The time had just hit five thirty a.m, two hours had passed from when the boys decided to make their move. The whole plan went left after Rico announced Destinee being missing, and then his men made an unannounced visit.
Rico's men being present led to a big brawl between the two sides of men. Guns were drawn quicker than they imagine and gunshots followed.
Once the lights flickered back on, they seen how much of a bloody mess the room was. Rico's men laid there lifeless as blood rushed from their bodies.
Their main man's body dropped right next to TJ's foot. Rico tried making a slick attempt to sneak up on TJ which ended poorly. Luckily, TJ had good reflexes.
They could all be alive and breathing right now, if it wasn't for them messing with the wrong person—Destinee.
TJ paced around the room, he said as allowing different scenarios to play in his head which was fucking with him mentally. All he wanted was Destinee. He needed her more than anything right now.
"There's no way in hell Destinee went missing." Cam spoke up shaking his head, "her location isn't available, Rico had to do some sneaky shit."
"I lost the other fucking half of me, I can't sit here and not do shit. I have to find her, I need her."
Cam paused for a minute. He looked down at the laptop screen with his face scrunched up. The screen read Destinee's location. This time it was an updated location, "this shit is telling me her last location, she moved from their warehouse right before we got there.. it says phone out of battery meaning her shit died."
"What?"
"Keep up, bitch. I think she ran away or some shit when Rico wasn't watching her, maybe when his men was leaving. That would've been the smartest time to escape."
TJ looked at Cam for a second thinking. From the updated location to what Cam was saying, it all connected and made sense. He couldn't believe it, if Destinee could pull of something like this there was no telling what else the girl was capable of. He could only hope that what Cam put together was true.
"Then I'm going to look."
"Right behind you, nigga."
TJ snatched his keys up instantly. They had a two hour drive ahead of them. A two hour drive they had already previously taken but ended up receiving bad news. This time, they had to hope for the best. They didn't need any more bad news.
The day had hardly came in and it was already stressful.
•
•
•
Destinee sighed deeply as she continued on with her journey. It was a little over five thirty and she's been walking since around three when she went with her escape plan. Two hours and she felt as if she got nowhere.
She still had no phone to contact anyone, it made two hours since her phone died on her. No cash, card, anything. She felt just as hopeless and she did when she was in the hands of Rico.
She was no longer running, her body had grown too tired for that. She walked, at the most reasonable speed there was. At this point she felt like giving up, nothing was working in her favor. Even though her escape worked, she was still struggling.
She walked the streets with no clue where she was going. The only thing that somewhat helped her out was the destination signs. She still had no clue where she was or how far away she was from home.
She watched as cars sped pass her with their bright lights on. She wanted it to be TJ or someone she was close to, she wished someone would realize that she had escaped—that she was alive and well. Little did she know, Cam picked up on everything.
Her body was aching from all the walking she's been doing. She could only imagine how sore her body would be later. All of this walking would later catch up with her.
Outside was pitch black, which was scary. The streets lights did little to none of lighting up the area. Destinee didn't feel safe at all walking alone, especially in an area she wasn't familiar with.
Being alone nowadays as a female has more of a risk than you can imagine. Risks of abduction and sex trafficking was high. No matter the age. It was sick.
Even though she was in an unfamiliar area and had no clue where she was going she made sure to watch her surroundings. She had just gotten out of a bad situation and wanted to be aware of any signs that would put her back in one. She never wanted to be held captive again.
Destinee's heart stopped at the sound of a stopping car. The car's breaks squeaked slightly as it stopped in front of Destinee. The windows rolled down and revealed a woman—a middle aged women, mocha skin, upturned hazel eyes, and wide pink lips. She was beautiful, Destinee could admit. She just wanted to know why the lady stopped so abruptly.
"Hey sweetie, do you need a ride somewhere? I don't want you walking around here this late."
Destinee shook her head no instantly declining the offer, "I'm fine, thank you."
"I'm only asking you because a van has been circling around this area a few times for the past couple of days. You're a young girl, I just want to make sure that you're safe."
"My home is like two hours away from here.." Destinee's whole mind changed once she heard about the van circling the area.
"As long as you make it home safely, that's fine."
The clicking of the locks signaled that she unlocked her car doors. Destinee hesitated for a few more seconds looking around before slowly making her way over towards the car. She got in, sharing brief eye contact with the woman.
"I don't want you to think that I'm plotting something or anything of that sort." The lady spoke up as she began pulling from the spot she parked in, "seeing the van circling around scared me, I don't want any young girl going through what I went through."
Destinee sat back listening to the lady speak. She was still unsure of the whole getting a ride from a stranger.
"I lost my daughter to abduction, on this same corner. She was a sweet girl, innocent, she didn't bother anybody. That obviously didn't matter. They took my baby away from me. She went missing for about a week before they found her dead."
Destinee gasp in shock, this was not a story she expected. She understood the lady's concern for younger women. Especially after going through something so traumatic.
"It's gotten so bad to the point where every girl I see standing on this corner with absolutely no where to go, I get scared for them. I've taken young teens into my own home due to them having no place to go, until we got in contact with their families."
"So lately it's had me thinking about opening up a center that catered to teens—like their mental health, some type of stability, you know things of that sort."
"Yeah, I like the sound of that actually. This generation of parents doesn't think about their kids mental health as much, they don't realize how much their actions or the things they say mess up their kids mentally. They ignore the signs of their kids depression thinking a teen isn't capable of being depressed since our teenage years are suppose to be our best years." Destinee spoke with a shake of her head. She despised how parents nowadays thinks.
"If anything teenage years are our most traumatic years."
"And I agree with everything you're saying. I can agree that my teenage years were my worse years. I got caught up with the wrong crowd of girls, hung around boys which ruined my reputation, and got molested by a former family member. My family did everything but believe me."
The car ride home was better than Destinee imagined riding with a stranger would be. Destinee entered her address into the screen that was built into the lady's dashboard and enjoyed the ride back home.
It wasn't the safest thing. But sis literally didn't know how long she could continue walking.
•
•
•
It had just hit six in the morning, Kierra dropped her bags on the floor of her bedroom. She was back home and couldn't wait to hit her sheets. The flight left her tired. She was up trying to reach Destinee, her messages weren't sending and her calls were going to voicemail instantly. She had no idea why.
She knew that it was unlike her best friend to ignore her, especially since they were perfectly fine and on good terms before she left. She was questioning if she had done something wrong that maybe she didn't know about. Even though she's done nothing nothing wrong.
The house was still quiet, like it was when she left. These were the times where she thought back on her parents. She missed them more than anything. It's been months since she's seen them.
She use to spend days thinking about the situation which led to her parents abduction. She blamed herself for everything. She showed clear signs that she wasn't interested in Dave and he still didn't get the message. She figured that he did something to lead him or or make him that the feelings were mutual—which she didn't.
She tried to not overthink the situation and let it get under her skin. She had just came back from a relaxing, well needed trip which was good for her mental, she didn't need to be mentally unstable all over again.
She found a quick show to watch on Netflix as she settled in bed. She removed her clothes staying in nothing but her undergarments. She threw the cover over her watching the show on Netflix.
That didn't last long, she fell asleep after only being a couple minutes into the show.
•
•
•
Three hours later..
TJ walked through the doors of his home feeling everything but successful. Following Destinee's last location did nothing to help them. She wasn't there by the time they got there.
It seemed as if when they figured out a solution to one problem, the next problem appears. The solution never works for either problems.
All he wanted was his girlfriend back and he was beginning to feel like that was too much to ask for.
They've been searching for hours and haven't found anything. He was slowly giving up and he didn't want to. He wanted everything but that. He wanted Destinee.
He brushed his hands down his face as he made his way into the kitchen. He grabbed him something quick which was a bottle of water. He gulped it down quickly to quench his thirst.
Despite his tiredness he wasn't in the mood for sleep. At least not while he was feeling the way he was feeling.
He felt lost, hopeless, he was suffering due to her disappearance. He couldn't remember the last time he's felt this lonely. He couldn't even get back used to sleeping alone, especially knowing that she wasn't there to text him in the morning when she woke up.
He couldn't get over the fact that she was actually gone. He blamed this on himself, simply for picking the life he picked. He knew what came with it and still managed get Destinee caught up in his bullshit.
His thoughts were interrupted with the few knocks that sounded off on the front door. He looked at the time seeing that it was only nine ten in the morning. He had hopes of it being Destinee knocking but knew that those chances were slim to none.
He opened the door without asking who it was knocking. Kierra, Jeremiah, and Cam stood there. Kierra seen the way TJ looked, she frowned her face up instantly.
"TJ, you look exhausted as hell. Are you getting sleep?"
"Yeah."
"You a damn lie." Cam spoke up pushing pass him to make his way in. They all made their way into the apartment. He closed the door behind him confused at the fact that they all randomly showed up at the same time, nine ten o'clock in the morning.
"I called them over here because shit, we need to tell them eventually." Cam spoke. They all took a seat getting comfortable like it was their home.
"Tell us what, Cameron?" Kierra asked with confusion written clearly on her face.
TJ shook his head slightly. His eyes were still vacant, like he was lost and looking for something. Or someone.
"Destinee went missing while you was on vacation."
"Cameron stop fucking playing with me."
"Nah, seriously." TJ chimed in, "we was out looking for her since three this morning. She's nowhere to be found. It's been almost a week now."
"Bro...what?" Kierra spoke in disbelief, "No, y'all are playing with me. Y'all have to be."
Jeremiah rubbed her back in a soothing manner. Tears began to prickle Kierra's eyes. As much as she tried blinking them away, she wasn't able to. She covered her mouth and began sobbing instantly.
"That's my best friend, the other half of me. What the fuck do you mean she's missing?" She sobbed.
"Rico-"
"I know who that is.. I-I know where he lives."
"He's dead Kierra."
"How the fuck did this shit happen?" Jeremiah questioned. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Shit we don't know. I was calling her after she got off work and never got a response."
"This shit is too much from me. That girl is literally like a sister to me, now she's gone too? I don't even have my parents back and I come home to another part of me missing."
TJ and Cam shared a brief moment of eye contact. Cam used signals to shut him up instantly. He wasn't ready to tell her just yet. Only him and TJ knew.
"This shit doesn't feel real.."
•
•
•
After discussing the topic for at least thirty minutes, they decided to go outside for fresh air. Kierra was more standoffish and quieter than her usual self. She still couldn't believe the news she just received. Her best friend was gone.
Everything felt unreal, for all of them.
Until...
TJ watched closely as the figure got out of the car. Which was an Uber based off of the sticker placed on the vehicle. It was Destinee. He knew that figure from anywhere.
"Baby!" TJ called out, the usual bass in his voice was gone. It was much softer. He walked up to Destinee pulling her into a tight hug planting kisses on her forehead. Multiple kisses.
Destinee wrapped her arms around him tightly. She couldn't help but to breakdown in his arms. She sobbed into his T-shirt.
They held onto each other as if was their last time seeing each other. Which in reality it was their first time in days seeing each other.
Everyone stood back allowing TJ to get his time with Destinee. They watched as they tightly held each other as if their life depended on it.
"I missed you so fucking much Des."
"I missed you too." Destinee's words came out with uncontrollable sobs. She was barely able to speak through her own cries. She cried so hard it hurts, but she couldn't stop crying even if she tried.
"This shit is my fault. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you caught in the middle of my bullshit."
"N-no it's not."
"They were after me, not you. I'm sorry for this shit."
Through her own cries Destinee still managed to comfort her man. She soothingly rubbed her hands up and down his back as she held him close to her.
A few tears managed to escape from TJ's eyes which he wasn't used to. It was unlike him to shed tears but this was different— his girlfriend endured pain by men that was after him. He blamed himself for it.
The last thing he wanted was for Destinee to get hurt. Everything was unexpected. Amaya was to blame.
As promise she got into the school computer and got the information she needed on Destinee and Kierra. Which Destinee was the only one that got hurt. She gave the information to Rico who also worked for Dave.
Amaya went the extra mile telling him where she worked so he popped up on her acting as if he needed directions to the pharmacy.
Everything went left from there.
After Destinee's sentimental moment with TJ was over she was pulled into a hug by her best friend. Kierra found herself crying in her best friend's arms. Despite her pain Destinee comforted her as well. With the help of Jeremiah they calmed Kierra down. Which was not the easiest battle.
Destinee also received a hug from Cam and Jeremiah.
"Let me talk to you." Jeremiah spoke as they pulled away from the embrace they were in.
"Okay."
Jeremiah led her away from everyone else so the two could talk in private. It was a conversation that needed to happen, this conversation was beyond overdue.
"I see the way TJ is when he's around you. He looked miserable as fuck before you showed up. Then he seen you and it's like that shit put him to ease instantly."
Which was true. Miserable was an understatement. TJ was going through it when Destinee went missing. He barely ate, barely slept, and etc. Destinee was the only thing on his mind. He needed her more than anything to stay sane.
She was indeed the other half of him.
Destinee stood there quiet listening. She honestly didn't know what to say and where this conversation was going. She just wanted to hear him out and put whatever tension they once had pass them.
"When you first came in the picture I didn't take that shit well. It wasn't my place but as much as I tried getting TJ away from you, he grew closer to you."
Destinee nodded, a small smirk appeared on her face as she thought back on everything she's been through with Jeremiah.
"The first female TJ ever decided to take serious played the fuck out of him and had a baby on him. You see that he isn't the best when it comes down to picking out females—Amaya, Diamond, and Tiana crazy ass."
"Yeah, I agree. I don't know where he got his taste from."
"I just didn't want him to go through what Diamond put him through all over again. He called himself being in love with her only to find out that she was messing with a nigga that was enemy. She had a baby with him and I wouldn't be surprise if she was with that nigga now. I wasn't aware of your intentions with him and instead of trying to get to know them I wasn't trying to allow that shit at all."
"Despite the bullshit I put you through you stuck around, I applaud you for that shit. I'm used to seeing people fold under pressure but your ass didn't. TJ's like a brother to me, you know that shit. I was too overprotective."
"But I see that you're the one for him. You keep him together more than you think. You got him in love and shit and I never thought he was capable of loving another female again."
Destinee nodded, "and I love him too.. I see where you're coming from. I just wish that we had this conversation earlier. I'm not here to hurt him or treat him like his last did. I wouldn't trade him for anything, I have no ill intentions."
"You know that when I met y'all I wasn't necessarily in the best place. I had no friends, I literally didn't fit in with anyone but when I met y'all everything changed, I finally felt as if I fit in and had friends of my own. We weren't necessarily on the best of terms but I still found you funny and cool to be around despite everything."
"My head was fucked up, I wasn't my best self until I met him and he helped me through all of it. I could never play or hurt a man that helped me overcome so much."
"I realize that shit now. That's why I wanted to apologize to you and hopefully start this shit over. I don't feel no type of way towards you, I'm just happy that you kept him together and brought him some type of happiness."
"Of course.. and I accept your apology."
They hugged one last time before making their way back to everyone else. TJ pulled Destinee into his arms immediately. He planted a kiss on her forehead before resting his head on hers.
"It's up from here." Jeremiah announced.
"Shit, we on the same page." Cam agreed.
"Definitely." TJ agreed. He was mentally taking it the hardest. Never in a million years did he expected for Destinee to have to go through this. He wanted to handle Amaya and Rico himself.
He wanted their blood in his hands. He wanted the whole team wiped out.