“You shot him, which means you could have shot yourself, so he may have been trying to help, but he wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“In all fairness, I didn’t know the gun was going to jump like it did,” she confides.
I do not even want to imagine the kind of gun she was using that would jump the way she described. “No more guns.”
“No more guns,” she repeats. “Love you,” she whispers after a moment.
I let those two words wash over me before replying just as quietly. “You too, makamae. Be good, and I’ll call you when I can.”
“Promise,” she says before I click the phone off.
“I’m going to kill your dad one of these days,” I tell my cousin.
“He tries.” He shakes his head.
“He’s crazy.”
“True,” he mumbles.
My uncle is a good man, but fuck if he isn’t constantly causing drama. I stop at a red light and rub my hands over my face, thinking about everything that has happened and the battle I still have on my hands.
“How’s Myla?”
“Good,” I say, telling him the truth. She has put everything in prospective for me, and I know that, one day, when we’re sitting on the beach, watching our babies play in the ocean, I will look back on these times and know that all the bullshit I had to deal with was worth it.
“So, you guys are for real?”
I look over at my cousin, a man I love like my brother, and speak the only truth I know. “There was never a time when it wasn’t real. Even when I was fighting it, I still knew I would fight for it.”
He grunts and shakes his head as the light turns green and I take off again.
Once we arrive at the police station, I see Richard Rosenblum, my attorney, standing near the front doors with his phone to his ear. We park, get out of the car, and head up the stairs.
“Just got off the phone with Judge Connell and explained that they have been keeping a client here without any explanation. He said he would be calling the chief now, so hopefully, by the time we get up there, they will have this shit sorted out.”
“Nice to see you too, Rich,” I mutter, but I feel my lips twitch. Rich, and his father before him, has worked with my family since I can remember.
“Yeah, yeah. We can catch up with a beer after we get your man out.” He smiles as Junior opens the door and we all walk inside. Rich leads us to an elevator, then up another set of stairs, and into a large waiting room. “Wait here,” he tells us.
I nod and watch him go to the desk and begin talking to the woman sitting there. When she picks up the phone, he shakes his head and says something that has her sitting up a little taller and glaring at him. I watch her mouth move but can’t make out any words as she speaks to someone on the line before hanging up and saying something to Rich. He shakes his head and walks back over to us.
“The chief’s in a meeting.”
“Seriously?” Junior says, voicing my own question.
“My guess is he’s on the phone with the judge. We’ll give him a few minutes. After that, I’ll make another call.”
We sit there for another five minutes, and then one of the doors opens up and Pika comes walking out looking a little worse for wear. His clothes are wrinkled and his hair is in disarray, but he doesn’t appear to be hurt in any way. He walks over to us as Rich walks over to the side to question the officer who brought him out.
“Glad to see you, man. A jail cell is not my ideal location to catch up on sleep,” he grumbles, shaking my hand then doing the same to Junior.
“Did they say anything to you?” I ask.
He looks over his shoulder then back at me. I can tell he doesn’t want to get into it here.
“We’ll talk once we’re out of the building.”
I nod as Rich comes over to us. “Told me they can’t talk to me.” He shakes his head and looks at Pika. “We need to have a word once we’re outside.”
Pika nods, and we all leave, heading out to the large SUV we arrived in.
“You wanna tell me what all that was about?” Rich asks.
Pika rolls his head around his shoulders and looks at me. “Appears that someone knew I was keeping an eye on Paulie and Thad.”
“What does that mean?” Rich asks, unaware of the weight of the situation.
Pika looks at Rich then back at me for permission, so I nod for him to continue.
“I was following Thad on his way to Paulie’s house when, halfway there, the cops pulled me over. I didn’t think much about it until they told me I was under arrest as a suspect in a burglary that happened in the area.” He pauses, shaking his head. “I explained to them that I was nowhere around the area until that moment and they had the wrong guy. They explained that I fit the description of the suspect who was reportedly spotted in the area and I would need to go down to the station.
“Now, I may not be black, but my skin color is on the dark side of the color spectrum, so I did what they asked and went with them. I didn’t think anything was strange until they kept me in lockup without even a phone call.”
“This is bullshit,” Rich says.
“This just proves there are a lot of dirty cops in this town, and the few who aren’t dirty are afraid of what will happen if they try to go against the grain,” Pika says.
“You want to fill me in on what’s happening?” Rich asks.
I look around then back at him. “Not here,” I reply.
“Let’s meet at my dad’s office in an hour,” he offers.
“Pika can get a shower and something to eat before we meet you over there,” I agree.
“See you then,” Rich says, walking to his car as we all get in the SUV.
“Thanks for coming and getting me.”
I look in the rearview mirror at Pika and shake my head. It’s not his fault he has feelings for Myla; there isn’t any helping it. If you’re in her presence for a mere moment, you feel clean, and for men like us, that does something for your soul.
“We’re family,” I tell him simply.
He nods, and I look back at the road.