Page 17 of Read the Room

Two men stepped out of what looked like a Charger. They didn’t look like they were here to kill me, but what did that really look like?

“Reya, what’s up?” The driver greeted me.

“Um, hi. May I help you?” I told myself to remain stoic. If I acted like I didn’t know shit, then maybe they would think that I didn’t know shit.

“Yeah. So, I’m Joey. It looks like you’re headed somewhere.” He pointed at my truck, which had light tints. You could see all my damn business.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Oh, yes. I am. I’m taking my baby on vacation.”

When he took a step toward me, I stepped back. “Yeah, unfortunately, I can’t let you do that. I was sent to gather you for AK. He wanted to chop it up with you about something.”

Tears immediately escaped my eyes. The only thing that ran through my mind was to protect my baby. I took a step closer to him.

“Joey, I’ll go with you willingly if you promise not to hurt me in front of my baby boy. I don’t want him to be scared or traumatized by whatever this is.”

His eyes softened. “You got that. My boy right here is going to follow behind us in your truck, okay? Go ahead and get your lil boy.”

I gave him a soft smile then wiped my eyes. He walked behind me as I walked to the passenger backseat. Lucaslooked in our direction when the door opened. I pulled off his headphones.

“Hey, baby! This is Joey, mommy’s friend. We’re going to go on our trip in his car.”

Lucas looked confused as he looked between us.

“I can take my TV and big boy headphones?” That was all he cared about.

Joey stepped up. “Yeah, man! You can bring your TV. Guess what? There’s a real big TV where we’re going.”

You could see the stars in my baby’s eyes. “Oh, I want to see. Mama, we get pizza and watch Lilo and Stitch?”

I peeked over my shoulder at Joey. I didn’t know what kind of environment that we would be thrown into. The big television gave me hope that it wouldn’t be horrible, but there could be big televisions in dungeons. Joey helped me get Lucas and his tablet out of my truck. His friend climbed in the driver’s seat after we had Lucas, his car seat, and tablet out of my truck. Joey, with my help, strapped the car seat in his car.

The entire ride to our destination, my body shook. I jumped when Joey put his hand on my thigh.

“Aye, calm down. You ain’t did shit wrong, ma. AK just wants to talk to you. He’s out of town, so I have to keep you where we’re going, but it’s not on some fuck shit.”

That should have given me a sense of calm, but it didn’t. “So, I can’t leave until AK gets there? Is he going to kill me, because if he does, they’re going to put my baby in the system. It’s just me. Can you tell him to take my baby to Mama Bee, please?”

He glanced at me with a tilted head before he put his eyes back on the road. There was no response to my request.God, please keep me and my baby.

When we passed the state line into South Carolina, I got nervous. My mind took mental notes of landmarks in case there was a chance that I could escape if things went deadly—FortMill.When we pulled into a very, very nice neighborhood, my brow rose. This didn’t look like the type of place that a trap house would be.

We pulled into the driveway of a nice house that was in a cul-de-sac. It had a three-car garage that we pulled into. My truck pulled in next to the Charger before the garage doors closed. We all got out.

“Do you need any of the bags out of your truck? You’re going to be here, so get whatever you need.”

“Can I get Lucas settled in front of the big television first and give him a snack?” I asked. I really needed to feed him breakfast. I didn’t want to ask for too much, though.

Joey nodded. “Yeah, you can do that. I’ll show y’all to the room y’all will be in. Once we get situated, we can order some breakfast.”

I got Lucas out of the car and carried him as I followed Joey into the house. The friend had yet to say a word. We walked through a nice kitchen that I would love to cook in.Why the hell am I thinking about cooking and these niggas kidnapped me? It’s more like a nice-nap because they are so respectful. The beauty of the home was hard to ignore. We got to a bedroom that was clearly a master suite.

“This is very nice.”

“Did you think we were going to have you in the back of a warehouse or some shit?” Joey asked with a titter. “Ma, I already told you that you didn’t do anything wrong.” His attention went on to Lucas. “Aye, man, you see that big TV over there?”

He pointed at the huge television on the wall. It had to be at least ninety inches.

“Whoa! That’s big!” He tapped me on my leg. “Mama, look! A big TV!”

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