4. Maliah
Maliah
Isat on the edge of my bed long after my father walked away.
He left me by my lonesome with nothing but questions.
I was staring at my phone like the answers were somehow hidden between the missed calls and the messages that still hadn’t been delivered.
No matter how many times I looked at it, nothing changed.
Tahari hadn’t called me back. He hadn’t texted.
He hadn’t even read my message. And my father had the nerve to stand in my doorway and tell me I wasn’t going to be seeing him anymore, like that was a decision he could make for me.
Like my heart was something he could pick up, move around, and put wherever he wanted it to be.
I loved my father. There wasn’t a part of me that didn’t know how much he loved me back either.
One thing about my dad is that he didn’t play when it came to his family, and if the whole world forgot that, he would remind them without hesitation.
But this felt different. Tahari was no threat to this family, so to abruptly tell me I had to cut him off without offering an explanation did not sit well with me.
This wasn’t him being overprotective because he thought some boy wasn’t good enough for me.
Tahari had proven over the months that he was.
I know my father, and this wasn’t him giving Tahari a hard time just because he could.
Something had happened. I could feel it.
It sat in my chest heavy, pressing down harder every time I replayed the way he looked at me when he was standing in my doorway.
He was too calm and too unwilling to explain. That was what scared me the most.
My father always had a reason, even when he didn’t feel like giving one. But tonight, he wasn’t just keeping something from me. He was blocking me from it completely.
I stood up before I could talk myself out of it.
Some hours had passed, and it didn’t even feel like it.
I guess because time felt still to me. My room was quiet except for the music still playing low, but even that felt like background noise to everything running through my mind.
I grabbed my phone, my keys, and my purse.
I moved carefully toward the door before stopping just long enough to listen.
The house was too quiet. That made every little sound feel louder than it needed to be.
I eased my bedroom door open and stepped into the hallway, moving slowly at first, then quicker once I realized nobody was standing there waiting to stop me.
My heart was beating so hard that I could hear it in my ears, but I kept going.
I knew that my parents were probably sleeping.
On days when my mother was out and about with Aunt Tori, she wouldn’t get home until late.
And right now, it was late as hell. I wasn’t doing this to be disrespectful.
I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to go against my father just for the sake of it.
I was doing it because nobody was telling me the truth, and if my father wouldn’t, I knew that Tahari would.
The stairs creaked once under my foot, and I froze instantly.
One of my hands gripped the railing while I listened for movement. Nothing.
After a few seconds, I let out the breath I had been holding and kept moving.
By the time I made it downstairs, my nerves were all over the place.
This was a risky time to be trying to sneak out.
MJ or Maylee always found themselves in the kitchen at odd times.
Mom would always say once her kitchen light was off, the kitchen was closed, but they didn’t give a damn about that.
Every shadow felt like my father. Every small noise sounded like somebody coming to ask me where I thought I was going.
I moved through the house as quietly as I could.
I slipped out through the side door instead of the front because it made less noise.
The second the outside air hit my face, I felt a little crazy.
Not because I was scared to leave. I have done this shit a thousand times.
Usually, my point of escape was my bedroom window.
This time felt different, though, because I knew there was no turning back once I did.
If I were able to contact Tahari, I knew that he would tell me what the hell happened.
I hurried to my car, unlocking it before I even reached the door.
Once I got inside, I closed it carefully and sat there for a moment with both hands on the steering wheel, trying to steady myself.
My phone sat on my lap. Still nothing. That was all the push I needed.
I started the car and backed out slowly, keeping the headlights off.
The gate to our estate took forever to fucking open.
But once it was open to where there was enough space for my car, I pressed hard on the gas and got the hell out of there.
Once I was far enough from the house, I felt like I could breathe again.
Even then, my stomach stayed tight the entire ride.
I didn’t even know what I was going to say when I saw him.
All I knew was that I needed to see him.
I needed to look at his face and hear him tell me what happened, because the version my father left me with had nothing to tell.
One minute Tahari was supposed to be coming to get me for our date night, and the next my father was telling me I couldn’t see him anymore.
That didn’t just happen for no reason. My mind was all over the place, running through possibilities of what could have happened.
My fingers tightened around the steering wheel as I drove, my mind jumped from one thought to the next.
Maybe they argued. Maybe my father threatened him.
Maybe Tahari said something slick and my father took it too far.
Or maybe it was worse than that. They both had strong personalities, and maybe they finally clashed.
The thought made my chest tighten. By the time I pulled up near Tahari’s community, my nerves were sitting right beneath my skin.
The gate came into view, and for a second, I slowed down, staring at the keypad as if it had personally offended me.
Of course, I didn’t have the code. Tahari had always put it in when I was with him.
I never paid enough attention to memorize it because I never thought I would need to come here like this, late at night, sneaking around like I was doing something wrong.
I pulled over just enough to sit near the entrance without blocking the way, my eyes moved between the gate and the road behind me.
For a moment, I considered calling him again, but I already knew what that would give me.
So, I waited. A minute passed. Then another.
Shit, I had to have been sitting for an hour because the same song cycled twice on the radio.
My palms were starting to sweat against the steering wheel when headlights finally appeared in my rearview mirror.
I sat up straighter, watching as a car pulled up behind me, then moved around me toward the keypad.
My heart started beating faster. This was stupid.
This was definitely stupid. But the second the gate started opening, I put my car in drive.
The person in front of me rolled through like they belonged there, and I stayed close enough behind them that there wasn’t time for the gate to close between us.
My whole body was tense as I crossed through, waiting for a horn, a camera flash, a security guard, or something to tell me I had been caught. But nothing happened.
The gate closed behind me. I let out a shaky breath, glancing in the rearview mirror like I expected my father’s truck to appear out of nowhere.
It didn’t. This wasn’t the kind of thing that I did.
Yes, there were nights when I did sneak out, but Tahari’s car was always posted outside of those mansion gates.
This was different. This was me being beyond risky, and although it shook me to the core, I had to admit that it was also thrilling.
The community was quiet, too quiet for how loud my thoughts were.
I drove slowly through the lot, passing rows of cars and buildings that all looked the same in the dark.
I had been here enough times to know where I was going.
But I drove slowly, hesitantly. Like every turn was taking me closer to something I wasn’t ready for.
When I finally pulled into a parking space near his building, I sat there for a second without moving.
The apartment complex looked normal. Peaceful, even.
Most of the windows were dark, and nothing about it gave away the feeling tearing through me.
I checked my phone one more time. Still nothing. My throat tightened.
“Okay,” I whispered to myself, even though I didn’t feel okay at all.
I grabbed my purse and stepped out of the car.
I made sure to lock the doors behind me before making my way toward the building.
I would never lock my car doors when parked in the driveway at home.
However, I knew that although Tahari’s community was nice, somebody would still rob in this part of town without thinking twice.
The closer I got to his building, the more my nerves started acting up.
Every step made me think about turning around, but the thought of going back home without answers made me keep moving.