16. Suki
When City woke me up, he didn’t tell me anything.
He had the bags packed and ready to go. I was dazed, trying to figure out how he did it all without waking me up.
He gave me less than five minutes to get my life together, starting with having clothes and things picked out.
I could’ve argued but didn’t because of the look on his face– a mixture of anger and composure.
I thought it was something wrong with his family.
And it was; Eris and the kids were his family too.
On the jet ride home, everything was a blur.
It felt like the pilot had more than turbo in the engines to get us from New York back home.
, Rayzor spent the ride on the phone trying to figure to get answers.
I held my friend. She was in a daze with her phone in her lap, jumping every time it went off.
Rayzor barely looked away from his phone or the window as he waited for us to touch down.
I didn’t blame him, me too.The lights, the police, the detectives all crowded inside Rhea’s living room as we stood there.
Eris was shell-shocked as the detectives jotted down notes on their notepads.
Me, I was having an out-of-body experience. Levi. Kidnapped. That can’t be.
“Rhea, tell me again, what happened?” Rayzor asked.
“I came into the house to grab something to drink. He was only out there for like less than a minute. I swear,” she explained. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she explained the story multiple times, but just like Rayzor, I couldn’t understand how it happened.
Levi’s been coming to Rhea’s house for years. Never had an issue. What made this time different?
I was sick to my stomach picturing his face inside my head. He must’ve been so scared.
“Whoever got my Godson will need the strength of God, his twelve disciples, and then some to get me off that ass when I see them,” I warned.
“I can’t believe someone’s got my baby,” Eris said in shock, starting at the ground.
City tapped me on the shoulder, and we stepped off to the side.
He kept glancing back at Eris and Rayzor.
“Man, this is scary and crazy.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“City, Levi’s my baby. He might be Eris’s son, but I’ve been by his side since he was a baby.” I felt myself getting emotional all over again.
He grabbed me, pulling me into him, and wrapped his arms around the top of my back and head. I cried like a baby in his arms. I’d been holding strong since arriving back in Atlanta, but I’ve also cried too.
“He gon’ be aiight.”
“What if he’s not? Ain’t no telling who got him,” I said between tears.
“Aye, we not gon’ think like that. Ain’t nobody stupid enough to do shit to him knowing he’s Rayzor’s son,” he encouraged.
I wanted to believe that. Look at where we were now. Somebody already tried the worst. Now, how far they were willing to go, I wasn’t sure. They better not do shit to him.
“They need to bring him back.”
“We’ll get to them before they do.”
I lifted my head from him. City’s eyes were filled with worry. They were low and red, not from smoking. He wasn’t going to admit that he was scared too.
“I’m about to get up outta here and talk to the streets. Suk, stay with E, aiight? Don’t leave her side. Wherever she goes, you go too. I can’t let nothing happen to your ass, too.”
He took me by surprise.
The way he surveilled the house as he towered above my head showed he didn’t realize it either.
“Okay.”
He leaned down and kissed me.
It got so eerily quiet that I could’ve heard a rat piss on the carpet.
When he released me and we turned around, all eyes were on us.
I raked my fingers through my hair as a distraction and took a seat back next to Eris. She rocked her leg so vigorously that it could start a propeller and fly off. I hated to see my girl in this much pain.
I placed my hand on her thigh.
“He’s coming back home, E.” She slowly turned her head my way. My girl looked zoned out. Unrecognizable. In shambles. “Safely,” I assured her.
City, he was doing what he could. None of us had the answers, but they had the resources.
Rayzor had Rhea’s house surrounded when we got there.
It looked like the president was inside, from the several black cars and trucks sitting outside.
He wasn’t playing any games behind Levi.
We knew he loved him before, but this was a father’s love.
“Rhea,” Eris said, breaking the mold.
“Yeah?” Rhea looked over at her because she was on the other side.
“Did Levi yell or anything?”
“He was laughing and playing with the ball when I left him.”
“I’m saying, why the fuck didn’t you take him in with you?!” Rayzor barked, and Rhea jumped.
The police had to pull him back because he was going to rip her damn head off his shoulders.
“I went in less than two minutes. He drank his first juice, and I asked him if he was thirsty because he was coughing a bit. That’s it, y’all.
I promise, Eris,” she cried. “That’s all I wanted to do.
I’ve left Levi in the front yard dozens of times, and nothing’s ever happened. You think I wanted this to happen?!”
* * *
City and I went back to his house because he didn’t want me being alone. I welcomed the company. This situation had me weirded out and paranoid. If I was feeling this way, I could only imagine what my poor friend Eris dealt with.
City flopped on the edge of his bed with me.
“Damn, it’s been a long ass day.”
“Did you find out anything?”
He laid back, running hands down his face. “Nothing.”
That made me feel less hopeful.
“Nothing at all?”
“The most people saw was Levi in the yard, or being loaded into Rhea’s car to go places like IHOP, D his words seemed faded as we both were in our own thoughts. “You know what? With all this shit going on, I haven’t even thought about that. Damn, we gotta get Levi back home to save both her and him.”
“Thank you for being there for my friend in her time of need.”
“You ain’t gotta thank me. Like I said, they’re family too.”
“Rayzor. I know he’s losing his mind right now, but the way he’s keeping his composure is… something.”
“He’s been that way since we were young. He has a temper, but he knows if he loses it, that won’t help Eris. He’s always been the carrier, the strong one. That’s how he is.”
“I know he’ll find Levi before the police will.”