I rolled my eyes as I sat down on the cream-colored sectional, knowing I had a wait ahead of me. If there was one thing Mariah Miller was gon’ do, it was be on CPT.
“I don’t even know why you fool with her,” MiMi muttered. “You want something to eat while you waiting? Just some oxtails, cabbage, mac and cheese, cornbread, caramel cake.”
I shook my head. “Just? MiMi, you be feeding the neighborhood. I eat that, I’ma be too lazy to go to the game.Can you make me a plate to take home when we get back after the games, though?”
She nodded as she snatched her remote control from Aunt Nette and settled into her favorite recliner. For a few minutes, I watched Ben Matlock’s old crotchety ass set a trap for some defendant before bouncing up.
“Let me go see what this girl is doing,” I said, before walking down the hallway to Mariah’s room.
She was staring at herself in the mirror, twisting and turning to see how she looked in her strapless, purple maxi dress. She shook her head at her reflection and started to pull the dress off. I took one look at the pile of clothes on her bed and realized she’d been doing this a while.
“Uh-uh!”
She jumped when she heard my voice, then made a face at me.
“Uh-uh what?”
“Don’t put on another thing. Let’s go, Riah!”
“Farrah—”
“C’mon!”
Sighing, she fixed the dress then walked into her closet.
“Riah!”
“Damn, can I get my shoes?” she snapped, walking out with a pair of gold sandals.
I waited, tapping my foot as she slid on the shoes, applied another coat of lip gloss, and smoothed her hair. She turned to look at me.
“Let’s go. What you waiting on?” she teased.
“Bitch,” I mumbled.
We kissed MiMi and Aunt Nette bye; we actually had to kiss MiMi twice—her crazy self claimed that the first wasn’t “real”—and headed to the car. They followed us onto the porch, still chattering away. Mariah and I climbed into the car and waved one last time. I started the car and threw it into reverse. And then everything shifted.
MiMi’s scream and a quick look at my rearview camera had me slamming on the brakes. A black car had pulled behind me and wasn’t moving. My heart dropped as I remembered the black car involved in the drive-by from a week ago. This car wasn’t an Impala, but that feeling of being trapped had me almost ready to hyperventilate, like all that fear I’d buried came clawing back up my throat.
“Who the fuck is this?” Mariah mumbled, reaching for her door.
Reflex had me grabbing her arm. “Wait! I got this!”
I refused to let my cousin walk into the kind of trouble I had. Unfortunately, I couldn’t beat my grandmother who had stormed down the steps, moving like she wasn’t in her seventies, her face in a frown. Ugh! This was one of the times that I hated the fact that they refused to move out of the hood.
“MiMi—” I began as I climbed out.
“What the hell you doing? Get out of my yard!” she demanded.
Aunt Nette had gone back in the house, but she re-emerged quickly, digging in her big bag. “He better, if he know what I know,” she snapped.
Oh, shit. Just what I needed—this pair armed and angry. I knew my PawPaw and my uncle Lee Earnest would come behind them heavy, and Lord, I didn’t need the Millers on go.
We watched as a tall figure in dark clothes took his time getting out of the car. He was dressed too nice, moving too slow. He smiled at us as he straightened his suit jacket before bending back into the car and pulling out a bouquet of multi-colored tulips. They were beautiful… and my favorite. Somehow, that freaked me out more.
“Did you hear me? You need to move!” MiMi ordered.
He looked at her and, just for a second, the smile on his face turned menacing. I moved quickly, putting my body in front of my grandmother’s. I scowled at Mariah as she got out anyway.
