SIX

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Braxton let his people deal with Titus until he got to the location they would hold him. But first, he had to deal with Nadine.

She sat silently and crossed her arms as he coasted down the highway. He was slightly pissed off after catching her on the job earlier. He wanted to not care that she was putting someone else in her mouth, but it didn't sit right with him. In his mind, her mouth belonged to him and only him, whether she was a hoe or not.

"Talk to me," he said lowly.

He didn't want to take her to his own place because not many got the privilege of going there. Nadine was special but she had to earn her way into his house.

After a minute she hadn't said anything and he felt himself gripping the steering wheel even tighter. He was tired of her being reluctant to share information when by now she should have been used to it. The silent game and her glares were getting old. She had to know that by now it was too late for all that.

Braxton didn't want to yell at her because he already saw that that didn't work. He took the next right and waited for her to say something.

"He said they were looking for me," Nadine whispered. She always felt unsafe but this time it actually felt real. The threat of dangerous men coming after her scared her more than usual, probably because she didn't know the extent of what everyone else knew. She couldn't decide if Titus was simply lying or if there were actually people that were looking for her.

"Who?"

"I'on know. Probably whoever work for Carti," she sighed. Her elbow rested on the door as she looked out of the window. Suddenly she felt herself getting tired as the exhaustion finally settled in. Before she could let her drowsiness take over, she remembered how nasty she felt. A toothbrush and another shower was the only thing that would make her happy right now.

Though there was more information she could have given him, she wouldn't say anything unless he asked for it. The more she kept to herself, the more she could use as leverage.

Braxton didn't want to think that there were more people coming after Nadine. After all, she was at best a high-class hoe. He understood why most of the town knew her to be one of Titus' girls, but there was something weird about everybody trying to gun for her. If she was in danger like he had heard from his part of the streets anyway, she had to stay lowkey.

Both of them did.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

He rolled into another part of town that Nadine thought to be foreign. The way he drove, he must have known his way around the whole world. "Stop staring at me," he mumbled and continued to drive. Her eyes darted away as she picked at her fingernails.

The car stopped in front of a small one-story home surrounded by trees. The neighborhood was quiet but it wasn't particularly safe. Nadine watched a few people milling around the sidewalks. Someone's garage was open, and music blasted out from it. The sounds made her headache worse, and all she wanted to do was go home.

He got out of the car and noticed that the porch light turned on. Nadine did not know whether or not to follow him so she stayed inside, but he was fine with that. He had to have a conversation first.

Stepping out of the house stood a petit, brown-skinned woman, wrapped in a flowy kimono. Her locs were wrapped high above her head and she held a blunt to her full lips. She slanted her eyes at Braxton as he approached and closed the door behind her.

"Lo, baby what's up?" He greeted his friend. He wanted to go in for a hug but he knew Lorena didn't play that. Whatever they had was long gone and they both felt it, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't still some tension.

Braxton needed a favor from her and prayed she would just do it with no questions asked.

"You rollin' up on me in the middle of the night for what exactly?" Lorena took a puff of the backwood and blew it in his face. She regretted not inhaling it but she loved the theatrics of making him squirm. Braxton wished he could forget all the things he had to do and stay with her to smoke. But life wouldn't afford him that opportunity. "I need your help."

Lorena rolled her eyes and sat down on one of the lawn chairs. From where he stood on the porch steps, he could see the irritation written all over her face. "Yeah? Why the hell you bringing people to my place?" She nodded toward Nadine who noticed the two of them looking in her direction and put her head down.

"She's why I'm here. Can you keep her for me?"

"Braxton she ain't no dog. Don't say it like it's just so easy to bring someone in like that. I don't even know the broad." Lorena stared in the opposite direction. Despite how resistant she was, she knew that there was nothing she wouldn't do for him.

"What did you get into now?" Lorena asked. When they were together it was always something; he left often, never said where he was, and she could never get a hold of him. That's why it didn't work out between them. She could not deal with how busy his life was, no matter how much she wanted to love him. "She just need a place to stay. Come on, Lo. Just for a couple days, maybe a week."

"Not a week. One night and you come get ha in the morning. I'm not playing witchu', Braxton."

Nadine watched both of them bicker back and forth from her view in the window. They were distractedly talking, and not worrying about her. She opened the door and slipped out of the SUV, making sure not to close the door. Looking around she was in an unfamiliar neighborhood, but she could find her way back home. She had to.

She crouched and made her way to the other side of the street. As she approached the corner, she could hear footsteps and loud talking behind her. A group of people passed her up, and she walked closely behind them to blend in. The clack of her heels reminded her how badly her feet hurt. Her anxiety was high and she was on high alert. This was her chance to get away, find somewhere new to live, maybe change her name, go back to school...

Nadine pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind; all that would come later. Now she had to focus on getting out of this. She turned her head and observed Braxton searching the car for her. She picked up the pace and followed the group of people to wherever they were going. The beat of her heart picked up as she figured out her next steps.

The group of people was heading towards the open garage when they noticed Nadine was following them. "Yo, Twan did you bring this girl?" Another boy grabbed Nadine's arm as she yanked it away. She looked him up and down, daring him to touch her again.

Everyone in the group stared back at Nadine as she froze. "Bitch, are you trying to steal my man?" A short girl came from behind the boy everyone addressed as Twan. Some girls who she seemed to be close with circled around Nadine. Nadine towered over the girl but didn't back down from the accusation. "You can't fucking talk?"

"Yeah, Riri get her!" Her friends hyped her up. In the dark, she could not see much but the outline of her face. Nadine swung at the girl and clocked her in the mouth as she stumbled back. The crowd erupted in "ooh"'s and "Shit"'s. Immediately Riri was leaking and Nadine was trying to back out of the brawl. The circle had closed so tightly around them and there was nowhere for her to go.

Riri reached up and grabbed Nadine's ponytail and brought her down to face level. She used her knees to get Nadine once in the chin. Nadine sent punches to her stomach but the girl had a death grip. She lifted up her head and slapped Riri, sending her to the grown. Girls rushed to her side while some of them started to swing at Nadine.

"I'll beat your ass bitch!" Somebody yelled. More and more people swarmed toward her, the random chick who had just crashed their party.

Suddenly Nadine felt strong arms grab her waist and pull. The plan she had put in place had shattered quickly. She kicked and yelled to get out of his grasp, as the crowd watched and made their way to the party. No one was going to come and save her from this, it was just a fight being broken up.

Braxton kept her in his firm grasp until they made it back into the car. From the corner of her eye, she could see Lorena still sitting on the porch smoking her blunt, only this time she was laughing.

He slammed her against the door and grabbed her face with one hand. All he did was stare at her, choosing his next words carefully. He had done all of this to keep her safe and she tried to run away. Twice. Part of him felt like he was wasting time on her. He had more important things to do. And in reality, all he had to do was leave her alone and let the animals who were coming for her have her.

"I put my own damn neck on the line for you. I'm not asking that much of you, Nadine. I haven't done shit but help you. You know what's at risk here and you still feel like you need to act a damn fool?"

Nadine avoided his eyes and stood perfectly still. She hated when people touched her face but she couldn't particularly tell him to stop. This was the angriest she had ever seen him. It was understandable, though. He had gone through a lot just to keep her around, and she still didn't fully understand why. If you're doing all of this shit, you could have just killed me and kept it stepping she thought.

"Look at me," he was growling again. The command in his voice frightened her. Her eyes went to his, and she felt him staring into her soul. She thought he could see every part of her: all the secrets, lies, and fears.

It was now that she was truly afraid of him.

"Keep fucking playing, Nadine, and I swear to God you will lose your life." He let her go and walked back to the house. Nadine caught her breath and sucked back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She realized that there was really no getting out of this for her.

The two of them watched Nadine from the front porch as she timidly walked up to the steps. In the yellow light, Braxton noticed that she had a few scratches from her fight. He tried not to stare too long and averted his eyes. "Thank you mamas," he pecked Lorena on the cheek and turned towards the car. Walking past Nadine, he spoke no words towards her. Right now he was furious at her and didn't want to say anything that he would regret.

"Mamas my ass. Bye Braxton." She wiped off the spot on her face where he planted his lips.

Lorena looked Nadine up and down and went inside the house. The door was cracked a little for her guest to enter. Nadine stood on the porch staring at the door, not moving at all from her spot.

"You coming or what?" She tried her best not to give so much attitude, seeing as though she had been through a lot tonight. The girl looked tired and ran through, maybe even a little bit hungry as well.

She hadn't responded at all, prompting Lorena to go back out there and get her. She grabbed Nadine's wrist and led her to a spare room that sat opposite of her bedroom.

The feistiness Nadine thought she had fizzled out. As her eyes made contact with the bed she felt her legs giving out and her eyes closing. Lorena caught her before she could fall.

"Now, yo ass probably got a whole foot on me and you gon' try and collapse? Come here," Lorena put Nadine's arm around her shoulder and walked with her to the bed. She laid back against the headrest and kicked her shoes off.

Nadine wondered why Lorena was being so nice. They had barely spoken a couple of words to each other, they just met a two seconds ago, and Nadine hadn't even introduced herself. If it were her, she wouldn't let anyone like herself stay in her house.

Lorena left the room briefly, leaving Nadine to look around. The walls were bare except for a few pictures of various people, and a mirror that hung a couple of inches from the bed. The picture closest to her showed a little boy and a girl, neither of them passed the age of 10, playing together. The girl resembled Lorena; the boy had a face she couldn't place.

She came back with some items for her guest and set them down on the bed. "So what went down tonight?"

"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to." She replied. That was the honest truth. She didn't understand why she did anything she did. Her whole life she just took orders from someone else and followed blindly. "I don't know why he's doing this to me."

"He's not a bad guy. He just does bad things." Good guys must be different these days.

Silence. Nadine used the moment to look at Lorena. She was a stunning girl with full brown lips and big eyes. Her colored dreadlocks hung to the middle of her back even in the high pony that stood on top of her head. Nadine wondered if they were heavy.

"You need anything else? A charger or sumn?"

"I'on have a phone. Where's the bathroom?" Nadine eyed the pile of things that she brought in there. The spare clothing couldn't have been hers, it was way too big for her petite body.

"It's one right there," she pointed to a door in the room. "Imma leave you alone. Hit me up if you need anything." She nodded and left the room, only taking two more steps to get to hers.


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