"I'm so sorry I dragged you into my shit once again."
"Man, you my sister," I said, glancing at her. "You ain't gotta apologize for shit. That nigga tried to hurt you. He got what he deserved."
"But what about Nova? What if I can't come back? What if I never see my baby again?"
"Don't talk like that," I said. "We gonna figure this shit out. Kynessa got her, she safe. Once we get you across the border, we'll lay low for a minute and figure out the next move. But you ain't going to prison. I promise I won't let that shit happen again."
She nodded, wiping her face.
My phone buzzed again. Mya. I silenced it and kept driving. I couldn’t think about Mya and her temper tantrum right now, my only concern was my sister and getting her to safety.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ya’Mya
It had been a whole week since I last heard from Trigg. Seven days of calling him, texting him, getting nothing back. Not “I'm good," not a "I'm busy," nothing. Just straight silence like I didn't even exist.
I was sitting in my crib feeling fucked up about it, staring at my phone like maybe if I looked at it hard enough, his name would pop up. But it never did.
I knew some shit went down with his sister Tasha, Kynessa had told me that much, but that didn't mean he couldn't send me one text. One message to let me know he was straight. Instead, he just disappeared on me like I wasn't nothing to him.
Maybe I wasn't.
My phone rang and I snatched it up quick, hoping it was him. But it wasn't. It was Rah.
"Hello?"
"Shorty, what's good?"
"Hey, Rah. What's up?"
His voice sounded tired. "Man, I just... I need somebody to talk to, shorty. BooMan's funeral is coming up and I'm fucked up in the head about it. Can I slide through?"
I hesitated for a second. Rah was cool, but he was still Trigg's boy. Still, he sounded like he really needed somebody, and I knew how close him and BooMan was.
"Yeah, you can come through," I said.
"Bet. I'm on my way."
About thirty minutes later, Rah pulled up. I was sitting on the porch when he got out the car. He looked tired as hell, his eyes were red like he'd been crying or smoking, or both.
"What's good, Ma," he said, walking up and sitting down next to me.
"Hey," I said.
"You good?"
"Nah, I ain't good," he admitted, shaking his head.
"I can't stop thinking about BooMan, bro. Like, we just was together, you know? We was just laughing and talking shit, and now he gone. It don't feel real."
"I'm sorry, Rah," I said softly. "I know y'all was close."
"Man, that was my best friend," he said, his voice cracking. "Since we was shorties. And now I gotta go to his funeral and watch them put him in the ground. I don't know if I can do that shit."
"You can," I said. "You gotta be there for him. He would want you there."
Rah nodded, wiping his face. We sat there in silence for a minute, just looking out at the street.