by Meesha
“I don’t know, Sin. I don’t want this baby! I don’t even want to live! I’ve lost the love of my life and I don’t think I will be able to go on without him.” she cried out.
“Stop right now! You are not your only concern anymore. There is a life inside of you and he needs you in order to enter this world healthy. You sound selfish as fuck right now, Madysen! I know you are hurt that Max died, we all are. His death is affecting everybody that loved him, not just you! Listen to me,” I said calming myself down. “I will talk to Beast. You can stay with us until shit blows over in the streets. Going back to your apartment is not an option as long as Floyd and his crew are out and about. What I want you to do is get your mind right to say your final goodbyes to Max. Can you do that for me? Do it for your son, he needs you, Madysen.”
Silently crying, she nodded her head yes. I knew she didn’t mean that shit, that’s why I had to keep an eye on her ass. In my mind I knew I was going to have to beat her ass. There was a light knock on the door and Dr. Langstein entered.
“Okay, Miss Wright you are all set to get out of here. I set up your OB-GYN appointment and these are the prescriptions for your prenatal pills. Take care of yourself, Madysen.” He said as he handed her the papers.
“Thank you,” she said putting the papers on the night stand.
Dr. Langstein left the room and Madysen sat up in the bed. She stared straight ahead for a few minutes before she got up and went to the closet. She fell to her knees clutching the clothes that were in a plastic bag in her hands. Her gut wrenching sobs tugged at my heart.
“I have fresh clothes for you to put on, Madysen. Give me the bag.” Taking the bag from her grasp, I walked to the other side of the room. I grabbed the bag with the clothes I’d bought and gave it to her.
“I’m not gonna be able to make it through this, Sin.” She cried.
“Yes, you are and you will. I need you to go in the bathroom and get dressed,” I said while helping her to her feet. Ushering her into the bathroom, I pressed the call button on the remote. A nurse came into the room a few minutes later.
“You need help, Miss Wright?” she asked when she stepped inside the room.
“Yes, I do. Can you please do me a favor and throw these clothes away for me?”
“Sure, I’m sorry, we didn’t want to get rid of them without permission.”
“It’s okay and thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, you all have done plenty.”
She left out the room with the bloodied clothes and I pulled my phone from my purse. I started a text to Beast then decided to call him instead. The phone rang and I waited for him to answer. His deep baritone was the calm that I need at the moment and I welcomed it.
“Hey babe, how’s Madysen?”
“She’s pregnant, Beast. I’m two seconds from knocking her upside her head because she’s talking crazy as fuck. The only reason I’m keeping my cool is because I know she’s grieving for Max. It goes beyond that though, I really believe she doesn’t want to live without him.”
“Bring her to the house, Sin. She can’t go back to that apartment. We have to be sure to keep her happy and putting your hands on her is not gon’ solve anything. We have to convince her to keep this baby, Sin.”
“She doesn’t have a choice in the matter, she’s seven fuckin’ months! The baby is coming if she wants it or not. Beast, she is talking as if she’s going to do something to herself. If she does, she bet not make it because I’m killing her ass the first chance I get.”
“She’s not gon’ do nothing to harm that damn baby, calm yo’ trigga happy ass down! Take her to the house and get her settled in one of the guest rooms. Don’t let her out of your sight, Sin. I will be there some time this evening and I will go to her place personally to get her shit.”
“Do I look like a muthafuckin’ babysitter? I have a funeral to plan and I’m supposed to meet Nija at her house to go over everything.”
“Tell Nija to come to the house. Do as I say, Sin. I have to go, consider her feelings when you’re talking to her. I know you are all hardcore and shit, put it to the side for now. I need you to be there for her, she needs that motherly love right now.”
“I’m not her fuck—”
“I didn’t ask you who you were, I already stated what I needed you to do, I’m looking for you to follow through with it. End of discussion. I love you, Sincere,” he said cutting me off.
“Fuck you, Beast,” was my response before I hung up on his ass. I didn’t know who the fuck he thought he was talking to, but he knew I didn’t take orders from no muthafucka.
Madysen came out of the bathroom wearing the Nike jogging suit and sneakers I purchased for her. I had already gathered all of the papers and put them in my purse. She glanced around the room and grabbed her phone from the night stand.
“I’m ready.” She said heading for the door. I followed her while texting Nija to meet me at the house in about an hour. Mentally getting my mind together, I waited for the elevators doors to open while Madysen rested her head on the wall.
Chapter 9
Nija
I hadn’t heard from Ricio since he left to go take care of business earlier this morning. After taking care of my hygiene, I put on a pair of jeans and a red off the shoulder ‘Damn Right I’m From Chicago’ shirt I’d bought online from Felicity Designs. It was time for me to go see my mama because it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. She was the person I sought out when I needed to clear my head.
Leaving Ricio’s condo, I went to the elevator and made my way to the garage. I hit the button to unlock the doors and jumped in. Picking my phone up I called my mom to see if she would be home before I showed up and she wasn’t there.
“Hey, Nija baby! How have you been?”
“I’m doing well, ma. I’m on my way to your house, are you there?” I asked putting the car in drive.
“Yes, I’m here. I’m taking this big pan of lasagna out of the oven. Come on over and I will make sure I have things ready so we can sit down and talk about whatever you need to talk about, baby.”
“That sounds so good! I am on my way as we speak.”
“Nija I know damn well you’re not talking on the phone and driving! What have I told you about that? Get off that phone now!”
“Calm down, ma. I haven’t even pulled out of the garage,” I said laughing.
“Garage? You must be at Mauricio’s house. How’s he doing anyway? Nihiyah told me about Max. That poor family just can’t get a break.” I could see her now, leaning against the counter with her head down sending a silent prayer up for the family.
“I’ll talk to you about it when I get there. For now, I have to get off this phone before my mama whoop me,” I said jokingly.
“As long as you know I will still knock you upside the head, no matter how old you get. That sister of yours on the other hand is going to make me shoot her ass between the eyes with her disrespectful ass.”
Nihiyah was a subject I wasn’t in the mood to discuss. I knew my mama was going to tell me everything that had been going on between the two of them. One thing I knew was she better not let it slip that Nihiyah put her hands on her.
“Save that for when I get there, ma. I’m on my way.” I said preparing to end the call.
“Okay, baby. Drive safely and lock your doors. Love you.”
“Love you too, ma. See you in a minute.”
Ending the call, I threw my phone in the cup holder and pulled out of the garage. As I hopped on the expressway, traffic was light and I would be on the Southside in no time. Queen Naija’s Medicine was playing on the radio. Turning it up, I soaked in the lyrics and Ricio came to mind. My phone rang before I could get deep in thought and I was happy about that shit.
“Hello,” I said after putting the call on speaker without looking to see who was calling.
“Hey sis! How you doing over there? I heard about Max, why didn�
��t you call me?”
My girl Kimmie was one of the only females I fucked with heavily when I wasn’t with Ricio’s ass. We’d been friends since elementary school and I loved her with everything in me. Kimmie didn’t agree with the relationship I had with Ricio because she felt he was stringing me along. The thing about it though, she never ridiculed me about it but, she was always there when I needed her.
“It happened so fast, Kimmie. I wasn’t thinking about calling anyone at the time. Seeing Max lying outside of the club riddled with bullets was something I never imagined witnessing. Then to get to the hospital and hearing the words he didn’t make it, tore my heart to shreds. You of all people know that’s my family.”
“It sounds like you’re driving. We need to catch up, where are you headed?”
“Yeah, I’m driving. I’m on my way to mama’s house, she cooked lasagna and I’m going to smash. Yes, we do need to catch up. There’s so much I have to fill you in on.”
“Okay, bet. Call me when you’re ten minutes away, I’ll meet you over there. I need some of mama’s food in my life.”
“Mama would love to see you too.”
“Girl bye! I’ve seen mama Pat more than your ass in the past week,” she said laughing.
“Let me find out you trying to take my mama from me,” I laughed. “I’m on the expressway passing 55th now. I should be in your neck of the woods shortly. You are only down the street from mama’s house. Don’t meet me there, beat me there, bitch,”
I hung up because I knew Kimmie was going to try saying something slick if I didn’t. She was going to be petty as hell when she pulled up on me. While driving, I thought about how I put my foot in my mouth when I volunteered to plan Max’s funeral. Sin was helping out but I still didn’t think I would be able to get through it. The sound of Madysen’s high pitched wail after Max fell to the ground would forever be in my mind to remind me of that night.
The story of Max and Butta’s murders were on every news station. I was waiting on one of the reporters to say there was a suspect in custody. Of course, that wasn’t going to happen because the police weren’t looking for any suspects. With all the cameras placed around the city, the Chicago Police Department won’t pull the footage to see what happened. Let one of their own get gunned down, they would have someone locked up within twenty-four hours of the incident.
A lonely tear escaped from my eye and I wiped it away quickly. Last night I cried more than I ever had in my life. The hurt I felt was worse than the day I cried when my daddy left us for his other family. Ricio worked my body and temporarily took the pain away.
As I neared my mama’s house, I noticed Nihiyah’s car parked in the driveway. Dealing with her attitude was something I didn’t want to endure that day. She always seemed to have a chip on her shoulder. For her sake, she better not come with any bullshit because I wasn’t for it at all.
I parked on the street because for whatever reason my mom didn’t park in the garage. When I got out of my car, Kimmie was parking on the other side of the street. She stared at me like she wanted to snipe my ass but I couldn’t do anything but laugh at her. Kimmie jumped out of her car and I knew she was about to be on one.
“Bitch, I will beat yo’ ass if you ever hang up on me again!”
“You ain’t gon’ bust a grape. Get yo’ ass outta here with that tough cookie ass shit.” I said embracing her in a hug.
“You are lucky I love yo’ ugly ass.” she said hugging me back. “You didn’t sleep very well last night, I see.”
“Nah, not really. Every time I closed my eyes the scene from the club was front and center. I agreed to help plan Max’s funeral, now I don’t know if I can do it.”
“Nija you can and you will. I’m here to help any way that I can. All you have to do is tell me what you need me to do.”
“Can you go on Max’s social media pages and collect any pictures that he has so I can put them in the obituary? I doubt if he has any of him and Madysen, but check anyway. Speaking of Madysen, I have to call and see how she’s doing. Kimmie, I’m glad you weren’t able to come to the party.”
“If I was there, I would’ve been busting my new nine right along with them niggas. Who did this shit, Nija?”
“It was Floyd and his crew. That’s between us though, it doesn’t go no further than here.”
“Who the hell you think you’re talking to, Nija? That’s something we don’t do. What we talk about stays between us. I’ve never gone behind your back repeating shit we talk about.” she rolled her eyes.
“Look, I have to say that shit. You know I trust you with my life but I don’t want anyone to know that you know anything about what’s going on. It’s about to get messy out here and I don’t want you to be in the middle of the gunfight.”
“Trust ain’t a problem when it comes to me and you. With the information you just laid on me, your sister is the one you need to keep your eyes open for. I know Nihiyah is your sister but—”
“Are y’all gonna stand out there running ya mouths for the rest of the night? Get in here so I can eat!” my mama yelled from the front door before Kimmie could finish what she was about to say.
“Okay, mama Pat, we’re coming right now.” Kimmie hollered back. “Come on, I’ll fill you in later,” she said as we walked toward the house.
The aroma of fresh garlic bread hit me as I walked through the door. My stomach grumbled loudly because I hadn’t eaten all day. Walking in to the dining room, the table was set for three and mama walked out the kitchen carrying dinnerware for Kimmie.
“Kimmie why didn’t you call to let me know you were coming over?” mama asked as she set everything on the table.
“I just found out you were cooking when Nija told me she was on her way here. You know I love you though, mama.” Kimmie said hugging her from behind.
“She’s not your mama. The last time I checked she only had two kids.” Nihiyah said walking from the back of the house.
“Don’t start that shit tonight, Hiyah,” my mama warned.
“Whatevver.”
Nihiyah glared at us as she sat at the table. She was typing away on her phone intently and I was glad she found something to occupy herself before she got slapped. Nihiyah had always been jealous of the bond that Kimmie had with my mama. Mama took Kimmie in when her mom passed away and Nihiyah felt Kimmie got more love than she did, which was not the case. If Nihiyah had stayed out the streets she would’ve been there to get the love she craved from my mama.
Kimmie ignored her comment and we went into the kitchen to wash our hands. I could feel my mama’s presence before she opened her mouth. “How many times do I have to tell y’all not to wash your hands in my sink? That’s what the bathroom is for, don’t let it happen again.”
“We’ve been doing that for years and you still haven’t reprimanded us for it. So, why stop now?” I laughed.
“Make me fuck you up, Nija. Don’t play with me. Grab a pan and take it to the table. Kimmie grab the mats and the pitcher of sweet tea, don’t come back into my kitchen until it’s time for the both of you to wash the dishes.” She said grabbing the bowl of garlic bread as well as the bowl of sweet peas.
We laughed as we grabbed the items and went back to the dining room. Nihiyah was still tapping on her phone with her head down. As mama sat the bread on the table, she reached to grab a piece and mama slapped her hand down.
“Don’t put your nasty hands in my food! Go wash your hands, Hiyah.”
“I washed my hands before I came out of the bathroom. I’m not a kid, don’t put yo’ hands on me no mo’.” She sneered.
“Who the fuck you think you’re talking to like that, Hiyah? If you were so grown you wouldn’t be coming to my house every damn day to eat. Grown motherfuckers have jobs, where is yours?” my mama shot back at her. “I’d advise you to watch the words that come out your mouth when you’re talking to me. I’m tired of your disrespectful ass.”
Nihiyah was looking at her like a horn had gr
own out the middle of her forehead. After a couple minutes she got up and went to wash her hands. My sister was twenty-three years old and she didn’t have any goals set for her life. She lived off my mama, expecting to get taken care of like she was still a child. With all the niggas she fucked with, you would think she would be able to take care of herself.
That wasn’t the case, she got very angry when mama told her no. Whenever Nihiyah didn’t get her way she found a way to start an argument. She needed to respect my mama or I was the one that was going to bust her shit.
We all fixed our plates and sat down to eat. The lasagna smelled good and it was cheesy as hell. I took a bite and looked across the table and gave my mama a thumbs up. She started laughing because she knew I loved lasagna.
“So, tell me what happened to Max. It’s been repeatedly talked about on the news but they’re not giving any major details,” mom said taking a sip of her tea.
Nihiyah came back to the table and started fixing her plate. I was about to answer my mom when she opened her mouth letting stupid shit come out of it. “If he wouldn’t have tried to be a hero, he would still be alive.” She mumbled under her breath.
“What was that, Hiyah? Mom asked.
“Nihiyah, you weren’t even there. Wasn’t nobody trying to be a hero, whoever was shooting is ignorant as hell. You sound stupid as fuck repeating that crap,” I snapped.
“Nija, yo’ gullible ass don’t even know what’s going on around you. I think you need to stay away from Ricio before you end up in a box. You were almost there when his truck got shot up on 79th,” she said cockily.
“Wait a damn minute, when did this happen?” my mama asked letting her fork fall into her plate.