Page 41 of Only a Gemini Will Do

“You don’t have to thank me, Sawyer. You’re my baby sister, and you’re bringing my niece into the world.”

“I didn’t think I’d laugh as much as I did today. I haven’t felt this . . .normalprobably since before I found out I was pregnant.”

“It’s good to feel joy. To smile. To feel alive again, even in the midst of life’s bullshit,” she encouraged me.

I sighed. “I woke up thinking about him today . . . how it would’ve gone if he were here to meet Mama and my friends.”

Her lips twisted to the side, making a funny face. “I don’t know about all that. That shit might’ve been scarier than when the cops burst into your apartment on Christmas.”

I giggled. “Shut up.”

“C’mon, let’s get these gifts to your place and figure out where the hell we’re going to fit all of them. You know you live in a Polly Pocket house,” she joked with a giggle.

I smacked my lips before taking a sip of the lemonade. “Shut up.”

“Seriously, Sawyer. I’ve seen tiny houses with more space than your apartment.” She snickered.

I rolled my eyes with a smile as I rose to my feet. “Like you live in the Taj Mahal. Let’s go, ugly.”

“Lead the way.”

Chapter 14

Kareem

March Twentieth—Day Seventy-Five

3:03 a.m.

My cell wasdark and still as a corpse in the dead of night. I’d been drifting in and out of sleep, dreaming about Sawyer. Then, my eyes snapped open to the sound of alarms blaring inside the prison. The alarms screamed as red strobes painted the walls like blood on the battlefield. I was on my feet before my brain had sense enough to catch up, heart thudding like a Cherokee drum in my chest as I snatched the burner phone from the vent. There was one bar left on the battery.

I pulled off my shirt and wrapped my wrists, preparing for whatever was to come. Something was going down. I crouched low in the dark, my back against the wall, listening as I kept my eyes on the door. Then, the phone vibrated.

Unknown Number:Laundry shoot. Get ready to go.

My breath caught in my chest as I typed back quickly.

Me:Bet.

Shit got real when I heard the click of my cell door sliding open. It wasn’t just mine—all of the cells on my block had beenunlocked. Dozens of niggas spilled out of their cells like field mice in the winter, some stumbling out confused, some ready to fuck some shit up.

The COs shouted, dressed in full riot gear and shooting out rubber bullets like T-shirts at a high school football game. Their radios crackled for backup, but it was already too late. The toothpaste couldn’t be put back in the tube. Their systems had been breached, and it was a fuckin’ free-for-all.

I didn’t hesitate to tuck the burner into my waistband, relying solely on instinct. I moved quickly, making sure to go in the opposite direction of the chaos. I was headed toward the laundry room just like the message instructed. Tear gas started to fill the air. I stayed low, trying to shield my eyes and nose. Everyone was yelling. Some niggas were bleeding. But I didn’t stop, and I damn sure didn’t fuckin’ look back.

I reached the laundry room and went through the industrial-sized shoot as instructed. From there, I reached the outer yard. The wired fence had been strategically cut on the side—like someone had planned it. I pushed through, tearing my uniform pants at the ankle and slicing the back of my shoulder, but I didn’t give a fuck. And then I saw it—a parked black SUV with Kadeem in the driver’s seat, wearing a hoodie over his head. Same eyes as me—same fire in his bones. Our eyes locked, and I raced toward the vehicle.

I sprinted the last stretch, my heart rattling in its cage, and lungs pumping hard. I yanked open the passenger side door and dove in. The wheels on the SUV screeched as we peeled off into the night. Kadeem looked over at me and nodded once before tossing me a hoodie to help conceal my identity. No words were spoken—just a silent understanding as the speedometer rose beyond the speed limit and the prison sirens faded behind us. I looked in the rearview, breath stinging as my ribs rose and fell in a rapid rhythm as I watched the prison shrivel into darkness.

Then my twin spoke the only words I needed to hear. “Welcome home, nigga. Let’s get you to your girl.”

I didn’t respond, just kept my gaze fixed out the window, grateful as fuck that my blood ties had pulled me to freedom before the birth of my daughter.

After we’d puta safe enough distance between us and the prison, Kadeem pulled off the highway into a quiet lot with only a few parked cars. He killed the engine before popping open the glove box. Inside was a gun and keys to a second car stationed nearby with out-of-state plates.

“This one’s clean,” Kadeem insisted. “Jacksonville is about an hour out. You drive. I’ll follow for a bit, then split. Keep the phone on you if you need to reach me.”

“Where you headed?”