Never Again, No More 2

by Untamed

  I covered my mouth in shock. “Dreads, what happened? That was your arresting officer and your judge.”

  “Sucks to be Pooch.” Terrence shrugged. “See, you asked me a good question that I wasn’t ready to answer one night. Actually, it was the night we conceived this little one,” he said, reaching forward and rubbing my stomach. “On the way back, you asked me how I got caught being as good as I am at dodging trouble. Well, li’l mama, I didn’t get caught. I got set up, and it was all because of you.”

  “Because of me?” I asked, pointing to myself.

  “Yep. I was pushing my own weight and getting my shit from the best connects—”

  “The Crown Brothers,” I interrupted as it dawned on me where I’d finally heard that name from. The Crown Brothers used to be Terrence’s connects.

  He nodded. “Yep. Your boy Pooch got pissed that my game was tight. I didn’t need all those soldiers, and I damn sure wasn’t trying to rule the world. I was about gettin’ that bread so you and my babies would always eat. And that bread I was gettin’, I just didn’t floss. I was stackin’ my shit proper so I could get out of this shit and be straight, but Pooch was pissed about that and about the fact that I had you. Only thing is your boy wanted you a little more than I anticipated. Remember when he asked you to leave me after Terry was born?”

  “Yeah, but I never took Pooch serious until after you got locked up.”

  “That was my one miscalculation too. He got me on some trumped-up charges and had my case padded so I’d take a serious fall,” Terrence explained.

  “That’s where Sergeant Rowe and Judge Liable came in,” I realized.

  “Exactly,” Terrence said. “I’ll never forget that night in the warehouse. I knew some foul shit was going on when I met my contact and he called me by my real name. I rushed dude to confront him, and it all went so fast.” Terrence zoned out as he began to reminisce over his story.

  “‘Freeze! APD! You’re under arrest!’ officers, DEA, and special enforcement agents from the narc squad yelled.

  “There was a blaze of fire and smoke as police and both sides busted their cannons. Skeet had my back, fending off the Feds as they made their way through the warehouse while Rome cleared the way, picking off as many of the suppliers’ henchmen as he could to get out.

  “The back door was cleared as Rome made his way out, but the red dot on my chest caused Skeet to pause and both of us to look up. Visible was the drop-off’s gun, which was aimed directly at me. Quick with the trigger finger, Skeet let off one round, instantly putting his ass to sleep.

  “‘Freeze!’ Sgt. Rowe yelled out.

  “‘Fuck, man!’ Skeet said to me.

  “‘Look, man, only one of us can make it to the back door. You go.’

  “‘Fuck that! You got kids—’

  “‘No time. You been in prison before, and you done caught at least three bodies. That’s life, my nigga. Go,’ I yelled. ‘Go, muthafucka!’

  “With regretful eyes, Skeet gave me a fist pound and ran for the door as I stood with my hands over my head. I had money saved up, and it would be my first offense. With my attorney, I just knew I could beat the case easily. At least, that’s what I thought.

  “When Sgt. Rowe walked up to me and said, ‘Terrence Marsh, you’re under arrest,’ all I could do was zone out as the cop Mirandized me. All I could think about was getting home to you and my babies and praying that I could get out of that with little to no time at all. But Pooch had other plans for me.”

  The reality of what had actually happened hit me like a ton of bricks. “Oh my God. You mean to tell me the whole time I thought this bastard was trying to rescue me and my children, he was really the reason you were taken from us?”

  “Yep, li’l mama. I’m afraid so.” Terrence nodded.

  A rage burned inside of me. As I viewed the news report, part of me wanted to feel sorry about the shit storm Pooch was in. But now knowing this bastard had plotted on me from the jump and set up my man, I was happy as fuck that he was going down.

  “How did you find all this out?” I asked.

  Thomas piped up then. “That came through me. See, Pooch contacted me because he thought I was Terrence’s connect. That’s how we kept it so niggas wouldn’t be in our business. Thing was, he didn’t know Terrence was my cousin, and I kept it like that. I knew that grimy bastard had something to do with him getting locked up, and it was a matter of time before I found out, which I did. So I hooked T up with the info.”

  “You were a part of the plan?” I said, turning to Big Cal.

  “Yeah. My real name is Aaron, by the way. I came down and made my way up through Pooch’s ranks to his right-hand man so I could get next to him to bring him down,” Big Cal explained.

  “Who y’all got on the police side to bring him down?” I asked. They looked at each other and laughed.

  “Let’s just say Big Cal is more than just my cousin,” Terrence said as Big Cal showed me his shield. “He’s undercover.”

  “Damn, y’all raw. That’s how you got your sentence reduced,” I said, looking at Dreads, and he nodded.

  “And you got the missing bricks?” I asked Dreads as I finally put everything together. He pointed at me, indicating that I was correct.

  “Not that he needed it. My cuz already has plenty,” Thomas added. “And well, one setup deserves another,” Thomas joked.

  “You already have plenty?” I asked, looking to Terrence for clarification.

  “Yes. I told you I was investing in proper shit for all of us.”

  “What you saying?”

  Thomas laughed and interjected. “Let me just say that your man is straight, and so are all of us.”

  “Straight as in six-digits straight?” I asked, remembering that Pooch was sitting on at least a seven-digit operation by himself.

  Dreads looked at Thomas and Big Cal and gave me that ever-sexy smirk. “Nah, baby. Straight as in eight-digits straight, and it’s all for you and my babies.”

  I almost choked on my own spit. My Dreads, my baby daddy frontin’ with the brick mason job and the old late-model truck was a fuckin’ multimillionaire? It didn’t seem possible, but I knew it was true. Dreads had been baiting Pooch since before he got out of prison, and not only did he take his shit, he brought down Pooch, his family, and his entire organization. Dreads was certified hell. Told you if that nigga had gone to college, he would’ve been hell to deal with.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Terrence.

  “We are going to Illinois. With all the heat in Atlanta, we can’t go back there. I don’t want Pooch putting shit together or finding out about us. He gonna be looking for you, so we gon’ have to take on my dad’s last name and take some other precautions that I’ll explain later. In the meantime, you gotta get your contact list, but ditch that phone, and your contact with your girls needs to be limited and only through secured lines for a while,” Terrence said.

  “I got the police looking out for your mom,” Big Cal told me.

  “She gonna need to move,” I told Dreads. I was scared for her and my siblings.

  “Fo’ sho. I got you covered. She knows we had to break and is already making headway to Illinois with your sister and brother. I told you, I got you,” Terrence said, cupping my face.

  “Dreads, I’m still a little nervous,” I said to him.

  “Don’t be. Everything is going to be all right. Why don’t you go ahead and back up your contacts on this chip and then take a nap? We have a good little drive ahead of us.”

  Without hesitation, I did what I was told. Then he took my battery out of my phone and threw it out the window. After a pit stop so Big Cal and Thomas could get some food, we got back on the road. I sat in the back seat with Dreads and lay across his lap, happy to be away from Pooch and to be starting my new life with him. Still, I was worrying my head off, because Pooch was slick as hell. I didn’t want no demons in my past to invade my new life. It wasn’t the things I knew that bothered me. It was wh
at I didn’t know. But for now, I was cool with the peace of mind I had knowing that Pooch finally got his and I got mine. I laughed to myself as I thought, I bet you Pooch will definitely remember this shit.

  Epilogue

  LaMeka

  Six Months Later

  “And that’s it,” I said as I removed the loosened band from the patient’s arm and gently removed the needle.

  “Nobody has ever been able to find a vein. You are good,” Mr. Santiago said to me.

  “Yeah, she is getting pretty good at this,” Gavin, my instructor, complimented me.

  “Thanks, Mr. Santiago and Gavin. I try.”

  “You’re going to make one hell of a nurse, young lady. Best stick I’ve ever had,” he laughed.

  “Well, all right! You just wait right here. I’m going to get this blood work to the lab for you, and the doctor should be back in after that, okay?” I said, patting Mr. Santiago on his shoulder.

  “All right, sweetheart. You can come back too, you know.”

  I laughed. “Are you getting fresh with me?”

  “Is it working?”

  “Absolutely,” I joked. “You have a good one, Mr. Santiago, and I don’t want to see you anytime soon. Stay out of the ER.”

  “Only if I can come back and visit you sometime.”

  “As long as we don’t have to triage you, you’re more than welcome to come,” I giggled.

  He laughed. “Have a good one, sweetie, and thanks for bearing with this old man.”

  Gavin and I walked out. “You really have a way with the patients, and your handiwork is fantastic. This is truly a gift for you,” Gavin praised me.

  “Thanks. I’ve always liked science and wanted to be a nurse. I finally feel like I’m in my mode, you know?”

  “Yeah, you are definitely in your mode, but I wish you’d try to get in your mode with me.”

  My cheeks reddened from his blatant flirting. “Gavin, I told you. I don’t know about all of that.”

  “It’s just a dinner date.”

  “But I don’t think I’m ready to start dating anyone just yet.”

  “Well, then drop the date, and let’s just have dinner. That’s not asking anything extreme. We all have to eat. It’s for your nutrition and health,” he coaxed, causing me to giggle.

  Eyeing him skeptically, I pursed my lips. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about you, Mr. Randall,” I joked.

  I’d only been there a little while, but already I knew more than most about Mr. Gavin Randall. He was my instructor in the ER where I did my clinical rotation as I worked on my degree. He’d been attracted to me from the start, though at first, he tried to keep it professional. His theory was that life was too short not to go after what you wanted, and what he wanted was LaMeka Roberts, hands down. I guessed he had a thing for girls with thick thighs and booty. I’d managed to lose my baby bulge, so I was thin up top with a flat stomach and skinny waist, but my thighs were still a little thick, and this Georgia-peach ass wasn’t going nowhere. I had a permanent donk from LaMichael, but I didn’t mind that. That was a Southern girl’s thang.

  Gavin was a cool man, though. Everybody loved him, and he was the best of the best when it came to nurses. He could’ve been a doctor he was so smart, but he said he liked being a nurse because he liked interacting with the patients and being hands-on.

  He was single, had never been married, and didn’t have children. His last relationship lasted two years but ended a year ago. They broke up because he wanted marriage and kids, and while she was for the marriage part, she didn’t want any children. He was God-fearing and went to church faithfully. He had come from a single-parent household, but his mom passed away a few years back. What she couldn’t provide for him while she was alive, she more than made up for in her death. Rumor had it that she left him and his brother a grip of money from her insurance policies. I believed it, being that he was pushing a Corvette, and ain’t no nurses I knew balling around in Corvettes. His gear was fresh, and he stayed in the newest pairs of Nikes and Jordans, although that could just be from being single with no kids at 30 years old.

  I ain’t gon’ lie. He was fine as hell. Six feet tall, muscular build with the prettiest light brown eyes I’d seen in my life. And Lawd did he smell good hella good. The kinda good that when you entered a room, you could still smell his scent even if he wasn’t in there. We did have a lot in common. We liked the same gospel music. He was a big fan of Tye Tribbett, Da Truth, and J Moss just like me, and he also had a passion for dirty South rap just like me. It wasn’t nothing to hear him pulling up bumping a little old school Goodie Mob or even some Scarface.

  And honestly, a lot of females wanted him. A lot. Nurses and doctors alike. He was just so fucking swaggeristic like that. Yeah, I said swaggeristic. It’s my word meaning that you’ve got so much swag it’s a part of your characteristic: swaggeristic. That was definitely Gavin Randall. It was also definitely why I didn’t trust him. It was as if he had no flaws. Let him tell it, he had plenty of flaws, but your guess is as good as mine as to what they were. He was perfect. He seemed perfect for me, but was I ready to date again? More importantly, could I handle dating Gavin Randall?

  “Is it because I’m white?” he asked me, breaking my thoughts.

  “No. You know I don’t even care about that,” I said.

  Okay, so I lied a little bit. Big deal. It wasn’t the reason, but it was a concern, even if he was David Beckham fine with Snoop Dogg charm. Yeah, he was just like that.

  “So, Miss Lady, if you don’t care about that and we gel so well together, then why won’t you give me a chance?” he asked me.

  “I’m your student for one—”

  “I can get you a new instructor,” he cut me off.

  “You better not even try it,” I laughed.

  “What’s for two?” he probed, licking his lips like he was LL Cool J.

  Those scrumptious-ass lips. I coughed to clear my thoughts. “Umm, two was, uh, yeah: we are good friends, and I don’t want to mess that up.”

  “What friends do you know who don’t hang out and go out to eat sometimes? I ain’t never heard of dinner breaking up friendships unless somebody skipped out on the bill,” he joked. “If it makes you feel better, we can split the tab. You pay for the drinks, and I’ll pay for the food.”

  “Gavin!” another nurse hollered down the hall. “We need your help! We have a gunshot victim!”

  “We’ll finish this later. Let’s rock and roll,” he said as we took off down the hallway and entered the room.

  The nurse gave us the details as we walked in. “Patient is a black male, twenty-three years old, shot twice—once in the leg and once in the back. He was carried in by two men in the waiting area.”

  “Are the police out there?” Gavin asked.

  “No, I think they’ve been notified, though,” another nurse said.

  “Okay, we’re going to lift him on three,” Gavin called out. “One, two, three, lift,” he called out as all of us moved the patient. Then the doctors rushed in.

  It was my first gunshot victim, and I was nervous as hell. The sight was gruesome. Blood was everywhere, and his flesh smelled like it was burning from where he’d been shot.

  “Anybody know the story? Any known allergies?” one of the doctors called out.

  “No. The guys in the hall refuse to talk, and the victim was unconscious,” the first nurse said as she prepared the saline and I helped Gavin gather the instruments.

  When I turned to walk to the other side, I saw the man’s face. It was Tony! “Oh God! You all be careful. I know this man. He’s possibly HIV positive.”

  Gavin walked me off to the side. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” I said nervously. Gavin looked at me suspiciously. “Just trust me. I know him.”

  He nodded. “All right. Do you know anything else about him that’d be helpful?”

  “He was a drug addict—cocaine and alcohol. He had surgery for his knee and has pins in the
right leg. He’s allergic to codeine.”

  “Okay, thanks. Since you seem to know him, go and see if you can find out any information from the two outside. Besides, you may be too closely related to this to work on him,” Gavin instructed me.

  I couldn’t believe Tony had been shot, but I knew it was only a matter of time before his deeds caught up with him. It was the first time I’d seen him since he tried to kill me. It was ironic to me that the next time I saw him, he was fighting for his life after he’d tried to take mine. Part of me wanted to be happy, but the Christian in me was genuinely concerned for him. I’d always loved Tony and honestly wanted him to get his life together, and now his time to do that may have been up. As I began to approach the men who were pacing back in forth in bloodstained T-shirts, I heard Tony flatline, and instantly tears slid down my face.

  Charice

  “Make sure you boys are bundled up tight. I can’t afford you all getting sick on me right now. Do you hear me, Ryan and Ray?” I commanded my boys as they put on their parkas and snow boots.

  “Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

  “Shut the back door so snow won’t get in the house,” I added as I walked back into the kitchen.

  “Something smells good,” Ryan said after he walked into the kitchen.

  “Yes, I put my foot into this lasagna, baby. It’s almost done,” I said, tossing the salad.

  “I was referring to my lovely wife,” he corrected. He walked up behind me and kissed me on my neck as he wrapped his arms around me.

  “Why, thank you, baby.” We kissed and I felt the impression of the rings on his hands. “You’re really going to wear both Super Bowl rings?”

  “At least for a little while,” he laughed. “Are the boys getting ready so we can go outside and catch the last of this good New York snow and play some flag football?”

  “Yes, they’re putting on their parkas,” I said and turned to face him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “You know, I say we should’ve made them take a nap and found something else to do to keep warm in this snow.”