“I’m on my way.”
Without hesitation, I started the engine of my Sprinter and pulled out of Baisleigh’s parking lot. Of course, I was going to get my Emorey. She needed me, and I definitely needed her. I wished that Essence wasn’t at school because I’d be going to get her as well. Though I didn’t want to overwhelm or scare the girls by projecting my fears onto them, I felt like I needed them more than ever at the moment.
The twenty-minute drive to Emorey’s school only took me fifteen minutes. I used that time to calm my nerves and try to piece myself back together. For five minutes, I’d fallen completely apart.
I’d barely parked the van when I pulled into the parking lot of Emorey’s school and jumped out. I left the engine running because I wouldn’t be long. The closer I got to Emorey, the better I felt. I marched right past the receptionist’s desk and headed for her classroom. When I entered and found over ten smiling faces and none of them belonging to my baby, panic set in.
“Where is she?”
“Her dad got her already.”
The blood drained from my body as the words left her teacher’s mouth. My chest tightened, and my legs weakened as I tried to form the correct words to convey my message. I couldn’t. The aching of my heart and losing my breath didn’t allow me to.
He’s here. My thoughts crippled me. As Dewayne’s face flashed before my eyes, I became immobile. I could not move and neither could I say a word. As much as I wanted to scream, I just couldn’t. Nothing would come out.
“Is everything OK?” Ms. Debra, her teacher, asked after I’d stared at her for a few seconds, trying to gather myself. Trying to regain my composure. Trying to regain movement in my limbs. Once I was able to, I sprinted out the door and headed to the van where my cell phone was. I had a call to make and it was one I should’ve made the minute I saw Scar at Baisleigh’s, but I was too shaken up to do so.
I was out of the door and headed down the stairs with one person on my mind other than my Emorey. But before I could make it to the truck to grab my phone and call him, I heard his voice in the distance. There was no other explanation for his precision other than the fact that he was my soulmate. I didn’t need to call him because he was already near.
“Ever!”
“LUCA!” I cried, turning away from the van and searching for him.
I could hear him calling my name, but I wasn’t sure where he was. When I closed the door, I finally saw him, and he wasn’t the only person I saw.
“Mommy,” Emorey’s little voice cracked as she ran toward me. “I hurt my weg.”
“Come here, baby,” I begged Emorey, kneeling with my arms stretched so that she could limp into them.
Seeing her immediately released me from the shackles.Her daddy, I replayed her teacher’s words when I walked into the room and didn’t see her face on the carpet. Luca. He hadn’t crossed my mind, but that should’ve been the first person I thought of. Had it been any other day it would’ve been the case, but after seeing Scar, I wasn’t sure what to think about anything. I wasn’t sure if Dewayne was somewhere lurking or if he was just in town himself.
“Ever,” Luca called out to me.
“What?” I snapped my neck in his direction, fuming.
“What you mean what?” he questioned, not understanding where the strife was coming from.
“Why would you take her from school without my permission?”
“I need your permission to take Emorey for ice cream to make her feel better? Since when?”
“At least you could’ve called and told me!”
“She was having a fit about her knee when I walked in to holler at my mother so I took her with me. I didn’t think it would be a big fucking deal.”
“Well, it is.”
“To who though?”
“To me!”
“Ever, you’ve got to figure your shit out. One minute you want me in their mix and the next you’re telling me I can’t take my baby to get ice cream to help her feel better? Come on, now. What sense are you making? This is me you’re talking to.”
“We’re leaving, Luca. Next time, ask before just taking off with her. I almost had a fucking heart attack when the teacher told me someone had taken her. You’ll never understand!”
I couldn’t control my emotions. My hormones were kicking my ass. Before I was able to close the door in Luca’s face, he caught it with his hand.
“Ayo, you need to chill the fuck out.”
