Looking down at his hand, I noticed in addition to the phone that he threw in the cup holder, there were two more phones resting in the dashboard tray.
“Three phones?” I pointed out.
His eyes never left the road, nor did he blink. “Yeah. It’s a work thing.”
“What type of work you do to where you needthree phones?” Bella called from the back seat.
“I do bodywork.”
“Like… who did the body? You work at a funeral home?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Sum’n like that. Here.” He was still holding the phone in my direction, but his eyes were on me now.
Instead of taking it, I pulled the seat belt across my body and turned away from him. “You know how to get to Jagoda One?”
“The hospital?” He drew his head back.
“Yeap.” I clicked my seat belt. “That’s where we going.”
“Why we at the hospital?”
P, Bella, and I stood in the parking lot of Jagoda One. The ride was a quiet one with only the bass from the music P was blasting, which ironically had been Reaper, Grind’s deceased rap friend. It wasn’t a shock, though, because Jagoda Bay loved Reaper’s music. Had he not been killed, he would have had the city on lock by now. The day I went down the Reaper rabbit hole, thinking Grind had been his killer after discovering the contents in his backpack, I was put onto his music, turning me into somewhat of a fan. P was rapping every song word for word, causing the tension in the car to thicken.
I sighed, not answering him. “Come on.”
We all began to walk ahead, and before we got through the doors, Bella grabbed my hand.
“Not yo’ new nigga rapping to yo’ coma nigga’s lyrics.”
“Bella, please…” I scoffed.
I hated that I told Bella and Mahzeyah about Grind writing lyrics for Reaper. Mahzeyah already knew that Grind could writebecause on the day in the studio, he had written a few songs for Flexer. Rappers weren’t ashamed to use writers these days. If I had been an artist, my ghostwriter would stay a ghost. Flexer could rap, though. I’d seen plenty of his old freestyles. I guess he just wanted something fresh, and according to Mahzeyah, during her and Flexer’s pillow talk, Grind was the best writer for rap, but he didn’t like to take on clients. Flexer was the first to get him to break since Reaper’s death, and he told Mahzeyah to thank me. I didn’t understand why—Grind working with him had nothing to do with me.
Swallowing hard, I caught up to P’s long-legged ass and fell in stride. Bella kept a few paces behind us, I guess to give the situation some space. We entered the lobby, bypassing the receptionist. I didn’t have to check-in. My brother and cousin had the entire wing upstairs bought out. P was looking around, curious as fuck as to why I brought him here, but I appreciated him not asking questions. He’d see since we were here now, and it was no turning back.
We rounded the corner, and I stopped on my heels. A hard body crashed into me, and before I could fall forward, P’s arm wrapped around my waist to hold me upright.
“My bad. You good?” he said.
I nodded, although I was mad that I couldn’t relish how good it felt to be this close to a boy because I was stuck on the scene in front of me.
Grind’s mama had her arms folded while six girls stood on the opposite side of her. One person, the ringleader, in pants so tight I could see the thread stretching, talked a mile a minute. Kaylee noticed me immediately. She looked from me to P, who still had his arm around my waist, to Bella. She smirked and went back to looking at the person talking. I knew that hourglass shape from anywhere. Her long, black weave damn near went to her knees.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Kaylee. But I gotta go. You take care,” Shus told her.
She walked around Kaylee, leaving her standing with her friends, and came toward me.
“Heyyyy, baby boo!” Gracious stopped in front of us.
Like the first time I’d met her, she looked like she was around our age in a black Lululemon athletic set, which featured a tank top with a sweatshirt tied around her waist and Jordans on her feet.Her eyes went from me to P’s arms that were wrapped around my waist. He let me go, and the hardness that was pressed against my back disappeared.
She swallowed me in a hug, one that I needed as I closed my eyes and inhaled. Shus had become something like a friend to me these last few months. We talked weekly, and I appreciated her not bringing up Grind during those conversations. She was a mess that I loved so much. I’d missed a few of her calls because, some days, I just wanted to be left alone, but it was all love, and I knew that she knew that.
“I wasn’t expecting you today. Hey, Bella,” she spoke to Bella quickly and was back on me.
I’d told her all about my friends, and she had met them on FaceTime. When Shus and I did talk, we usually gossiped about the music industry and trendy things on TikTok. She was my girl when I was in the headspace to talk to her.
“Hey, boo. You look cute,” Bella complimented.
