PANTY RAID

76| When the past comes knocking

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Dayo swerved his Ford Mustang to a screeching halt by the side of the road, narrowly avoiding a motorcyclist. Eniola jerked forward and he instinctively stretched out his right arm to stop her head from hitting the dashboard, even though her seat belt was strapped. "What in the world is wrong with you?" she yelled at him.

He cursed under his breath as she settled back against the car seat, murmuring about how he was going to get them killed with his reckless driving. His fingers shaking, he deleted his most recent texts and closed the message app on his phone. "Shit, babe. I'm so sorry. Are you okay? You're not hurt ?" he asked genuinely as if just realizing what he had done.

She shook her head. "I'm not hurt. I'm fine. But why did you slam on the brakes like that?" she asked, leaning over to peer into his phone.

"I remembered that I have a very important appointment with my dad," he said, turned off his phone, and dropped it into the cup holder.  He'll be damned if he let her catch a glance at what was on his phone.

"Umm...babe, I'm going to have to drop you off here. I'll call you a taxi," he said. Eniola smiled and picked up her mini bag, "I'm starting to think that God doesn't want me to get a tattoo. First the rain, and now this," she said, jokingly.

He caught her hand before she opened the door, "You're not mad, are you?" he asked.

She turned to him with a smile pasted on her face, "Of course not. Do I look mad to you?"

"You sure you're not mad at me?" he asked, "I could drop you off if that's what you want. No need to call you an Uber."

She gave him a tight smile and got out of the car. He muttered a string of curses as he jumped out of the car and joined her on the wet sidewalk pavement. "Eniola, did I do something wrong?" he asked.

He waited for her to reply, but she doesn't. "Babe, what is it? You're acting a little strange," he asked softly, raising her chin so their eyes met.

She slapped his hand away. "Strange? If anyone is acting strange here, it's you. Since you came back this afternoon, you've been acting...distant."

Dayo ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm just stressed out from last's night's hangover."

Eniola scoffed. He smiled and pulled her closer, dropping a quick peck on her lips. "You'll have me all to yourself tomorrow, but I need to go now."

"Okay, fine," she said, smiling sweetly. He hailed a passing yellow cab, waited until she got in, and instructed the driver to drive carefully. "Oga no worry, your girlfriend dey safe hand," the driver assured him.

He paid him his fare and added a very generous tip. Dayo braced his hand on top of the car and bent to level his face with hers. "I'll pick you up at 8 tomorrow morning, okay? And call me when you get to your hostel."

She nodded and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Bye, babe. I love you," she smiled. He hesitated for a moment. "Me too, doll face."

She frowned at his response, but before she could say anything, he signaled for the driver to leave. He watched the cab ease into the road and returned to his car. He picked up his phone and opened his recently deleted folder, and there it was, the message left almost ten hours ago; another threat from fucking Novah.

He felt a wave of rage mixed with disgust hit him as he clicked the play button. "The fucking bitch," he muttered. She recorded every fucking thing that happened last night, particularly the most explicit parts.

A message was attached to the video. "I won't hesitate to send this to your little girlfriend so you better not mess with me."

He wasn't going to let her blackmail him into giving her what she wanted. It wasn't going to work. Whatever game she was playing, he wasn't willing to jeopardize his relationship with Eniola.