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Redix goes to close it, but I grab his arm, the hairs on mine standing on end. My ears strain to hear. My muscles draw up. My nerves start firing. I can sense it…
“Where’s everyone?” I whisper.
“They’re asleep. Why?”
“Where’s Keith?”
“Around here somewhere.”
But I haven’t seen Keith, and if he’s running his usual nightly rounds, I would’ve seen his flashlight outside by now.
This sensation. It’s what woke me up.
I reach for Redix’s neck, pulling him into a kiss. He’s shocked but takes it.
“Derek’s in the house,” I whisper in his ear like we’re making out. “Don’t react. Keep kissing me.”
Every muscle on his body tenses against mine. We kiss again, but it’s not passionate. It gives me a second to think.
I snake my hands through his long hair, pulling his neck down like I’m about to devour it. “When did you last see Renie? Nicolas?”
“This afternoon. Mama, too.” He whispers in my ear.
I kiss his neck. “Have you heard them?”
He kisses mine back. “I’ve been in my room.”
That’s been hours and given Derek plenty of time.
They’re here. He’s here. I know it.
I go back for Redix’s lips; if Derek’s watching, listening in, we can’t blow this. “My gun and radio are in my car.” I ghost his mouth with whispers. “Fight with me. Act. Follow me out there and back into this house. No matter what.”
I shove him away, raising my voice. “So you think fucking’s gonna solve things?”
It crosses his eyes fast. My plan. His next move. “Why not?” He raises his voice, too. “You fucked him too. And we all loved it until you and your revenge. It’s your fault he left.”
Is he acting?
I turn toward his front door. “Go to hell, Redix Dean. I’m tired of being your emotional bitch.”
My eyes scan. My pulse, I try calming it, but it reacts. The long hallway to the guest bedrooms on my right? It’s dark. A light’s on under one of the bedroom doors at the end of it.
That’s where Derek is.
“Yeah, well fuck you, Cade.” Redix is on my heels. This act is easy for him. But keeping calm, it’s straining his voice. “Go ahead, run instead of fighting for us. It’s what you do now.”
Opening the front door, make sure you keep it unlocked, I sneer, “I’m sick of fighting. It’s all we do.”
My steps eat up the distance, down his front porch, while Redix follows me, shouting, “Because you don’t fucking listen. You’re so goddamn stubborn. What are you gonna do? Jump in your car and drive away? Because you can’t stand the truth?”
I do jump in my car. Grabbing my police radio on my passenger seat, I turn it on while Redix yells at my passenger window. “Come on, Cade. Grow the fuck up and talk to me. But you won’t, will you? No. You always gotta…”
He keeps yelling, his shouts shaking with the thunder rolling overhead.
“This is Bryant, one forty, to dispatch.” I crouch low using Redix’s position between me and the house so Derek can’t see if he’s watching through a window. And like Redix was raised around cops too, he knows what to do too. “I need multiple units at 10 Pelican Lane. Wanted suspect Derek Baucom is inside. Possibly armed. Possible hostages. The security guard is down. Homeowner, Redix Dean. White male. Long hair. White T-shirt is with me. I’m going back inside. Repeat. I have wanted suspect Derek Baucom. I need backup.”
It rolls off my tongue while I tuck my gun into the back waistband of my jeans.
