Chapter Twenty-One.
By the time Danger pulled into Caresha’s apartment complex, he had been running on nothing but caffeine, guilt, and the stubborn hope that she might finally let him see her.
A few days had passed since the shooting, and he’d spent all of them worried.
He climbed out of his Benz carrying a bouquet in one hand, a bag of food, and a Chanel shopping bag in the other.
He’d bought everything he could think of that might make her smile.
Her favorite food. A gift that he knew most ladies wouldn’t turn down.
He didn’t even know if she would take any of it, but showing up empty-handed felt worse.
With a heavy heart, he walked up to her apartment and knocked, but he got nothing.
After a couple of minutes, he knocked again, harder this time.
“Ree.” He called, but silence was all that answered him.
“I know you're in there, ma. I know you can hear me. Just open the door and talk to me, please.”
Danger stood there for another few minutes before slowly lowering his hand. He looked down at everything he’d brought, then to the parking lot, noticing her mother’s car. He remembered it as the car they got in when leaving the hospital.
“Fuck.” He whispered.
Danger turned, jogged down the stairs, and walked back to his car.
Once inside, he pulled out his phone and called Caresha.
And it was almost like she knew he would try and was waiting for it.
After two rings, the call went straight to voicemail.
Danger stared at the screen, knowing damn well she’d ignored him.
He tried again, but same shit. Sighing heavily, he opened their messages and typed.
I know you know I’m outside. Please just talk to me. I ain’t going nowhere until you do.
When that text went unanswered, he sent another.
I know you mad. I know I fucked up. But please, just give me five minutes. That’s all I ask. I’m sorry, baby.
Still nothing. It was almost like Caresha was tormenting him the same way she felt he had tormented her when she wanted to talk.
Danger could see the messages were being read, but she wasn’t bothering to respond.
That shit hurt him to his core. With all pride thrown out the window, he sent another text.
I should’ve talked to you that night. I shouldn’t have shut down like that. I should’ve explained how the shit made me feel instead. How hurt I was by it.
Caresha read that one, too. Still nothing.
Danger tossed his phone onto the passenger seat and leaned his head against the headrest. He could leave, but his heart wouldn’t let him.
He sat there staring at her apartment, hoping she would eventually give in and change her mind.
But just like at the hospital, she didn’t.
In that lobby, Danger had sat with his head in his hands, watching Crown, Nivéa, Kerri, doctors, and nurses move in and out while he waited for somebody to tell him Caresha was done being mad and would finally see him.
He hadn’t showered. Hadn’t gone home to change.
Hadn’t slept nor eaten worth a damn. And when she was finally released, she wouldn’t even look at him.
He’d tried talking to her then, but she went off on him, and with her mother standing right there, there was only so much Danger could say or do.
He didn’t want to come off disrespectful, especially with everything Caresha had just been through.
Now, he was sitting in her parking lot, begging and refusing to leave. He knew nine times out of ten her mother was pissed that he had shown up. He didn’t give a fuck, though. He was there for her daughter, not her. He’d wait until Caresha was ready to talk to him. So, he did.
Hours passed. At some point, exhaustion finally won.
With his gun resting in his lap, Danger’s head fell against the seat, and he drifted off without even realizing it.
When he woke, the sky outside had turned orange and pink.
He blinked several times, disoriented, before checking the time. 7:03 p.m.
“Damn.”
He’d slept most of the day away. His body felt like shit, but he didn’t care about that either. He looked toward Caresha’s apartment and saw her bedroom window glowing faintly from inside.
Danger climbed out of the car and grabbed the roses and shopping bag that he’d left on the passenger seat. He didn’t bother with the food. That shit was cold and soggy by now. He walked up the stairs once again, stopped at her bedroom window, and knocked gently.
“Ree.”
He wasn’t surprised when she gave him no response. He expected it, but that didn’t stop him from knocking again.
“Talk to me. Come on, ma, please.”
The curtain moved slightly, and Danger’s heart jumped as he noticed.
“Please.”
Another few seconds passed before Caresha’s voice finally came from the other side.
“W…what?”
Danger exhaled, relief washing over him just from hearing her voice. It trembled, but he’d heard it. And after a few days of silence, that was enough to make his chest loosen.
“Baby—”
“Why are you here? I told you at that hospital to stay the fuck away from me.” Caresha cut him off.
“’Cause I need to see you. Make sure you aight for myself. Talk to you.”
“Now you wanna talk to me? Too bad, ’cause I don’t have nothing to say to you.”
“I know. I know. I fucked up. I’m so sorry, ma.”
Danger looked down at the flowers and bag in his hand before lifting his eyes toward the window again.
“I brought you some shit. I don’t even know if you gon’ like any of it, but I brought it anyway, Ree.”
Caresha remained quiet.
Danger swallowed hard.
“I know you mad at me. Probably scared to be around me after everything that happened. You got every right to be. I ain’t here to argue with you. I ain’t here to make excuses either. I just need to lay eyes on you for myself and know you good.”
“No. You should go home.”
“I can’t.”
“Dee…”
“I can’t. I tried. My heart won’t let me leave, Ree.”
Caresha didn’t say anything; she just listened.
“I should’ve talked to you instead of acting like I had all the answers, baby. And I damn sure shouldn’t have gone to sleep on you. A nigga had been drinkin’.” He stopped himself, licking his lips.
“Man, I been sitting around for hours…days…thinking about what could’ve happened to you.
I keep seeing that car flipped over. Keep thinking about how you could’ve died all because I wouldn’t talk to you and you felt unwelcome.
Come on, Ree. I know a nigga don’t deserve it, but let me see you, please. ”
Danger’s voice cracked slightly. He had no issue with begging her. He’d plead and dance and sing in the fucking rain if he had to…if that’s what it took.
“I can’t lose you, too.”
The curtain shifted again, but still not enough where he could see Caresha.
“Just let me see you, and I’ll let you be.”
When she still didn’t say anything and the curtain shut fully, Danger nodded slowly, accepting that she wasn’t ready. “Fuck it. I’ll sit here every day, all day. If it takes me coming back to this window every hour just to hear your voice, then that’s what I’ll do.”
He stepped away from the window and headed down the stairs. He climbed into his car and sat there, still not understanding what the hell he was waiting for. Caresha wasn’t budging. He found out quickly that she could be just as stubborn as him when pissed.
It wasn’t until the next day around noon that Danger finally made some kind of progress.
He had fallen asleep again, his phone in his hand after spending most of the morning texting and calling her.
The vibration against his palm woke him.
He lifted his head from the steering wheel, instantly reaching for the gun resting in his lap before realizing where he was. He looked down at his phone.
My Lady: Go home. Stop waiting here. You are scaring my mama. She doesn’t even want to go to work because she’s afraid your ass will come up here and get in.
Ma, if I could, I would go. I don’t mean no disrespect to ya mama. But I can’t leave you. You know I wouldn’t do no foul shit to you. Come on.
My Lady: She’s just worried about me. That’s all.
I’m worried about you, too. Who gon’ take care of you when she goes to work? You need help, Ree.
My lady: I don’t need no damn help. I’m sore. Not paralyzed.
Come on. Please let me see you.
My Lady: Go.
No.
My Lady: Are you serious?
As a heart attack. Told you, I can’t go.
My Lady: Fine. I’ll let you see me. Just go for now until she’s gone. I don’t want her missing work over my bullshit.
You promise you gon’ let me in?
My Lady: Yes, go.
Aight.
Danger stared at the last message for a moment before looking up at the apartment one more time.
Feeling hopeful, he finally put his car in reverse and pulled out of the parking space, then the lot.
He drove to a nearby Walgreens and parked, waiting.
An hour passed without a word from Caresha. He texted her. Called her. Nothing.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, Danger shook his head and pulled out of the parking lot, heading back to her apartment.
When he returned, her mother’s car was finally gone.
He hopped out and headed up the stairs. He didn’t bother knocking on the front door.
He went straight to Caresha’s bedroom window and knocked.
“Ree.”
He didn’t get any kind of response, so he knocked again.
“Baby, come on. Open the curtain.”
Still nothing. Danger kept knocking, pleading with her through the glass until the curtain finally flew open and the window rose.
“Shit, baby.” He said, taking her in.
Even with the scrapes and bruises adorning her face and arms, Caresha was still breathtakingly beautiful to him. As he watched her standing there, her hair curly and wild, a weight lifted from his chest…something that had felt tight since the morning of the shooting.
“Why would you come back after I ignored you?”
“You promised me.”
“Y…yeah, well, you promised to be good to me.”
“And I was.”
“Not that night you weren’t.”
Danger’s face fell.