Page 68 of Omar

I kept walking. Maybe they weren't Supreme's. Maybe they were just two men on a street corner doing nothing.

The one with the phone stepped into my path. He wasn't aggressive, wasn't touching me. Just standing there. The other one moved to my left side, cutting off the route to the intersection.

"Miss Asha," the one with the phone said. "We need you to wait here for a minute."

He was already dialing. I stood on the sidewalk with my bag on my shoulder, the sun still on my arms, normal life flowing around me while I stood there rooted to the concrete.

"Yeah, she's here," the man said into his phone. "Just came out the building with a bag." He listened. "Aight. We'll wait."

He hung up and put his phone in his pocket. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them touched me. They just stood there, one in front and one to the side, and we waited.

Supreme's car pulled up nine minutes later. The window came down and he looked at me from the back seat. His face wasn't angry. It was concerned. Worried.

"Baby," he said softly. "Get in the car."

I got in. He sent the two men away with a nod. The driver pulled into traffic.

Supreme didn't raise his voice. He took my hand, held it on his thigh, and talked to me in the softest voice I'd ever heard from him.

"You scared me," he said. "When they called and said you came out with a bag, I thought something happened. I thought somebody snatched you up, tried to hurt you." He squeezed my hand. "Brooklyn ain't safe for you out here alone, baby. You know I got enemies who would love to get to me through you."

I stared out the window.

"I know this ain't easy," he continued. "Being here, being with me, all the security, Cee following you everywhere. I know it's a lot, ma. But everything I do is cos I love you, Asha. I can't have nothing happen to you. You hear me? I can't."

His thumb rubbed circles on my knuckles. The same circles he always rubbed. The same soft voice, the same concerned face, the same hand on mine.

"Let's go home," he said. "And we ain't doing this again, aight?"

I didn't answer. The car drove us home.

Upstairs, Supreme took the bag from my shoulder. He carried it to the bedroom. I followed him and stood in the doorway.

He set the bag on the bed, unzipped it, and started unpacking.

He took out the first change of clothes, folded them neatly, opened the drawer and put them back where they'd been. He took out the second change, folded those too and put them back. He took the underwear, put it in the underwear drawer. He carried the toiletries to the bathroom, set them on the counter in their usual spots. My toothbrush back in the holder. My moisturizer back on the shelf. My phone charger back on the nightstand.

He moved through the room calmly, quietly, putting everything back exactly where it had been. He wasn't angry. He wasn't rough. He was careful and precise and that was the most terrifying thing about it.

I stood in the doorway and watched him do it.

When he finished he zipped the empty bag, put it back on the top shelf of the closet, and turned to face me. His expression was gentle.

"There," he said. "Everything's back where it belongs." He crossed the room and kissed my forehead. "Including you."

He left the bedroom and I heard him go to the kitchen, heard the fridge open, heard him pour himself something. The TV came on in the living room.

I stood in the doorway looking at the room. The drawers closed. The closet organized. The bathroom neat. Everything in its place, exactly as it had been before I'd tried to leave, as if the last hour hadn't happened at all.

He hadn't hit me. Hadn't yelled. Hadn't threatened my sisters or mentioned what happened to the last girl who tried to run. He'd just put everything back.

That was worse than anything he could have done.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and put my hands in my lap. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Omar. I didn't look at it. Couldn't look at it. Not yet. Not with Supreme twenty feet away watching TV and acting like nothing had changed.

Because to him, nothing had.

I sat there until my breathing steadied. Then I got up, changed into something he'd recognize, and went to join him on the couch.