He looked at me, all crazy. “Yeah, girl, what’s wrong with you?”
I looked around and jumped outta bed, everything in the room was still the same: my suitcases were still sitting off to the side, the empty bottle of wine and my glass sitting on the dresser. The only different thing was the nigga in my room.
“What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here.”
He laughed at me. “Why ain’t I?”
“Because you are in jail! How are you here right now?” I asked, cuffing my hair in my hands, feeling like I was losing my mind.
Gio wasn’t trippin’, though he was laughing at me, looking around at my things, but not really giving me an answer.
“Gio, what are you doing here?” I asked again.
He took a seat on the edge of my bed and stared at me, the smile on his face slowly melting away.
“Come on now, Mama, you know me, don’t you?” he said softly. “I missed you.”
I shook my head, my heart started racing, and I was so confused.
“Do you still love me?” he asked.
I wanted to say no, but nothing in my body would let me.
“Yes, I love you.”
He nodded at me. “Then don’t leave me.”
I stared deep in his eyes. “Gio, I don’t trust you. I can’t wait years for nothing to happen, I told you.”
Gio stared back at me and nodded. The soft look he had on his face was slowly fading away.
“I will not let you go, Islah.”
I exhaled. “You have to Gio, I’m leaving you.”
Gio shook his head. “Over my dead body. You were made to be my wife, and that’s it.”
I stood up. “Gio, I can’t do this.”
I walked to the door and tried to grab the knob, but couldn’t; it was like the doorknob had gel or something slick on it.
Gio just sat on the bed watching me struggle to get out of the room, not helping me, not saying anything. I turned around and looked at him, and he straight laughed in my face and said, “I told you, you can’t get away from me. This is death row!”
I jumped up outta my sleep in a cold sweat and out of breath. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and saw it was four in the morning.
I got out of bed, put on my robe, and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. The dream felt so real that my hands were still shaking.
“What type of hold is this?” I asked myself, not understanding why letting go of him felt harder than it had to be, and that’s when I made my decision…
I needed to leave for Atlanta as soon as I could; I needed to get that nigga off my back.
Chapter 16
Scheming
Ijumped up outta my sleep; I could tell I had been sleeping too long. I sat straight up in bed, rubbed my eyes, and looked around. The sun was already hitting the yard, bouncing off the walls of the block, lighting up everything I hated about being locked in. I thought by now I would be getting calls from the guards about Groom and this bond, but that wasn’t the case.
I walked outta my cell, checked to see who was on duty, and walked back in my cell and called Mr. Groom’s cell.