7. Ghost #2
Then I added one thing I knew he wasn’t going to like.
“You’re not showing up here.”
For a second, all I heard was his breathing. Then my father spoke.
“Tell Tahari we just left his little friend’s apartment over on Biscayne.”
My stomach immediately tightened. Across the room, Tahari sat up further on the couch. He was trying to read me, and judging by whatever facial expression I was giving, I could see the worry coat his face. My father wasn’t finished.
“You better beat me home.”
Then the line went dead. For a second, I just stared at the phone, then I slowly lowered it. The apartment felt quieter than it had been a moment ago.
Tahari was still watching me from the couch.
“What did he say?”
“He said they just left your friend’s apartment over on Biscayne.”
The reaction was instant. His jaw tightened.
Real concern crossed his face. The kind that wasn’t about him.
The kind that made me realize he was thinking about somebody else.
His little remark for Tahari was a threat I could tell.
I wanted to ask who was on Biscayne, but I didn’t.
I had to make it home before my father. I grabbed my purse from the arm of the couch.
“I need to go.”
Tahari looked like he had a lot on his mind.
He sprang up from the couch, and I could see him walk into his room and head for his closet.
I looked around for my keys and then finally spotted them on the kitchen counter.
The second I grabbed them, my anxiety kicked up another notch.
Every minute felt important now. My father wasn’t sitting around waiting for anything.
If he said I needed to beat him home, he meant it.
And he drove like a bat out of hell, so I would need to hightail it up out of here to beat him home.
I slipped my phone into my purse and headed toward the door.
While I was putting on my sneakers, behind me, I heard movement.
Tahari was now dressed in some jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers.
He opened the door for me, and the motion pulled at his injury immediately. I saw it in the way his expression tightened.
“You good to drive?” he asked.
“Yeah, I nodded.
“Where you headed?” I asked as I wiggled my foot into my last shoe.
“I gotta check on Ghost.”
So that’s who must live over by Biscayne. Everything that happened over the last twenty-four hours seemed to settle right there between us.
He nodded toward the hallway.
“I’ll call you.”
A small nod was all he gave me. Neither one of us knew what came next. I had to rush home, and he was rushing out behind me to go check on Ghost. Although I never met him, I was worried about his friend.
If my dad could shoot Tahari, only God knows what he would do to his friend.
A few minutes later, I was sliding into the driver’s seat of my car.
I looked out my windshield and could see Tahari rushing to his.
As soon as his back lights turned on, he was backing out of the parking spot and pulling off.
I started my engine immediately, and with my father’s words still replaying in my head, I backed out of the parking space and headed home.
The closer I got home, the tighter my stomach became.
The problem was I already knew what was waiting for me when I got there.
My parents with a whole lot of questions.
The second I turned onto our street, the familiar stone entrance came into view.
I slowed as I approached the gate and rolled my window down long enough to punch in the code.
A second later, the gates began to open.
Usually, I never pay attention to how long it took.
Today every second seemed stretched out.
Like the universe was giving me one last chance to think about what I was about to walk into.
I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse.
The gates finally opened completely, and I pulled forward.
The long driveway curved through the property, lined with trees and landscaping that my mother spent entirely too much money maintaining.
By the time the house came fully into view, my stomach dropped.
My father’s Durango was sitting in the driveway.
I let out a slow breath. They beat me home.
The realization wasn’t surprising. It was just disappointing.
I parked beside it and sat there for a moment with both hands resting on the steering wheel.
The house looked normal. But from outside, wouldn’t it?
I needed to know what it felt like inside of those walls.
I took a moment to myself in the car. It didn’t make any sense to rush now that he had already beaten me home.
Plus, I’m sure one of my parents saw me pull up on the cameras.
Eventually, I grabbed my purse and climbed out.
The walk to the front door felt longer than it should have.
Each step gave my anxiety another chance to grow.
By the time I stepped inside, my nerves were completely shot.
The house was quiet, too damn quiet. I barely made three steps into the foyer before I heard movement. Then I heard my mother’s voice.
“Maliah.”
The relief in it hit me immediately. I looked up just as she appeared from the hallway.
The second she saw me, she hurried toward me.
Before I could say anything, her arms wrapped around me tightly.
Tighter than usual. It was like she needed to make sure I was actually standing there, like this moment was real.
I didn’t bother to say anything. I just stood there letting her hold me.
When she finally pulled back, her eyes were glassy.
“You scared me.”
The guilt hit instantly. I never wanted either one of my parents to worry. I didn’t go out to try and spite them. I had intentions of being back before anyone even noticed that I was gone it just didn’t work out like that.
“I know.”
“You turned your location off.”
“My phone died.”
“Maliah, I thought something happened to you.”
Her voice cracked slightly, and that was worse than yelling, way worse.
“I’m sorry,” I looked into her eyes and spoke.
And I meant it. Every single word. Before either of us could say anything else, another voice cut through the foyer.
“You just had to go play detective, huh?”
I looked over and found MJ leaning against the wall. His arms were folded across his chest, and his expression said he was annoyed. The relief in his eyes said something completely different, though. A small smile pulled at my mouth.
“I wasn’t playing detective.”
“Sure, you weren’t,” he nodded sarcastically.
“You just up and disappeared.”
I rolled my eyes. MJ rolled his right back and did his face expression to mimic mine.
“You know Mama been crying?”
Immediately my eyes shifted toward my mother, and she looked away. The guilt that I was feeling in the pit of my stomach got worse. Then another voice joined the conversation.
“I told them you were okay.”
I looked up, and Maylee was standing halfway down the staircase just watching everything. Apparently, she had found the perfect spot to be nosy without getting sent to her room. The second our eyes met, she pointed at me.
“You had everybody stressed out.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Mm-hmm.”
The response sounded entirely too much like our mother. A laugh escaped because this girl was a mixture of everybody in the house.
For a brief moment, the tension eased. Then I felt it, that feeling that told me somebody was watching.
Slowly, I looked toward the living room.
And there my father was. Sitting quietly in his chair.
The second our eyes met, every bit of relief I felt from making it home disappeared.
Not because he looked angry. That would’ve been easier.
He was calm as hell, and the entire room seemed to go quiet as he and I looked at one another.
Then my father slowly stood. His eyes never left mine, not even once.
Finally, he nodded toward the hallway and then nodded his head toward the end of the hall.
The gesture was simple, but I knew exactly what it meant.
Let’s talk. His office was down that long hallway tucked off in the back.
I already knew that this was it. This was the talk.
And judging by the look on his face… This wasn’t going to be a short conversation.
BLEEK
The second my office door closed behind us, the silence settled in.
I walked around my desk and took a seat while Maliah lowered herself into one of the chairs across from me.
For a moment, neither one of us spoke. I wasn’t in a rush.
I preferred it when it was silent. It made me think clearly before I spoke.
And judging by the way she kept twisting her fingers together in her lap, neither was she.
The room suddenly felt smaller than usual.
Maybe because I already knew where this conversation was headed.
Or maybe because I knew there wasn’t a version of it where either one of us walked away happy.
I’m sure that Tahari had told her everything.
That meant that she now knew pieces of me that she never knew existed.
I leaned back in my chair and looked at my daughter, and I mean really looked at her.
This was the same little girl I’d spent my entire life trying to protect.
The same little girl who used to run and jump into my arms every time I walked through the front door.
The same little girl who thought I could fix anything. A slow breath left my lungs.
“I never wanted to be anything other than Superman in your eyes.”
The words came out before I could stop them. Immediately her brows pulled together.
“Daddy…”
I shook my head.
“No, listen.”
My eyes stayed on hers.
“Your whole life I’ve tried to make sure you never had to see certain things.”
She stayed quiet while she listened.