Chapter 21
Savion
A week later
“No! No!” I shot straight up in bed from the sound of Solei’s voice.
Swiping my gun from the nightstand, I climbed out of bed and trotted toward her bedroom.
“Please!”
An eerie feeling washed over me. I didn’t know what to expect once I walked through that door, but I was laying down whoever was in there fucking with her. I had this place locked down tight. No alarms were going off. Maybe someone slipped through the cracks somehow.
When I pushed her door open and entered her room, I didn’t find anyone in there with her. Solei was still lying in bed, swinging her arms everywhere.
“No! Please!” The wail that escaped her lips made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Placing my gun on the nightstand, I sat on the edge of the bed and lightly shook Solei. She gripped me roughly by the arms and dug her nails into my flesh.
“Solei, it’s me.” I spoke softly to let her know that she wasn’t in any danger. She needed to wake up from whatever nightmare she was having.
Her eyes shot open at the sound of my voice. “Wha-what—”
“You were having a nightmare. What were you dreaming about?”
Solei pulled away from me and sat up in bed. She pulled her knees up to her chest and just sat there, staring into space.
“Whatever you’re going through, I can help you.”
“You can’t help me.”
“And why you figure that?”
“Because you can’t,” was the only response she gave. I sat on the remote, and the television cut off. “Turn it back on! Turn it back on!”
I fumbled to grab the remote from underneath me.
I hit the power button, and Solei exhaled.
From the time that I’d been observing her, I’d noticed that she didn’t sleep with the TV off.
I never understood why, but after tonight, I was gon’ have to do some digging to figure out exactly what was going on.
“Why you don’t sleep with the TV off?”
“Good night, Savion,” she said and lay down on her side with her back facing me. I knew after the nightmare she just had that she wasn’t going back to sleep any time soon. After sitting there for a couple of minutes and she didn’t get up, I lifted from the bed and exited the room.
It was time that I did something to help calm her. I knew Solei was an ice cream lover. Twix ice cream, in particular. It was her coping mechanism. Whenever she had a bad day, she munched on ice cream. Whenever it was her time of the month, she’d stock up on it.
Heading to my bedroom, I grabbed a T-shirt and tossed it on and then slipped my feet into my slides. Exiting the room, I headed to the garage and grabbed my keys off the hook. If Solei didn’t want to talk to me about what was going on with her, the least I could do was make her comfortable.
I jumped into my G-Wagon and drove to the nearest gas station. It was late as hell, so I knew no grocery store was gon’ be open. I could’ve easily ordered something for someone to bring out here, but a lot of people didn’t want to deliver in the middle of nowhere.
As I pulled into the gas station, I noticed a lot of people posted up in the parking lot.
I was so quick to leave the house that I didn’t even have my strap on me.
It was the weekend, and these mufuckas used the gas station as if it was the got damn club.
They sat around on their cars with red cups in their hands.
I’d never understand why the gas station allowed them to do shit like this.
It was only a disaster waiting to happen.
Parking by the door, I hopped out the truck, making sure to hit the fob behind me before entering the store.
There were just about as many people inside the store than it was outside.
I’d come in here for Solei’s things, and then I was getting the fuck on.
I’d hate to have to break somebody’s neck if shit got out of hand.
“Damn, you’re fine,” a woman said when I passed her. I could feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.
I stopped at the cooler and grabbed her a Sprite before going over to the chips and picking up the white cheddar popcorn. The last stop I made was the cooler where the ice cream was. Someone reached their hand inside and picked up the last two Twix out of there. I mugged shorty and she frowned.
“I was about to get that.”
“Too bad,” she said and turned to walk away.
“How much for that ice cream?”
“Huh?” She stopped in her tracks.
I didn’t feel like going to another store and then they might not have that ice cream, so I was willing to pay her ass whatever she wanted for it.
“How much you want for that ice cream? It’s my wife’s favorite, and I gotta get it to her tonight. How much you want for it?” I could’ve easily just snatched the shit from her, but I didn’t feel like starting an altercation in this store.
“Ummm.” She tapped her index finger against the corner of her chin and said, “Two hundred dollars.”
Shit, I thought she was gon’ say something crazier than that.
“A’ight.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.
“Damn, just like that?” She closed the gap between us. I peeled off two hundred-dollar bills and handed them over to her.
“Yeah, just like that.”
“Your wife really lucky. Wish I had a man out here willing to do anything to make me happy. Here.”
I took the ice cream and everything else up to the register.
Once I paid for my stuff, I exited the store.
The people were still chilling in the parking lot.
Ignoring them, I hopped into my truck and headed back to the house.
The police passed me on the way there. About four cars.
Knowing them, they were about to go and clear the parking lot.
When I made it back home, I went to Solei’s bedroom. She was still lying in bed where I left her, but this time, she had her phone up to her face. She and I both knew she wasn’t going to bed when she told me good night. She just wanted me to get out of her room and stop questioning her.
“What?” she asked, not even taking her attention from the phone.
“You can act mean all you want. Deep down, I know you’re soft. You just need a lil extra care to break down that fucking wall.” I placed her bag on the nightstand next to her. “Trust me, I’m gon’ break down that wall. Good night, Solei,” I said and exited her bedroom.