Page 63 of Omar

We talked about nothing for a while. A client Nene had the day before who wanted a color she'd seen on TikTok that didn't exist in real life. A man from Nene's building who kept leaving notes on her door asking her to dinner. Normal conversation, normal volume, Cee ten feet away not interested in any of it because we were talking about hair, Nene's love life and nonsense.

Then Nene leaned closer and dropped her voice. "So what's the situation?"

"He's here inside with me now," I whispered back, glancing over my shoulder at him as he scrolled through his phone. "Supreme thinks someone might try to use me to get to him." I rolled my eyes so she could tell that I wasn't fully on board with that reason.

"Shit." Nene glanced at Cee without moving her head. "So how will you manage to get out and..."

"I don't know yet."

Nene was quiet for a second. Then she said, still low, still casual, "What if I come get you? Like for a walk. Quick gossip run. Twenty minutes, half hour max. He sees me, he knows me, it's just girl stuff. I bring you back before he starts wondering."

"You think he'd let me go?"

"Cee ain't your jailer, Ash. He's your driver. If your best friend comes to get you for a walk round the block, what's he gonna do? Follow you?"

She had a point. Cee was loyal but he wasn't aggressive. He reported what he saw and what he didn't see he didn't report. If Nene came to collect me for twenty minutes of girl talk, he'd probably stay in his chair and wait.

"When?" I asked.

"Tomorrow. I'll come by around one. You tell Cee we going for a quick walk, got some gossip I need to share. You can have you know who parked round the corner."

"I don't know. If this goes wrong..."

"It won't." She squeezed my arm. "Twenty minutes, maybe even thirty if we're lucky. In and out. I'll be waiting for you when you get back."

She stayed for another half hour talking at normal volume about the TikTok color and the man with the notes. Cee didn't look up once. When she left she waved at him on the way out and he nodded back.

I finished my last client, told Cee I was done, and he drove me home. Supreme was upstairs when I got in, relaxed, shoes off, scrolling through something on his laptop. He kissed me, asked about my day, told me about his. I smiled, listened, performed.

That night in bed he pulled me close and kissed my forehead. "You're safe, baby. You know that, right? I got you."

"I know, Premie."

He fell asleep with his arm across me. I lay there in the dark and thought about tomorrow. Omar's car round the corner. Twenty minutes. Nene waiting.

I thought about how many lies I was stacking on top of each other and how long the tower could stand before it collapsed.

Then I thought about Omar's hands on my body and his mouth on my neck and the way he'd said we'll figure it out like it was a promise and not a guess.

The tower would hold. It had to.

Chapter 25

Omar

Nene texted me at twelve-forty: She's coming out in twenty. Be on DeKalb, east side, past the bodega.

I was already in the car. I'd been parked three blocks away for an hour, running surveillance reports on my phone, pretending to work while checking the time every ninety seconds.

Devon had texted earlier with an update on the men from the bar. He'd tracked the heavyset one through social media, a man called Curtis Boone from East Flatbush. His cousin, the one who'd claimed to have seen Pops in chains, was a name Devon was still running down. Three known addresses, two disconnected phone numbers. Devon was working through them methodically. When he found the cousin, we'd have a conversation. A real one.

But right now my head wasn't on Pops or Curtis Boone or chains. Right now my head was on Asha.

Asha had told me how the plan worked. Nene walked into the salon at one o'clock carrying a smoothie and her phone, looking every bit the best friend dropping in for a chat. Cee glanced up from his chair by the door, clocked her, went back to scrolling. Nene had been coming to the salon regularly enough that Cee didn't register her as anything other than background noise.

She sat in the empty chair beside Asha's station and they talked at normal volume for a few minutes. Hair, clients, Nene's neighbor who kept leaving notes on her door. Cee didn't look up once. Then Nene leaned in close and said something about needing to show Asha something outside, some gossip she couldn't say in front of other people. Asha put down her flat iron, told her one o'clock she'd be ten minutes, and walked to where Cee was sitting.

"Hey Cee, I'm gonna step out with Nene for a minute. She got some drama she needs to talk through. We'll be right outside."