I turn away and look at my blank white wall. I pull the blankets up higher so they’re tightly around my body. “The escorts wanted me out of the picture so they could get in. They wanted to see how serious we were.” I shake my head at the stupidity of it all. “Your father wanted you and your brothers to date a certain kind of woman, but the woman he would’ve preferred would’ve scammed out of the highest dollar amount possible.”
“I’m leaving my dad’s firm.” His voice is quiet and hard.
The sudden admission startles me. Savior was poised to take it over and everyone knew it, including Savior. Now something terrible went wrong. “What? What happened?”
“Keisha, there are things in life that are more important than constantly seeking your parents’ approval. I can discover the cure for cancer and my dad will be the type who would ask what took you so long?” A sadness flashes over Savior’s eyes. “And I just…I’m done. I’m tired of it. And…” Outside arguing interrupts his sentence. As par for the course, two niggas are yelling at each other over some bullshit. Somebody owes somebody money. One of them oddly sounds a lot like Jalen and I hope to God it’s not him. Hopefully, they’ll be done soon so everyone can rest well.
“Does this always happen?” He asks.
“Sometimes,” I shrug, “it usually ends after a few minutes but you have to let them get it out.”
“People are trying to sleep here, Keisha.” Savior looks towards the window. “I’m going to ask them to keep quiet.”
“Savior.” The last thing I need is the guys’ venom to turn on him. This is how I can tell Savior is in a different neighborhood. Where he’s from, the neighbors either tell each other to keep it down or buy homes with big-enough fences and property that takes around 15 minutes to drive to the opening gate. Around here, none of that exists. “It’s not that big of a deal. They’ll be over and done in a few.”
“Okay, but they’re arguing over bullshit,” he gets up and throws on his jeans and a shirt. “I’m going to go out and see if I can mediate this.”
“Savior!” I rush out of bed and hurriedly put on some clothing. “You need to let them speak their piece! Trust me, this happens all of the time here. They’ll fight and then it’ll be over and done with, okay? It’s not worth going out there and disrupting ou—”
I never did finish my sentence. Just when I was about to argue my point, gunshots rang out and Savior tackled me onto the floor.
