CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Dre made it farther than I expected, but not far enough. Poncho called a little after noon.
"Found him."
"Where?"
"Hollywood. Motel off Federal."
I grabbed my keys.
"Keep him there."
"Ain't going nowhere."
"I'll be there."
I hung up.
Hulk was already waiting downstairs when I stepped off the elevator.
"Poncho got him?"
"Yeah."
We got in the truck and pulled off. Dre had been the only name Pooh gave me that we hadn't been able to put our hands on.
The fact that he'd disappeared before we started collecting everybody told me somebody had warned him.
That was what bothered me the most. Not that he ran.
Niggas ran when they were scared. I wanted to know who told him it was time to be scared.
When we got to the motel, Poncho was standing outside one of the rooms.
"Anybody with him?"
"Nah."
"Car?"
"Around back."
I looked at Hulk.
"Watch the lot."
He nodded and walked off.
Poncho opened the door. Dre was sitting on the edge of the bed. The second he saw me, his whole body stiffened.
"Jokah."
I stepped inside.
"What's up?"
He stood.
"Look, bruh—"
"Sit down."
He sat.
I closed the door behind me.
"You been hard to find."
"I been handling some shit."
"In a motel?"
"My girl put me out."
"Your girl lives in Miramar."
Dre’s eyes widened. His bitch ass wasn’t expecting me to know that.
"Y'all got two kids. And according to her, you disappeared yesterday without telling her shit."
His eyes shifted toward Poncho.
"Don't look at him."
He looked back at me.
"Why you running?"
"I ain't running."
"Then let's try this a different way."
I stepped closer.
"Who told you Pooh talked?"
He hesitated before answering my question.
"Nobody."
"Dre."
"I'm telling you—"
"Who told you?"
"I don't know what the fuck Pooh told you."
"I didn't say he told me anything about you. See how easy that was for you to tell on yourself?"
Dre rubbed both hands over his face.
"Man, I ain't got shit to do with whatever y'all got going on."
"You helped move my work."
"I ain't know it was yours."
"Bullshit."
"I swear."
"You knew enough to disappear the second everybody connected to it started getting touched."
His chest heaved up and down. That always happened when a nigga knew his time on earth was almost up.
"So, I'm gonna ask you one more time."
I stepped directly in front of him.
"Who warned you?"
Dre looked down.
"Dre."
"Marquez."
I stared at him.
"Marquez dead."
His head snapped up.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Man..."
"When did he warn you?"
"Yesterday morning."
Before we got to him.
"What he say?"
"Just told me shit was hot and I needed to get low."
"Why?"
"He said you knew."
"Knew what?"
"About the work."
I stared at him.
"How the fuck did Marquez know I knew?"
"I don't know."
"Wrong answer."
"I swear to God, I don't know. He called me panicking and said somebody had been watching Pooh house, and he thought shit was about to go left."
That made sense. They spotted surveillance, which was careless on my team’s behalf. I looked at Poncho. He already knew what I was thinking.
"Did he call anyone else?"
Dre hesitated.
I looked back at him.
"Don't make me ask twice."
"I don't know who he called."
"But?"
"He said he was gonna make sure everybody knew."
"Who the fuck is everybody?" I barked.
"The niggas that helped."
"We got them."
Dre looked at me.
"Then that's everybody."
I studied him for a second because something still wasn't sitting right.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Think hard."
"I am."
"You got one opportunity to remember somebody before I find out on my own."
Dre shook his head.
"That's everybody, Jokah. I swear."
I believed him, but that didn't mean he was leaving. I looked at Poncho and Dre immediately stood.
"Hold up."
I turned toward the door.
"Jokah, come on, bruh. I just told you everything."
I stopped and turned around. Everybody thought information bought freedom after June Bug. It didn't.
"I ain't promise you shit."
His mouth fell open.
"Jokah—"
I walked out and closed the door behind me.
I hadn't made it halfway across the parking lot before I heard the shot.
I kept walking. This was one loose end down.
But with Marquez knowing somebody had been watching bothered me.
It meant my people had been seen. And if they'd been seen once, there was no telling who else had noticed.
My phone vibrated. For half a second, I hoped it was Kaior, but it wasn't. It was Hulk, so I answered.
"Yeah."
"Lot clear. Let's go."
By the time I got off work, I wasn't angry anymore.
I didn't know if I was ever really angry.
Hurt was probably the better word. I loved Jokah.
That didn't change overnight. But neither had the possibility that Shania could be pregnant with his child.
And I still didn't know what I was supposed to do with that. I started my car and headed home.
Armani had been my voice of reason all day, even when I didn't want to hear half the shit coming out of her mouth.
"First of all, fuck that bitch. I'm serious, Kaior.
They were together for two years, y'all get together, and now all of a sudden, she magically pregnant?
Girl, please. Her ass probably lying because she's jealous you got him now. "
"You don't know that."
"And neither do you. That's my point. You over there ready to convict that man over some shit you don't even know is true yet."
That had shut me up.
"And stop comparing this shit to Kyrie because it ain't the same."
"It feels the same."
"I don't give a damn what it feels like.
Kyrie was in a relationship with you, fucking Talia behind your back and lying in your face.
Jokah fucked his ex when he was single. Before you.
Unless that nigga got a time machine tucked away in that penthouse, what exactly was he supposed to do about that? "
I rolled my eyes.
"You know what I mean."
"No, you know what I mean. You're scared, and I understand that. Kyrie fucked you up. But don't make Jokah pay Kyrie's tab."
That one had sat with me all day. Armani wasn't finished either.
"And I'm not saying you gotta be okay with Shania possibly having his baby.
Hell, I wouldn't like that shit either. But that's a whole different conversation.
If she's pregnant and it's his, then y'all figure out what that means when you actually know something.
Don't blow up your relationship today over a maybe. "
I had gone quiet.
Then Armani hit me with the part I really didn't want to hear.
"And Kaior, if you ain't ready for everything that comes with what you stepped into with that man, come home. Ain't nobody gonna judge you. Your room is still intact."
That made me laugh, but Armani's face stayed serious.
"I'm for real. You don't have to stay with Jokah just because you love him. But if you decide you're staying, then stop bleeding on a man that didn't cut you."
I hadn't said anything after that. There really wasn't anything to say. Now, sitting in my car after work, I understood exactly what she meant. Jokah wasn't Kyrie. Shania wasn't Talia. And what happened before Jokah and I ever became anything wasn't something he had done to me.
That didn't mean I wasn't allowed to be hurt.
It didn't mean the thought of another woman carrying his child didn't make my stomach turn.
It just meant I needed to stop mixing yesterday's pain with today's problem.
Because Armani was right about one thing I couldn't argue with.
We didn't even know if Shania was telling the truth yet.
The elevator carried me up to the penthouse. When the doors opened, Jokah was sitting on the couch with his phone in his hand. His eyes immediately came to me.
"Hey."
"What's up?"
I stepped off the elevator.
"Nothing."
I put my purse down and slipped out of my shoes.
"You eat?"
"No."
"I ordered food."
"Okay."
His eyes were locked in on mine. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I can look at my woman."
Normally, I would've had something smart to say. Instead, I walked toward the kitchen.
"What did you order?"
"Your favorite."
Of course he did. I looked back at him.
"Thank you."
"You don’t have to thank me."
I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. Jokah got up and came into the kitchen. He stopped on the other side of the island.
"How was your day?"
"It was okay."
"Just okay?"
"Yeah."
He nodded.
This was awkward and I hated it. Jokah and I had never been awkward. Even the first night we met, when I didn't know this man from a can of paint, talking to him had been easy. Now we were standing in our kitchen struggling through basic conversation.
"You still need space?"
I looked at him.
"I don't know."
"A’ight, cool."
That irritated me.
"That's it?"
His eyebrows pulled together. "You told me you needed space. I'm giving you space."
"I know."
"So, what you want me to do?"
"I don't know."
“Then how the fuck I'm supposed to know?”
I sighed. "Don't start."
"I ain't starting shit."
"Your voice says otherwise."
"My voice always sounds like this."
I looked away from him.
Armani had given me plenty to think about today, and I knew she was right about some of it.
This wasn't the same thing Kyrie had done to me.
Jokah hadn't cheated on me, and if Shania was pregnant, whatever happened between them happened before there was an us.
Knowing that didn't make me feel any better.
I couldn't stop thinking about Shania at the club.
At the time, I thought she was just a bitter ex talking shit. Now I didn't know what to think.
The elevator chimed behind me, and a few seconds later, our food arrived.
Thank God, because I needed something else to focus on.
We ate at the island without saying much.
The silence wasn't angry, but it wasn't comfortable either.
There was too much sitting between us that neither one of us knew what to do with.
After we finished, I started gathering the containers. Jokah reached for them.
"I got it."
"I can clean up."