I jumped back slightly, never breaking eye contact from his. He released the man and watched as he scurried to the back of the holding cell.
“They violating my parole?” he questioned, then paused, never allowing me to speak. “If they sending me straight back up top from here, I need you to get a message to my brother and my moms.”
While he should have been worried about his freedom, he was more concerned with his mother and brother. Holding onto one of the bars, he stared down at me while he licked his lips.
His gold teeth were the only thing that glistened in that dull holding cell. “Hi, I’m Zoya Caselli. I have never lost a case, and I plan on walking out of court with you tomorrow.”
He smirked. “You on it like that… I’m on parole though.”
Shrugging. “Mr. Wraithe, if they take you back to prison, then I guess we’ll both be on that bus together. I came to introduce myself and see what exactly is going on. I’m a friend of Capri.”
“Lady Inferno, oh, ight.” His posture relaxed some.
I moved closer to the bars. “Out there, you’re big dawg. In here, I’m big dawg and I’ll protect you like I would one of my brothers, cool?”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
The way ma’am came out his deepened voice shouldn’t have had me feeling like this. “See you tomorrow, Mr. Wraithe. Have you ate anything?”
“Nah… they not feeding us.” One of the other men yelled from behind him. “Ain’t that against the law or some shit… I got fucking rights!” he hollered.
I spun on my heels and looked at the officer. “Withholding food from them?”
“Right now, we’re giving it on a b?—”
I dug into my purse and pulled out my phone and scrolled before hitting a contact. “Hey Gio, can you get me…” I turned to look at the two holding cells. “Four pies… have it delivered to this address.” I told Gio, the owner of my favorite pizza shop, the address to send it to.
Holding my phone in my hand, I looked at Mr. Wraithe. “See you tomorrow, Ms. Lawyer.”
“Yooo, I need a lawyer too.” Another one yelled out.
“You cannot afford me, Love…. Mr. Wraithe, see you tomorrow.” I turned on my heels and left from the area.
“I’m about to get dressed and come over there, Zoya!” I heard Blair hollering in my ear, and I laughed.
“Sorry, I was thinking about something.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “I was seconds from calling Goon to come in there.”
“What am I doing, B?”
“Allowing someone in. Give him a chance before you try and write him off,” she said softly. “When it came to opening my heart again, I was scared.”
“Shit, B, none of us could tell with the way you were after Quasim.” I snorted.
She giggled. “I met a man that was far more broken and hurt than I was. Simmy deserved my heart, even though he didn’t believe he did. I didn’t want to keep it away from him. Men deserve grace and understanding. Women are allowed to heal men too.”
“What if I don’t deserve his heart?”
“You do, sweetheart. You deserve to experience a love like the one he’s going to give you. Goon has been waiting, readyand able to give you what you require… even though you’re too stubborn to know what you need.”
I was the kind of person that started to second guess when good things happened for me. Life could be going perfectly, and then I was hit with this wave of feeling like I didn’t deserve any of it.
My brain told me that it would all end soon, and nothing ever lasted forever. I never believed in forever.
Forever was lowered into the ground right in front of me as a child. Forever changed my brother and our family’s dynamic.
So, when things were good, I had that small voice in the back of my brain telling me to fuck things up before they could go wrong.
