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“I know. Thank you.” What kind of psycho kills somebody and then tells you they’re there to help you through it? I tried to walk normal to my car, but every thigh meat and coochie lip rubbed together. My ass was doing that fast downtown walking. I turned around, and he was watching me. This crazy mufucka waved, so I waved back, giving that same dumb ass smile again. When I climbed inside, I watched and waited until he drove off. Once he did, I gave it a couple of minutes and put my seatbelt on. I floored the gas pedal, and the tires screamed as I drove off. I was going so fast that when I turned the corner, I was damn near on two wheels. I needed to find somewhere to go. Taffy’s and Juanita’s wasn’t an option. I wasn’t about to put their lives at risk. I needed somewhere I could think alone. The lake house. I could go there. I started heading in that direction when another thought hit me. Why the hell I didn’t think to go there when I got the thirty day notice? We just went through all that shit for nothing. I couldn’t do shit but shake my head and laugh. I checked my mirrors as I made another turn. If I didn’t know shit else, I knew I wasn’t about to let myself be the next receipt.

Anton “Tax” Hodges

I stood outside of Bubbles’s apartment knocking. I had been out here for five minutes, and I was getting annoyed. I had already gone to her mom’s and Taffy’s crib. I knew she wasn’t there, so she had to be here. Knocking again, I tried to listen to see if I heard any movement. When I didn’t, I called her phone. If she was inside, she had it on silent because I couldn’t hear it ringing inside the house. It had been days since she climbed out of my truck. I hadn’t heard from her since. She told me she needed time to process, and I honored it because I knew that was a lot to take in.

I knew she would hurt behind that loser ass nigga. That was the reason I needed something she could understand. I wasn’t expecting her to be okay with it, but I did expect her to let me explain. One thing I always prided myself on was being honest. So, when Bubbles asked me if I had killed Peanut, I told her the truth. I would have answered every question that came after, but none did. She gave me that fake ass smile and got the fuck out of Dodge. I let her have it and agreed to give her time. I didn’t expect her to go ghost on a nigga. She had her lil days to grieve, but that shit was done now. My girl wasn’t about to be crying over the next man. Especially not that rat ass mufucka who was about to throw her ass under the bus. I tried her phone one last time to no avail. Dialing Key, I waited for him to pick up.

“Yooo. What up?”

“Find her.”

“Well, damn! Hello to you too.” I could hear him clacking away, so I knew he was doing what I asked. “When you coming to get your damn daughter? She been over here acting like she pays bills.”

“After I go get her mama.” He went silent again.

“She’s at the lake house,” he said after about a minute. Running down the stairs, I jumped in my truck.

“Aight. I’ll hit you back.” Hanging up, I headed that way. The drive there gave me too much time to think. I went from wanting to wring her neck to remembering the last time I was there. Out of all the ways I’d imagined meeting the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, being held hostage wasn’t one of them. Somehow, this crazy ass woman managed to do what nobody else could. I wasn’t opposed to love. I just couldn’t find it. I had zero tolerance when it came to bullshit, but Bubbles brought something different. Her toxic matched mine, and every day was exciting. Even when we weren’t doing anything. You never knew what was going to come out of her mouth or what she would do.

I finally pulled up to the lake house and cut the engine. I had no idea what I wanted to say to her, but I knew she could no longer do this. If we had an issue, we were going to talk about it. All this running and hiding shit had to stop. I looked at the house again before getting out. Life was funny as fuck sometimes. Out of everything we’d gone through, it brought us right back to the place that started it all. Walking to the door, I knocked. When nobody answered, I tried the door. It was open, so I let myself in. Finding the switch, I turned the light on. I could see the basement door was locked, so I knew she wasn’t down there. Walking through the house, I found a bedroom and entered. Turning on the light, I stood there for a minute in disbelief. This girl was lying under the bed, looking at me with her eyes damn near bugged out of her head. What blew me was how she tried to stay still as if that would stop me from knowing she was there.

“You know I can see you, right?” This mufucka still laid there as if I would think my mind was playing tricks on me. “Bubbles, come from under the bed.” She slowly army crawled out while never taking her eyes off me. I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t thrown off by her expression. Her eyes were still bugged, and you could clearly see she was scared. “What the fuck wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t her wanting space. She was genuinely afraid, and from the looks of it, she was afraid for her life. I took a step toward her, but she moved back, almost falling over the bed.

“You scared of me?” I finally asked. She slowly nodded. What the fuck? “Why?”

“Because I know your secret.” I was confused. I told her I killed Peanut, so that wasn’t a secret.

“So, you’re scared of me because I killed that rat ass nigga?” She shook her head. I was getting annoyed.

“I know your other secret.” I went still. For a second, I just processed what she was saying to me. She knew I was Tax. It was only one person in this world who knew that other than me, and that was Key. Ain’t no way. I’d trusted that nigga with my life. He knew where every skeleton was buried, and he never told a soul. There was no way he would tell Bubbles, but how did she know?

“Who told you?”

“The receipt.” Fuck! When she asked me if I killed him, it never crossed my mind that she might have known the stories or even heard of Tax. When I killed Peanut, I left my signature and then admitted to her that I did it. I was trying to give her the truth, and in doing so, I’d given her the one piece of information I had spent years keeping from everybody. I had finally made a mistake.

“Did you tell anybody?”

“No.”

“Just know, anybody you tell that I’m Tax going to glory. Save their lives. Keep your mouth closed.” If she knew the stories, she understood the threat. Anybody that knew my identity took it with them to their grave immediately after.

“I know.” I nodded.

“Then we good.” I could tell she wasn’t buying that, but it was the truth. I stepped toward her again, but she still moved back.

“How am I supposed to be with you knowing any minute you can kill me because I know?” That’s what she was sitting here thinking. Bubbles thought I came here to kill her. I didn’t blame her though. These were rules I made. Hell, rules I enforced no matter what. To be honest, I never thought I would have to go against them because I never thought she would find out. I also didn’t expect to fall in love.

“I’ve only trusted one person in this world with that secret. If I didn’t feel the same about you, you’d already be dead.” She didn’t look moved by my words. “Key is the only person that knows who I am. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Yes.” She still sounded scared, so I slowly moved toward her. At least she stayed still this time.

“You think I don’t know what you could do to me with that information? You know who I am, what I look like, and where I live. You know enough about me to destroy everything I’ve built.” I moved a little closer. “And I’m still telling you we’re good.” I finally made it to her and got directly in her face. “Because I trust you.” I pecked her lips. “I’m trusting you with my life. That’s how much you mean to me.” I let that land first. “That’s how much I love you.” I kissed her again. I could feel her tears hitting my cheek, but I didn’t wipe them away. She needed to release. Someone she thought she loved got killed by the man she knows her heart belongs to. That was a lot to take in. I laid my forehead against hers, and we stood in silence.

“You keep saying Peanut is a rat. What do you mean?”

“I’d rather show you. Can you come with me?” I stepped back to see her face.