“Damn,” he jerked his head back. “Wonder got voodoo in that cat? She got you on some other shit.”
I sucked my teeth. “Tread lightly, G. None of that matters anyway. I’m about to get hit with double digit numbers.”
Pierre’s expression fell. “Nah. Hell nah. I’m getting you a lawyer. I don’t care how much it costs. You’re going to get the best lawyer in the city. If I gotta run through the stash, it’s up.”
“Don’t do that, man. I’m telling you. It is what it is.” I didn’t want to have to do any time, but I killed Mazi, and I had the gun in my possession. A careless mistake cost me, and Pierre shouldn’t go broke for that. He had kids and a girl. I was a grown man. I had money put up, and it was either spend it on a lawyer and come home to nothing or spend it on a lawyer and get the least amount of time possible.
“Get at Wonder for me, and tell her she’s good. She’ll know what I’m talking about.”
Pierre nodded, and I proceeded to tell him where my money was. When our visit was over, one of the officers walked me back to my pod. One thing I hated about the county jail was there were pods with four bunk beds in each one. That meant there could be as many as eight men in one pod, and I hated that shit. Funky ass, lying, talkative grown men that worked every last one of my nerves. I sat on my bunk and listened to one of them lie about how much money he had when he was out on the streets. Since I had a murder charge, I wasn’t given a bond. I had to sit, and my first court date was in nine days. They’d just ask me how I wanted to plead and all that jazz. I’d more than likely have to sit in the county for five or six months before I went to trial. All I could do was shake my head at myself. A dummy I was.
The bad thing about being off the lean was I had to feel. Everything. And I didn’t like it. When I first heard that Wilde was arrested for possession of a gun that was used in a murder, my heart fell into my ass. I literally became lightheaded and dizzy with fear. I spent days not being able to eat, and I could barely sleep. When Pierre reached out to me and gave me Wilde’s message, all I could do was cry. I was in the clear, but he got caught. As soon as I fell for him and thought I could move on after such a disastrous relationship with Drew, the police swooped in and took Wilde from me. It seemed as if it just wasn’t meant for me to be happy. I didn’t even want to think about how much time he might get for murder.
Just when Wilde was about to gravitate away from the streets and try to go legit. I wished it was like in the movies, where Wilde would have had a clean-up crew to get rid of Mazi’s body. I spent my days sad and depressed about Wilde being in jail and what was worse was that he hadn’t even called me. I let nine days go by before I set up a visit. When Wilde walked into that room and sat down on the other side of the plexi glass, it had beenthirteen days since I last saw him. His curls were wild, and he needed to shave, but he was still handsome. At the sight of him, my heart skipped a beat and ached all in the same second.
Simultaneously, we removed the phones from the cradles. “Why haven’t you called me?” I spoke first.
Wilde’s demeanor was stiff and hard like it was when we first met. I didn’t expect him to be happy given the circumstances, but he didn’t even look happy to see me. “Call for what, G?” his tone was low. “You know I’m about to get hit with double digit numbers, right? There’s no need to even pretend that we’re going to last. Be free, G. Live your life.”
What he was saying made absolute sense, but it still crushed me to hear those words. He wasn’t even going to put up a fight. Blinking back tears, I swallowed hard. “You’re just going to make the decision for me? It’s just fuck me, huh?” my voice cracked.
“It’s never fuck you, G, but let’s be for real. These visits, phone calls, it’s all gon’ get old after a couple of months, let alone a couple years. Soon, visits and phone calls are going to be too hard to bear. You’re going to miss being hugged, touched, and penetrated. You’re going to get tired of being alone, and some nigga is going to come spit that good game in your ear, and you’re going to forget all about me. And that shit, is gon’ kill me, G. So, let’s just end this right now, baby.”
Tears spilled over my eyelids. That was the last thing I expected or wanted to hear. It made sense, but I wasn’t ready to let go, and maybe that was my problem. Maybe I was a glutton for punishment. Maybe I didn’t know when enough was enough. I could deal with that later but for the moment, I just wanted Wilde to smile at me and tell me everything was going to be okay. I needed that, and he wouldn’t give it to me.
His facial expression softened when he saw me crying. “Baby, please.”
Him calling me baby wasn’t helping the situation at all and before I knew it, I was sobbing. I couldn’t help it. My head dropped, and I cried for about a minute before I wiped my tears. When I looked at Wilde, his head was tilted back, and he was looking up at the ceiling. I doubted he was crying, but I could tell the moment wasn’t easy for him. Still, I wanted him to tell me how much he’d missed me. I wanted to hear him say he was going to fight his case and come home to me. Instead, Wilde was looking me dead in the eyes, breaking up with me from behind bars. I was the one that was supposed to break up with him. Remembering all the things KoKo went through with AJ should have sent me running in the opposite direction. Dating a jailbird wasn’t fun.
But Wilde and AJ were two different people. They weren’t cut from the same cloth. He finally looked at me, and I could have sworn his eyes were glassy. Tears? “This is it? You’re breaking up with me?” I felt pathetic, but I guess I had to be crystal clear. He didn’t want me to hold him down. He was setting me free, and it hurt. It hurt real bad, but what was I supposed to do? Beg to be with him? And then when everything he said came to fruition, was I supposed to look at him and say, I know I begged to hold you down, but you were right, it’s too much, and I don’t want to do it anymore?
Wilde pushed out a sigh. “That’s the way it’s gotta be, G. This is my mistake. I did this. I’m not gon’ make you suffer with me.”
“Ha!” I laughed angrily. “Too late. But if that’s what you want, then you got it. I’m out.” I slammed the phone down and stood up. I refused to keep sitting there with officers watching crying over a man that was telling me to go live my life.
In all my years, I hadn’t met another man like Wilde walking the earth, and I probably never would. He was a once in a lifetime thing, and I hated that I didn’t get more time with him. I had a car to wrap, so I had to wipe my tears and get to work.Crying over a man wasn’t going to pay my bills. What was worse was the fact that I couldn’t even call KoKo. We’d been friends for years and something petty had us not speaking. However, I stood on the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong, and I wasn’t reaching out to her first.
At the shop, I put headphones on and got to work. One thing I had to give Wilde credit for was, at least once a week, someone came in and told me they heard about me through him or someone else that he referred to me. I had made no less than $20,000 wrapping cars since meeting Wilde. Business was great. I had someone answering the phone for me, and I had also hired another guy to detail cars and tint windows. I was thinking about hiring someone that could do body work. I wanted my garage making an abundance of money on a daily basis, whether I wrapped a vehicle or not.
I was almost done wrapping the car when Nina walked in. I gave her a small smile, and she held her arms out, indicating that she wanted a hug. I choked back a sob because I didn’t realize how badly I needed some comfort from someone. I didn’t even care that Pierre must have told her that Wilde broke my heart or some shit.
We hugged, and I choked back tears. “How are you doing?” she asked.
“Not that good, but I’ll be okay.” I didn’t see a reason to lie. My lips had just parted to say something else when my eyes fell on her finger. My eyes almost jumped out of the socket. “Nina!” I gasped.
She smiled, and my eyes got wider.
“You’re married?” Nina didn’t just have a huge rock on her finger, she had a band to go with the engagement ring.
She nodded with a big smile on her face. “We went to the Justice of the Peace yesterday. He said he didn’t want to wait. It hasn’t been that long since the last time he messedup, but something about this time feels different.” The smile disappeared and fear filled Nina’s eyes. She was scared. And from what she was saying I assumed she didn’t know about the baby.
Pierre was dirty as hell if he married her without telling her about the baby, but it wasn’t my business. I could tell that Nina was afraid of being judged for marrying Pierre, and it wasn’t my place to do so.
“If you’re happy, that’s all that matters. Congratulations. I’m so happy for you.” I hugged her while swallowing down an immense amount of guilt. I knew about KoKo being pregnant, but Pierre would never kill me for getting him in trouble. Then again, he wouldn’t be able to kill me if Nina killed him. It was one big mess, and she truly deserved better.
“How much longer do you have at work?” Nina asked.
“I’m pretty much done. About to clean up and head out.”
