Chapter 15 #2
“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.