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We all had so,somuch more to worry about.
Because for all the times I’d had dramatic ideations about the possibility of the last time we’d see each other… this time?
It truly might be.
I didn’t try to talk him out of it because I knew there was no point, knew there was no way he’d see reason. After we’d cleaned up, and gotten back into bed on fresh sheets, he kissed my forehead and told me to go to sleep.
I tried.
And eventually, I must have, because the next thing I knew I was opening my eyes and he was no longer beside me. All the events from the day before, the weeks before, the months before, came rushing back, weighing around my neck like a yoke.
Instead of holding it in… I cried.
Hot, bitter tears, about everything I’d been holding in far too long.
And then I climbed out of bed, grabbed my new phone and dialed one of very few numbers already programmed into it.
My heart dropped at the question that left Alicia’s mouth as soon as she answered the phone.
“He’s already gone isn’t he?” she asked.
“Yeah. And I’m about to go talk to Margeaux.”
***
She wasn’tthathard of a bitch to track down.
Especially after finding out that she had been maintaining her employment atClub Allure, for whatever her sick reasons were. I walked up on her in the restaurant insideVeil, a Drake hotel property I shouldn’t have been allowed to enter at all with no reservation and no intention of making one.
But if I had nothing else, I had connections.
Daniel Whitfield owed me one.
“I’m surprised it took you so long,” she said barely looking up from her eggs. “Where’s Onyx?”
“That’s what I came to ask you,” I told her.
Thatactually drewher attention upward, forcing me to meet her expressive gaze. “Fuck,” she whispered. “He already went after him?”
“If one more person says that, I’m going to snap!” I barked. “Already went after him, like y’all knew this was coming and didn’t do anything about it!”
Margeaux laughed “Now, girl, I know you worried about your nigga, but don’t roll up on me acting as if that is a mananybodycan tell anything. Besides, I heard about theThornsthat ran through y’all shit. That was messed up. How many people did you lose this time?”
I raised an eyebrow. “This time?” I asked and she nodded.
“Youdoknow Renard putThornsin with those white boys to kill your people off last year, right?”
“Yeah, but how do you know?”
She smirked. “What can I say? I just… know what I know.” She shrugged. “And what I know is, you didn’t come to me for whatever this lil back and forth is that we’re doing right now. You came to me because you think I know where Renard is.”
“Iknowyou know where he is,” I snapped. “And I know you know how to get to him,” I said. “And I know you care about Onyx. So get your ass up, and come on. We’re going after him.”
Margeaux sat back in her seat, wearing an impressed sort of smirk. “I see why he likes you, and because of that, I’m going to let you know—you wouldn’t last more than five minutes inGardenbusiness.”
“So thoseThornsthat ran up in our shit yesterday, that wasn’tGardenbusiness?” I asked her. “And if I’m not mistaken, they were in y’all’s ‘activated’ state, whichshouldhave made them even worse to deal with, right?”
Still wearing that smirk, Margeaux nodded.
I raised my hands. “Well, you see where I am, in contrast with wheretheyare—piled up somewhere in the desert for the vultures to make a meal of.”
She nodded. “Okay. And I know you popped Trinidad too,” she added. “So you’re good with a gun. Butthat’snot the same as walking into their territory,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I want you to understand—I will not protect you. If I go in there, it’s going to be with my own agenda. And if I have to save your nigga, I’m taking him back from you.”
“Bitch, I will shoot you right now,” I told her and she laughed.
Not at me—she was genuinely entertained.
“I know that’s right, sis.” She chuckled. “Relax though. I’m just fucking with you.” She stood from the table, tossing a hundred dollar bill next to her plate before she looked at me and said. “AlrightMiss Not Quite a Rose.Let’s see what you can really do.”
