Page 22 of Breaking the Rules
His alarm went off faithfully, pulling him out of the bed he’d just crawled into a few hours ago. He dressed, secured his sneakers to his feet, and started his morning run. The run was needed more for mental clarity than a workout. The night, though a blur after the strip club, played that moment with Savanhi on loop. That and his habit of being drawn to the women with the more precarious lifestyles. He wasn’t even supposed to be drawn to Savanhi, but she was the damn flame he was dancing around. It had to be the curse of his missing mother.
That willing kiss he placed on her lips marked him, clouded his head. Either that or the way she danced in a room full of men, and he’d known it was for him. How could he feel her weighted glare behind the mask? How she denied him further entry. She was supposed to take the edge off, only to become a habit.
Noble ran for miles trying to outrun the trouble he found himself swimming in now. If it were just sex, it shouldn’t have been anything past that. She was going to drive him insane.
An hour and a half later, he was dressed and at the café, expecting to see Areli and Kymber. The caution tape around the storefront, that he gave her the down payment for, put him at pause. He called her, no answer. Back in the JoyRide, riding to their childhood home that she refused to move out of after their father passed. Different location, same caution tape wrapped around like his sister was a serial killer wanted by the feds. All of it was unsettling to his spirit.
“Deuce!” Ms. Patty, the overly observant neighbor, called his name. His pops used to slide in and out of her back door when he was younger. Noble could see how the woman may have been nosy, but she aged like fine wine.
“Ms. Patty, what the fuck is going on?” Noble usually watched his mouth when he was speaking to his elders, but there were a million possibilities of what happened to his sister and niece running through his head. He felt himself unraveling.Losing his father wrecked his world, but his sister and his niece would kill him.
“I tried to get babygirl from them, but they took her,” Ms. Patty spoke, looking as if whatever happened the night before shook her. “They wouldn’t let me have her because I wasn’t family.”
“Where is Kymber, and what happened?” Noble’s voice teetering between control and panic.
“Kymber was arrested, SWAT was up the street, and at the café. Areli was in the house with her sitter. I ran over here, and I tried to take her, but they wouldn’t let me have her,” Ms. Patty rushed out again. The whole ordeal seemingly taking a toll on her, too.
“Do you know where they took her?” Noble asked, looking around as if he’d driven himself.
“There’s a group home on tenth. When they snatch these kids, that’s where they take them. I’ll go with you. You can’t drive, you’ll kill someone,” she spoke, rushing back across the street. Noble followed her, trying to make sense of everything she said to him.
While she drove, he was on the phone with Carl.
“I don’t feel like explaining myself or going over this more than once. I need a place today. I don’t care what it’s going to cost me. It needs to be childproofed. It needs to be in a safe area. I need a car. Something to get back and forth. A truck or some shit. I need toys, clothes all of that. And I need a criminal lawyer. Preferably one that specializes in gang shit.”
“Okay, I got you. I’ll text you the details.” Carl was sure to catch the details to keep Noble level as possible.
Noble hung up and scrubbed his face. “This don’t make no sense to me.”
“Me neither. I thought something was up, all that traffic she had in and out of the house all night long. Crimson Kings in and out. “
“You got to tell me what you sayin’, Ms. Patty.” Noble’s comment was rooted in worry and irritation.
“That restaurant, her wanting to stay in the house, all a front. Areli’s father put her up to it before he went down. No one asked questions because you were sending all that money.”
Noble felt his blood pressure spike. He would restrain himself while in her presence. But Ms. Patty could see how the redness underneath his brandy-tinted skin deepened.
“I’ll watch babygirl while you get this straight. If you need me. Just like I did you and your sister back in the day,” she spoke. The difference now was that Noble would actually only pay her money. Senior was dropping off other things.
“I appreciate you.”
That was all he could mutter as she navigated down the blocks before parking in the parking lot of the Refuge Group Home. The car wasn’t fully parked before he jumped out and quickened to the door. He was buzzed through a series of doors before reaching the desk.
“My niece, Areli Paulson. Is she here?”
“Do you have any identification?” The older woman behind the desk asked, not even looking up from her computer. She was used to frantic loved ones coming in search of children who’d been swept up in these SWATs. She was numb to it and cold to the scared adults standing before her.
Noble dug in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He slid over his driver’s license and added, “she would have came in last night, or early this morning. She’s four.”
The woman looked at him, then the driver’s license, putting two and two together. “This way, Mr. Paulson.”
Handing him back his license, she stood, hit a button and led him down a long, cold hallway. The anxiousness with every step felt like needles stabbing his entire body. So much so that he shook. He didn’t know what state he was going to find his niece in. If they hurt her during the raid, if they hurt her in here. Fresh off one crash out, he would burn this place down if she were harmed.
The older woman passed him off to a younger woman.
“Mr. Paulson, we’re sorry we didn’t call you. Areli came in around two this morning. She was inconsolable, rightfully so. She was calling for her mother and then asked for Unc-Unc. But we couldn’t get her to say your name. I just got off the phone with family services. Your sister signed her rights over to you.”
That last comment stabbed him in the chest. Whatever Kymber found herself in was serious, and he couldn’t pay to bring her home. When would the cycle of absent mothers grind to a stop.
