Page 46 of Caught off Guard

“A group of twisted folks are coming for a good person. I’ll ask again, Boss. Why didn’t you tell her immediately?”

I looked at the ground, afraid of how Luther might judge me since I hadn’t made the best personal choices this week.

“We fought, and I pushed her away. I was too prideful to work out our differences when she was here, so I let her go back into the world where I knew a wolf was waiting to devour her. At least, that’s what I’m guessing happened. I wasn’t the friend I professed to be.”

“Give yourself grace, man. What kind of wolf is coming for her?” Luther raised an eyebrow.

He’d never been one to allow me to wallow in self-pity. And he was nosy as could be.

“He’s the guy that scratched Zora’s sexual itch until she realized that was the job she wanted me to have.”

“Damn…y’all move fast.” Luther rarely cursed, but when he did, it was never good. “You have to make this right.”

I scratched my temple.

“I know. I don’t want this kind of blood on my hands. I’m already too deep in grief as it is.”

“Call her and tell her what’s going on. Her twin seems trustworthy too. Wild, but loyal. Tell Dr. Langston to meet you at her sister’s house so y’all can talk.”

“You think it takes all that? It’s turning into a TV show drama.”

“Should have thought about that when you slept with that little girl one night and had the good doctor at your house the next…but I’m not one to judge…”

I stared him down like he had two heads.

“Liar. What the hell was that then?”

“Facts, Boss. I don’t know what you did with the president, but you had access to two different coochies on two different nights.”

“Weren’t you just talking about giving me grace? Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

“Yes. When you hook up with the woman you’re supposed to be with. I’m here to remind you to stay on the straight and narrow path. We both know celebrities have to move differently. Call the sister to save Dr. Langston. Trust me, Boss. It’s the right thing to do.”

I nodded, pissed at Luther’s truth but happy to have someone else think for me for once. All my energy needed to be directed toward uplifting Zora and preventing whatever mess this was from hitting the fan.

JUDGMENT DAY

I finally settleddown enough to get to work in the late afternoon.

Cairo:

9-1-1. We need to talk.

Although I wanted to shut him out so I could move on with my life, the urgency in his text moved me. He didn’t come across as someone who would use attention-getting tactics to cause drama.

After my conversation earlier in the day with Geoff, I didn’t have the energy to play with another man. If Cairo came at me sideways, he would get cursed out too.

“What’s up, Cairo? Are you well?”

No matter how little time we spent together, I couldn’t deny that I cared for Cairo. At his core, he was a beautiful soul who angered me temporarily because he called out the flaws I beat myself up for having. If we spent more time together, we probably wouldn’t have argued like this. I had no doubt he wanted the best for me.

“I’m okay, but sweetheart, we need to meet. I have disturbing news to share. I don’t want you to be alone when I deliver it. Would Lena be okay with us meeting at her home? Too many people might have eyes on you right now if I come to you. And I don’t want anyone seeing you come to my place either.”

When Cairo called me sweetheart, I got nervous. The tenderness and urgency of his tone had any number of scenarios twirling around in my head.

“You’re scaring me. What do you know?”

“Text me Lena’s address. I promise on everything that matters to me that you’ll be fine when we sort this out. We just need to get ahead of it.”

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