Tone wasn’t ready for prison, at least not financially, right now. Part of his plan was to hustle up enough money to hire a good attorney. That way he’d having a better chance at getting a lesser sentence in court, whenever he was picked up on the warrant.
At the moment he was a fugitive from justice; one step ahead of New York City’s finest. Armed with a fake ID in his pocket, he planned to stay that way. As far as he was concerned, he wasn’t even Anthony Thompson anymore. He was now Jason Jones. At least that’s what his identification said. The police would either have to fingerprint or positively identify him to prove otherwise.
The concealment of his true identity gave Tone hope. Once he hit Baltimore he could be whoever he wanted to be and no one would be the wiser.
Tone woke up on the bus in a cold sweat. He had a bad dream about getting arrested. The dream felt so real, he was happy as hell to open his eyes and find out that it wasn’t. He was still free.
Tone’s anxiety was building. He wouldn’t feel completely safe until he reached his girlfriend’s apartment. At the moment all he wanted to do was hurry up and get to his destination. In his mind the bus ride was taking forever and a day. He continually grew restless. His only reprieve was to fall back into his seat and try to forget about everything, where he was going and how long it took to get there. He came to the realization that traveling by bus took time and his arrival couldn’t be hurried.
Dwelling on the trip wasn’t going to make it any shorter. He reverted back to staring out the window, at the never-ending highway and endless amount of cars that had now turned into just a stream of bright headlight and red taillights.
That trick seemed to work. The three plus hour trip didn't take as long as he thought, once he took his mind off it. The sudden change of scenery and reduction in speed as the bus exited the highway alerted Tone to his arrival in downtown Baltimore. As the bus made its way toward the bus station, Tone felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach. Unsure of what to expect, he took a deep breath and exhaled.
As the bus turned off on the exit ramp, Tone began to get his first glimpse of downtown Baltimore. He was unimpressed at the modest skyline that outlined the downtown area. The tallest building in downtown Baltimore didn’t even compare with the skyscrapers in New York City. With his face pressed to the window, Tone took it all in.
Then he calmly walked down the aisle to the bathroom to retrieve his drugs and handgun out the garbage. He grabbed his knapsack from the overhead compartment and placed the items back in there.
Shortly, the bus came to a halt. It became evident to Tone that he had reached his destination, finally.
“We’ve arrived in Baltimore, Maryland,” the bus driver spoke into the intercom as the interior lights of the bus came on. “All passengers headed to Washington, DC, Richmond, Virginia, and all points south, please do not exit the bus. For all those passengers who’ve reached their destination, thank you for choosing Peter Pan.”
The driver exited the bus, opened the luggage compartment, and began removing suitcases and baggage. A steady stream of passengers departed the bus to retrieve their belongings. Tone was amongst the handful of other passengers that stood up and grabbed their own possessions that they had brought onboard the bus.
After grabbing his things, Tone navigated his way down the narrow bus aisle to the exit. As he did so, he intently studied the bus station, scanning the terminal for his girlfriend or anyone who may have looked like a policeman. The moment he stepped off the bus, his girlfriend instantly spotted Tone. She stood near the bus station entrance and where the passengers departed their respective buses.
“Hey boo,” she excitingly said as she ran over and gave him a big hug and a kiss. “Yo, I’m so glad ya here. I missed you.”
Tone had that boyish charm that made Sonya weak every time she saw him.
“I missed you too,” Tone responded as he broke the embrace to get a better look at her body.
Inwardly, Tone shook his head. He conceded to himself that Sonya was looking better than ever. Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen her in a few months. Whatever the reasons was, Tone definitely liked what he saw.
“God damn. Ya ass is gettin’ fatter,” he said while taking a long lustful look at his girlfriend. “Who you fuckin’ wit’ down here? I don’t remember ya shit bein’ this fat.”
Flirting with his girlfriend required little effort on Tone’s part because he was genuinely attracted to her. But it wasn’t just her sex appeal that made her so enticing. These two had great chemistry. Sonya was looking even better than Tone had remembered. She stood 5'6 and thick in all the right places. Her smooth brown skin and large bubbly light brown eyes seemed to attract him more than anything.
“Tone, if you don’t stop fuckin’ playin’ wit’ me,” she laughed.
Tone loved the fact that Sonya could take a joke. It was one of the reasons that their relationship was different from all the others he had before. He also loved her affectionate exuberance that she always displayed whenever they were together. These things endeared her to him.
At the moment Tone could care
