4. Maliah #2
The hallway was quiet when I stepped inside.
Too quiet. My footsteps sounded louder than they should have against the floor, and I held my keys tightly in my hand as I moved down the hall.
I knew his door before I reached it. I knew the little mark near the frame and the way the number sat slightly crooked.
I stood in front of his door for a minute.
I had stood there too many times waiting for him to unlock the door for us.
He always had a smile on his face when he brought me over here, even if it was just for an hour.
Tonight, there was no smile waiting for me.
Just a closed door. My chest was rising and falling with a breath I couldn’t quite control. After attempting to get my breathing under control. I lifted my hand and knocked.
TRIGGA
My eyes opened the second I heard the knocking. For a moment, I just stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out if I had actually heard something or if the medication was messing with me. The apartment went quiet again. Then it came back.
Knock. Knock
A frown pulled at my face as I shifted in the bed. Instantly, pain shot through my arm.
“Shit.”
I squeezed my eyes shut for a second before opening them again. The throbbing settled right back in, and it was deep and constant. Getting shot wasn’t something you forgot overnight. I reached over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. 4:24 a.m. My brows pulled together.
Who the hell was knocking on my door at four in the morning? Nobody came over here.
After I had gotten a little bit of strength, Ghost had taken my car to a self-carwash to clean all of my blood out of it.
My baby was nice and spotless now. After that, he had driven me home with Ms. Gia trailing behind him to take him back, but that was hours ago.
He left my car outside of his spot and told me he would clean it up for me.
Outside of him, there wasn’t anybody that knew where I had lived.
The knocking came again. It wasn’t banging, it was steady.
Almost patient-like, whoever was standing outside had every intention of waiting me out.
I sat up slowly and listened. Another knock followed.
I sucked my teeth. They weren’t leaving.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pushed myself upright.
The room tilted slightly before settling.
I waited a second before moving toward the dresser.
I slid the top drawer open and my fingers wrapped around the pistol resting inside.
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was somebody at the wrong apartment.
But one thing I wasn’t about to do was answer a door at this time in the morning empty-handed, not after the kind of yesterday I’d had.
I adjusted my grip before making my way out of the bedroom.
The apartment was dark and quiet as I moved through it.
Knock. Knock
The sound echoed again. I frowned. The whole situation felt strange.
The closer I got to the front door, the more that thought stuck with me.
Whoever was standing outside wasn’t there by accident.
They came for me. I stopped beside the door and listened.
But I heard nothing. There were no voices and no movement.
When I moved into this apartment, I thought it was odd that the peephole was painted shut, but for the price and the area I didn’t question it.
Now I regretted not having one. I unlocked the deadbolt.
Then I pulled the door open. The second I saw who was standing there, my grip loosened around the pistol.
“Maliah?”
For a moment, I honestly thought I was still asleep. Because there was no way Maliah Browne was standing outside my apartment at four o’clock in the morning.
For a second, neither one of us moved. I just stood there staring at her.
And she stared right back at me. The hallway suddenly felt a lot smaller, a lot quieter.
After everything that happened yesterday, she was probably the last person I expected to see standing outside my apartment.
Her eyes moved over my face slowly, almost like she was checking to make sure I was real.
Then I watched something in her relax. The tension that had been sitting in her shoulders eased slightly, and for the first time since I opened the door, I realized exactly what I was looking at.
It was relief. I could tell that she had been worried, really worried. The realization hit me harder than I expected. She really loves me. I could see the tears build in her eyes, and I had to turn my head away for a second so that I didn’t get choked up my damn self.
“Thank God.”
Her words came out so quietly I almost missed them. Before I could respond, her expression changed. The relief disappeared almost as quickly as it came. Her brows pulled together, her eyes were narrowed, and just like that, the anger showed up.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
I blinked.
“What?”
“What do you mean what?” she asked.
I opened my mouth and then closed it again. Because honestly? It was a fair question.
“I’ve been calling you all day.”
“Maliah…”
“No.”
She cut me off immediately.
“I called you. I texted you. I sat there waiting for you.”
Every word landed harder than the one before it. I stood there quietly as I let Maliah get her emotions out.
“And then my father comes into my room talking about I can’t see you anymore.”
My jaw tightened immediately. She caught it, of course she did. This woman would catch anything that I do.
“See. You know something.”
I looked away, and that was a bad move because it only made her more certain.
“You do?”
“Maliah.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“What happened?”
Nothing. I gave her nothing because this wasn’t some shit I could spit out of my mouth.
“What happened between you and my father?”
When I didn’t answer her again, her frustration visibly grew.
“Why won’t anybody answer that question?”
I rubbed my hand across my face because there wasn’t an answer I could give her that wasn’t about to make everything worse.
“You need to go home.”
The words came out before I could stop them. I tried to shut the door, but she put her hand up and blocked the way. Her eyes widened.
“Excuse me?”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
She actually laughed. Not because anything was funny but because she was irritated. I tried to close the door again, and this time she pushed it so hard that the side of it flew out of my grasp.
“Tahari, I swear to God if you try and close this door again, I’m going to show you that I’m MJ’s little sister.”
I sighed. She always made it clear that her older brother had a hot head.
Shit, from the encounters I had with him, I could tell that he was.
Inwardly, I had to chuckle because her little threat meant nothing.
Now if she was trying to show me that she’s her daddy’s daughter, then that would be a problem.
Cause the muthafucka that owned the nut suck she came out of was cold as fuck.
“Maliah.”
“No.”
She stepped closer, canting her body slightly over the threshold.
“What happened?”
I stepped back automatically because her father’s words were replaying in my head.
He wanted me to stay away from his daughter, and I swear I was trying to honor his request. The movement pulled at my arm.
And when it did, pain shot through it immediately.
My expression tightened before I could stop it.
The change was small. Small enough that most people probably would’ve missed it, but Maliah didn’t.
Her eyes dropped instantly, and the frustration disappeared from her face. Then confusion followed as her gaze locked onto my arm. For a second, she just stared. Which caused me to look down. The edge of the bandage was visible beneath my shirt.
“Damn.”
The word barely left my mouth. Slowly, her eyes lifted back to mine. The color had drained from her face.
“What is that?”
I didn’t answer. I mean, I couldn’t because now we were standing at the edge of a conversation neither one of us was ready to have.
“Tahari…”
Her voice came out more quietly this time. It’s like she was scared to dig for answers. But I knew her, so she would anyway.
“What happened to your arm?”
I looked at her. Then I looked away. And somehow my silence told her more than words ever could. My quietness lasted a second too long. Maybe two. Whatever it was, it was enough for her to jump into action. Before I could stop her, she stepped forward and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt.
“Maliah.”
She ignored me as her fingers pushed the fabric higher up my arm.
The second she saw the bandage wrapped around it, her face changed completely.
The color drained from it. It was like all the frustration she had been carrying since she got here disappeared.
Now she just looked scared. Really scared, and her facial expression made me look down automatically.
I had noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. A small patch of red had started bleeding through near the side of the bandage.
“Damn.”
The word slipped out under my breath. Maliah’s eyes immediately locked onto it. For a moment, she just stared. Then she slowly looked back up at me. Her eyes were wide.
“Were you shot?”
The question sat between us. I didn’t answer, I didn’t need to. The look on her face told me she already knew.
“Tahari.”
I rubbed my hand over my face.
“You need to go home.”
The fear immediately disappeared beneath irritation.
“That’s not an answer.”
“Maliah.”
“That’s not an answer.”
I exhaled slowly. Everything about this conversation was going exactly how I knew it would. I kept hearing her father’s words in my ear.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said softly.
Her mouth fell open. Then she laughed. A short, disbelieving sound escaped her lips.
“I cannot believe you right now.”
She stared at me for another second like I would take back what I said. She poked out her full bottom lip before shaking her head and stepping around me. I could tell that her mind was made up.
“Maliah.”