“Okay.”
Once we were a reasonable distance away, I looked up at her through the rearview. “If it makes you feel better, you can call in the accident now.”
Kadeem’s brown eyes slowly opened a couple of hours later. He was groggy as hell, lying against Sawyer’s couch. It creaked under his weight, protesting the new burden. He snapped his head to the side when he heard barking and growling from Sawyer’s mutt.
“Who the fuck got a fuckin’ dog?” he griped with a scowl. Kadeem sat up with a stern grimace across his face, looking back and forth between me and Sawyer. “Who the fuck is she, Twin?”
“This is Sawyer. We are at her place right now, and that’s her dog.”
“H-hi. Can I get you anything?” Sawyer asked, more out of courtesy than any real ability to offer comfort for his wounds.
“Water and a fuckin’ Tylenol would be good,” he replied, collapsing back onto the couch. “Ah, shit. My head is thumpin’ like an HBCU marching band right now.”
“But you alive and you safe. That’s all that matters. We back together now, Twin.”
“I’ll go put my dog up and get you what you need. I’ll be right back,” Sawyer commented softly.
I watched as she swiftly moved to the kitchen, the sound of running tap water not quite enough to drown out the silence that had settled between us. She returned, and I reached out to take the glass and pill bottle from her. Our fingers brushed, and a jolt of something painful and sweet shot up my arm. She pulled away too quickly, and of course, I noticed.
“Thanks,” I acknowledged her before handing the glass and two pills to Kadeem.
He sat up and took a long gulp before swallowing down the pills. When he spoke again, his eyes didn’t meet hers. “You trust her?”
“She’s cool.”
He scoffed. “For now.”
“Chill, nigga. If I said she’s fine, then she’s fine. You don’t need to worry about her. I got her.”
“All I’m sayin’ is, what’s stoppin’ her from callin’ the law the second she gets a chance?”
“If she were gon’ do that, she would’ve been done that shit.”
“He’s right,” Sawyer interjected.
“She helped save your life. Mine too, if I’m bein’ honest.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean no disrespect, shawty,” Kadeem said, finally acknowledging her with a head nod. “I appreciate you letting me and my brother crash here. Just until we sort some things out.”
“It’s okay. You’re welcome. I’ll give you two some privacy,” she replied.
I forced myself to meet her gaze. There was a sadness there that tugged at something deep within her, but I didn’t have time to focus on that. Kadeem and I traded silent glances while she made her way down the hall. Once the door to her bedroom closed, I was ready to talk about our next move. But first, I had questions.
“Where the fuck were you hiding out, and how’d you end up in the back of a police car?” I blurted out, firing the questions off my tongue.
Kadeem slowly sat up and looked at me. “After we split up, I walked until I found a gas station. I hid out around the back in a fuckin’ dumpster until the shit closed. When the mothafucka came out to take out the trash, I robbed his ass for the clothes. I ain’t know there was a phone in his back pocket at the time. Nigga must’ve reported his shit stolen, and they traced the phone with that Find My iPhone shit. It led them right to me a few miles down the road. I tried to run, but the law caught up with me. Of course, I ain’t have no I.D. on me, so he was ready to take me in when the rain started up again, and next thing I knew,it started to flood, and we were spinning around on the road like Disney on Ice, and then everything went black,” he explained.
“Damn.”
“And what about you, Twin? This where you been all this time?”
I dipped my chin. “Yeah. I came through the woods and found these apartments on the other side. I broke in through her patio. She wasn’t home in the beginning and then caught me on her couch.”
“You call anybody since you've been here?”
I swung my head. “Nah. The power just came back on earlier, and that’s when I saw our mugshots on the news and knew I had to find you. You?”
“I spoke to King,” he confirmed.
