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“Why? If you’re only meeting a friend, what’s the problem?” Noelle shot back, and I had no answer that would satisfy these two except the truth, and even that would probably make this situation even worse.
“Okay, I’m going to make a long story very short,” I admitted then confessed, “When I’m not working, I help survivors of abuse escape unhealthy situations. The woman that was just on the phone was one of those women. She decided to come back to get something from her boyfriend’s house, but she needs back up. I’m going to be that back up for her.”
“And who’s going to have your back?” Noelle asked.
“Oh, that would be us, Noelle. We’re her back up.” Ayana answered, pushed back from the table, and started for the door. Noelle followed.
I scrambled to keep pace and got in front of them just as we made it to my car. “No, you two. You can’t go.”
“Why not?” they both said in unison, folded their arms against their chests, and gave me hard stares.
I paused for a second, trying to think of a good enough reason that would help in this situation, and the truth mixed with a small white lie would suffice.
“For one, you’re on lockdown.” I pointed to Noelle. “I’m sure there’s someone in the shadows, or behind some parked car, assigned to keep an eye on you. We can’t get the cops involved in this situation, believe me. As for you,” I looked at Ayana’s angry face, and she knew exactly what I was about to say, but I said it anyway, “you’re with child. I will not put you in potential harm’s way.”
“Yeah, and we can’t in all conscience, allow you togoin harm’s way,” she argued back.
“I’m not,” I retorted, metaphorically crossing my fingers as I continued. “I have backup. I’m going to call Reed as soon as I leave here. He’ll come and have my back, promise.”
They didn’t reply to what felt like forever. I could feel the sense of urgency getting stronger. I needed to get going before Ansley grew tired of waiting.
“Okay,” Ayana finally said, “Call him now and make sure he’s available to have your back, otherwise we’ll ditch the tail and meet you at the destination.”
I looked questioningly at her, and she rolled her eyes. “Oh, please believe me, we’ve done it before. A certain someone would be pissed, but they’d get over it.” She pointed to my phone in my hand. “Call him.”
I nodded, found the number I needed, and hit send. It rang a few times before I heard my voice on the other end. I had called my house phone instead of Reed. Praying they didn’t hear my voice on the other line, I began speaking.
“Hey, yeah it’s me… yeah, I’m fine, listen, I have a situation. Ansley is back.” I paused and pretended like Reed was going off. I rolled my eyes, sighed, and all that stuff. I then repeated the situation and pretended to have a conversation with Reed. All the while, I prayed Ayana wouldn’t ask me to put the call on speaker. Luck was on my side, and I ended with a smile and an, “Okay, great… yeah, I know, I understand. It shouldn’t take long, promise. Then you can get back to your booty call.”
I hung up and looked at my friends. I tried to keep the guilt off my face as I met their questioning eyes. “It’s all set. He’ll meet me. He didn’t like it, but he said he’d do it. But I got to get going. I’ll call you once I get back to my hotel, okay?”
“You better,” Ayana said with a gruff before giving me a fierce hug. Noelle followed suit, and they allowed me to get inside my car and drive off with no more issues. Fortunately for me, I knew my friends. I kept checking my rearview mirror for Ayana’s car. I saw it a few minutes later behind me. I tried to drive slowly down Preston Road, hoping for a chance to lose them, make a turn or take a yellow light or something. My opportunity happened at the next light I had come to.
It turned yellow, then red, and I blew through the light, praying that there wasn’t a cop lying around in wait. After I went through the intersection, I did my best to get lost in the surrounding traffic. I took a sudden right, cutting off another car, and shot down the street. I took another right, then another that brought me right back to Preston Road. I waited there, checked my rearview to see if they followed. I waited for five minutes and when I didn’t see any cars coming up fast behind me, I made my way to Ansley, sending her a text to let her know I was on my way.
My heart was beating wildly. Something told me I should call Reed for real, but I knew what he would say. He’d tell me to stay out of it, to let Ansley do what she’s going to do, and to not get involved. But I couldn’t do that. She needed my back, and I would help her. Hopefully, this wouldn’t come back on me, but deep down I had a feeling it would.
“A SECOND CHANCE DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING IF YOU HAVEN’T LEARNED FROM YOUR FIRST MISTAKE” - UNKNOWN
CHAPTER1
PHOEBE
Icouldn’t stop shaking. Fear gripped me like a noose around my neck, slowly cutting off the air I needed to live.God… I can’t stop shaking.
I closed my eyes, and all I saw was her lifeless body, lying there, bloody, unmoving. When I opened my eyes, all I could see was her lifeless body, bloody and unmoving.
Ansley…
Everything was so messed up. All of it. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I couldn’t… It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She was free from him, free to live her life. Now she…
I closed my eyes as tears fell, but then opened them quickly, shaking… shaking … shaking.
“Miss Gates, can you please start at the beginning? Tell me what happened, what you saw?” I focused on the house in the distance and tried to ignore this insufferable man in front of me. I shouldn’t have gotten out of the car. Sol told me not to, said to stay put, but I couldn’t help it. I felt claustrophobic in my car; the windows down did shit for my anxiety. I could barely breathe. I was hot, felt like little bugs were crawling up my spine.
The moment I stepped out of my car and away from it, a cop spotted me. One thing led to another, and now I was being questioned. Sol was standing next to me, trying to shield me from this asshole that wouldn’t leave me alone, but I noticed it wasn’t much he could do. The cop asking the questions introduced himself as a detective assigned to homicide.Homicide…
Fuck… Ansley…
