Chapter 3

Caesar and Ace decide to bring me back to Caesar's spot out in Chalmette. It's just like him to move far enough away, but still able to move around in the city. His house is as clean as his car. The walls are white. His furniture is sleek and grey. The floors are marble. He must have been pushing serious dope in NYC cause his house is bigger than the one Daddy left for us.

"Caese, show her to the bathroom. Let her fix her makeup and shit," Ace says.

Caese grabs me by my arm gently. not like last night. Ace sits on the grey sectional, with his hands in his head. We round the corner and Caese opens the door and flips the light switch on. When he turns to go, I grab his hand.

"Don't leave me alone," I say.

I know how pathetic I must look with makeup running down my cheeks. Or maybe it's cause I'm clutching his hand like a four-year-old who just saw monsters under their bed. Either way, he nods his head and allows me to pull him back into the bathroom.

He leans against the doorframe while I wash my face. I feel him disappear for a moment while I'm splashing water on my face. He returns before I open my eyes to hand me a white towellet. Foundation stains the towel as I pat my face dry.

"Sorry," I mumble to him.

"You good," He says.

I untie the bun in my head and let my hair fall around my shoulders. It feels like a warm blanket right about now.

"Come on, let me get you another shirt to wear," He glances at my ripped top, my sheer pink bra showing underneath.

For some reason, watching him watch me makes me self-conscious. I cross my arms over my chest.

I follow him up the stairs to one of many rooms. The place barely looks slept in; the bed was made to perfection. Only tell-tale signs that he'd been here are the cologne bottles on the dresser and novel sitting beside the bed. I don't have enough time to read the cover, cause Caesar's flinging a t-shirt my way.

"Let me stop out so you can change," Caesar says.

"You don't have to," I say.

I turn my back to him and pull my original crop top over my head. Then I pull his shirt over my skin. I shudder as I get a whiff of his amazing scented cologne. I was happy he didn't give me one of his new shirts.

"That's cool and all but you gotta step outside so I can change my clothes," Caesar says.

I'm a little hurt by his response but not surprised. Caesar wouldn't let me think for a second that I had a chance with him.

I step out into the hall while Caesar softly closes the door in my face. I rejoin Ace in the living room as he's hanging up a call.

"How you feelin sis?"

I shrug my shoulders.

"I'm sorry I put you in that predicament. It'd never happen again," He vows.

I know he must feel guilty cause he doesn't even lecture me about not locking the doors or paying attention. I really hoped things went over well with Caesar's boy, Reese, cause although Ace would never admit it, I know I just fucked them over big time.

Caesar comes down the stairs in an all black ensemble. Black hoodie, black jeans, black Air Force 1s. So that's why he needed to change?

"I know y'all not thinking bout doing something to Big Tony," I say.

Caesar tosses a black shirt, a pair of jeans and a black ski mask at Ace. My stomach folds into itself. They couldn't kill Tony. He was only doing his job. He wouldn't even be on the hit list if it wasn't for me.

"Stay out this," Caesar tells me.

"Fuck that. Y'all can't kill that man for doing his job," I protest.

"So snitching apart of his job?" Ace asks, stuffing his legs into the jeans.

"Who says he snitching?"

"He will," Caesar pipes out.

"You don't know that," I say.

"Exactly. We need to be sure he ain't gon say nothing," Ace pulls the shirt over his head.

"Ace, you can't be serious."

"This ain't on you, Candy," Ace lies.

"But--"

"Just chill here and we'll be back tonight," Ace cuts me off.

Him and Caesar walk to the door.

"Wait here, Candyce," Ace says.

"And don't invite none of them nappy-headed hoes to my house. Don't post on social media at all and stop sharing yo location with everybody," Caesar says.

I roll my eyes.

"Candyce?" Ace calls.

I look up.

"Listen to me this time," He says and pulls the door closed behind him.

...

When Ace said they would be back tonight, I didn't think they actually meant tonight. Six hours has gone by and all I've been doing is scrolling Instagram without being able to like anything, which is harder than it sounds. I flick through the stations on the flat screen that's mounted to the wall. I mostly look through what Caesar has recorded. I wrinkle my nose at his various baking shows, Game of Thrones and other boring shows. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.

As the clock struck 9, I'm at my witts end. Since I was ordered not to leave the house, I head to the kitchen. I didn't have an appetite, especially knowing what was happening to Tony, but I was curious to see what type of stuff Caesar ate. A bunch of healthy crap covered the shelves, which wasn't that surprising cause girl, have you seen his body? I find his hidden stash in the pantry full of Snickers bars, and oreos.

I head barefoot to the bathroom I cleaned up in. I smell the hand soap. I sit on the toilet and flip through the magazine he has in there. I notice Caesar's name enlisted on the cover for the subscription. Flipping through it, it's marked with notes and post-its next to different furniture pieces. His handwriting is too small to understand but I recognized the words "NYC" and "Colorado".

In his bedroom upstairs, guilt keeps me from searching through his room. I do, however, pick up the novel next to the table.

"Catch Me If You Can," I read out loud.

I flip to the first page and skim through it. I carry the book back downstairs and read through it. All I can make out from the book is that it's some guy's life story about escaping police custody before I'm dozing off.

I didn't realize how sleepy I was but my quick nap turned to a complete snooze fest. I'm pulled out of the comforting quietness of my dreams when voices erupt around me.

"Is she sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Nah don't wake her up."

"You know she safe with me."

I'm in and out of sleep trying to make out the voices around me.

"Shit I guess so. Bring her with you tomorrow."

"Aight. Be safe, bruh."

I fall back to sleep when the door closes. I wake up again when a blanket is laid over me. Caesar stands above me. He's out of his black get-up and dressed in a white tank top and grey sweats. He's eyeing the book on the table that I stole from his nightstand.

"I got bored," I mumble.

He looks back at me.

"It's all good. Go back to sleep," He says.

"I didn't know you read," I confess.

"Everyone reads. You can't get through life without it. Some read more than others, that's all."

"Is there a particular reason you reading books about evading the police?" I ask.

Caesar shrugs.

"I figure if I'ma be doing illegal shit then I should at least know how to get away with it. Go back to sleep, Candy Red," Caesar calls me by the nickname he gave me when we were kids

"You remember that?" I ask, half-awake, half-asleep.

"Even if I didn't, you reminded me last night," Caesar avoids the question.

"So you do remember it. You remember what else you gave me?" I mumble.

"Go back to sleep, Red," He says.

It's only cause I'm halfway sleep anyway that I let him off the hook. I close my eyes and let my dreams take me.