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Popa B walks over with his umbrella and puts an arm around my shoulders and kisses my cheek. “Saw lights and thought I’d walk over and see what was going on.”
“I do not want you around these people anymore. They’re animals. No more, Whitley,” Kal demands.
Shocked, I cannot even bring myself to respond to him. But when I do find my words, the first thing I say is, “I want my phone—now.”
Teeth clenched, he replies, “I told you I’ll be getting it fixed tomorrow and bring it to you at your work.”
“What happened to your phone, Whitley?” Popa B asks.
“She dropped it,” Kal answers. “The screen was damaged.”
So were my fingers, I think as he wipes away more mud and flicks it on the ground.
My eyes home in behind him, and I begin walking toward his car.
“What are you doing, Whitley?” he calls after me.
“Getting my phone,” I state without pausing my strides.
“I told you?—”
His yell is cut off by Popa B. “And she told you. I advise you to let the lady get her belongings.”
When I get to the car I see who it is driving, Kal’s friend Kris steps in front of me. “You should think really hard about how you’re going to proceed.”
“You should move.”
“He’s a good friend to have. He’ll give you a good life if you don’t cross him.”
I push past him and bend in to find my phone. I don’t see it, but I do see white powder on the console and a tiny straw in the cupholder.
Cocaine.
The anger I feel at myself is changing to rage against him, Kal, and the situation. “Where is my phone?”
He doesn’t answer.
Avoiding the drug residue but still digging around, I tell him, “You might want to point me in the right direction, or I can have York or her partner come over here and help me look. I’m not sure you want to be arrested for the coke and?—”
“It’ll be long gone before they get over here,” he hisses. “Besides, there isn’t enough for even a possession charge.”
Under the driver’s seat, I find a box of condoms, and I would assume several are missing. Latex. I’m allergic to Latex.
I move to look under the passenger seat and find my smashed phone shoved under it, but before leaving cokehead Kris, I want to make damn sure he understands something. “I’m not intimidated by you or Kal.”
As I walk away, he says, “With what he has on you and your friends, I’d be real damn concerned.”
I know I’ve never thrown any of them under the bus. Never told him they even knew. In fact, when Kal asked, I changed the subject to avoid the lie. Thinking of what I’ve trusted him with makes me sick to my stomach.
Could I lose custody of Nora for trying to hide a lie? I know the answer is yes, but there was no malicious intent. That’s what Kal said. He actually praised me for trying to protect her. I should have seen right through him then, but I didn’t want to. All I wanted was to give Nora a good life, a normal life, and, yes, to protect Pope’s reputation from my cousin’s fabrication.
Walking back to Popa B, I see an ambulance pull up and wonder what the heck is going on.
“Why is there an ambulance?” I ask as I approach Danny.
“Kal wants his injuries documented.”
“What?” I look from Danny to Kal.
