I couldn’t even blame Prez anymore. He had been gone for years. I still thanked God every time I thought about it, that Nique had made it out of that night.
I set the Lego piece down and stared at it for a second. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night going down memory lane, so I pushed back from the table and headed upstairs for my sleeping pills.
I popped two, settled under the sheets, and laid there watching the ceiling fan throw shadows across the wall while I waited for them to kick in.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown Number.
I stared at the screen. I figured it was probably spam. I almost let it roll to voicemail but something in my gut told me to pick up.
“Hello?”
A pause. Then that flat robotic voice. “This is a collect call from—”
“Nique.” Her voice cut over the recording, breathless and uneven. “Dex, it’s me.”
“To accept this call, press 1.”
I was already sitting up. I pulled the phone away just long enough to hit the key and brought it back fast. “What the hell. Where you at?”
“I’m—” she stuttered, words tripping over each other. “I’m in jail. Metro. I was at the hospital first, but they brought me here and I just—”
“In jail?” My heart knocked hard against my ribs. “Nique, what—”
“I didn’t know who else to call,” she cut in fast, like she was burning through her last few minutes. “I got into it with Nel and London earlier. London has the wedding, so she probably doesn’t have it like that right now, and Nel stays broke. Paris puts her phone on DND after nine so I didn’t even try her, and I just…”
She pulled in a shaky breath that sounded like it hurt to take.
“I didn’t have anybody else to call, Dex.”
Silence stretched between us. I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, hand pressed over my mouth. The sleeping pills werestarting to blur the edges, but the adrenaline was sharper than all of it.
“What happened?” I asked.
“A fight,” she said, her voice dropping.
I had a pretty good guess who it was with, but I didn’t ask.
“You hurt?”
“My head hurts,” she said. “They said I blacked out for a second. I’m good though. I think.”
I was already mentally clocking the drive time to Government Street.
“Aight,” I said. “I’m coming.”
“Dex…” Her voice went soft in a way I hadn’t heard in years.
“I got you,” I said. “Don’t say anything else to anybody. I’m on my way.”
“…okay.”
The line clicked.
I sat there for a second staring at the floor, turning over what little she had told me and trying to fill in the rest. Then I grabbed my keys off the nightstand and headed for the door.
Sleep could wait. Nique couldn’t.