Page 33

HIDEOUT

The snow was coming down heavy outside like it always did as fat flakes stuck to the windows of the cheap-ass truck stop hotel I had been in for weeks.

I had never been in the snow before, but I couldn’t lie, it was calming.

I had missed Thanksgiving. Now, it was almost Christmas, but it didn’t feel like the holiday season.

Just me, some cash stacked on the dresser, and a head full of shit I was trying to keep straight.

Storm found me a week ago. I should’ve moved again but fuck it, I was comfortable where I was.

The staff was cool, and they weren’t in my business.

I gave them extra, and they stayed out of my way.

She was bringing me food, checking in on me like I was her little project.

She kept saying, “You don’t need to be up here alone. ”

I knew what she was on. She wanted to be the one. The savior. The queen to my king. But I wasn’t stupid.

I let her hang around, as if she were working from my room, only because I needed the favor still, and now I needed a burner phone. I got paranoid, PTSD high, and tossed my burner phone I had. I needed to touch base with Tory, finally. The only nigga I trusted. So, I needed to put Storm to use.

“Yo, can you get me a phone?” I asked her one night.

She perked up like a lil lapdog, happy to be useful. “Yeah, of course. What do you need it for?”

I just looked at her, real calm. “Don’t ask me no questions. Just get it.”

She didn’t like my attitude, but she didn’t push it. That’s the thing about Storm—she wanted to be defiant, but she wasn’t built for it.

I knew who was built for anything I had, though. Yummi. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I’d get this vague-ass image, like a dream I couldn’t shake.Her stomach... rounder. Her glowing.

Was she...

I shook it off. Couldn’t let my mind run wild like that.

Finally, when Storm brought me the burner, I hit Tory up. I was irritated as hell when he started talking. It was still the same story from the last time we talked.

I sat up in bed, feeling that familiar heat in my chest. “Nigga, it’s about to be Christmas. You talking like I gotta be gone till summer.”

Tory sighed. “I’ma make sure you get home before next summer, bro. I swear it. I’m booking a private flight out to Starlight Hills in a couple of days. I’ll keep you updated.”

I exhaled slowly, nodding even though he couldn’t see me.

“A’ight. Get down here. You still gotta hit my family off for the holidays.”

“Say less.”

I hung up and tossed the phone on the bed, reaching for the fried chicken wings Storm had brought me. She was sitting at the table on her phone, acting like she wasn’t watching me, but I felt her eyes on my back.

I ate, popped a Perc, and sparked a blunt. My body was tired, my mind even more tired, but my dick? That nigga was starving .

Storm slid in close when she saw my dick rising in my sweats, knowing I was high. She knew she could take advantage of me. “I just want to suck it, Mula... I won’t cross no lines. We don’t have to fuck.”

I didn’t stop her.

She slid her mouth down on me, eyes looking up at me like she wanted to prove something.

I let her. She didn’t flinch when I nutted on her face, wiped it off with my thumb, and leaning back like I wasn’t just disrespectful.

When she looked up at me, breathing heavy, waiting for me to say something, I just smirked.

“Now stop tryna push up on a nigga. We good.”

She nodded, biting her lip like she liked the taste of rejection. When she cleaned herself up and left, I hit the shower. I stood under the water, steam fogging the mirror, and my heart beating slowly.

Thought about Yummi again like an obsession. I wondered what she was doing and if she was safe. I almost reached for the phone. Almost. But nah. I needed to stay focused. Tory was gon’ make sure everything was straight.

I had to stay patient. For now.