Page 34 of Only a Gemini Will Do
Chang leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he grilled me with a hard stare. He looked to be a few years younger than his partner, with a slimmer build and his black hair in a crew cut. “Save us all some time and cut the bullshit. Some of us wanna get home to our families. After all, it is Christmas.”
“We know you were hiding out, Dorsey. We also know you had to have gotten some help. Was it Ms. Williams? Was she the one helping you? And what about your twin brother, Kadeem? Is he still out there?”
“Ain’t seen ’em,” I grumbled. “And I don’t know any fuckin’ Ms. Williams.”
They could throw their fuckin’ worst at me. I’d never snitch on my twin, and I damn sure wouldn’t let them drag Sawyer down with me.
“Lying isn’t going to work,” Detective Jakes stated. “Might I remind you that you’re being charged with the crime of escape, not to mention the years on the sentence you already had. This is a second-degree felony here in Florida, Mr. Dorsey. That meansthe minimum you’re looking at is fifteen years in prison on top of what you’ve already got. Oh, and probation and a hefty fine.”
“So, where is he? Where’s Kadeem?” Detective Chang probed.
“I already told you, I haven’t seen him, unless you mean every time a pretty nigga like me looks in the mirror,” I said with a sarcastic chuckle.
Detective Jakes scoffed. “Real fuckin’ funny. I bet you won’t be laughing when you see this,” he said, grabbing an iPad and playing a video. “We’ve got surveillance footage from a gas station in Tampa late last month. Two men. One with the same height and build as you. One person walked in, spoke with Ms. Williams, and paid cash for some Hot Cheetos and Backwoods. The other man he was with disappeared.”
I made sure not to flinch, although I knew exactly what he was talking about. It was the night Kadeem and I split up after returning to Florida from Brazil.
“Did you two switch places? Maybe both of you couldn’t be seen in Tampa together, so you decided to split up?”
Even though my mouth didn’t say anything, my face did. I smirked, finding their bullshit interrogation skills amusing. They needed to know I was the wrong nigga to have an‘I don’t give a fuck’contest with. As a Gemini, I was gon’ take home the gold every fuckin’ time.
“You think we some lil red-headed white girls Parent Trapping our way through life?” I questioned with my head cocked to the side and my attitude colder than Subzero.
Chang snapped, not finding my laugh at their expense as amusing as I did. “You think this shit is funny? You’re facing serious charges, Kareem. Not to mention, Ms. Williams for harboring a wanted fugitive. She’s not gonna look too cute birthing that baby in prison.”
“Leave her out of this. You already got who you want.”
“If you want to protect her, you’ll start talking. Because if we find out she helped you in any way, even unknowingly, we’ll make sure she goes down too,” Detective Jakes warned.
“She didn’t know shit, and she didn’t help me with shit. I already told you I don’t even know the bitch like that,” I answered, my voice low and dangerous.
They could paint whatever picture they wanted of me and hang that shit up on the wall for the entire precinct to see, for all I cared. I was built for anything that came my way. But not Sawyer. I would do anything to protect her.
“Then how’d you end up in her fucking apartment? Just dropped through the chimney like Santa?” Chang asked.
I scoffed. “I met her sister in the grocery store parking lot. Told her I was in the military on leave and was having car trouble. One thing led to another, and she invited me back to her sister’s place to stay for the holidays. She doesn’t know anything about me. She doesn’t even know I have a twin brother,” I lied smoothly.
“You expect us to believe that shit?”
My shoulders rose and fell. “I don’t give a fuck what you believe,” I said, leaning back in the metal chair. “Just leave them the fuck out of it.”
The detectives exchanged a knowing look. Detective Jakes scribbled something on his notepad while Chang expelled a hard, frustrated sigh.
“Fine, we’ll leave her out of it for now, but if Kadeem shows up and we get even the slightest whiff of her being anywhere near him, we won’t hesitate to take her down, and him too.”
Detective Chang uncuffed me from the metal chair and led me back toward the holding cell I was in. As I marched, I kept my head high and my eyes forward, but every thought floating around my head revolved around Sawyer and my brother. I mayhave bought them time, but just like luck, time had a way of fucking running out.
Chapter 9
Sawyer
Everything felt different after the police raid. That was probably because everythingwasdifferent. I was curled into the fetal position on the couch with my hands covering my face as I cried so hard my body quivered. My belly was tight with grief. I was sick over losing Kareem to the Feds, and embarrassed as hell that it all went down on Christmasandin front of my sister, whom I hadn’t had the chance to explain the whole backstory to untilaftershe’d seen him get arrested in my living room. But I was glad I wasn’t alone.
Soleil knelt beside me, her voice gentle but firm.“Sawyer, you gotta try and calm down.”
“I j-just c-can’t believe this h-happened,” I choked out through my sobs. “And of all fucking nights, and while y-you’re here. I’m so f-fucking embarrassed, Soleil. My s-skin is fucking crawling.”
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You didn’t do anything wrong.”