Page 22 of ‘Til I Say When

“I want you to leave me alone,” I stated through clenched teeth and pushed past him.

Wilde grabbed me and pulled me back, and I burst into tears. I was clammy, sweaty, nauseous, and miserable. Wilde wrapped his arms around me and hugged me as I cried into his chest. He was the last person I expected comfort from.

“Come on man. I’ll drive you home. I’ll get your car later.”

I couldn’t even protest. Wiping my tears, I sent Tyrese a quick text, even though he was up front.

I didn’t want to talk to him. I walked over to Wilde’s car where he had the car door already open for me.

I felt too bad to be embarrassed. He had already pulled my card, and he knew I was addicted to the syrup anyway.

He was the reason I was going through what I was going through, and as much as I wanted to hate him for it, I couldn’t.

He saw what needed to be done, and he forced me into doing it.

With my head resting on the back of the seat, I closed my eyes and prayed that I wouldn’t throw up.

The movements of the car were making my nausea worse.

If I ever again had the thought to sip some lean, I was going to remember everything I was going through.

The thin shirt that I wore clung to my body because despite the fact that Wilde had the AC on, I was still sweating.

When he arrived at my apartment, I had to rush to the door because I could feel the bile rising in my throat.

I made it to the bathroom just in time. When I was done throwing up, I brushed my teeth and washed my face.

I just wanted to take a shower, but I felt so weak.

I gripped the sink and held my head down.

With my eyes closed, I begged God to get me through.

I wanted to cry again, but I had brought it on myself, so there was no need to cry.

Finally, I mustered up the strength to take a quick shower.

It felt so good getting all the sweat off my body.

With a towel wrapped around me, I jumped when I walked in my bedroom and saw Wilde sitting on my floor, scrolling through his phone.

I assumed he didn’t want to sit on my bed with his outside clothes on.

Taking a shower had taken everything out of me.

Getting dressed was a task that I couldn’t perform.

It wasn’t like Wilde had never seen me naked, so I removed the towel and got in my bed.

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the prickly feeling on my arms and legs.

It almost felt like something was crawling on me.

I laid there for the longest time, and sleep wouldn’t come.

My stomach churned. I got hot and tossed the covers off my body.

My legs were still aching. After about an hour, I sat up and drew my knees to my chest. “I can’t do this shit anymore.

I can’t. Go get me some syrup please,” I begged with tears streaming down my cheeks.

Wilde stood up but instead of him leaving, he removed his clothes and got in bed with me.

I wanted to protest when he pulled me into his arms. I was already hot and didn’t need additional body heat, but I laid my head on his chest anyway.

Wilde wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the forehead.

The moment I started dosing off, the aching in my legs woke me back up, and I wanted to cry.

Wilde asked me what was wrong and when I told him, he began to massage my legs.

He gave me two Tylenol PM and put a damp rag on my forehead.

After making me drink some Gatorade, he laid with me again until I fell asleep.

I woke up a few hours later, and he wasn’t in bed with me, but I could smell marijuana smoke coming from the living room.

He had been with me for hours while I got through my withdrawals from codeine, and I was grateful.

Maybe Wilde wasn’t such a jerk after all.

It was a long ass night but when the sun came up, my legs were no longer aching.

I didn’t feel the best, but I was going to force myself to eat something and go to work.

Wilde was sleeping peacefully in my bed, and I didn’t know if I wanted to kiss him or smack him in the face with a pillow.

If I could just get through the last two and a half hours of wrapping the car I was working on, I could come back home.

I loved wrapping cars, but it was the first time I was glad that I didn’t have another car waiting on me.

By the time I was done in the bathroom, Wilde was up and putting his clothes on.

“Thank you for staying here with me. I pray the worst of it is gone. I need to go to the shop, and I hope I’ll be there for less than three hours.”

“You sure you good?” his voice was raspy, and sleep filled.

“I’m better.” I was far from good, but I was better than the day before. I just wanted to sleep through the rest of it, but I was an adult with responsibilities.

Wilde bobbed his head and grabbed his keys to leave. I lowkey wished he would have given me another forehead kiss, but he didn’t. I wasn’t sure what Wilde was doing to me, and I damn sure didn’t know if I liked it.