8. Kareem
Kareem
M erry fuckin’ Christmas to me.
The holding cell was cold. Not freezing, but the kind of familiar chill that had seeped into my bones the very first time I got arrested and never left.
There was some drunk mothafucka dressed like Santa snoring on the bench across from me.
I couldn’t stop replaying Sawyer’s face in my head—how her hand instinctively went to her belly when they cuffed me like she was trying to shield our daughter from the harsh truth that her daddy was a felon who may never see the light of day again.
I just knew the look in her eyes when they dragged me out of there would be tattooed in my head forever.
I didn’t know what would happen next—lawyering up, official charges being filed, possibly prison for the rest of my life.
Or worse, missing every milestone my daughter would ever make, and her growing up thinking I didn’t love her enough to be there for her.
But I knew without a doubt I loved Sawyer and our baby.
And if I ever got out—if I got even one chance to see the light of day again—I’d fight like hell to get back to them.
When I heard the cops say that they’d gotten a tip about me, I already had a sinking feeling that I knew exactly how it happened.
I should’ve never gone out to get that fuckin’ Santa suit.
I knew it the second I stepped out of her front door and ran into her fuckin’ next-door neighbor that my days were numbered.
But Sawyer had been going to work and coming home every day, belly getting bigger, and I wanted to make her smile.
To laugh. To give her a glimpse of what an everyday life with a normal nigga would be like if things were different and I wasn’t a man with a price on my head.
I knew seeing me dressed in a Santa suit would do the trick.
But now, looking back on it, I should’ve stayed my black ass in the fuckin’ house.
Sawyer’s neighbor’s eyes narrowed the second he saw me standing at her door, fumbling with the spare key she’d made me.
I had a hoodie on, but he’d gotten an up-close look at my face and immediately started to question who I was.
It was the holidays, so I told him I was Sawyer’s cousin in town for Christmas.
I even threw in a lighthearted laugh to lighten the vibe, but he didn’t crack a smile.
He nodded, eyeing me as if he was trying to decide whether or not he was buying my story. I guess he didn’t.
I hated that he saw my face. I hated even more that I’d gone soft for a fuckin’ cheap ass costume.
I should’ve waited until dark, just like I did when I walked the dog.
I should’ve stayed low like I’d promised myself I would the minute I decided to leave Brazil.
But I wanted to be a better version of myself for a second—to get a taste of what life would be like without a target on my back.
I wanted to be a nigga that could walk into a store and buy shit without looking over my shoulder or making sure my face was covered.
Someone who could do a nice thing for the woman I cared about without compromising every fuckin’ thing else.
But all good things must come to an end. At least that’s what they say.
Before I knew it, I was being hauled from the holding cell into an interrogation room.
The room was quiet, lit by a single bulb that flickered every few seconds above the metal table.
I sat there, cuffed, with my jaw clamped tight.
Across the table were two detectives with the Jacksonville PD who called themselves Detective Jakes and Detective Chang.
Detective Jakes, a middle-aged black man of average height with a stocky build, spoke up first. “You’ve been a ghost for five months, Kareem.
No credit card activity. No phone calls.
No sightings. We thought you were dead. And then, we get a Christmas fuckin’ miracle—a call to our Crime Stoppers line with a sighting of you at Sawyer Williams’s apartment. ”
Chang snickered. “It’s like a goddamn Hallmark movie.”
“We thought you were dead. Now tell us how you got there.”
I shrugged, making sure to keep my voice flat and emotionless. “I walked.”
Chang leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he grilled me with a hard stare.
He looked to be a few years younger than his partner, with a slimmer build and his black hair in a crew cut.
“Save us all some time and cut the bullshit. Some of us wanna get home to our families. After all, it is Christmas.”
“We know you were hiding out, Dorsey. We also know you had to have gotten some help. Was it Ms. Williams? Was she the one helping you? And what about your twin brother, Kadeem? Is he still out there?”
“Ain’t seen ’em,” I grumbled. “And I don’t know any fuckin’ Ms. Williams.”
They could throw their fuckin’ worst at me. I’d never snitch on my twin, and I damn sure wouldn’t let them drag Sawyer down with me.
“Lying isn’t going to work,” Detective Jakes stated.
“Might I remind you that you’re being charged with the crime of escape, not to mention the years on the sentence you already had.
This is a second-degree felony here in Florida, Mr. Dorsey.
That means the minimum you’re looking at is fifteen years in prison on top of what you’ve already got. Oh, and probation and a hefty fine.”
“So, where is he? Where’s Kadeem?” Detective Chang probed.
“I already told you, I haven’t seen him, unless you mean every time a pretty nigga like me looks in the mirror,” I said with a sarcastic chuckle.
Detective Jakes scoffed. “Real fuckin’ funny.
I bet you won’t be laughing when you see this,” he said, grabbing an iPad and playing a video.
“We’ve got surveillance footage from a gas station in Tampa late last month.
Two men. One with the same height and build as you.
One person walked in, spoke with Ms. Williams, and paid cash for some Hot Cheetos and Backwoods. The other man he was with disappeared.”
I made sure not to flinch, although I knew exactly what he was talking about. It was the night Kadeem and I split up after returning to Florida from Brazil.
“Did you two switch places? Maybe both of you couldn’t be seen in Tampa together, so you decided to split up?”
Even though my mouth didn’t say anything, my face did. I smirked, finding their bullshit interrogation skills amusing. They needed to know I was the wrong nigga to have an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ contest with. As a Gemini, I was gon’ take home the gold every fuckin’ time.
“You think we some lil red-headed white girls Parent Trapping our way through life?” I questioned with my head cocked to the side and my attitude colder than Subzero.
Chang snapped, not finding my laugh at their expense as amusing as I did. “You think this shit is funny? You’re facing serious charges, Kareem. Not to mention, Ms. Williams for harboring a wanted fugitive. She’s not gonna look too cute birthing that baby in prison.”
“Leave her out of this. You already got who you want.”
“If you want to protect her, you’ll start talking. Because if we find out she helped you in any way, even unknowingly, we’ll make sure she goes down too,” Detective Jakes warned.
“She didn’t know shit, and she didn’t help me with shit. I already told you I don’t even know the bitch like that,” I answered, my voice low and dangerous.
They could paint whatever picture they wanted of me and hang that shit up on the wall for the entire precinct to see, for all I cared. I was built for anything that came my way. But not Sawyer. I would do anything to protect her.
“Then how’d you end up in her fucking apartment? Just dropped through the chimney like Santa?” Chang asked.
I scoffed. “I met her sister in the grocery store parking lot. Told her I was in the military on leave and was having car trouble. One thing led to another, and she invited me back to her sister’s place to stay for the holidays.
She doesn’t know anything about me. She doesn’t even know I have a twin brother,” I lied smoothly.
“You expect us to believe that shit?”
My shoulders rose and fell. “I don’t give a fuck what you believe,” I said, leaning back in the metal chair. “Just leave them the fuck out of it.”
The detectives exchanged a knowing look. Detective Jakes scribbled something on his notepad while Chang expelled a hard, frustrated sigh.
“Fine, we’ll leave her out of it for now, but if Kadeem shows up and we get even the slightest whiff of her being anywhere near him, we won’t hesitate to take her down, and him too.”
Detective Chang uncuffed me from the metal chair and led me back toward the holding cell I was in.
As I marched, I kept my head high and my eyes forward, but every thought floating around my head revolved around Sawyer and my brother.
I may have bought them time, but just like luck, time had a way of fucking running out.