Chapter 22
Kairo~
Winston was staring at me like I’d just grown two heads, but I could hardly blame the man. When I had called him earlier to tell him that I’d needed to speak with him, there’s no way in hell that he could have ever imagined that I’d be telling him that I was running away to Mexico with Triana.
When he finally found his voice, he asked, “Are you out of your fucking skull?”
“Winston-”
“Do not Winston me,” he snapped as he begun pacing his living room. “Jesus Christ.”
“We’re not really going to Mexico,” I reminded him. “I just want her to think that we are.”
As soon as I’d gotten to Winston’s place, I hadn’t wasted any time in telling him all about what Triana had planned and my part in it all.
Though I hadn’t wanted to, in order for him not to go off half-cocked, I’d had no choice but to tell him all about how her family had disowned her and why.
In fact, I’d had no choice but to tell him everything, doing whatever I’d had to in order to keep him from running off and telling my father about my plans.
Nevertheless, he still had a right to be concerned.
He stopped pacing to look at me. “Do you think that matters?” he squawked. “If you’re caught with this girl in Sterling Acres, your father’s entire political career will be ruined. Not to mention that you’ll be taking Dallas and Leyden down with you.”
“We won’t get caught,” I assured him. “And even if we did, I’ll simply claim that she’s lost.”
Winston’s eyes threatened to pop out of his head. “Are you insane? No one is going to believe that, and even if they did, there’ll still be hell to pay. She will go to jail, Kairo. Is that what you want?”
“As opposed to my other options?” I countered. “If I don’t go with her, she’s going to go alone.”
“Then let her!” he yelled.
“I can’t!” I yelled back. “I love her!”
“No, you don’t!” he thundered, the vein in his temple popping out.
“Do not tell me what I feel like I’m some child,” I told him, lowering my voice, making sure that he could hear how serious I was.
“You’ve known her for a matter of weeks, Kairo,” he said, lowering his voice as well. “You’ve known her for a few weeks, and so all you’re feeling right now is infatuation. You’re infatuated with something that you can’t have, and that’s all that this is.”
“I know what I feel.”
Winston shook his head. “Nah, man...that’s your dick talking.”
He was wrong, but I also wasn’t going to dignify that with an answer.
I knew that he was worried for me, even if I disagreed with the way that he was showing it.
Truth be told, I couldn’t say that I’d be acting any differently if the roles had been reversed.
If this were Winston telling me that he was running off to Mexico with some woman that he’d just met, I’d probably be acting exactly the same.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything,” I remarked as I tried to put myself in Winston’s shoes.
At that, his eyes widened. “And just what? Disappear on us like we don’t deserve better?”
“I’m not disappearing on you,” I reminded him. “I’m just...I’ll be gone for the weekend. I plan on being back by Monday.”
Winston shook his head. “Kairo, if you get caught with this girl...fuck, man, you can’t tell me that you don’t see how dangerous this is.
Even if you don’t plan on skipping over to Mexico, the risk that you’re taking by just having that girl with you...
it’s...I just can’t believe that you’re willing to throw everything away for this woman. ”
“I’m not stupid, Winston,” I assured him. “I know what I’m doing.’
“I don’t think that you do,” he retorted. “But if I can’t change your mind, I sure as hell am not going to keep arguing with you about it.”
“I’m fine with you arguing with me about it as long as you don’t tell my family about any of this,” I drawled out.
Winston immediately shot me a look. “I’m going to let that go because you’re obviously out of your goddamn mind, but don’t ever come at me like that again. You know better.”
“Which is why you’re the only person I’m telling,” I pointed out. “You’re the only person I can trust on this.”
My best friend let out a deep sigh, and if nothing else, it seemed as if he was calming down. “Can I ask you something without you going off the rails?”
I let out a deep breath of my own before I took a seat on his couch. “Shoot.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” he asked. “Have you thought about that?”
“That’s not an option,” I answered, and it really wasn’t.
It really fucking wasn’t.
While it wasn’t against the law to hang out or even live near the border of Mexico, not many people did.
No one wanted to accidentally get shot by a happy-trigger border patrol agent, nor did anyone want to accidentally end up where they shouldn’t be.
Still, we could get close enough to satisfy Triana and still make it back unscathed.
“That’s not an option?” Winston echoed. “That’s your plan? No plan-B is your damn plan?”
“She just needs to try,” I assured him. “Right now, she’s in a place where she needs to feel like she’s back in control of her life, and that’s what I’m trying to do for her.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” he repeated. “What if she doesn’t change her mind?”
“It’ll work,” I insisted. “It has to work.”
“Kairo, listen to me,” he said as he finally took a seat himself. “If you really love this woman like you claim, if she doesn’t change her mind and it comes out that you were never serious about following her to Mexico, you’re going to lose her.”
“I run the risk of losing her anyway,” I pointed out.
“She’s determined to try, and I can either go with her and do my best to bring her back, or I can let her go on her own, leaving her to her own devices, and I can’t do that, Winston.
If something were to happen to her because I cared more about my father’s political career than what happens to her... how am I supposed to live with myself?”
“I just don’t want to see this all blow up in your face, Kairo,” he said, and I loved him for it. “There is just too much that can go wrong, and...and I know that your family loves you, but you’d be asking so much of them if this goes public.”
“If the worst happens and...and this is made public, then I’d do my best to minimize their exposure,” I told him. “I mean, they really don’t know anything, which is the truth.”
“You’re going to hate me, but I need to ask anyway,” he said.
“Okay, ask away.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that she might blame the Black man if you guys get caught?”
“No,” I answered, and if there was one thing that I was certain of, it was that.
“When we first met, her biggest concern was for me. She was worried that I’d get in trouble for her getting lost, and that’s what drew me to her to begin with.
She hadn’t viewed me as a threat because of the color of my skin, and if there’s one thing that I know in my heart, it’s that she’d never throw me to the wolves to save herself. ”
“Okay,” he finally relented. “But can you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“Text me as much as you can while you’re...you’re ‘camping’,” he answered. “Just let me know that everything’s okay until you guys come back on Monday.”
“I can do that,” I said, grinning. “That’s one thing that I can definitely do.”
“So, when are you guys supposed to leave?”
“Tomorrow morning,” I answered. “Before the sun comes up.”
Winston shook his head again. “Jesus Christ.”
“It’ll be okay, Winston,” I said again. “I promise you that I know what I’m doing.”
“Famous last words,” he chuckled, though the sound held no humor.
I stood up, and when he stood up with me, we gave each other one of those man hugs before I left his house, on my way to start packing for our ‘getaway’.
Now, did I feel bad that I was leading Triana on?
Yes. I knew that she was going to be terribly disappointed when things didn’t work out, but there was no avoiding that.
As for our relationship, I didn’t see why we couldn’t continue like before until I submitted the paperwork to be with her.
Yeah, we’d have to move to Blooming Heights, but I was okay with that as long as Triana was with me.
Truth be told, if we approached this as a military couple, it would probably help us get through the lonely times.
Yeah, deployed servicemen eventually came home, but that’s what our time at the creek would be for us.
I was willing to put in the work if she was, and if she was willing to run off to Mexico with me, then there was no doubt that Triana was willing to do whatever it took to be together.
When I finally got home, I called Dallas, then gave him some story about going camping for the weekend, and like the asshole that he was, he just warned me not to get eaten by a bear, and family really was everything.