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.”