Tender managed to get back into the mix of things, but it wasn’t the same. It seemed as if Q was more into Kat than her. She was beginning to feel left out. Even when he wasn’t having sex with Kat, he was touching, kissing, feeling and talking dirty to her. Tender never factored this possibility into the equation when she agreed to this ménage à trois. If this had crossed her mind, she would never have done it. He would have had to find someone else. Not her. She felt betrayed by him. This is the thanks I get for “ridin” for him? she thought.

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER
13

GOLDIE BOARDED an Amtrack express train at the Market Street station in Philadelphia. Nervously, Goldie looked around suspiciously at the other passengers. Everyone appeared to be an undercover cop to her. That’s how paranoid she was. She felt as though she were walking on eggshells, as if her every move was being watched. She thought at any given moment the law would spring from the shadows and haul her off to jail. This caused her to stop in her tracks many times, as travelers suddenly shifted directions, on her way to board a train. Needless to say, her schizophrenic actions drew more attention to her than anything else.

She breathed a big sigh of relief when the train finally departed. Goldie could run from her problems but she couldn’t hide. The demons that troubled her soul were going along on this trip with her, just like the luggage she carried. Her eyes were glued outside the window. She took one last look at her city, the only home she ever knew, and silently bid it farewell. She was leaving and doubted if she’d ever return.

New York, New York, big city of dreams. That phrase came to mind as Goldie headed for the city. She managed to get out of Philadelphia without getting arrested by Philadelphia’s finest. Still, she wasn’t so sure how long her luck would hold up.

Arriving at Penn Station, Goldie gathered her luggage and exited the train. She followed the crowd of people up the escalator, unsure of which direction to go. Subconsciously, she had grown so dependent on Kat to make decisions for her that she was lost on her own. It took her a while to realize that there was no one around to lead her. No one around to help weather this emotional storm. No one to help her through these gloomy rainy days of this thing called life. She was in a sink-or-swim situation. She had to fend for herself. Only time would tell if she would make it.