“What!” I snap at him with a grin.
“You gave him the nookie. See, I done told you.”
Rolling my eyes before setting my face back into a serious look. “Carter, do you remember much from that night?”
He looks uneasy, all playfulness gone. He sits up on his bed and looks at his mom and dad.
“Can you guys go home and get me some clothes, please? I have none here, and I’m not wearing these the whole time I’m in this hole.”
His parents look at him worriedly before he adds, “Its fine, Mom. I just want to catch up with Kalie.” They both nod, giving him a kiss on the cheek and then leaving.
Once they’ve left the room, I look to Carter. “So?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t remember much, but I do remember a van. It was white and had men in balaclavas inside it. When they were trying to push me off the road, I wouldn’t budge, until one of them wound their window down and flashed a gun at me. I freaked the fuck out and swerved off the road, hitting a tree.”
Looking to Ade who has his eyebrows drawn in together he says, “You didn’t see anyone else? Remember anything distinctive about the van?” Ade asks with his arm draped around me as he rubs circles on my arm causing goose bumps to rise on the skin.
Carter shakes his head. “I didn’t see anyone else. The only other thing I can think of regarding the van is that it had chrome mag wheels.”
Ade nods his head looks at me and smiles. “That’s enough information, I can get the rest.”
He taps my leg. “Hop up for a sec, baby.”
I jump up off his leg while he pulls out his phone. Looking to Carter I ask, “You’re okay, though? Aside from your head?”
Ade pulls me back down onto his lap forcefully while I’m talking, causing me to yelp in surprise.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, baby G.”
“Drago? Need you to run through some CCTV footage, I’ll be home tonight,” Ade says authoritatively over the phone. I glance at my watch and see it’s close to four o’clock in the morning. I look down at him from his lap, studying his eyes, and he smiles and winks at me before looking at Carter. “Where was the accident?” Ade asks Carter, who tells him the location, which Ade then relays to the man down the phone line before he ends the call.
He grabs onto my hand and kisses my knuckles. “I’ll have some more info tonight.”
I swallow down my worry and look back at Carter. “We better go, no doubt Vicky will be freaking out because I didn’t get time to tell her we were leaving.”
Carter nods his head. “Then yes, you better.”
“I just need to stop at home and pick up a few more things. Do you need anything else from home?” I ask Carter, but he shakes his head. “All right then,” I say walking up to him and giving him a quick kiss on the head. “Stay safe, please!”
He brushes my worry away. “I’m always safe.”
I pull open the passenger seat door and slide in. Ade puts his belt on and roars the car to life before putting it in reverse.
“Who’s Drago?” I ask out of curiosity.
“He’s our computer nerd. He’ll sort out anything we need to know about that van,” he replies, putting it into first gear and pulling out of the hospital.
“Are you hungry?” he asks looking over his arm.
“Starving.”
We pull up to an in-and-out burger place. Ade orders the whole burger joint, and I fold my arms in disbelief.
“I’m not going to eat that much.” He laughs before pulling out of the drive through.
“Take a left up here, it takes you onto the boardwalk,” I say grabbing the chips out of the bag. It’s a habit I have, it’s as though they call to me begging me to eat them. We pull up to the carpark and I turn in my seat, putting one chip after the other in my mouth.
“You wanna eat here or out there.” I point toward the beach.
He laughs, rubbing his fingers over his mouth. “Come on my little chip eater,” he says laughing and picking up the bag of fast food.
Sliding out of the car I follow him to the beach. It’s beautiful here, so serene and peaceful. He stops walking and nudges his head, so I pick up my pace and grab onto his hand. Once we’ve sat down, Ade lies on his back, propping himself up on one elbow. I pull my burger out and moan as I take the first bite from it. He laughs putting a chip into his mouth.
“That good, huh?” he asks, swiping the sauce from my lips with his thumb before sucking it off.
I nod. “Really, really, good. Good enough to not want to go for a run just for eating it.”
He shakes his head and kisses my hand. “You’re pretty fucking special, you know that?”