Page 6 of ‘Til I Say When

I was sitting Indian style in the center of my bed with my face in my hands.

The room was silent, but KoKo was there, and I was sure she was staring at me.

It had been hours since I left Mazi’s house, and I still hadn’t drunk any lean.

The entire drive from Mazi’s house to mine, I fought the urge to throw up.

My stomach was doing backflips. Not only had I seen a dead body that wasn’t in a coffin for the first time in my life, but I was being framed for murder.

Wilde was a freakin’ psycho. KoKo finally spoke, making me pull my hands away from my face.

“I wonder what he wants you to do? What if you go to the police?”

I tossed KoKo an evil look, rolled my eyes, and fell back onto the bed.

“Yeah. All I have is my word against his while he has a gun with my fingerprints on it. I’m not taking that chance because even if I don’t get found guilty, if he gets off, too, then he’s going to kill my ass.

If my dumb ass hadn’t been going to buy cough syrup, it would have never happened.

I knew I should’ve been left that shit alone. ”

The silence in the room was loud. Sitting up, I hiked a brow at KoKo.

“Yeah,” she replied slowly. “I’ve only seen you drinking it a handful of times, but you just had some when we were on the strip, and you were getting more today. Are you addicted to it? ‘Cus if so, that’s not good. That codeine isn’t good for your liver.”

“Neither is ‘yak or tequila, but you drink that three to four times a week. Don’t judge.”

“I’m not judging you. You know I don’t even get down like that, but I love you. The withdrawals from codeine are ugly. I just don’t want you getting hooked on it, sis.”

Too muhfuckin’ late .

“Right about now, lean is the least of my problems,” I mumbled dryly. I’d been too preoccupied and nervous to even fix the concoction but all the talk about it had me ready to pour up, and I didn’t need KoKo watching me.

She chewed her bottom lip nervously as she stood, leaning against my dresser.

“I need to smoke,” she walked to the living room to get her purse, making me roll my eyes.

I wanted her to leave, so I could fix some syrup.

I didn’t really care for the way weed made me feel, so I didn’t smoke it like that.

Then again, I could die by the hands of Wilde, or I could have a heart attack from smoking some stroke ass weed.

When I thought about it like that, a heart attack didn’t sound too bad.

“You think he’s going to make you traffic drugs or something for him?” she asked while splitting the cigar down the middle.

I stared at her with a deep scowl on my face. “You think I have any clue what he wants with me? I’m already freaked out enough. I’m not going to stress myself out further by coming up with outlandish scenarios.”

KoKo sighed. I knew she was worried, and I didn’t mean to be snappy, but I was fearing the worst, even if I didn’t want to verbalize my thoughts.

I wished I had never just walked in the house.

I wished I had never gone over there to buy syrup.

I wished a lot of shit, but I didn’t have a magic lamp to rub or a genie to grant me any of them.

All I could do was pray that Wilde wasn’t some psycho lunatic that was going to make me go on a crime spree around the city doing things that could land me in prison.

My heart raced just from the mere thought of knowing he had a gun somewhere with my fingerprints on it.

“Maybe I can try to fuck with him. Get close to him and put this pussy on him. Maybe he’ll leave you alone.”

KoKo’s naiveite made me chuckle. “I wish it was that simple, friend. That man just saw us together not too long ago. He’s not crazy. I somehow doubt a man like Wilde is moved by pussy. Thank you for even being willing to do that though.”

He may have been a deranged murderer, but he was fine as hell. If she did have sex with him, it wasn’t like she wouldn’t enjoy it but I thanked her anyway. “Wilde is supposed to be a street nigga,” KoKo sucked her teeth as she lit the perfectly rolled blunt. “A street nigga playing police games.”

“A lot of these niggas play police games,” I grabbed a pillow and hugged it against my body.

KoKo tried to pass me the blunt and when I took it, she looked at me with raised brows. “Oh, you’re stressed for real.”

Since it didn’t look like she was leaving anytime soon, I needed something to take the edge off.

I only hit the blunt twice, and I passed it right back to her.

It took way too much effort to not choke.

Smoking definitely wasn’t for me. I was extremely lightweight, however, and the two tokes did what they were supposed to do.

In less than ten minutes, I felt slightly mellow.

I closed my eyes and attempted to enjoy my high.

Worrying wasn’t going to change anything, but I couldn’t help it.

What was Wilde going to have me do? What if he wanted me to sell pussy or some shit?

“Oh hell no.” I didn’t even realize I’d said it out loud until I heard KoKo asking me what.

“Nothing,” I sighed with my eyes still closed.

KoKo’s phone rang, and when she kissed her teeth, I knew it was AJ.

She got up and walked outside to talk in private, and I’d never been happier to see KoKo go.

I jumped up off the bed and rushed to the kitchen to get the Sprite, a measuring cup, and the Jolly Ranchers that I dropped inside the drink to help the taste.

Measuring the cough syrup out was imperative.

I didn’t drink much. Just enough to get me where I needed to be physically and mentally.

The way I was anticipating that first sip, I felt like a fiend, but I didn’t care.

The objective was to get the drink fixed before KoKo came back inside.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I was done, and she still wasn’t back.

I took four sips before hiding the cup behind my vase of flowers on the kitchen counter and went back to my bedroom.

Two minutes later, KoKo was back inside going off about how AJ got on her nerves.

I was trying really hard to concentrate on what she was saying, but I couldn’t.

Between my fear, the weed, and the lean, the words coming out of KoKo’s mouth sounded like gibberish.

I loved my friend dearly, but when she said she was about to leave, I almost jumped for joy.

I just wanted to sip my drink and be afraid without her staring at me and coming up with theories about Wilde’s plans for me.

As long as I was awake, there was no way I’d get out of my head, so I did the only thing that I knew to do.

I sipped lean until I succumbed to the darkness, and I didn’t have to think at all.

The next day, I was jumpy all day at work, and Wilde never showed.

I only wrapped one car, but I stayed around to answer the phone, respond to website inquiries, and see if I was going to find out my impending fate.

The anticipation was killing me, but I still breathed a sigh of relief when Wilde didn’t show.

The following day, I was wrapping a BMW.

The woman that owned the car wanted it done in a matte green color.

She wanted the hood, however, to be black, making the car two toned.

I loved the green, and I was so hype about the car that I forgot all about Wilde until I heard a whistle and almost jumped out of my skin.

“This shit too fye, G,” he circled the car with a look of admiration on his face while my heart beat like a drum.

He brought the scent of weed into the garage with him.

His thick, shoulder-length curls were on top of his head in a man bun, and his lanky frame was draped in black cargo shorts and a white tee.

Wilde was tatted from his neck down to his legs.

Swiping my tongue across my bottom lip, I watched him as he inspected the car. Finally, Wilde looked at me with a grin on his face. “You cold with this shit, G.” The diamond and gold grills adorning his bottom row of teeth would have been sexy to me if I wasn’t about to wet my pants due to fear.

Any other time someone gave me a compliment, it would have garnered a thank you or a smile at the least, but I couldn’t smile at Wilde.

Not when I could feel my heart beating in my throat.

My mouth was dry, and my palms were sweaty.

Wilde and I had a brief stare off for a few seconds before he walked closer to me.

“I don’t like your ex. In fact, I hate the nigga.

I want to taunt his ass to see if he’ll jump bad.

And what better way to do that than to flaunt his ex-bitch around town.

” I bit my tongue to keep from spazzing on him for calling me out of my name.

“I want Drew to think we’re a couple. That means me and you in a lot of public places together.

I want that shit to be the talk of the town. ”

I should have been grateful that was all he wanted from me.

I would have been willing to bet my last dollar that he wanted me to be a drug mule or something that involved selling my body.

It would actually bring me joy to hurt Drew but I cared more about my reputation and character than I cared about hurting Drew.

“So, you want me to look like a traitor that fucks my old nigga’s opps?” I scowled.

“Yeap.” Wilde answered with no hesitation. “That’s exactly what I want.”

The glower remained on my face as I eyed him with a look of disgust. He wanted me to look grimy, and I didn’t appreciate that.

But I didn’t really have a choice because at the end of the day, I’d rather look grimy to hood niggas than to look like a murderer to the police.

If Wilde wanting to involve me in his petty game of get back would keep that gun out of the hands of the law, I was game.

“For how long?”

“’Til I say when,” he stated with finality.

“And how do I know that if I do this, you won’t still go to the police and give them the gun?”

It was Wilde’s turn to glare at me as if I disgusted him.

“I only care about you doing what I want and not running your mouth about what you saw. Be glad I’m doing it this way because how I was raised, we don’t leave witnesses alive.

As long as I know you won’t go to the police about what you saw, I’m good,” he shrugged passively.

“I don’t care about you being free, as long as you know not to cross me. ”

I was equally as irritated as I was relieved. The fact that he couldn’t even give me an end date didn’t sit well with me. “And when does this start?”

“Tomorrow. They’re having that concert at the Arena and the after party at Club Allure. Allure is going to be packed, and we’re going to walk up in there looking like the couple of the year. Hopefully, Drew’s ass is in there.”

I had never been one to care what anyone said or thought about me, but his plan didn’t sit well with me.

Not only was I going to look disloyal, but if Wilde and Drew’s beef turned deadly, I’d be the one people blamed.

He was playing a dangerous game. Drew had a bad temper and a big ego.

Those two things didn’t mix. An argument between him and Wilde would more than likely lead to a fight, which might lead to gunplay.

I didn’t want to be the cause of any of that.

I didn’t respond, so Wilde pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his shorts and unlocked it.

“Call your phone.”

It took every ounce of restraint that I possessed not to snatch the phone out of Wilde’s hand.

I wasn’t happy about the arrangement, but I knew he didn’t care.

Maybe if I cooperated, he’d end the shit in a short amount of time.

I blocked Drew’s number, and he didn’t know where I lived, so I didn’t have to worry about him harassing me.

The situation still didn’t sit well with me, however.

I punched my number into Wilde’s phone, and my phone began to vibrate in my pocket.

He reached for his phone, and we maintained eye contact as I passed it to him.

“I’ll call you tomorrow evening to let you know what time I’m going to pick you up.

Answer your phone.” The authority in Wilde’s tone didn’t sit well with me.

Actually, my blood was boiling. This man had the nerve to be blackmailing me and making demands in the process.

I didn’t respond and we just stood staring at one another until KoKo came in.

It was going to be her first day answering the phone for me.

Wilde looked over his shoulder, and I glanced at KoKo. She was walking into the space slowly with her gaze trained on him. Wilde looked back at me and smirked. “Have a good day at work, baby.” He pointed at the BMW behind me and nodded his approval. “That shit is fye.”

KoKo and I both watched him as he trekked out of the shop. When we could no longer see him, she rushed over to me with wide eyes. “What did he want?”

“He wants us to go out in public together, so people can think we’re messing around.” I was still torn between being relieved and being irritated.

KoKo’s eyes narrowed as she tried to put two and two together. I needed to finish the car, so I didn’t hesitate to fill her in. “He wants to taunt Drew.”

“Ohhhhhhhh,” she drawled slowly. “Well, friend. At least it’s not something illegal or demeaning.”

“Depends on your definition of demeaning. I can’t stand Drew, but me walking around town with one of his enemies is nasty work.

I wouldn’t even do that for real. I know some women wouldn’t care, but I don’t get down like that.

There are other ways I could hurt him without tarnishing my character.

As soon as they start beefing, people are going to swear it’s my fault. ”

“And you’re old enough and wise enough to know it’s fuck the gossiping ass judgmental folks in this city.

They only know what they see. Not what goes on behind closed doors.

As far as Drew, he talked crazy to you, and I’m not saying he’s a punk, but I don’t see him messing with Wilde like that.

He’ll ice grill you, talk shit about you to his people, and keep it moving.

I’m not even mad at this for you. It could have been worse.

And as far as looking disloyal,” she frowned.

“Drew deserves way worse than thinking you’re boo’ed up with his enemy. ”

“You’re right.” It absolutely could have been worse, so if all I had to do was go out in public a few times with Wilde to get him off my back, then so be it.

I needed to be less concerned with what people thought about me and more concerned with getting on Wilde’s good side, so I didn’t have to worry about him holding that gun over my head.

I’d be damned if I went to prison for killing Mazi. That wasn’t even an option.