all we're doing is going to the store, let's just get it over with."

He shot me a quick side-eye before pulling into the corner store. "Come on," he said, throwing the truck in park. "Come in with me."

The corner store turned into the gas station; the gas station turned into the cleaners and before I knew it, we'd been riding around almost an hour, and I found myself laughing more than I wanted to admit. Rome kept making jokes, talking about people we grew up with, reminding me of stupid stuff we used to do back when dating him actually felt easy. For a second and literally just a second it almost felt like old times and that was also another dangerous part about Rome because he knew exactly how to become the man I'd fallen in love with whenever he felt me slipping away. He would be the sweet most attentive version. He actually opened doors, held my hand, and made me laugh until my stomach hurt. Years ago, I would've believed every bit of it but not anymore because I knew better now.

I'd already met the version that did everything he could to break me and then beat me when he couldn’t have his way. Just when I thought we were done, he hit me with, "I forgot one more stop," Rome said, cutting the wheel toward the entrance of the mall.

I looked over at him. "I thought you said we was done."

"We almost are." He smiled. "I wanna buy my wife something."

I couldn't help but laugh. "What?"

"You heard me."

"What’s the occasion?"

He shrugged like it wasn't no big deal. "Do I need a reason?"

I looked out the windshield as he pulled into a parking spot near the Louis Vuitton entrance. "You usually do."

He cut the engine and looked over at me. "Sometimes I just like seeing you smile."

I stared at him for a second before looking away. Years ago... That would've worked. Today... It just made me wonder what he wanted. We walked through the entrance side by side, and the cool air hit us almost immediately. The mall wasn't packed, but it wasn't empty either. Music floated through the speakers overhead while people wandered in and out of stores carrying shopping bags and cups from the food court. Rome reached for my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, lacing his fingers through mine before leading me farther inside.

Then I felt somebody watching us and my eyes shifted across the walkway until they landed on a woman standing just outside a children's clothing store. She looked to be about twenty-six, the same age as me. She had light brown skin and was pretty enough to make you look twice. She had a long brown and highlighted lace wig that was styled with a part down the middle and silky straight. Her fitted sundress hugged the small baby bump and standing beside her was a little girl, that looked to be maybe three years old, with two puff ponytails and tiny pink sandals. The little girl held tightly onto the woman's hand while looking around the mall, completely unaware of the tension that suddenly started brewing because the woman wasn’t looking at a damn thing in the store nor was she looking at the by passers because she was stuck was looking at us.

The longer I looked at her, the more uncomfortable I got because it wasn't the kind of stare you accidentally gave somebody while people-watching either. She was looking directly at us bur more specifically, at Rome. I finally turned my attention toward Rome noticing he hadn't looked at her yet or at least that's what he wanted me to think. Years of being with him taught me to pay attention to the little things like the way his grip around my hand wasn't as relaxed as it had been two seconds ago. Hell, even the conversation between us had died without either one of us noticing.

"You alright?" I asked, pretending like I hadn't caught any of it.

He glanced over at me with that same easy going; goofy ass smile he'd been wearing all morning. "Yeah. Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, you got quiet."

"Nah." He laughed softly. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"What I'm finna buy you."

"Mhm. I’m not sure why you don’t know what to buy me when you drug me here like you knew."

He squeezed my hand before finally looking in the woman's direction and it happened so fast I almost missed it the way their eyes met and it wasn’t for long either, maybe two seconds to three at the most but it was enough to confirm that he knew her and I could bet my last dollar this was the same woman who called me talking about ‘Rome is the baby’s daddy’ and the same woman who got herself played out of me getting all of her shit disconnected.

Her face immediately reflected an attitude while Rome looked away first, like whatever had just happened wasn't worth acknowledging. My damn stomach twisted in knots because this was so disrespectful… the entire situation was.

"You know her?" I casually asked keeping my eyes forward like I wasn't paying attention.

He didn't even hesitate when he asked, "Who?"

I started to say the damn owl, but instead of getting slick I tilted my head toward the children's store. "The pregnant girl," I said.

He looked over again, this time making a whole show of it before shaking his head. "Nah."

"You sure?"

He laughed. "Nay... I don't know every pregnant female in Miami. Don’t start that shit."

"I never said you did."

"Then why you asking?"

I smiled, but something in my gut told me that I was right. "I just noticed she was staring."

"So maybe she know you then," He shrugged.

I chuckled. "I doubt that."

"Well..." He started as he was already guiding me toward Louis Vuitton. "People be weird."

I let him lead me away, but before we disappeared into the store, I looked back one last time seeing she was still standing there. Only this time, she wasn't watching me anymore. She was watching Rome walk away and the look on her face told me that she was sick of his ass.

The sales associate had barely unlocked the glass case before I heard the little girl behind us. She wasn’t loud enough for anybody else to pay attention, but something made me turn anyway. She walked straight toward us with that little girl still holding onto her hand. The baby bump was a little more noticeable up close, and I sneered. She never once looked at me this time and every bit of her attention stayed on Rome, and the closer she got, the tighter his hand became around mine. I think he felt her before he saw her.

"What the fuck you doing?" he muttered under his breath with his smile disappearing the second he turned around. I could tell he didn’t want to cause a scene. Behind closed doors and in the streets he may have been a different kind of animal, but in Aventura, he knew the police were always ready to lock someone up.

She stopped right in front of him. "I've been calling you."

"So?"

"So?" she repeated, looking at him like he’d lost his damn mind. "Nigga, that's all you got?"

Rome glanced toward me for half a second before stepping in front of her lowering his voice. "Ashley, this ain't the place."

"I don't give a fuck where we at."

"You need to."

"No..." She shook her head. "You need to answer your damn phone."

Rome looked over his shoulder to make sure that nobody was paying attention before looking back at her. I knew that look all too well. Had we not been in this store, he would’ve been trying to kick her ass like he did me. "I'll call you,” he told her through gritted teeth trying to keep his cool.

She placed one hand on her hip and shook her head. "You said that three days ago."

"I said I'll call you,” He repeated.

"And I said⁠—"

"Ashley." His voice dropped again. "Aye, just stop."

She looked him dead in his face. "You really standing here acting like I don't exist?"

People had started slowing down now. Nobody was standing there outright watching, but you could feel it. The sales associate looked between all three of us before quietly taking a step backward like she wanted no parts of whatever this was turning into. Meanwhile, I stood there without saying a word. Ashley let go of the little girl's hand long enough to dig inside her purse all frustrated. She finally pulled her phone out and held it up in front of his face.

"Twenty-three missed calls are in your phone, that’s how many times I’ve called you."

Rome didn't even look at the screen. "I seen 'em."

"You saw them?" She laughed with one brow raised, looking more disgusted than amused. "And you still ignored every last one."

"I been busy."

"Busy?"

Her eyes flicked toward me for the first time before landing right back on him. "You got time to play house, but you don’t have five minutes to call me back after I went to the doctor?"

Rome clenched his jaws. "I said I'll handle the bill."

"When?" She snapped.

"When I get to it."

"No." She took one step closer. "You gone handle it now."

The little girl tugged gently on Ashley's hand. "Mommy..."

Ashley looked down for a split second and rubbed her daughter on top of her head without taking her eyes off Rome. I then realized this wasn't a woman trying to embarrass him. This was a woman who'd gotten tired of waiting on his ass. Rome took another step toward Ashley, putting just enough space between the two of us that whatever he said next wouldn't too many people wouldn’t hear, including me but too bad Ashley wasn't interested in whispering.

"You really gone stand here and keep acting like I'm bothering you?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. "That's what we doing now?"

"I told you I'll call you."

"You don’t gotta call me."

His frowned. "What?"

"I said..." she repeated, speaking slower this time. "You don't have to call me."

For the first time since she'd walked into the store, she smiled the kind of smile people wore after they'd already made up their mind about something. "I already know where you live."

Rome's expression became darker. "What the fuck that supposed to mean?"

"It mean exactly what I said."

"You threatening me Ashley? I promise you don’t know me like you think you do." He warned.

Ashley laughed softly and shook her head. "I don't have to threaten you, Rome. I gave you every opportunity to handle this behind closed doors, so I’ll let child support handle it." She looked him dead in his face. "You ignored me."

"Like I said, I been busy and I don’t owe you shit."

"No,” she said. "You've been hiding."

"I don't hide from nobody."

"Really?" She took one slow step toward him until they were damn near nose to nose.

"You got about five seconds to leave me the fuck alone,” he told her again. Me watching him hold his composure was crazy since I knew firsthand he probably wanted to break her jaw right here, right now.

Ashley didn't move. "Or what?"

"I ain't gone tell you again."

"And I ain't either."

She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded sonogram picture. My heart started pounding. Ashley unfolded it slowly, looked down at it for a second, then held it out toward Rome. "You keep acting like this baby don't exist. By the way, it’s a girl.”

Rome never reached for it. "I don't want that shit." His words came out so cold they almost didn't sound real.

Ashley blinked acting as she was taken back. "You don't mean that."

"The fuck I don't."

The little girl looked up at Ashley, then at Rome, confused by what was happening. "Mommy..."

Ashley swallowed hard before continuously looking at him. "You really gone say that in front of my daughter?"

"I don't give a fuck where we at,” he told her.

I stood there looking from Ashley to Rome, wishing like hell the floor would split open and swallow me whole. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears, but I refused to let either one of them see me lose it. This wasn't the place nor the fucking time and especially not with everybody in the store pretending they weren't listening while hanging on every damn word.

I finally let out a slow breath and looked at Ashley. "I'm sorry,” I told her and the words surprised even me. "I really am." I said. Ashley's eyes met mine, and for the first time since she walked into the store, neither one of us looked at Rome. "I don't know what he promised you," I said, keeping my voice calm even though my chest felt like it was caving in, "and I don't know what y'all got going on, but I'm not about to stand here and argue with you over a grown man even if I do have rights to his trifling ass."

Rome turned toward me. "Navy⁠—"

I held my hand up without taking my eyes off Ashley. "No Rome, I've heard enough."

Before anybody could say another word, I heard a familiar voice behind me. "Navy?"

Every muscle in my body locked up. Please, not today. I thought knowing damn well that voice was all too familiar. The sound of somebody calling my name made my stomach damn near hit the marble floor.

"Navy?" She said again.

Out of all the damn people. I slowly turned around, praying I was hearing things, but of course I wasn't. Natalie stood about ten feet away with her husband, with two Louis Vuitton shopping bags hanging from one arm while a smaller Gucci bag was in the other hand. The smile she'd walked into the store wearing disappeared the second her eyes bounced from me to Rome and then landed on Ashley standing there with that little girl still holding onto her hand.

A slight crinkle formed in the middle of her forehead. "Girl,” she laughed nervously, looking back at me. "Is everything okay?"

Lord, please don't do this. I forced the biggest smile I could, even though I could feel my face getting hot with embarrassment. "Yes, everything is okay.”

Natalie looked around one more time, trying to figure out what she'd just walked into. Ashley hadn't moved and Rome still looked irritated as hell. The other customers were still trying to pretend they were looking at belts and purses while listening to every damn word.

"You sure?" Natalie asked again, lowering her voice this time. "Because I can come back."

I shook my head. "No" I laughed, and even I could hear how fake it sounded. "It's, nothing. I promise it’s just a misunderstanding."

Natalie looked at me for another couple seconds like she wanted to call my bluff. As a woman, I knew she knew exactly what was happening here. She especially knew that I was lying like hell right now.

"Alright then." She reached over and rubbed my arm. "I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"Yes, see you at work." I smiled.

"And if you need anything..."

I cut her off and continued to smile. "I know."

She nodded before taking her husband's hand again. As they walked away, I caught him looking back over his shoulder one last time before they disappeared around the corner. The second they were gone; I let out the longest deepest breath of my life.

"This right here…" I said as I looked over at Rome, with my voice barely above a whisper. "This is exactly why I don't like going nowhere with your ass."

Rome took one step toward me. "Navy, listen…"

"No." I held my hand up, stopping him before he got another word out. "Do not stand here and insult my intelligence."

"Baby…"

"You got another woman standing in the middle of Louis Vuitton carrying your child, and I'm supposed to do what? Smile through this shit?"

Ashley looked at me but never interrupted and that was smart of her to do. Everything she came to say had already been said the second she walked through those doors.

I looked at Rome one last time before shaking my head in pure disgust. "I don't have time for this and I mean that."

He reached for my wrist, and I forcefully snatched my arm back before he could touch me. "Don't you fucking touch me," I harshly whispered.

"Navy, where you going?"

I grabbed my purse off the display table beside me without taking my eyes off him. "I'm leaving."

"Listen, I can explain all of this shit," He told me.

"I don't want a fucking explanation."

The look in his eyes told multiple different stories from pride, to rage, to hurt. "You can't just walk off Nay."

I sarcastically laughed knowing we weren’t at a place where he could just run after me and get away with it. In this very moment, I loved Aventura police. "Watch me,” I smiled and politely walked away leaving him standing there. I couldn’t say that it didn’t hurt actually seeing Ashley because after all he was still my husband, however, I needed an escape to get away from him today. I almost called an Uber until I realized that his keys were in my purse. I wiped the tear threatening to fall, continued to smile, and left him in the mall without a ride because I was taking his damn truck.

The entire way home, I played the ordeal over and over in my mind. I called Tasha to talk about it, but she didn’t answer so turned the music down and rode in silence all the way home to swap cars. Once I was behind the wheel of my own car, I checked the time realizing that I’d be right on time for my deliveries.

“Look at God,” I said to myself as I hit the gas and sped off heading to my new beginnings. By the time I made it to my apartment, City Furniture was just pulling up, and Rome was blowing my phone up. I didn’t have a care in the world.

CHAPTER 10

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Lord knows I could’ve used another day off. It was because for the first time in a long time I was excited about getting home. My apartment was finally done, and everything had a place. My couch had been delivered, my bed was finally put together, my stuff that had been in storage was unpacked and I even managed to hang a few pictures on the wall.

It still didn’t quite feel like home yet, but it was mine. Nobody could pop up with a key, nobody could kick in the door demanding answers, and nobody could tell me what I could or couldn’t do. That peace alone was worth every dollar I’d spent. I swiped my badge, pushed through the employee entrance, and headed toward the nurses’ station while tying my hair a little tighter into my ponytail.

“Navy.”

I looked up and smiled. “Morning.”

“Good morning, I need you to float today.”

That smile turned into frown mostly out of curiosity. “Where?”

“ICU.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

Floating wasn’t unusual. Whenever they were short upstairs, they’d pull somebody from the ER. I actually didn’t mind it because ICU was slower than the emergency room, and after the last few shifts I’d had, slower sounded real good right about now.

The charge nurse handed me a folded assignment sheet. “They’re expecting you.”

I thanked her before heading for the elevators. When the doors opened on the eighth floor, everything immediately felt different because the ER was loud and ICU wasn’t. The lights were dimmer and nobody was running down the hallway. There weren’t family members pacing the floor asking every five minutes when the doctor was coming back and the only thing I heard were monitors beeping, ventilators humming, and nurses talking just above a whisper.

Another nurse sitting behind the nurses’ station smiled when she saw me. “You must be Navy.”

I smiled back. “That’s me.”

“Hi, I’m Kendra. I’ll give you the report.”

I set my tea on the counter, pulled out my pen, and listened while she went over my assignment.

A few minutes later I stood outside Room 814 with his chart in my hand, reading over the same lines twice like the words were going to change if I stared long enough. Marvelous Williams was the twenty-nine-year-old gunshot wound victim who recently had emergency surgery. So far he was stable, alert, oriented, and annoying according to the little note Kendra had scribbled beside his name, which made me smirk before I caught myself because I had no business smiling at anything connected to him because whether he knew it or not, this man had paid for my whole new beginning. That thought alone made my stomach drop, and for a few seconds I just stood there listening to the beeping monitors behind his door while trying to remind myself that I was here to do my job. Nothing more and nothing less.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside quietly. The room was dim, the blinds were halfway closed with a little bit of sunlight reflecting across the floor from them, and the TV mounted on the wall was playing football highlights while Marvelous was awake, sitting up in bed with the blanket pulled to his waist. He had both of his hands on the side of him like he was scared to move too much. He looked a whole lot different without blood all over him. His face was still bruised, and his lips were still a little busted, but he had color now. He was clearly observant too, because the second his eyes landed on me, he looked me up and down like he was trying to figure out where he knew me from.

“Good morning,” I said, walking over to the sink to wash my hands before grabbing a pair of gloves.

He didn’t answer right away. He just kept staring. “I know you,” he finally said, in a rough and scratchy voice.

I dried my hands and turned around with a polite smile. “You probably saw me in the ER.”

“Nah,” he said, shifting a little before pain made him stop moving altogether as he winced in pain, but he tried to play it off like I didn’t see it. “I ain’t probably do nothing. I know I saw you.”

I reached for the vitals machine and rolled it closer to the bed. “Well, you were in a little distress, so I’m surprised you remember anything.”

He looked down at the blood pressure cuff when I wrapped it around his arm, then looked back at me. “You was the one talking slick to me.”

I paused and raised a brow. “Talking slick?”

“Yeah.” He gave me a half grin. “Telling me to stay still like I was yo’ child or something. You wasn’t doing the most, but I still heard you at one point.”

I shook my head and pressed start on the machine. “Sir, you were trying to fight half the trauma team while leaking blood all over my floor. Somebody had to tell you something.”

“My floor?” he repeated, catching that quick. “Damn, you own Jackson?”

“On my shift, yes.” I grabbed the thermometer and held it near his forehead. “Don’t move.”

He stayed still, but that grin didn’t go anywhere. “Whole staff bossy as hell.”

“And you’re alive, so clearly it worked.”

He chuckled, but that little laugh didn’t last long before his whole face frowned up again and his hand went straight to his stomach. He tried to hide it just like the first time, which made me look at him even harder because men loved doing that. They could be shot, stabbed, bleeding, laid up in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of them and still wanted to act like pain was a sign of weakness.

“See,” I said, glancing from his face down to the dressing across his abdomen. “That’s why you need to stop laughing.”

“I barely laughed,” he mumbled, still holding his side.

“You should probably take it easy. Your abdomen will feel sore for a while.”

He looked down at himself like he was remembering that part all over again and for the first time since I walked in, that little playful look left his face. I didn’t say anything right away. I just let the blood pressure cuff finish squeezing his arm while I watched the numbers pop up on the screen. His pressure looked good, but his heart rate was a little higher than I wanted, but not enough to make me panic. Considering everything he’d been through, he was doing better than most people would’ve been doing.

I wrote the numbers down and reached for the pulse ox, clipping it onto his finger before looking back at him. “Pain level?”

He didn’t answer right away, and that told me he was about to lie so I lifted my brow. “And don’t give me any tough answers either.”

His eyes fell back on mine, and that grin tried to show up again even though his body clearly wasn’t here for it. “Damn, you don’t trust me?”

“Not with that question, no.”

He slowly shook his head like I was getting on his nerves, but he wasn’t mad. If anything, he looked entertained, which was crazy to me because he was laid up in ICU after almost losing his life and still had enough energy to be charming.

“I’ll say a six,” he finally answered. I gave him a look letting him know I didn’t believe it one bit. “A real six,” he said before I could even ask again.

“Okay.” I wrote it down. “That sounds more believable. Well, your oxygen looks good.”

“That mean I’m doing good?”

I looked over at him. “It means your body is doing what it’s supposed to do right now.”

“Right now?” he repeated, wondering what that was supposed to mean.

“Yes, right now,” I said, typing everything in the system before looking back at him. “You’re still recovering from surgery, however good vitals doesn’t mean you’re clear to move too fast Mr. Williams.”

He stared at me for a second, then looked toward the monitor beside him like he was trying to understand all the numbers flashing across the screen. I could tell he was paying attention.

“How bad was it?” he asked, quieter this time.

I stopped writing for a second before turning my attention back to him. “The vitals?”

He shook his head. “Nah, the surgery. I mean doc came in here talking all that medical terminology bullshit I don’t know nothing about so I’m asking you.”

I could’ve given him the simple nurse answer and said he was stable now and the doctor would go over everything else with him, but the way he was looking at me told me he wasn’t asking just to make conversation. He was trying to put pieces together.

“You lost a lot of blood,” I said carefully. “They had to take you back pretty fast. I’m not a doctor, but from what I read in your chart, they repaired what needed to be repaired, and you’re stable now.” That was the best answer that I could give him without overstepping the doctor or talking in medical terminology which he already stated he didn’t understand.

He looked down at himself again and frowned like he was getting mad all over again. “I feel like I got hit by a fucking Mack truck.”

“Well, you did have an accident as well so that contributed to everything else too.”

He smiled again, but he didn’t let it turn into a full laugh this time. “You don’t sugarcoat nothing, huh?”

“I’m a nurse, not a baker.” I smiled.

He lowered his head for a second, and I could tell he wanted to laugh but decided against it this time. I reached over and checked his IV site, making sure there wasn’t any swelling or redness around the tape before following the line up to the pump. The medicine was running fine, his fluids were good, and for the most part, he looked better than a man who had almost died had any business looking.

“Are you comfortable?” I asked, pulling the blanket back just enough to check the edges of the dressing across his abdomen without exposing him too much.

He watched my hands instead of my face. “It ain’t too bad.”

“That’ doesn’t answer my question, Mr. Williams.”

“Mr. Williams?”

I looked down at the chart again. “That’s what the chart says.” I told him. I then looked at his chart in the screen.

“My name Marvelous.”

“I know.”

“So why you calling me Mr. Williams?”

“Because I’m at work and a lot of patients prefer to be called by their last names.” I explained. “It’s protocol as well.”

His dark eyes were piercing through me, but I kept my face professional as I checked around the bandage. There wasn’t any fresh drainage, no redness spreading past the dressing, and nothing that made me need to call anybody in right away. He winced when I pressed lightly near the side, and I paused.

“Is it sharp or sore?” I asked.

“Sore.”

“Burning?”

“Nah.”

“Pulling?”

“A little when I move.”

“That’s expected.” I pulled the blanket back over him and made another note. “Now give me a number for the pain at this site.”

He took a breath like he needed to think about whether he wanted to lie or not. “Six.”

I glanced up. “You love that number. Is it a real six?”

“A real six,” he said, sounding almost offended. “Damn, y’all don’t believe nobody in here.”

“Not when they’re trying to impress people.”

“I’m trying to impress you?”

I looked at him long enough for him to see I wasn’t about to play that game with him. “I’m going to check when your next dose is due.”

He smiled like he knew exactly what I’d done. “You smooth.”

“No, I’m working.”

“Same thing.”

I shook my head and turned toward the computer mounted near the wall, logging into his chart while feeling his eyes on my back. I didn’t have to look to know he was watching me. Some men had a presence even when they were sitting still, and Marvelous was one of them. Even hooked to machines he still carried himself like he wasn’t used to being helpless.

His pain medication wasn’t due for a little while, but he had the PCA pump if he needed it, and from the way he was trying not to touch the button too much, I could already tell what kind of patient he was going to be.

“You know you can press this when your pain starts climbing, right?” I asked, walking back to the bed and pointing to the button clipped near his hand. “You don’t have to wait until it gets unbearable.”

The way he kept looking at me almost made me nervous but maybe it was my own consciousness as well.

“I know.” he told me.

“You sure?”

He looked at the button, then back at me. “I don’t like feeling all out of it.”

“That makes sense, but pain can slow your breathing down too if you let it get too bad. Then you won’t move, won’t cough, won’t take deep breaths, and that turns into another problem.”

He didn’t say anything right away. He just listened, and for a second I saw the seriousness underneath all the slick comments. That made me soften my tone a little, not much, but just enough.

“You’ve been through a lot. I’m not saying stay knocked out all day. I’m saying don’t sit here trying to prove something to yourself while your body is trying to heal.”

His eyes stayed on mine in that intense gaze. “How many of your patients you giving lectures too? Damn.”

“Only the hardheaded ones.” I said with a chuckle because he was a trip.

I turned back toward the computer before he could pull me into another conversation and finished documenting the rest of my assessment. His pain medication wasn’t due for another thirty minutes, but nothing about him looked like he needed me to call the doctor early. He was uncomfortable, which was expected, other than that he was good. When I logged out of the system and turned around, he was still looking at me, only the playful expression had disappeared again. He had that same look he wore when he asked about the surgery, like there was something else sitting on his mind that he’d been waiting to bring up.

“You was there when they brought me in, right?” he asked.

“I was,” I answered, pulling the rolling table a little closer so his water and call light were within reach.

“Nah, I know that part now.” He shifted his eyes toward the television before looking back at me. “I’m talking about when they took my clothes and all my shit.”

My hand stopped on the edge of the table for half a second, and although it probably wasn’t long enough for him to notice, it felt like I had frozen in place for a whole minute and there it was; the one conversation I’d been hoping nobody would ever have with me, and of course it had to come from the same man whose room I’d been assigned to today. I forced myself to keep moving, sliding the plastic cup closer to him before straightening the straw even though it didn’t need to be straightened. I then ignored a call from Rome and focused back on him.

“Everybody’s belongings are inventoried after a trauma,” I explained, keeping my tone as normal as possible. “Anything the emergency room receives is documented, sealed, and either secured or released to the proper person.”

He stared at me like he was waiting for more. “You the one that did mine?”

My stomach dropped, but I kept my face neutral as I looked back at him. Lying to Tasha about where the money came from had been one thing because she wasn’t standing there asking me a direct question. This was different. Marvelous wasn’t accusing me of anything, at least not yet, but the fact that he even remembered having belongings made me wonder how much else was coming back to him.

“I helped,” I said carefully. “There were several people handling your care that night.”

His eyes had a weird look in them, but it wasn’t in a threatening way, but like he was searching through whatever pieces of memory he had left. “My chain and watch made it upstairs to me though.”

“That’s good.”

“My wallet too.”

I nodded again. “Then everything they received should be listed in your property record.”

He ran his hand down his face while staring toward the window. “That’s what they keep telling me.”

The room suddenly felt warmer than it had when I walked in, and I hated that my mind immediately went to the rest of the little money left hidden inside my new apartment. That fifty thousand dollars had already turned into deposits, rent, furniture, dishes, towels, hell, wardrobe, necessities and everything else. I couldn’t put it back even if I wanted to, and truthfully, I didn’t want to. Rome had backed me into a corner, and that money had opened the first door I’d seen in a long time. Still, standing here looking at the man it belonged to made the whole thing feel different than it did when he was unconscious and covered in blood.

“Is something missing?” I asked, forcing myself to meet his eyes instead of looking away like a guilty fool.

Marvelous studied me for a second before he slowly shook his head. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”

I tried to have a concerned look on my face and play the role. I prayed like hell that I was doing a good job too. “Well, my only suggestion is if you have anything missing you may want to speak with the charge nurse, doctor, or security of this floor to see who may be able to assist. Has the police spoken with you?”

He frowned so hard, it looked like he smelled some shit when he looked at me. “Police? Hell nah… well… yeah they did but it don’t matter because I’m not no police ass nigga. I tell them what’s missing and how much, next thing I know, they investigating me and all my people so fuck no. I mean; I may have been out of it but damn, I look like something slow and green to you?”

He asked me that like it was supposed to be a trick question. “Slow and green?” I asked.

“Yeah nurse, slow and green, because if that’s the case you might as well go talk to a turtle.” He said with smirk.

I couldn’t help it but the way I laughed should’ve been a crime. I tried my best to keep it as professional as I could with him. “Now that was funny.” I said using the back of my finger to wipe underneath my eye.

He smiled showing all of his gold teeth. “I knew I was gone get it out of you.”

“Don’t get used to it,” I warned. “I’m not your nurse. I’m just here floating today because of the shortage.”

“Well, as long as I have to be here, I’m requesting you every time Navy.” He replied while focusing on my name printed across my badge.

I didn’t even bother to ask him why me? I was just glad that he wasn’t suspecting me of taking anything from him. I was more pleased at myself for playing it this cool on the outside because Lord knows I literally wanted to puke. Before I could say anything else to him, the room door opened without such as a knock and the tall, handsome, brown skin with a fresh cut, deep waves, gold teeth, and tattoos, walked in filling the entire room up with his cologne. He looked familiar and I instantly remembered he was the same guy I saw the day I was leaving to get my keys, only he was with two other dudes. This time, he was alone and his eyes locked onto mine as soon as the door closed.

CHAPTER 11

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

“Damn, look at you sitting up in here flirting with the staff.”

Marvelous looked past me toward the door and smiled. “Man, mind your business.”

“I am minding mine. You my business until you get up out this hospital.”

The fine man I’d previously seen before walked farther into the room without taking his eyes off me right away, and it wasn’t until he got closer that I realized he had recognized me too. I could see it in the way his eyes narrowed just a little before they moved over my face. It only took him a second because the same knowing look that had crossed mine showed up in his and neither one of us said anything about it though, because what was there really to say? We had passed each other in the hallway a few days ago. It wasn’t like we knew each other.

Marvelous looked between the two of us and instantly picked up on it. “Y’all know each other?”

“No,” I answered a little too quickly, and the man looked at me when I said it.

“I seen her downstairs before,” he explained, looking back toward Marvelous. “That’s all.”

Marvelous’s eyes settled on me again. “See, I told you I know faces. I ain’t the only one around here remembering shit. Aye nurse, this my cousin Lev. Lev this my nurse, Navy, with her fine ass.”

I ignored the little meaning behind that and reached for the tablet I had left sitting on the rolling table before I smiled at Lev telling him, “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he replied without doing too much.

I focused back on Marv. “Well, since you have company now, I’m going to finish checking on my other patients. Your medication should be due in about twenty-five minutes, and I’ll be back before then.”

Marvelous frowned like I had told him I was leaving the hospital instead of stepping out of his room. “Damn, you can’t stay for a minute?”

“No, I cannot stay for a minute. I have a whole assignment outside of you.”

He looked over at Lev. “See how she talk to me?”

Lev’s eyes moved from Marvelous back to me. “Sound like you probably need somebody talking to you like that.”

“Man, fuck you.”

I shook my head and tried not to laugh again because the last thing I needed was both of them getting comfortable with me. Marvelous was already too observant for somebody recovering from being shot and Lev had the kind of eyes that made me feel like he was taking in more than he let on. Even standing there calm, there was something serious about him that made the whole room feel different from the second he walked in.

I turned toward the door, but Marvelous called my name before I could make it out. “Navy.”

I stopped and looked over my shoulder. “Yes?”

“You ain’t forget what I asked you, right?”

I frowned because for half a second my guilty conscience made me think he was talking about his belongings again. “What did you ask me?”

“To request you.”

I released lightly exhaled and gave him a look. “That is not how staffing works.”

“It should be.”

“Well, it isn’t.”

Marvelous smiled like he had already decided he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “We’ll see.”

I looked at Lev, mostly because I could feel him watching the entire exchange, and our eyes met again. Up close, he looked even more familiar than he had in that hallway, but it wasn’t only because I’d seen him before. Something about him reminded me of the man lying in the bed. They didn’t look exactly alike, but they carried the same darkness in their eyes, which was the same way of watching people without making it obvious. The difference was Marvelous had a playful energy even while laid up in ICU, and Lev looked like a man who didn’t waste too much time playing about shit.

“Excuse me,” I said, slipping past him.

He stepped to the side and opened the door wider without saying anything. As I walked by, his cologne hit me all over again, and I hated that I noticed it because I had more important things to be worried about than how good some man smelled. Especially a man connected to fifty thousand dollars that used to belong to the patient I had just left behind.

The door hadn’t fully closed before I heard Marvelous speak. “She fine as fuck ain’t she. She look like one of those sneaky females, but she fine though.”

I stopped walking for half a second, then forced myself to keep moving because standing outside his door listening would’ve looked guilty as hell. I didn’t know what exactly Marvelous meant by that, but my mind immediately went to the worst possibility. The nurse who had his money. The nurse who handled his clothes. The nurse he remembered from the ER? What looked sneaky?

I made it to the nurses’ station and sat down hard on the chair, causing Kendra to glance over from the computer beside me. “Everything okay in 814?” she inquired.

“Yeah.” I unlocked the screen and tried to make myself look busy. “He’s fine. He has a visitor now.”

She smiled. “The handsome one?”

I looked at her. “Which one?”

Kendra laughed. “Please, you know exactly which one. The tall one with the waves who walks around here looking like he owns the building. He looks like he has big money and a big you know what.” She winked.

I tried to keep my face neutral, but she was looking at me like she had caught something. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Sure.” She smirked.

“I wasn’t.”

“Right” She turned back toward her computer. “Well, his name is E’Levyn. Everybody calls him Lev. That’s Marvelous’s cousin and he’s been here practically every day since they brought him in. If it’s not him, it’s the grandmother we call BJ.”

My fingers stopped over the keyboard for a brief second with something else clicking inside my head. If Marvelous was carrying that amount of cash and Lev had been up here every day, there was a real possibility Lev already knew the money was missing. I had no idea if the cash belonged to Marvelous alone or if it had something to do with the rest of them, but either way, I didn’t like how close the situation was getting to me. I guess it was written all over my face because she questioned me again.

Kendra looked over again. “You sure you’re okay?”

I forced a small smile. “I’m good, just hungry.”

“Yep, that’ll do it. I get mean when I’m hungry.”

I chuckled and turned back toward the chart, but my eyes kept moving toward Room 814 even though I couldn’t see through the closed door. I wondered what they were saying in there. I wondered if Marvelous was telling him I had been the one who handled his belongings. I wondered if Lev had walked in already knowing everything and that was why he looked at me the way he did.

My phone started vibrating beside my thigh, pulling me out of my thoughts. Rome’s name flashed across the screen for the second time in less than ten minutes, and I silenced it again without answering. After the scene at the mall and me taking his truck, he had gone from angry to apologetic to acting like none of it happened, which was typical. He had shown up here with flowers and another lie and I let him talk. I even let him think I forgave him, but I hadn’t spent one night in that house since my furniture had been delivered. As far as Rome knew, I was staying with Lulu because I needed space. The truth was I had been sleeping better than I had in years, alone in my own place with my doors locked and my phone on silent. Another message came through right after the call.

Rome: Where you at?

I rolled my eyes because he knew exactly where I was. He had my schedule memorized better than I did sometimes, but Rome never asked a question because he needed an answer. He asked because he wanted to make sure my answer matched whatever he already believed.

Me: Work.

The bubbles appeared immediately.

Rome: What time you get off?

Me: Same time I always get off.

Rome: I’m coming to get you.

My stomach felt tight and I stared at the message for a few seconds before responding.

Me: No need, I have my car.

Rome: I didn’t ask if you had your car. You still my wife and I’m taking you to eat tonight.

I locked the phone and slid it into my pocket before my irritation showed all over my face. Rome had been doing that more lately, popping up at my job, showing up at Lulu’s house without calling, sending food I didn’t ask for, and pretending it was love when really it was surveillance with a smile on it. The closer I got to being free, the more he seemed to sense something changing, and that made him hold on tighter.

I had just finished reviewing my second patient’s labs when the door to Room 814 opened. Lev stepped out alone and looked toward the nurses’ station before walking in my direction. I kept my eyes on the computer even though every nerve in my body noticed him coming closer. He stopped on the other side of the counter, and Kendra looked up first with a smile.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “He asking for something to drink besides water.”

Kendra chuckled. “He can ask all he wants. He’s still on clear liquids.”

“That’s what I told him.”

“Then you already know the answer.”

Lev nodded without a smile before his eyes moved toward me. “He said his medicine due soon.”

I looked at the time on the computer. “In about fifteen minutes.”

“Aight.”

He didn’t move right away, and I could feel Kendra looking between us, probably hoping one of us said something worth gossiping about later. I refused to give her the satisfaction and kept my attention on the screen.

Lev finally spoke again. “You was the nurse downstairs when they brought him in?”

I looked up slowly. “I was part of the trauma team.”

His face didn’t change. “He said you handled some of his belongings.”

My heart dropped straight into my stomach, but I kept my expression calm. “Several of us were handling his care. I completed part of the property inventory.”

He nodded like that answer made sense. “Everything get logged?”

“Yes.”

“Even clothes?”

“Anything received by the emergency department gets documented and sealed.”

His eyes stayed on mine, not accusing and not rude, just steady enough to make me uncomfortable. “So if something wasn’t on the list, that mean the hospital never got it?”

I hated how dry my mouth suddenly felt. “Not necessarily because EMS may have documented items separately, and sometimes law enforcement takes possession of certain belongings depending on the circumstances. Security can trace the chain of custody if he files a report.”

“He don’t fuck with police.”

Kendra’s eyes got a little wide, but she looked back down at her computer like she hadn’t heard him. I kept my tone professional. “Then there’s only so much the hospital can investigate without him reporting what’s missing.”

Lev rubbed his beard while looking at me. “He didn’t say what it was?”

“Not to me.”

That part was technically true. Marvelous had never said the words fifty thousand dollars to my face. He had only asked about his things and said he was still trying to figure out what was missing.

Lev studied me for another second before nodding once with a small smile showing his gold teeth . “Aight then.”

I hated that the smile looked good on him because nothing about this situation was supposed to feel light. This man was standing right in front of the person who had taken his cousin’s money, and instead of suspecting me, he was playing it cool.

“Is there anything else you need?” I asked.

“Nah.” He glanced back toward Marvelous’s room. “Just make sure that hardheaded nigga don’t do too much.”

“That depends on whether he listens.”

“He don’t.”

“I noticed.”

Lev looked back at me, and that small grin returned. “Yeah, I can tell.”

He walked away before I could ask what that was supposed to mean. Kendra waited until he disappeared into the room before slowly turning her chair toward me with the biggest smile on her face.

“So you weren’t paying attention?”

I frowned. “Please don’t start.”

“I didn’t say nothing.”

“You didn’t have to. Your face is doing enough.” She laughed quietly. “All I’m saying is that man has been coming up here for three days and barely says more than five words to anybody. Now all of a sudden he’s standing at my desk talking to you.”

“He asked about his cousin’s belongings. Nothing more nothing less.”

I shook my head and went back to documenting because Kendra clearly had too much time on her hands. Although I didn’t know her, she did seem cool. Whatever Lev had been doing wasn’t flirting anyway. He was asking questions, and that was the part I needed to remember. It didn’t matter how fine he was, how good he smelled, or how calm his voice sounded. By the time Marvelous’s pain medicine was due, I had convinced myself I could walk back into the room without looking like I had anything to hide. When I pushed the door open, Lev was sitting in the chair near the window while Marvelous stared at the television with an irritated look on his face. They both looked over at me at the same time.

“Finally,” Marvelous complained. “I thought you forgot about me.”

“It has been exactly thirty minutes.” I walked toward the medication pump and scanned his wristband. “You are not my only patient.”

“I’m your favorite though.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Lev shook his head from the chair. “This man almost died and still annoying.”

Marvelous pointed toward him. “See what I gotta deal with? I need a better support system.”

“No, you need better decision-making skills,” Lev replied.

I tried to stay out of their conversation while verifying the medication and checking Marvelous’s pain level again. “Still a six?”

Marvelous looked at me and smiled. “A real six.”

Lev looked between us. “The fuck is a real six?”

“He lies about his pain,” I explained.

“I don’t lie.”

“You do.”

Marvelous looked over at Lev. “She don’t trust me.”

Lev leaned back in the chair. “Smart woman.”

I looked down before either one of them caught the smile trying to form. “I’m going to administer the medication now. It may make you drowsy.”

Marvelous watched me connect it to the IV line. “You staying until I fall asleep?”

“No.”

“Damn,” he playfully sighed.

“You’ll be fine.” I assured him.

“You cold.”

“I’m doing my job.”

Marvelous smiled and then winced when it pulled at whatever was still sore. “Damn.”

“See,” I said, checking the line one last time. “That’s why you need to stop worrying about everybody else and focus on healing.”

“I can do both.”

“No, you cannot.”

His eyelids were already getting heavier from the medication, but he was still fighting it like going to sleep meant he’d lose the argument. “You gone be here when I wake up?”

I glanced at my Apple watch. “My shift ends at seven.”

He looked toward the clock, then back at me. “Aight, so yeah.”

I didn’t correct him because the medicine was already doing its job. His body relaxed deeper into the bed, and within another minute his eyes closed even though his mouth still looked like he wanted to say something. I gathered my supplies and turned toward the door. Lev stood from the chair at the same time and followed me into the hallway. I glanced back when the door closed behind us.

“He’ll probably sleep for a while,” I explained. “If he wakes up confused or his pain gets worse, use the call button.”

Lev nodded. “I know.”

Him standing this close to me had me feeling many different emotions. It wasn’t just his looks; it was his demeanor and the way he gazed in my eyes. “Anything else I can help with?”

He looked like he wanted to say more buy before he could, he was distracted by a call. He immediately looked at the screen and answered before walking away talking about a house or something like that. He didn’t even say ‘excuse me’ or ‘give me a second’ no nothing.

As soon as I walked away I ran into Natalie, whom I hadn’t seen since the mall. “Hey Navy, how are you? Has everything been okay?”

“Yeah.” I told her not really wanting to chit chat right now.

The lie came easier every time I told it, and that was probably the scariest part because I was never fully okay. Between Rome sitting outside waiting on me, Marvelous asking about his missing belongings, and Lev standing a few doors down asking questions I had no business answering because the peaceful little life I was trying to build suddenly didn’t feel as far away from all this mess as I thought it was.

CHAPTER 12

E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

The gates opened before I had to reach for the keypad, and I eased the Range Rover onto the long driveway leading up to the house I bought Barbara Jean a few years ago. The property sat back far enough from the street that the traffic along the Grove didn’t sound too bad behind the palm trees and thick hedges surrounding the place. She had complained about the size when I first brought her here, swearing she didn’t need six bedrooms, a pool, or enough backyard space to host the whole damn family reunion, but that ain’t stop her from filling every corner with plants, family pictures, and furniture nobody was allowed to sit on.

The house fit her now, even if she’d never admit it with cream-colored stone wrapped around the front while tall windows reflected the late afternoon sun, and the fountain in the middle of the circular driveway pushed water into the air. Her white Cadillac was parked near the front steps with the trunk open, which let me know she was already running late for whatever bingo game she’d been talking about all week. Barbara Jean, or BJ as a lot of people called her was never in a rush until the very last minute, then suddenly everybody around her needed to move faster.

My phone vibrated in the cupholder before I could cut the engine off. I looked down at the screen and saw my assistant’s name, followed by three unread emails and another call coming in from a number saved under one of the developers I’d been negotiating with for the past month. I declined both for the moment, grabbed my keys, and climbed out.

I had barely made it halfway up the walkway before the front door opened and BJ stepped outside with her purse hanging from one shoulder and a large bingo bag hooked around the other arm. She wore a navy-blue two-piece outfit with gold buttons, some low comfortable heels, and a lot of perfume. Her silver hair was freshly curled, and the color of the lipstick on her mouth matched the scarf tied around the handle of her bag.

She stopped on the top step and looked at me like I was the one holding her up. “You took long enough.”

“I just pulled up.”

“And I’ve been waiting.”

“For what?” I asked, continuing toward her. “You already got your keys in your hand.”

She looked down at the keys like she had forgotten they were there, then shifted both bags farther up her arm. “That don’t mean I wasn’t waiting on you.”

I smiled and leaned down so she could kiss my cheek. She held onto the side of my face for a second before looking me over from my head down to my shoes like she was checking to make sure everything was still attached. “You look tired baby. I told you about working so hard boy. When you die, you can’t take all that money with you.”

“I’m good.”

“That ain’t what I said.”

“I know BJ, I heard you.”

She dropped her eyes into tiny slits, but before she could turn it into a whole conversation, my phone started ringing again. She looked toward the sound and sucked her teeth.

“See there, that phone always ringing.”

“That’s how I make money.”

“You got enough money.”

“Ain’t no such thing.” I winked.

“That’s exactly what somebody with too much money would say.” She turned around and headed back through the front door without telling me to follow because she already knew I would. “Come get this food before I leave it sitting on the counter.”

“I told you I wasn’t staying long.”

“And I told you to come get this food.” She snapped.

The cool air inside the house hit me the second I stepped through the doorway. Everything in my grandma’s house looked expensive because it was, but she had somehow made it feel like the same little house she raised us in back in Liberty City. Family pictures covered the entryway wall from the floor almost to the ceiling, and most of them were old with school pictures, football photos, birthdays, graduations, all the cousins and my siblings squeezed together on couches, and one picture of me and Marvelous standing beside her in matching Easter suits with both of us looking mad as hell about it.

The smell coming from the kitchen made me look away from the wall because she had the whole downstairs smelling like Sunday even though it wasn’t. Barbara Jean moved around the kitchen gathering her last few things while a foil-covered plate sat waiting near the edge of the island.

“You cooked all this before bingo?” I asked.

“I cooked because I was hungry.”

I glanced around at the pots still sitting on the stove. “You cooked enough for twenty people BJ.”

“And somebody always come through here hungry. It’s always one of my grandkids that’s why you need to marry a good woman.” She kept searching inside the drawer for whatever she’d forgotten. “How Marv doing? I couldn’t make it today.”

“He’s better.”

“He look better or y’all just keep telling me that so I don’t worry?”

“He looks better,” I assured her, leaning one hip against the island. “Still bruised up, but he talking, eating a little, and irritating everybody around him, so I know he getting back to himself.”

That made her body relax and I could see it. She closed the drawer and turned toward me with one hand pressed against her chest. “Thank God.”

“He’ll be alright.”

“He better be.” She shook her head and reached for the plate she’d already packed. “That boy done had me praying every night like I don’t already have enough to pray about.”

I took the plate when she held it out, and the weight of it made me look down. “What you put in here?”

“Food.”

“This feel like the whole pot.”

“You just make sure you eat when you get home.”

“I eat.”

She gave me a long look over the top of her glasses. “Hennesy, coffee, and whatever them little skinny women feed you is not food.”

I laughed and set the plate on the island long enough to finally answer a call. “Hold on.” I swiped the screen and placed it to my ear. “Yeah.”

“Lev, we got the revised terms back from the developers in Brickell,” my assistant said without wasting any time. “They agreed to the percentage, but they want another meeting before they sign.”

“When?”

“They’re asking for tomorrow morning.”

“Move my ten-thirty and put them there.”

“You already moved that appointment twice.”

“They’ll get over it.”

“I’ll handle it.” She paused before continuing. “Also, the group from Dallas sent the registration link for the development seminar.”

“Forward that too.” I told her while checking my calendar.

“I already did.”

“Good.”

“And you have four new luxury consultations waiting on confirmation.”

I thought about everything else I had to do but the money came first. “Book two for Friday and push the rest to next week.”

“Okay, I got it.”

I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket, only to find BJ standing there watching me with her arms folded.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t know how to rest.”

“BJ, I do rest.”

“When?” She quizzed giving me that look like I better not lie.

“When I sleep.”

“That ain’t rest, that’s being unconscious.”

I laughed because there was no point arguing with her. She had already made up her mind, and she treated her opinions like facts everybody else needed to accept.

She looked toward the clock above the pantry and gasped. “Lord, I’m late.”

“You been late.”

“Then why you standing there talking?”

I frowned. “You the one asked me about Marv.”

“And you answered.” She picked up her purse, adjusted it on her shoulder, then glanced at herself in the reflection from the microwave door. “I’m going to see him tomorrow.”

“I’ll take you if you need me too. You the only person in the world I don’t mind moving some stuff around for.”

“I got a car Lev. Remember, your brother bought it.”

I thought about Cev for a second remembering I needed to call him back. He was serving time and he still had everything people on the outside had. If he got one burner discovered, he would get another one. He was a year younger than me and it was long overdue for him to come home.

“I know you got a car.” I told her.

“And I know how to drive it.”

“I know that too.”

“Then why you acting like I need an escort?”

“Because I said I’ll take you. Damn, you don’t want your grandson to be cater to his grandma?”

She looked over at me for a second before smiling to herself. “Alright then, come get me after church.”

“I got you.”

She reached for her bingo bag and started toward the front door, moving faster now that since she was truly behind schedule now. I grabbed the plate and followed her through the house with my plate in my hand.

When we made it outside, she stopped beside her Cadillac and looked back at me. “And Lev.”

“Yeah?”

“You keep that boy out of trouble.”

I let out a quiet laugh and leaned against the side of her car. “Grandma, Marv grown.”

“So are you.”

“What that got to do with anything?”

“It means being grown ain’t stopped either one of y’all from doing foolishness.”

I rubbed my beard and looked toward the driveway because she had me there, and she knew it. Barbara Jean stepped closer and fixed the collar of my shirt even though nothing was wrong with it. “He listens to you,” she said, quieter this time. “Maybe not all the time, but he listens. Don’t let him get out that hospital and run right back into whatever put him there.”

“I’m already on it.”

Her eyes stayed on mine like she was looking for more than the words I gave her. She had never been slow, and I knew she could tell there was more behind what happened to Marv than any of us had told her.

“You know who did it?” she asked.

“Not yet.”

“But you finding out.”

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t treat it like one. “Yeah.”

She looked at me for another second, then patted the side of my face. “Just don’t let finding out cost me another grandson.”

I looked down at her and nodded because making promises I couldn’t keep wasn’t my thing. “I hear you.”

“I know you do.” She opened her car door, then pointed toward the plate in my hand. “Eat that while it’s hot.”

“I will.”

“And don’t give none to them women.”

I smiled. “What women?”

BJ gave me a look that said I wasn’t fooling her one bit before climbing behind the wheel. “Exactly.”

I closed the door for her and stepped back while she started the Cadillac. She rolled the window down before pulling off and pointed one finger at me again. “Tomorrow after church.”

“I said I got you.”

“And answer when I call.”

“I always answer you.”

“You better!”

She drove around the fountain and headed toward the gates, leaving me standing in the driveway with a plate of food in one hand and my phone ringing inside my pocket again. I watched until her Cadillac disappeared onto the street before finally looking down at the screen.

I shook my head and laughed to myself.

“Old lady crazy as hell.” I chuckled to myself.

I lit my blunt at the red light, taking a long pull before letting the smoke drift out the window. Grandma would cuss me clean out if she knew I was smoking before I even made it off her street, but she also knew I was grown. Long as I wasn’t back in the streets or back behind bars, she minded her business… mostly.

My phone rang again this time through the Bluetooth with my assistant Stephanie calling again. I pressed the button on the steering wheel. “What up?”

“Forgot to tell you, you also have another invitation.”

“For what?”

“The South Florida Luxury Development Summit.”

“I thought I registered already.”

“You registered for the investment conference next month. This is different.”

“Oh okay, that’s fine.” I assured her.

“One more thing…” she stated.

“What is it?” I asked taking a pull off the blunt while releasing the top button of my collar shirt.

“You’ve ignored Monica Monroe’s last six text messages. She’s called and mentioned it.”

A grin spread across my face. “So?”

She sighed. “I’m just saying… she’s called the office twice.”

“I ain’t dating Monica.”

“I know that but does she?”

“I’m not fucking Monica either.”

“I definitely didn’t ask.”

“Then stop bringing her up.”

She laughed. “Fine. Have a good evening, Lev.”

“You too.” I smiled. That’s why I paid her good money because she was on top of everything and she knew me better than a lot of muhfucaks without judging. I didn’t know what was up with Monica but until it was closing day, we didn’t have nothing to talk about right now.

The call ended just as I turned through the private gates leading into my own neighborhood as the gates slid open before I even came to a complete stop and I appreciated the privacy. I eased down the long circular driveway toward the house. Every light outside was already on, illuminating the stone walkway. My house overlooked the water, and at night the whole backyard reflected off the bay like looking like black glass.

The sun had disappeared and the outdoor lights were glowing beneath the palm trees lined up in the driveway. My house had enough distance between me and the next property that nobody could see shit unless I wanted them to. The wide glass walls across the back reflected the pool lights, and my boat rocked slowly against the private dock while the bay stretched out behind it. I parked inside the garage beside the Cullinan, grabbed Grandma’s food and headed inside.

I sat the food on the oversized island, peeled the foil back, and grabbed a fork from the drawer. BJ had packed smothered turkey wings, rice covered in gravy, greens, macaroni, and cornbread. I ate a few bites standing right there in the kitchen while going through the emails Stephanie had marked urgent.

Once I finished eating, I covered the rest of the food and placed it in the refrigerator before heading upstairs. I showered, changed into a pair of black basketball shorts, then walked into the closet and pressed my thumb against the scanner hidden inside one of the cabinets. The lock released revealing the guns I kept cleaned, loaded, and positioned where I needed them. I made sure everything was there before I placed the Glock I normally carried around inside of it and then pulled out another and tucked it behind my back before closing the cabinet. All the bread in the world and gated properties hadn’t made me foolish. I still knew the kind of life I came from and how quickly somebody could get comfortable enough to forget they had enemies.

Back downstairs, I rolled another fat blunt at the island and sent one text before carrying my laptop outside beneath the covered patio.

Me: Pull up and bring Zuri too.

Milan responded before I finished lighting the blunt.

Milan: We’ll be there in thirty minutes to an hour.

I dropped into one of the deep lounge chairs facing the water and went back to work while smoke curled above my head. The pool glowed blue a few feet away, the waterfall running along the far wall covered most of the noise from passing boats, and old-school R&B played low through the speakers hidden around the patio. I caught up on some more shit looking through the profiles of the other speakers and made two notes beside the names of developers I planned on introducing myself to. People loved to act like networking was begging somebody for an opportunity, but I never walked into rooms asking for shit. I went where money was, introduced myself, and made sure they knew exactly why they needed me involved.

About forty minutes later, the security application chimed on my phone. I pulled up the camera feed and saw Milan’s black truck waiting at the front gate with Zuri in the passenger seat. Both women were familiar enough that security already had their identification saved, but nobody entered my property without me approving it first. I pressed the button to open the gate, and a few minutes later I heard heels clicking through the house before the sliding doors behind me opened.

Milan stepped onto the patio first wearing a thin orange sundress that stopped mid-thigh, with her ponytail pulled high on top of her head and a bottle of tequila hanging from one hand. Zuri followed behind her in a black cover-up over a matching bikini, carrying a tote filled with towels and whatever else females packed for a hoe bag.

“You could’ve at least opened the door,” Milan said, setting the bottle on the outdoor bar before leaning down to kiss my cheek.

“You got in didn’t you.”

“That’s not the point.”

I took another pull from the blunt and looked up at her. “Then what’s the point?”

She stared at me for a second before laughing and shaking her head. “Nothing Lev, I already know how you are.”

Zuri slid her sandals off beside one of the chairs, then walked toward the edge of the pool and dipped her toes into the water. “You getting in tonight, or you invited us over here to watch you work again?”

“I invited y’all because I wanted company. What you do with the pool is your business.”

Milan twisted the cap off the tequila and poured two glasses while watching me over her shoulder. “See, this is what I was telling her. Lev will invite you over and still act like you interrupted him.”

“I mean, you could’ve stayed home.”

She walked over and handed the other glass to Zuri before placing one hand on her hip while talking to me. “But you knew I wasn’t going to.”

“And that’s why I called.”

A slow smile spread across her face because she knew exactly what I meant. Milan and I had dealt with each other long enough for her to understand I wasn’t about to spend the evening pretending this was more than what it was. She was beautiful, easy to be around, and didn’t call me every day asking where shit was going. Zuri was the same way, which was why I didn’t mind her coming along whenever Milan asked.

They talked for a few minutes while stripping down near the pool, and I looked up just long enough to appreciate what was in front of me before returning to the email on my screen. Milan slid the dress over her head, revealing nothing underneath, while Zuri untied her bikini and left it folded on top of the cover-up. They walked into the water without hesitation, splashing each other and laughing while I sat back with the blunt between my fingers and approved another consultation.

“You ain’t even looking,” Zuri called from the middle of the pool.

“I looked.”

“That’s it?”

I glanced over the top of the laptop and let my eyes move slowly between both of them. “What? You need applause?” I laughed.

Milan laughed so hard she dipped under the water, then came back up wiping her face. “Leave him alone. That nigga could have ten naked women in front of him and still be trying to close on a building.”

Before either of them could respond, my phone started ringing beside the laptop. Mike’s name appeared across the screen, and something told me he wasn’t calling to talk about nothing that could wait. I lowered the music, closed the laptop halfway, and answered while watching them swim toward the opposite end of the pool while rubbing each other’s titties and shit.

“What’s up?”

“I heard something about Marv,” he said in a low tone, enough to let me know he wasn’t alone.

I sat the blunt inside the ashtray and leaned forward. “What you heard?”

“Shit, Paper’s name floating around, that’s what.”

That got my attention, but I didn’t rush to react. Paper and Marv had history, but half the city had history with Marv. “Floating around from who?”

“A couple people saying Paper had been asking about him lately and wanted to know if Marv was still moving through the warehouse and what time he usually left. This shit was right before he got shot.”

I looked out across the water while going back through everything Marv told me in the hospital. “Why would Paper care where he was moving now?”

“You remember Marv robbed him years ago?”

“I remember.” Marv had taken money, a chain, and whatever dignity Paper had left after pistol-whipping him in front of half the block, but that shit was old enough that I hadn’t thought about it in years. “That don’t mean he shot him.”

“I didn’t say it did. I’m telling you what I heard.”

“Who else know?”

“Not too many people yet.”

“Keep it that way. Don’t go asking questions for Paper to hear his name traveling back to us, and don’t touch him until we know something for sure.”

Mike got quiet for a second before answering. “You think it’s deeper than that?”

“I think Marv got enough enemies for somebody to put Paper’s name out there just to take attention away from themselves. Find out where Paper was that night and who he was with and do that shit quietly.”

“I got you.”

I ended the call and stared at the phone for a few seconds before scrolling to Marv’s name. He answered after a few rings sounding tired, but at least his voice was stronger than it had been when I first heard it after surgery.

“What up, cuz?”

“You asleep?”

“I was trying to be until you called.”

I disregarded that. “You remember Paper asking around about you?”

He paused before he answered. “Paper?”

“Yeah.”

“Nah. Why?”

“His name came up.”

I could tell Marv’s breathing changed. He probably wanted to go kill somebody right now. “That nigga still mad about that old shit?”

“Apparently.”

“I ain’t thought about Paper in years. I even gave the nigga his bitch back.”

“That don’t mean he ain’t thought about you.”

He got quiet this time, probably going through whatever memories he had left from the shooting. “I don’t know, Lev. Paper always been scary to me. He’ll talk about killing a nigga for ten years before he actually do something.”

“Think like an Opp Marv, that shit don’t clear him.”

“I know.”

“I’m looking into it but don’t mention his name to anybody else yet.”

“Aight.”

I could hear one of the machines beeping in the background followed by somebody entering his room and moving things around. Marv spoke to them briefly, and when he came back to the phone his voice had a little more energy in it.

“That little nurse still there?” I asked.

“Who?” He questioned.

I leaned back in the chair and looked toward the pool, where Milan and Zuri were now sitting along the edge with their legs in the water. “Navy?”

“See, why the fuck you remember her name that fast?”

I laughed under my breath. “It was on her badge.”

“Yeah… well, leave her alone.”

“Who said I was bothering her?”

“I know you.”

“You laid up in ICU worrying about what I’m doing?”

“I’m letting you know I already got dibs.”

I looked out across the dark water and shook my head. “Nigga, you almost died and came back talking like a middle schooler.”

“I’m serious Lev,” he laughed then immediately regretted it. I could tell her was wincing in pain.

“Man, you don’t own that woman.”

“And neither do you.”

“I ain’t say I did.”

“Good, because you got enough bitches already.” He paused, then added, “Let me have one.”

Milan glanced over when I laughed, but I waved her off before answering Marv. “Get out the hospital first, then worry about chasing females.”

“I can do both.”

“Take your medicine and go to sleep dawg.”

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too, cuz.”

I ended the call still smiling and placed the phone beside my laptop. Marv calling dibs didn’t mean shit to me, but the fact that Navy’s face came back to mind that easily caught my attention more than I cared to admit. She was fine, that much was obvious, but it was the way she carried herself that stayed with me. She didn’t giggle through every sentence, didn’t bend over backward trying to be noticed, and didn’t seem impressed by anything about me. Hell, she barely looked like she wanted to answer my questions.

“Who got you smiling?” Milan asked as she climbed out of the pool, water running down her body while she reached for a towel.

I ignored her question. “What’s up?” I asked slowly licking my lips watching the water glisten over her naked body.

Milan stopped beside my chair and looked down at the laptop before closing it with one finger. “Good, since you finished laughing and making money, maybe you can remember why you invited us over.”

I leaned back and looked her over slowly before reaching for her hand. “I ain’t forget.”

She smiled as I pulled her closer, and behind her Zuri climbed out of the pool to grab her drink. Paper, the shooting, the money, and that little smart-mouthed nurse would all still be there in the morning. For the rest of tonight, I was done answering questions. I had a different kind of business to handle.

CHAPTER 13

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

A Few Weeks Later

“So this what we doing now?” Rome’s voice exploded through my phone the second I answered it. “You just gone keep ignoring me?”

I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got stuck before tossing the curling wand onto my bathroom counter. Steam still clung to the mirror from the shower I’d taken twenty minutes ago, making my reflection look a little blurry as I leaned closer to line my lips with my liner. Behind me, my bedroom looked like a tornado had blown right through it with two dresses spread across the bed, another one tossed over the accent chair, and three different pairs of heels scattered across the hardwood floor because I couldn’t decide what I wanted to wear.

“I’ve answered every call you made today,” I said, rubbing my lips together before reaching for my gloss. “What exactly am I ignoring?”

“The question,” he snapped, sounding like I was the one getting on his nerves.

I laughed without an ounce of humor while sliding the gloss back inside the vanity drawer, then walked into my bedroom with the phone tucked between my ear and shoulder as I fastened the clasp on one of my gold bracelets. The smell of the vanilla candle burning on the kitchen island drifted through the apartment, mixing with the fresh scent of the furniture polish I’d used earlier while cleaning.

“Rome, you ask me the same damn question every day.”

“And I’m gone keep asking it,” he replied without missing a beat. “Where you at?”

I picked up the second gold hoop from my dresser and slid it into my ear while staring at my reflection. The black dress I’d finally decided on hugged every curve without looking like I was trying too hard, and the nude heels sitting beside the bed made my legs look too good. Ironically my tones and shapely legs were also one of my best qualities. It had been years since I’d gotten dressed for an actual date, and although I kept telling myself tonight was nothing serious, my stomach had been doing flips since Marv called earlier to confirm the time. Yeah, I had no business even dealing with him, but he kept requesting me just like he said he would and we kept bonding. Now that he was finally home, he still called every day. I did like his personality, but I was still trying to figure out if I was giving him the time of day out of guilt although that nagging voice always told me to stay away from him.

“I’m at home,” I answered, reaching for my perfume.

“I know you at home.”

My hand stopped around the bottle before I slowly looked toward the bedroom doorway. “No, you don’t.”

Rome let out that dry ass laugh he always gave when he thought he knew something I didn’t. “I found your apartment, Navy.”

For a second, I just stood there holding the perfume bottle while my reflection stared back at me from across the room. The excitement I had been feeling about the night disappeared so fast it was like somebody had opened a window and let all the air out. I set the bottle down carefully before walking into the living room.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me,” he replied calmly, and that calmness made it worse. “I know exactly where you stay.”

I stopped a few feet from the window with my hand resting against my hip. “You lying.”

“You wanna bet?” he asked, and a knot formed in my stomach because Rome lied whenever it benefited him, but he also loved giving little pieces of the truth just to watch me panic.

I reached for the edge of the blinds and pulled them apart enough to look down into the parking lot, scanning every car I could see while trying not to let my breathing change. Nothing looked out of place at first. It was just one of my neighbors’ unloading groceries, two kids were riding scooters along the sidewalk, and a man in scrubs was walking toward the building with his phone to his ear. Then I spotted Rome’s Escalade parked across the street beneath one of the palm trees with the windows tinted dark enough that I couldn’t tell whether he was inside.

“What the fuck are you doing over here?” I asked, dropping the blinds and stepping away from the window.

“I came to see my wife.”

“You don’t have a wife over here,” I snapped, walking back toward my bedroom as anger slowly replaced the fear that had hit me first. “You need to leave before I call the police.”

Rome laughed again, only this time there was something uglier behind it. “Call them and tell them your husband pulled up to check on you.”

“I’ll tell them the same husband beat my ass, stole my money, and followed me to an apartment I never gave him the address to, and has another woman pregnant.”

“Ashley ain’t got shit to do with me and you.”

“She got everything to do with me and you when she carrying your baby motherfucker,” I said, snatching my clutch off the bed and checking the time. Marv would be there soon, and the last thing I needed was him pulling up while Rome was sitting outside acting crazy. “Matter fact, none of this is about us anymore because I’m filing for divorce.”

He got completely quiet, and I could almost picture Rome sitting inside that truck with his face changing as the words settled in. “You filing for what?”

“You heard me.”

“Navy, stop playing with me.”

“I’m not playing. I’ve already spoken to somebody, and I’m filing.”

Rome must’ve called me everything but the child of God before he placed his ear back to the phone. “You really think you gone leave me and live happily ever after in that little ass apartment? You gone end up single and bitter just like Tasha, doing whatever the fuck you gotta do for money because ain’t nobody taking care of you the way I did.”

I slowly turned toward the mirror holding my clutch while staring at myself. “You took care of me?” I repeated, almost laughing because I couldn’t believe he had the nerve. “Rome, you took care of whatever made you look good. You bought me shit, then threw it in my face every time I didn’t do what you wanted. You paid bills, then acted like that gave you the right to control my whole life. You didn’t take care of me. You kept me comfortable enough to stay quiet while you did whatever the fuck you wanted.”

“I was the breadwinner,” he shot back. “You ain’t never have to worry about nothing with me.”

“I worried every damn day,” I said, with my voice getting louder as everything I’d swallowed for years started coming up again. “I worried about what mood you were coming home in, who was calling your phone, whether you were going to embarrass me again, or whether the next argument was going to leave another mark on my face. So keep the money, Rome. Keep the house, the cars, the lies, and Ashley too. I’d rather struggle in peace than live good while being miserable with you.”

Rome stayed quiet for so long I almost thought he’d hung up on me. I welcomed the silence too because for the first time in years, I had finally said exactly what the hell I wanted to say instead of watering it down to keep him from exploding. I walked over to the kitchen island, picked up my clutch, and dropped my lipstick inside before checking the time again. Marv would be there in less than twenty minutes, and if Rome was really sitting outside, I needed him gone before then. Thank God I had a back door that led me sown those set of steps. Since it was on the backside most people who didn’t live here wouldn’t have known that.

When he finally spoke again, his voice had changed. The anger was still there, but he sounded softer. He’d swing from one extreme to the next so fast it’d make your damn head spin. “Nay…” he sighed. I knew that sound because I’d heard it a hundred times before. “Baby, come on now.”

I closed my eyes. “Don’t do that.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“You really gone throw all these years away?”

I laughed to myself while walking back toward the living room windows. “You mean the same years you threw away?”

“Aye, I fucked up.”

“You think?” I replied sarcastically.

“I said I fucked up.”

I pulled the blinds back just enough to peek outside again. The Escalade was still parked across the street exactly where it’d been a minute ago. I couldn’t see inside because of the tint, but I knew him well enough to know he was sitting there with one hand on the steering wheel and the other rubbing across his beard while trying to figure out another angle.

“Navy…” His voice softened even more. “Baby, I’m sorry.”

The words didn’t move me because I’d heard them too many damn times already. “I’m sorry too,” I answered honestly.

He paused. “For what?”

“For believing you every time.”

He got quiet again. “I love you,” he finally said.

I looked around my apartment while he waited on me to say it back. My eyes landed on the framed pictures hanging over the fireplace, then the brand-new dining table Tasha had practically forced me to buy, and finally the hallway leading toward my bedroom where every piece of furniture had been chosen by me and didn’t shit remind me of Rome.

“I know,” I replied.

“Nah…” he said quickly. “That ain’t enough for me. Say it back.”

I smiled sadly because that right there summed us up better than anything else ever could. Even now, with another woman pregnant and divorce papers on the horizon, he still wanted reassurance from me.

“I’m not doing that.”

His breathing changed. “So that’s it?”

I nodded as if he could see me. “Yep, that’s it.”

“You fucking with somebody?”

I knew that question was coming. “No.”

“You lying?”

“I said no.”

“Navy, Ashley don’t mean shit and I’ll take anger management if you want me to. ”

“She means enough to be carrying your child and it’s too late for all the rest.”

“You always throw that shit in my face!” he groaned. “I’m tired of that shit. I’m not perfect.”

“Because it happened!”

“It was a mistake.”

I frowned. “A whole baby a mistake?”

“I ain’t mean for none of this shit to happen.”

“No,” I answered. “You just meant for me to keep accepting it.” I told him while sending Marv a text telling him to come park on the side because I was coming out of the back.

I then watched through the window as the headlights slowly turned into the apartment complex entrance. Instinctively, my eyes followed the black Mercedes as it rolled over the speed bumps before easing farther into the lot and heading to the side.

A slow grin spread across my face knowing that was Marv. He had barely pulled into a parking space before my phone buzzed with a text.

Marvelous man facepalming, medium-dark skin tone

Marv: I’m outside.

I couldn’t help the light chuckle that escaped my lips.

“Who the fuck got you smiling?” Rome asked.

The smile stayed right where it was. “Nobody.”

“Navy…”

“I gotta go.”

“Don’t hang this phone up. I swear to God I’ll be at your door, and you know I don’t give a fuck.”

I grabbed my keys and I walked toward my back door. “I’m not your concern anymore Rome.” I spat.

“Navy!”

I ended the call and for a second, I just stood there with my hand resting on the doorknob, letting the quietness of peace consume me. Then I looked through the peephole, seeing Rome approaching the front door as I slipped out of the back. I took one deep breath to steady my nerves, straightened the front of my dress, and smiled despite myself because it was my first date in years.

Marv’s Mercedes sat a few parking spaces away on the side with the headlights still on. The driver’s door opened before I could make it halfway across the lot, and Marv climbed out moving a whole lot slower than the last time I’d seen him standing, which, truthfully, wasn’t standing at all. He shut the door carefully before straightening up, with one hand briefly pressing against the side of his abdomen like he thought I didn’t notice. The stitches might’ve healed enough for him to leave the hospital, but his body was still reminding him every day that somebody had damn near killed him and yet here he was still trying to be a Mack. I smiled before I could stop myself and shook my head. .

“Damn,” he laughed, catching me looking. “You over there smiling like you actually happy to see me.”

“I am happy to see you,” I admitted, stopping in front of him. “You actually look better.”

He looked down at himself. Tonight he wore dark jeans, a crisp white T-shirt, and a pair of black Dior sneakers that probably cost more than my monthly car note. He had on his thick gold chain, and although he looked good, I could still see the stiffness in the way he carried himself.

“So that’s your nurse assessment?” he joked. “You look better?’”

I laughed, shaking my head once again. “Don’t start.”

“Nah, I’m serious. I got dressed up and everything.”

“You didn’t get dressed up for me.”

“I absolutely the fuck did.”

I smiled as I gazed into his eyes. “You lying.”

He shook his head. “I ain’t.”

I folded my arms across my chest, studying him the same way I’d studied him every morning in that hospital room. “Marvelous…”

“What?”

“You’re still walking like your stomach hurt. You know this can wait right?”

He looked down instinctively before catching himself. “Damn… y’all really don’t miss nothing.”

“It’s literally my job.”

He chuckled under his breath and opened the passenger door for me. “Well, Ms. Nurse, since you off the clock, try not to diagnose me all fucking night.”

“I don’t make no promises.” I teased.

“You already breaking my heart.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop smiling as I climbed inside. The leather seat was cool against the back of my legs, and before he shut the door, he leaned down just enough to look at me. “I ain’t gone lie,” he admitted with that crooked grin that always seemed one joke away from getting him in trouble. “You prettier outside the hospital than you was inside.”

I laughed so hard I had to look away. I had to look away. “You play too much.”

“And that’s saying something,” he added, shutting the door before I could think of something slick to throw back at him.

Marv walked around the front of the Mercedes, and he caught me watching too because the second he slid behind the steering wheel, he smirked before reaching over to start the car.

“I already know what you thinking.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, buckling my seatbelt.

“Yep.”

“What am I thinking?”

He eased out of the parking space with one hand resting across the top of the wheel. “You over there telling yourself, ‘This hardheaded nigga should’ve stayed home another week.’”

A laughed again which is something I needed to get used to doing again. “I wasn’t thinking that.”

He glanced over with one brow raised. “Liar.”

“I was thinking you should probably still be taking it easy.”

“There it go.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.” He pointed toward his stomach. “The doctor said walk.”

I raised a brow. “I doubt he meant all over Miami though.”

“Shittt, he didn’t say don’t.”

I relaxed as he pulled onto the main road. The city lights bounced across the windshield while the traffic slide right past us in both directions. For a few minutes neither one of us said anything. The silence wasn’t awkward though. Hell, it actually felt comfortable, and I couldn’t remember the last time silence felt like that with a man.

He turned the music up and them immediately turned it down. “You allergic to anything?”

I laughed. “What?”

“I’m asking a question.”

“No.”

“What about seafood?” He asked.

I finally looked at him that’s when I noticed the gun underneath his shirt on his waist, which isn’t anything I wasn’t used to especially dealing with Rome. “No.”

“Nuts?”

I looked over at him. “Marvelous…”

“What?”

“You acting like you about to admit me to the hospital.”

“Nah,” he grinned. “I’m trying to make sure you don’t die on the first date, so I need to know what not to feed you.”

My head turned toward him again so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. “This a date?”

He looked genuinely confused. “I picked you up.”

“I know.”

“I opened your door.”

I nodded. “I saw that.”

“I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So…” He shrugged. “What else we calling it?”

I couldn’t help laughing and teasing him. “I thought maybe we was just going to eat.”

“Nurse…”

“It’s Navy.”

“My bad.” He smiled. “Navy… people don’t put on cologne that cost damn near a mortgage payment just to go eat and females definitely don’t spend two hours getting fine as hell just to have casual conversations.”

“I didn’t spend two hours.”

He furrowed his brows. “Hour and fifty-nine minutes?”

I folded my arms, trying my hardest to keep a straight face. “You just making up stuff now.”

“I ain’t making up shit.”

“You don’t even know how long I took.” I looked out the passenger window, shaking my head while trying to calm myself down. “You are so full of yourself.”

“Nah.” He shrugged. “I just call it how I see it.”

For the first time, I wasn’t thinking about Rome anymore. I wasn’t thinking about Ashley, and I wasn’t thinking about divorce papers or hiding money or looking over my shoulder every five minutes despite the circumstances. For the first time in what felt like forever… I was simply enjoying somebody’s company.

Marv reached into the cup holder and picked up a small bottle of water before handing it to me. “Here.”

I took it. “Thank you.”

“See?” he nodded. “Already treating you right.”

I rolled my eyes. “You done? I know you flirt with every nurse that walk through your hospital room.”

He gasped dramatically before placing one hand against his chest. “That’s crazy.”

“It is?”

“Hell yeah, I only flirted with one.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep.”

“And who was that?”

He looked over at me with that same crooked grin. “You.”

I shook my head, trying not to smile, but he caught it anyway. He chuckled as he cut the wheel toward the valet entrance of an upscale waterfront restaurant overlooking Biscayne Bay. When he opened my door, he extended his hand toward me with a grin. “Come on, Nurse Navy.”

I slipped my hand into his, letting him help me out, and the second my heels hit the pavement, he leaned down just enough for only me to hear. “Aye try not to fall in love with me before the appetizers come.”

Marv held my chair while I sat down before walking around to the other side of the table. The hostess had seated us near the back of the restaurant where the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the Bay. It was the kind of place where people came dressed like money, and from the looks of the parking lot, most of them had plenty of it.

“You picked a nice spot,” I admitted as I unfolded my napkin across my lap.

Marv shrugged while reaching for the menu. “Only the best for my favorite nurse.”

I laughed. “Favorite huh?”

“Yep.” He nodded his head. “I had plenty, but you just the only one I wanted to see after I got discharged.”

I looked down at my menu, smiling to myself. “You really don’t waste no time.”

“For what?” he asked. “Tomorrow ain’t promised.”

Although Marv was rough around the edges and trying to be a gentleman it didn’t take away from the fact that he lived life on the wild side and was reckless; I could tell. The waitress walked over with a bright smile and introduced herself before asking if we’d like something to drink. Marv ordered his drink while I ordered a strawberry lemon drop. Once she disappeared, he rested both forearms on the edge of the table and looked at me.

“So…”

“So?”

“You gone tell me something about yourself?”

“What you wanna know?”

“Shit, I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Something.”

I smiled. “That’s real specific.”

“It is.”

“You first.”

He laughed. “See… that’s that nurse shit. Every question I ask, you answering with another question.” He shook his head before taking a sip of the ice water the waitress had left behind. “Aight then, what you wanna know?”

I leaned back in my chair and actually thought about it. Truthfully, there were a hundred things I wanted to ask him. I wanted to know how a man almost died and could still joke every five minutes. I wanted to know what kind of business he was really in because something about him screamed that there was more to his story than he’d ever tell me over dinner. Most of all… I wanted to know whether he was always this easy to be around or if I was just enjoying what normal felt like.

“What do you do Marv?” I finally asked.

He grinned immediately. “I knew that was coming. I invest in businesses.”

“What kind?” I questioned.

“The kind that make money.”

I laughed. “Marvelous…”

“What?”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

He leaned back just enough for me to see that playful grin again. “I’m in logistics.”

I squinted at him. “You lying again.”

He shook his head. “You still don’t trust me?”

“I met you in ICU after you’d been shot two times sir, so no, and now you telling me you work in logistics?”

He smiled so hard the light reflected off his golds. “I technically wasn’t lying.”

I pointed across the table. “See? That’s exactly why I don’t believe you.”

Before he could respond, the front entrance got noticeably louder, not that it was actually loud or anything. Instead, it was because certain people naturally gained attention when they walked into a room. My eyes drifted toward the entrance without thinking. The first man through the door was impossible to miss wearing black tailored slacks with a fitted white button-down rolled to his forearms that exposed his tattoos with a diamond watch around his wrist while his iced-out chain with the pendant that read ‘Empire’ sat perfectly on his chest. His deep waves looked freshly brushed, and when he smiled at the hostess, the gold teeth glistened loud. I remembered that name Empire too because Marv had it tattooed on him.

I would never forget that face, it was surely Lev, and walking beside him was a beautiful caramel-skinned woman in a fitted emerald-green dress that hugged every curve she had. Her long black hair flowed halfway down her back, and the red bottoms on her feet were bad too as she had her hand lightly lopped into his arm.

I immediately looked back down at my menu because for some reason I didn’t want him catching me looking. Across from me, Marv followed my line of sight before a grin slowly spread across his face.

“Well damn…”

“What?” I asked, pretending not to know.

“Lev’s ass finally decided to leave work alone for one night.”

I looked up. “Cousin?” I said playing it off.

“Yeah.”

He leaned back in his chair with the biggest grin on his face. “Yeah, you remember him from the hospital? That’s Lev.”

Before I could say another word, he lifted one hand into the air. “Aye Lev!”

I immediately closed my eyes. Lord… Please don’t let this man call him over here… Too late. Lev turned toward the sound of his name, spotted Marv sitting across from me, then looked directly at me for the briefest second before something almost amused crossed his face. He leaned down, said something to the woman on his arm that made her smile, and together they started walking toward our table.

Marv shook his head before they even reached us. “Boy… everywhere I go, your ass gotta show up.”

Lev stopped beside the table, looked Marv over from head to toe without saying a word, then reached down and dapped him up. The two of them pulled each other into one of those one-armed hugs men gave before separating again.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Lev replied, dragging the empty chair out with one hand. “You done got shot, survived, and still won’t sit your ass in the house.”

Lev looked him over again, taking in the way Marv still shifted carefully every time he moved.

“And you still moving all stiff and shit, now how you gon’ be up on your shit if you can’t even move?”

“Well what you want me to start doing cartwheels?”

“Nah.” Lev shrugged as he lowered himself into the chair. “I’m just making sure you ain’t forgot you got holes in you and I’m not trying to hear BJ’s shit. She always send the heat my way.”

Marv laughed before immediately pressing his palm against his side as soon as he did.

“See…” Lev pointed without an ounce of sympathy. “That’s exactly what the fuck I’m talking about.”

The woman beside Lev smiled to herself before extending her hand toward me. “Hi, I’m Milan.”

“Hi, I’m Navy.”

“It’s nice to finally meet somebody that can tolerate these two.”

I laughed. “I’ve only been here an hour.”

“Then you still got time to escape.”

Marv looked offended. “Why everybody acting like I’m always the problem.”

Lev leaned back in his chair, picked up one of the breadsticks from the basket sitting in the middle of the table, and broke it in half. “Because nigga you usually are.”

“I’ll give you that one.” Marv grinned like he’d just won an argument he’d been waiting weeks to win. “I be on bullshit.

I found myself smiling without realizing it. Watching the two of them together explained a lot. They carried themselves differently, but the chemistry was impossible to miss. Marv was louder, rougher around the edges, always looking for the joke. Lev barely raised his voice at all. He sat back, listened more than he spoke, and somehow still controlled the conversation without trying. Even when he wasn’t talking, people naturally looked his way.

His eyes drifted over to me for a brief second before he nodded toward my plate. “You ain’t let him order for you, did you?”

I frowned. “What?”

He motioned toward Marv with the piece of bread still in his hand. “Because his taste in food just as bad as his taste in decisions.”

Marv looked over at me with disbelief written all over his face. “Don’t listen to this nigga.”

“I wouldn’t allow it.” I told Lev with a smirk.

“You see?” Marv threw both hands in the air before immediately remembering his stitches and bringing them right back down with a wince. “Everybody always taking his side.”

Lev winked. “Ain’t nobody taking my side.”

Marv pointed across the table. “And that’s exactly why Grandma like me better.”

Lev didn’t even blink. “Man, BJ like whoever call her the most.”

“Nah she like whoever give her the most money and that’s all fucking twelve of us.”

Lev agreed while responding to something in his phone before he ordered a bottle. Marv was interesting, but Lev, it was something about him. He was the type that looked like he ran a real strict program and even with Milan being with him, it seemed a little casual. I could clearly see that she wasn’t his woman because he never acted like it.

CHAPTER 14

E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

Marv was smiling too damn much, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen that nigga sit through an entire dinner looking around the room for the next bad decision or finding some random chick to flirt with. Tonight, he hadn’t done none of that shit. Every joke and every story he’d told somehow found its way right back to Navy, and every time she laughed, he’d look at her like he’d accomplished something. That was the first thing I noticed and the second was the fact that she looked at him the same way.

She wasn’t like one of these females running around Miami looking for somebody to pay a bill. She actually listened when he talked and cut her eyes at him whenever he got carried away with a little smile on her face. She would touch his arm without even realizing she was doing it. It was the little shit most people would’ve overlooked if they were too busy trying to hear the conversation and I wasn’t.

Watching people had become second nature a long time ago. Half the deals I’d ever closed and half the problems I’d ever solved had nothing to do with what came out of somebody’s mouth. It was always the shit they didn’t realize they were doing that told the truth, especially being in the streets and in prison, a wise man watched muhfuckas.

By the time the waitress cleared the last of our plates, the restaurant had already started changing around us. The servers were now sliding empty tables toward the back wall to open up more floor space while another crew replaced the candles with bottle service menus, and the DJ stopped playing the slow shit and turned it into rap. People eventually started drifting away from their tables with drinks in their hands, and every few seconds a new crowd of people were walking through the door like this was what they had been waiting for.

Marv looked around the room before grinning. “Shit… they ’bout to get this bitch jumping.”

“I can tell,” Navy laughed, following his eyes toward a group of women making their way across the floor in heels that looked painful as hell.

“You dance?”

She looked back at him and shrugged. “It depends.”

“On what?”

“Who asking.”

Marv grabbed the center of his chest like she’d offended him. “Damn, that one kinda hurt.”

“It was supposed to.” She winked at him.

He laughed right along with her before reaching for his drink again, and I found myself looking away for a second, letting my eyes brush across the room out of habit more than anything. Security had doubled since we’d first sat down. Since dinner over, the shift changed too and now two new faces stood near the front entrance pretending they weren’t watching everybody coming through the doors, and another one was near the hallway leading toward the restrooms which was good positioning.

When I looked back toward the table, Navy was saying something to Marv that made him throw his head back laughing while holding his side and whatever she’d said must’ve been funny because she was laughing just as hard by the time he answered. She wasn’t forcing it either and I could tell she had gotten comfortable and completely relaxed in the atmosphere

That caught my attention more than anything.

The nurse I’d met at Jackson carried herself like somebody who was waiting for life to throw the next punch but this version of her looked like she’d finally remembered what it felt like to breathe and have fun, and for some reason I couldn’t stop wondering what happened in between.

Marv glanced down at his phone before snatching it up with one hand. “Man, hell nah,” he laughed, shaking his head while reading whatever had popped up on the screen. “These niggas done made it already.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Ant and them, they downstairs talking ’bout hurry up before all the sections gone.”

“They should’ve reserved one then.”

“You know they hardheaded.”

“They get that honestly.” Marv smirked before looking over at Navy. “You mind if I go see what these fools talking ’bout? They probably done started an argument with security already. They wild as fuck.”

“I’ll survive,” she teased.

“Them niggas don’t know how to act when they get together.”

“I believe it.” she said.

“I’ll be right back.” He pushed his chair back and disappeared into the growing crowd before I looked over at Milan. She’d been staring at her phone for the last couple of minutes, looking like she has an attitude every time another notification popped up on her screen.

“You good?” I asked.

She sighed. “I forgot I volunteered to cover breakfast tomorrow.”

I looked at my watch. “What time?”

“Seven.” She laughed to herself before locking her phone and slipping it into her purse. “If I don’t leave now, I’ma hate myself in the morning.”

“You want me to have the driver take you?”

“I already called an Uber.”

I gave her a serious look. “When you with me, that’s an insult to call an Uber. That’s what I have drivers for. You’re good when you’re with me. Cancel the Uber.”

Milan slowly licked her lips and smirked. “Damn Lev, I was trying to be considerate.” She nodded before standing, straightening the front of her dress with both hands. “Y’all have fun. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I sent a text to the driver letting him know that she was heading out and to make sure she got home safely. “Aight.” I simply replied to her before adjusting my Glock in the small of my back making sure it was secured. I wasn’t fond about being in overcrowded places because that’s when the most shit popped off so I had to always make sure that I wasn’t caught slipping.

After hugging Navy goodbye and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, Milan disappeared toward the front entrance, leaving an empty chair between us that neither one of us moved to. For a few seconds, we just watched the room. The DJ had officially yelled over the mic now as a birthday celebration erupted across the floor as two bottle girls carried sparklers through the crowd while people standing from nearby tables started to clap and record. The waitresses squeezed between dancing bodies like it was second nature, and what had started as dinner had officially become another Saturday night in Miami’s party life.

“You come to places like this a lot?” Navy asked, turning the stem of her glass between her fingers while looking around. “This is my first time here although I heard about it. It kind of reminds me of Tootsies Cabaret.”

“It depends.”

She smiled. “On what?”

“Whether I’m working or enjoying myself.”

“And what about tonight?”

I looked over her. “I ain’t decided yet.”

She kept that smile on her face before she took another sip of her drink with her eyes drifting back toward the dance floor. “I don’t think I’ve been out like this in…probably over a year.”

I didn’t answer right away, instead I kept listening to every word and every little hesitation that came before she decided how much she wanted to say. “I used to work so much, then…” She stopped herself, giving a small shrug before forcing a smile. “Life happened; I guess.”

Life happened, I thought to myself. Other people would’ve let the conversation die there, but I wasn’t most people. “I’ve learned that’s usually code for a story.”

She looked over at me for a second before letting out a deep breath. “It usually is.”

I made sure I gave her my undivided attention. “But you ain’t ready to tell it.”

She stared in my eyes for a few seconds before slowly shaking her head. “No…not yet.”

I nodded. “Fair enough.”

I didn’t push because I didn’t need to. People volunteered information when they were ready. My job was simply paying attention when they did. I could tell everything about my presence made her nervous.

Navy took another sip of her drink while her eyes followed a chick near the edge of the dance floor who had been trying to teach her man the same two-step for the last five minutes. The nigga kept moving in the wrong direction, nearly stepping on her toes every time she pulled him closer, and Navy finally laughed when the girl gave up and pushed him away.

“See, that’s why everybody don’t need to dance,” she blurted, turning back toward me with her glass still raised near her mouth. The liquor had started settling into her by then. I could see it in the way she sat with one leg crossed over the other instead of keeping both feet planted beneath the table, and in how she no longer paused before everything she said. Even her smile came easier now, staying on her face instead of disappearing the second she remembered she was around people she didn’t know that well.

“He probably paid for that section, so she better let him finish embarrassing himself on his dime,” I told her, looking past her just in time to see the same nigga grab her waist and try again.

Navy laughed harder, turning her head as if she couldn’t stand to watch, and the side of her shoulder brushed mine when two women squeezed behind her chair on their way toward the bar. She didn’t immediately move away from me either. She stayed there for another second, close enough for me smell her perfume before she eased back into her own space and reached for the straw in her drink. Deep down, I could tell she was a little goofy and liked to laugh, it was just something about her that had her reserved and it wasn’t just because I was sitting here either.

“Money really makes men think they can do anything,” she said, stirring the ice around as her smile slowly faded.

“Not just men,” I answered, and she looked at me as if she wanted to disagree, but whatever she was about to say got lost when the DJ switched records and half the room yelled the lyrics to ‘Spend Dat’ by Young Miami.

Navy’s whole face changed before she could catch it. Her shoulders started moving while she remained seated, and she pointed toward the DJ booth like he had personally done her a favor.

“Okay, now he playing something,” she said, and I laughed as she mouthed the beginning of the verse under her breath.

I raised a brow and took a shot of Don Julio. “You was just judging that dude for dancing.”

She waved me off, still rocking to the beat. “That wasn’t dancing. He was fighting for his life.”

The alcohol had pulled something different out of her, something Marv probably got to see more than anybody else had lately, and for a few minutes we sat there talking about nothing important but just enough to keep the conversation going as I continued to study her. It wasn’t forced, and I didn’t have to carry the conversation or pretend to be interested in some made-up shit just to keep her talking. Navy was funny without trying too hard, and once she got comfortable, her mouth was slicker than I would’ve expected from the quiet nurse I remembered.

A man walking past the table slowed down long enough to speak to me, and Navy watched the brief exchange while I shook his hand and promised to return a call I had been ignoring for two days. The second he left; she tilted her head and looked at me with a small grin.

“So, you really are important.” I picked up my glass and took a drink before answering. “Who told you that?” She nodded toward the man disappearing into the crowd. “Everybody who walked past this table since I sat down.”

I glanced around the room as if I hadn’t noticed, even though I had. “Miami is small.” Navy smiled and took another sip. “That’s exactly why I’m glad I moved farther out. I got tired of feeling like I couldn’t go anywhere without running into somebody who knew somebody, even the grocery store.”

“Moved from where?” I asked, and I didn’t ask because I was trying to question her, but because she had left the sentence unfinished. She then shrugged. “The house I shared with my husband.” She said it plainly, then lifted the drink to her mouth again.

I let my eyes shoot down to her ring finger before looking back at her face. There wasn’t a tan line or an indentation, nothing that said a ring had recently been removed, but that didn’t mean shit. “Marv know you married?” I asked, and she nearly choked on her drink before setting her glass down.

“I’m separated,” she corrected me, wiping the corner of her mouth with the tip of her finger. “And yes, he knows. I’m not sneaking around on anybody.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

She gave me a look that said she heard it anyway, then leaned back when a waitress passed carrying a tray of shots above her head. “Legally, I’m still married,” she explained once the woman was gone. “But that’s it, we’re not together and we don’t live together. As a matter of fact, we don’t do anything together.”

The words came out faster than they needed to, as if she had repeated them enough times that they no longer required much thought. I nodded and let her talk without interrupting. “Sometimes shit just changes,” she continued, glancing toward the crowd before looking back at me. “You wake up one day and realize the life you kept trying to hold together isn’t even yours anymore.”

There was more behind that statement, but I didn’t reach for it. She would either hand it over or she wouldn’t.

“So you left?” I asked, and something in her expression changed before she gave a small nod.

“Yeah. About a month ago, I just…left.” Her eyes dropped to the table as she rolled the bottom of her glass between both palms. “I got an apartment, bought all new furniture, dishes, towels, everything. I didn’t take much with me, so I had to start completely over. It was expensive as hell, but I needed it.” She laughed quietly, though there wasn’t shit funny in what she had said. “My couch took forever to come, and my bed came in a million pieces but it’s mine. I come home, close my door, and nobody can tell me what I can or can’t do.”

A month, I thought while she kept talking. Marv had been shot a month ago and fifty thousand dollars had disappeared before he made it out of trauma, and Navy had been one of the last people close enough to his clothes to touch anything without raising suspicion. Now she was sitting beside me talking about leaving a husband, getting an apartment, and replacing everything she owned within that same timeframe. None of it was enough by itself because nurses made decent money, people saved, people used credit cards, and people got help. However, the way her voice had changed when she mentioned the cost told me she knew exactly how much starting over should have taken from her.

Navy looked up and caught me studying her, and whatever comfort the drinks had given her started slipping away. She blinked a few times and then reached for her glass even although it was nearly empty. “I’m talking too much,” she said with a nervous laugh, pushing her chair back before I had a chance to answer. “I need to use the restroom anyway.” She grabbed her purse from the back of the chair and stood up, pulling her dress down over her hips before stepping into the crowd. I watched her make her way toward the hallway, waiting until she disappeared past the security guard.

Marv was still across the room exactly where he’d been a minute ago, with one hand wrapped around a bottle while talking to Ant them like he forgot all about us over here. Whatever story they were telling had every nigga standing around them bent over hollering, completely oblivious to anything happening outside their little circle. I watched them for another second before my attention drifted back toward the hallway Navy had disappeared down.

It would’ve been easy to sit back down and let the night play out easier to convince myself I was putting pieces together that didn’t belong but that wasn’t how I’d survived this long, cause coincidences got people buried. I took another shit and then eased away from the table without saying a word to anybody. The closer I got to the hallway, the more the energy of the club faded behind me.

The walls muffled the bass as a couple brushed past me arguing about whether they were leaving or staying for another hour. Life kept moving like it always did, but my mind never left the conversation we’d just had. Most muhfuckas would’ve heard a woman talking about escaping a bad marriage. That’s all Marv would’ve heard because his interest wasn’t in her pockets, it was in her pussy. While mine was focused on the fifty grand that disappeared while he was laid up in that hospital bed fighting to stay alive. Nobody outside a handful of people even knew the money existed, and yet here she was describing a fresh start that somehow lined up a little too neatly with the timeline. It wasn’t even about the money; it was the principle.

It still wasn’t proof cause proof mattered. Accusing the wrong person got innocent people hurt, but ignoring what my instincts kept screaming had never made me any money either. I stopped a few feet from the restrooms and folded my arms across my chest, giving myself another minute to think before doing something I couldn’t take back. My eyes followed people coming and going through the hallway. The closer I got to security, I realized it was Tron.

He gave me one look and shoot his head. “Damn Lev, what you about to do? I see the look all in your eyes. Don’t get me fired tonight man.”

I slightly cocked my head to the side and told him. “I never had to take no pussy, and nobody’s getting killed tonight, so you don’t have shit to worry about, but I’m going in this restroom.”

I didn’t even wait for him to respond; I walked in and as soon as I did and two females were just leaving from fixing their makeup in the mirror. They didn’t bother to question me or frown. I gave them that look and nodded my head toward the door only speaking with my eyes telling them to get the fuck out and they did just that.

I could hear Navy having a whole conversation. “I don’t know Tasha,” she whispered. “I think I fucked up, or maybe it’s just my conscious. I’m telling you, the cousin is crazy and it’s like we were talking but he was reading me like a book. I’m done fucking drinking after tonight. On top of that Rome keeps calling and I want him to leave me the fuck alone. Wow, maybe I should’ve just stayed home tonight. You think Lev read into my words enough to know?”

I stood with my back causally against the wall listening to her sounding stressed and defeated while whoever she was talking to must’ve been trying to calm her down. A few minutes later she hung up and the restroom stall that she was in finally opened and she stepped out with her purse hanging from one shoulder, with her attention on fixing the clasp as she secured it shut. It wasn’t until she lifted her head that she noticed me.

She wore a puzzled look on her face as she grabbed her chest. “You okay?” she asked. “I thought everybody was still at the table.”

“I needed a minute.”

“So did I.” She laughed softly, running her hand down her hair. “That music got loud out there.”

People continued passing between us and the entrance to the club, but neither one of us moved. Navy searched my face like she was trying to figure out why something suddenly felt different. “What is it?” she finally asked.

I continued to glare into her eyes emotionless. “I got a couple questions.” I told her watching her breathing change although she tried to keep it cool.”

The easy, fake smile she’d been wearing disappeared almost instantly. “About what?”

“About that month you just told me about.”

She frowned, allowing the fake confusion to settle deeper across her face as the sounds from the club pulsed through the hallway behind us. “I don’t understand.”

“No, I think you do.”

The color drained from her expression just enough for me to notice. The darkness she saw in my eyes made her realize this conversation wasn’t about to go where she thought it was. I removed my Glock from my back side and in one swift motion, I placed it under her chin while slowly walking towards her forcing her back against the wall as tears welled up in her eyes.

She gasped and closed her eyes. “Wait!” She yelled.

I pressed the gun harder now. “You bet not fucking scream.” I growled. “I could’ve blown your muhfuckin’ head off right now if I wanted to. Tell me more about where this money came from to sponsor your new life nurse.”

The pace in her breathing was so rapid, it was almost as if she was having a panic attack as the tears ran. I could tell in her eyes she was busted and wasn’t no need in continuing to lie to a man like me. Her chest heaved up and down almost looking as if her breast were about to involuntarily pop out and run for their lives. She was much shorter than me, but I was so close to her when I glared down at her, she could smell the liquor on my breath.

“I’m… I’m so sorry.” She started pleading. “I was just trying to get away from my abusive husband after he took all of my money.”

“And what the fuck that mean?” I growled. “Take from me bitch? Take from my family?” I added more pressure underneath her chin. I could tell this was the first time she ever had a gun pulled out on her. However, her situation didn’t have shit to do with me. If it was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was a fucking thief.

Navy was so shaken up; she was damn near shaking like a stripper. “I’m so sorry Lev, I swear I’ll pay every dollar of it back. I… just don’t kill me. Please, I’m begging.”

I slowly licked my lips and nodded my head with my eyes dropped low. “Oh, I know you will, every fucking dollar. You using my fucking cousin? You know how grimy that look to steal his shit while he was on his death bed and then accept a date?”

She rapidly nodded her head up and down as the liner underneath her eyes began to smear. I didn’t think she was sorry, because when you’re trying to survive, you’d do anything. However, she was sorry for getting caught just like any other criminal. “No! I swear I’m not using him. Marv and I… we’re just casual. I didn’t expect to bond with him.” She sighed. “Just please don’t hurt me. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

She was now crying so hard, snot was running down her nose and that shit didn’t move me at all. “Give me your phone,” I growled between clenched teeth.

She didn’t hesitate hand it to me since it was already in her hand. “Unlock it,” I told her without taking my eyes or the gun off of her.

She immediately tapped the numbers on the screen to unlock it and practically shoved it in my face without asking questions. “Here,” she cried.

I used my free hand and put my number in her phone before shoving it back in her hand. I then went into my pocket and pulled out a business card before placing it in the crease of her breast. “I’ll tell you what, since I’m a gentleman, and I’d like to think I’m courteous. Since eleven is also my favorite number, I’m giving you eleven fucking days to come up with every fucking dollar.”

Her eyes got as wide as flying saucers but that didn’t stop the tears from coming. “Eleven days?” She asked as her bottom lip trembled. She nodded her head letting me know she understood what I was saying.

I slowly backed away and pointed at her. “Eleven days… I’ll be in touch.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said again still breaking down.

“Yeah, me too. I’m not even going to tell Marv about this shit, because if I do, you won’t make it out of here tonight.” I winked before casually opening the door like nothing happened. “Oh, you might want to freshen up before coming back out here too. You too fine for that liner to be having you looking like a racoon.”

Next, I secured my gun and walked out back into the vibe of the place. I found Marv back at the table with three females surrounding him.

As soon as he saw me, he looked around asking, “Where Navy at?”

I poured some of the liquor in another shot glass and took a shot before telling him. “Nigga, did she come with me? That’s your job to watch her.”

Marv fell out laughing before he pulled out a tiny bag of coke, poured just a little on the back of his hand and sniffed it. He then pinched his nose and closed his eyes before opening them and handing the bag to the females. “Aight, you ladies go have some fun with this.”

They were more than happy to take the bag and scramble off. A lot of women were just some pretty ass coke heads. I gave Marv that look and shook my head. When I say he makes bad decisions, this was one of them. “I thought you were done with that shit Marv.”

He shook his head and stared off into the club. “I was Lev, but the pain that comes from being shot, man them meds ain’t enough. I’m grown; I got this.”

One thing I wasn’t here to do was argue with somebody who had a dick just like me. Navy didn’t know Marv had a dark side, and I would hope she didn’t find out because from the looks of it, she had enough shit going on. I simply nodded my head, pulled out my phone to reply to some emails, dapped Marv up, and left.

CHAPTER 15

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

The restroom door closed behind Lev, but I still couldn’t move. My back remained pressed against the wall with my phone clutched so tightly in my hand that the edges dug into my palm. My chest rose and fell beneath the business card he had shoved inside my dress, and even though the gun was no longer beneath my chin, I could still feel the cold pressure of it against my skin. Damn! I was caught and Eleven days was all he had given me to come up with fifty thousand dollars I no longer had.

The bass from the club shook the walls while women laughed and carried on somewhere outside the restroom like I hadn’t almost gotten my head blown off a few seconds ago. My knees finally gave out enough for me to grab the edge of the sink before I slid down the wall and embarrassed myself even more. When I looked into the mirror, the woman staring back at me looked exactly how Lev said she did. My eyeliner had smeared beneath both eyes, my nose was red, and mascara streaks ran down my cheeks.

I quickly turned on the faucet and wet a paper towel before rubbing it beneath my eyes. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely clean one side without smearing the other, but I didn’t have time to fall apart. Marv was still outside waiting for me, and the last thing I needed was for him to see me looking like somebody had just threatened to kill me.

He would ask questions that I couldn’t answer without putting myself in more danger. I reached inside my dress and pulled out Lev’s business card. His name was printed across the front in black lettering beneath the name of his real estate company Empire, along with a phone number and an office address that probably cost more per month than my entire apartment. There was nothing on it that suggested the man carrying it would walk inside a women’s restroom and press a gun beneath somebody’s chin, but I knew better now.

I shoved the card inside the smallest zipper of my purse and checked my phone. Lev’s number sat inside my recent contacts without a name attached to it which was another reminder that he could reach me whenever he felt like it. For half a second, I considered deleting it, but there was no point. He had my number, and he knew where I worked. He probably knew where I lived too or could find out before I even made it home.

“Get yourself together,” I whispered, gripping both sides of the sink as I stared at my reflection. “Just go back out there and act normal.”

I shook my head as if my life hadn’t just been divided into eleven days. I cleaned the rest of the makeup from beneath my eyes, reapplied enough concealer to hide the redness, and added another layer of lip gloss. It didn’t completely fix the damage, but under the dark lights of the club, it would have to do. I ran my fingers through my hair and straightened my dress.

I wanted to stay longer but instead, I took one last breath, grabbed my purse, and walked out. The hallway seemed longer than it had when I first came in. Every man I passed made my shoulders tense, and every time someone brushed against me, I had to fight the urge to jump. I kept my eyes forward until the music got louder and the crowd opened back up around me.

Marv was sitting at the table when I returned, but the three women who had been standing around him were already walking away the closer I got. He leaned back in his chair with one arm stretched across the empty seat beside him while his eyes roamed over me from my face down to my dress and back again. He wasn’t smiling anymore how he usually was and that made me slow down before I reached the table.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

There was no joke behind it and no attempt to pull me closer like he had been doing throughout dinner. His voice was calm, almost too calm, and for a second I wondered if Lev had said something to him before leaving.

“Yeah,” I answered, forcing a small smile as I reached for my purse strap even though it was already on my shoulder. “I think I’ve had enough for one night.”

Marv continued looking at me for another second before standing out of the chair. “Aight.”

That was it, no questions about why I had been gone so long. There was no comment about my makeup or the fact that my hands still wouldn’t stay completely still. He grabbed his phone from the table, slipped it into his pocket, and placed his hand against the lower part of my back as we moved through the crowd. The contact should’ve made me feel safer, but all I could think about was Lev asking if I had been using him and truth was, I hadn’t. At least, that wasn’t what this had started as.

When I first saw the money inside that hoodie, Marv had been another nameless trauma patient fighting for his life while I stood over a bag of belongings that nobody had claimed yet. I didn’t know he would wake up. I didn’t know he would remember me, or that he would somehow make his way into my life after I had already spent nearly every dollar.

I definitely didn’t know his cousin was the type of man who could threaten to kill me and walk back into a crowded club without anybody noticing a difference. Outside, the humid Miami night air hit my face as soon as we stepped away from the entrance and I just knew my hair would frizz up if I didn’t get home soon. The cars lined up along the curb while valets moved between them, calling out names and waving tickets above their heads. Marv handed his slip to one of the attendants before looking over at me again.

“You okay nurse?” he asked.

I simply nodded. “I’m fine.”

He studied my face like he didn’t believe me, then looked toward the street as the valet disappeared to retrieve his car. “You disappeared in there.”

“The liquor tore my stomach up,” I lied, placing one hand over my midsection as if that made the story more believable. “I knew I shouldn’t have mixed all that stuff.”

He finally laughed but it was something different about his eyes like he was paranoid or something. “I told you to slow down.”

I raised a brow. “No, you kept ordering shots.”

“And you kept drinking ’em.”

Despite everything running through my mind, a small laugh still slipped out. “Because you kept handing them to me.”

Marv shook his head. “You grown… don’t put that shit on me.”

The valet pulled his car around before I could answer. Marv opened the passenger door and waited until I climbed inside, then closed it behind me and walked around to the driver’s side. I watched him through the windshield as he tipped the valet and exchanged a few words with the security guard near the entrance. He looked relaxed now, almost as if nothing had changed between the time I left the table and came back and maybe it did, but still the switch up between paranoia and relaxation was crazy.

Maybe the difference I felt was only because I knew what his cousin had done while Marv remained completely unaware. He slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and turned the music down before pulling away from the curb. The lights from the club disappeared in the side mirror as we merged onto the street, leaving me alone with him and every question I had been too afraid to ask before tonight.

For the first few minutes, neither one of us said anything. I kept my head turned toward the window while the beautiful sight of my city passed showing streaks of neon colors while replaying Lev’s voice inside my head. Eleven days. I didn’t know where I was supposed to get fifty thousand dollars in eleven days, but I knew one thing for sure. E’Levyn Laurent, as it said on his card, wasn’t bluffing.

Marv kept one hand across the steering wheel while he tapped the other lightly on his thigh every time the bass from the speakers hit playing a rapper I didn’t know. The farther we got away from spot, the lighter traffic became until it was mostly us and a handful of cars gliding through the night.

I kept staring out the passenger window, watching nothing in particular before he finally said something again. “You sure you don’t want me to stop and grab you something?” he asked after a few minutes. “Ginger ale… crackers… Pepto… hell, something.”

A small laugh escaped me before I shook my head. “No. I’ll be alright.”

“You don’t look alright.”

“I told you… that liquor wasn’t agreeing with me.”

“Aight.” He smirked without taking his eyes off the road. “That’s what happens when somebody trying to keep up with professionals.”

I looked over at him. “Professionals?”

“Damn right.”

“You call that professional? Y’all was over there taking shots like it was water.”

“It was somebody birthday.”

“I don’t even think y’all knew them.”

“We didn’t.” He shrugged like it made perfect sense. “That’s Miami.”

I laughed in spite of myself, then leaned my head back against the seat. I swallowed and looked over at Marv. “Can I ask you something?”

“You already asking.”

I rolled my eyes. I laughed softly before shaking my head. “What is Empire?”

The grin on his face didn’t disappear, but it definitely changed. “Empire?”

“Mhm.”

“What made you think about that?”

“I was just wondering.” I shrugged.

“Nah.” He chuckled. “You wasn’t just wondering.”

I looked over at him. “Well, if I’m being honest, I noticed your tattoo at the hospital and then tonight I saw the chain around Lev’s neck. I figured it had to mean something.”

Marv rubbed his beard before letting out a little laugh to himself. “It really ain’t your business…”

“I figured.”

“But I’ma tell you anyway….” He said switching lanes before continuing. “Empire a business.”

I turned my whole body toward him. “That’s it?”

“What?” He laughed.

“I don’t know… I was expecting something deeper.”

“There is.”

“So… what is it?”

“So…” He dragged the word out, still grinning. “Some shit just ain’t for everybody.”

I studied his face for a second. “You always lying.”

That made him laugh even harder. “I ain’t lying.”

“You not telling the whole truth either Marv.”

He pointed at me without looking away from the road. “See… that’s why I shouldn’t fool with nurses.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Y’all think because y’all catch little stuff y’all done solved the whole case.”

“I didn’t say I solved anything.”

“You basically did.”

I smiled to myself before looking back out the windshield. “So, what does it mean?”

His smile disappeared again. “The name mean something different to Lev now than it used to. For him…” he said after a second, “Empire his real estate company.”

“And for you?”

He was quiet long enough that I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he shrugged. “For me…” He glanced over and smiled, “it’s family.”

I just nodded because it sounded simple, but I know it’s more. Whatever Empire had been before the real estate company Marv wasn’t about to tell me, but my mind told me it was probably some kind of gang although I couldn’t be certain, but he left it right there at, family.

That one word was supposed to satisfy my curiosity, but it did the exact opposite. The more I thought about it, the more it felt like Marv had carefully answered my question without actually answering it. I glanced over at him one more time before letting it go. If I kept pushing, he’d either laugh me off again or change the subject altogether, and I didn’t have the energy for either one.

The rest of the ride was silent besides the music as my fingers absentmindedly traced the zipper on my purse where Lev’s business card was and I hated that I hadn’t thrown it out. I hated even more that I couldn’t. How the fuck was I supposed to come up with this money in eleven days? That number kept repeating itself in my head rent free.

Marv slowed down as he turned into my apartment complex, rolling over the first speed bump before making another right toward my building. My stomach got super tight. Normally, I’d hate when somebody wouldn’t watch the person they were dropping off walk all the way inside, but tonight I needed him to leave as fast as possible.

He backed into a parking space and shifted the car into park before turning the music all the way down. “Aight, Nurse.” He looked over at me. “Go home and sleep that liquor off.”

“I plan on it.”

“You ain’t gotta work tomorrow?”

I nodded. “I do.”

“Damn.” He shook his head. “Well, don’t be in there taking care of folks while you still drunk.”

I laughed under my breath. “I’m pretty sure it’ll be out my system by then.”

I reached for the door handle before stopping. “Thank you… for tonight.”

He looked over at me and gave me that same laid-back smile I’d gotten used to over the last couple weeks. “You ain’t gotta thank me, I enjoyed myself.”

“So did I.” That lie rolled off my tongue too easy.

He nodded his head. “Aight, text me when you get upstairs.”

“I will.”

I climbed out, closed the passenger door, then started walking toward the breezeway leading to the backside of my apartment. I could hear his engine idling behind me, so I kept walking until I reached the bottom of the staircase. Pulling my keys from my purse, I pretended to search through them, flipping one over after another like I couldn’t remember which one fit the front door. I waited and a few seconds later, the tires rolled over the speed bump behind me as he left.

I didn’t turn around. Instead, I let another couple of seconds pass before the sound of Marv’s car faded toward the front gate. Only then did I look over my shoulder seeing his taillights disappear around the corner. The smile I’d been forcing all night fell straight off my face. I spun around, hurried back across the parking lot and climbed into my own car. Before I even started the engine, I grabbed my phone and pulled up Tasha’s name.

The phone rang and went to voicemail. I called three more times. “Damn Tasha…” I muttered, pressing the phone tighter against my ear. By the fourth call, my leg was bouncing so hard beneath the steering wheel that I finally threw the phone onto the passenger seat with a frustrated groan. “The fuck!”

Tasha never ignored my calls unless she was working but I knew she wasn’t because she already told me she was home. If she wasn’t answering, I’d just go to her. She only lived about fifteen minutes away, and right now, she was the only person I could think to tell and the only person who might help me figure out how the hell I was supposed to come up with fifty thousand dollars before a man like E’Levyn Laurent decided my eleven days were up.

As I turned onto Tasha’s street, a black Escalade slowly backed out of her driveway. My foot immediately came off the gas seeing Rome. I would’ve known that truck anywhere. I watched him straighten the wheel before shifting into drive and heading toward the front of the neighborhood. He never looked in my direction either because had he looked, he would’ve been ready to fight so I was glad he didn’t see me. He just kept going until his taillights disappeared around the corner like he had every right to be leaving Tasha’s house in the middle of the damn night.

“What the fuck…” I whispered to myself.

I pulled into her driveway a few seconds later and turned the engine off. The porch light was already on, and the wind chimes swayed against the corner of the porch every time the breeze picked up, making that same soft sound I’d heard every time I’d been over here for the last few years. I grabbed my purse from the passenger seat and climbed out. By the time I made it up the walkway, the front door opened before I even had a chance to knock.

“There your hardheaded ass go.” Tasha stepped back so I could come inside, with her phone still in one hand. “I was just about to call you back.”

I barely heard half of what she said. “What was Rome doing here?”

She frowned. “What?”

“I just saw him pulling out your driveway.”

She looked back toward the front window before shutting the door. “Girl…” she muttered, locking the deadbolt before turning back around. “He done popped up out of nowhere talking about he needed to speak to me.”

“About what?”

She pointed at me like it was obvious. “You,” she informed. I didn’t say anything, so she continued. He said he can’t get you to answer the phone, so he wanted me to talk to you and convince you to sit down with him.” She sucked her teeth and started walking toward the kitchen. “Talking about he knows he fucked up and he misses his family… all that same shit.”

I followed behind her, dropping my purse onto one of the kitchen chairs while she opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water.

“So, what’d you tell him?”

“The same thing I’d tell anybody else.” She twisted the cap off with one hand. “Leave me out married people’s business like he’s been wanting you to do. I wouldn’t dare try to convince you to come back into an unhealthy environment.”

“I don’t want to be married anymore.” I sighed.

“I know that.” She took a drink before setting the bottle on the counter. “Try telling his him that.”

I shook my head. “He really thought you were going to change my mind? He acts like he can’t stand you.”

She shrugged. “He was desperate.”

As far as I was concerned, Ashley was still pregnant, and yes he was legally still married. Yet somehow he was riding around trying to save a marriage he’d already destroyed. Tasha didn’t say another word as she walked toward the back of the house. I followed a couple steps behind her while she reached up and fixed her hair before continuing toward her mother’s bedroom.

She eased the door open just enough to look inside. “I’ll be right back, Ma,” she said softly, barely louder than a whisper. “Just checking on you.”

There wasn’t much of a response, just the sound of the oxygen machine humming near the bed and the television playing low enough that neither one of us could make out what was being said. I stepped up beside her and looked in. Ms. Pebbles hadn’t moved much since the last time I’d seen her. She was asleep on top of the covers with one hand beneath her cheek while the other rested against her stomach. The scarf she’d started wearing around the house was crooked on her head, exposing more of her scalp than I was used to seeing. It seemed like every treatment took a little more from her.

“She finally got comfortable?” I asked quietly.

“For now.” Tasha pushed the door almost closed before turning back toward me. “She hasn’t been sleeping for long hours. She’ll doze off for twenty minutes, wake up, then be up another hour.”

“Well, is she eating any better?”

She shook her head. “I can get her to fool with fruit every now and then and maybe a little soup if she isn’t too nauseous, but that’s about it.”

“What the doctor say after treatment?”

“The same thing they’ve been saying.” She sigh as we started walking again. “Keep pushing fluids. Make sure she’s eating when she can. Bring her back if the fever comes back.”

I nodded. “And the nausea?”

“They changed one of her medicines.” She shrugged. “Some days it help, some days it don’t.”

We reached Tasha’s bedroom, and she pushed the door open with her shoulder before walking inside. Her clothes were folded across one side of the bed while a basket of clean laundry sat near the closet, and a pair of heels were on the floor near the dresser. She picked them up with one hand and slid them into the bottom of the closet before coming back over to the bed.

“I swear,” she mumbled, grabbing a T-shirt off the comforter and hanging it over the back of a chair. “Every time I clean this room, it look like somebody done broke in here by the next day. I’m always rushing and I need to slow down.”

She bent over, picked up a bottle of lotion from the floor and set it on top of the dresser before finally looking over at me. “You haven’t said much yet, but you called me four times so what happened? How did it go at the restaurant after we hung up. I can’t believe you took that money and didn’t tell me until tonight when you thought you fucked up Navy. ”

I leaned against the wall near her bedroom door and folded my arms across my chest. I looked down at the carpet. She wasn’t wrong for chewing into my ass. The problem was figuring out where to even begin. How do you explain that a man she’d never met had calmly put a gun beneath your chin, gave you eleven days to replace money that no longer existed, then walked back into the club like nothing had happened?

I rubbed my forehead before letting my hand fall back to my side. “Tash…”

“Mhm?” She sat down waiting. “I’m waiting. What happened?”

The tears burned my eyes as I blinked them away trying not to panic. I drug myself over to her bed and plopped down on my backside staring up at the ceiling feeling her eyes glued to me. “Well, after I hung up with you, he was waiting for me to come out of the restroom stall. I didn’t even know he had entered but it made sense why it got so quiet.”

“Who was waiting, Marv?”

I shook my head, “No it wasn’t Marv, it was Lev, the one I told you I believe I may have said too much to. The one who makes any woman nervous just from his presence being there.”

I could feel the intensity of her watching for me waiting for more as she ignored a call on her phone. She placed her soft hand under my chin and forced me to look at her since she was right next to me. “Did he hurt you Navy?”

“No,” I wiped the tear that slid down the side of my cheek, “At least not physically but he told me I had exactly eleven days to pay back every single dollar.”

Tasha immediately hopped up and started pacing while lightly chewing on her bottom lip. “Wow, I hate that you even went anywhere near them. How much of the money do you have left Nay?”

I shrugged and prayed the headache that was threatening would bypass. “I don’t know, maybe about seven thousand.”

“What?!” She blurted. “Out of fifty thousand? That’s so irresponsible Nay.” She scolded me.

I immediately sat up now and glared at her pointing my finger at her. “Well, you weren’t saying that when you convinced me to buy the most expensive piece of everything either.”

Tasha’s arms flimsily flew in the air before she dropped them back down placing them on her hips. “Well, I didn’t know that you stole the damn money from some gangsters either. I thought the bank released your funds, or you got it from Lulu, hell I’m not sure.”

Tasha was giving me a headache. It was like I came to her to vent of course; however, she was now pissing me off. I placed my hand on my forehead and began to massage it. I then exhaled through my nostrils. “Tash… I know I did something extremely stupid, but you know why I did it. All I need now is for you to help me figure out how to get the money.”

She returned to sit next to me placing one hand on my back gently rubbing it. “I don’t know Navy. What about asking Lulu or possibly pulling it from your 401k?”

“I can’t ask Lulu for that kind of money and besides, she’s on a set income. I can’t pull out of my 401k either. I already did that when Lulu was about to lose her house that time.”

“Damn,” she muttered in deep thought. “Well, I know you don’t want to ask Rome, but…”

“Absolutely not,” I said cutting her off.

“You know what, you’re right,” she agreed.

Out of nowhere, it hit me like a ton of bricks like a light had come on. I abruptly turned to her with my eyes wide. “How much are you making at the club?”

She shook her head and held her hand up. “Don’t even think about it Navy. “You’re a career woman and that isn’t the place for you.”

I frowned. “Come on Tash, you’re a career woman too, you just have a lot on your plate right now, but you have degrees just like me. That doesn’t stop you from doing what you have to do to make extra.”

She snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hello Nay, look around you. You see what I’m up against.”

“I know this Tash,” I replied feeling bad about her situation. “However, you pay all the bills and pay for all of those expensive treatments. So, the club has to be worth something, especially where you are. The only men that come through there are corporate.” I debated. I also watched how her eyes shifted when I mentioned how she’s handling all of the treatments. It wasn’t until that moment; she had a change of heart.

“You really don’t know what I go through to make that happen, but fine, since just overtime won’t be enough, I’ll help you because I don’t want to see my best friend die behind some money.”

“Thank you,” I sniffed feeling weak as hell in this moment although I was far from a weak woman.

She squinted her eyes and glared at me once again pointing that little finger. “One rule though, you will not work the front of the club where everyone can see you. You will work the rooms where you’re guaranteed to make at least three to four thousand if you do it right. But I’m going to warn you now. You’ll have to deal with more than just dancing. In the VIP rooms, anything goes, it’s on you to say ‘no’ if you want.”

I swallowed hard wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into. I wish overtime was enough, but it wasn’t. I nodded my head. “I understand, but right now, I have to do this. I’ll bake sweet treats on the side too like my old side hustle. It won’t be much, but it can help.”

I could tell Tasha felt sorry for me and just as overwhelmed as I did. She looked just as irritated as she did every time she had to come to my house and try to make me leave Rome’s cheating abusive ass. “If I make any extra, I’ll help you out too. I promise.”

I stuck around a while longer while she made some phone calls to the managers to get me in. Of course, they wanted her to send a picture of me, which she did. When she finished, she took a long, deep breath. “They like you, but you’ll have to get an entertainment license first. They do that to everyone to make sure that you’re legal.”

I simply nodded already spinning the numbers in my head trying to figure out how a woman like me, was about to be doing everything possible to stay alive. When I thought about that gun pressed underneath my chin with Lev ready to blow my head off, the answer visibly came back as clear as day that I had messed with the wrong people.

CHAPTER 16

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Day Four

The automatic doors slid open just as I reached them, and the blast of cool air from inside the hospital hit my face for all of two seconds before the thick Miami humidity swallowed me again. I adjusted the strap of my tote bag higher onto my shoulder while fishing my keys out of my scrub jacket pocket, trying not to think about the fact that I’d been inside that building for almost sixteen straight hours. My feet ached, my lower back was screaming, and somewhere around hour thirteen I’d stopped pretending energy drinks were helping because they weren’t. Every muscle in my body wanted a bed, a blanket, and absolute silence.

Instead, I had a strip club waiting on me. I unlocked my car, tossed my bag onto the passenger seat and climbed in, letting my forehead rest against the steering wheel before even starting the engine. “This can’t be my life.” I mumbled.

I’d only been doing this for four nights, yet it already felt like four months. Every day had become the exact same routine. Hospital, home, shower, change clothes, club, sleep for whatever little bit of time I could steal before dragging myself back to the hospital to do it all over again. Somewhere in between, I’d squeezed in cake orders whenever I could because every dollar mattered now and since I was back advertising, the orders were coming.

The number of what I owed, that forty-three thousand followed me everywhere. With the seven I still had leftover, plus the twelve thousand I’d made these last few nights including my cake orders, I would say I was on track and I managed to do it without having to actually open my legs or my mouth to anyone by the grace of God.

What I was learning was, for one, the corporate men were stressed the hell out. Some of them wanted massages while they simply just talked to you about life. Some of them wanted to watch you sway your body and touch all over you just for the thrill. Others wanted you to sit on their laps and call them daddy while they talked about whatever they wanted, including how miserable they were with their lives. It was a mixture of the cultures too, not only black men. It seemed like as long as you were fine as hell and willing to listen, they were paying. None of them ever knew that I was saving lives during the day.

I started the car and pulled out of the employee parking garage, merging into traffic while mentally calculating bills, deposits from the hospital, cash I’d made at the club, and the little bit coming in from custom cakes. Every night I kept hoping the math would magically change but I knew it wasn’t. Yesterday, I even received a surprise call from Lev, and it scared the shit out of me. I knew he was making sure his presence was still strong. I assured him that I was doing everything to come up with it. Then I was ducking Rome and still talking to Marv every time he called. He even showed up to the hospital this morning just to see me. I would hate for him to think that I was brushing him off, I just really didn’t have time to engage like he would have liked. It’s not like I could tell him that I was coming up with his money I stole.

By the time I made it home, I had exactly thirty-seven minutes before I needed to leave again. The shower was barely long enough to wash the smell of antiseptic and hospital sanitizer off my skin. I stood beneath the hot water until I caught myself closing my eyes for too long, forcing myself awake before I could actually fall asleep standing up. I threw on one of the simple black dresses, touched up my makeup just enough to keep myself from looking like I’d worked a double shift, pulled my hair into a sleek ponytail that pulled my eyes back, grabbed my purse and was right back out the door.

My body hadn’t even recovered from work before I was clocking into another job. When I pulled into the employee lot behind the club, the bass was already vibrating through the pavement. The building looked alive as colored lights flashed against the side walls while foreign cars lined the front entrance.

I climbed out, adjusted my purse and walked toward the employee entrance. The music hit me first and then the lights. The inside looked exactly like it had every night I’d been there as purple and red lights swept across the room while money floated through the air every few seconds, landing across the stage before somebody hurried to gather it. Men leaned back against leather booths with drinks in their hands while women laughed a little louder than necessary just selling the illusion pretending every conversation was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.

My eyes found Tasha almost immediately. She was halfway through her set, moving across the main stage like she’d been born under those lights. Confidence rolled off her in a way I envied. She caught the sight of me near the back entrance, gave me the smallest nod without breaking character, then spun back toward the crowd as another handful of bills rained over the stage.

I lifted my hand in a quick wave before slipping through the hallway leading toward the dressing rooms. Once I made it inside, I barely spoke to anyone because half of them were stuck up anyway. I went to my locker and placed my things inside before changing in one of the stalls into a shimmering pink two-piece thong set that looked really good on my body. I then slipped on the tall heels, placed a soft pink lipstick on my lips, and then sprayed my perfume on. I was out of there as quickly as I’d slipped in stepping back onto the hallway.

The atmosphere changed the second the door closed behind me because the hallway was quieter, filled with perfume, hairspray and multiple conversations coming from in between the half-open doors. I kept walking until I reached the VIP hallway, still rubbing at the stiffness in my neck standing in front of what I thought was room three.

That’s what the hostess had told me, except my exhausted brain walked right past the sign. I pushed open the next door without paying attention. “Oh, shit! I’m sorry.” The apology flew out quick. A dancer looked over her shoulder with obvious annoyance while still on her knees between a man’s legs. The older businessman barely acknowledged me, completely occupied with what was happening in front of him.

“My bad,” I muttered apologizing again, already pulling the door shut. “Wrong room.”

The embarrassment was all over my face as I backed into the hallway. “Get it together, Navy.” I told myself.

I rubbed both hands over my eyes, looked up at the room numbers again and immediately realized my mistake. I needed to go one door down to room three. I exhaled, opened the correct door and stepped inside. Compared to the chaos outside, the room felt almost peaceful with a leather sectional wrapped around one side with the soft lighting glowing beneath the liquor shelves, and a bottle already sat in a bucket of ice on the table. Whoever had reserved the room still hadn’t arrived.

Honestly, I was grateful. I slipped my heels off for just a second, digging my aching toes into the carpet before pouring myself one shot from the bottle already sitting out. “I deserve this.” I said to myself.

The liquor burned all the way down reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything. I leaned back against the couch, reached into my purse and pulled out my phone. Three missed notifications from the bakery page waited at the top of my screen: ‘Can you do a birthday cake for Saturday? I also need two dozen chocolate cupcakes. Are you still taking custom orders?’

For the first time all day, I felt something besides dread because it was cake money. It wasn’t much, but it counted. I started typing a response, mentally figuring out whether I could bake after getting off work tomorrow morning, when another glance at the time made me realize my client was running late. I sighed, locked my phone and stood up.

I decided to run to the restroom while I had the chance. The hallway outside was busier than before. Waitresses hurried past carrying bottles with sparklers attached while security escorted another group toward the private rooms. I slipped into the restroom, splashed a little cool water across my wrists, checked that my lipstick was okay, and then headed back toward the VIP hallway.

I reached for the handle to the room and the door swung inward. My whole body immediately froze. E’Levyn Laurent was already inside. His eyes lifted from the phone in his hand, meeting mine with the same unreadable calmness that had haunted me every single day since he pressed a gun beneath my chin. This time neither one of us spoke. For a second, neither one of us moved.

The hallway behind me disappeared but the music was still going, and every bit of exhaustion I’d been carrying from the hospital vanished beneath my panic. My fingers were still wrapped around the door handle, and the first thing that crossed my mind wasn’t why he was sitting in my room. It was that he had found me, once again. Just like he found me in that restroom.

Lev had the same expression he had the night at the club, except this time there wasn’t a crowd around him. Just him, sitting comfortably in the corner of the leather sectional with one ankle resting across his opposite knee, his phone loosely in one hand while a crystal glass of Hennessy sat untouched on the table beside him. He didn’t look surprised at all. If anything, he looked like he’d been expecting me. My heartbeat started pounding so hard against my ribs that I was certain he could hear it. I glanced behind me toward the hallway for half a second before looking back inside the room. Every instinct I had screamed at me to turn around and leave, hell, even run but my feet refused to cooperate. My body remembered that restroom and the cold barrel of that gun beneath my chin and the way he never once raised his voice while threatening to kill me.

I swallowed the hard knot in my throat hurt. Lev slowly slipped his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket before leaning forward just enough to rest both forearms across his knees. His eyes never left mine. They traveled over my face, then lower, taking in my costume, and the heels on my feet that I’d slipped back on before leaving the restroom.

His gaze settled on it for a brief second. Then it returned to my face. “So…” he said calmly. “This what you’ve been doing after work?”

It felt like the two halves of my life had just crashed into each other. “I didn’t know this room was yours.”

“It wasn’t.” His answer came so easily that it caught me off guard. “It is now.”

I frowned as the silence once again settled between us again. I finally forced myself to step inside just enough to close the door behind me. The click of the latch echoed louder than before and suddenly the room felt much smaller than it had a few minutes ago.

“I…” My voice cracked before I cleared my throat. “I was told somebody booked this room.”

He simply nodded. “They did.” He reached for the glass on the table, turning it slowly between his fingers without taking a drink. “I bought the reservation.”

My stomach dropped, of course he did. Nothing about this was accidental. Every part of it had been planned. I looked toward the door again, mentally calculating how fast I could get back into the hallway if I needed to, but the thought disappeared almost as quickly as it came. Running wasn’t going to accomplish anything. If Lev wanted to find me, he obviously knew exactly where to look.

“You’ve been busy.” His said as his voice pulled my attention back to him. “The hospital, and then here.” He said. I didn’t answer so he kept going. “Cakes too. You’ve been trying real hard Navy.” His tone hadn’t it was still calm and very much controlled. Even in these circumstances, the man was fine, I had to give him that.

“I…” I rubbed my thumb against my index finger, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I’m doing what I can.”

“I know.” He finally took a sip from the glass before setting it back on the table. “For four nights you’ve left the hospital, came here, then went home and baked.”

My body had chills all over it now because he knew exactly how long I’d been there and what I had been doing which was a clear indication that his radars were on me.

“You’ve made…” He paused for a second like he was doing the math in his head. “I’d say a little over eleven thousand dollars?”

I stared at him and every hair on the back of my neck stood up because he wasn’t guessing, it was like he knew. “I don’t understand…” I whispered.

“Nah.” He leaned back against the couch, folding one arm across the backrest. “You don’t.”

The room got quiet again outside of the music. Inside, it felt like the air had stopped moving though. I was trying to ignore the uneasy feeling settling deeper into my stomach. There was only one question I could think to ask. “Have you been watching me?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached for the bottle, poured another shot of liquor into his glass, and watched it settle before lifting it to his lips. Meanwhile, my pulse thumped in my damn ears. I shifted my weight, as the heel of my shoe caught in the carpet.

Finally, he set the glass back on the table. “You finished?”

I frowned. “Finished what?”

“Asking questions.” He said in a matter fact tone. He leaned back against the couch with one arm draped across the cushion. His shirt was button halfway down exposing his heavily tattooed chest and a part of his six pack while the damn diamonds in that Empire chain bounced off the dim lights. “Take your shoes off.”

For a second, I thought I’d heard him wrong. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

My eyes dropped to my heels before lifting back to him. “I…”

“You planning on arguing with every instruction I give you?”

“No. I just… I don’t know.”

“Then take them off.” He ordered again. “I’m not gone say it twice.”

My fingers trembled as I bent down, slipping one heel off, then the other. I set them neatly beside the door. Meanwhile, he watched without saying a word. I didn’t know what to think in this very moment, but what I did know was, he wasn’t going to hurt me right now because I still had time.

When I stood back up, he motioned toward the open space in front of him. “Come here.”

I walked over to him and stood in the open space between his thighs. Lev slowly licked his lips as his eyes roamed up and down my body. He then looked me in my eyes and said, “Dance.”

I swallowed hard and let out a slow deep breath before shifting my hips to the rhythm of the music feeling extremely awkward. I knew I looked uncomfortable, and that only made me more uncomfortable. Every movement felt rehearsed and fake right now because I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he was watching me. He wasn’t watching me like a customer; he was studying me. After nearly a minute, he finally spoke.

“Navy Prescott, married, no kids, successful career, a good head on her shoulders, and twenty-six years old.” He said. I paused without saying a word and he gave me that glare. “I didn’t say stop.”

I swallowed hard and kept going. “Fine,” I mumbled underneath my breath not even surprised that he’s investigated about me.

Instead of pouring another shot, he turned the whole bottle to his mouth, but he never took his eyes off of me nor did he try to touch me. After he took another swig, he started talking again but his hand remained locked around that bottle. “I don’t watch people, but I’ll find out what I need to know. I saw you the first night you came here, it’s like that when this is my property I’m leasing out for this establishment to run this high scale successful business.”

He didn’t seem like he was trying to brag but once again, it reminded me that he was really him. For the next five minutes he didn’t say anything else as the music changed and played another song. If he wanted me to stand here and continue to do this, I needed another shot, but I didn’t want to ask. As if he was reading my mind, he poured some in my shot glass and passed it to me. Without breaking my rhythm, I accepted it and swallowed it down before handing it back to him. For whatever reason, it burned worse than any other time.

“Tell me this Navy, how long have you been dealing with letting a nigga beat on you?”

I wanted to stop, but I better had spoken up if he was asking. I sighed and kept going. “It didn’t start that way.”

“Well, I’m not here to be a fucking counselor. I’m just trying to figure out how a woman as smart as you, ended up in a situation like this with men you should’ve never crossed paths with. Was it worth it?”

I tried not to frown as I continued grinding my hips and making my ass lightly jiggle, which he was barely paying attention to because instead of his eyes being on my body, they were on my eyes. I didn’t know of this was a trick question or what. “At the time, yes it was, but now, no it absolutely wasn’t Lev. Desperation makes people do silly things.”

“Nah, desperation gets people killed.” He replied with his head cocked to the side. “And I know you’d like to keep that pretty face on this earth a little while longer.” He winked.

I swallowed hard and replied, “I do and again I’m sorry.”

He used his pointer finger and told me to turn around. I slowly did what he said. He then told me to bend over and I did that too. “Nice…” he replied. “Turn back around.”

When I did, I felt so humiliated and I didn’t know why because truthfully there was nothing wrong with my body. This whole atmosphere just wasn’t my thing. After three songs I was getting tired and of course he noticed. He patted the space next to him and told me to sit down. I did, and the yawn escaped before I realized it.

“You ain’t been getting no rest. I can see it all in your eyes.” He told me.

“Well, I have a lot of money to come up with. I have nineteen thousand that I can give you tomorrow. Plus, whatever I make tonight.” I explained. “I’ll be working my ass off to come up with the rest just like I’ve been doing. I just want my life back and the peace I’ve been desperately fighting for.”

He finished off the rest of the bottle and stared at me real hard. “Not that I give a fuck, but you should probably go get some rest tonight. You can’t save people’s lives and you ain’t had no sleep. Tomorrow, I don’t want to see those bags under your eyes. I’ll call you when I’m ready to grab it.”

With that, he stood up and walked to the door leaving me sitting right on the couch. When he reached the door and put his hand on the knob, he turned halfway to me that’s when I saw the butt of the gun sticking out. “And Navy,” he said. “Don’t do shit else to piss me off. Go home, and that’s what I mean.”

He walked out letting the door click leaving me in my own thoughts. I waited about five minutes and stared at the two glasses that were left behind. The only smell lingering was my perfume, the smell of Hennessy, and his cologne. I didn’t know if he would be watching or not, but I made sure that I went straight to the lockers, changed back into my white dress, stopped by the kitchen and ordered some catfish nuggets and perry wings, and then went to let Tasha know that I was leaving because being sleep deprived was no joke.

On the way home, I positioned the cold air to blast me right in the face while turning my music all the way up just to stay awoke. I was almost home when Rome called and normally I wouldn’t answer but I needed to stay awake.

“Yes Rome?” I asked with an attitude.

“Yo, what you doing out this late? I miss you.” He admitted sounding like he had been drinking.

“I was out Rome; I’m an adult just like you.” I reminded him.

“When you coming back home?”

I shook my head and sighed. “I’m not Rome.”

“I ain’t signing them divorce papers. Don’t send me that shit.”

Here we go, I thought. “Even if you don’t, there are still other ways. Sign or not, the divorce is happening. Go be a family with Ashey and leave me alone.”

“Why the fuck you always bringing her up? She don’t have shit to do with me and you. Stop taking them pills and give me a baby then. We can have our own family.”

Him saying that reminded me that I hadn’t even taken my pills. I had been so consumed with life, and besides it’s not like I was actively having sex right now anyway and I didn’t plan to.

I tiredly laughed. “I am not having a damn baby especially not by you. Rome, I’m tired, I’ve been doing doubles back-to-back and I have to go.”

“You see there? You left and now you working doubles and back baking cakes. Yeah, I heard about it. When you were home, you didn’t have to do all of that.”

I couldn’t take anymore of him not seeing where he went wrong here. “I’m hanging up, and don’t try to show up to my home because if you do, I’m calling the police.”

“I don’t give a fuck about no…”

Before he could finish, I ended the call. Ten minutes later, I was at home sneaking through the back just in case Rome had been somewhere lurking in the front. I didn’t even turn the lights on. I locked the deadbolt and fell face first on the couch. I was so tired I couldn’t even make it to the room. Out of all people, I was saved by Lev tonight and by the grace of God was about to get some good and much needed sleep.

CHAPTER 17

E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

Day Five

Miami looked different from thirty floors up. I stood in front of the window with one hand in my pocket and the other wrapped around a cup of hot tea. I hadn’t taken another sip because my mind was somewhere else. It wasn’t the first time that happened and it damn sure wouldn’t be the last. Running Empire meant there was always another problem waiting on the other side of a phone call, another property to close on, and another cocky ass investor who thought money made him the smartest man in the room.

Money impressed people but it never impressed me, the results did. There was a knock on my office door before it slowly opened. “Morning, Mr. Laurent.”

I turned around as Stephanie stepped inside carrying a leather portfolio and an iPad tucked against her hip. She’d worked for me long enough to know better than to come in talking before I acknowledged her.

“Morning.” I replied.

“They’re all here.”

I glanced at the watch around my wrist before looking back at her. “This early?”

She smiled. “Actually…yes.”

“They finally learning.” I replied.

She laughed before she opened the portfolio and began flipping through today’s schedule. “Nine o’clock is the Harbor Point development meeting. Ten-thirty you’ve got the lender from New York calling in. Your attorney moved the zoning meeting to tomorrow afternoon, and Mr. Alvarez confirmed lunch.”

“I ain’t making that lunch with his old ass.”

She chuckled because she already knew that. “I figured.”

“Push him to next week.”

She made a quick note without asking why. That was one of the reasons she’d lasted this long. She understood that if something moved on my calendar, there was usually a reason behind it. “Anything else?”

“The structural engineer emailed revised numbers at six this morning.”

I was still staring out of the window before turning around. “I’ll look at them after the meeting.”

She nodded once before stepping aside as I walked past her. The hallway outside my office overlooked the rest of the building with phones ringing almost nonstop. The assistants of others hurried from office to office carrying folders while two agents argued quietly over a commercial lease that was supposed to close by noon. Nobody noticed me at first and then one by one the conversations died down.

“Morning, Mr. Laurent.”

“Morning.” I greeted back.

I acknowledged each greeting with a nod as I kept walking. Respect didn’t have to be demanded around here. If you built something worth respecting, it usually came on its own. By the time I reached the conference room, the conversations on the other side of the glass had already started. As architects, engineers, attorneys, investors, meanwhile, everybody had an opinion before the meeting even began.

I wrapped my hand around the stainless-steel handle, pushed the door open, and every head in the room turned in my direction. The chatter stopped almost immediately. “Morning, gentlemen.”

I pulled my chair out at the head of the table, set my phone beside a stack of blueprints, and finally looked down at the scale model sitting in the middle of the room. If everything went according to plan, Harbor Point would be one of the biggest developments Empire had ever put its name on.

The room settled down once I sat down, but I didn’t mistake silence for preparation. It was habit. People tended to stop talking when I walked in, then waited to see where I was looking before they decided what mattered. I let the quietness linger a little longer while flipping through the packet Stephanie had placed in front of me. it was thirty-two pages of projections, environmental reports, contractor bids, revised budgets and architectural renderings. Half of it I’d already read before sunrise.

“Alright,” I said without looking up. “Let’s stop reading paperwork everybody should’ve read before they got here. Tell me what’s changed.”

The project manager, David, straightened up in his chair. “The only real issue right now is the drainage revision. Engineering believes it’ll push us back another four to six weeks.”

I finally looked up. “Engineering believes?”

He hesitated. “That’s their recommendation.”

“So whose meeting am I in?” I questioned as the room stayed quiet. I closed the packet and slid it toward the center of the table. “If engineering’s running the project, I can go back upstairs.”

A couple of nervous chuckles floated around the room before dying just as quickly. David cleared his throat. “What I mean is, after reviewing the revised report…”

“No.” I shook my head cutting him off. “Say what you mean the first time.”

He nodded. “We’ll be delayed.”

“There you go.”

I leaned back in my chair, with my eyes drifting toward the scale model sitting in the middle of the table. Somebody had spent weeks putting it together. Every balcony, every palm tree, every parking entrance had been handcrafted down to the smallest detail. It was impressive as fuck. It also didn’t make anybody any money.

“The delay don’t bother me.” I said. That caught their attention. “What bothers me is why we’re delayed.”

The structural engineer slid a set of plans toward me. “We can redesign the retention system.”

“You should’ve.” I grilled him. He simply dropped his head and looked down at the table while I continued. “The county requirements were updated almost a year ago.”

Nobody answered. I wasn’t saying it to embarrass him. I was saying it because somebody should’ve caught it before today.

One of the investors folded his hands together. “What’s the solution?”

I stood, unbuttoning my jacket as I walked toward the model. My finger traced the back portion of the property where the retention area sat before moving toward the waterfront. “You move this line.”

The architect stood beside me. “That affects the parking garage.”

“It affects everything.”

He studied the model. “Well, actually you’re right.”

“I know.”

He laughed quietly before looking back down. I continued. “If we shift the garage entrance twenty feet east, we gain enough room without sacrificing any residential units.”

“Exactly.” The investor smiled.

“So how long?” I asked.

The architect looked toward the engineer.

“If we start today…” He paused, already doing the math in his head. “About two weeks.”

I raised a brow. “Not six?”

He shook his head. “No.”

I looked back toward David. “Call the contractor after this meeting.”

He immediately nodded. “I’ll handle it.”

“And don’t ask permission.” I told him. He frowned as if he didn’t understand so I got my point across. “If they’re waiting on paperwork, get the paperwork. If they’re waiting on a signature, find whoever’s holding the pen. I don’t pay people to tell me why something can’t get done. I pay them to figure out how it gets done.”

The room got quiet again, but this time it was different. The pens started moving across notepads and the architect was already marking up a fresh set of plans. David had his phone in his hand typing notes as fast as he could. Now we were getting somewhere, I thought. Another thirty minutes passed before the last item on the agenda was crossed off. Everyone then gathered their folders, with a few of them stopping to shake my hand on the way out.

“Appreciate your time, Lev. We’ll get those revisions over this afternoon. I’ll have the updated numbers by close of business.”

I acknowledged each one with a nod, waiting until the conference room finally emptied before grabbing my phone. I had three missed calls and one text.

Marv: Pull up when you done.

I looked at the message for a second before slipping the phone back into my pocket. Marv wasn’t the type to text unless he actually wanted to see me. That usually meant one of two things. He’d either found something, or something had found him.

I grabbed my keys off the conference table, buttoned my jacket, and headed for the elevator. The ride downstairs was quiet, giving me just enough time to clear my head before stepping back into the heat. The valet already had my truck waiting at the curb.

As I climbed behind the wheel, my phone vibrated again with Marv calling and I answered through the truck’s speakers. “Yeah.”

“Where you at?”

“Leaving the office. What’s up?”

“You pulling up?”

I didn’t know what the rush was. “I’m on my way.”

“Aight.”

He hung up first which was typical. The warehouse doors were loud as they rolled open, letting the afternoon heat inside. Forklifts moved in the distance, backing pallets into place while a couple of Empire employees loaded materials onto a flatbed trailer. The smell of fresh lumber, diesel fuel, and concrete dust lingered in the air, blending into the familiar scent of another job getting done.

I spotted Marv before he spotted me. He was standing near the loading dock with one foot propped against a pallet of tile, the was phone pressed to his ear while talking with his free hand. Even from where I stood, something about him felt off. His movements were quicker than usual, almost impatient, like his body couldn’t decide whether it wanted to stand still or keep moving.

He ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket. “There he go,” he called out, flashing a grin. “Thought your rich ass was gone have me waiting all day.”

I smirked as I walked over and bumped fists with him. “You still here, ain’t you?”

“Ain’t got nowhere else to be.”

“Stop lying, you always got somewhere to be that’s why you always in trouble.”

He laughed, but it was short-lived. Before another word came out of his mouth, he rubbed the underside of his nose with the back of his thumb, then immediately started talking again.

“I heard Paper out.”

I didn’t react how he expected. I kept it cool. “He been out a few days.”

He cocked his head to the side. “So you knew?”

“I know everything worth knowing.”

Marv started pacing in front of me, with his Timberlands scraping against the concrete as he talked faster than normal. “They saying he back on the north side already. Nigga walking around like ain’t shit happened. Like he forgot what he did.”

“He ain’t forget.”

“Nah…” Marv shook his head, his jaw shifting from side to side as he stared off toward the open bay doors. “He just think niggas forgot.” He looked back at me. “I’ma kill him.”

The words came out flat with no emotion. I studied him instead of answering. His eyes were too fucking wide. His jaw hadn’t stopped moving since I arrived like he was grinding his teeth without realizing it. Every few seconds he’d lick his lips or wipe beneath his nose, and he couldn’t stay planted in one spot for more than a few seconds before turning around and pacing again.

“When the last time you slept?” I asked him.

He frowned. “What?”

“I asked you a fucking question.”

“The fuck sleep got to do with Paper?”

I ignored him and asked again. “When the last time you slept?”

Marv let out a dry laugh and shook his head. “Man, I don’t know, last night.”

“You sure?” I glared into his eyes studying them.

“The fuck is this, twenty questions?” He tried to laugh it off, but I kept looking at him.

“So you back on that shit huh?”

His smile disappeared. “I ain’t back on nothing.”

“Then why won’t your jaw sit still? I ain’t no fucking fool. I been around the game long enough. If you getting high off your own supply that’s even more fucked up.”

His tongue instinctively pushed against the inside of his cheek before he caught himself. “Man, you trippin’.”

“Nah.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I know you.”

For a second, neither one of us said anything. The only sounds were the forklift backing up somewhere behind us and a radio playing low from one of the work trucks.

Marv finally looked away. “I just been stressed.”

“You always stressed.”

“It ain’t the same.”

“No?”

He rubbed his nose again. “I keep thinking about that damn money too. I replay that night every day,” he admitted. “I know I had it. I know exactly where I put it. Then I wake up in that hospital, and fifty bands just vanish.” He looked back at me, frustration written all over his face. “That shit don’t even make sense. That shit might not be a lot for you, but it’s a lot for me.” He sighed and dragged both hands over his face before letting them fall back to his sides. “I just hate loose ends.”

“So do I.”

He looked out toward the parking lot again. “And Paper?”

I reached into my pocket for my keys. “If Paper really home…” I paused just long enough for him to look back at me. “He ain’t gone stay comfortable for long.”

A slow grin spread across Marv’s face. “I knew you wasn’t gone let that slide.”

“I don’t let nothing slide.” I started toward my truck before stopping long enough to glance back over my shoulder. “And stay off that shit.”

His grin faded. “I told you, I ain’t⁠—”

I cut him off. “Shut the fuck up, you rubbed your nose six times since I got here. You ain’t stood still for more than ten seconds, and your mouth been moving the whole conversation. If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you’re condemned to keep repeating those muhfuckas.” I warned him. Marv looked down at the concrete but didn’t answer. I shook my head. “Don’t make me worry about burying you before they get to burying Paper.”

I climbed into my truck and shut the door, leaving him standing there alone with that sentence hanging in the air. The engine roared, and as I pulled away from the warehouse, I caught one last glimpse of him in the rearview mirror. He was still standing in the exact same spot. Still rubbing his fucking nose. I shook my head because anything he did, BJ always made me responsible for him. we weren’t kids no more and I couldn’t police no grown ass man.

I scrolled my phone until I found Navy’s name and pressed call. She answered after the second ring. “Hello?”

“Where you at?” I questioned in a stern voice.

There was a brief pause before she answered as if she had to catch the voice, but when she did, she answered. “Home.”

Silence lingered for a few seconds before I spoke again. “I’m coming to pick up that package.”

“Okay.” She said. She didn’t sound too timid and wasn’t no need to ask how I knew where she lived either.

“I’ll call you when I’m outside.”

Without waiting on another question, I ended the call and pulled out of the lot. About twenty-five minutes later, I turned into the apartment complex and eased the truck to the curb directly in front of her building. Kids were riding bicycles through the parking, and it looked like every other apartment complex in Miami. Ordinary.

I grabbed my phone and hit her number again. “I’m here.”

“Okay…give me one second.” I heard a door shut on her end before she spoke again. “Actually…can you come around to the side of the building?”

I frowned. “The side?”

“Yeah.”

I looked toward the front entrance, then over at the narrow drive that wrapped around the building. “Aight.”

I shifted the truck into drive and rolled slowly around the side, curious about what the difference was. The front entrance was just as easy, so why have me come back here? The answer came about a minute later. The rear exit opened, and Navy stepped outside carrying a small black backpack over one shoulder. I understood immediately that she didn’t want the whole complex watching her climb into a truck, or maybe she was hiding from somebody.

She walked toward me, adjusting the strap of the backpack before stopping beside the driver’s window. This was the first time I’d seen her looking like herself. Meaning, no hospital scrubs, no glitter, and no six-inch heels. She just had on a pair of black leggings, a fitted white crop top, Gucci slides. Her hair was wrapped into a loose ponytail that fell over one shoulder, and her face was completely bare without makeup, lashes, or none of that shit. She didn’t need any of it.

There was something different about a woman who could wash everything off and still look better than most people did dressed up. I caught myself holding the thought longer than I should have because this was business, that’s all this was.

She walked to the driver’s side, and I rolled down the window. She lifted the backpack slightly. “I have it. It’s nineteen thousand.”

I unlocked the passenger door. “Hop in.”

She hesitated with her eyes moving briefly around the parking lot before she walked around the front of the truck and climbed inside. The smell of vanilla followed her in, mixing with the faint scent of fresh laundry. She set the backpack on her lap and unzipped it showing me the money like she was in the middle of a dope transaction.

“Why you ain’t at work?” I quizzed.

She looked up while pulling out a thick envelope wrapped in a rubber band allowing a small laugh escaped her lips. “I slept so good after I got home, this morning I called out.”

“You needed it. I don’t see no bags underneath your eyes.”

“I guess I did.” She handed me the envelope. “I’ve been baking all day instead.”

As I reached for it, I noticed the streak of white dust running across the front of her leggings. There was another smudge near the hem of her shirt that she’d apparently missed while brushing herself off. “So that’s what that is.”

She frowned. “What?”

I nodded toward her leg. “You got flour all over you.”

She looked down and immediately laughed, brushing at her thigh with the palm of her hand. “Oh my God.” She shook her head. “I’ve been in the kitchen since this morning. I didn’t even realize.”

“You must’ve had a few orders.”

“I did.” She smiled, allowing her expression to reach my eyes this time. “Birthday cake, cupcakes, and a baby shower cake. I still have one more to finish tonight.” The smile faded just as quickly as it had appeared. “I’m really trying to get this money back to you, Lev.”

I looked down at the envelope resting in my hand before setting it on the center console without counting it. “I know.”

She let out a quiet breath. “I just want all of this behind me.”

For the first time since she’d climbed into the truck, she looked tired in a different way. Not exhausted like the woman I’d seen at the club last night but mentally worn down. Like every decision she made now revolved around chasing a number she wished she’d never owed in the first place.

I could’ve told her don’t worry about the rest because I didn’t need it. However, she had to take this L and learn a very valuable lesson. On the outside, a little boy chased a basketball across the parking lot while his mother called after him from a second-floor balcony and that was the only sounds in the truck at this very moment. Before I could say another word, she received a face time call and Marv’s whole name flashed across the screen. She briefly looked at me and then back at the phone.

“Answer it,” I ordered her.

She pressed the green button to accept the call. “Hey Marv.”

“Say nurse, why I ain’t seen you? You trying to dog me now?”

I could see the confusion on her face. “Oh Lord, Marv you came to my job yesterday morning. Are you sure you’re okay? You just seem like something is off?”

“First that nigga Lev, now you.” He told her. “I’m cool nurse, I promise.”

Navy looked as if she was unsure about that and I saw it all over her face. She cleared her throat before she said anything else. “Okay, well do you mind if I call you back? I have to finish taking an order.”

“Yeah call me back. I wanna take you out, don’t forget.”

He ended the call and Navy looked at me with an usure look on her face. I knew right then she was studying Marv just like I was studying her. “Um, well I guess I have to go then. I have to finish up so I can make it to the club tonight.”

I nodded towards the passenger door signaling that it was cool to get out. She placed her hand on the handle and opened it. When she was completely out, I said fuck it and told her what she should know. If she didn’t stay away from Marv, she would end up hurt and if I wanted her dead, I could’ve killed her myself.

“Aye, you need to make better decisions with who you choose to entertain your time with.” I told her.

“What does that mean?” She quizzed looking lost.

“It means, you should probably stay away from Marv, and that’s the only and last thing I’ma say to help you out a lil bit. Close the door.” I told her.

She didn’t ask any questions at all which showed me that she was learning that when I spoke, I knew what I was talking about. I watched her walk back to her door and disappear inside before I pulled off, and that was simply out of habit.

After a long day like this, I knew exactly what I needed but first I checked the family group chat. BJ wanted the whole family at the family reunion coming in a few months and she wanted everyone to have shirts. I came from a big ass family with too many cousins to count. My siblings were a whole other story because it was five of us spread out across the world since everybody got grown and started doing their own thing. I replied and let them know that I was cool with whatever they wanted to do. Next I called Milan, and she knew exactly what time it was.

CHAPTER 18

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Day Six

By the time I made it back into the VIP room, the tequila had finally started doing what I needed it to do. Not enough to have me stumbling around the club looking stupid, but enough to loosen the knot that had been sitting between my shoulders since I clocked in, which reminded me that I still needed to find time to book that massage.

The music from the main floor blasted through the walls making the crystal fringes on my costume tremble every time the bass dropped. The room was dim except for the gold lighting beneath the shelves and the soft purple glow coming in from the hallway whenever the door opened. Everything in there was made to feel private, expensive, and far away from whatever problems waited outside.

Hell, that was probably why men liked it because they could come inside, spend way too much money, and pretend they were somebody else for a couple of hours. The man in front of me definitely had money to waste. He was older, probably somewhere in his early fifties, white, clean-cut, and corporate down to the cuff links. His suit jacket had been folded over the arm of the couch, and his was tie loose, while the first two buttons of his shirt were undone. His hair was gray on the sides but dark in other parts like an equal mix, but it only made him look better in a fine kind of way. He looked like the kind of man who sat at the head of a table and made people nervous with one look. His face was handsome in that polished, expensive way, and judging by the watch on his wrist, he had never checked the price of anything a day in his life.

He had been respectful since we walked in, which was more than I could say for half the men who paid for VIP from what I heard. Some of these girls had a terrible experience and end up fucking or sucking dick every night, but not me though, and thank God. It was something about my aura that was comforting to them and most of them wanted me to dance and be their therapist at the same time. This was one of the main reasons Tasha didn’t work VIP. For one, after dealing with her mother and my problems constantly, she doesn’t want to hear anyone else’s problems, and for two, she damn sure didn’t want to slut herself out to strangers. Me personally, if anyone asked me in the sessions, I’d tell them no, find another VIP room with a girl who is willing.

The guy’s hands rested against my waist while I moved in front of him, never gripping too hard, and never getting too bold. Every now and then his palms slid along my sides feeling my softness, but he kept them where they belonged. That alone made him easier to deal with. I was in no mood to spend the night slapping hands and reminding a grown man that paying for my time didn’t mean he bought me.

My costume helped keep his attention without me having to do much. It was black and silver, fitted so perfectly it looked like someone poured it right onto me, with hand-sewn stones scattered across the bodice and thin chains draping low around my hips. The matching stockings had crystals running up the sides, and the whole thing caught the light every time I turned. It was one of the better outfits in my locker, that I’d just purchased.

Tonight, I needed serious money. I needed twenty-five hundred dollars, to be exact and since this man had booked two full hours, I planned on smiling, nodding, and letting him believe whatever he wanted as long as that money ended up in my hand.

His fingers loosened around my waist after a while, and he leaned his head back against the couch with a tired sigh. “You can stop.” He said. I slowed down and looked at him over my shoulder, making sure I heard him right. He gave me a faint smile. “I’m serious, come sit down.”

That was the best thing he had said all night because my thighs were beginning to burn, and those heels were cute until they were trying to separate my feet from my damn ankles. I stepped away from him without letting the relief show too much and reached for the glass I had left on the table.

“You tired?” he asked.

“No,” I lied, taking a small sip. “Just making sure you’re enjoying yourself.”

“I am.” His eyes followed me as I moved toward the other end of the couch. Before I could sit, he tapped his thigh with one hand. “Here.”

I looked at his lap, then at him. He wasn’t giving off the kind of energy that made my skin crawl, so I eased down sideways across his legs, keeping one hand wrapped around my glass. His placed his arm around my waist, loose enough that I could move whenever I wanted.

For a second, he just sat there staring into the liquor in his glass. Then he sighed again and it wasn’t a normal sigh either. It was one of those deep, worn-out sighs that usually came right before somebody started telling you things you never asked to know. I already knew where this was headed.

“You ever feel like everybody around you wants something?”

I almost looked at him crazy. Sir, you are in a strip club. Of course everybody around you wants something. Instead, I softened my face and gave him the kind of patient expression that said I was listening. “Sometimes.”

He nodded slowly like I had just confirmed something important. “My wife wants the lifestyle. My partners want the company, and my son wants access to my money without having to earn any of it. My daughter barely speaks to me unless she needs something.”

Here we go, I thought. I brought the glass to my lips so he wouldn’t see the reaction trying on my face. The way men came into this club and unloaded their whole life story on women wearing seven inches of shoe needed to be studied. They wouldn’t sit in therapy, they wouldn’t talk to their friends, they wouldn’t communicate with their wives but put a woman in a rhinestone costume in front of them, and suddenly they were ready to dig up wounds.

I kept my voice soft. “That has to be hard.”

“It is.” He looked at me as if I was the first person who had ever understood him. “You build something from nothing, and all anybody sees is what they can take from it.”

I nodded slowly. Meanwhile, all I could see was that two hours had already been taken from my life, and I needed my twenty-five hundred before he decided to turn this into a three-part documentary. He went on about his business next. Something about a merger, board members, and a man named Howard who had betrayed him after twenty years. I had no clue what Howard did, but apparently it was serious because the man’s jaw flexed every time he said his name.

“Howard sat across from me every Monday for two decades,” he said, swirling the ice in his glass. “Then he went behind my back.”

“Mmm. That has to be tough, shame on Howard.”

“He smiled in my face while negotiating with my competition.”

I frowned and shook my head looking sympathetic. “That’s terrible.”

It probably was. Still, I didn’t care about Howard. Howard could have set the whole building on fire for all I cared, as long as it didn’t affect my money. The man kept talking, with his voice growing more irritated as he moved from Howard to his wife, then from his wife to his children. He told me his marriage had been dead for years, but neither one of them wanted to be the first to leave. He said his son resented him, and that daughter of his felt like he missed too many birthdays and important moments, while his wife slept in another wing of the house.

Another fucking wing, I thought to myself. This man didn’t say another room, he said another damn wing. I had to lower my eyes to hide the brief flicker of disbelief that crossed my face. Rich people really lived different. My husband had barely let me breathe in another room, and this man’s wife had a whole section of the house where she didn’t have to see him. That sounded less like marital trouble and more like luxury to me.

“I don’t think she even knows me anymore,” he said.

I rested my hand lightly against his shoulder. “Maybe you both changed.”

He stared at me for a long second, like I had just said something profound, but I hadn’t. It was common sense, but if he wanted to think I was wise, I was not about to stop him.

“You’re different,” he said.

I smiled because that was clearly what he needed. “How?”

“Because you listen and that’s something most women don’t do.”

Baby, I was listening for that money. I didn’t say that, though. I only tilted my head and let him keep talking. By the time he got to the part about his daughter no longer answering his calls, some of the humor left my thoughts. Pain was pain, no matter how much money somebody had, and the look on his face told me that part was real. His eyes lowered, and for the first time that night, he didn’t look like a powerful man with an expensive taste. He looked like a father who had no idea how to fix what he had broken.

“She says I chose work over her,” he said quietly.

“Did you?” I asked.

His eyes met mine. I didn’t mean to ask it that directly, but it was too late to take it back. He let out a humorless laugh. “Probably.”

“Then maybe start there.”

“Start where?”

“With telling her she was right.” I told him.

He looked stunned. I shrugged. “You want her to answer your calls, but maybe she wants you to admit what happened before she can hear anything else.”

The room got quiet except for the muffled music shaking the walls. For a moment, I thought I might have said too much.

Then he nodded slowly. “That’s the first honest thing anybody has said to me in a long time.”

Before I could answer, he glanced at the time on his watch and sighed. “I’ve taken up your whole night.”

Yes, you have. I thought. “It’s okay,” I said, because customer service was still part of the job.

He reached for his jacket, slid his hand into the inside pocket, and pulled out a thick stack of money and just then my whole spirit lifted. He placed it in my hand, and I tried not to squeeze it too eagerly. The weight told me it was right, but I still planned on counting every dollar the second he left. Men could tell you about mergers and broken families all night, then somehow forget how numbers worked when it was time to pay.

“Twenty-five hundred,” he said. “And something extra for listening.”

Now that was how you healed. I smiled for real this time. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” He raised my hand and pressed a brief kiss to my knuckles before letting it go. “I needed this.”

Apparently, so did I. I slid off his lap and reached for my small rhinestone pouch. Before I could tuck the envelope inside, three firm knocks hit the door.

The man looked toward it. “Come in.”

The door opened, and the first thing I saw was one of the security guards standing in the hallway. The second thing I saw made every relaxed feeling the tequila had given me disappear. Lev stepped around him. He didn’t rush into the room or announce himself because he didn’t have to, his presence did enough.

His dark jeans sat low on his waist, and the gold watch on his wrist caught the soft lighting when he reached back and pushed the door wider. His expression gave nothing away and truthfully it never really did. The corporate man stood and reached for his jacket.

Lev’s eyes moved over him before landing on his eyes. “Your time up.” His voice was calm, but it carried the kind of weight that made arguing with him felt like it might be a bad decision.

The man checked his watch and chuckled. “Looks like it is.”

I stayed where I was, suddenly too aware of the money in my hand, the costume on my body, and the fact that Lev had walked in another night where I didn’t expect to see him. My body always remembered what my mind tried to push away. I owed his ass money and a lot of it. The only reason I was standing in that club at all was because of the debt hanging over my head. No matter how calm he seemed, I never forgot who he was or what could happen if I failed to pay him back.

The man slipped on his jacket, gave me one last smile, and passed Lev on his way out. Lev stepped aside just enough to let him through. The guard pulled the door shut behind him, leaving the two of us alone. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. I tucked the money into my pouch, but my fingers felt clumsy as hell right now. The quietness lingered while Lev crossed the room and reached for the unopened bottle at the bar. He twisted the cap off, lifted it to his mouth, and took a slow drink straight from it. I watched him over my shoulder and he looked too comfortable, like walking into my VIP room was normal and he had every right to be here.

My stomach flipped when he sat onto the couch, stretching one arm across the back cushion. He leaned into the leather and looked at me with that same steady gaze that always made me feel like he could see past whatever I was trying to hide.

I licked my lips before speaking. “Are you stalking me now?”

His lifted his brow. “It look like a man like me gotta stalk somebody?”

I shook my head right away. “No.”

There was no attitude in my voice and none of that sassy shit I might have used with anybody else. I was too aware of the debt between us for that and too aware that he could ask for his money whenever he wanted, and I still didn’t have enough to give him.

He took another sip and studied me. “Then why you ask?”

“Because you keep showing up.” The words slipped out before I could soften them, and my heartbeat jumped. I quickly added, “I mean, I just didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I know.” That was all he said with no further explanation or reason for why he was here. He set the bottle down on the table, then patted his thigh once. “Come here.”

My eyes moved from his face to his lap, then back again. The room suddenly felt too warm while he waited. There was no impatience in his expression, but there was an expectation I didn’t know how to refuse. I reached for the bottle first, more so to give my hands something to do than because I needed another drink. I took a small sip, placed it back down, and crossed the short distance between us.

My steps were slower than usual. When I reached him, I eased onto his lap sideways, careful and stiff at first. The silver chains around my hips shifted as I settled on him. His hand came to rest on my waist. He wasn’t gripping me, and wasn’t pulling me closer, just holding me there with a calmness that made me more nervous than his aggression would have.

My eyes stayed lowered as he picked up the bottle again, took another drink, then offered it to me. I accepted it. “Tell me more,” he said.

I frowned and looked up at him. “About what?”

“Your life.” The words landed came out so easy like it was nothing.

I furrowed by brows. “What about it?”

His gaze stayed on mine. “Start with the real reason you wanted me to pull over behind your apartment.”

My fingers tightened around the neck the bottle. Of all the things he could have asked me, I had not expected that. I looked away, focusing on the gold light beneath the shelves. “It’s just extremely complicated.”

“You hiding from somebody?” He questioned giving me a stone look.

My throat felt like it was getting tighter now. He hadn’t said it accusingly way, he said it like a fact. I swallowed and forced myself to look back at him. “I just didn’t want to be seen.”

“Why?”

I stared down at the bottle in my hand and thought about lying. I could have told him I had been drunk, overwhelmed, confused. Anything would have been easier than telling the truth, but the way he waited made me feel like he already knew.

“Well, my estranged husband thinks he still owns me, so he pops up sometimes and I never know when he watching me, so I use the back instead of the front and that’s the truth.” I explained noticing how Lev didn’t move and the hand at my waist stayed where it was. I took another deep breath. “I never knew what kind of mood he was going to be in.”

His eyes sharpened slightly, but he still said nothing. He was a listener, so he let me finish. “Before I moved, he watched everything,” I said. “How long it took me to get home. Who called, who texted, or if I stopped somewhere after work, he wanted to know why. If I took too long in the shower, he wanted to know what I was doing.”

Lev flexed his jaws, but he didn’t interrupt. I kept talking because stopping would have been worse. “The garage was the only place I could breathe for a few minutes without him standing over me. Sometimes I would park, turn the car off, and just sit there in the dark.” I confessed. “I knew the minute I opened that door; I had to become whatever version of me that kept him calm.” I blinked hard. “I hated going home.”

For the first time all night, I wasn’t smiling for money, and I wasn’t pretending like I had everything under control. I was not Navy from the club, dressed in crystals and performing like nothing in the world could touch me. I was just a woman admitting that the place she was supposed to feel safest had become the place she feared most and that’s why I was in the situation I was in.

Lev leaned back slightly, but his eyes never left mine. “What he do to you?” he quizzed. I hesitated and then my mouth opened, but nothing came out. He pressed his hand a little more firmly against my waist, in not in a way that hurts, but just enough to let me know he was there. “Tell me,” he said again.

For some reason, sitting in that dim VIP room on the lap of the man I owed more money than I could afford to lose, I believed he actually wanted the truth. The words sat in on the tip of my tongue a second before they finally found their way out. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Lev didn’t rush me. He sat there with that same unreadable expression he’d worn since the day I’d met him, giving nothing away while somehow making it feel like he expected the truth. I lowered my eyes to the bottle turning slowly between my hands before taking a swig.

“Rome wasn’t always…” I paused, searching for the right word. “He wasn’t always the man he became. When we first got together, he made me feel protected. I thought having somebody who wanted to know where I was all the time meant he cared.” I let out a quiet laugh at my own ignorance. “I didn’t know the difference between somebody protecting you and somebody trying to own you. It started off little, asking where I was, or who I was with. Shit like why it took me fifteen minutes to get somewhere instead of ten.” I swallowed. “Then it became checking my phone, questioning every conversation, accusing me of things I wasn’t even doing all because he was doing it all.”

I could still remember trying to defend myself. Trying to prove things that never happened. Trying to satisfy a man who had already decided I was guilty. “It got to the point where I was explaining why I stopped for gas.” I chuckled in a low, nervous tone. “Imagine having to explain why your tank was on E.”

Lev never interrupted, not once. He removed the bottle from my hand and took a sip straight from the bottle while I continued. “He controlled everything.” I looked down at my hands. “And because he made more money than I did…” I shrugged. “He made sure I never forgot it. That part stung more than I liked admitting. “He’d pay every bill in the house and yeah it sounds good when you say it out loud, but every argument somehow ended with him reminding me who paid for what and when he got mad, sometimes beat my ass.”

I didn’t cry because I’d cried enough over Rome’s ass. “He never had to apologize because he’d come back with flowers or jewelry or a vacation and I’d convince myself that’s just how relationships worked. Then he got another woman pregnant. I don’t even think that was the part that broke me. I think what broke me was realizing he’d already been living another life while making me feel guilty for breathing too damn loud.”

Lev’s eyes never left mine but for some strange reason, I could tell he didn’t like what I was telling him. “What happened after that?”

“He emptied my accounts.” I looked over at him. He knew if I had money, I’d leave. So, he made sure I couldn’t.” My shoulders rose and fell again. I stayed longer than I should’ve because I didn’t know how I was gonna survive.” I laughed in bitter kind of way. “Funny thing is I survived anyway.”

The words lingered between us in silence for a few seconds before I continued. “When I stole that money.” I closed my eyes for a second. “I wasn’t thinking, I was desperate and I knew exactly what I was doing.” I admitted finally looking into his eyes without shying away. “I did the crime, so now I’m doing the time.”

Neither one of us spoke. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable either, in fact it was needed this time. Eventually, I pushed myself to my feet as the weight of everything I’d just admitted felt like a weight lifted off my chest, there was something freeing about finally saying it out loud. I reached into my rhinestone pouch and pulled out the stack of cash Mr. Chambers had handed me minutes earlier.

Straightening the bills in my palms, I crossed the small space between us and held them out. “Here’s three thousand.” I said. Lev looked at the money before taking it from me. I dug back into my bag again. “Hold on.” I told him.

He watched me fish around until my fingers wrapped around the tiny receipt book I’d started carrying. It wasn’t fancy, it was just a little carbon copy booklet I’d picked up from an office supply store. Most people would’ve thought it was ridiculous, but I thought it kept people honest. Flipping to the next blank page, I uncapped my pen and carefully filled in the date, the amount, and the running balance before tearing the top copy free. Then I flipped back one page which was the receipt from the last payment, and I tore that one out too.

Holding both slips between my fingers, I handed them over. “This one was from when you came by my place.” I pointed to the other. “And this one’s today’s.” I tapped the total I’d written near the bottom. “This three makes twenty-two thousand. I’ve got twenty-eight thousand more to go.”

For the first time since he’d walked into the room, something almost changed across his face. It wasn’t a smile because Lev didn’t strike me as somebody who smiled often but there was the faintest hint of amusement in his eyes as he looked down at the little receipt book still resting in my hand. “You made receipts.”

I smiled feeling like my damn cheeks were red and filled with heat. “I like keeping records.”

He nodded his head. “So I see.”

“I don’t want no confusion later.” I slipped the pen back into the spiral binding. “When money is involved, folks remember things differently.”

He looked at me another second before folding the two receipts together and slipping them into his pocket without another word. I blinked because honestly I hadn’t expected him to keep them, but I was learning it was always a method behind his madness.

He stood up adjusting the cuff of his watch. “Get dressed.”

I frowned. “For what?”

His gaze settled on me. “Come take a ride.”

That was it, he once again didn’t give me an explanation, or no damn destination. He turned and walked toward the door as if the conversation was already over.

I stared after him. “A ride?” The door closed behind him. I looked around the empty VIP room before blowing out a long breath. “What the hell…”

Fifteen minutes later, I stood in front of the dressing room mirror wiping away the last of the glitter clinging beneath my eyes. The woman staring back at me looked more tired than she had when the night started. I peeled off my costume, traded it for black leggings, an oversized charcoal hoodie, and a pair of clean sneakers before pulling my hair into a low ponytail simply choosing comfort over everything. Stuffing my costume into my locker, I grabbed my bag and headed toward the hallway. The music hit me full force as soon as I stepped onto the club floor. Girls still worked the poles while customers crowded around the stage throwing bills into the air like rent wasn’t due in a week.

Just as I reached the front, Tasha came down from the main stage fanning herself with a stack of ones. When she spotted me, her smile disappeared. “Navy!”

I stopped in my tracks and she hurried over, still breathing hard from her set. “Where you going?”

“I’m heading out.” I shrugged.

Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits immediately. “With that man?”

I hesitated and looked around. “Yeah.”

Tasha grabbed my arm before I could take another step. “Girl, have you lost your damn mind?” A couple dancers glanced over before going back to what they were doing. “You know the rules. We do not leave with customers.” Her voice dropped lower. “Ever!”

“I know that Tasha.” I admitted while noticing how people were looking at us while acting like they weren’t paying attention.

“No, you don’t, because if you knew, you wouldn’t be standing here telling me you leaving with one.”

I glanced toward the entrance where Lev waited just beyond the glass doors. “It’s different.”

“Ain’t a damn thing different.” She followed my line of sight. “Who is he?”

I looked back at her. “That’s Lev.”

She blinked a few times. “Lev who? Not Marv’s Lev… not the Lev who had a gun pressed against your chin ready to blow your damn head off. Not the damn Lev who has your ass in this club just to pay me back.”

“That’s not fair Tasha; he didn’t walk me in this club. I chose this as a source to pay him back. Hell, I didn’t know that he owned the damn building.”

Tasha’s mouth fell open and she frowned. “The owner-owner? Like he owns the building but not the business itself?”

I nodded. “Well, yeah.”

She looked back toward the front again, genuinely stunned. “I see him in here every now and then.” Her eyes stayed glued to the door. “I just thought he was one of them rich investors.” She looked at me again. “You still don’t need to be getting in no car with him.”

“I’ll be alright.” I assured her while not even knowing where I was going. I just figured if he was going to hurt me, that could’ve been done by now.

“You sure?” She asked.

The question was tricky because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but something told me I needed to see where this ride was going. I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’ll call you.”

“You better!”

“I will.”

With one last look at my best friend, I adjusted the strap of my bag, took a deep breath, and walked toward the front doors where Lev was waiting. The mystery wasn’t whether he’d ask another question. It was why he’d decided I was worth asking in the first place and why he even wanted me in his presence.

CHAPTER 19

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

By the time we pulled away from the club, Miami had settled into that strange space between the night and morning where the city still refused to go to sleep but I loved it. I watched it all through the passenger window while Lev drove, mostly because looking outside felt safer than looking at him especially since he still hadn’t told me where we were going nor had he asked whether I had plans.

All he did was give me a damn order, then walked out of the VIP room like there was no possibility I would tell him no. The scary part was that he had been right because twenty minutes later and I was sitting beside him in an oversized hoodie and tights, smelling like club mixed with vanilla body oil I had rubbed on my skin before I left.

I should have been asking more questions and truthfully any woman with good sense would have. Unfortunately, my good sense had been making questionable decisions all night. Lev drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other relaxed near the center console where a gun was propped. The dashboard lights cast a faint glow across his face, sharpening the angles of his cheekbones and catching the edge of the diamond in his ear. He had turned the music low and every few minutes, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye.

Lev had listened to every word I said tonight without giving me enough of a reaction to figure out what he was thinking. That was what made him so unsettling because most people exposed themselves when they were angry, offended, amused, or curious. Lev kept everything locked behind the same steady expression, leaving everybody else to guess.

I shifted in my seat and finally looked over at him. “You gonna tell me where we going?”

He kept his eyes on the road. “Not far.”

That wasn’t an answer, but the calm way he said it made me feel like asking again wouldn’t get me anything better. I tugged the sleeves of my hoodie over my hands and stared back out of the window. “You always take women on surprise rides in the middle of the night?”

His eyes slid toward me briefly before returning to the road. “You scared?”

The honest answer was yes but saying that felt too vulnerable after everything I had already confessed inside the club. “A little.”

“I wouldn’t have brought you if you needed to be.”

That should have comforted me. Somehow, it did and didn’t. I settled deeper into the seat and watched the scenery change as he drove farther from the noise and bright lights. The buildings became more spread out, and the traffic thinned until we were nearly alone, as tall hedges replaced the businesses that lined the earlier streets. Every now and then I caught a glimpse of a large house far behind iron gates, but the darkness kept most of them hidden.

The faint smell of salt reached me before I saw the water. I cracked the window a little farther, letting the cool breeze brush across my face. “We near the beach?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that where we going?”

He gave me another sideways glance. “You ask a lot of questions.”

I pressed my lips together, swallowing the reply that wanted to come out. Anybody else would have gotten something slick but I gave Lev silence. That was the difference between being intimidated and being stupid.

He turned onto a narrow road lined with palm trees, then slowed down in front of a tall private gate. The gate opened before he stopped completely, revealing a long driveway illuminated by small lights set into the ground. The tires rolled across pale stone while I leaned forward, trying to see beyond the landscaped trees and thick tropical plants surrounding the property.

When the house finally came into view, I forgot all about trying to play it cool. It sat low and wide against the dark sky, with cream colored stone, and glass. The warm light glowed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, reflecting off a strip of water that ran along the front like a shallow fountain or something. The place didn’t look like the kind of house somebody simply lived in. It looked staged for a magazine spread where nothing was ever out of place. Lev pulled beneath the covered entrance and cut the engine.

I stayed seated for a second, staring through the windshield. “This yours?”

“One of mine.”

Of course it was one of his. I had forgotten I was dealing with a man who could say things like that without sounding impressed by himself. He got out, and I followed, stepping into air that smelled clean. The wind carried the ocean, damp plants, and floral scents from the landscaping. I trailed him toward the front door with my eyes moving over the house and the Range Rover parked off to the side.

Lev unlocked the door and stepped back enough for me to enter first. The inside was even prettier with a wide-open space that stretched from the front entrance to a wall of glass at the back of the house, with pale wood floors running beneath oversized furniture in shades of cream, brown, and charcoal. A large piece of abstract artwork hung above a low fireplace, and the kitchen sat off to the left beneath black pendant lights that looked more like sculptures to me.

Everything was expensive, but it was not loud about it.

That was what made it feel different from the houses of men who wanted every guest to know how much they had spent. Lev’s place didn’t need to announce money because the materials and the space did it for him.

I moved farther inside while he locked the door behind us. “You live here?”

“Nah.”

He crossed toward the kitchen and reached for a set of switches on the wall. One press caused the lights near the back of the house to brighten, revealing an outdoor space that made me stop walking. Beyond the glass sat a long rectangular dark blue pool, surrounded by a wide patio with furniture and a covered section built around an outdoor kitchen. Past the pool, a wooden walkway cut through a strip of sea grass and disappeared toward the beach. The moon hung low above the water, showing a pale trail across the waves.

I slowly approached the glass. “Oh my God.”

Lev slid one of the doors open, and the sound of the ocean rushed inside. The air was cooler near the water, and the constant rhythm of the waves calmed something inside me. “This is beautiful.”

Lev came to stand a few feet away with his hands tucked into his pockets as he looked past me toward the beach. “I bought it for the location.”

“You rent this out?”

He shrugged. “When I want to.”

I turned toward him. “As an Airbnb?”

He nodded answering my question. I looked back at the house. “People must tear this place up.”

“Some try.” He replied.

Something in his tone told me the people who tried regretted it. I walked closer to the pool, staring at the way the edge seemed to disappear into the darkness beyond it. “You ever stay here?”

“I do sometimes but it just depends.”

“For what if you don’t mind me asking.”

“When I don’t want nobody bothering me.” He winked.

I could see that. The place felt removed from the rest of the world, like the gate had closed behind us and cut off every problem waiting outside it. For the first time since leaving the club, I realized I could not hear a car, a voice, or music from anywhere nearby. There was only the water and the faint rustle of palms moving in the breeze.

Lev went back inside, and I followed, reluctant to leave the view even though the glass walls kept it visible from almost every room. He opened a cabinet near the kitchen and pulled out a bottle, then set two short glasses on the counter. “You still drinking tequila?” he asked.

I slid onto one of the stools. “It depends. You trying to get me drunk?”

His eyes lifted to mine as he poured. “You think I need to?”

I started feeling hot all of a sudden. I looked down at my hands. “I didn’t say that.”

“Well, you asked it.”

I smiled and I accepted the glass he placed in front of me, taking a small sip to give myself something to do. The tequila was smoother than what we served at the club, but I wouldn’t have expected nothing less from him.

Lev leaned against the opposite side of the island with his own glass in hand. For a while, neither of us spoke. He seemed comfortable with the silence for now and I usually wasn’t but the quietness in that house didn’t awkward.

His gaze dropped to the rhinestone pouch I had carried inside and placed beside me. He studied me for a long moment. “You think I’d lie about what you paid me?”

“I don’t know you well enough to know what you’ll do.”

That answer seemed to satisfy him more than any reassurance would have. He took a drink and looked toward the water. “But you’re here with me right now though.”

“Guilty,” I sighed with a shy smirk before sipping my drink again.

Lev’s eyes focused on mine, but he didn’t force me back into that conversation. Instead, he lifted his glass and asked, “You hungry?”

The sudden change made me stare at him. “A little.”

He pulled out his phone. “What you eat?”

“Anything simple.” I told him all of a sudden feeling my stomach growl.

“That don’t answer the question.”

I looked around the expensive kitchen. “I don’t know, a burger, fries. Something normal.”

He made one call and said, “I need two smash burgers, fries, and fruit. Bring it here to the Air Bnb.” That was the entire conversation. He ended the call and placed the phone beside his glass.

I stared at him. “You got somebody on call to make you burgers at four in the morning?”

“He’s up, and if he isn’t up, he gets up for me because he’s paid well.”

“That don’t mean he wanted to be up though.” I laughed.

“He’ll get paid good.”

I laughed under my breath this time. “That is such a rich person answer.”

He shrugged. “What was I supposed to say?”

“That you feel bad.”

“I don’t.”

At least he was honest. We moved back outside while we waited, taking our glasses with us. I removed my shoes and curled into one corner of a wide outdoor sofa while Lev sat on the opposite end, with his posture relaxed but his attention still fixed on me. The first hint of dawn had begun to show across the horizon.

He asked me about the hospital, and for the first time I got to talk about something that had nothing to do with Rome, stripping, stolen money, or surviving. I told him what I liked about working in the ER, how fast everything moved, and how some nights made me feel useful while others left me sitting in my car wondering whether I could keep doing it.

“You ever think about leaving?” he asked.

I frowned. “What? The hospital?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, sometimes and then I remember I actually like nursing. I just hate what it takes out of me.”

“What would you do if money wasn’t a problem?”

The question made me pause because nobody had asked me that in years. Rome had always told me what made sense, what fit around his schedule, and what I should be grateful for. Somewhere along the way, I had stopped imagining a life built around anything I wanted.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Maybe something slower. Somewhere I could still help people without feeling like I’m watching them fall apart every day.”

Lev leaned forward, resting his forearms against his knees. “You good at it though.”

“I am.”

He nodded in agreeance. The chef arrived not long after, carrying two bags and a tray of cut fruit. He was a middle-aged man with sleepy eyes and a calm familiarity that told me this wasn’t the first unreasonable hour Lev had called him. He set everything inside, spoke quietly with Lev, then left without asking who I was.

The burgers were exactly what I needed because the thin patties had crisp edges, melted cheese, grilled onions, and soft bread that soaked up just enough grease to make a mess just how I liked it. The fries were hot, salted, and scattered with tiny pieces of herbs, while the fruit looked like each piece had been personally selected.

We ate at the counter, and the conversation lightened up even more. Lev told me how he had gotten into real estate after losing almost everything during his case. He didn’t give me all the details, but he gave me enough to understand he had built the life around us from the pieces left over after the government had tried to strip him clean.

He spoke about property the way some men spoke about women, and it wasn’t excitement, it was possession. He understood value, timing, and what other people overlooked. He could look at an old building and see what it would become before anybody else had the money or nerve to touch it.

“You love it,” I said, watching him talk about one of his first renovations.

His eyes were still focused on mine. “I’m good at it.”

“That isn’t the same thing Lev.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“But you do love it?” I asked with an eyebrow raised while eating a fry.

“Yeah, sometimes.” He admitted.

That was probably the closest Lev came to admitting he loved anything, but when Marv’s name finally entered the conversation, it didn’t happen by accident. Lev wiped his hands on a napkin and leaned back against the counter. “What you and Marv got going on?”

I stopped with another fry halfway to my mouth. I lowered it and asked, “What makes you think we got something going on?”

“He told me.”

Of course he did. I placed the fry back down and reached for my glass. “We’re not together Lev.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I stared into the tequila. “We talk, we’ve spent time together, but it’s casual.”

“How casual?”

My cheeks got warm, and I looked toward the pool. “I don’t know how to answer that.”

“The truth usually work.”

I exhaled a deep breath. “I think he’s decent and he’s been nice to me, but we never said we were building anything. There wasn’t a promise or a title, and I’ve never slept with him or even kissed him for the matter.”

Lev watched me without moving. “Would he say that?”

I continued chewing my fry now. “I think so.”

“You think?”

The question irritated me, but not enough to make me forget who I was speaking to. “Marv knows what it is.”

“And what is it?”

I hesitated because the truth was more complicated than the label. “It’s comfort,” I finally said. “At least I think it is.”

Lev said nothing else, so I continued. I pushed a piece of fruit around the plate with my fork. “Marv almost died and then I felt guilty because of what I had done. Somewhere in all that, we got closer…. well talking every day. ”

“But you don’t love him.”

It wasn’t a question; it was more so reassurance. I looked up. “No.”

His expression didn’t change, yet the air between us did. That was when I realized this wasn’t a casual conversation to him. Lev was asking because he cared about the answer. The thought should have made me stand up and leave because I still owed him money, and I still had Rome circling my life like a vulture. I also had some unfinished, undefined situation with Marv, and Lev was the last man I needed to add to the confusion.

Still, I found myself watching him with that quiet confidence. I paid attention to the way he listened and the way he never interrupted me just to hear himself speak. He scared me, but not in the same way Rome did. Rome made me feel small while Lev made me feel seen, and sometimes that was scarier. We went back outside after eating, taking the last of the bottle with us. The sky had begun changing quickly again now a soft pink through the gray with that golden hue in the ocean. I stood near the pool with my arms folded, watching the waves brighten with the morning.

Lev came up beside me, close enough that I felt the heat of him before he even touched me. When his hand slipped on my waist, I didn’t move away although I should have. Instead, I turned toward him and the look in his eyes told me this had been building longer than either of us wanted to admit. Maybe from the first time saw me at the hospital or maybe from the moment he realized I was afraid and I realized he noticed things other men ignored. Whatever it was, it had finally caught up with us.

Lev placed a soft kiss on my lips and my God; he had the softest lips I ever felt on a man. It was almost like his lips melted right into mine. I effortlessly draped my arms around his neck as he looped his own arms around the small of my back before lifting me in his arms and walking me to the couch closest to the pool. When I lay back on the couch, the gaze Lev locked in on me nearly scared me.

He gently brushed his lips across mine once more while I tried to control my breathing. Without ever breaking his glare, he asked me with so much care, it nearly shook me. “You sure?”

I nodded my head and slowly licked my lips pulling him further on top of me. Lev took his time to remove my hoodie while places kisses on all the part of my skin that were hidden while removing it, like how? I thought shivering at his touch surprised that he was actually gentle. With ease, he unsnapped by bra allowing freedom and the first thing he did was lick me from my neck, down to my belly button right before he removed my tights and slid them down over my waist.

Meanwhile every part of my body responded to him in ways I didn’t think possible outside of Rome. I arched my back and whimpered feeling his tongue on my pussy. Lev took his time and made sure he touched every last single nerve on my clitoris, every last single ten thousand fibers. “What the fuck,” I gasped in ecstasy arching my back deeper, spreading my legs wider.

Lev was in deep focus blowing, spitting, slurping, finger fucking me, blowing, sucking, finding that G-Spot with his fingers plunged deep inside of me, and then using the very tip of his tongue like a vibrator against my swollen nub until I was creaming all over his fingers and mouth. “Lev… please… oh God,” I moaned, having the hardest orgasm I ever had in my life. My breathing was hard as my chest rose and fell.

When Lev stood up, his mouth was covered with my juices. He cocked his head to the side knowing damn well I couldn’t talk after that. “I asked if you were sure.”

I slowly nodded my head licking my lips at the long, heavy print in his pants. “I… I… am…” I panted.

He whipped out his long dick, and I had to stop my eyes from bulging. Again, while looking me in my eyes, he jacked his dick as the precum began to ooze from the tip. “You can’t talk? Tell me what you want Navy.”

My hand involuntarily shot to my slippery opening as I began to run them up and down my slit. “I want you Lev… I want all of that.”

He smirked. “So you want daddy to fuck you then,” he said moving his hand up and down his shaft even faster while his pants formed a puddle around his ankles showing off his muscular, athletic legs, which were also heavily tattooed from his thighs on down. Hell, his torso, chest and everything else was covered with tattoos but you’d never know that by the way he dressed during the day when he was working.

“Yesss,” I purred. “Fuck me Lev,” I said damn near feeling like I was begging.

He reached down into his pocket, ripped the extra-large condom on and glided it up in penis. The condom couldn’t even roll all the way up since he was on the bigger side. He then stepped completely out of his pants and leaned down hovering over me before placing both of my legs wide over his shoulders.

When he entered me, I whimpered once again with my hands planted around the small of his back. Lev stroked me and talked me through every emotion he thought I may have been feeling. “You feel that?” He grunted never breaking that dangerous gaze.

I arched my back meeting his strokes, but he had all the control. “Ouuu, yes I feel that.”

“Open up,” he told me.

I did. “Ouu fuck!”

He sped up the pace and went even deeper. “Some more.”

I spread them as wide as I could and that’s when I realized he hit a spot I never felt before literally in my guts. “Ahhh! Mmm!” I moaned.

He smiled and kissed my lips. “Yeah, that’s it right there.”

“This shit feels so… oh my God,” I squealed glad that he didn’t have a neighbor close enough over here to hear me.

Lev slowed up the pace, then picked up back up, he tease me by taking some out, and then had me begging for him to put it back in. I felt like a mad woman literally losing my mind, but those last few strokes did it for the both of us. “Ah fuck,” he grunted fucking me harder with a tight grip on my waist.

“Lev… I’m… Lord pleaseee…. Oh God you’re about to make me…” I met his thrust and before I knew it, his lips came crashing down on mine as he gently slithered his tongue in my mouth like a snake muffling my loud screams. “Umm!” I uncontrollably quaked around him.

“Mhm,” Lev rocked back and forth inside of me allowing his nut to rip through the barrier between us.

We were both so worked up, Lev rolled over and used his strong arm to roll me on top of him where I desperately tried to catch my breath while he held me. Our hearts were beating hard but in the same sync. He kissed me on the forehead, and we didn’t say one word, instead we listened to the sounds around us which was soothing.

An hour later, I sat near the edge couch by the water pulling my hoodie back over my head while the sunlight peeked at us. The ocean was fully visible now through the glass, bright and endless, but I couldn’t enjoy the view the same way I had before because my thoughts were getting the best of me. The sex had been too good, and that wasn’t the problem. The problem was how good it had felt to be with somebody who hadn’t made me feel obligated, rushed, or afraid. Lev had been careful in a way I didn’t expect from him, and that gentleness had cracked open something inside me I had been keeping shut.

Now I didn’t know what to do with it. Yes, Marv existed and so did everything else, yet Lev was standing there buttoning his shirt like we hadn’t just complicated every part of an already messy situation.

He looked over at me. “You ready?”

I slowly nodded, although I wasn’t sure what I was ready for. The ride back to the club was quieter than the ride there as the sun hovered. When Lev pulled into the parking lot, most of the cars were gone. My car sat alone surrounded by empty spaces that had been full only hours earlier. A worker in a reflective vest pushed a trash bin near the side of the building while the club sign still glowed above the entrance. Lev parked beside my car and shut off the engine.

Then he turned toward me with a seriousness in his dark eyes. “I overstepped.”

The apology caught me off guard. I studied his face, looking for a flaw and I found none. “You didn’t,” I said.

“I did.”

“No.” I shook my head, holding his gaze. “You were a perfect gentleman. You don’t have to apologize.” I assured him. His eyes searched mine as if he wanted to make sure I meant it. “I went with you because I wanted to,” I added. “What happened just happened because I wanted it to.”

He leaned back against the seat, still watching me. “That don’t make it uncomplicated.”

“No,” I admitted. “It doesn’t.”

Whatever was between us wasn’t exactly regret. It was more so like understanding, maybe. I reached for the door handle, then paused. “Thank you for the food and for showing me a beautiful night.”

Lev nodded never taking his eyes off of me. “Get home safe.”

“I will.”

I climbed out and crossed the short distance to my car. When I started the engine, his truck remained parked beside me. He waited while I backed out, and when I glanced into the rearview mirror near the exit, he was still there. He didn’t pull off until I did. The drive home gave me too much time to think. By the time I turned into my apartment complex, Lev, Marv, Rome, and every bad decision I had made in the last month were tangled together in my head like a damn web.

When I made it to my place, I slowed down, checked the visitor spaces, and looked for Rome’s car. Then I circled once more before parking near the back. Nothing looked out of place, but Rome had taught me not to trust appearances. I grabbed my bag, pulled my hood up, and slipped in through the rear entrance, keeping my steps quiet until I was safely inside my apartment.

I locked the door and dropped my keys onto the counter. Exhaustion hit me all at once and I barely had enough energy to kick off my sneakers before falling across the bed in the same hoodie I had worn home. My eyes had only been closed a few minutes when the knocking started. My body went rigid as another knock followed, harder this time. I didn’t need to look, but I forced myself up anyway and crept toward the door.

One glance through the peephole confirmed what I already knew. Rome stood in the hallway. He wore a dark T-shirt and jeans, his hands hanging at his sides while he stared directly at my door as if he could feel me watching from the other side. The sight of him pissed me off. How the fuck did he always know?

He knocked again. “Navy.”

I stepped away from the door without answering. Rome stayed there another few minutes, and then tried the knob as if he had the right to walk in. When it didn’t turn, he muttered something I couldn’t hear and knocked once more before finally leaving. I waited until his footsteps disappeared completely before returning to my bedroom. I didn’t have time for this shit tonight and I had in my right mind to try to move again, but where was the money going to come from if I was already in debt? Besides, he would find me just like he did this time. I couldn’t help but to wonder where his baby mama was and why he wasn’t bothering her ass.

My shift at the hospital didn’t start until seven that evening. That gave me enough time to sleep, wake up, and do what I should have done the moment I moved out. I was filing for divorce. After that, I was going to request an order of protection if I had the time. Rome had spent too long convincing me that his control was love, that his money gave him rights over me, and that leaving him would never truly mean I was free.

CHAPTER 20

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Day Eight

“Child, if you don’t slow down, your body gon’ make the decision for you, and I promise you ain’t gonna like the way it does it.”

Lulu stood on the other side of the kitchen island with one hand planted against her hip and the other wrapped around the handle of a small yellow saucepan as steam curled up around her face as she poured more broth over the bowl sitting in front of me, never mind the fact that I had already told her twice I had enough.

The smell of lime, peppers, potatoes, and tender pieces of chicken filled the kitchen, warming the back of my throat before I even lifted another spoonful. Lulu’s chicken souse had always been my weakness. It was hot enough to clear my nose, sour enough to make my lips pucker, and seasoned in the way only an older Bahamian woman who measured everything with her spirit could manage, and I loved every bit of it. She claimed she had never written the recipe down because people who needed instructions didn’t deserve to make it.

I blew across the spoon and looked up at her. “I am slowing down.”

“You’re sitting still while you eat don’t count Nay.”

She placed the saucepan back on the stove, then turned to face me fully. Her house dress brushed against her ankles as she moved, with bright orange flowers scattered across soft blue fabric. A scarf covered most of her silver hair, although a few little frizzy curls had escaped near her temples. At seventy-six, Lulu still moved like she had somewhere important to be, even when the only thing waiting on her was the daytime court show playing in the living room.

She pulled out the stool beside me and lowered herself onto it with a quiet grunt. “You work at that hospital all night, then you got them fake food orders coming through all day. When you sleeping?”

“They’re not fake orders.” I laughed. They’re cakes Lulu.”

“They’re orders nobody placed until you made up a reason for them to place them.”

I stopped with the spoon near my mouth. “That is literally how a business works.”

“Mhm.” She reached into the bowl of sliced limes and squeezed some more into my souse without asking. “Back in my day, if somebody wanted a cake, they called you and said, ‘Lulu, bake me a cake.’ They didn’t need no flash sale, coupon code, countdown clock, or thirty-seven pictures of the same damn cupcake.”

“Oh Lord, it’s called marketing.”

“It’s called begging with graphics.”

I nearly choked on the broth. Lulu sat there with a straight face, picking a piece of lint from the front of her dress while I coughed into my fist. She had always been funny without trying. Half the time, I could not tell whether she meant to make people laugh or genuinely believed the things coming out of her mouth were ordinary conversation.

“I’m not begging,” I said once I could breathe again. “The orders are real and people are buying.”

“And you baking all of it?”

I nodded my head. “Yes ma’am.”

“On top of working?”

“Yes.”

She frowned. “And you don’t see nothing wrong with that?”

I shrugged. “I need the money.”

Her expression changed, as the humor faded just enough for concern to show now. “You always need money; everybody always need money. That don’t mean you run yourself into the ground trying to catch every dollar that rolls past.”

Guilt started to consume me because she didn’t know the half of it. She knew about the hospital and the baking orders I had suddenly started accepting in bulk. She knew I was going through a divorce and trying to get my life back together. She didn’t know that some nights, instead of sleeping, I traded my scrubs for crystals and heels and danced at a club owned by the same man I owed thousands of dollars. That part would have sent her pressure through the damn roof.

“I’m fine, Grandma.”

“That’s what everybody says right before they fall out in the middle of Publix.”

“I’m not about to fall out.”

“You don’t know what you about to do. That’s the whole purpose of falling out. It’s a surprise.”

I laughed and reached for another piece of potato, grateful for the way she was always concerned about me. Lulu watched me eat for a moment, then leaned back on the stool and folded her arms beneath her chest. “That damn Rome called again this morning.”

The spoon paused halfway to my lips. Of course he had. “What did he want?”

“What he always want… you.”

The disgust in her voice made me glance up. “He called asking if I’d seen you, if you came by, if you been talking to anybody. Like I’m working dispatch for your whereabouts.” She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “I told him I don’t know nothing, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell his overgrown ass.”

A smile spread across my mouth, although the tight feeling in my chest kept it from lasting. “I can’t believe he’s still coming here too.”

“From time to time.” Her eyes dropped into slits. “Pull up in that car and sit outside like he part of neighborhood watch. Last week he came knocking, talking ’bout he just wanted to make sure I was okay.”

I shook my damn head. “He doesn’t care if you’re okay.”

“I know that. I’ve been alive longer than he’s been lying.”

I placed the spoon inside the bowl and stared at the broth. “I filed yesterday.”

Lulu raised her brow. “For what?”

“The divorce.”

She parted her lips to say something, but no sound came out at first. Then she reached for my hand with her fingers closing around mine with a softness that made my eyes burn before I could prepare for it. “You did?”

I nodded. “And I started the process for the order of protection too. I have to go back with some more information, but I filed what I could.”

Relief crossed her face before the sadness came behind it. She squeezed my hand and looked at me the same way she had when I was little and came home with scraped knees. “I’m glad you did it, baby, but I’m sorry you had to.”

“I should’ve done it sooner.”

“No.” Her grip tightened. “You did it when you was ready. Don’t beat yourself up because it took you time to admit something was hurting you. People love to tell women when they should leave, but they ain’t the ones who gotta live through what happen after.”

I looked away before the tears fell so I could suck them back up. Lulu had never been one for long emotional speeches. She gave wisdom in the middle of cooking, fussing, or cursing at the television, then moved on before anybody could make a scene out of it. She released my hand and reached for the spoon again.

“Now eat before this get cold. Don’t be getting all skinny after this divorce.”

I looked down at myself knowing damn well I wasn’t skinny. “I’m nowhere near skinny.”

“You look thin in the face.”

“I look exactly the same.”

“You don’t. Your cheeks used to sit up higher.”

“That was when I was eight Lulu.” I laughed.

She furrowed her brows. “And they looked healthy.”

I kept laughing as the television audience in the living room erupted into applause over something that judge Mathis had said on one of the old rerun shows, and Lulu turned her head toward the sound as if she might need to intervene. When nothing else happened, she faced me again.

The question sitting in my mind had been there since the waterfront house, although I had tried not to give it enough thought. Twenty-four hours had passed, and my thoughts still felt tangled around Lev, Marv, the debt, and everything that could go wrong if I allowed myself to want something I had no business wanting. It was a big ass loop of tangled lies and betrayal.

“Grandma?”

“Mhm.”

“What do you do when you think you might like somebody you should probably stay away from?”

Her eyes snapped toward me so quickly I almost regretted asking. “Who?”

I smirked. “It’s hypothetical.”

“Ain’t nothing hypothetical about the way you just dropped your voice.”

“I’m asking in general.”

She slid closer, her full attention on me now. “Is he married?”

“No.” I said.

She got even deeper. “Does he have a woman?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Old?”

“No.”

“Ugly?”

I frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It matters because trouble already ugly, child ain’t no reason the man bringing it should be too.”

I looked down to hide my smile although I wanted to fall out laughing. Lulu just didn’t care about what came out of her mouth. “He’s not ugly.”

“So, he’s fine then.” She smiled.

“Grandma.”

She tapped her fingers against the counter. “Why should you stay away from him?”

“Because it’s complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“I owe him something.”

The answer was technically true. Grandma Lulu’s brows drew together. “Money?”

I looked at her and she stared right back. There was no way I was explaining fifty thousand dollars, a dying man’s stolen cash, or the fact that Lev owned the club where I had been dancing to repay it. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then make it simple.”

“I can’t.”

“You can, you just don’t want to.”

I sighed and leaned my elbow against the counter. “There are other people involved.”

She scooted a little closer and sucked on the lime. “Other women?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Well, if it ain’t other women, then it’s other men?”

My silence answered before I could say anything else. Lulu leaned back, and the expression that crossed her face told me she had just found the part she wanted. “Oh.”

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s always like that when somebody say it ain’t.”

“I’m not cheating on anybody, hell, I’m not even in a relationship.”

She pointed her finger at me in a stern way. “But you got one man thinking he’s got a place while you’re thinking about another.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe.”

“Mhm. See, that’s how people get hurt.”

I covered my face with one hand while she chuckled beside me. When I lowered it, her expression had softened. “Listen to me, liking somebody ain’t the same as trusting them, and wanting them ain’t the same as them being good for you. Sometimes the wrong man can make you feel right because he shows up when you’re lonely.”

That struck close enough to home quiet me down and she noticed, “But,” she continued, “sometimes you call a man wrong because you scared of what happens if he turns out to be right.”

I looked at her. “Really?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “You asked.”

“How do I know the difference?”

“You don’t, not right away. That’s why God gave you time and common sense so use both. Don’t give neither one away because a man got pretty teeth and broad shoulders.”

A laughed. “Who said he had broad shoulders?”

“You did when you didn’t say he didn’t.”

Before I could respond, the front door opened without a knock. “Lulu!”

Lulu’s eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “Every damn body got a key to my house except me.”

Monica appeared in the kitchen a few seconds later wearing a fitted cream suit, heels, and that aura that made people straighten their posture when she entered a room. Her hair those smooth deep waves that fell right past her shoulders, and not a strand out of place despite the South Florida humidity. She looked like she belonged behind a desk overlooking the city, approving loans large enough to change families for generations, which was exactly where she usually was.

Monica had worked her way from a teller position straight out of college to becoming one of the top banking executives in Miami. She knew everybody, remembered everything, and had a way of asking questions that made you feel like she already had the answers.

She dropped her keys into the ceramic dish near the door and immediately eyed my bowl. “You made souse and didn’t call me Lulu?”

Lulu scoffed. “You don’t answer your phone unless somebody calling about money.”

“I answer.”

“You send that little automatic text saying, ‘Can I call you later?’ Then later comes next Thursday.”

Monica leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I’m here now.”

“Yeah child, for my food.”

“Noooo, for your company. How is it for your food when you didn’t even tell me you cooked.” Monica smiled before turning toward me. “What are you doing here in the middle of the day cousin?”

I smiled and gave her a hug. “Girl, just being stuffed with chicken souse and telling Lulu about life.”

She nodded. “I can see that.”

“She filed for divorce,” Lulu announced.

“Grandma!” I scolded.

“What? You want me to put it in the church bulletin first?”

Monica’s playful expression disappeared. She set her purse down and pulled me into another hug before I could object. The scent of her perfume filled my nostrils as she held on for several seconds. “You okay?”

“I will be.” I wiped my red eyes.

She drew back, keeping both hands on my shoulders while she searched my face. “Does Rome know?”

“He’ll get served soon.”

“Good, because that man has been calling people trying to figure out why you won’t do what you’ve done in the past and forgive him.”

“Who has he called?”

“Hell, he’s called me twice.”

I shook my head in pure disgust. “What did you tell him?”

She frowned like she smelled some shit. “That I manage portfolios, not grown ass women.”

Lulu slapped the counter and laughed so hard she had to hold her side causing Monica to laugh too, pleased with herself, then she reached for the saucepan. “Is there enough left for me?”

“There was before you walked in.”

Monica ignored her and began fixing a bowl. The three of us stayed in the kitchen for another half hour, talking over one another the way family did when nobody felt the need to wait for their turn. Monica complained about a client who wanted a multimillion-dollar loan without providing proper paperwork and Lulu said banks had become too nosy and asked why people needed to prove they had money before somebody would lend them more. Monica attempted to explain risk assessment, but Lulu told her Jesus fed five thousand people without checking anybody’s credit.

I laughed until my damn stomach hurt. For a little while, I forgot about how complicated my life had become. Then Grandma Lulu opened a cabinet and cursed.

“What now?” Monica asked.

“I’m out of cornstarch.”

“You don’t need cornstarch for souse.”

“I’m making guava duff later on, mind your business.”

I slid off the stool and reached for my purse. “I’ll go get it.”

Lulu pointed the wooden spoon at me. “Get the yellow box, don’t bring me that store-brand foolishness. It don’t thicken right.”

“It’s all starch Lulu.” I said.

“It ain’t all mine.”

With that, I left. The corner store was less than five minutes away, between a laundromat and a small beauty supply store where the mannequin heads in the window had been wearing the same wigs since I was in high school. The parking lot was crowded despite the time of day, with cars angled wherever their drivers found space and two dudes standing near the entrance scratching lottery tickets against the wall.

I parked near the side and hurried inside grateful I had changed into denim shorts and a loose T-shirt before visiting Lulu. The air conditioner blasted hard enough to give me goosebumps across my arms as I walked past the shelves packed with canned goods, cleaning supplies, and every snack invented since 1985.

I found the cornstarch near the flour, checked twice to make sure it was the yellow box, then headed toward the register. That was when I saw Marv’s ass standing by the drink coolers wearing gray sweats and a plain white T-shirt, with one hand wrapped around a bottle of water. He was still fine, there was no denying that, but something about him looked off. His beard was trimmed, his clothes were clean, and the gold Cuban chain around his neck still stole the show, yet exhaustion sat heavily around his eyes. He looked like he had not slept in days.

His gaze landed on me, and some of the strain disappeared through a smile. “Well, look who decided to come outside.”

I stopped beside the register. “Hey, Marv.”

“Damn, that’s all I get?”

He placed the bottle on the counter and crossed toward me before I could decide how much distance to keep between us. His arm slid around my waist, pulling me against his chest with the easy familiarity he had always used. Normally, I would have relaxed into it. This time, my body got stiff before I could hide it.

Lev’s face flashed through my mind, and guilt followed so quickly it irritated me. Marv and I weren’t together. We had never promised each other anything. Still, after what happened at the waterfront property, letting Marv hold me felt dishonest in a way it had not twenty-four hours earlier.

He looked down at me. “What, you acting scary now?”

“I’m not.” I gave him a small smile and stepped back, pretending I needed to adjust the cornstarch in my hand. “I’ve just been tired.”

“So tired you forgot about me?”

“I didn’t forget Marv, how can I forget you?”

He slowly licked his lips and smiled, “You still owe me that date.”

“I know.” I kept my voice gentle, studying his eyes. “I’ve been working a lot, but I got you.”

He didn’t look like he believed me one bit. “That’s what you keep saying.”

“Marv, you sure you okay?” I questioned wondering why his mouth kept moving like that.

He glanced toward the windows. “I’m straight.”

“You don’t look like you slept.”

“Man, I sleep nurse. Don’t start evaluating me.” he teased.

“When do you sleep?” I asked anyway.

“When I get around to it.”

The answer sounded too close to one I would have given Lulu, but before I could press him, Marv leaned down and placed a kiss on my cheek. “I’ma hold you to that date,” he muttered. Then he grabbed his water from the counter, paid for it, along with my corn starch and walked outside.

I stood there for a second, trying to figure out what I had just felt. I was definitely concern, or maybe even guilt but at this point, confusion had become too familiar to bother naming anymore. I stepped outside and saw Marv crossing the lot toward his Mercedes parked near the laundromat. A woman sat in the passenger seat with one arm resting along the open window, with her long nails tapping against the door while she watched him approach.

I slowed down and saw Marv open the driver’s door, said something to her that made her laugh, then slid behind the wheel without looking back toward the store. I stared at the car until it pulled away.

“So you rushing me about a date while riding around with company.” I laughed underneath my breath as I walked toward my own car.

Marv was a funny character, but he wasn’t funny enough for me to be angry, especially since we were both free to do whatever we wanted, but funny enough for me to remember the next time he acted like my work schedule was keeping him home alone staring at the walls. I dropped the cornstarch off at Lulu’s, let her make me a to go bowl of souse, and headed home before she could find a second errand. Hell, Monica would have to do it next.

The complex was quiet outside when I entered. Once I got inside, I locked up, changed into some cotton shorts and an old tank top, then headed into the kitchen to finish a set of orders due the following morning. By the time the first cake layers went into the oven, I was tired but at least the kitchen was clean because I was always taught to clean as you go.

I had a binder with more money in it from the night before and I needed to give it to Lev. What happened between Lev and me didn’t erase what I owed him. I didn’t want the debt becoming something blurred or unspoken because we had crossed a line. The money still needed to be paid, every dollar of it, and I needed him to know I understood that.

I picked up my phone and called, and he answered on the third ring. “What’s wrong?”

The question caught me off guard. It wasn’t a hello or nothing. What’s wrong? I thought before clearing my throat. “Nothing.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear while checking the timer. “I have another payment ready.”

There was a short pause before he replied. “How much?”

“Three thousand.” I informed.

“I’ll come get it.”

I didn’t want him to keep inconveniencing himself, so I didn’t mind dropping it wherever it needed to be dropped. “I can bring it.”

“I said I’ll come get it.”

There was no point arguing. “Okay.”

He simply ended the call, and I went back to work. Nearly forty minutes later, a knock was at the back door. I wiped my hands on a dish towel, leaving pale streaks of flour across the fabric, and opened it to find Lev standing in the hallway looking good as hell per usual. He had a fresh haircut and was wearing a wife beater showing his physique and tattoos. He had that smell too like he was fresh out of the barber chair.

He had looked at me plenty of times, but something had changed in the way he looked at me. Before, his stare had always felt like an assessment, as if he were trying to decide whether I was lying, running, or worth the trouble. Now there was something different behind it and now it was me constantly trying to assess him.

My pulse picked up, and I stepped aside before he could notice. “Come in, I’m in the middle of baking.”

He entered, taking in the apartment as I closed the door behind him. My music played softly from the speaker near the kitchen, with Summer Walker’s beautiful voice and the air smelled like browned butter, and the strawberry filling cooling in a saucepan on the stove.

I went back to the counter and reached for the mixer. “Give me one second. If I stop this too long, the frosting’s going to get all weird.”

Lev leaned against the edge of the island, watching as I added powdered sugar in small amounts and scraped the sides of the bowl between each one. His attention followed every movement, from the trays lined across the counter to the labels I had already printed and stacked near the boxes.

“How many orders is this?” he asked.

“Twelve.” I replied like it was nothing.

He glanced around the kitchen. “You don’t get tired, whipping them cakes look like whipping dope.”

“I’ll stop when I finish paying you.”

“That the only reason?”

I slowed the mixer and looked at him. “No, I actually like this.”

He nodded, with his eyes moving over the neat rows of supplies. The look on his face wasn’t pity and definitely not judgment. It was the expression of a man recognizing hustle because he knew what it looked like.

I turned off the mixer, wiped my hands again, and pulled the cash from the binder. The stack felt lighter than the last one, although the number was the same. Maybe because handing him money no longer felt like surrendering something. Every payment brought me closer to being free of the debt and everything attached to it.

I held the three thousand out to him. “Here you go.”

He took it without a word while I reached for the little receipt book lying beside the order forms, flipped to the next page, and carefully wrote the date, payment amount, and remaining balance. Lev watched the pen move across the paper, with that faint amusement returning to his eyes before I even tore off the receipt.

I handed it over with a small smile. “Twenty-five thousand now, almost halfway,” I added.

He looked at the slip, then at me. “You proud of yourself?”

“A little.” I capped the pen and tucked it into the spiral. “You should be too. Not everybody gets handwritten receipts with this level of detail.”

His mouth broke into something but not enough to call a smile, although it was close.

“Keep baking Navy.”

The way he said my name sent a warmth through me that had nothing to do with the oven. It shot right in between my thighs. He slid the receipt into his pocket with the money and headed toward the door. I followed, stopping a few feet behind him while he reached for the knob.

“Lev.”

He turned around and for a second, I forgot why I had called his name. There was too much sitting between us now especially him answering my call expecting something to be wrong.

I forced my mind back toward safer ground. “Thank you for coming to get it.”

His gazed at me for a few seconds before he said, “Lock the door.”

Then he stepped into the hallway while I watched until he disappeared around the corner before closing the door and sliding the lock into place. For the next few minutes, I stood there with my hand resting against it, allowing thoughts I had no business entertaining to crowd my mind. Then the timer sounded from the kitchen. I pushed away from the door and returned to the cakes.

Whatever was happening between Lev and me would have to wait. I still had twenty-five thousand dollars, twelve orders, a hospital shift, a divorce, and one unstable husband standing between me and anything that looked remotely like peace. Falling for a man especially one I should have stayed far away from wasn’t on the schedule. The problem was that my heart had never been good at checking my calendar.

CHAPTER 21

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Day Nine

“Uh-uh. Whatever demon is living in that shoulder, you need to go ahead and cast it out, because I know damn well that ain’t just a knot.”

I would have laughed if the massage therapists’ thumb hadn’t been buried so deep beneath my shoulder blade that breathing felt like a privilege I hadn’t earned. Damn! These deep tissue massages weren’t no joke. The massage therapist laughed though.

“Don’t encourage her,” I muttered, curling my fingers around the edge of the heated table. “She’s already rooting for you to separate my arm from my body.”

The therapist kept laughing in a soft tone behind me. Her hands were warm and slick with oil, gliding over my skin before returning to the same stubborn spot near my neck. “You have a lot of tension here.”

“A lot?” Tasha lifted her head from the cradle far enough for one eye to peek in my direction. The white towel wrapped around her hair was now crooked, making her look like she had lost a fight with a hotel bathrobe. “Baby, she got two jobs, a stalker husband, a secret side hustle, and apparently a man putting a stupid little glow on her face. That’s not tension, that’s a group project.”

My head snapped up before the therapist gently guided it back down. “I don’t have a glow.”

“You do.”

“It’s moisturizer.”

“That moisturizer got a beard?”

The second massage therapist pressed both palms into Tasha’s back, and the smart remark turned into a groan that sounded almost religious. “Ooh, right there,” she breathed with her fingers spreading against the sheet. “See, this is why I don’t believe in struggling. Ain’t no reason I should ever be somewhere suffering when women with strong hands exist.”

“You’ve been in here ten minutes and told that lady your whole life,” I said.

“Well, she asked where I hold stress.”

“She didn’t ask for your childhood address.”

“She needed context.” She teased.

The room smelled like eucalyptus, lavender, and a faint citrus that made everything smell and feel so clean. A narrow waterfall ran down the stone wall opposite us, as the quiet trickling blended with the music. The lights had been dimmed low enough to soften everything around the cream-colored walls, the folded towels, and even Tasha’s nonstop mouth.

It had been too long since I had done anything that didn’t serve some immediate purpose because every hour of my life lately belonged to somebody else. Even rest had started feeling like something I needed to schedule.

The therapist dragged her knuckles down either side of my spine, and my body sank deeper into the table. “Are you snoring?” she asked.

“No.” I lied with a smile.

“You sounded unconscious.”

“That’s because I was happy.” I cooed.

“Same thing.”

I continued smiling into the cushion. The therapist moved lower, working slow circles into the muscles above my hips, and a deep breath slipped out of me before I could stop it.

Tasha immediately started laughing. “Oh, she done found the good spot.”

“Shut up.” I smirked.

“I’m just saying. That little sound came from your ancestors.”

My therapist tried to hide her laugh, but her shoulders shook.

“You’re getting on everybody’s nerves,” I told Tasha.

“And yet everybody loves me.”

“That’s because they don’t know you long enough.”

“Girl, please. I’m unforgettable.” She teased.

She really was because Tasha could walk into a funeral and somehow have the widow laughing before the repast. She filled empty space naturally, because she believed every room improved once she entered it. Even lying face down beneath a white sheet with her bonnet-shaped towel sliding toward one eyebrow, she carried herself like the spa had been built around her reservation.

When the massages ended, neither of us moved. The therapists stepped out to let us dress, leaving behind two glasses of cucumber water and a warning to sit up slowly. Tasha lifted her head, blinked at me through sleepy eyes, then let it drop again.

“I live here now.”

I pushed myself onto my elbows, my body loose and heavy. “You can’t afford to live here.”

“You don’t know my life.”

“Whatever I muttered though a smile.

She finally sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest while the towel unraveled completely and fell into her lap. Her hair was pressed flat on one side and stuck up in the back, and I just stared at her.

“What?” she asked with a frown.

“Nothing.” I lied.

“Fix your face then.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You don’t have to; your face is a bully.”

I reached for my robe and tossed hers across the space between us. “Put this on before you scare the employees.”

Tasha caught it against her chest. “See? Mean, this is why your shoulders damn hard.”

By the time we left the spa, the late morning sun was doing its job. The cool peace of the treatment room vanished the moment the glass doors closed behind us, replaced by traffic, car horns, and pure heat. Tasha slid her oversized sunglasses onto her face and lifted her chin toward the valet stand. She wore a loose cream jumpsuit that fit her curves and flat sandals decorated with tiny gold charms from Coach. Her lips were glossy, her toes were white, and within thirty seconds of stepping outside, she looked as put together as if she hadn’t just spent ninety minutes drooling through a face cradle.

“I feel rich,” she announced.

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out. “You paid for a massage, not a yacht.”

“Same spirit.” She shot back.

The valet pulled my car around, and Tasha stopped beside the passenger door to inspect her reflection in the window. “You hungry?” I asked her.

“Girl, I’m always hungry.” She admitted.

“What do you want?”

“Somewhere with drinks.”

“It’s barely noon Tash.”

“And?” She quizzed.

“You drove here.”

“So?”

“So? You’re not getting drunk.”

She opened the door and lowered herself into the seat. “Why do you always jump from drink to drunk? There’s a whole journey in between.”

“With you, it’s a very short journey.”

She placed a hand against her chest. “I feel judged.”

“That’s because you are.”

We ended up at a restaurant on beach with wide windows overlooking the water and greenery hanging from the ceiling feeling like somebody’s expensive backyard. The hostess led us to a booth near the glass. Tasha slid into the booth first and immediately reached across to move the small vase of white flowers out of her line of sight.

“I don’t like stuff blocking me from seeing who I’m talking to.”

I chuckled. “It’s three flowers.”

“Exactly, just sneaky.” She replied shaking her head.

The waiter appeared with menus and two glasses of water. Before he could introduce himself, Tasha smiled up at him and tapped one finger against the cocktail page. “Is the passionfruit mimosa sweet-sweet, or sweet like y’all want people to think it’s sweet?”

He blinked, then smiled. “It’s pretty sweet.”

“Pretty is not a measurement.”

“Tasha.”

She looked at me crazy. “What? I need to know before I spend eighteen dollars on juice.”

The waiter’s smile became bigger. “I can have them make it a little sweeter.”

“See? Customer service.” She closed the menu without looking at anything else. “Bring me that.”

He turned to me and I told him, “Just water for now.”

Tasha waited until he walked away before leaning across the table. “You’re being boring?”

“Nooo, I’m actually being responsible.”

She waved me off and picked up her menu. For the next several minutes, we argued about appetizers as if choosing the wrong one might alter the course of our lives. Tasha wanted calamari until she saw a plate pass our table and decided it looked “too organized.” She changed her mind to truffle fries, then added crab cakes.

When the fries arrived, she reached across and stole one before the plate had fully touched the table and I slapped her fingers away.

“Ow.” She frowned.

“You have your own side.”

“Yours looked crispier.”

“They came from the same kitchen.”

“You don’t know what happened back there.”

I shook my head and picked up a fry, watching her blow dramatically across the one she had stolen before biting into it. This was what I had needed though. It wasn’t the spa, though my body felt better than it had in months. It wasn’t the shopping bags we planned to collect later either. I had needed somebody who knew me better than anybody. Tasha knew when my silence meant I was tired and when it meant something was eating me alive. She knew which questions to ask gently and which ones to drag out of me by being irritating.

Unfortunately, she was best at the second method. She dipped another fry into the aioli and studied me over her sunglasses, which she still had not removed even though we were indoors. “So…. let’s talk.”

I looked at the menu. “About what Tash?”

Tasha slowly pulled her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and looked at me over the top of them. “Who is he?” She questioned and I didn’t answer but reached for my water instead. Her mouth fell open. “Oh, my God. There is a he.”

I sipped my water. “I didn’t say that.”

“You reached for water.”

“Because I’m thirsty Tasha, don’t make a big deal.”

She pointed at me. “You do that when you’re lying.”

“No, I don’t.” I frowned.

“Yes, you do. You drink water and start blinking like a damn hostage.”

I kept my eyes on the glass, which only made her point stronger. The waiter returned with her mimosa, saving me from answering. Tasha took one sip, swirled it around her mouth like she was judging a wine competition, then nodded her approval. “This is good. You want some?”

“No, I’m perfectly fine.” I declined.

“You pregnant?”

My eyes lifted to hers and Tasha laughed and then she set the glass down and reached for another fry, with her attention shifting toward a couple walking along the waterfront outside. I waited and let her turn the conversation back toward me.

“Anyway,” she said, “who got you glowing?”

“I’m not glowing.”

“Okay well, who has you irritated because you like him?”

“That is a completely different question.”

“But it’s accurate.” She said taking a sip of her mimosa.

I leaned back against the booth, staring out at the boats moving across the water. I had not said Lev’s name aloud to anybody in this context. Saying it would make whatever was happening feel more real, and I wasn’t sure I wanted it to be real yet.

“It’s complicated.” I admitted.

Tasha groaned. “Every woman says that right before introducing you to the reason her life is about to fall apart.”

I sat back in my chair and continued to sip. “My life is already falling apart.”

She leaned forward, with her elbows on the table. “Do I know him?”

“Not really.”

“That wasn’t a no though.”

“You’ve seen him before.” I said scanning the menu. “It’s Lev.”

For once, Tasha had nothing to say. Her mouth opened, closed, then opened again before she spoke. “Lev,” she repeated slowly. The man you owe fifty thousand dollars?”

“Twenty-five now.”

She paced her hand against her chest. “Oh, excuse me. The man you owe a small car.”

“Tasha.” I giggled looking around.

She sat back and stared at me. “How did this even happen?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed.

She scratched her head and that crease formed in between her eyebrows. “What you mean, you don’t know? You slipped and fell into feelings?”

“I said I might like him. I didn’t say I was picking out damn curtains.” I whispered harshly.

“You don’t even like people.”

“I like people. How else would I have the job that I have if I didn’t like people. You’re making up stuff now.””

“No, correction you tolerate people.”

I looked away to hide my smile. “Something happened!”

The smile disappeared. Tasha pointed at me with a fry. “I knew it!” she said like she had just won bingo.

I lowered my head once again looking around and over my shoulder. “Lower your voice.” I warned.

“What happened?”

“Nothing I want to discuss in the middle of a restaurant.”

She sat her mimosa down and cocked her head to the side. “Navy, did you⁠—”

I immediately held me hand up to stop her. “Do not finish that sentence. It wasn’t planned.”

“That makes it worse.”

“How?”

“Because planned means you made a bad decision with organization. Unplanned means your body overthrew the damn government.” She replied as I covered my face with both hands. She reached across the table and pulled one of them down. “Do you regret it?”

I considered lying, but Tasha would have heard it before the answer left my mouth. “No, I don’t regret it at all. ”

Her expression changed into concern. “What about Marv?”

“We’re not together.”

The waiter arrived with our entrées, placing grilled salmon in front of me and a blackened chicken pasta in front of Tasha. The interruption gave me room to breathe, although Tasha continued watching me while he grated fresh Parmesan over her food. Once he left, she twirled pasta around her fork without eating it.

“You need to be careful,” she said.

“I am.”

“No, you’re not. You’re trying to be.” She coached me while I just looked at her. “There’s a difference,” she continued. “You just got out of something that broke pieces off you. Lev might make you feel safe right now, but you don’t know what he looks like once he wants something from you besides money.”

I jerked my head back and shook my head. “He already wants money.”

“You know what I mean.”

I cut into my salmon and let the steam rise between us. “I’m not trying to be with anybody. I’m trying to finish paying him, get divorced, and get my life together.”

“Good.”

“But I do like him.”

Tasha’s mouth twisted as though she wanted to argue but knew there was no point arguing with a feeling. “Just don’t confuse the first man who treats you gently with the man meant to keep you safe.”

The words rang through my ears loud and clear. I lowered my fork. “When did you get wise?”

“I’ve been wise. I just dress it up in foolishness so y’all don’t get intimidated.”

I smiled, but hers didn’t fully return. She looked down at her plate and began pushing the pasta from one side to the other. The noodles dragged through the cream sauce without ever reaching her mouth. A few seconds later, she reached for the paper wrapper from her straw and started folding it into smaller and smaller squares.

I watched her paying close attention because she had been loud all morning teasing, laughing, talking to strangers as if she had known them for years. Now she sat still with her shoulders slightly rounded, pressing her thumbnail into a piece of paper no larger than a postage stamp.

“You okay Tash? ”

“Yeah.”

The answer came too quickly. “Tash, we’ve been talking about me all morning, but how are you?”

“I’m fine.” She reached for her mimosa, then stopped before her fingers touched the stem.

That was when I knew that something was. “Tasha, look at me.”

She kept her eyes on the plate and I waited. Outside the window, the sunlight flashed across the water. Somewhere behind us, a child started crying because his mother had taken away a phone. The restaurant continued around us, bright and busy, while our table had become much quieter.

Finally, Tasha placed both hands in her lap. “I’m pregnant.”

I stared at her for a moment, because the words didn’t connect right away. They hovered between us, familiar but impossible. “You’re what?”

Her eyes finally lifted to mine. “Pregnant.”

The playful warmth that normally lived in her face had disappeared. Without it, she looked younger and more tired than she had all day. “How far?”

“Probably six weeks, maybe five.”

“You took a test?”

“Girl I took four damn tests.”

“Tasha.”

“I wanted to make sure the first three wasn’t lying.”

Despite the shock, I sighed in disbelief. “Pregnancy tests don’t lie all the time.” I leaned back, trying to absorb what she had said. “Who is the father?” I asked and then her gaze moved toward the window. “Who, Tasha?”

She exhaled through her nose, irritated now, though I could tell the irritation had more to do with herself than me. “An ain’t-shit-ass man, that’s who.”

“Were y’all dating?”

“No.”

I frowned. “Then who is he?”

“We weren’t dating and that’s why you don’t know about him.” She picked up her fork, then set it back down without using it. “It was just fucking, that’s it.”

I didn’t hide my disappointment fast enough and she caught it. Her eyes hardened. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Look at me like that.”

“You know how babies are made.”

“I know.”

“You know how many things you can catch sleeping with somebody you clearly don’t even respect.”

“I know, Navy.”

“Then why?”

“Because I made a stupid decision.” The sharpness in her voice stopped me. Tasha looked away, blinking quickly. “I know it was stupid. I know I should’ve protected myself., but there wasn’t anything to tell. He comes over, we have sex, he leaves, that was it.”

“Does he know?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“Hell no.”

My brow creased. “Why not?”

“Because I’m not keeping it.” She said it plainly, without looking away this time. “I already made the appointment for tomorrow morning.”

I studied her face, searching for hesitation and finding exhaustion instead. “You’ve been sitting with this by yourself?”

“For a few days.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because you got enough going on.”

She was right, I did, but I would still be there for her just like she was always there for me. “That doesn’t mean you go through something like this alone.”

“I’m not going through it. I’m handling it.”

“That’s the same thing.”

“No, it isn’t.” She lifted her mimosa and drank some more before spilling the rest of it on accident when she went to sit the glass down. Tasha stared at the spill. “I don’t want a baby,” she said more quietly. “Not like this and not with him. I’m not about to tie myself to somebody like him.”

I grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the table. “You don’t have to explain your choice to me. I mean I’m disappointed you put yourself in the situation. That’s different from me judging what you decide to do about it.” I reached across the table, covering her hand with mine. “You want me to go with you tomorrow?”

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” A faint smile touched her lips. “I already arranged everything. My cousin’s taking me.” She squeezed my fingers. “I don’t want a whole production. I want to go, get it done, come home, take some pain pills, and watch television until I fall asleep.”

“Then I’ll come over afterward.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.”

Her eyes shined for half a second before she blinked and looked away. “Well, if you insist at least bring food.”

I furrowed my brows and chuckled. “You just said you don’t want a production.”

She waved me off. “Food is not a production, food is care.”

“What do you want?”

“Chicken wings and macaroni.”

“You’re asking for a full meal.” I laughed softly, grateful when she did too.

The rest of lunch went by and the laughter returned. Tasha finally ate a few bites of pasta after I threatened to ask the waiter for a takeout box and hand feed her in the parking lot. She complained that the Parmesan was now hard while she was having a crisis, then ordered cheesecake because she believed emotional announcements was a good cause for a good dessert.

Afterward, we walked through the shopping district as we wandered into stores neither of us could afford to shop in regularly and touched fabrics like we had been sent there to approve them. Tasha tried on a pair of sunglasses large enough to cover half her face and asked whether they made her look mysterious.

“They make you look like a fly.”

“A rich fly?”

“A fly with good credit.”

She bought them anyway and then I found a soft blue dress I liked, but after checking the price tag twice, I put it back. By the time we made it back to the car, my trunk held shopping bags, and the heaviness from lunch still had me full.

I dropped Tasha off with a promise to call later and watched until she disappeared through the front door of her building. Only then did I let myself worry, about the way she had been dealing with her shit alone. By the time I reached my apartment, the day had settled into evening. The sky had turned a deep bluish gray, with the last strip of sunlight fading behind the buildings and it was my favorite time of the day. I checked the parking lot before getting out, scanning for Rome’s car out of habit but saw nothing.

Once inside, I locked the door and carried the shopping bags to my bedroom. The apartment felt so calm and clean, so I showered taking my time, letting hot water wash the massage oil from my skin. Afterward, I rubbed vanilla body oil over my arms and legs, pulled on an oversized T-shirt, my pink robe, and fluffy bedroom shoes before wrapping my hair in a silk scarf. I lit two candles in the living room, one on the kitchen counter and another on the small table near the couch and then turned off the overhead lights.

A warm amber glow took over the apartment. I poured a glass of water, and tucked myself underneath a throw blanket, before stretching out on the couch with no intention of doing anything more demanding than finding a movie I had already seen.

The first kick against the door made me sit right up and the second one rattled the damn frame. “Navyyyy!” His voice dragged across my name and another kick landed against the lower half of the door. “Open this damn door.”

I closed my eyes hearing Rome’s voice and anger consumed me before fear had the chance. I threw the blanket aside and crossed the room, looking through the peephole. Rome leaned against the opposite wall with his head bowed. One hand hung loosely at his side while the other lifted toward my door and missed it completely and struck the frame. His suit jacket was wrinkled, his dress shirt was untucked on one side, and his tie hung loose around his neck. Even through the door, I could tell he was drunk enough to barely hold himself upright.

Rome didn’t get drunk. He drank socially, always controlled, always conscious of how he looked. I had seen him stop after one glass because he hated feeling as though anything had power over him. The man swaying outside my apartment looked like somebody wearing Rome’s face. My first instinct was to call the police. My hand went for my phone, with my thumb hovering over the screen. Then Rome’s shoulder slid down the wall, and he caught himself at the last second. My stomach turned in knots thinking about the fact that he had driven here like that.

Somehow, in that condition, he had gotten behind the wheel and made it to my apartment. If I sent him away and he climbed back into his car, he could kill himself or somebody else before reaching the next light. A door farther down the hallway cracked open. I saw my neighbor’s face appear through the peephole’s warped view.

“Shit.” I mumbled.

I unlocked the door and yanked it open. Rome’s head lifted slowly and his eyes were bloodshot and unable to settle on one point.

“There she go,” he slurred, with a lazy grin spreading across his face. “My wife.”

“You stupid son of a bitch.” I grabbed his arm before he could stumble backward. The smell of liquor hit me hard enough to make me turn my face away.

“Damn, wifey.” He dragged the word out as I pulled him across the threshold. “Why you talking to me like that?”

“Get your stupid ass inside before somebody calls the police.” I fussed.

“You called me stupid?”

“Yes!” I groaned above a whisper.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I absolutely do.”

He tripped over the edge of the rug with his weight falling against me. I shoved both hands into his chest to keep us from going down together. “Stand up!”

“I am standing.”

“You’re leaning on my whole body.”

“Same thing.” He slurred. I kicked the door shut behind him and turned the lock. Rome swayed in the middle of the living room, blinking at the candles as though he had never seen fire before. “It smell good in here.”

I ignored him. “Take your jacket off.”

“You miss me?”

“Hell No!”

He tried to remove the jacket himself, but his arm got caught halfway out of the sleeve. He turned in a slow circle, fighting the fabric while I watched in disbelief. “Oh, my God. Stop moving.”

I snatched the jacket down his arms and tossed it over the back of a chair. Rome looked down at himself. “You undressing me already?”

“Lay down before I push you down.” I warned.

He smiled crookedly. “You always liked when I…”

“Rome.” I cut him off and he finally caught my tone. The smile faded, and for one brief second, shame showed on his face before the alcohol swallowed it again. He dropped onto the couch, with one leg hanging off the side. I shoved his feet onto the cushions and pulled a pillow beneath his head. “You are not staying here.”

“Whatever.”

“I’m calling somebody to come get you.”

“Mhm.”

“Do you hear me?”

His eyes were already closed. Within seconds, his mouth fell slightly open, and one arm slid toward the floor. I stood over him, furious. The candlelight flickered across his face, softening features I had spent years memorizing. For one dangerous moment, he looked like the Rome I used to know. The man who came home from work and loosened his tie at the kitchen counter. The man who once carried me from the car because my shoes had blistered my feet. The man who had slowly turned every good memory into evidence I could no longer trust.

His phone began vibrating inside the jacket. I pulled it from the pocket and saw Ashley’s name on the screen. I stared at it until the call stopped. A second later, she called again so this time I answered.

“Hello?”

There was a brief pause. “Who is this?”

“You called his phone.”

There was another pause, but shorter this time. “Navy?”

“Your baby daddy showed up at my house so drunk he can barely stand.”

Her breathing changed and I could tell. “Why is he at your house?”

“That is the question you need to ask him when he wakes up.”

“What did you do?”

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “What did I do? Ashley, I was in my house minding my business when he started kicking my door.”

“He doesn’t even drink like that.”

“Which should tell you what kind of condition he’s in and not you telling me something you think I don’t know about my own husband.”

“Put him on the phone.” She demanded.

“He’s unconscious.”

“Then wake him up.”

“I will not.” I giggled somewhat enjoying messing with her head.

“Navy!”

“And while you’re over there worrying about what I did, you need to keep this dog on a leash.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I hope you don’t think you won something besides a headache, because this is what your prize looks like. Drunk, laid across my couch, while you call his phone asking me questions.” I ended the call. The phone immediately started ringing again. I silenced it and tossed it onto the chair with his jacket. “Both of y’all can go to hell.” I said aloud.

I called Bill next, but he didn’t answer. I tried again and still nothing. I sent a message telling him Rome was drunk at my apartment and needed to be picked up immediately. I sent the address and then I placed my phone on the counter and stood there trying to decide what to do.

I didn’t trust Rome enough to leave him alone in my living room while I slept behind a closed bedroom door. Drunk or not, unconscious or not, too much had happened between us for me to relax with him inside my home. I grabbed the other throw blanket from the chair and settled onto the far end of the sectional, leaving as much space between us as possible.

Rome didn’t move but his phone continued lighting up across the room, Ashley’s name kept flashing again and again before the screen went dark. I pulled the blanket around myself and stared at him. Annoyance kept me awake at first and then exhaustion began tugging at my eyes. The shopping, the massage, the emotions from Tasha’s news, all of it took over me at once.

I must have dozed off because the next sound I heard was my own phone vibrating against the coffee table. My eyes opened slowly. The apartment remained dark except for the candles, but their flames were smaller now, with pools of melted wax gathered around the wicks. Rome was still asleep as I reached for my phone and saw Lev’s name causing my heart to drop.

I glanced at Rome before answering quietly. “Hello?”

“I need to see you,” was all he said.

His voice was low and direct, with none of the sleepiness I felt. “Right now?”

“Yes.”

I sat up, tightening the blanket around me. “It’s not really a good time.”

“Why?”

I looked toward Rome. “Well, Rome showed up drunk. I’m waiting for somebody to call me back and come get him.”

Silence.

“Lev?”

“Open the back door.”

I frowned. “What?” He hung up and I stared at the screen. Then I looked toward the small back entrance beside the kitchen. “No. No, no, no.” I rambled underneath my breath.

I slipped from beneath the blanket and crossed the apartment carefully, keeping my steps light. The candles cast long shadows across the walls as I passed the kitchen counter. When I opened the back door, Lev stood on the other side. He wore all black, with his broad frame filling the narrow doorway. The hallway light behind him traced the edges of his shoulders and left most of his face in shadow.

My eyes got wide. “What are you doing here?”

He looked past me and from where he stood, he could see straight through the kitchen into the living room where he saw Rome. I stepped closer and lowered my voice until it was barely more than a whisper.

“This isn’t a good time. Like I was telling you, he showed up drunk, and I’m waiting for somebody to call me back so they can get him.” I explained but Lev’s gaze returned to mine. I placed my hand lightly on his chest. “Go,” I whispered. “Please.”

He raised one finger and pressed it gently against my lips. “Shh.”

Before I could speak again, his hands were around my waist as he guided me backward, easing me into the apartment without making a sound. The door lightly clicked close shut behind him. My backside met the edge of the kitchen counter as the cool stone pressed my backside.

From where I stood, I had a clear view of the living room, but my back was turned so Lev’s gaze was fixed on Rome as he remained sprawled across the couch, completely unaware. Lev stepped between my knees, with his eyes glaring into mine in the candlelit kitchen.

With his eyes focused on Rome the entire time, he lifted me onto the counter and slowly kissed my neck causing me to squirm although my husband was a few feet away asleep, I couldn’t help how good Lev made me feel.

My hands found his shoulders as the soft flickers from the candles glowed on his face through his dark eyes. In one motion, he pulled the Glock from the small of his waist holding it steady in one hand resting on the counter while he used the other to find my bare pussy before sliding two fingers inside. I threw my head back and muffled a moan.

Lev’s lips found my ear as I grind my hips into his fingers feeling how wet I had already become. “I’ma fuck you right here, you gone cum, and hard too,” he whispered before licking my earlobe causing that familiar shudder. I said nothing as my body did the talking, but I couldn’t lie and say my heart wasn’t beating fast. What if Rome woke up?

“You hear me?” He asked in a low tone in my ear. “Tell me you want it.”

I bit my bottom lip and again tried to fight a moan as his fingers moved even faster. “Yess,” I moaned above a whisper. “I want it.”

“Good,” he told me already reaching down for his dick. He used that same hand, ripped the condom open and slid it on without ever moving his other hand that had the gun in it. he didn’t move that hand until he scooted me closer to the edge, slid my hips down a little and filled me up as I braced myself with my hands still planted on his shoulders.

For a good five to ten minutes for this quickie, I didn’t think about Rome although Lev’s eyes never left him. In a weird kind of way, he was getting a kick out of fucking my brains out while my husband slept a few feet away. Lev fucked me so good and hard, I didn’t want it to end, but when we both reached climax, we couldn’t hold it.

“Shitttt,” I gasped under my breath as a tear rolled out the side of my eye.

I could feel Lev’s dick thumping, and it made me want to cum all over again. Before he let me down, he whispered in my ear. “You gotta know you got some good pussy Navy.”

I smiled and licked my lips in a daze. When it was over, the candles had burned low enough that the room flickered between light and darkness. My breathing still hadn’t returned to normal, and I kept glancing toward the living room, half expecting Rome to move but he didn’t. Lev straightened his clothes without rushing, but his face was giving away nothing as he looked toward the couch. For one second, something cold ran through his eyes.

“He’s leaving,” I whispered.

My phone vibrated against the counter so suddenly that I jumped. Bill’s name appeared on the screen as relief rushed through me. I answered immediately. “Hello?”

“My bad, I was asleep. You said Rome over there?”

“Yes. Drunk out of his mind. I sent you the address.”

Bill exhaled heavily. “Man, what the hell? I’m on my way.”

“How long before you get here?” I asked while still staring at Lev as he stared at me.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Okay.” The call ended and I placed the phone down and closed my eyes for half a second.

Lev looked at me, then toward Rome again. “You let him in.”

The statement held no question, but I heard the one beneath it. “I didn’t want him driving. He could barely stand.”

“If you really trying to leave, that ain’t your responsibility.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

The words landed harder than his damn tone. I folded my arms across myself. “I wasn’t trying to save our marriage, Lev. I was trying to keep a drunk man from getting back behind the wheel and killing somebody.”

A faint sound came from the couch and both of us looked. Rome shifted onto his back, mumbled something, then fell completely still again. I exhaled a sigh of relief. Lev had his Glock in one hand, and he pulled a thick envelop from his back pocket before passing it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked confused.

“Twenty-five thousand, and I hope you learned your lesson.” He gazed down into my eyes. “I like you, and I ain’t gone act like I don’t, so I don’t want you beating up that pretty body no more working yourself like a slave. Next time you see some shit that ain’t yours, remember what kind of danger can be lingering behind it.”

I swallowed hard because I didn’t know what else to say. “I… Lev… I…”

Lev stepped closer, and once again placed his finger to my lips. “Lock this door behind me, and when they get him out, lock the front too.”

“I know.”

His eyes stayed on my face, quietly searching for something. For a moment, I wanted to ask why he had come. Why he had needed to see me badly enough to show up without warning. Why he had been standing outside the back door before I even told him where to go. But the questions felt too dangerous for a kitchen still holding the evidence of every complicated decision I had made that night, so I only nodded.

Lev opened the back door and disappeared into the hallway. I then locked it behind him before I stood in the middle of the kitchen, with one hand resting against the counter while Rome slept twenty feet away and Bill’s headlights had yet to appear through the blinds. My husband was unconscious on my couch. His pregnant mistress was calling his phone. The man I owed twenty-five thousand dollars had just walked out of my back door after fucking me right here a few feet away from my husband and even giving me the money. My best friend was preparing to end a pregnancy she had been too afraid to tell me about until today. I looked around at the shopping bags near my bedroom, the dying candles, Rome’s jacket hanging across my chair, and the blanket twisted at the opposite end of the couch.

Less than twelve hours earlier, Tasha and I had been lying inside a spa laughing about the tension in my shoulders. Now every muscle in my body had tightened again. The headlights swept briefly across the front window, and I moved toward the door before Bill had the chance to knock. He needed to get Rome’s ass out of here.

CHAPTER 22

E’Leveyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

Day Ten

The office had been empty for almost an hour before I finally shut my laptop. I sat there a few seconds longer anyway, staring through the glass wall at a floor nobody occupied but me. The cleaning crew had already passed through the hall two times already and the lights had been cut off in the offices farther down. My phone sat beside my hand with three missed calls from BJ and that was the only reason I hadn’t gone straight home.

Barbara Jean didn’t call three times unless somebody was dead, bleeding, locked up, or making her nervous enough to believe one of those things was about to happen. She had left one voicemail, but all she said was, “E’Levyn, come by my house when you leave that office,” in the same firm voice she had used when I was twelve and knew I was in trouble before I ever crossed her threshold.

I slid the laptop into my bag and stood up. That office was supposed to represent everything I had changed about my life with men in suits calling me Mr. Laurent instead of whispering my name because they needed something moved, buried, or handled. I had worked too hard to build distance between who I had been and who I had become, but lately Marv kept shortening it for me. Every call about him felt like somebody pulling on a rope tied around my fucking neck.

By the time I rode the elevator down, irritation had already got the best of me, and it stayed there through the parking garage, through the valet bringing my truck around, and through the entire drive toward BJ’s estates. Before I reached the door, she opened it. BJ wore a long house dress with her reading glasses hanging from a beaded chain around her neck. Usually, she would make me knock even if she saw me through the window, claiming she didn’t raise any of us to enter people’s houses like the police. Tonight, she stood there holding the door with one hand and pressing the other against her chest.

“What took you so long?”

“I came straight from work.”

“You could’ve left that work early.” She scolded with worry wrinkles all over her face.

“That’s not how work goes.”

She stepped aside without answering with her lips tight enough to tell me arguing wasn’t gone improve her mood. The house smelled like onions, butter, and whatever cake she had baked earlier. The television played in the living room and a half-finished cup of tea sat on the end table beside her chair, but the bag remained floating inside it, untouched.

BJ never let tea steep that long, so I knew something was wrong. I set my keys on the small table near the door knowing this was about Marv. “Where he at?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You called him?”

“Of course I called him. The phone either rang until it cut off or he sent me to that machine.” She walked toward her chair but didn’t sit. Instead, she turned and looked at me as though I had already failed to fix the problem. “He came here earlier.”

“What time was that?”

“Little after four.”

I looked down at my watch and sat down. “What happened?”

She opened her mouth, closed it, then pulled her glasses off the chain and pushed them onto her face even though there was nothing in front of her to read. “Something ain’t right with that boy.”

I glanced toward the kitchen. “What he do?”

“He was high.”

Shit irritated me even more as I flexed my jaws. “High how?”

She looked offended by the question. “Don’t ask me no foolishness like that. I raised enough of y’all to know what high look like.”

“I’m asking what he was on BJ.”

“That powder.” She confirmed. “I don’t care what this big pretty house looks like, I’m still from the hood and I knew a no good powder head when I see one.”

I looked away and blew hard before rubbing my hands over my head clenching my jaws.

BJ watched me. “You knew?”

I nodded my head. “He denied it, but yeah, I knew. Told him he need to leave that shit alone.”

“He was sniffing, wiping his nose, walking around here talking so fast I could barely understand him.” Her voice rose as she moved farther into the living room. “Couldn’t even sit down and every time I asked him a question, he started answering something I never asked. That fool was looking through my blinds like somebody was outside. He even went in that kitchen and opened every cabinet like he was searching for something.”

“What was he talking about?”

“Everything and nothing.” She pressed her palm against her forehead. “Said somebody was watching him, also said he couldn’t trust nobody. He started talking about people stealing from him, then told me you were trying to take over his life.”

I gave a dry laugh. “Yeah, that sound like him.”

“It is not funny, E’Levyn.”

“I didn’t say it was.”

“That bullet did something to him.” She pointed toward me as though I had denied it. “Ever since he got shot, he ain’t been right. He got out that hospital acting like he was fine because he could walk and talk, but something in his mind changed. Now he’s back sniffing that mess, running around here like he’s losing whatever sense the Lord gave him.”

I leaned forward with my forearms against my thighs still listening letting her vent because I knew what was coming next.

BJ finally lowered herself into her chair, but she didn’t sit back. “You need to get control of him.”

I looked at her. “BJ.”

“Don’t BJ me. You heard what I said.”

“He’s grown.”

“So are you.”

“Exactly, which means I can’t keep my eye on another grown man every hour of the day.”

“You his cousin.”

“I know what he is. He also has siblings too, you forgot?”

She placed her hand on her hip and frowned. “But he listens to you.”

“No, he don’t cause if he did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. I seriously didn’t know what else BJ wanted from me. I didn’t have no kids, but she wanted me to treat Marv as such.

She then folded her hands together, squeezing them so tightly her knuckles turned white. “He needs somebody.”

“Nah, he needs rehab.”

“Then put him in one.”

I leaned back and shook my head because she still wasn’t getting it. “I can’t pick him up, throw him over my shoulder, and lock him in rehab because you said so. He gotta want help.”

“He’s not in his right mind to know what he wants.”

“And if I keep chasing behind him every time he gets high, starts a fight, or goes looking for something that ain’t there, he gonna have me back in jail or tied into street shit I spent years getting away from.”

Her expression changed at the word jail. BJ rarely softened when she believed she was right, but her eyes moved away from mine, toward the framed photograph on the wall of me wearing a cap and gown at a graduation I had almost missed because my probation officer had threatened not to approve the travel and that was from a juvenile case.

“I prayed too hard for you,” she said quietly. “I sat in too many courtrooms and watched them take you away from me.”

My jaws flexed, but I kept my voice steady. “And I’m telling you I’m not going back.”

“Then don’t.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.”

She glanced down at her hands. “I love all y’all the same. But Marv…” She shook her head slowly. “That boy always made me worry different.”

BJ loved every grandchild and great-grandchild she claimed, including the ones not connected to her by blood but had eaten enough meals in her kitchen to become family. She remembered birthdays nobody else remembered, kept money tucked inside cards, and defended all of us publicly even when she planned to tear us apart privately, but Marv had always occupied a fragile place inside her.

Maybe because my auntie had left him with BJ more often than she kept him. “He stood right there,” she said, pointing toward the space near the television, “and asked me if I had cameras in my smoke detectors. I told him the only thing watching him in this house was Jesus, and from the looks of him, Jesus was tired.”

I looked up at the smoke detector as a laugh almost escaped me, but I caught it when I saw tears gathering along the bottom of her eyes. “He scared me, Lev.”

I stood and crossed the room, lowering myself onto the arm of her chair. She let me take one of her hands, though she kept her face turned away. “I’ll find him.”

“You just said that.”

I shook my head. “I said I can’t control him. I didn’t say I wouldn’t talk to him.”

Her fingers tightened around mine. “Don’t go over there fighting him.”

“I’m not.”

“And don’t let him pull no gun on you.”

“He not pulling no gun on me. If he does that, I’m shooting his ass before he shoots me.”

That did not satisfy her, but nothing would until Marv stood in front of her clean, sober, and apologizing. “I need you to promise me,” she said.

“I’ll talk to him.”

“No, promise me you’ll do something.”

“What you want me to promise? That I’ll fix him?” I shook my head. “I can’t promise you that.” I told her. The hurt on her face made me regret how bluntly I said it, but lying to her would have been crueler. I bent and kissed her forehead. “I’ll handle what I can.”

She caught my wrist before I could step away. “And call me.”

“I will.”

I walked into the kitchen before leaving, checked that the stove was off because she was distracted, and poured out the cold tea she had forgotten. When I set a fresh cup in front of her, she complained that I made it too light, took a sip, and kept drinking it anyway.

At the door, she called my name again and I turned. “Bring him back to me.”

I gave her the only answer I could. “I’m going to try.”

I unlocked the truck and had one foot on the running board when my phone vibrated with Navy’s name. The sight of her name changed my mood. I answered before the second ring. “What’s up?”

For a second, all I heard was movement behind her and voices calling to one another, and a monitor beeping steadily somewhere in the distance. “Hey are you busy?” she asked.

I looked back toward BJ’s window. “Just leaving my grandma’s.”

“Oh.” She paused. “I can call you later.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“You called asking if I’m busy.”

“I just wanted to talk to you.” Her voice had softened on the last few words, and I felt the reaction to it low in my chest.

It was happening too fast. I had known women who wanted me, women who enjoyed being around me, enjoyed what I could do for them, enjoyed the doors my name opened. I knew how attraction felt when it was simple. It stayed physical, clean enough to walk away from when the morning came. However, whatever was growing between me and Navy had stopped feeling simple without asking my permission.

I looked forward to her calls even if it was business and thought about shit she said hours later. I found myself making room in my day like right now to talk to her when I had other shit I had to do.

“What time you get off?” I asked.

“I’m about to leave in a little bit.”

“I’m closer to your job than I am to your house, so I’ll come get you. we can go eat; I’m starving. ”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Wait by the entrance,” I told her. “I’ll be there in fifteen.” I ended the call before she could talk herself out of it.

The hospital entrance was crowded when I arrived, but Navy stood near one of the concrete columns with a large tote hanging from her shoulder. She had changed out of her scrub jacket but still wore the navy-blue set beneath it. Her hair was pulled into a low bun, with softer pieces curling from the humidity around her face. When she saw my truck she smiled and that smile did too much to me. I leaned across and pushed the passenger door open from the inside. She climbed up, pulling the tote onto her lap before she turned to buckle her seat belt.

I pulled from the curb. “You eat?”

“Not since earlier.”

“There’s a café across the street.”

“I know but their coffee is terrible, so I hope you don’t want none.” She giggled.

“We ain’t going for coffee.”

The place was small enough that we could see most of it from the door. It only had six tables that filled the narrow dining room, with two more beneath an awning outside. A glass case was near the register that held croissants, slices of pound cake, and sandwiches wrapped in paper. The air smelled like toasted bread and burnt espresso, confirming Navy’s complaint about the coffee before we even sat down.

We took the table farthest from the register. Navy placed her tote on the empty chair beside her and rubbed both hands slowly over her face.

“You had a long day?” I asked.

She shrugged looking over the place. “They’re all long lately.”

A waitress approached, balancing two menus beneath one arm. Navy ordered tea and a turkey panini. I asked for water and the same sandwich. Once the waitress left, it got quiet for a few seconds. Navy traced one fingertip through the condensation left by the water glass in front of her.

I watched her wondering what she wanted to talk about. “You said you wanted to talk.”

“I do.”

“About?”

Her eyes found mine. “Were you okay after you left my apartment?”

I leaned back in the chair. “You called me here to ask if I was okay?”

“I’m serious.”

“The question is were you okay?”

She stopped moving her finger through the water. “I was fine, but it seems like you were a little upset.”

I looked toward the front windows across the street where people moved in and out of the hospital doors while traffic stopped and started again and then back at her. “Navy, I can’t be mad about another man’s wife. That’s something I can’t get involved with. I had no reason to be upset. I’m confident in whatever my position is. You feel my presence even when I’m not around, that says enough.”

“I don’t know why I felt the need to explain,” she admitted.

“I understand why you did it.” I told her.

The waitress returned with her tea, placing a tiny metal pitcher of honey beside the cup. Navy waited until she walked away before speaking again. Her shoulders lowered slightly, although the tension stayed in her face. She opened two packets of sugar, poured both into the tea, then stirred it.

“I’m just making sure Lev. I don’t know what this is between us and I just need some kind of clarity.”

Most people adjusted themselves around my silence. They guessed, waited, or decided it was safer not to ask. Navy looked me in the face and demanded clarity as though I had not spent most of my adult life making sure nobody felt entitled to it which let me know she was becoming more comfortable.

The waitress brought our food, sliding the plates onto the table. Navy pulled the top half of her panini away and stared at the melted cheese. For several minutes, we ate without speaking. I waited because I knew that wasn’t the only reason she had called.

She took two bites, wiped her mouth, then placed the sandwich down. “Why did you give me the money back?”

Yeah, it was just like I thought. This was really what it was all about.

“You wanted every dollar when you found out I took it. You held that debt over my head. You made me work to pay it. Then suddenly you gave me everything back like none of it mattered.” She watched me closely. “Why?”

I set the glass down because the real answer had too many layers. I had seen the way she lived and because I knew she was working at the hospital, baking cakes, and dancing in a club she hated just to hand money over to me, I knew every payment started feeling less like repayment and more like I was punishing her for surviving something she was trying to get away from.

“I care about you,” I repeated. “Enough that taking money from you started feeling wrong.”

Her eyes watered up although she blinked before anything could fall. “You could’ve told me.”

“I’m telling you now. Just like I told you last night.”

She gave a quiet laugh and looked down. “You know that doesn’t erase how crazy you acted in the beginning.”

“I ain’t trying to erase it.”

“You were terrible.” Navy smiled sipping her tea.

I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table and got straight to the point. “What do you want from me?”

The smile faded. “I don’t know.”

“Then why we here Navy?” I questioned with my head slightly tilt to the side waiting for an answer while making sure I didn’t break the glare.

“Because I wanted to see you.” she admitted. “And because I had questions.” The honesty in her voice matched mine. She glanced toward the window, then continued before I could respond. “And because everything about this feels like it’s moving too fast. I’m filing for divorce, Rome is spiraling. Marv is still pursuing, and he’s still been pressing but he’s not the one I’m finding interest in.”

“I told you, Marv is going through some shit right now, and the best thing for you is to stay away from him.”

Navy noticed. “What’s going on?”

“he’s just not himself.”

That’s all I told her. We stayed another twenty minutes, talking as she opened up and told me about supposed to be going to see her best friend after a procedure without sharing details that were not hers to tell. I told her BJ had called about Marv, but I left out the part about cocaine until I could confirm how far gone he was. She asked about my office. I asked about her baking orders. The conversation moved easier once we stopped pressing it toward an answer.

When I dropped her back at the hospital parking lot, the sky had turned dark. Her car sat beneath a light near the employee entrance. I pulled into the empty space beside it and put the truck in park. Navy reached for her tote, then paused with one hand on the door handle. “Thank you for coming.”

“You called.”

“That doesn’t mean you had to.”

“I wanted to and when I want to, I’ll come every time.” I let her know.

She looked at me in that quiet way she had, like she was trying to read through my soul. Then she leaned across the console and kissed my cheek. It was brief but soft enough that I felt the warmth of it after she had already pulled away.

“Drive safe,” she said.

I watched her climb down from the truck and walk toward her Benz. She turned around one time before opening the door, caught me still watching, and smiled. I waited until her car started before pulling away and then I called Marv and he answered on the fourth ring with noise blasting in the background.

“What?” he snapped.

“Where you at?”

“Why?”

“BJ called me.”

He laughed, quick and humorless. “Man, BJ worry about every fucking thing.”

“She said you came over high.” I told him. Marv needed to get his shot together. “Just like you still high now.”

“Fuck you.” he spat.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Fuck you too. Where are you?”

He kept dodging the question. “Why you keep asking me that?”

“Because I’m trying to talk to you.”

“We talking.”

“No, you ranting in my fucking ear.”

Marv said something away from the phone, then returned louder. “You know what the problem is? Everybody think I’m crazy because I’m the only nigga paying attention.”

“To what?”

“To all this shit happening around us.”

This nigga sounded crazy. “What shit?”

“Paper.”

I turned the music down in my truck even though it was already low. “What about him?”

“That nigga been working for Navy husband. Showing up places he ain’t got no business being, asking questions. Rome been having that nigga watch us. I know fa’sho Paper shot me.”

“You got proof?”

“You always need proof when it ain’t your idea.”

“I need proof because you been sniffing powder and talking like somebody planted a microphone in BJ smoke detector.”

Silence filled the line for half a second and then Marv exploded. “That old bitch told you that?”

Disrespecting BJ would get him killed without question. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

“I knew she was gonna call you. Soon as I left, I said that old lady about to call Lev and make me sound crazy.”

He lost his fucking mind. I saw exactly what BJ was talking about. “Nah, you made yourself sound crazy.”

“Nah, y’all trying to play me.”

“Nobody playing you. The fuck you talking about.”

“Navy playing you.”

My grip tightened. On the wheel. I had to use the other to light the joint before he pissed me off. “Leave her out of it.”

“That’s your problem right there. You so busy sniffing behind her you can’t see what the fuck she doing. You think I don’t know. I ain’t stupid nigga, look how ya’ll disappeared thar night at the restaurant.”

“Man fuck all that, what she doing?”

“I know these bitches.”

“You don’t know her though.”

“What? You gonna beat me up over some bitch Marv had first?”

The words came fast, tangled with whatever chemical was racing through him. I forced my voice lower. “You need to get some help. You losing your fucking mind.”

“Nah. I see clear.” His breathing came hard through the phone. “Paper working for Rome. Rome playing with us. Navy playing with you. Everybody wanna hide and move sneaky, we need to make a statement.”

“What statement?”

“Fuck her up.”

Everything inside got cold and dark. “What the fuck you just say?”

“You heard me. Put hands on her, scare her, whatever. Make that nigga come out from wherever he hiding. Niggas wanna play, stop playing fair.”

“There ain’t shit player about what you saying.”

“She ain’t innocent.”

“She ain’t got shit to do with whatever you think Paper doing.”

“She the leader’s wife.”

“Not for long, and again that ain’t got shit to do with her.”

“Oh, so that’s what this is?” He laughed wildly. “You saving her now? Captain Save-a-Hoe?”

“You need to listen to me carefully.”

“Man, fuck⁠—”

“If you go near Navy, speak to Navy, call Navy, or even park your car where she can see it, I’m gone deal with you in a way neither one of us can come back from. That’s the same for BJ until you get yourself right in the mind.”

The noise behind him seemed to fade, or maybe he had moved away from it. “You threatening me?”

“I’m warning you.”

“Over her.”

“Over you putting an innocent woman in something she ain’t got shit to do with and disrespecting BJ like you lost your mind. You ain’t about to give my grandma a heart attack cause you weak nigga.”

“Innocent,” he repeated, dragging the word out. “Ain’t none of these bitches’ innocent.”

“That powder got you talking like a fucking fool.”

“You think you better than me because you corporate now?”

“This ain’t about being corporate.”

“You forgot where you came from.”

“No, I remember exactly. That’s why I know where you headed.” I continued before he could cut in. “Until you get your mind right, you can’t fuck with me.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“So you cutting me off?”

“I’m not letting you drag me down with you.”

“We family fool.”

“Then act like it.”

“Family don’t turn they back.”

“Family don’t call they grandma no old bitch either.”

“Man, you pussy.”

The line went dead and I stared through the windshield, with my pulse beating hard at the base of my neck. For several seconds, I considered turning around and finding him myself. I knew most of the places he would go, most of the people who would let him sit around sniffing until he convinced himself every bad thought in his head was true, but BJ’s words returned. Don’t let him pull you back. I set the phone down and kept driving.

I handled two errands I had already put off for days. Stopped at a property on 7th avenue where a contractor had ordered the wrong windows and tried convincing me nobody would notice. Then I picked up documents from one of my attorneys, signed what needed signing in the truck, and left them with the receptionist before the building closed.

By the time I finished, Marv’s voice still echoed in my head. I called Navy once while sitting at a red light and she did not answer. I told myself she was probably driving. Milan called before the light changed.

I considered letting it ring but answered. “What’s up?”

She sighed dramatically. “When am I getting invited over again?”

I pulled through the intersection. “I don’t know.”

“You been acting funny.”

“I been busy.”

“You’re always busy. That never stopped you before.”

Her voice carried the playful irritation she used whenever she believed she could pull me back toward her with enough persistence. Milan was beautiful, smart, and familiar in a way that required little effort. She knew when not to ask questions and had once been content with whatever time I gave her. Lately, content had turned into curious and curious always became complicated.

“I got a lot going on,” I told her.

“So do I and I still make time.”

I rubbed a hand over my beard. “Milan.”

“No, it’s fine. I know when I’m being phased out.”

“I’ll call you later.”

“Lev—”

I looked toward the passenger seat as I turned into another lane. That was when I saw the wallet wedged between the center console and the seat. My attention shifted completely realizing Navy had left it.

I ended the call with Milan, and I picked up the wallet at the next light and turned it over in my hand. Navy must have pulled it from her tote at the café, then placed it in the console when we got back into the truck. I called her but no answer so I tried again and it went straight to voicemail this time. An uneasy feeling overcame me I couldn’t explain. I checked the time; she should have been home by then. Her apartment wasn’t far from where I was, and returning the wallet gave me a reason to warn her once again about Marv.

I made the next turn, and the drive should have taken twelve minutes, but I made it in eight. As I entered her complex, my eyes swept the first row of parked cars automatically. Nothing stood out until I turned toward her building. Then I saw Marv’s whip from a distance parallel parked crooked along the curb, with the back tire half on the grass. The driver’s side sat farther from the curb than the passenger side.

I felt the anger trying to overtake me. “Fuck.”

I pressed the accelerator, moving deeper into the lot. I prayed Navy hadn’t let him inside. She didn’t know everything about Marv. She knew him as my cousin, as the man she talked to before any of this became complicated. She believed whatever had passed between them had been casual enough for him not to care about me and her. She hadn’t heard his voice on the phone nor the paranoia through every sentence. She hadn’t heard him suggest using her body to send a message to her husband. I reached for my phone, but before I could call her again, the apartment door flew open and Navy came running out.

From what I could see, one shoe was missing and her hair had come loose, and fear was all over her face. Even from across the lot, I could see it. She looked like somebody had attacked her. Marv burst through the door behind her. He moved like a wild man, with his arms swinging and mouth open as he shouted something I couldn’t hear through my closed windows. He stumbled off the curb, caught himself against a parked car, then ran toward his own.

I slammed my foot down honking the kids out of the way who acted like they didn’t want to move. The truck surged forward, with my tires gripping the pavement as I cut across the parking lot toward Navy. She looked in my direction and for one second, our eyes met through the windshield. I saw her mouth form my name but somebody else got to her first. Then something so sudden happened, something so violent, that every sound around me seemed to disappear. My truck was still rolling when I watched it unfold right in front of my eyes before pulling my Glock out and busting at the car.

CHAPTER 23

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Day Eleven

Ileft the hospital feeling better than I had when I walked into it that morning. Physically, I was exhausted. My feet ached from spending twelve hours trapped inside compression socks and work shoes, and the muscles between my shoulders had tightened into the kind of knot that made yesterday’s massage feel like money wasted. Still, something inside me felt lighter. The conversation with Lev had lifted a weight I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying until it was no longer pressing against my chest.

Maybe it was the uncertainty that had been wearing me down. Maybe it was hearing him admit that he cared about me. It wasn’t as if one conversation had suddenly made everything simple. I still had a husband I was trying to divorce, a life I barely recognized, and more problems than any one woman should have been expected to carry at once. Lev had his own world too, and no matter how close he allowed me to stand beside him, there were parts of it I still didn’t understand.

I should have gone straight home. Instead, once I pulled away from the hospital, I headed toward Da Licking. Tasha had undergone the abortion that morning. She had texted me earlier to say she was all right, but I knew her too well to trust two little words typed across a screen. Tasha could be doubled over in pain with tears soaking her pillow and still send I’m good, girl because she didn’t want anybody worrying about her.

My plan was simple. I would pick up chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and the apple juice she had suddenly decided she couldn’t live without. Then I would go to her place, make sure she had taken her medicine, and stay until she fell asleep or got tired of me asking how she felt. The parking lot at Da Licking was packed when I arrived. Cars occupied every space near the entrance, forcing me to park closer to the street. People stood outside waiting for orders, and each time the restaurant door opened, the smell of fried chicken and heavy seasoning rolled into the humid night air.

I cut the car off and reached into my tote. My fingers brushed my hospital badge, hand lotion, two pens, the wrapper from a granola bar, and the tangled cord of my charger but I had no wallet. I frowned and pushed my hand deeper. “Come on.”

Pulling the tote into my lap, I began removing things one by one. My lip gloss landed in the cup holder. The stethoscope case went onto the passenger seat, followed by a half-empty pack of gum and three receipts I should have thrown away days ago. I checked the small inside pocket, then the zipper pocket, then the inside pocket again as if sheer irritation might make the wallet appear.

“Damn it.”

I sank into the seat and closed my eyes until the memory came back and remembered I had taken my wallet out when we stopped at the café, then placed it in his center console while shifting my tote out of the way to buckle my seat belt. By the time we reached the hospital, I had been so distracted by our conversation I walked away without it.

I looked through the windshield toward the restaurant. A woman stepped outside carrying two large bags, and the smell of chicken grew stronger. My stomach growled loudly enough to make me glance down at it. “So disrespectful,” I muttered.

I could have ordered through an app, but the cards attached to my phone were either locked, outdated, or connected to accounts Rome had once been able to access. I had spent the last few weeks changing passwords and separating everything I could, yet I still didn’t trust any account he had ever seen. The little cash I usually kept in my tote was gone too. I had used it to tip the massage therapist and never replaced it.

With no other option, I called Tasha. She answered after three rings, her voice so low and raspy that it sounded as though I had dragged her from the deepest sleep of her life. “Hello?”

“Were you sleeping?”

“I was trying to.”

There was no television playing in the background, no music, and no smart remark from her either. The absence of all three worried me immediately. “I’m sorry, I only wanted to check on you.”

“I’m alive.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“I’m sore,” she finally admitted. “The cramps keep coming and going.”

“Did you take the medicine they gave you?”

“Yes, Nurse Navy.”

“What did you eat?”

Silence.

“Tasha, I’m talking to you.” I frowned.

“I had some crackers.”

I looked toward the restaurant again, wishing I had checked for my wallet before driving all the way there. “I stopped at Da Licking to get you something, but I left my damn wallet in Lev’s truck.”

A tired laugh slipped out of her, weak but familiar enough to loosen the concern knotting my stomach. “You left your wallet in that man’s truck because your little mind was gone.”

“My mind was not gone.”

I hated knowing she was there without me. “Let me go home and shower. I’m going to try to get my wallet back from Lev, then I’m coming over.”

“You don’t have to rush over here.”

“I’m not rushing. I’m bringing you food.”

“And apple juice.”

“Yes, apple juice, got you.” I assured her.

After ending the call, I gathered everything I had dumped from my tote and started the car. Traffic backed up near an intersection where two damaged cars sat with their hazard lights flashing, so the drive home took longer than it should have. I slowed down as soon as I entered the parking lot, and the habit had become automatic. Even when I had no reason to believe Rome would be there, I searched for his car. My eyes moved across every vehicle parked along the curb.

Nothing looked out of place, so I parked beneath closest to my stairs and remained inside the locked car for a few seconds while checking my phone. The apartment was always when I stepped inside. I locked the door behind me, checked it twice, then stood in the entryway long enough for the air-conditioning to cool the sweat. I carried my tote into the bedroom and let it fall onto the chair. My scrubs came off on the way to the bathroom, with the top landing near the hamper before I stepped out of the pants and kicked them into the same pile.

Hot water felt good against my skin. I stood beneath it longer than planned, letting it plummet the back of my neck and loosen the tension in my shoulders. The smell of the hospital washed away first, followed by the faint scent of the café. Closing my eyes, I heard Lev’s voice again: I care about you.

I couldn’t decide whether that made me feel safer or more afraid. Lev wasn’t Rome, I knew that. Still, knowing who somebody wasn’t didn’t automatically tell me who they were. The water began cooling, forcing me to finish. I stepped out, wrapped a towel around my body, and wiped the steam from the mirror with my palm. After rubbing lotion into my skin, I dressed in a fitted black T-shirt and loose gray joggers. I pulled my damp hair into a low ponytail, stepped into black slides, and returned to the bedroom.

My regular driver’s license was inside my wallet, so I knelt in front of the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. Beneath old nursing books, a scarf, and paperwork I had been meaning to shred, I found the clear sleeve containing my spare. “Thank God.”

I slipped it into my pocket, but before closing the drawer, my eyes moved to the liner covering the bottom. The money Lev returned was hidden beneath it. For days, every dollar I earned had belonged to that debt before it belonged to me and I was still trying to process him giving it back. I lifted the loose edge of the liner and removed the thick envelope taped beneath it. The flap made a soft tearing sound as I opened it, revealing stacks of bills still arranged in the order I had counted them.

I peeled a hundred-dollar bill from the top. Still, using one of those bills to buy food for my best friend felt better than handing it over because my husband involved me in a theft I knew nothing about. I placed the bill inside the small zipper pocket of my tote, returned the envelope to its hiding place, and carefully replaced everything over it. My phone remained silent on the bed.

I grabbed my keys and tote, then headed toward the front door while mentally calculating what time Da Licking closed and whether Tasha would still be awake by the time I reached her. I had just opened the door and had one leg in and one out when Marv was coming down the hallway. For half a second, I almost ran. Then he raised his face, and something inside me made me nervous.

He didn’t look like the Marv I knew, like he was still fine and clean but something in his eyes was very wrong. His eyes frightened me most. They were too wide and too restless, bouncing from my door to the wall and then toward the stairwell behind him as if he expected someone to appear. His pupils were so large they swallowed most of the brown in his eyes. Faint white residue clung beneath one nostril. His lips were dry, and his jaw moved from side to side as if he were chewing something that wasn’t there.

His gaze dropped to the chain before returning to me. “I need five minutes.”

“I’m heading out.”

His eyes traveled slowly over my face before dropping to the tote hanging from my shoulder. “Where you going?”

“To check on Tasha.”

“Why?”

“Because she needs me.”

A smile formed on his mouth, but nothing changed in his eyes. “Everybody need Navy.”

I didn’t like the way he said it. “Marv, are you okay?”

His expression hardened so quickly that I regretted asking.

“What you mean by that?”

“You look upset.”

“I’m straight.” His hand shot through the opening and closed around the edge of the door just as I pushed it back open thinking I was going to rush in and lock him out. I reacted too slowly. He shoved hard enough and the door struck my shoulder and forced me backward.

“Marv, stop!”

He pushed again and my heart slammed against my ribs. “What are you doing?”

“I said I need to talk to you.”

He pushed me herder this time I stumbled back and caught myself against the narrow table in the entryway. My keys slipped from my hand and struck the tile. Marv stepped all the way into the apartment. He stared at the broken chain hanging from the door, then glanced into the hallway. A television played behind a closed door farther down the hall, but no one came outside. Marv pushed my door shut with the heel of his hand and turned the lock.

Fear started in my stomach before spreading upward into my chest. “Why did you lock the door?”

“So we can talk without everybody in our business.”

“There isn’t any business between us.”

His head snapped toward me. The second the words left my mouth, I saw the mistake in them. He moved deeper into the apartment as though he had been invited. His eyes swept across the living room, passing over the couch, the kitchen counter, and the candles that had burned out.

His nostrils flared. “Who been here?”

“What?”

“Somebody been here.”

“No one is here now.”

“That ain’t what I asked.”

I stepped toward the door. “You need to leave.”

Marv shifted before I reached it, placing his body between me and the exit. He didn’t touch me, and he didn’t have to. The difference in our size became impossible to ignore once he blocked the only way out. He dragged his hand beneath his nose again, looked at what remained on his fingers, and rubbed them together. Restless energy moved through his shoulders as he began pacing near the kitchen.

“I found out some shit,” he said.

I tried to keep my voice calm. “What did you find out?”

“Paper been working with Rome.”

My furrowed my brows. “Paper?”

He reached the kitchen and made one sneaker squeak against the floor. “Paper been feeding your husband information. Watching shit, that nigga shot me.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Bullshit.”

I was so confused. “I don’t even talk to Paper.”

“You know him.” Marv laughed and rubbed both palms over his face. “See, that’s what y’all do. Everybody got an answer ready.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want the truth.”

“I’m telling you the truth!”

“Nah.” He pointed at me, his finger trembling. “You been lying since the beginning. You knew Paper was in it. You knew all this shit, but you kept playing dumb because you think you bigger than the program.”

“What program?”

His mouth twisted. “You really think I’m stupid.”

“No.” I looked at the sweat shining across his forehead and the uncontrollable movement of his jaw. “I think you’re high.”

The apartment went super silent. The air conditioner clicked on, followed by the low electrical hum of the refrigerator. Marv stopped moving and stared at me with narrowed eyes. “What did you say?”

I swallowed, wishing I could pull the words back without letting him see how afraid I was. “You don’t seem like yourself.”

He took one slow step closer. “You and Lev been talking about me?”

“No.” The lie came too quickly.

Marv saw it and his face changed. “I knew it.”

“There’s nothing to know.”

“That nigga think he can talk about me to some bitch?” His eyebrows rose as a smile spread across his face. It was worse than the anger because there was no humor in it. “Oh, you got a mouth now.”

“I’ve always had one.”

“Not with me.”

“I didn’t need one with you before because you weren’t standing in my house accusing me of things I didn’t do.”

He moved closer, I stepped back and his gaze dropped to my feet, noticing the movement, and his smile got wide. “You scared?”

“I’m uncomfortable.”

“Same shit.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“You ain’t used to nobody calling you out. You got Rome running around behind you, Paper moving for him, and Lev all in your face. Now you think you can play everybody.”

“I’m trying to divorce him.” My chest rose and fell as I stared at him, with fear and anger fighting for space inside me. “Marv you’re high. You’re standing here sweating, your nose is bleeding, and you’re talking about people watching you. You need help.”

His hand moved before my mind understood what was happening. Pain exploded across the left side of my face. My head snapped sideways, and my shoulder struck the wall near the kitchen hard enough to make the framed print above me shake. For a second, there was no sound except a high ringing inside my ear. The sharp taste of blood filled my mouth where my teeth cut the inside of my cheek. I pressed one hand against the wall to keep myself upright and turned slowly toward him.

Marv stared at me, breathing hard. For one brief second, the anger left his face. Shock replaced it, as though even he couldn’t believe what he had done. Then his features twisted again. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

I touched my mouth. When I pulled my fingers away, blood stained their tips. “You hit me.”

“You kept lying.” He stepped toward me. I pushed away from the wall. “You need to calm down,” he said.

“Get out!” I yelled. “Get the fuck out!”

I lunged toward the front door. Marv caught my upper arm and jerked me backward with so much force that my tote slid from my shoulder. It struck the floor and spilled open, sending my phone, makeup, lotion, and the hundred-dollar bill skidding across the tile.

“Let me go!”

“Stop acting crazy.”

“I’m acting crazy?” I twisted, trying to rip my arm from his grasp, but his fingers only dug deeper. “Marv, you’re hurting me.”

“Then stop fighting.”

“I’m fighting because you won’t let me go.”

I swung my free hand and slapped the side of his face. The blow barely moved him, but the surprise loosened his grip long enough for me to tear my arm free. I ran toward the door and reached for the lock. He then yanked the back of my ponytail. Pain ripped across my scalp as my head snapped backward. I screamed and Marv dragged me away from the door while my slides scraped against the tile and my hands clawed at his wrist.

“Let go of my hair!”

“You think you can put your hands on me?”

“You hit me first!”

He pulled harder as tears sprang to my eyes from the pain. Reaching behind me, I drove my elbow backward until it connected with his ribs. Marv grunted, and his grip loosened enough for me to turn. I shoved both hands into his chest with every bit of strength I had. He stumbled into the entry table. The table tipped sideways, and a framed picture crashed against the floor. Glass scattered across the tile, swallowing my keys beneath the broken frame, but the door was close enough that I no longer needed them.

Marv came toward me again. My hand closed around the first solid thing within reach, a heavy ceramic candle holder from the table. I swung toward his head. He ducked, and the candle holder slammed into his shoulder.

“Bitch!” The word came out of him like a growl.

I didn’t wait to see what he would do next. I grabbed the lock, twisted it, and yanked the door open. His hand caught the back of my shirt. The collar tightened against my throat as he pulled me backward. I twisted inside the fabric, hearing stitches tear near my shoulder. One slide slipped from my foot as I drove my heel down against his shoe causing him to curse. I threw my weight forward. The shirt stretched, then ripped enough for me to slide from his grip and stumble into the hallway.

“Help!” My voice broke around the blood in my mouth. I slapped one hand against the wall to steady myself as I ran toward the stairs, one foot was bare and the other still trapped inside a slide.

“Somebody help me!”

A door opened behind me, another followed farther down and an older man stepped into the hallway wearing plaid pajama pants and a white undershirt. A woman peered from behind another door with a phone already pressed against her ear.

“What’s going on?” the man called.

“He attacked me!”

Marv emerged from my apartment. His eyes moved from the neighbors to me, and uncertainty showed across his face for the first time since he arrived, more doors were opening now and somebody shouted that the police were being called. Marv wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looked down both ends of the hallway, then ran behind me.

I raced down the stairs, my bare foot slamming against concrete hard enough to send pain shooting up my leg since one of my damn shoes came off. Fear carried me faster than the pain could slow me. Somewhere behind me, a stairwell door slammed hard enough to echo through the building.

I was still yelling. “Help me!”

My voice carried across the parking lot. A woman loading groceries into her trunk froze with one bag still in her hand while two men were standing beside a parked car straightened and turned toward me. Above, one of my neighbors leaned over the railing and shouted for someone to call the police. The blood coated my tongue each time I breathed. My cheek throbbed, my scalp burned where Marv had pulled my hair, and the arm he grabbed felt hot beneath my torn sleeve.

I kept moving though pumping my arms like I was on the track field. I didn’t know where I was going. My keys were buried beneath broken glass upstairs. My phone lay somewhere on the apartment floor. All I knew was that I needed distance between myself and Marv. An engine roared behind me and I turned. Marv’s car jerked away from the curb, with one tire dropping from the grass onto the pavement. He leaned over the steering wheel, and his face was barely visible through the windshield as he cut across the lot.

For one terrified second, I thought he was coming toward me. Instead, he swung wide and nearly struck a parked SUV before racing toward the exit. People shouted as he passed, and someone threw both hands into the air as if that might slow him down. I turned away and searched the parking lot for somebody safe. That was when a black truck came speeding from the far end of the complex and I noticed it was Lev. Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly gave way. His truck cut around a row of parked cars far faster than anyone should have driven through the lot.

“Lev!” I waved both arms to make sure he saw me.

Through the windshield, I could see him leaning forward with his attention fixed on me. The truck accelerated, closing the distance. I started toward him then tires screamed somewhere to my left. The sound was so sudden and violent that I turned without understanding why. An old Impala flew over the speed bump instead of slowing down. Its front end bounced hard, and sparks flashed beneath it as the undercarriage scraped the pavement.

For the smallest fraction of a second, I thought the driver had lost control, but the car wasn’t swerving it was aiming. The voices around me seemed to stretch and fade. I saw the grille rushing closer, saw the sunlight reflecting across the windshield, and then saw the silhouette behind the wheel and knew it was Rome.

His face looked nothing like the man I had once loved. His eyes were wide and dark, fixed on me with a hatred so deep it distorted everything familiar about him. Both hands were locked around the steering wheel, his body pitched forward as if he could force the car to go faster by leaning into it.

I tried to run but my bare foot slipped against the pavement. The car struck me before I could take another full step. The impact lifted my body from the ground. Pain ripped through my hip and lower body, hotter and sharper than anything I had ever experienced. My back slammed against the side of a parked car, and Rome’s front bumper crushed me between the two vehicles. A scream ripped through the parking lot. I couldn’t tell whether it came from me or from one of the people watching. Metal groaned behind my back and pressure crushed my legs until it felt as though every bone below my waist had shattered at once. I tried to move, but my body no longer obeyed me. My palms struck uselessly against the hood while I fought for air.

Through the windshield, I saw Rome staring directly at me. There was no shock in his face and no regret. He meant to do it. The realization hurt in a place the car couldn’t reach. Gunshots erupted and the first tore into the windshield near Rome’s head, spreading a web of white cracks across the glass. Two more followed before he ducked. More bullets punched through the car as he threw it into reverse.

The vehicle jerked backward, releasing me so suddenly that my body collapsed toward the pavement. My legs folded beneath me, and I landed hard on my side. Rome’s tires spun against the ground. Smoke rose around them as he reversed, swung the back end into another vehicle, then sped toward the exit. Gunfire followed him across the lot as people screamed and dropped behind cars. Somebody shouted for Lev to stop shooting, while another voice yelled that an ambulance was already coming.

I tried to lift my head, but the world tilted around me. My ears rang, and every breath scraped through my chest. I couldn’t feel one of my legs. The other burned as if something had been poured inside it and set on fire.

“Navy!” Lev’s voice reached me before his face did.

He ran into view with the gun still in one hand with rage and terror across his expression as he dropped beside me. His hands hovered over my body. “Don’t move,” he said, though his own voice shook. “Don’t try to move.”

I opened my mouth, but blood and saliva had gathered inside it. “Lev…”

“I’m here.”

He slid one hand carefully beneath my head and lifted it from the pavement, placing my shoulders against his lap without moving the rest of me. The warmth of him surrounded me. I wanted to tell him Marv attacked me. I wanted him to know Rome had done this on purpose. I wanted to ask whether my legs were still there because I couldn’t understand why one of them felt so far away from the rest of my body.

None of the words made it past the pain. Lev pressed his palm against the side of my face. “Look at me.”

I tried and his features were blurred, then sharpen for half a second, then dissolved again. “Stay with me, Navy.”

Sirens wailed somewhere beyond the complex. They might have been close or miles away. I couldn’t tell anymore as my eyelids grew heavy.

Lev tightened his hold around me. “No, don’t close your eyes. Look at me.”

“I’m tired,” I whispered.

“I know, but you gotta stay awake.”

Lev’s mouth continued moving, but his voice sounded farther away with every second. “Hold on,” he told me, cradling my face as though he could keep me there through the force of his hands alone. “You hear me? Hold on. I got you.”

I wanted to believe him, but the darkness closed around me before I could answer.

CHAPTER 24

Jerome ‘Rome’ Jackson

Day Eleven ‘Late Afternoon’

The car pulled hard to the right every time I let up on the steering wheel, but I kept my foot buried against the gas, forcing that old bucket down the street like I could put enough distance between me and what I’d done to make it disappear. Wind pushed through the holes in the windshield where the bullets had torn through, carrying tiny pieces of glass across the dashboard and into my lap. The whole inside of the car smelled like hot metal, burnt rubber, and my flesh mixed with blood.

It had already soaked through the sleeve of my shirt and was running down my arm, gathering at my wrist before slipping over my hand and making the steering wheel slick beneath my fingers. I tightened my grip anyway, clenching my teeth as another sharp pain through my shoulder.

A car sat on the horn when I drifted into the next lane. I jerked the wheel back and nearly clipped the car beside me. The driver leaned over his horn and threw his hand into the air, but I didn’t slow down long enough to see his face. I couldn’t hear much over the rattling beneath the hood and the sound of my own breathing. Every inhale came short and uneven, like my lungs hadn’t caught up with the rest of me yet. I could still hear the gunshots too. They weren’t behind me anymore, but they kept going off inside my head, loud enough to make me flinch every time another piece of gravel struck beneath the car, but I had my Glock on my lap ready to use my good hand if needed.

I looked into the rearview mirror, expecting to see Lev’s truck cutting through traffic behind me. There was nothing but headlights, yet my body stayed braced for another bullet to rip through the back glass. That nigga had been trying to kill me. He probably would’ve too if I hadn’t gotten the car into reverse when I did. I hadn’t even seen him pull up. One second I was staring through the windshield at Navy, and the next the glass beside my face had exploded.

The thought of her made my stomach hurt, but the anger rushed in before I could sit think about shit else. This bitch had filed for divorce like the years between us meant nothing. She had moved into that apartment and started running around with niggas who wanted me dead. Lev kept showing up around her. Marv had been at her door too and I’m wondering how the fuck that worked when they were cousins. Everybody had found a place in my wife’s life while I was left watching from the outside, and she expected me to believe none of it had anything to do with me. Fuck that, she was trying her best to pay me back.

I had been sitting in her parking lot since the sun was high enough to turn the inside of the car into an oven. The air conditioner only blew cold when the car was moving, so I kept the windows cracked and wiped sweat from my face with the bottom of my shirt whenever it rolled into my eyes. I’d chosen a spot near the back of the lot where the tree branches hung low enough to break up the view through the windshield. From there, I could see her building, the stairs, and most of the cars coming through the entrance without anybody paying much attention to me. People had moved around the complex all afternoon while I waited. I stayed there because Navy wasn’t answering me, and I was tired of being ignored. I had already decided I wasn’t leaving until she stood in front of me and explained why she thought she could throw our marriage away. Maybe I had fucked up, I knew I had, but there was a difference between being angry and being done, and I didn’t believe she was really done with me. She had loved me too long and she had forgiven too much. A few papers and a change of location weren’t supposed to erase that.

When she finally pulled into the lot, she looked worn out from work but happy at the same time. I almost got out then, with my hand was already on the handle, but she moved too quickly, heading up the stairs without ever looking in my direction. I told myself to wait. Let her shower, let her settle down, and then I’d go up there and make her listen.

Marv’s car rolled in the complex before I got the chance. I recognized it as soon as he turned into the lot. The anger that had been simmering inside me all day came alive so fucking fast I sat forward in the seat. I watched him park crooked near her building and climb out looking like he hadn’t slept in days. He kept rubbing at his nose as he headed toward the stairs, moving with the restless energy of somebody who was high. He didn’t hesitate at the building or look around for an apartment number. He knew exactly where he was going.

The steering wheel creaked beneath my hands. I didn’t know what business Marv had with Navy, but I knew it wasn’t anything good, and I knew I was tired of niggas connected to Lev walking in and out of her life like I didn’t exist. By then I wasn’t even thinking about going upstairs to talk. I eased the car out of the shaded space and moved it across the lot, lining the hood up with the walkway that led from her building. The engine revved when I pressed the gas, then dropped back into a rough idle as I held my foot on the brake.

I waited for Marv to come back out because that was who I meant to hit. I could still remember the way I sat there watching the building, with my palms against the wheel while the old engine vibrated beneath me. I pictured Marv stepping into the lot and looking up one second too late. I pictured the front end catching him before he could move. After that, I’d keep driving. That was the plan I’d built in my head during those few minutes.

Then Navy came running out and she moved so fast she almost missed the last step. One of her shoes was gone and her shirt hung torn from her shoulder, and blood covered the side of her mouth. She was screaming for help, looking back toward the stairs as Marv came after her. Doors were opening above them and people were stepping outside. Everything in front of me should’ve told me that she was in danger, that whatever Marv had come there for had nothing to do with her choosing him over me, but when I saw her, all I saw was everything she had taken from me.

The papers she filed, the home she left, the way she looked at me in that garage after I put my hands around her throat, not with love or fear, but like she had finally seen exactly what I was. Then I thought about Lev and about his truck at her apartment and about another man being close enough to protect what was mine. The anger got there before any of my common sense did and I pressed the gas.

The car jumped forward so hard my back slammed against the seat. I heard people shouting before I hit the speed bump, but I didn’t lift my foot. The undercarriage scraped the pavement when the car came down, and for a second the steering wheel bucked beneath my hands. Navy turned toward the sound, and I saw her face change when she recognized me. I saw her body twist as she tried to get out of the way, but the distance between us disappeared too fast.

The impact had been louder than I expected as the metal folded and glass cracked as the front of my car drove her into the vehicle behind her. My head snapped forward, and my chest struck the steering wheel. When I looked up again, she was trapped between both cars with her hands spread across the hood of the crackhead’s car that I paid to borrow, as she fought to hold herself up. She looked through the windshield at me, and that was the part I couldn’t stop seeing.

There wasn’t any anger on her face. Instead, she looked hurt, terrified, and confused, like even after everything I had done to her, she still hadn’t believed I was capable of that. I stared back at her with my foot still pressing the brake and the engine growling while the weight of the car held her there.

Then the first bullet came through and the pain in my arm dragged me back to the present so sharply that I swerved again. I cursed and pulled my hand away from the wound as blood covered my palm. “Fuck!”

My fingers were beginning to tingle, and every movement sent heat through my shoulder and down into my elbow. I needed a hospital, but walking into one with a bullet wound meant questions, and there wasn’t a lie big enough to explain the damage to the car. Suddenly, a blue light flashed across the rearview mirror and I looked up quickly. A patrol car sat two vehicles behind me, with the lights spinning. For a few seconds I told myself it wasn’t for me. There were other cars around with other people doing stupid shit. Then the siren chirped, and the officer pulled around the vehicle between us until he was directly behind the Impala.

“Driver, pull over to the right.” They yelled over the speakers.

His voice came through the speaker clear enough to cut through the noise inside the car, but my foot stayed on the gas as the road stretched ahead of me, and I measured it without meaning to. The Impala was already struggling. The hood shook, the windshield was shot out, and the steering kept pulling toward the curb. I had one good arm and no idea how much blood I had lost. Even if I ran, I wasn’t going far. Then another cruiser appeared ahead, turning onto the road before slowing across my lane. The officer behind me repeated the command, louder this time. I eased my foot away from the gas and guided the car toward the shoulder as gravel popped beneath the tires as I came to a stop. Before I had the gear fully in park, doors slammed behind me.

“Turn the engine off!”

I twisted the key and the motor coughed twice before going silent. Without it, the inside of the car felt too still. I could hear the cooling engine ticking beneath the hood and blood dripping from my wrist onto my jeans.

“Put both hands out the window!”

I lifted them slowly. The movement pulled at the bullet wound, and pain ripped through me hard enough to make my vision blur.

“Open the door from the outside and step out!”

I reached through the broken window for the handle. The door squeaked when I pushed it open. As soon as I put one foot onto the pavement, the officers rushed me from both sides. A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and forced me against the car. My cheek hit the warm roof with glass grinding beneath it.

“Don’t move!”

“I’m shot,” I said, but my voice sounded far away.

“We see it! Keep your hands where we can see them.”

One officer held my injured arm carefully while another pulled the other behind my back. The handcuff closed around my wrist with a click that sounded like my final destination. They searched my pockets, checked my waistband, then walked me away from the car while another officer shined his flashlight across the crushed hood and shattered windshield.

“This matches the description,” he said. “Gray Impala, severe front-end damage and multiple bullet holes.”

The officer holding me began reading my rights, but I only caught pieces. The words rolled right through my ears while I looked at the front of the car. Navy’s blood was smeared across the buckled hood near the passenger side and my knees felt weak. For the first time since I hit her, there wasn’t enough anger left to hide behind. I couldn’t blame Lev for pulling the trigger. I couldn’t blame Marv for being at her apartment. I couldn’t blame Navy for filing papers after everything I had done to her. I had cheated, lied, stolen, and put my hands on the woman who had spent years trying to hold our family together. Then, when she finally chose herself, I had watched her long enough to convince myself that her freedom was a betrayal.

An ambulance screamed past us in the opposite direction, with its lights flashing over the officers and the damaged car before disappearing toward the complex. I watched it until I couldn’t see it anymore. That was when I understood I hadn’t only lost my wife. I might’ve taken her away from everybody who loved her, all because I couldn’t stand that she had finally stopped choosing me.

The officer opened the back door of the patrol car and guided my head beneath the frame. As I lowered myself onto the seat, the cuffs pressed into my wrists and my wounded arm throbbed against my side. There wouldn’t be a conversation to fix this this shit and no amount of apologies or lies smooth enough to change what the witnesses had seen or what the blood on my hood proved. Everything that happened after this belonged to me and for once, I knew it.

CHAPTER 25

E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

Day Eleven ‘Late Night’

The room was too quiet for the number of people packed inside it. Machines filled the silence where conversation should’ve been with each one making its own sound around Navy’s bed. The heart monitor gave a steady beep every few seconds. Something near the wall hummed low while. Clear fluid moved slowly through the IV tubing taped to the back of her hand, and every time the blood pressure cuff tightened around her arm, I watched the numbers appear on the screen like I knew what the fuck any of them meant.

All I understood was that she was alive. The doctor had said the surgery went as well as it could’ve gone. He’d said they stopped the internal bleeding, repaired the damage around her pelvis, and stabilized the fractures that could be fixed. He’d said a lot of other shit too, using words that sounded rehearsed from years of standing in front of families and telling them how one terrible second had changed somebody’s life.

None of it stuck with me the way the last part did though. They couldn’t save her left leg. The damage below her knee had been too severe and the blood supply had been compromised too long, and leaving it attached would’ve put her life at greater risk. I’d stood there listening to him explain it while all I could think was how the fuck we were supposed to tell her. Navy was going to wake up believing she’d survived Rome trying to kill her. Then somebody had to look her in the face and explain that she hadn’t come out of it whole.

My hand rested beneath her forearm, careful not to disturb the wires or the tape holding everything in place. Her skin felt cooler than usual. They’d cleaned the blood from her face, but the bruising had already begun to spread along her cheek and near her mouth. A cut on her bottom lip had been stitched, and another thin bandage sat above her eyebrow. Her hair had been pulled away from her face and tucked beneath a disposable cap that made her look smaller against all those white sheets.

I kept replaying that shit in my mind and every time the memory reached the sound of her body hitting the metal, rage moved through me so hard my trigger finger itched. That nigga was still alive and that was the part I couldn’t make peace with. Rome had tried to murder her in front of a parking lot full of people, and he was somewhere breathing. Maybe at a hospital getting the bullet removed from his arm. Maybe sitting handcuffed to a bed while some officer stood outside his room. Wherever he was, his chest was still rising and falling while Navy lay unconscious, missing a part of herself because he couldn’t accept that she was done with him.

I wanted him dead, not locked up, and not waiting on trial. I wanted to stand close enough to watch it happen and make sure the last thing he understood was who had come for him. But every time my mind went too far in that direction, I looked down at Navy and forced myself back into the room. Whatever happened to Rome could wait but she couldn’t. Right now, she needed somebody beside her who wasn’t thinking about revenge more than he was thinking about whether she opened her eyes.

I hated that me and her grandma had to mee under these circumstances, but Lulu sat on the other side of the bed with both hands wrapped around Navy’s. She had been praying on and off since we were allowed into the room. Sometimes the words came clearly enough for everybody to hear. Other times her lips moved without sound while tears gathered beneath her glasses.

Her best friend Tasha sat near the window wrapped in a hospital blanket somebody had brought her from the emergency department. She should’ve been home resting after whatever procedure she’d gone through that morning, but nobody had been able to convince her to leave. Her face looked pale, and every few minutes she shifted carefully in the chair like her body hurt more than she wanted anybody to know.

Navy’s family filled the rest of the room and spilled into the hallway with aunts, cousins, and people I hadn’t met. Some cried openly and others stood in stunned silence, staring at the bed as though Navy might sit up if enough of them watched her.

Monica had come in with Lulu when Lulu did, and I recognized her before she said anything. She was still interested at a time when I wasn’t trying to belong to anybody. Later, I sold her a house. By then, whatever had been between us was already dead on my end, though Monica had never acted like she completely accepted that. I didn’t know I would meet Navy and didn’t know they were cousins until now.

The second she saw me sitting beside Navy’s bed, her steps slowed. She looked from my hand resting around Navy’s arm to my face, then back toward her cousin. “What are you doing here?”

The question came out quiet, but everybody close enough heard it. I didn’t move my hand. “Where else I’m supposed to be?”

Monica frowned. She wore a long cardigan over leggings and had tied her hair up like she’d rushed out without doing much to it. Her eyes were swollen, but there was still something sharp in the way she looked at me. “I didn’t know you and Navy knew each other like that.”

“We do.” I told her. She waited, expecting more and I gave it to her without taking my eyes off Navy. “That’s my girl.”

Tasha looked at me from her chair but didn’t say anything. Lulu stopped praying long enough to study my face. Monica’s mouth parted slightly before she pressed it closed again. “Your girl?” she repeated.

“That’s what I said.”

There wasn’t any reason to explain how Navy and I got there. Not while she was lying unconscious between us. Whatever Monica remembered about me from years ago had nothing to do with who I was to Navy now.

Monica looked at her cousin for a long moment. Some of the attitude left her face, replaced by fresh tears she quickly wiped away. “She didn’t tell me.”

“She had other shit going on.”

“I know that.” She folded her arms, then unfolded them just as quickly. “I’m just saying, she didn’t tell me.”

I finally looked at her. “Would it change anything right now?”

Her eyes held mine for a second before dropping. “No.”

“Then that’s what matters.”

Monica didn’t argue again. She went around the bed and kissed Navy’s forehead, careful not to touch the bandage. When she straightened, her eyes returned to me. “You make sure you take care of my cousin.”

I looked down at Navy’s bruised face. “Ain’t nobody gotta tell me that.” Monica already knew the Lev she got in business mode, wasn’t the Lev she was gone get right now. I had no reason to be professional and talk white collar like Hollywood.

The doctor came back a little after midnight and told everybody Navy would likely remain asleep for several more hours. The anesthesia was still in her system, and they were keeping her heavily medicated because of the extent of her injuries. He suggested the family go home, get some rest, and return in the morning when she might be more alert.

Nobody wanted to move at first. Lulu stayed seated with Navy’s hand in hers as if the suggestion hadn’t been directed toward her. Tasha shook her head before the doctor finished talking. One of Navy’s aunts started gathering purses and jackets while telling everybody they needed to listen, but her own eyes kept drifting back toward the bed.

It took nearly forty minutes to clear the room. Tasha was the hardest one to convince. She stood near Navy’s feet with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, staring at the shape beneath the sheets where one leg ended differently from the other.

“I should be here when she wakes up,” she said.

“You need to be in bed yourself,” Lulu told her gently. “You come back first thing in the morning.”

Tasha’s lips trembled. “She was coming to check on me.”

“I know, baby.”

“She was getting me food.”

Lulu pulled her into a hug. Tasha held on longer than either of them expected, her face pressed against Lulu’s shoulder while her body shook.

When she finally stepped away, she looked at me. “Let us know if anything changes please.”

“I got you.”

She nodded and bent to kiss Navy’s cheek before allowing one of the cousins to walk her out. Monica lingered near the doorway after everyone else started leaving. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but whatever it was stayed in her thoughts. In the end, she only glanced at Navy again and told Lulu she’d return in the morning. Then the room emptied until it was just me and Lulu. She sat there another half hour before finally standing and smoothing both hands down the front of her dress. Exhaustion had settled into her face, making her look older than she had when she arrived.

“I’m going downstairs to find some coffee,” she said. “You want anything?”

I shook my head. “I’m straight.”

Her gaze moved between me and Navy. “She’s going to need patience.”

“I know.”

She shook her head. “No, baby. I don’t think any of us know yet.”

That was the truth as it lingered in the air. Lulu touched Navy’s forehead, whispered something I couldn’t hear, then left the room. Once the door closed, the silence felt more private. I pulled my chair closer to the bed until my knees nearly touched the frame. Navy’s hand lay palm-down beside her hip, with the hospital bracelet loose around her wrist. I slid my fingers beneath her arm again and rubbed my thumb slowly across the inside of it.

She didn’t move and I looked over her face, taking in every bruise, every bandage, every place Rome had left evidence of what he’d done. The swelling near her cheek had gotten worse. Her lips were dry despite whatever they kept rubbing over them, and faint shadows rested beneath her closed eyes.

“You should’ve never had to deal with none of this,” I told her. “Not Rome, not Marv, not me putting that gun to your fucking chin…” I said catching myself. “Well actually that’s how we got acquainted so I don’t know if I’d take that back.”

My thumb stopped moving and a different kind of guilt worked its way through the anger. I hadn’t put her in front of Rome’s car, but my world had closed around her too. Marv had come to her apartment because of shit connected to us. Because he was high, paranoid, and convinced everybody had betrayed him. I’d warned her to stay away from him without telling her why, like that half ass warning could protect her from a nigga too far gone to recognize who was innocent. I should’ve found him before he found her.

My phone vibrated against my thigh. Causing me to sit back. I pulled it from my pocket and looked at Mike’s name on the screen. I stepped away from Navy’s bed but didn’t leave the room. “What’s up?”

There was noise behind him was loud with slamming car doors and a big crowd wherever he was at, then Mike exhaled into the phone. “You might wanna call BJ.”

The way he said it let me know something was wrong. “What happened?”

“It’s Marv.”

I looked toward Navy. “What about him?”

“He got into some shit with Paper and a couple other niggas. From what I’m hearing, they started shooting at each other near one of them warehouses off Twenty-Seventh.”

I gripped the phone tighter. “He hit?”

“Yeah, but that ain’t what killed him.”

I stared through the glass wall into the dim hallway. A nurse passed pushing a cart, unaware that my whole family had found another way to fall apart before the night ended. Mike continued. “Marv tried to pull off after the shooting, lost control, jumped the median, and hit a tree. The Mercedes wrapped around that bitch. They said he was gone before rescue got there.”

For a few seconds, I couldn’t answer. I heard Mike say my name, but my mind had already gone somewhere else, back to Marv high and talking crazy. Back to him believing shit that wasn’t real. I had told him where that shit was going to lead. I told him to get sober, told him to get help. Told him I wasn’t chasing him through the streets while he destroyed himself, but none of that changed the fact that he was my cousin.

We grew up together, fought beside each other, ate in BJ’s kitchen together. Marv had been there through too many years of my life for the news of his death to land like he was just another nigga who made a bad decision.

I lowered my head and pressed two fingers against my eyes. “Damn.”

“I’m sorry, bro.”

A tear slipped before I could stop it. I wiped it away quickly, but another came behind it. “I fucking told that nigga,” I said, in a low voice. “I told him he was gone die behind that shit.”

“I know.”

“He wouldn’t listen.”

“I know man.”

I looked back at Navy. “Where he at now?”

“Most likely the county morgue. The police got the whole scene locked down.”

“And BJ?”

“She don’t know yet.”

I closed my eyes. BJ had already been worried about him. She had called me because she knew something inside Marv was breaking apart, and she believed I could pull him back from it, but I hadn’t. “Go tell her,” I said.

Mike got quiet at first. “You sure you don’t want me to wait for you?”

“I can’t leave here.”

“I know, but that’s your grandma.”

“And Navy just came out of surgery missing a leg. I’m not walking out on her.” I glanced toward the door, expecting Lulu back at any moment. “Take somebody with you. Don’t let BJ hear that shit over the phone, and don’t let her be by herself after you tell her.”

“I got it.”

“Call me when you get there. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“I will. Oh, and one more thing.”

“What?” I asked.

“That nigga Rome got picked up too during a traffic stop. Word spreading around about what he did to Navy, that’s fucked up.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Don’t forget to call me.”

The call ended and I stood near the window with the phone still in my hand, staring down at the parking lot several floors below. Marv was dead, Navy was lying in a hospital bed because of him and Rome. Rome was in police custody and BJ lost a grandson.

One night had taken a hammer to every life connected to us. I wiped my face again and returned to the chair beside Navy. “I tried to save that nigga,” I said quietly. “I really did.”

Her fingers moved beneath mine. At first, I thought I imagined it. Then they shifted again. I leaned forward. “Navy?”

Her eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. Her mouth moved slightly, and a faint sound came from her throat. I stood up so fast the chair rolled backward. “Navy, open your eyes.”

Her brows tightened and the heart monitor began beating faster, with the steady rhythm changing as she fought through the medication. I reached for the call button but stopped when her eyes slowly opened. They were unfocused at first then she stared toward the ceiling, blinking against the light before her gaze moved across the room until it found me.

“Lev?” The word barely carried.

“I’m here.”

Her eyes drifted closed again before reopening as confusion moved across her face as she tried to look around without lifting her head. “What happened?”

I moved closer and took her hand. “You’re in the hospital.”

Her fingers tightened weakly around mine. “I know that.” Even sedated, she still had enough of herself left to sound irritated.

I shook my head feeling sorry for her. “Just relax.”

Her eyes stayed on me as pieces of memory began returning one by one. I saw it happening in her face before she spoke. “Marv came in my house. He was high.” Her breathing changed. “He hit me.”

“I know, Navy.”

“I ran outside and…” Her voice broke and her eyes widened. “Rome.” The monitor sped up again. “He tried to kill me.”

I leaned closer. “He can’t get to you; the police got him.”

“He hit me with the car.” She tried to move beneath the blankets as pain showed on her face immediately.

“Don’t move,” I said, pressing the call button. “You just had surgery.”

Her eyes filled with panic. “Why can’t I feel my legs?” she slurred groggily.

The question hit exactly where I knew it would. I looked toward the door, hoping Lulu would walk through it or at least a doctor, damn, anybody who knew how to tell her without making the truth sound like it was nothing.

Navy watched my face. “Lev.”

“I need you to stay calm.”

“Why can’t I feel them?”

“navy, the medicine⁠—”

“Don’t lie to me.” Her voice rose despite how weak she was. “What happened to my legs?”

I gripped her hand, but I couldn’t make the words come out. It wasn’t my place to tell her. That was what I told myself, even though the real reason was that I couldn’t stand to be the face she associated with hearing it. The door opened and Lulu walked in carrying a paper cup of coffee. The second she saw Navy’s eyes open, the cup slipped in her hand, spilling hot coffee across the lid and onto her fingers.

“Oh, thank you, Jesus.” She set it down without caring about the mess and hurried to the bed. Tears immediately filled her eyes as she leaned over and kissed Navy’s forehead.

“My baby. Thank you, Lord.”

Navy looked between us. “Lulu.”

“I’m right here.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

Lulu brushed her hand over Navy’s hair. “You’ve been through a lot, baby.”

The tears were in her eyes. “Why can’t I feel my legs?” Navy’s face crumbled before anybody answered. She had already understood there was something we weren’t saying. “Lulu, what happened?”

Her grandmother closed her eyes for a second, gathering whatever strength she needed. When she opened them again, tears rolled freely down her face. “The doctors did everything they could.”

“No.” Navy started shaking her head against the pillow. “Tell me what happened.”

Lulu took her hand from mine and held it between both of hers. “Baby, they had to amputate one of your legs.”

The sound that came out of Navy tore through the room. It wasn’t a normal cry. It rose from somewhere deeper, raw enough to make every muscle in my body lock. She jerked against the bed, trying to sit up while Lulu struggled to hold her shoulders down.

“No! No, no, no!”

“Navy, you can’t move.”

“My leg!” She threw the blanket aside with one hand before I caught it. “Where is my leg?”

“Please, baby—” Lulu pleaded.

“Give it back!” she screamed, with tears pouring down the sides of her face. “Give me my leg back!”

The heart monitor sounded an alarm. I pressed the call button again and grabbed her shoulders carefully, trying to stop her from tearing the IV from her hand. “Navy, look at me.”

“Get off me!” She shoved weakly at my chest, but the panic giving her more strength than she should’ve had. “I want my leg! I want my fucking leg!”

The door flew open and two nurses rushed in with the doctor behind them. One nurse moved toward the IV while the other tried to calm Navy, but she was crying too hard to hear any of us. Her whole body shook beneath my hands; her face was twisted in a grief I couldn’t do a damn thing to fix.

“We need you to stop moving,” the doctor said. “You’re going to injure yourself.”

“I don’t care!”

“We’re giving you something to help you relax.”

“No!” She turned her head toward me, with her eyes wild and pleading. “Lev, don’t let them. Please, tell them to fix it.”

That nearly broke me. I leaned over her and held the side of her face, forcing myself not to look away. “I’m right here.”

“They took my leg.” She sobbed. “I can’t…” Her breath caught between sobs. “I can’t live like this.”

“Don’t say that.”

A nurse pushed medication through the port in her IV and Navy fought it at first. Her fingers clutched the front of my shirt, holding on as if I could keep her awake through it. The panic slowly drained from her body, though the tears continued rolling into her hair.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“You ain’t got nothing to be sorry for.”

Her grip loosened and I covered her hand with mine and kept it against my chest until her eyes began closing.

“Don’t leave me,” she said.

“I’m not going nowhere.”

The words came out before the medicine pulled her under, but I didn’t know if she heard them. Her breathing eventually settled in. The alarms stopped, and the room returned to that same dreading ass quietness it had before she woke up. Lulu stood on the other side of the bed crying into both hands. I lowered myself into the chair and kept Navy’s hand wrapped inside mine. Navy had awakened long enough to learn that the life she knew was gone. I looked at her face and let the anger move through me again, only this time I didn’t allow it to pull me away from her. There would be time for Rome. Right now, she needed me sitting exactly where I was. People would be surprised at much life could change in eleven days. But now, I made a promise I wouldn’t ever leave side because I was here for a reason.

CHAPTER 26

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Weeks Later

Iheard Tasha crying before I heard what she was saying. At first, her voice blended into the other sounds. I had gotten used to since being moved to the rehabilitation floor by now but the volume of my television inside my room had been turned down so far that I could only hear the soft rise and fall of people talking without making out the words.

I kept my eyes closed and Tasha thought I was asleep. To be fair, I had spent most of the last few days either sleeping or pretending to. The medicine made it easy to disappear whenever I didn’t feel like dealing with anybody. Every few hours, a nurse came in asking me to rate my pain, as if there was a number large enough to cover everything that hurt not only my body, but my pride and the empty space beneath the blanket where part of me used to be.

Most days, I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to reassure my family that I was going to be okay when I wasn’t sure I believed it. I didn’t want to hear how blessed I was to be alive, though I understood what they meant. I knew people had died from less than what happened to me. I knew the surgeons had saved my life. However, that knowledge didn’t stop me from waking up some mornings and reaching for a leg that wasn’t there.

Tasha shifted in the chair beside my bed. The vinyl gave a soft groan beneath her weight, followed by the sound of her sniffing and pulling a tissue from the box on the table. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you,” she whispered.

I didn’t move. Her voice had been trembling since she arrived, but I assumed it was because of me. Everybody got that look when they first walked into my room. Their eyes traveled down my body before they caught themselves and hurried back toward my face, smiling too wide because they didn’t know what else to do.

Tasha had been different though. She came every day, sat beside me, talked about whatever foolishness was happening in the world, and never stared at the blanket. Still, something had been off with her all morning. She had barely touched the coffee she brought, and she kept twisting the tissue around her fingers until it tore and I heard it all.

“I know you can’t hear me,” she continued with her voice breaking around the words. “Maybe that’s why I can finally say it.”

Well, that was promising. I thought to myself. I kept my breathing slow and even.

“I love you, Navy. You know that, right?”

Inside my head, I answered her. Apparently, I didn’t know anything anymore, so you might wanna be more specific.

Tasha sniffed again. “You’re my sister, not my friend, but my sister. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you.”

There were certain sentences that never led anywhere good. Nobody started with I would never intentionally hurt you unless they were about to explain exactly how they had hurt you. My eyes stayed closed, but every part of me was awake now.

“My mom’s treatment got expensive,” Tasha said. “More expensive than I told anybody. The insurance wasn’t covering everything, and she needed help with medication, transportation, all kinds of stuff. I was borrowing money from everybody. Taking out loans. Putting shit on credit cards I knew I couldn’t pay back.”

Her chair creaked again. I pictured her leaning forward, elbows resting against her knees, her face buried in one hand. “I went to Rome.”

My fingers almost moved beneath the blanket. Of course she went to Rome. Rome had always enjoyed being needed. It made him feel important. Powerful. He could turn a favor into a chain around somebody’s neck before they realized they had agreed to wear one.

“I didn’t go to him trying to do anything with him,” she said quickly, as if my fake-sleeping self had accused her. “I went to ask for help. I thought because he was your husband, and because he knew my family, he might lend me the money. I was going to pay him back.”

A bitter laugh stayed trapped behind my closed lips. Rome didn’t lend anything without collecting more than he gave, girl you know that.

“He said he would help,” she continued. “But he wanted something in return.” Tasha stopped talking long enough for the silence to become heavy. I could hear her breathing through her mouth, trying not to cry loudly enough to wake me. “He said if I wanted the money, I had to sleep with him.”

The words hit me differently than I expected. There wasn’t one sharp pain, no explosion of anger either. It was more like another piece of something rotten settling into place. My husband had slept with my best friend. My best friend had slept with my husband. Neither fact should’ve surprised me, considering the two people involved, but betrayal didn’t care whether it arrived late to the party. It still found somewhere to sit.

“The first time, I told him no,” Tasha whispered. “I left and I called everybody I could think of. I tried to figure something else out, but my mom needed that treatment. They were calling me about balances, and I didn’t know what to do. So, I went back.”

A tear slid from the corner of my eye and disappeared into my hair. I hoped she didn’t notice.

“I kept telling myself it was just sex. That I wasn’t taking him from you because I didn’t want him. I hated him for making me do it, and I hated myself for agreeing, but every time I needed more money, he reminded me what the arrangement was.”

Making her do it. That part irritated me. Rome had used her desperation. He had seen a woman terrified of losing her mother and turned her fear into an opportunity. That was exactly the kind of man he was. But Tasha had still opened her legs to my husband and came around me afterward as though nothing had happened; both things could be true. Rome could be a predator, and Tasha could still have betrayed me.

“I should’ve told you,” she said. “I wanted to so many times. Every time you talked about him cheating, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to say something, but I was scared you’d hate me. Then I got pregnant.”

My heart slowed and I thought about the abortion and the father she refused to name or the strange look on her face when I asked who she had been seeing all along it was Rome. I nearly opened my eyes then, but I stopped myself and let her finish.

“It was his,” she admitted, crying openly now. “That baby was Rome’s.” The tissue tore again between her fingers. “I couldn’t have it. I couldn’t look at you knowing I was carrying your husband’s baby, and I couldn’t bring a child into that mess. I knew what kind of man he was. I knew he wouldn’t care about that baby any more than he cared about what he was doing to us.”

Us? Interesting choice of word.

“I’m so sorry, Navy. I swear to God, I’m sorry. You almost died, and I’ve been sitting here every day feeling like the worst person alive because you still think I’m somebody you can trust.”

That part hurt more than the rest. Not the sex and not even the pregnancy. The fact that she knew exactly what she had taken from me and let me keep handing her more. I had trusted Tasha with parts of myself I didn’t trust anybody else with. She had seen me bruised, scared, confused and she knew what Rome had done inside our marriage, and all the while, she carried another piece of him behind my back.

I wanted to sit up and ask her how many times. But what would the answers change? Rome had already taken enough from me. I wasn’t giving him the last real friendship I had too. That didn’t mean everything between Tasha and me would go back to normal because normal was gone. I had learned that the hard way. Some things could be forgiven without ever being trusted again. Tasha loved me and I believed that. She had also slept with my husband for money and hidden his pregnancy inside her body until she decided to end it, I believed that too. Both truths would have to live in the same place.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” she whispered. “I don’t even deserve it. I just couldn’t let something happen to you without saying it, even if you never heard me.”

Well, congratulations. I heard every damn word.

Her hand covered mine. For a moment, I thought she might feel how tense my fingers had become, but she only held them gently between hers. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I love you.”

I stayed still and after a few minutes, she stood and gathered her purse. Her hand touched the top of my head before she leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

The door opened and closed behind her. I waited until her footsteps disappeared down the hallway before opening my eyes. The ceiling had become the most familiar thing in my life with white tiles, fluorescent lights, a small brown stain near one vent that I had counted at least fifty times when I couldn’t sleep. I stared at it while Tasha’s confession replayed inside my head. I wasn’t going to confront her and maybe that made me weak. At that point, I didn’t care which one it was. I had come close enough to death to understand that some battles didn’t deserve the pieces they took from you. Tasha would go to her grave believing I never heard her. I would go to mine knowing exactly what she had done. I could still love her. I just wouldn’t ever trust her with all of me again.

The nurse came in before I could sink any deeper into my thoughts. Denise was an older woman with silver threaded through her braids and a way of speaking to me that made it clear she didn’t care whether I was in one of my moods. She pushed the door open with her hip and smiled when she saw my eyes. “Well, look who finally decided to join the living.”

“I’ve been living.”

“You’ve been pretending to sleep every time somebody walks in here.”

I turned my face toward the window. Denise came around the bed and checked the IV before lifting the clipboard hanging near the footboard. “Physical therapy is waiting on you.”

“They can keep waiting.” I mumbled.

“They said you tried that yesterday.”

“And it almost worked.”

She laughed while lowering the bedrail. “It didn’t work at all.”

“I’m in pain.”

“I know and that’s why we gave you medicine before the session.” She glanced toward me over the top of her glasses. “And before you ask, no, they aren’t letting you skip.”

Denise brought the wheelchair closer to the bed and locked the wheels. The first few times they transferred me; two people had done most of the work while I held on and tried not to scream. Now they expected me to participate and I hated participating.

Every movement reminded me how much my body had changed. My right leg had survived, though it still carried bruising and weakness from the impact. My left ended below the knee beneath a thick dressing and a rigid protective covering they said would help guard the residual limb while it healed.

Residual limb, I thought. They had given what remained of my leg a polite medical name, like that was supposed to make it easier to look at. Denise helped me sit upright. The room tilted briefly as blood rushed through my head, and I tightened my hands around the mattress.

“Give yourself a second,” she said.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t get extra credit for lying.”

Once the dizziness passed, she placed the wheelchair at an angle beside the bed and reminded me where to put my hands. I shifted toward the edge, keeping my weight centered over my right foot while she steadied the transfer belt around my waist. The first attempt got me halfway up before pain tore through my hip and I dropped back onto the mattress.

“Shit!”

Denise kept one hand beneath my arm. “Breathe.”

“I am breathing.”

“You’re cussing and that’s different.” She replied. I glared at her and she smiled. “Ready to try again?”

“No.”

“Good. On three.”

By the time I settled into the wheelchair, sweat had perspired across my forehead. My arms shook from supporting more of my weight than they were used to, and frustration sat so close to the surface that I wanted to knock everything off the bedside table.

The therapy gym was brighter than my room and twice as irritating. Parallel bars ran through the center. Exercise mats covered one side, while walkers, wheelchairs, resistance bands, and equipment filled the rest. Other patients worked with therapists around the room as well facing different obstacles. Everybody seemed to be trying and that irritated me too.

My therapist, Claire, rolled me between the parallel bars and locked the wheelchair. She was small, energetic, and too cheerful for somebody whose job involved making injured people do things they didn’t want to do. “Today we’re going to focus on standing tolerance and balance,” she said.

“I tolerated standing for twenty-six years. I think I understand the concept.”

Claire didn’t react; she had already learned that sarcasm was the only thing I had left some mornings. “This is different.”

“I noticed.”

She placed the gait belt around my waist and positioned herself slightly behind me. “Your arms will help you push up but try not to hang all your weight through your shoulders once you’re standing. We want you using your right leg and your core.”

My hands wrapped around the bars, and I hated that I was afraid. Standing had once been something I did without thinking. Now my body treated the floor like it couldn’t be trusted.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Claire said.

I pushed against the armrests, shifted my weight forward, and forced myself upright. My right knee wobbled immediately. Both arms locked around the bars. The missing weight on my left side threw everything off. My brain kept expecting my foot to touch the ground and kept sending messages to a limb that wasn’t there. A sharp tingling sensation ran through toes I no longer had. I sucked my teeth and swallowed my tears.

“Easy,” Claire said. “Don’t rush.”

“I’m not rushing.”

“You’re gripping the bars hard enough to bend them.”

“I’m trying not to fall Claire.” I corrected her.

“And I’m not going to let you.”

I loosened my hands slightly, but my body remained stiff. Sweat slid down my back beneath the loose hospital shirt. My right thigh began burning after less than a minute.

“This is stupid.”

“It’s hard, I know, but it will help.”

“It’s standing Claire, that’s it.”

“For you, right now, standing is hard.”

The words hit a place I didn’t want touched. My eyes filled before I could stop them. “I know what it is,” I snapped. “I’m the one missing a fucking leg.”

The gym seemed to get quiet around me, although I knew it probably hadn’t. Claire didn’t tell me to calm down. She didn’t say I was blessed. She only kept one hand close to the belt around my waist and waited.

My right knee shook harder. “I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can.” She assured me being extremely patient.

“No, I can’t.”

“You’re already doing it.”

I looked down at the empty space beside my right foot. My vision blurred. “I don’t want to do it like this.”

Nobody answered Claire’s encouragement because the voice came from behind me.

“You ain’t gotta want to. Just do it anyway.”

I turned my head and Lev stood near the entrance to the therapy gym. He wore a black suit with a black shirt beneath it with the first buttons left open at his throat. The jacket fit across his shoulders too perfectly like it was tailored, and the gold watch at his wrist caught the overhead light when he slipped one hand into his pocket. His expression looked hurt although he tried to hide it behind the calm way he carried himself. He was just leaving Marv’s funeral.

I had forgotten it was that morning. Lev crossed the room slowly, ignoring the women who looked up as he passed. He stopped near the end of the parallel bars and looked at me like nobody else was there. “You came.” I tried to smile.

He kissed me on the cheek. “Where else I’m supposed to be?”

The words reminded me of what he told me the same day I lost my leg. My arms trembled against the bars and Lev noticed.

“Look at me,” he said.

“I need to sit down.”

“You can sit when she tells you.”

“I’m tired Lev and I’m hurting.” I wiped my eyes.

“I know that too.” His voice didn’t carry pity and that was what I needed most.

Everyone else looked at me like I might break if they said the wrong thing. Lev looked at me like I was still myself, even when I didn’t feel like her. “Keep your eyes up,” he told me. “You staring at the floor like it did something to you.”

A weak laugh escaped me before I could stop it. “Whatever.”

Claire smiled. “That’s better, now shift a little more weight into the right leg.”

“I hate both of you right now.”

Lev came closer. “You can hate me after you finish.”

My right knee threatened to fold, and my grip tightened again. “I can’t.”

His expression changed, and not softening exactly, but opening enough for me to see what he was holding back. “You ran out that apartment after a grown ass man attacked you. You survived Rome hitting you with a car. You survived surgery, and now you telling me some metal bars and one shaky leg got more fight than you?”

The tears burned when they rolled down my face. “That’s not fair.”

“I ain’t trying to be fair baby. I’m trying to remind you who the fuck you are.”

I met his eyes and held his gaze. The shaking didn’t stop, but the panic inside me eased enough to breathe around it. Claire counted ten more seconds before allowing me to lower myself into the chair. My arms gave out the moment I reached it, and I sat there breathing hard while Lev crouched in front of me.

“See?” he said. “Still standing.”

“For barely two minutes.” I sighed.

“That’s two minutes more than you wanted to do though.”

I wiped my face with the back of my hand. “How was the funeral?”

His eyes lowered briefly. “It was a funeral.”

I understood that meant he didn’t want to talk about it there. My hand reached toward his before I thought about it. He took it and rubbed his thumb across my knuckles. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” he said.

Claire cleared her throat lightly. “I hate to interrupt, but we still have another exercise.”

I stared at her. “You don’t hate it.”

“No. I really don’t.” She snickered in a playful way trying to lighten the mood. I had a newfound respect for these therapists. They had a hard job.

Lev stood and removed his suit jacket, draping it over the back of a nearby chair. “What we doing next?”

“We?”

He rolled up his sleeves. “You heard me.”

The rest of therapy went better with him there, not easier because nothing about learning how to move inside my new body was easy. Claire had me practice controlled transfers, balancing while reaching for objects, and taking short hopping steps inside the bars without letting my right knee collapse. She also showed me exercises meant to strengthen my hips and core so I would be ready for a prosthesis once the incision healed and the swelling decreased.

I cursed through most of it. Lev stayed close enough to catch me if I slipped but never grabbed me unless Claire told him to. Every time frustration made me stop, he gave me a few seconds before telling me to keep going. By the time Denise wheeled me back to my room, exhaustion had settled into my bones. Lev followed with his jacket over one shoulder.

A doctor and another woman were waiting inside. The woman introduced herself as part of the prosthetics and rehabilitation team, then placed several brochures across the rolling table. The pictures showed different prosthetic legs, suspension systems, feet, and components I didn’t understand. Some looked simple and others looked so advanced they belonged in a laboratory instead of attached to somebody’s body.

“We won’t fit you for the permanent prosthesis immediately,” she explained. “The incision needs time to heal, and the residual limb will continue changing shape as the swelling decreases. For now, we’ll focus on wound care, protecting the limb, reducing swelling, strengthening, and preparing you to function safely at home.”

I nodded, though the amount of information made my head hurt. She showed me temporary options that could be adjusted during the early stages, then explained how the prosthetic socket would eventually be made to fit around my leg. The right fit mattered because too much pressure could damage the skin, while too much space could make the prosthesis unstable.

“What about those?” I asked, pointing toward a sleek model in one of the brochures.

“That’s a higher activity system,” she said. “The specific components depend on your goals, your strength, your balance, and what insurance approves.”

There was always a word waiting to remind me that even rebuilding my body came with a price tag. “And if insurance doesn’t approve it?”

The woman hesitated. “There may be out of pocket costs. Some of the more advanced systems can be expensive, especially when you include the socket, foot, fittings, and future adjustments.”

I looked down at the brochure. Before I could ask how expensive, Lev spoke from the chair beside me. “She getting the best one.”

The specialist turned toward him. “We’ll need to evaluate what’s clinically appropriate for her first.”

“I heard you, whatever the best option is for what she needs, that’s what she’s getting.”

“Lev,” I said quietly.

He didn’t look at me. His attention stayed on the specialist. “We’re not picking based on what an insurance company feels like paying. You show her everything that can help her get back to living how she wants to live, and I’ll handle the rest.”

The doctor glanced between us. “Some components may need to change as her activity level improves.”

“Then change them.”

“There could be additional fittings and replacements over time.”

“Send the bill.”

I stared at him. He finally looked at me and leaned back in the chair as if he hadn’t just committed to spending more money than most people made in a year. “You don’t have to do that. This could cost a lot.”

He reached for my hand. “You think I give a fuck what it cost?”

My throat tightened. “This is my responsibility.”

“No.” His fingers closed around mine. “Getting better is your responsibility. Let me handle everything else.”

The prosthetics specialist began explaining the next steps, but I barely heard her. I watched Lev’s thumb move slowly across my hand. For weeks, I had looked at my future and seen nothing but everything I had lost… walking, working, dancing, and moving through a room without needing help.

Lev looked at the same future and spoke as though none of it was over. As though I was still worth investing in. As though my body hadn’t become too difficult to love. I tightened my fingers around his and for the first time since waking up after surgery, the future didn’t feel like a door that had slammed shut. It felt like something I might eventually learn how to walk toward.

CHAPTER 27

Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott

Months Later (27th Birthday)

By the time the makeup artist asked me to look up for the third time, my eyes had already drifted back toward the mirror and not on my face but my leg. The black silk of my dress had been arranged carefully over my thighs, but the slit opened whenever I shifted in the chair, exposing the sleek prosthetic beneath it. The socket had been custom-made to blend against my skin, while the lower portion was finished in polished black and brushed gold because Lev refused to let me choose something that looked like it belonged in a hospital supply closet. The microprocessor-controlled ankle adjusted when I walked, helping me balance on uneven ground and move more naturally in heels, though naturally was still a word I struggled to use when every step required thought.

I had spent months learning how to stand without looking down, how to trust the weight beneath me, and how to stop reaching for furniture every time I crossed a room. Some days I moved well enough to forget what had happened for several minutes at a time. Other days, the socket rubbed against tender skin or phantom pain shot through toes I no longer had, and I wanted to throw the whole expensive contraption across the room.

Today, it fit perfectly. Lev had made sure of that too. He’d arranged for my prosthetist to come to the house two days earlier and adjust the socket after I mentioned once that the pressure near my knee felt different. By the time I woke up the next morning, the appointment had been handled, transportation had been arranged, and the woman who worked with my rehabilitation team was standing in the foyer carrying equipment.

That was how he loved me by listening when I talked, even when I thought he wasn’t paying attention, then quietly removed whatever problem stood in front of me. “Chin up, birthday girl,” the makeup artist said, gently lifting my face with two fingers.

“I’m trying.”

“You’re thinking too much.”

Everybody had been telling me that lately. The makeup artist’s name was Camryn, although I had heard Lev call her “the makeup lady” twice before she corrected him. A hairstylist worked behind me, running a flat iron through the last section of my hair while another woman steamed the bottom of my dress near the window. Together, they had taken over the sitting area of the bedroom as if they were preparing me for an awards show instead of dinner. At least that was what Lev claimed we were doing.

He’d refused to tell me where. All I knew was that he wanted me ready by seven and that I wasn’t allowed to wear anything simple or any of the loose clothes I had hidden inside since leaving the hospital. The dress had arrived that morning inside a garment bag, along with a pair of black heels made specifically to work with my prosthetic foot. The silk hugged my body without clinging too tightly, and the one-shoulder neckline left my collarbone bare. The slit began high on my left thigh and opened down the side, deliberately revealing the prosthesis instead of hiding it beneath layers of fabric.

My first instinct had been to ask for another dress. Then I remembered who I was dealing with. Lev had probably chosen this one because he knew I would try to hide. My phone rang on the vanity beneath a row of birthday messages. Since sunrise, flowers had arrived almost every hour. My former coworkers from the hospital sent an arrangement so large Lev’s housekeeper had to clear an entire table for it. Nurses from the emergency department recorded a video singing happy birthday in the break room, with two of them waving handwritten signs telling me they were still holding my position whenever I was ready.

I watched the video twice before answering. I missed working more than I expected. I missed twelve-hour shifts, bad coffee, and patients asking how long they would have to wait as if I controlled the entire emergency department. I missed moving without measuring every doorway. Mostly, I missed being needed for something that had nothing to do with what happened to me. My doctors kept reminding me there was no deadline. I could return when my body and mind were ready but neither one was there yet.

“Okay,” Camryn said, stepping back. “Look.”

She turned the chair toward the full-length mirror and for a second, I didn’t recognize myself. My hair fell straight and shining past my shoulders, parted down the center with each strand lying perfectly in place. My skin looked warm beneath the soft makeup, and the red lipstick she’d chosen made my mouth look fuller against the black dress. My diamond studs sat perfectly in my ears, which were another gift from Lev that appeared on the vanity without explanation, and a thin gold bracelet circled my wrist.

I looked beautiful and just that realization choked me up. “Wow.”

Camryn caught my expression in the mirror and smiled. “Don’t start crying. I just finished.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I have allergies.” I lied.

“To your own reflection?” She smirked.

The hairstylist laughed behind me. I pressed the tips of my fingers beneath my eyes before the tears could disturb anything. “Y’all are annoying.”

“We’re also done,” Camryn said. She gathered her brushes while the other women packed their things. “And for the record, that dress was the right choice.”

I looked at my leg again. Before it happened, I would’ve thought a prosthetic leg only replaced what was missing. Nobody explained that it became something everybody noticed before they noticed you. Children stared without shame. Adults stared and pretended they weren’t. Women looked at me with pity. Men looked at me with curiosity or turned their eyes away too quickly.

However, Lev never looked away. There was a knock on the bedroom door before it opened. He stepped inside wearing black dress pants, a crisp white shirt, and a black jacket that looked made for his body. His beard had been freshly shaped, and the waves beneath his low haircut were still sharp from the barber. The cologne reached me before he crossed the room looking and smelling all expensive, the same scent that lingered on his side of the bed every morning.

He stopped halfway inside as his eyes moved over me slowly, beginning at my face and traveling down the length of the dress. They paused at the slit and the leg beneath it before returning to my eyes. The women exchanged looks and started gathering their bags faster.

“Well?” I asked when he remained silent.

Lev slipped one hand into his pocket. “I’m trying to figure out why I’m taking you out looking like that.”

Camryn laughed as she passed him. “Because you paid us to make her look like that.”

“I paid y’all to make her look nice. This some other shit, ya’ll trying to have somebody else steal my woman.”

I turned slightly in the chair. “You don’t like it?”

He walked toward me, still studying the dress. “You know damn well that ain’t what I said.”

“What did you say?”

“I said we might not make it out the house.”

A smile pulled at my lips. “That sounds like a personal problem.”

“It is.” He stopped in front of me and rested a hand against the side of my neck. His thumb brushed lightly below my ear. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” I smiled closing my eyes against his touch.

His gaze softened in a way that happened more often when we were alone. “You look good, baby.”

The compliment should’ve been easy to accept. Months later, I still searched his face for the part he might be leaving out. You look good considering or you look good, but I remember what you looked like before. Lev seemed to know when my mind wandered there because his hand moved beneath my chin and lifted my face. “Aye, don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make up some shit in your head I didn’t say.”

“I didn’t say anything.” I looked away, but he brought my attention back to him.

“You beautiful,” he said. “All of you and ain’t no asterisk behind it.”

My throat tightened again. “I know.” I sighed.

“No, you learning.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead carefully so he wouldn’t mess up my makeup. “But you gone know.”

He helped me from the chair without making a production of it. That mattered more than he understood. He didn’t snatch me up or behave as if I might collapse. He placed his hand where I preferred it, steady at my waist, and allowed me to push through my right leg until the prosthetic foot settled beneath me.

I stood still for a moment while my balance adjusted. The heels were lower than I would’ve chosen before, but high enough to make me feel like myself. I fixed the dress over my hips and reached for the cane resting against the vanity. Lev picked it up first and held it out. Six months ago, accepting it would’ve embarrassed me. Now I took it and moved beside him.

The drive took us away from the center of the city and toward the water. Lev kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting near my thigh, with his fingers brushing against the silk whenever he changed lanes. The music played the speakers, playing the R&B channel from Tidal and I knew he’d chosen because I liked it, although he acted like the playlist had appeared on its own.

“Where are we going?” I asked for the fourth time.

“Somewhere.”

“That was helpful.”

“You welcome.”

“I know this isn’t a restaurant.”

“Why?”

“Because we passed every restaurant.”

“Miami got more than one street with food on it.”

The sun had nearly disappeared by the time he turned through a pair of tall black gates. Beyond them sat one of the waterfront properties he owned, with a modern white mansion I had only seen in photographs. The house rose three stories above a wide circular driveway, and its glass walls reflected the last streaks of orange and pink across the sky.

The warm lights lined the path leading to the entrance. Large arrangements of red roses stood on both sides, mixed with candles protected inside tall glass cylinders. My name had been worked into a gold sign near the steps. Right below it, in smaller letters it said: Twenty-Seven.

I looked at Lev and he kept his attention on the driveway as though the entire front of the house hadn’t been transformed for me. “This is dinner?” I smiled.

“The food is inside.”

“That’s not what I asked.” I smirked while shaking my head because he was always up to something.

He parked near the entrance and came around to open my door before I could reach for the handle. When I stepped out, the music became clearer. A violinist stood beneath the covered entry playing one of my favorite songs.

I stared at the house again. “Lev.”

“Come on.”

“What did you do?”

“Walk in and see baby, damn stop asking all these questions Nay.”

He offered his arm instead of reaching for me, allowing me to decide how much support I needed. I linked mine through his and moved carefully up the path. The ground was smooth, but I still concentrated on each step, planting the heel of the prosthesis before shifting forward. Lev matched my pace without looking down.

At the door, he reached ahead and opened it. The lights inside came on all at once. “Surprise!”

The sound hit me before I saw everybody. Grandma Lulu stood near the front with both hands raised, already crying. BJ was beside her in a deep purple dress, smiling through tears of her own. Monica, Tasha, my aunts, cousins, former coworkers, and more people than I could process filled the open living room. Lev’s family occupied the other side, along with Mike and several men I recognized from around him.

Red and gold decorations filled throughout the house. Photographs of me were lined on one wall with childhood pictures, nursing school graduation, family holidays, and newer images from rehabilitation that I didn’t know anybody had taken. A large table held a black and gold birthday cake beside wrapped gifts and arrangements of flowers. Everyone clapped as I entered and my first instinct was to stop because crowds had become difficult. I was always aware of where people looked, and I didn’t know whether to adjust the dress or close the slit. Then Lulu pushed through the group and wrapped both arms around me.

“Look at my baby.”

She held my face between her hands and kissed both cheeks. “You are so beautiful.”

“Thank you, Lulu.”

She glanced down at the prosthesis without sadness, then back up at me. “And look at that leg. That thing cost more than my first house.”

BJ laughed beside her. “Probably cost more than three of ours.”

The tension left my shoulders as people came forward one at a time. Nobody treated me like I might break. They hugged me, complimented the dress, joked about the cake, and filled the room with enough noise to keep me from thinking too hard. Tasha waited until most of the others had greeted me. We had never spoken about what I heard in the rehabilitation room, she still believed I had been asleep. Our friendship continued, but I had changed the parts of myself I handed her. She didn’t notice, or maybe she did and chose not to ask. I no longer called her first with every fear. I no longer trusted her with information that could be used against me. I loved her, but the love had boundaries now.

She hugged me carefully and held on longer than necessary. “Happy birthday,” she whispered.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

When she pulled away, tears filled her eyes. “You look so good.”

I looked her up and down and complimented her as well. “You look pretty too.”

She wiped beneath one eye before the makeup could run. “I promised myself I wasn’t crying today.”

“You should’ve made a more realistic promise.” I teased.

She laughed, and for a moment we felt like the women we had been before everything became complicated. Dinner was served outside on the terrace overlooking the water. One long table stretched beneath hanging lights, surrounded by candles and red roses. A private chef prepared food inside while servers moved between the guests with trays of drinks.

Lev kept me beside him throughout the evening, but he never hovered. When I needed to sit, a chair appeared. When the socket began to feel tight, he quietly asked whether I wanted to go upstairs and remove it for a while. When I told him I was fine, he accepted the answer instead of questioning me.

After dinner, everybody gathered near the pool for the cake. The violinist began playing again as the lights around the terrace dimmed. I looked toward the house, expecting someone to bring the cake outside. Instead, the people closest to us began moving away, creating an open space near the edge of the pool. My stomach tightened. Lulu covered her mouth. BJ smiled like she had been waiting all night for that exact second.

I turned toward Lev. “What’s happening?”

He stood in front of me with both hands inside his pockets. For the first time since I had known him, he looked nervous. Not afraid. Lev didn’t allow himself that kind of expression. But there was tension in his jaw and something uncertain behind his eyes.

“Come here,” he said.

“I’m already here.”

A few people laughed softly. He ignored them and took my hand. The music continued behind us, low enough that I could hear the water moving against the side of the property. The Miami skyline glowed in the distance, blurred slightly by the tears already gathering in my eyes.

Lev looked down at our hands before raising his gaze to mine. “I don’t do speeches and everybody standing around waiting on one ain’t making this shit no easier.”

More laughter moved through the crowd, but his eyes stayed on me.

He continued. “When I first met you, you I didn’t know if I wanted to love you or end you.”

I stared at him. “This is your opening?”

“Let me finish.”

I pressed my lips together.

His thumb moved across the back of my hand. “But you made me feel something I wasn’t looking for. I didn’t plan on caring about nobody like that. I damn sure didn’t plan on falling in love.”

My smile disappeared as the weight of his words settled over me. I didn’t want to cry but I couldn’t help it.

“I watched you go through shit that should’ve broke you,” he continued. “I watched people who was supposed to protect you be the ones that hurt you. Then I watched you wake up in that hospital and have to learn how to live all over again.”

My eyes burned like hell now. Lev’s voice lowered even more, and the people around us seemed to disappear. “There were days you didn’t want nobody touching you. Days you ain’t wanna look in the mirror. Days you was mad at everybody because your body didn’t do what you wanted it to do, and every one of them days, I looked at you and saw the same woman.”

A tear slipped down my cheek. He lifted his free hand and wiped it away. “You keep thinking I love you around what happened to you. Like I gotta see past something.” He shook his head slowly. “I ain’t looking past shit. That leg is part of you now, and I love every part of you. Ain’t nowhere else I wanna be, and ain’t nobody else I wanna be there with.”

The crowd got completely silent. Lev released my hand and reached inside his jacket. I nearly lost my breath as he removed a black velvet box, then lowered himself onto one knee. Behind me, part of the crowd gasp and part cheered but all I could see was him, the same man who had held me in the parking lot while I bled. The man who sat beside my hospital bed when I screamed that I didn’t want to live. The man who learned how to clean my incision, adjust my shower chair, and help me through phantom pain without ever making me feel helpless. The man who never once treated my body like it had become less worthy of wanting.

He opened the box exposing a large oval-cut diamond, surrounded by a hidden halo that caught the light beneath it. Smaller diamonds covered the band, each one set so closely together that the entire ring appeared to glow.

I stared at it as my lips trembled. My divorce with Rome had finalized three months ago and I wasn’t so sure I would ever get married again, but Lev isn’t Rome. “Lev.”

“Seven-carat, flawless center stone,” he said. “Custom setting, cost two hundred and eighty thousand before BJ start asking.”

His grandmother yelled from behind him, “I already know!”

Everybody laughed through their tears. I covered my mouth with my free hand. Lev looked up at me, with his expression serious again. “I’m not asking because you almost died. I’m asking because I feel sorry for you. I’m asking because I decided a long time ago that wherever you end up, that’s where I’m supposed to be.”

My tears came faster. “I love you so much,” I told him.

“You don’t gotta marry me tomorrow. You don’t have to set a date until you ready. You got healing to do, and I’m not rushing none of it, but understand something.” His fingers tightened around the ring box. “After everything we been through, ain’t no way I’m letting you walk out my life. Navy Prescott, you gon’ be my wife. Question is whether you agreeing willingly or I gotta keep asking until you tired of hearing me.”

A laugh broke through my crying. I told him, “That’s not how a proposal works.”

“It’s how this one work.”

I looked around at our families. Lulu was crying openly against Monica’s shoulder. BJ stood with one hand pressed to her chest. Tasha smiled through tears. Mike shook his head as if he already knew Lev would find a way to turn a proposal into a threat.

When I looked back down, Lev was still waiting. For once, there was no uncertainty inside me. “Yes baby,” I nodded my head while sniffing away the happy tears.

His shoulders relaxed. “Yes?” he repeated.

“Yes, Lev. I’ll marry you.”

The terrace erupted. He slid the ring onto my finger before standing, then wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me against him. I laughed into his chest as applause and shouting filled the space around us.

He leaned down until his mouth was near my ear. “Told you.”

“You didn’t tell me anything.”

“I told you that was my woman.”

“No, how I heard about it, you told Monica that and then I’ve been your girl since you claimed me on that hospital bed.”

“And she went and told everybody else.”

I pulled back far enough to look at him. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Look at your hand.”

I lifted it between us. It was a bad ass ring. “Still ridiculous,” I said, although I couldn’t stop smiling.

He kissed me before I could say anything else. His hand came around the back of my neck, holding me gently as the people around us cheered louder. The kiss didn’t feel like a performance for them. It felt like a promise made in front of witnesses.

By the time we left, it was after midnight. My body ached from standing longer than I was used to, and the skin near the top of the socket had begun to feel tender. Lev noticed before I mentioned it. When we reached the house, he came around to my side of the car and lifted me into his arms. He carried me through the front door and up the stairs, though the house had an elevator installed because he had refused to let me move in without one. Inside the bedroom, he placed me gently on the edge of the bed and crouched in front of me.

My hand rested against his shoulder while he unfastened the heel from my prosthetic foot. He set the shoe aside, then carefully released the suspension system. By then, he knew every step of removing the leg, but he still looked at me before touching the socket.

“You ready?”

I nodded. He eased it away slowly, giving the skin time to adjust. Once it was removed, he checked the residual limb for redness the way the prosthetist had taught him. His fingers moved with care, not because he was afraid of me, but because he understood what hurt.

“There’s a little irritation near the side,” he said. “We’ll call them in the morning.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’ll be finer after they fix it.”

I looked down at the ring on my finger and Lev followed my gaze. “You like it?”

“Yes. I love it.”

He stood and removed his jacket before reaching for the zipper at the side of my dress. His eyes met mine in the mirror. “You tired?”

“A little.”

“We can go to sleep.”

I knew he meant it. That was the thing about intimacy after the accident. Sometimes I wanted him and became afraid the second the clothes came off. Other times, phantom pain made it impossible to relax but he never pushed or made me feel like my body owed him anything because he stayed.

Tonight, I didn’t want to sleep. “Come here,” I said. He stepped closer and I turned toward him and reached for the buttons of his shirt. My fingers worked slowly.

Lev watched my face instead of my body. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

He cupped my cheek and kissed me gently, giving me enough time to change my mind. When I didn’t, the kiss got freakier. He helped me out of the dress without rushing, easing the silk over my body before laying it across the chair instead of allowing it to fall. I sat at the edge of the bed in front of him, suddenly aware of every scar and every uneven place I usually hid beneath clothes.

My instinct was to pull the sheet over myself. Lev caught my hand. I looked away. “I know what you’re going to say.”

“Then stop making me repeat myself.”

His hand settled against my left thigh, just above where my leg ended. He touched the scar without hesitation, then leaned down and pressed his mouth gently against it. My breath caught. There was no pity in the way he touched me. No careful avoidance. He kissed the part of my body I hated most as if it belonged beneath his mouth the same as every other piece of me. When he looked up, his eyes were steady.

“You still don’t understand,” he said.

“What?”

“Ain’t nothing missing when I look at you.”

The words broke through something I had been protecting since the hospital. I pulled him toward me, tossed my nub over his shoulder and let him make love to my body without feeling self-conscious for the first time since starting my new life. Later, I lay against his chest beneath the sheets, with my residual limb resting comfortably over his thigh. His fingers moved slowly through my hair while the diamond on my hand caught the light from the bathroom.

I lifted my hand again and watched it sparkle. “Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars is irresponsible.”

“You ain’t paying for it.”

“That doesn’t make it less irresponsible.”

“It make it none of your business.”

I laughed softly. “I’m going to be your wife. Your money will be my business.”

“See? Now you getting ahead of yourself.”

I acted like I was hurt. “You just proposed to me.”

“And now I’m reconsidering.” He laughed.

I lifted my head and looked at him. He smiled, then kissed my forehead and pulled me closer. The room became quiet again. For months, silence had meant hospital machines, pain, and thoughts I couldn’t escape. That night, it meant Lev’s heartbeat beneath my ear and his arm around my waist. I had spent so long grieving the life Rome took from me that I hadn’t realized another one had already begun. It wasn’t the life I planned, and it wasn’t the body I had known, but it was mine. And, for the first time, I was ready to live it.

EPILOGUE

Navy ‘Nay’ Laurent

The ballroom doors were still closed, but nobody standing in that hallway was calm enough to pretend the ceremony hadn’t already started in their heads. The wedding coordinator kept giving instructions in a low, urgent voice while bridesmaids checked bouquets they had already straightened three times and the groomsmen whispered among themselves about the rings before one of them remembered Lev had refused to trust anybody else with them. Beyond the doors, the soft pull of a saxophone drifted beneath the string quartet, the two sounds blending together until even the hallway felt wrapped in something elegant and warm.

I stood at the end of it with my arm tucked through Uncle Curtis’s, trying not to breathe too deeply because every time I did, Lulu took it as a sign that something on my dress had shifted. She had been behind me for the last five minutes smoothing the train, lifting the lace, laying it back down, then starting all over again like the gown might suddenly revolt if she stopped watching it.

“You done touched that dress a hundred times,” I told her, looking over my shoulder.

“And I’ll touch it a hundred more if I need to,” she answered without even glancing up.

“It ain’t going nowhere.”

“I know that.” She pressed one palm over the lace anyway, making sure it lay flat. “That don’t mean I’m fixing to let you walk out there looking any kind of way.”

Uncle Curtis chuckled beside me. “Leave her alone. She been waiting on this day longer than you have.”

“That’s probably true,” I admitted.

Lulu finally stepped back, but only far enough to inspect the entire back of the dress with narrowed eyes. Once she decided it met her approval, she nodded to herself and moved around to my side. Her hands were trembling just enough for me to notice, though she tried hiding it by clasping them together in front of her.

Uncle Curtis gave my arm a light squeeze. “You nervous?”

I took a second before answering because I wanted to tell him the truth. I had been nervous upstairs. Nervous while getting dressed, nervous while fastening my prosthetic and checking the fit twice even though I already knew it was right. I was nervous when the photographer asked me to stand near the window and smile like my heart wasn’t beating against my ribs. But standing there now, with the doors separating me from the man waiting on the other side, all of that had soothed something inside of me.

“I was,” I said. “Not anymore.”

“What changed?”

My eyes moved toward the closed doors, and a smile touched my mouth before I could stop it. “I remembered who’s waiting for me.”

That was all I needed to say. Uncle Curtis nodded like he understood, and Lulu pressed her lips together, probably to keep herself from crying before the ceremony even started. A few feet away, the wedding coordinator lifted one finger toward the musicians. The sound beyond the doors shifted, the saxophone fading beneath a slower arrangement, and the hallway went still.

“They’re ready,” she whispered.

The double doors opened and the light poured into the hallway first, bright enough that I had to blink before the room came into focus. Then the details made me blush. White roses climbed the ends of every row and spilled from tall arrangements that lined the aisle. Hundreds of candles flickered in glass cylinders as their flames reflected off the polished floor. Through the wall of windows behind the altar, the water was glowing where the sun touched it.

For a few seconds, all I could do was stand there. Every person who had helped carry me through the worst year of my life seemed to be seated in that room. My former nurse manager was near the front beside two women from the emergency department, and all three of them smiled the second they saw me. Then my eyes found BJ. She sat in the front row wearing deep plum, one hand curled around a handkerchief while the other rested against her chest. Losing Marv had left a sorrow in her that time had softened but never erased. It was still there in the corners of her eyes, living beside the happiness on her face instead of replacing it. That was something all of us had learned by then. Grief didn’t always leave when joy arrived. Sometimes they sat beside each other and made room.

I looked beyond her, and there he was. Lev stood beneath the floral arch in a black tuxedo cut so perfectly against his body that I knew it had cost more than he would ever admit. His shoulders were squared, his hands folded in front of him, and from a distance he looked composed enough to fool anybody who didn’t know him, but I knew him. I saw the way his throat moved when he swallowed. I saw his fingers tighten around each other. I saw his breathing change when he laid eyes on me.

He didn’t look anywhere else after that. Uncle Curtis leaned closer without taking his eyes off the altar. “I think you broke him.”

I smiled, still watching Lev. “Good.”

The officiant said something to the guests, but the words passed through the room without reaching me. Uncle Curtis and I stepped forward together, and the first click of my heel against the aisle runner sounded louder in my head than the music.

Months earlier, walking had required concentration so complete that I couldn’t hold a conversation while doing it. Every step came with instructions. Now, as I moved toward Lev, none of them entered my mind. I wasn’t measuring the distance between each step or wondering whether the fabric of my dress revealed too much of my leg. I wasn’t searching the guests’ faces to see who might be staring. The only face I saw was his.

Halfway down the aisle, Lev rubbed beneath his nose and looked away for barely a second, trying to hide the fact that his eyes had filled with water. Mike leaned toward him and said something that made one of the other groomsmen laugh, but Lev didn’t respond. He just looked back at me, with his expression shifting the closer I came.

There was no pity in it and no sadness. What I saw on his face was something deeper than either of those, it was gratitude, like he was remembering the parking lot without allowing it to take this moment away from us. Like he could still see the blood on my clothes, still hear the doctors explaining what they couldn’t save, still feel every morning he had stood beside me in rehab and refused to let me decide I was finished.

But now I was walking toward him, not the way I had before, and not with the body I had before. Still, I was walking toward him, and the look in his eyes made me understand that this meant as much to him as it did to me. When we reached the altar, Uncle Curtis turned toward me and kissed my forehead. His lips lingered there for a second before he took my hand and placed it into Lev’s. Lev closed his fingers around mine immediately, holding on with the kind of quiet certainty that had become one of the safest things in my life.

“You okay?” he asked under his breath.

I looked at the moisture still gathered in his eyes. “You the one up here crying.”

“I didn’t cry”

“You absolutely cried.”

He frowned slightly. “Had something in my eye.”

“I watched the tear come out.”

He tried to fight a smile and winked at me. “There she go.”

“What?”

“My wife.”

I squeezed his hand. “Not yet.” I winked back.

He nodded his head. “Give it five minutes.”

The officiant smiled like he had heard us but was polite enough not to interrupt. Once Uncle Curtis took his seat, the ceremony began, and for a while I tried to listen to every word about love, commitment, partnership, and grace. The promises we were supposed to make when life felt easy and keep when it didn’t. I heard them, but they seemed to float around us because everything they meant was already standing in front of me.

When the officiant announced it was time for our vows, Lev reached inside his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He looked down at it for a moment, unfolded it halfway, then shook his head and slipped it back into his pocket.

“I can’t read that,” he said.

A ripple of low laughter filled the room. BJ raised one eyebrow from the front row. “You better say something.”

Lev glanced at her. “See? This exactly why I wrote it. Grandma been threatening me all week.”

“I surely did.”

He smiled before turning back to me. Whatever humor had been in his face softened when he took both my hands into his. “But none of what I wrote sounded like me,” he said. “So I’m just gone tell you the truth.”

The room quieted around us. “I can’t promise you life always gone be easy. We know better than that already. I can’t promise bad days won’t come, or people won’t disappoint us, because they will. We have both learned that the hard way.” His thumbs moved slowly over my knuckles while he spoke, grounding me the same way he always did. “But I can promise you that the next time life gets ugly, you won’t have to stand in it by yourself.”

My eyes burned before he even paused and then continued. “Eleven days,” he continued, with that deep gaze. “That’s all it took to change my whole damn life. I thought I was helping somebody settle a debt. Thought I was handling one more problem and going back to my business.”

A few people laughed quietly, but Lev never looked away from me. “Turned out God was introducing me to my wife.”

The first tear slipped free before I could stop it.

“You spent a long time thinking losing your leg changed who you were,” he said. “It didn’t. It changed how you had to move through this world, but it never touched the woman you are. You still the strongest woman I know, still the prettiest woman I know, still stubborn as hell.”

That got a louder laugh from the guests, and I gave him a look through my tears.

He grinned. “And starting today, you officially my headache for the rest of my life.”

“What a beautiful vow,” I whispered dabbing my eyes trying not to ruin my mascara.

He lifted my hand and pressed his lips against my fingers, just above where my wedding band would soon rest. The gesture was simple, but it carried everything he didn’t know how to make sound pretty.

The officiant turned toward me. “Navy?”

I looked at Lev and realized the speech I had practiced in the mirror no longer fit the moment either. It had been polished and careful, full of lines I thought I was supposed to say. Standing there with him, I didn’t want polished, I wanted honest. “I had a whole speech too,” I admitted.

“I know that you’ve been practicing when you thought I was asleep.”

My mouth fell open. “You heard me?”

“Every word.”

“Then why you let me keep embarrassing myself?”

“Because it was cute.”

The guests laughed again, and I shook my head before tightening my fingers around his. “The best thing that ever happened to me came into my life completely uninvited,” I began. “I wasn’t looking for you. I definitely wasn’t praying for anybody like you.”

Lev nodded. “That part I believe.”

“But every time I tried to push you away, you stayed and not in a way that made me feel trapped. You stayed close enough for me to know I wasn’t alone, but far enough to let me decide when I was ready.” I looked down at our hands, remembering all the versions of myself he had stood beside without asking me to hurry and become somebody easier to love after my trauma. “When I hated what I saw in the mirror, you loved me enough for both of us until I figured out how to love myself again. You never asked me to become the woman I was before everything happened. You never treated me like the best parts of me had been left in that parking lot.”

Lev’s expression changed, and I knew he was fighting his emotions again.

“You simply loved the woman standing in front of you,” I said. “So today, I promise to love you with that same patience. I promise to stand beside you when life gets ugly and remind you that you don’t have to carry everything by yourself either. And I promise to spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret choosing me.”

For a moment, the room was completely still and then the officiant smiled and moved us through the exchange of rings. Lev slid mine onto my finger slowly as his eyes dropped to watch the band beside my engagement ring. When it was my turn, I had to guide his ring over the last knuckle because he kept watching me instead of his own hand.

“By the authority vested in me,” the officiant began, his voice carrying across the ballroom, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Lev’s hand was already moving toward my waist before the officiant finished.

“You may kiss your bride.”

He pulled me into him with one arm secure around my back while his other hand cradled my face. The kiss wasn’t rushed or performed for the room. It felt like every promise we had made before reaching that altar, the ones spoken in hospital rooms and parked cars and quiet bedrooms when neither of us knew what came next. He kissed me with the certainty of a man who had already decided forever long before anybody gave him permission.

Applause burst through the ballroom. Someone tossed petals into the air. BJ cried openly without bothering to hide it, while Lulu wrapped both arms around Monica so tightly they nearly stumbled into the row behind them. Mike’s voice rose over everybody else.

“My dawg finally did it!”

Lev smiled against my mouth before resting his forehead against mine. His eyes lowered to the wedding band on my finger before finding mine again. The smile that spread across his face was proud, and so full of love that it made my chest ache.

“Mhm,” he said, pulling me a little closer. “I’m just your husband now.”

I flashed my ring proudly. “For life,” I cooed.

EPILOGUE

E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent

By the time the sun slipped behind the Miami skyline, the reception had loosened up enough for everybody to stop acting like they had somewhere important to be. The formal part of the night was over. Navy had thrown her bouquet into a crowd of women who nearly tore each other apart trying to catch it, the cake had been reduced to a few slices near the dessert table, and one of her uncles had been escorted off the dance floor after trying to drop into a split like his knees hadn’t been warning him for the last twenty years.

The DJ had eased music and into some old school and now had everyone doing the electric slide to ‘Taste Like Candy’ by Cameo, while waiters moved between the tables gathering champagne glasses, half-finished plates, and napkins that had fallen beneath chairs.

I stood near the edge of the dance floor with Mike talking in my ear, but I hadn’t heard much of what he’d said in the last few minutes. Every time I tried to pay attention, my eyes found their way back across the room. Navy was seated at one of the front tables beside my grandma, and the soft curls around her face were beginning to fall from all the dancing. She still had on that dress, though. The same one that had taken every clear thought out of my head when those doors opened, and she came walking toward me. The slit had shifted just enough to show part of her prosthetic beneath the ivory fabric, and she wasn’t tugging the dress over it or checking to see who might be looking. She sat with one leg crossed over the other, laughing at something Grandma said, her wedding ring flashing every time she lifted her hand.

Yeah, that was my wife. I had called her that before the officiant made it official, but it felt different now in a good way, more permanent. Mike followed my stare and let out a dry laugh. “You done looked over there about thirty times since we walked off that dance floor.”

“I know where I been looking.”

“I’m just making sure. Thought maybe you forgot she ain’t going nowhere.”

I glanced at him. “You worried about me too much.”

“Nah, I’m worried about you embarrassing all of us. You been standing over here smiling to yourself like you ain’t never seen a woman before.”

I looked back at Navy before answering. “Ain’t never seen that one before.”

Mike made a face like he was about to say something slick, but I ignored him. Navy caught me watching and lifted one eyebrow, with her mouth curving into a knowing smile. She had been doing that all evening, checking for me, finding me wherever I was in the room and giving me that same little look like we shared something nobody else could reach.

I smiled back before taking a slow drink from the glass in my hand. The whole night had moved way too fast. One minute I had been standing beneath that arch trying to keep myself together while Navy walked down the aisle. The next, we were cutting cake, taking pictures, being pulled into conversations, and thanking people I barely remembered inviting. I understood why people spent so much money hiring photographers. Without pictures, half the day would’ve disappeared before I had a chance to hold on to it.

Still, there were parts I knew I would never forget. Navy’s face when the doors opened. The sound of her heel against the aisle runner. The way she looked at me during her vows when she said I never made her feel like the best parts of her had been left in that parking lot.

That sentence had nearly put me on my knees. I had spent most of the year trying not to think about that night more than I had to. There were memories I kept locked away because letting them out didn’t change anything. Rome had changed hers enough and he didn’t get to keep breathing like nothing happened. I had made that decision before the police finished processing him.

When word reached me that he was being transferred to the same prison as my brother, I didn’t need to explain much. Cev was ruthless and he knew my voice. He knew when I was asking and when I wasn’t. I told him Rome wasn’t supposed to leave that place alive, and I told him I didn’t care what it took to make that happen. After that, I left it alone. Some things didn’t need to be discussed twice so when I got word Rome was no more, that was that.

A burst of laughter pulled me back into the room. Navy had leaned toward Lulu, whispering something that made both of them laugh, and the sight eased the tension that had started forming between my shoulders. Tonight belonged to us.

Mike slapped my arm. “You hear me?”

“No.”

“I said I’m about to go find me another drink. You want one?”

I looked down at the glass I was still holding. “I got one.”

“That same drink been in your hand for twenty minutes.”

“Then why you asking?”

I shook my head as he walked away, still talking to himself. The DJ changed to another throwback and a few more couples drifted onto the dance floor. Lulu had reached over and taken Navy’s hand, their heads bent close while they talked. For a second, I considered going over there and stealing my wife back.

Then the ballroom doors opened and the sound wasn’t loud enough to turn the whole room at once, but I was paying attention and the brass handles clicked, as the heavy doors eased apart, and cool air from the hallway slipped into the warmth of the reception. I glanced over without thinking much of it because guests had been leaving and coming back all night.

The dude standing in the entrance had me thinking that I was seeing shit. For a second, my mind refused to make sense of what my eyes were seeing. He was dressed in a black suit with no tie; the first few buttons of his shirt was open beneath the jacket exposing his tattoos. His hair was freshly cut, his beard was lined clean around his jaw, and prison hadn’t taken a damn thing from the way he carried himself. He stood inside the doorway with one hand in his pocket, and his broad shoulders relaxed, looking around the ballroom like he had all the time in the world.

He had the same eyes as mine, the same mouth, and same Laurent blood written across his face only he was darker than me. It was my brother Cevyn.

Mike came back and noticed him a second after I did. He had been halfway toward the bar when he stopped so suddenly the man behind him nearly walked into his back. “Nah,” he said, staring toward the doors. “Man, what the fuck?”

That got the attention of the people closest to him. As conversations began and heads turned toward the entrance. I heard a chair scrape against the floor, then BJ’s voice came from behind me, with disbelief. “My baby…”

I couldn’t look at anybody else. Cev’s eyes found mine across the ballroom, and the slow grin that spread over his face took me back years. Before prison, before money, before life split us in different directions and forced both of us to become men quicker than we should’ve had to.

He started toward me and I moved at the same time. Neither one of us rushed because we had never been the type to run into each other’s arms or put on a show for people watching, but the distance between us felt too damn long. When we finally met near the center of the ballroom, we clasped hands hard enough for our palms to crack before I pulled him into me. His shoulder hit mine, my free arm locked around his back, and for a few seconds I held on longer than I normally would’ve.

Damn, he was real, he was home. Cev laughed low against my shoulder. “Damn, nigga. You missed me that much?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

He pounded my back twice before we stepped apart. I kept one hand on his shoulder, looking him over as if I could find an explanation written somewhere on him. “When they let you out?”

“This morning.”

I raised a brow. “This morning?”

“A few hours ago.”

“And you ain’t call me?”

“Man, I would’ve ruined the surprise.”

I looked at him for another second, then shoved the side of his head. “You still on that hardheaded shit.”

He caught my wrist and pushed it away, grinning. “Learned from you.”

The room erupted around us then. Mike came charging over, cursing and laughing loud enough to have all the attention from every corner of the ballroom on us. BJ reached Cev before anybody else could, wrapping both arms around him and pressing her face against his chest. Whatever smart remark had been on his tongue disappeared. He bent over her without hesitation, closing his arms around her while she cried into his suit.

“You could’ve told me,” she fussed, pulling back only far enough to slap his chest. “Had me sitting in here not knowing my grandbaby was on his way home.”

“You would’ve told everybody BJ.”

“I would not.”

“Grandma.”

She wiped beneath her eyes. “I might’ve told one or two people.” She smiled.

“Exactly.”

BJ was just crying, and Cev wrapped her in another hug. More family crowded around, touching him, asking questions, pulling him into embraces before he could answer the last person. I stepped back and watched it for a moment.

Cev had always moved through our family like he belonged to everybody. My brother was Grandma’s baby, Mike’s day-one, the cousin people called when they needed something handled. Prison had taken years from him, but it hadn’t erased his place. The second he walked into that room, everybody shifted to make space like he had only been gone for a weekend.

Then I remembered the one person he hadn’t met yet was Navy. She had risen from her chair and stood a few feet away, watching the reunion with a soft smile. She didn’t interrupt or push her way into the crowd. She simply waited, with one hand resting against the side of her dress, giving me the time to have my brother back before asking for any part of me.

Cev noticed her before I could call her over. His gaze moved from her face to the ring on her hand, then came back to me. He smiled. “So that’s her.”

The way he said it told me he already knew exactly who she was. I looked at Navy and held out my hand. “Come here, baby.”

She moved toward us, and the skirt of her dress slid over the floor with every step. Cev watched her approach, and I felt something proud rise in my chest. I had introduced women to my brother before. None of them had ever mattered enough for the moment to feel like this. Navy placed her hand in mine, and I pulled her beside me.

“This my wife,” I said, not bothering to hide the satisfaction in my voice. “Navy, this my brother, Cevyn. Everybody call him Cev.”

His eyes shifted to the prosthetic leg, which was visible through the slit in her gown, but he didn’t linger there or let his expression change. He looked at her the same way he looked at everybody else… directly, taking in what mattered before deciding what to say.

“It took me long enough to meet you,” he told her, extending his hand. “My brother had me thinking you might not be real.”

Navy shook his hand, smiling. “I’ve heard a lot about you too.”

Cev glanced at me. “Hopefully not everything.” He replied and I knew he was serious.

Navy looked between us, as her eyes moved over our faces as if she was comparing features. I already knew what she was seeing. People had been telling us we looked alike since we were kids, though Cev had always claimed he got the better version of everything.

“Y’all really do resemble each other,” she said. “Same eyes, same smile when you’re trying not to smile. The only real difference is you’re darker,” she said to Cev.

“And finer,” he said without missing a beat.

Navy laughed beside me and for the first time in years, standing next to my brother didn’t feel like remembering something I had lost. It felt normal. Like we still had time to figure out who we were to each other outside of phone calls, visits, and conversations watched by guards.

The family slowly drifted back toward their tables as the music picked up again, but nobody moved far. BJ kept one eye on Cev like she was afraid somebody might take him back if she stopped watching. Mike disappeared long enough to return with a drink for him, then started talking about all the places they needed to go now that he was free.

I waited until their conversation loosened before resting my hand against the back of Cev’s neck and pulling him slightly away from the noise. His expression changed before I said anything. The jokes left his face, and the look he gave me was the same one he had worn through thick glass during prison visits when we needed to discuss something without saying too much.

“You straight?” I asked.

“I’m out.”

“So answer the question, you know what I’m talking about.”

He studied me for a second, understanding what I wanted to know. Then he took a drink and looked out over the dance floor, his voice was low enough that it disappeared beneath the music before traveling farther than me. “All that shit went smooth.”

I released Cev and gave him one firm nod. “Good.”

He took a sip from his drink. “That’s all you got to say?”

“What else you want?”

“A thank you might be nice nigga.”

I stared at him and then I pulled him into another quick embrace, while our hands clasped between us. “I owe you.”

“You already know.”

I did cause he handled Rome with no questions. Whatever years prison had taken from us, it hadn’t touched that though. There were things only blood could ask of you and things only blood would do without demanding an explanation. Cev had handled what I couldn’t reach, and I would spend the rest of my life making sure he never had to question whether I would do the same for him.

Mike returned before the moment could stretch any further, pushing a fresh drink into my hand and looking between us. “Why y’all over here looking serious? This supposed to be a celebration.”

“Mind your business,” Cev told him.

“I been minding your business since before you got locked up.”

“That sound like a personal problem.”

“It’s about to be yours now that you home.” Mike draped an arm around Cev’s shoulders and pulled him back toward the group. “Matter of fact, what you doing next? You ain’t about to sit around Grandma house getting fat and asking her to wash your clothes.”

BJ shouted from across the room, “He can stay at my house as long as he wants.”

Mike pointed toward her. “See? She already starting.”

Cev laughed and slipped out from beneath his arm. “I got plans.”

I leaned against the edge of a nearby table and folded my arms. “What kind of plans?”

He gave me a look. “Why you asking like you my parole officer?”

“Because I know you. Free less than a day and already talking about plans.”

“I’m supposed to have a plan.”

“You got one that don’t involve going back?”

Navy elbowed me lightly. “Let the man breathe.”

“I’m letting him breathe baby. I’m asking questions while he do it.”

Cev looked at her and nodded approvingly. “I like her already.”

I looked my brother over again, allowing the reality of him standing there to settle. “I’m serious, though. You trying to make some real money, I can put you on. Come into the real estate business with me. Learn the development side. You’ll be straight.”

Cev rolled the ice around his glass while considering it. “Real estate?”

“Yeah.”

“You want me walking through houses talking about natural light and open floor plans?”

“You make enough money; you can call it whatever you want.”

Mike laughed. “I’d pay to see that.”

Cev gave him a flat look. “Ain’t nobody ask you.”

“I got room for you,” I continued. “You don’t have to start from the bottom either. I’ll show you everything.”

It wasn’t charity because Cev was too smart for that, and I respected him too much to offer it. He had a way of reading people, understanding leverage, and seeing moves before anybody else realized a game had started. If he brought half of what he had used in the streets into something legitimate, he could build whatever life he wanted. I knew he had money put up, but how long would that last? He knew that was what I was offering. He also knew I wasn’t going to keep asking.

Cev took another drink, then looked around the ballroom. His gaze moved over the flowers, the packed dance floor, the family that hadn’t stopped smiling since he arrived, and finally landed on me.

“Hell nah.”

I frowned. “Hell nah what?”

“I ain’t joining your real estate business.”

“You ain’t even thought about it.”

“I thought about it while you was talking.”

“That fast?”

“Didn’t take long.”

Mike leaned toward him. “So what you trying to do?”

Cev adjusted one of his cuffs and glanced at Navy before looking back at me. That slow, trouble filled smile spread across his face again, the one that had gotten both of us into more shit than I cared to remember. “I just did years sitting in a cell hearing about everything Lev had going on,” he said. “His money, his businesses, his problems, his woman. Now I’m finally out, and the first thing y’all trying to do is make me part of his shit.”

“I’m offering you an opportunity,” I corrected him.

“You offering me a supporting role.”

Navy covered her laugh with her hand. I stared at him. “Boy, what the fuck you talking about?”

“I ain’t trying to be part of your story.” He lifted his glass toward me, with his smile widening when he saw my expression. “I got my own.”

Mike’s face broke into a grin. “Oh, you came home talking big already?”

“I ain’t talking big. I’m telling y’all what it is.”

“And what is it?” I asked.

Cev looked from me to Navy, then toward the family gathered around us. He had been home for only a few hours, but there was already something restless in his eyes, something hungry and unfinished. Prison might have held his body for a few years, but it hadn’t convinced him his life was over. Standing there in that black suit with the whole room waiting to see what he would say, he looked like a man who had already decided the world owed him back every night it had stolen. I had my wife on one side, my brother home on the other, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, there was nothing missing from the room. I looked down at Navy, then back at Cev. Maybe he was right, this wasn’t his place in my story. His was just getting started.

“Well,” I asked him. “What is it gone be?”

He raised his glass and gave me one last grin while shaking his head. “Tell everybody to stay tuned for Ceveyn Nights, I’m about to turn this bitch up.”

Everybody clapped and laughed while the DJ turned the music up, pulling more people onto the dance floor as BJ reached for Cev again, determined to keep him close for the rest of the night. I slid my arm around Navy’s waist and drew her against me, feeling her settle into the space beneath my shoulder like she had always belonged there.

BJ smiled at Cev still happy to see him while she danced with him. “So, tell BJ more about this Ceveyn Nights.”

Cev just smiled down at her and kissed her cheek. “Nah grandma, you gotta read it like everybody else,” he winked.

I knew BJ wanted to cuss him but instead she laughed. Meanwhile, I had my family, a wife, and was still running this Empire shit and I didn’t plan on stopping. As far as I was concerned life wasn’t perfect, but it was good and it was ours. This had been one long ass journey, and everything happened for a reason, one of mine, I was looking at her and would be for the rest of my life.

“I love you Mrs. Laurent.” I told her.

Navy smiled back at me and draped one arm around my neck before placing a kiss on my lips. “I love you too husband. But I’m tired,” she yawned. “Can we go home?”

I looked around at all our guest who were having too much fun and decided they wouldn’t notice if we were missing anyway, besides, we had given them enough of our life and it was time for some privacy. Before we knew it, me and Navy had snuck out and was off in the wind to start our new beginning where I planned on continuing spoiling her for life.

THE END