Page 47 of Don't Let Go

I’ve been with Paolo for two hours already, and I wish I never answered his call. His idea of fun was to do a drug deal. Well, I guess that’s what it was. A supplier sold his entire stash and needed more, and the mafia thought Paolo could use more responsibility, so they had him do the run, or so he claims. Now I was trapped in his car with enough cocaine and meth to be sentenced to decades in prison.

We stopped at a red light. A police car pulled into the lane next to us. I held a hand to my throat, trying to keep my heart from tumbling out.

“Calm down. You’re going to get us pulled over with that look of panic on your face. The cop will probably think I’m kidnapping you.”

Paolo successfully managed to get me to stop thinking about my papà. Now, I was worried about being arrested. I watched enough episodes ofOrange Is The New Blackto know I wasn’t built for prison.

“Sorry,” I said, my voice shook. It felt like all my insides were on the verge of coming loose.

The light turned green. The cop went ahead of us. Paolo laughed and shot a finger gun at the cop car. I smacked him. My adrenaline made blood whoosh in my ears. “Don’t do that!”

He laughed, hitting my leg. “You need to chill. You’re going to spook our dealer with this attitude. What’s wrong with you? You seemed cool on the phone.”

“I wanted to go out so I’d stop thinking of my papà’s death.”

He glanced at me before looking back at the road. “Hasn’t he been dead for a while now?”

He had such a way with words.

I crossed my arms over my stomach. Suddenly, I felt sick. “Can you drop me off? I don’t feel good.”

He rolled his eyes and pulled over into the parking lot of the closest grocery store. “If you find the chick who was on the phone earlier, call me, and we’ll hang out.”

I nodded and got out of the car. He peeled off.

Part of me hoped he got pulled over and got arrested for drug possession. That would’ve saved me the awkward dance of having to break up with him down the road.

I walked to the store, pulling out my phone from my purse. None of my friends answered. I didn’t want to have Carmen pick me up with Lizzy. I didn’t want to have to explain why I was abandoned to my mamma or my brothers. They would only lecture me on how I needed to make better life choices and I heard that too many times to hear it again today of all days.

I scrolled through my contacts and stopped on Tyler’s name. I went back and forth if I should reach out to him.

An old man walked by me slowly, checking out my ass. I needed to get out of here. This wasn’t a good part of town to be alone in, and I forgot my pepper spray in my other purse.

I said a quick prayer and called Tyler. He answered on the first ring.

“Hey, Rory. Where are you?”

“I went out with Paolo, but he ditched me. Long story short, can you pick me up?”

“Yeah. Of course.” He breathed into the phone. I heard jingling in the background. “Where did that loser leave you?”

“I’m at a grocery store on the corner of Ninetieth Avenue and Indian School Road.”

He muttered something under his breath before saying, “Damn, that part of town. EvenIknow that’s the ‘hood. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I pinched my lips together as another man walked by, eyeing me again. “Thank you, Ty.”

After hanging up, I holed myself in the single-use bathroom with a peeling label stating it was the family restroom. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The tiny bathroom was dim and smelled like it was recently cleaned with bleach. I reluctantly put my hands on the edge of the porcelain sink to keep myself from collapsing on the filthy floor. The mirror was scratched with graffiti. I could barely make out my reflection in the hazy glass. I was on the edge and felt like at any second, I was going to shatter.

My phone rang, scaring the crap out of me. It was Tyler. I had no idea how much time had passed by.

“Hey! Are you here?” My voice echoed in the bathroom. I sounded like a little girl scared out of her mind at some sadistic theme park.

“Yeah. I’m idling out front.”

I opened the door and made my way outside. “Okay. I’m coming.”

Two guys were ogling Tyler’s Rolls-Royce. I got in, and he started driving before I shut the door.

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