Page 154 of Save Room for Us

While my mom, baby, and Gabriel were still gone, I decided I would go to the store to grab what I needed for the chili cheese fries. That way, when Sophie returned, all we had to do was pack a few things then head to the penthouse.

We basically lived over there, but because of the temporary custody my mom held, it was safer for us to spend some nights here still. It was too risky for Sophie to be away full time because we didn’t know what type of tricks the Petes would attempt to pull.

Parking at the Vons, I climbed out, checking my surroundings like Asif always told me to. He claimed men about to do some fuck shit, his words not mine, always targeted women who weren’t paying attention either on their phone or digging in their purses. I kept that in mind.

As I neared the entrance of the grocery store, a figure limping my way caught my attention. Turning some, I noticed Grady.

“Hey, beautiful.” He smiled softly but looked a little sick. A normal person probably wouldn’t have noticed it, but I was a healthcare professional, so it stuck out to me.

“Grady, hey. Haven’t seen you in a minute.” I frowned.

“Right, um,” he wiped the insurmountable amount of sweat pouring from his forehead, “I need yo’ help, beautiful.”

“With?” I asked just before my eyes darted down to the large wound on his leg. It was covered with a drenched and dirty gauze, surely infected and the reason for the way he looked right now. “Grady, you need to go to a hospital. We’re too far from the warehouse and?—”

“I can’t go to the hospital.” He cut me off, and I noticed he was strategically hiding behind a pillar. Eyes darting aroundevery so often and swallowing like it hurt, he said, “It was risky as fuck for me to approach you right now, but I feel like shit.”

“Why can’t you go to the hospital?”

“Somebody gon’ find me.” His eyes lasered in on mine and didn’t waver for the first time since this conversation began.

“Some—” it clicked for me that he meant Asif and it was why he hadn’t been around in so long.

“The most I can do is give you some gauze and disinfectant, but you need hospital care.”

“That’s cool. I’ll be here when you come out. You can fix me up in my truck back there.” He nodded toward it.

I walked into the store, choosing not to respond because I wasn’t getting into his truck. I wanted to help him, but it was a reason Asif wasn’t fucking with him, so I wouldn’t be caught dead in his truck playing nurse. He could take the gauze and solution and find one of his roster hos to figure it out.

I shopped for everything I would need for the chili cheese fries, plus a few extras to make French toast in the morning, then grabbed the items for Grady. I felt disloyal for doing so, but at the end of the day, I was a nurse, and it would weigh heavily on my conscience if I didn’t get Grady’s things.

After checking out, I went out of the store but noticed Grady wasn’t by the pillar. My head whipped around the lot, spotting his truck, so I waved a bit to get his attention before noticing no one was in the driver’s seat. Frowning, I searched the lot with my eyes for a minute longer, puzzled, before giving up, putting my groceries in the passenger seat and leaving.

LATER THAT NIGHT…

“That food was good as fuck. Hit the spot for real.” Asif kissedmy forehead as we lay in his bed, having just gotten out of the shower after he helped me put Sophie to bed in her room.

“Thanks.” I simpered, looking up at him for a peck. “Can I tell you something and you promise not to get upset?”

“If it involves you and another nigga, I can’t promise shit.”

“Not in that way, no. Get real.”

“You right. You not crazy.”

“I can be, but I’m not stupid, and that would be stupid for a lot of reasons.” I kissed him again.

“Aight, I promise.”

“I saw Grady today when I went to buy the stuff for the fries,” I blurted, tensing as I awaited his reaction, but he was calm.

“I know.”

“How?” I sat up to stare down into his face.

“Why you think he was gone when you came back out?” His pretty eyes regarded me for a minute as I pondered.

“I just thought he got anxious and ran off. That was you?” When he nodded, I questioned, “But how did you get there so fast? How did you even know he?—”

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