Page 96 of Mia

“I was playing!” Booker yelled.

“Yeah, well, I’m not.”

She twisted his arm harder, and his screams echoed throughout the room.

“Call her off! Call her the fuck off before she breaks my fucking arm!”

“Mia, let him go!” Maddie commanded.

“Baby, that’s enough!” I yelled.

It was funny at first, but now I was a little worried for this nigga.

“Simama!”

I told her to stop in Swahili and got her attention. She released Booker and stood to her feet. Snatching off the helmet, she threw it to the ground and walked out the back door. Ms. Maddie and my mama went to check on Booker, while I went after Mia.

I found her pacing behind the building. She was deep breathing and talking to herself.

“Baby,” I said, approaching her.

“Don’t!” she yelled.

“Talk to me. What’s going through your head? That was way more than Booker talking about your mama.”

She stared at me a moment, tears pooling in her eyes. I reached for her, and she collapsed in my arms in a fit of tears.

“I don’t know if I’m ready,” she said through her tears. “What if I get over there and I underestimate him again? What if somebody else doesn’t make it home? I can’t take another loss, Titan. It will kill me.”

“Shhh,” I said, stroking her back. “Everything is gonna be fine.”

She was shaking. I knew she was scared.

“I had a dream about it last night,” she whispered. “It’s been fucking with me all day. We went over there, and none of us made it home. I watched you, my brothers, Quaid, my mom, your crew… everybody I loved and cared about… I watched them all die, and I couldn’t do anything about it. My nieces and nephews were left without fathers. My sisters lost their husbands, all because of me. Losing Eden was hard enough. I can’t be responsible for another death.”

I pulled back and cupped her face. “You won’t be. We’re gonna work this plan out together with everybody. Nothing will happen without every moving part being involved this time. No secrets. No doing this shit on our own.

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“If shit goes left, promise me you’ll make sure my brothers get home⁠—”

“We ain’t doing that. I’ll die before I let your life be taken, and your brothers are the same way. We have an army behind us, and that same army is gonna make sure we all come home. We ain’t leaving anybody behind. Understood?”

She nodded. I leaned in and pecked her lips, then wiped her face.

“Is Booker okay?” she asked.

I chuckled. “I don’t know. You were fucking my boy up at the end.”

“I don’t play about my mama, and he was really trying it. That’s why he apologized beforehand. I guess we should check on him.”

“Come on.”

We headed back inside to find Booker with Ms. Maddie holding an ice pack to his shoulder. When he saw us, he grinned.

“You fucked my shit up, but nurse bae got me right.”