Page 125 of Invisible Bars

“Yousure? You answered the phone like somebody laced your coffee with melatonin.”

“Ugh!” she grumbled. “You better be paying metriplefor all this back and forth—you know I can’t walk! This wheelchair got Bluetooth, not boosters! Hold on! Perfection takes time!”

A few minutes passed, then I heard a door creak and wheels shift.

“She’s here… snoring like life’s been nothing but spa days and soft music.”

“I know… remember I have cameras. I just wanted yo’ ass to get on yo’ job.”

“I know you’re fuckin’ lying! Imanio, do you not know the struggle it took me to get here from that couch?! Nigga, I almost broke my wrist trying to do a three-point turn in this hallway! All foryouto be sitting comfy somewhere, watching her on camera likeBig Brother,andstillgot me doing manual labor?!” she fumed. “You’re going to hell! And I’m putting you on Do Not Disturb after I leave here! Oh,andI’m whoopin’ yo’ ass the next time I see you too! Mark mywheels!”

I was cracking up on my end. “My bad, sis.”

“Apologynotaccepted... unless you put me in your will. I don’t care what I get—just put me on the list!”

“You already on there, sis.”

“Well, let me hush before it gets removed. But all jokes aside, Imanio, if Naji really wanted to leave, she could’ve left… me being here or not. Hell, I’m in a wheelchair. Yeah, it’s high-tech, but it ain’t built for a hostage pursuit. Not to mention, you got Ms. Shirley—a sixty-something-year-old woman—here secretly watching her, doing a job she doesn’t even know she’s hired for. What could she possibly do? Make Naji sit down with a plate and guilt her into staying. The lady thinks she’s just serving plates, but she’s really serving surveillance. She’s basically an unpaid CIA with arthritis. At least give her hazard pay or a raise in the seasoning budget.”

That was true. Ms. Shirley didn’t even know she was part of the plan. Yeah, I had my own surveillance—my phone—but between meetings, calls, and running an empire, I couldn’t keep eyes on Naji every second. With Ms. Shirley there, though,I could breathe a little. Because I knew if Naji so much as brushed that front doorknob, Ms. Shirley would snitch without realizing she was actually snitching—thinking she was just being a concerned staff member when really, she was my unwitting security system with a skillet and an apron.

”So fair warning,” Dessign kept ranting, “if she’s not here when you make it, the most I can do is just pray about it and post her picture on Facebook with a ‘Have you seen this woman?’ caption like she stole my wig.”

I laughed again. “Knowing yo’ ass, you’d include, ‘Last seen in my man’s hoodie with my good lip gloss in her purse.’”

“Exactly!And I would’ve made it go viral too! Even if it wasn’t true!”

“Well, if she does leave there, that’s yo’ assandyou’ll have to deal with me.”

“All the reason why I gave you a heads up. And Imanio, let me clear one thing up… I’m not scared of you. All of these niggas around here might be, but I’m not!” she said, trying to sound serious but failing.

“Aight,DebbiefromFriday.”

“You picked up on that, huh?” She laughed. “Seriously, bro, that’s the most help I can give. I didn’t sign up for an audition to be a star inThe Fast and the Four-Wheeled. I’m in a wheelchair, not a damn Batmobile.”

I chuckled.

“I don’t think you have to worry about her trying to escape, though… Especially not after thebeautifulbonding moment we had.”

“Is that so?” I asked, already smirking. I knew damn well she was adding sauce.

“Yes! Can you believe it?! The one and onlyNaji Aliand me became besties today! Like, I’m lowkey thinking about gettingus matching bracelets! You need to hurry up and make this marriage public so I can start tagging her in my posts!”

“So basically you wanna use her for clout?”

“Clout?! I’ll have you know I already have800K followers… thanks to your popularityandthe fact that people love a wheelchair baddie with fashion sense and a soft smile.”

“But tagging her could get you that mil, huh?” I asked.

She smacked her lips.

“Whatever! I’m looking at the bigger picture! Me and Naji could be unstoppable! We could do ‘Get Ready With Us’ videos—I style her and she teaches me how to smize without looking constipated.”

I started laughing. “You need serious help.”

“I’m so serious, Imanio! I could see us now… front row at Fashion Week in six months! If we’re not there, I’ma blame you, then sue you for delaying my influencer rise! So to answer your question, no, I don’t want to use her for clout; I wanna show them dusty bitches who ghosted me after my accident that God not only removes, but he upgrades! But where you at? I’m hungry! I’m sure Naji is too.”

“I’m actually headed to Grandma’s.”