“I been done stopped,” Rodrick told me when the guard walked off. “And not just since I got locked up again.”
“You’ll never change, Rodrick. I’ve learned that some people never will. You can’t force people to change; the only person you can change is yourself. The only reason I came up here was so you could see your daughter. And to tell you that I’m moving on.”
“Hold up, Tyesha. I just told you that I stopped cheating.”
“That’s funny. Because the one bitch I just knew you would never talk to again, Dava Babcock, just posted a picture of a letter you sent her two days ago. And before you fix your face to tell a lie, let me ad lib what the letter said. ‘Dear Dava, I can’t wait till I get out so I can suck on that juice box again. I promise you I’ll put it on you harder than before. No, you don’t have to worry about me getting out and getting with my baby momma. Me and her are just friends. She’s coming to see me Saturday just so I can see my daughter, but I got you on the list for Sunday. Thanks for the bread. A nigga been eatin’ good in here. If the board calls me for that review, I’ll be home before our baby is born. You just make sure you eat right and keep your Temple healthy and nutritious.” Clearing my throat to stop myself from crying, I said, “I would be able to tell you what the rest of the letter said but the guards wouldn’t let me bring in my phone. But it sure did look like your handwriting and your scribbly-ass signature.”
He leaned back in his seat and sighed.
We really didn’t have much to talk about for the rest of the visit. He asked to take a picture with Kylie and I didn’t mind. I paid for three images and stood behind the photographer as they posed together.
“When’s the next time you coming up?” he asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I’ll try to bring Kylie at least once a month.”
When I got back to my car, I buckled Kylie in her booster seat. I got in behind the wheel and checked the comments from The Site on my phone. Earlier I had uploaded pictures of me and Kylie and Landon—and his two little girls, Kendal and Kayla—posing in front of Kaleidoscope’s glass doors at Crown Center. Landon made a comment that he was glad he didn’t get arrested this time. I laughed and clicked Like.
The private message box in the corner of my display screen was lit.
I tapped it with my thumb and read the message that appeared.
Rick Myers: I’ll be waiting patiently until the next time I can see you again.
The message was sent to me thirty minutes ago from Cameron, Missouri. I knew Gideon Byers was locked up for 25 years in a maximum security prison in that town. “Rick Myers” was his fake Site name, which he’d been using all this time to stalk and spy on me. If he sent this message, it meant that he’d smuggled a cell phone into the institution somehow.
My first thought was to go to my settings and block him from viewing my page. But then I decided to let him keep watching. I knew one day I’d find a good man and start a family, and I wanted Gideon to see every step, to suffer every time I posted how happy I was, to get angry when I uploaded my wedding photos, to cry when he saw our child’s beautiful face.
For him—but more importantly for myself—I was determined to live a blessed life. And to move forward, first I had to swallow my pride and take a step back.
-
Tyesha816 went from in a relationship to single.
Also by Felony Books
Please visit us at:
The following is an excerpt from:
STATUS 2
CHAPTER 1
It took two hours for me and my daughter to get here. Normally, she wouldn’t even be able to sit still for twenty minutes, but I kept her occupied with a new Disney movie on my smartphone.
We pulled into the prison parking lot, tires crunching over patches of snow. Rodrick told me ahead of time not to park in the same spot as usual, and I didn’t. I drove straight to the end of the lot where the big gate was. There were other people standing outside their cars in big coats and skull caps, waiting on their loved ones to be released. Me and Kylie parked and joined them.
“If you get cold,” I said to her, “you can get back in the car.”
“I’m fine,” Kylie said happily.
I smiled. She couldn’t wait to hug her daddy outside of prison walls. The whole time he’d been down she would ask when he was coming home. She had the countdown on her calendar.
A guard stepped outside of one of the side buildings. “They’ll be out in just a moment, people,” he said. “When you see them come out, do not run up to the gate. I repeat, DO NOT run up to the gate. If you do, you just might be shot down. They’ll cross the parking lot and come to you. Thank you for your cooperation.” He stepped back inside.
“Asshole,” said a young white woman on the side of me.
“Amen,” I agreed.
“Are you here to pick up your husband?” she asked me.
“Oh no. I’m not married.”
“I’ve been married to this man about to walk out for six years. I met him and married him while he’s been locked up. We’ve only known each other through visits and letters, and today will mark the day we get to spend the rest of our lives together. I have butterflies. I can’t keep still.”
“I know how you feel. Congratulations.”
It reminded me of the first time Rodrick walked out of MCC in Moberly, Missouri. It was his first time down, and he’d promised me he was going to get out and get on his feet and marry me as soon as he was financially able to. I was just as giddy and excited as the woman next to me.
But the marriage proposal never came. Only lies and betrayal.
I wasn’t looking for anything from Rodrick Brown this time. All I wanted for him to do was take care of his daughter.
My phone beeped in my pocket. I had to take one of my mittens off to tap the touchscreen. I had a text message from my unofficial boyfriend. I liked to call him my “man friend.”
Fedbound Marley: Where you at?
Tyesha816: I just got to Moberly.
Fedbound Marley: Oh
Tyesha816: What did you want?
Then my phone started ringing. I picked it up.
“Hey, honey,” I said.
“Wussup, cute buns. I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out to see a movie tonight. Me, you, and Kylie. I didn’t know you were going to see him today. You’ll probably be too tired when you get back to Kansas City, huh?”