“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure if they choose to be the pastor of a church, they should at least attempt to live right majority of the time, but maybe I’m confused.”
“He asked about you.”
“Before I got locked up, he knew how to get in touch with me.”
“It might be too late for apologies, but I’m sorry I wasn’t a better mother. You probably don’t care, but I could have been better. I failed you.”
“This isn’t even the time to be worried about all that for real. You weren’t the worst, and it is what it is. I’m not tripping off the past.”
“Pierre said he’s getting you a lawyer, and he’s going to pay the rent for your house until your lease is up. He doesn’t want you coming home and having bad credit.”
I chuckled. “That’s the last thing on my mind for real, but I appreciate him.”
“I’m glad you have him.”
“Me, too.”
My mother talked about how my grandmother and Aunt Jada were doing until time was up. I went back to my pod feeling some kind of way. I didn’t even know if I’d cry when my mother died, but I knew I didn’t want her to die. I learned at an early age that there’s a lot of things I didn’t have any control over. Death was one of those things. I wasn’t big on prayer, but I found myself praying that my mom would make it to the top of that liver transplant list.
Hurriedly, I sprayed some mousse in my hands and ran my fingers through my super long Boho braids. I got lost in reading the manuscript that Wilde sent me, and time got away from me. He had been in jail for a little over a month, and I was shocked when he sent me ten chapters of a book that he was writing. He said it was just something to do to pass the time, but the book was good! Someone besides me needed to read it, and I was going to make that happen for him. First, I would have to type the book up for him. That would be hard because business was booming for me. I had so many cars on my schedule to be wrapped that I would be working six days a week for the next two months, but I was grateful.
Even without me factoring in the cars that I wrapped, my garage still averaged a few thousand dollars a week. I was doing pretty good, and I hoped it stayed that way. Nina and Pierre had finally announced that they were married, and she had invited me to an intimate dinner. I still hadn’t heard from KoKo. I wasn’t even mad at her anymore, but I deserved an apology. Ifshe felt I wasn’t worthy of one, then we didn’t have anything to talk about.
I sprayed some perfume and checked myself out in the mirror. The restaurant they were having the dinner at was classy, so I chose to wear black shorts, a black camisole, and a red blazer with red heels. The restaurant wasn’t too far from me, and I was able to arrive while Nina, Pierre, and their guests were still in the waiting area. I hugged Nina and spoke to Pierre. She looked truly happy. In fact, she was glowing.
There were about sixteen of us, so we were led to a private room. We ate a delicious five-course meal, and I had a few glasses of wine. When we walked out of the restaurant, my heart stopped when I saw KoKo standing there fuming.
“Oh nigga, you married? You can’t return my phone calls while I’m pregnant with your child, but you went and got married?!”
My knees buckled. This was going to be bad. Nina stood appalled while Pierre was practically foaming at the mouth. “You better get the fuck from around here before that baby gets beat out of you,” he seethed.
I didn’t care how upset I was with KoKo, Pierre would never put his hands on her in my presence. I took a step forward, ready to intervene, and KoKo’s gaze darted in my direction. She laughed angrily. “Of course, you’re here celebrating this fake ass union with your new bestie. Fuck all y’all. I’ll see you in child support court,” she spat at Pierre and walked off.
Everyone stood with slack jaws. Pierre turned to face Nina, and she attempted to walk around him. Pierre tried to stop her from walking away, and she pulled away from him. She wasn’t even speaking.
“Let her go, Pierre,” Nina’s mother spoke up. Reluctantly, he let her go.
I knew KoKo was hurting, but I was sure Nina was the epitome of embarrassed. I truly felt sorry for both of them. I walked to my car because I was sure Nina wanted to be alone, and I wasn’t even going to try to go after KoKo. Nina had just been so happy, and things had changed in the blink of an eye. Life had a way of doing that. I never saw Wilde getting arrested in my very near future, but he was gone. Loving a man was a gamble. I had to smile when I thought about how I met Wilde. He literally killed a man then demanded that I hold the murder weapon. From there, he blackmailed me to pretend we were in a relationship, and the psycho became my man for real. Talk about unhinged. I wished we had met under circumstances that wouldn’t have landed him in jail, but I didn’t regret meeting him.
I was actually glad that I got to know him. Even if we were only together for a short time, I enjoyed it. I went home, so I could finish reading Wilde’s manuscript. I had the next day off, so I was going to start typing it up. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take him long to finish it. I was torn because it was his book, and he should be able to approve the cover or decide if he even wanted to publish it, but I also wanted to surprise him with a finished product.
I finished reading the chapters and researched self-publishing until I could no longer keep my eyes open. Despite being exhausted, I couldn’t allow myself to fall asleep without praying for Wilde. I was praying for a freakin’ miracle.
The next day,I was sitting on the couch Indian style, typing the first chapter of Wilde’s book. I wished with everything in me that he would call. I wrote him back and poured all of my feelings into a response to the letter he wrote me, and I got nothing. Hedidn’t write me back, but he sent me the manuscript. I wanted to be mad with him, but I really couldn’t be. He was going through a tough time, and I couldn’t make it about me. Wilde had to process things in the way that worked for him.
My doorbell rang, and my brows furrowed because I wasn’t expecting company. “It better not be nobody selling shit,” I mumbled as I got up off the couch.
When I looked out of the peephole, I thought I was tripping. My heart beat wildly, and my eyes almost popped out of my head. Snatching the door open, my mouth went dry as Wilde stood there smirking. He was smelling good and looking better.
“It better not be no nigga in here.” He stepped over the threshold, and I still couldn’t believe it. When I didn’t say anything, he began planting kisses all over my face. I could tell he missed me, and I wasn’t sure if I should cry or laugh.
“They gave you a bond?” I finally found my voice.
“Nah. Pierre hired me a good ass lawyer that found out the officer that arrested me recently had two complaints filed against him. One was planting drugs in someone’s car and another was him taking a large amount of money off someone that he arrested and not turning the money in as evidence. Anybody that he arrested in the past year, had their charges dropped.” Wilde grinned, and I stared at him in disbelief.
He wasn’t the only one that benefited from the officer being dirty, but God had looked out for him for real. “Oh my God, so that’s it? No trial? No murder charge?”
“Nope.”
