by Nikki Brown
Cassidy’s masculine arms were across his chest as he looked out into the waiting area at no one in particular. Key’s eyes were burning a hole through him, but he paid her no mind. He tried to give her his keys to go home but she refused to leave him, so that was on her. Right now his only focus was Siya Maler and figuring out how to get his hands on the person responsible for this.
“She was raised by a kingpin. Much like you, she knows her way around the game.” Mega lifted his head out of his hands. “Hell, I taught her some of what she knows when I was with the bitch.” Venom dripped from every word. “The one thing that I didn’t teach her…was to not fuck with me,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I got people looking for her, the only way she’ll be able to get out of the state of North Carolina is on foot.” Kahleno stared straight ahead. He didn’t know how much more his family could take; as bad as he wanted to fold, he couldn’t, and he wouldn’t. The city was about to feel their pain, until Ziva was caught.
Sutton rubbed his back as she tried to keep her tears at bay. The pregnancy already had her emotional, but she knew that Kahleno didn’t need that from her right now.
Kahleno stared down into Sutton’s eyes, he could see that she was just as hurt because Siya had become like a surrogate mother for her since they had been dealing with each other. She loved her and vice versa.
“She has to be okay.” Sutton’s lips trembled as he pulled her into him.
Cassidy couldn’t take it anymore, seeing Sutton breakdown was too much for him. He needed to get away, so he turned to walk to the bathroom. He needed to hear something about his mother before he exploded. Every time the doors opened to the back panic unfurled in his chest.
When he got into the bathroom, he slammed the door and threw his back against it. Cassidy was at his breaking point, he was tired of people fucking with his family, all of them were. Cassidy felt like he needed a minute away from everybody because he could feel his anger building up and he didn’t want to spaz even though them not telling him anything about his mother granted him the right to.
He heard a knock at the door, he didn’t say anything because right now he needed to be alone so that he could get his emotions in order before he ended up behind bars for being irrational.
“Cas?” Key’s sweet voice bounced off the wall of the bathroom.
They had been getting to know each other and he had to admit that she was someone that he could see himself with long term. He still felt like she was a bit of a mystery to him, and he needed to find out more about her, but from what he knew they matched well.
“I’ll be out in a minute.” She could hear the pain painting his voice and it didn’t sit well with her. She was used to the smart mouth Cassidy who said whatever and did whatever came to mind. This softer side of him, this emotional side drew her to him even more.
Not taking heed to his request to be alone, she slipped in the bathroom with him. When she was near him, she reached out to touch him, but he moved from her grasp. Cassidy was the true definition of an Alpha male and any ounce of emotion was considered weakness when it came to him. He couldn’t speak for other men, but he wasn’t built for emotions.
“You want to talk about it?” Key chose her words wisely. She didn’t want to push but she also knew that even though he requested it, he didn’t need to be alone.
“Last time I checked; you went to school for hair not psychology. So get the fuck out of here with that bullshit, Key.” He threw out there refusing to look at her. She had the kind of eyes that would draw you in and have you doing all kinds of shit that you didn’t want to do.
“But I’m a woman with feelings so I get it.” She snaked her body so that she was now in his line of sight. He looked down at her and just like he thought, she was bringing out things that he didn’t want to be out. He could feel the tears on the brinks, so he pushed past her, but she grabbed his arm. “You’re a man that hides his feelings, but you don’t have to Cassidy, not with me.”
“You don’t know nothing about me Key.”
“I know that you’re scared that if you show how you’re feeling about your mom, that you’ll feel less than a man. So you’d rather punch things and kick them over instead of letting someone be there for you.”
Cassidy thought about what she was saying, and she was right. If he could take his aggression out on someone at this present moment, he would, and it would feel amazing. True enough he’s cried before, but he hated it, it made him feel soft, so he was trying his best to keep all of that under control.
“What the fuck you want me to do Key? Did you hear what the fuck she did to her?” He pointed to the bathroom door. His voice echoed off the walls and traveled into the waiting room.
Kahleno stood to go and make sure that everything was okay. If anyone knew his brother and how he was when he felt helpless it was him, but his father grabbed his arm and urged him to sit. He knew that Cassidy had a connection with Key and if they were going to work out then she needed to understand this side of him.
“I want you to let me be there for you,” she said honestly. “Yell, scream, do whatever you have to do but don’t push me away. I’m telling you, I’m right here Cassidy.” She closed the gap that he had created between them. “Right here.”
Pulling her into him, he enclosed her into his arms and lightly squeezed, it was like a feeling of relief bullied its way into his heart. Resting his chin on top of her head, he let one lone tear roll down his face because that’s all that he would allow.
Everything else was reserved for the day he got his hands on that bitch Ziva, he couldn’t wait to make that bitch pay for everything that she had done to his family.
Crashing his lips against hers, Cassidy allowed the kiss to linger as his apology for being so cold to her. Since they walked in, he wouldn’t allow her to touch him and he stayed as far as he could away from her. If he could have dropped her off at home, he would have but the hospital was right down the street from where they ended up.
“Oh and I never said I went to school for psychology smart ass. You better be glad I wanted to be nice otherwise I would have cussed you out,” she sassed and then kissed his lips again. He smirked for the first time since he got the call.
“You ain’t gone do shit.” He kissed her again feeling somewhat relieved.
“Whatever nigga, you straight?” she asked him, and he nodded his head, but she didn’t believe him. “Umhmm well lets go back out here, she should be out of surgery soon.”
After they all got there, their father told them what happened. They were all tore up about it. She was getting out of hand and they needed to get a grip on it all. Cassidy was pissed that AD wasn’t here with them and had tried to call him multiple times, so when he walked out of the bathroom and he saw him walking up, he figured that he would tell him exactly how he felt.
“What happened? What the fuck is Spiff talking about?” AD said the minute he was in the waiting room surrounded by his family. His chest rose and fell with anticipation, he needed to know that she was okay.
“Where the fuck you been?” Cassidy boomed the minute he laid eyes on his youngest brother. “You didn’t see us calling you? We got enough going on without having to worry about you and your bullshit.” He got in AD’s face and AD just stared at him with his fist balled by his side.
He had no intentions on going at it with his brother, but he wasn’t about to be disrespected either. When he tried to walk past Cassidy, he stopped him by pushing him in the chest with his hand. AD stood back and then stepped in Cassidy’s face.
Cassidy was thicker and taller than Ad, but that didn’t move him, he would rock with the best of them and Cassidy knew that. With everything that had already happened that night, it would be in Cassidy’s best interest to move.
“Touch me a-fucking-gain and I’ma forget we share the same fucking blood.” AD’s nose flared and the vein in the side of this neck stuck out. Icelynn walked up with Isis in tow and grabbed his hand. Isis w
ent around to the other side with a tear stained face and grabbed his other hand.
That instantly calmed AD, he looked at Icelynn and then turned around to scoop Isis up in his arm. Luckily, she had clothes in his trunk from that night that her and Icelynn stayed with him, and she was able to put them on. He didn’t want her walking around without clothes on and he didn’t want to take them back to that house. Just the thought of leaving them alone right now wasn’t on his list of things to do. They were gonna be by his side until Salem met his final resting place by his hands.
AD moved around Cassidy who noticed the blood spatters on his brother’s shirt. AD didn’t bother to change; he didn’t care who saw him. All he wanted to do was make sure that his mother was okay so his heart could be at peace if only for a night.
“The fuck happened to her face?” Cassidy snapped out of the initial state of anger and noticed that Isis had a huge hand print on the side of her face. “AD I know you hear—”
“Yo, I’m trying real hard not to knock you the fuck out because I know shit with moms got you stressed, but you need to chill the fuck out on some real shit!” AD yelled causing Isis to jump in his arms and he narrowed his eyes at Cassidy.
“You right man, I’m fucked up right now.” Cassidy shook his head. He knew that how he was acting wasn’t him, but he was looking for someone to take what he was feeling out on. “For real though, what happened to baby girl’s face?”
AD shook his head. “We’ll talk about that later.” He clenched his jaw just thinking about what Isis had been through tonight. “She’s good now, what’s up with ma? She good? Spiff said shit wasn’t looking good.”
Everyone looked around trying to find the right way to explain to him what went down without bringing up everything that he had just went through, but it was kind of hard. Cassidy slipped his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall. Key walked over and wrapped her hand around his waist.
“Son…”
“Don’t fucking pacify me, tell me what the fuck is up.” Isis squeezed him tighter. She could feel that he was getting upset and she didn’t like it. She took a deep breath and leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“Here let me take her, I want to take her down to get checked out anyway.” Icelynn reached for Isis but she tightened her grip on AD’s neck. “Come on baby, we’ll be right back, but we need to get you checked out.
“Noooo!” Isis kicked and screamed while Icelynn was trying to pry her out of AD’s arms. She felt safe when she was with him. She didn’t want to let that feeling go and she knew if he was out of her presence, she wouldn’t feel that anymore.
It broke Icelynn’s heart just seeing that, she didn’t try to hide the tears that fell from her face. She hated Salem and wouldn’t be satisfied until she knew that he was dead and gone. Once she had Isis out of AD’s arms, he was on his feet reaching for her again.
“Just wait and we’ll go together, aight?” He wiped Icelynn’s face with his free hand since Isis had climbed back in his other. AD sat down with her on his shoulder while she silently cried. “I told you he would never hurt you again, do you believe me Isis?” She didn’t answer verbally she just nodded her head. AD slowly rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down, while Icelynn laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes to stop the headache that was brewing from crying.
Everyone looked on shocked, wondering what happened, but no one else asked. It was clear that now was not time for the conversation to take place, but they all made mental notes to ask about this once little Isis was out of ear shot.
“It was Ziva,” Kahleno finally said halting AD’s rocking and causing Icelynn’s head to pop up.
AD’s body became tense as he leaned up a little to make sure he heard his brother right. Were they saying that his mother was in the hospital because his biological mother put her there? How was he supposed to feel about this? Even though he didn’t care for Ziva at all, but that meant that he was gonna have to kill her if his father or brothers didn’t get to her first.
“Bruh…” was all that AD could say before the doors to the back swung open and the doctor came out, it was the same doctor that took care of Kahleno when he was shot. So he already knew what to expect from this family which was why the minute Siya was out of surgery she was moved to a private room at the end of the hall.
“Family of Siya Maler,” he announced even though he already knew who they were. He would never forget the face of the man that put fear in his heart. When Mega stepped forward, the doctor swallowed hard. “She suffered a broken femur, dislocated shoulder and the shot to the back of the head gave her a concussion. She also has third degree burns on her right arm.” His eyes traveled to each one of the men that stood before him. He could feel the rage radiating off of each of their bodies, causing him to take a step back to create some distance. “Her lab work shows that she has Carbon Monoxide poisoning from the smoke inhalation and—” AD cut him off.
“Will she be okay?”
“Depending on how much smoke she took in, it could cause some issues with her neurovascular system. But—”
“But what?” Cassidy stepped up this time invading the doctors space.
“HBO,” the doctor said and every man standing in front of him eyebrows dented in and he knew that if he didn’t speak soon that he was about to feel their wrath. “Hyperbaric Oxygenation.”
“The fuck is that?” Cassidy asked ready to pounce on the doctor with all of this theatrical bullshit. He wanted to know what they needed to do to make their mother better and he was going in circles with the answers.
“It’s a procedure where we will place Mrs. Maler in a chamber where she will have to stay in for twenty-four hours and we will administer continuous oxygen. Because of the amount of oxygen going into her body, she will need to be watched closely. It causes reduction in the symptoms of the nervous system and it will make her recovery time quicker.”
“So she’s gonna make it?” Kahleno stepped up and stood beside Cassidy. The doctor was suddenly starting to feel a little uncomfortable and claustrophobic with how close they were, but he understood them wanting answers, so he swallowed hard and took a step back.
“She took in a lot of smoke and she was burned pretty bad, on top of the beating that she took,” the doctor inhaled roughly and shook his head. “I don’t know how but she made it out of surgery. She’s still in critical condition but I think with support and some therapy, she will be just fine.” The doctor delivered a smile and put everyone at ease but Mega.
Nothing would put his heart at ease until he looked his wife in the face and kissed her lips. No one was there, they didn’t see her going in and out of consciousness, they didn’t witness the flames surround her, they didn’t hear her cry out. His heart ached at the memory, but until he could hear her voice, nothing would satisfy him.
“Can I see her?” Mega interrupted the doctor further explaining what they would have to do. The doctor nodded his head and offered up a small smile.
“Because I remembered your family, she has a private room. Same room as your son.” The doctor nodded and Mega held his hand out for him to shake.
“Thank you… for everything.” The doctor nodded and allowed all of them to make it up to her room.
A few hours went by, the doctor came in and told them that they would be to get her to have the Hyperbaric Oxygenation therapy soon. They told him that she had been moving around a little and wincing like she was in pain. He let them know that the pain medicine may be wearing off and if she seems to be in too much pain, call the nurse and they’ll administer more medicine.
Isis was curled up at the end of the bed, she had grown to love Siya in the time that she had been around her. She looked at her as a second grandma, so seeing her like this hurt her feelings. With everything that her little heart had been through tonight she just wanted to give her a hug and hear her say, “Life gives it’s hardest battles to its toughest soldiers, are you tough Isis?”
“I’m
so glad you left when you did,” Kahleno interrupted the silence of the room. Mega raised his head from his hands and looked towards his son.
“Me too son, me too.” He shook his head. The guilt that filed his heart was unrivaled to anything he’s ever felt. Because of his actions, his wife was suffering, and he didn’t know if he could live with that. “I’m sorry baby,” he said as he laid his hand on top of Siya’s.
“This ain’t on you pops.” Cassidy was in the corner with Key on his lap. He had tried to get her to go home but she didn’t feel right not being here for him. Her heart wouldn’t let her. She called and checked on Kane and Vinny said they were fine and to keep him up to date on what was going on.
Cassidy was happy that she decided to stay because he didn’t know how much he needed someone through a time like this until the thought of her leaving pained him. He looked down at her and her eyes were on him, just like they’ve been since they had gotten to the hospital.
“Yeah don’t do that, she gone be good. She too stubborn to die.” Everyone laughed at AD’s attempt to lighten the mood.
Siya stirred in her sleep. She could have sworn that she heard AD’s voice, but the last thing she remembered was passing out in the living room floor. As the scene replayed in her mind, her eyes shot open and she tried to sit up.
“No baby, you gotta calm down. You’re in the hospital.” Mega grabbed her by the shoulders and tried his best to get her to look up at him. She was panicking and he didn’t want her to go into distress. “Baby look at me.” Her eyes scanned the room fanatically like she was looking for someone and when her eyes landed on AD, she reached for him with her good arm. She still winced in pain because that was the shoulder that the doctor had to put back in place.
“Adoreé,” her voice was harsh and hoarse, almost like she had smoked four packs of cigarettes back to back. She continued to reach for him until he was in her presence. “Y—ou,” she tried to swallow but no saliva would produce for her to do so, “my son! You are—”
“Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh, mama stop it.” AD tried to quiet her as tears gathered in the corner of his eyes. He was about to break down thinking that his mother had been through everything that she had and all she was worried about was how he felt about the Ziva situation. “She means nothing to me and if I get to put the bullet in her head myself then it would make me the happiest man a-fucking-live.” The passion in his tone made Siya’s heart flutter but that’s not what she wanted to tell him.