by Nicety
“Uh, I need to go talk to the doctor real quick. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay babe. I’ll be here. I love you.”
“Yeah…yeah, give me a second.”
Messiah walked out of the hospital room noticing Red as she dipped back around the corner on the outside of the door. In the hall he looked for the attending physician who had been taking care of Alexis since the accident. He was leaning against the counter writing in a big white folder full of papers and adjusting his wide round glasses at the same time. He didn’t even notice Messiah walking up to him.
“Hey man. You neglected to tell me that she had amnesia.”
“Well, you didn’t give me time to and you said you be right here so I figured I’d tell you in person. Uh, how did you find out anyway?” The doctor asked bewildered.
“Because I just came from out of the room talking to her and she wasn’t herself.”
“Ah yes…and she won’t be. Not until her memory is jogged enough to bring back everything she lost.”
“Ugh, doc! So how long will this take?”
“Mr. Torres this is not something you can readily place a time factor on. It could take months, maybe even years before she gets her memory back. It all depends upon what she remembers. The brain is a fickle thing.”
“Years? Doc, I don’t have years. Hell, I don’t even have months, okay? I need her back to her old self like yesterday.” Messiah said feeling his blood pressure rise.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other patients to tend to.”
The doctor’s cold treatment skyrocketed Messiah’s boiling point times ten. He didn’t want the brush off he wanted answers but it didn’t seem like he was going to get any from him. In his mind, there had to be some kind of way to get her memory back and fast. Alexis was not normally that pleasant and loving but he knew that if he left her in her weakened state he would be more than the monster he already was for causing the whole mess. He lowered his head using his index finger and thumb to caress the shaft of his nose to relieve the tension forming in it. A firm hand on his shoulder interrupted his thought process.
“You okay?” Red asked warmly, concerned that the bit of news he had just received wasn’t good.
“Yeah. I’ll be good.” Messiah grabbed her hand from his shoulder giving it a slight peck. “Com’ on. Let’s go check on the baby.”
“Sir! Oh my gosh, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Your wife is requesting your presence in labor and delivery but I must warn you that the baby is in distress.” The Asian nurse bumped square into Messiah’s shoulder headfirst.
“She’s not my wife.” He replied.
“Ugh, to tell you the truth sir I could care less. But the patient is asking for you so please, follow me.”
They followed the nurse hastily back down to the room holding Braze. Messiah never let go of Red’s hand making sure she was by his side every step of the way. They ran down the stairs and to the second floor all the way to Braze’s delivery room hand in hand. The nurse turned to a cart sitting in the corner next to the room handing Messiah a pair of gloves and a facemask.
“You might need these.” She said throwing them in his hands nonchalantly. “But she can’t come.”
“Wait!” Messiah watched as the nurse disappeared into the room. “Damn, she ain’t even trying to hear me. I ain’t even get a chance to ask her if you could come.”
“It’s okay. I ain’t really wanna go in there anyway. Go on. Go see your son.”
“You sure?” Messiah asked checking for a disappointed expression on her face.
“Yeah. Shit, you gotta see your first born come into the world.” Red walked away and copped a squat on the bench a few feet away.
“Yeah…yeah I guess I do.” He replied slipping on the blue linen gloves and mask he was holding. “Alright. I’ll be right back.”
Red shook her head as he jetted into the room. All that could be heard was Braze’s agony that eroded from behind the door. She could feel the pain she was in with every screech she made. It was if she was in labor herself. She placed her head in her hands and kneeled down to her knees wondering what the hell she was even doing there. She knew Messiah had too much going on in his life to ever fit her into it but his persistence drew her in. She had to admit it turned her on to have him clenching to her every move.
Her head began pounding like a hammer to a nail as she looked at the clock posted on the wall above her head. She had been sitting there for over an hour but had just not realized that the excruciating screaming had stopped more than ten minutes ago. The room door didn’t have a window on it like the ones upstairs so she couldn’t peek through to see what was happening. It was eerily quiet in the hall and she began to wonder why Messiah hadn’t ran out of the room in celebratory praise of the birth of his newborn son. She stood pacing the floor in front of the door determined to grind a hole into the ground until he came out. There were voices on the other side of the door but she couldn’t make out whose they were.
“Oh excuse me.” The doctor said as he bumped into her. He exited the room with three of the nurses following behind him.
She peeked her head around looking in the small slit of opening in the door before it closed. The door closed so fast she was unable to see anything. Red sighed and plopped back down on the bench, slouching and biting her nails off their hinges. She had almost scratched a hole in her head before the door came flying open and out came a somber looking Messiah. Before he could speak she was up out of her seat and in his face. She didn’t know whether to curse him out for seemingly forgetting about the fact that she was out there or ask him what was wrong.
“Is everything good with the baby?” She asked hesitantly realizing he didn’t need bullshit in his ear right then.
“The baby.” Messiah paused.
“Oh baby. I’m so sorry honey.” Red said as she clung to his broad shoulders.
“I think I’m going to call him MJ.” Messiah looked up glaring in her eyes grinning from ear to ear.
“Huh? So he’s alive?”
“Of course he’s alive. He’s a healthy strong baby boy. Messiah junior, but to me he’ll be MJ. He’s so beautiful, Red. I can’t wait for you to see him.”
“Oh…yeah.” She felt guilty that a part of her felt disappointed. “I mean that’s great baby! Congratulations!”
“Thanks. That’s my boy! My baby boy!”
The gleam in his eye was one of a very proud father. She hadn’t seen a look so bright since the days when her father used to look into her eyes as a little girl. She wrapped her thick arms around his neck hugging him tightly as he kissed her neck and squeezed her waist. Red would support him and show him just that. There was no way she would take that moment away from him by asking him to get a blood test for the baby. Even though he was sure the baby was his, she knew it would not hurt for him to be sure. After all, Braze was an evil conniving bitch who would stop at nothing to have him all to her self and the thought never left her mind no matter what state she was in.
Chapter 4
"You Stupid Bitch!"-- Danger
“Alright you motherfuckas better have y’all stories straight if motherfuckas come ‘round asking about shit. You know what I’m saying?” Skid said as he pulled up in front of Danger’s truck parked in front of the shop.
“Yeah, we was at the crib ‘til she went into false labor and we just not getting back. I ain’t seen you or nobody else. We out.” Danger replied solemnly.
He slammed his car door and escorted Amy to their truck parked right outside of the Candy Shop gate. They didn’t speak a word to each other as they drove on headed back towards their house. Nothing needed to be said since they were both already thinking the same thing. The shit their eyes had just witnessed just a short while ago was one for the books. All of the contract hits they had performed didn’t prepare them for the shit at the Stew Maker’s den.
“You aight baby?” Danger asked a
s he pulled up in front of their pad and turned the key to the ignition.
“Yeah. Shit I guess I’m gonna have to be right?” She said staring straight out of the front windshield unable to blink.
“I told you to go home man. You so hardheaded.” He caressed her bobbed cut blonde hair.
“Dude, you knew I wasn’t gonna let you go that easy. We in this shit together right? We are a family and we gonna ride as one.”
“Shit, in a minute you ‘bout to hang up your guns and butter to be a stay at home mom. I ain’t ‘bout to have my baby momma out here putting herself in danger and shit.”
“Man, are you crazy? What about you? You risk your life every got damn day. What we gonna do without you? What is your baby gonna do without a daddy?”
“He or she would have their momma who would hold it down for them. Amy, its one thing to lose me but kids can’t live without their mommas babe. Trust me, I know.” Danger snapped scratching his head and lightly beating his fist against the steering wheel. “Fuck me. You gotta live for the baby.”
“Danger, I can’t stop being me just because I’m pregnant and a momma now. I’m a killer. That’s what I do.” Amy sighed heavily. “Don’t make me choose between my career and my family.”
Amy turned allowing him to gaze into her big blue sparkling eyes. He loved the way she stared back at him and could never resist it. It was one of the main reasons he fell in love with her in the first place. Her face exposed the grimmest look but he wasn’t about to let her intimidate him with that. He meant what he said and he didn’t give a damn if she agreed or not. She fought him on working while she was pregnant and he gave in, but this was the one time that he was standing as a man and putting his foot down.
“Making you choose would be giving you an option and I don’t remember making an offer.” He said removing the keys from the ignition and exiting the car.
“Hey how the fuck are you just going to walk off like that? We were fucking talking.” She howled exiting the car, slamming the door behind her and getting in his face.
“I was done talking, Amy. You are not carrying on with this business and that’s final. You need to start thinking like a mother.”
“I am thinking like a mother. I pull in more money doing that than sitting on my ass. I don’t know how to do shit else ‘cause I’ve been doing this shit since my dad taught me at fucking thirteen years old, Danger.”
“Well, you’ve got three months to find you something else to do because you ain’t doing this. Now I’m done.”
Amy stood there in the middle of the sidewalk heated from their discussion. He wasn’t trying to hear her talk more bullshit in his ear. He walked up the stairs of their two-flat building and turned the key to the outer wooden glass paned door. Amy refused to walk in the house behind him as pissed as she was and refused to look in his direction as well. She stared off into the distance at the niggas posted outside of the corner liquor store on 79th and Escanaba. It wasn’t unlikely for niggas to congregate there early in the morning. It was their dip off spot to sell their dope and the store owners allowed it as long as they vowed to protect their store from whack ass robbers. She squinted her eyes as one dark clothed man moved throughout the crowd. He seemed to slither through shaking the hands of some of the men out there but never skipping a beat.
“D. D.” Amy’s whispers fell on deaf ears. “Danger…Nicholas!” She got his attention then.
“What the hell you want calling my government all out like that? Is you crazy?” Danger said opening up the door.
“Danger, I think I see Pet.”
“Who? Where?”
“Right there baby. He’s crossing the street now.” Amy nodded speaking through her teeth and trying not to seem obvious.
Danger peeked his head around passing and parked cars and through the walking pedestrians to catch a peek. He didn’t know if he was looking at the right person and truth be told he really couldn’t see far away that well. He patted Amy on the shoulder signaling her to follow him in the house. She stood there with her eyes fixated on the man walking away from them drifting further and further into the distance.
“No, babe. That’s him. That’s fucking him right there.” She was adamant. “I think we should go get him right now.”
“Woman, you don’t even know if that’s really him. He’s all the way down 79th now and the sun is probably just playing tricks on your damn eyes.” Danger brushed her off.
“Damn it. It wasn’t the sun! I saw him. He was right there and now he’s turned the corner and gone. You let him get away.”
“Man I’m not about to go up to know strange dude thinking that’s him and it ain’t then I look like the fool. Com’ on woman, let’s go in the house.” He said grabbing her by the hand. “Besides, that nigga probably long gone by now. I know he ain’t that stupid to stay in the hood after that shit he did to Red.”
“You don’t think he’s that stupid huh? Well what if he is? If a person is crazy enough they don’t give a shit about that kind of shit.” She replied as she walked in the house behind him disappointed that he didn’t believe her.
“Babe, it’s okay. That fool gon’ get what’s coming to him soon enough. In the meantime we got some make up sex to tend to.”
“Excuse me? Oh no don’t think you’re off the hook that quick. I’m still pissed at you, D.”
“Well you can be pissed with this dick in your mouth, baby.” Danger threw his cell on the glass coffee table and plopped down on the big black microfiber suede couch unbuttoning his jeans.
“Oh you want these jaws wrapped around your long, thick black dick huh?” Amy crossed her arms and shot him a sly look and smirk.
“Shit, hell yeah baby!” Danger beamed stroking his beef making sure to get it nice and firm. “You know how I like it? What you waiting for?”
“For you to realize that I’m never gonna be your prim and proper housewife. I’m just not gonna be able to do it babe.”
“Amy, got damn it! You fucking up a good moment bringing this shit back up, now. Why can’t you just drop this shit?”
“Because you are trying to strip away apart of me. This is who I am, this is who you fell in love with and this is the only thing I love to do.”
“So you want me to believe that you love to kill motherfuckas, Amy?”
“Yes…I do.”
“You know what, whatever. ‘Cause after you see that precious bundle of joy you ain’t gonna be thinking about shit else but that.”
“What? Danger, are you even listening to anything that I am saying to you?”
“You just haven’t started really getting your nesting on yet. As soon as you start that I’m sure you will fall right into motherhood.”
One thing was very clear to her; he was as much in denial about the true nature of their relationship as she was. They had no idea who each other were. They had been together for four years having met at the Candy Shop when she was a regular bagging girl and he was security. She upgraded to one of the killers when Messiah saw how she handled a nigga who tried to steal from him. She and Danger have been together ever since but now she was beginning to realize that all they had in common was killing niggas in cold blood, sex, and the precious life growing inside of her stomach. The more they disagreed on her position after the baby was born the more she began to believe that the creature cultivating in her womb was more of an abomination than anything.
“Danger, we have problems in this relationship. You don’t know me and I clearly don’t know you.”
“Awe, here we go. What you want now? Huh? You wanna go shopping, is that it?” Danger said still blowing off the issue.
“No! I want you to acknowledge me and my feelings in this relationship. I put up with your shit way too long not to be getting treated fairly and now I’m carrying your fucking child and all I keep thinking is that this is a mistake!”
“Amy you are just tired from all the bullshit of the night and you need to eat and sleep. That’s all that�
�s wrong with you.”
“Ugh. You’re not listening! I don’t want to be some housewife or stay at home mom. I don’t want a man who doesn’t respect my decisions or dreams or one who can’t keep his dick in his fucking pants and I definitely don’t want this baby!” Amy snapped. “I mean it ain’t like I got no fucking rings on my finger or nothing.”
Her words tore a whole in Danger’s face as huge as the ozone layer. She stood there calming her breathing realizing what had just flew out of her mouth but she wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t supposed to find out that way but he had pushed her to it. There was a dead silence in the room but she could hear his breathing like he was right up on her ear. His facial expression remained still and solemn, which made it difficult to read what he was thinking. She proceeded to walk off wanting to be done with the discussion now that the truth was all out in the open. Her feet hit the stairs ready to head up to their bedroom to pack her things. She needed to separate from him for a while, just to clear her head.
“You stupid bitch!” Danger had pounced on her like a lion to a cheetah turning her around on the stairwell and choking the living daylights out of her. “Is that what this is about? Huh? A ring? You wanna get married…huh?”
His fingers dug into her neck creating a long lasting print and trembling like crazy. Drool dripped from his mouth as Amy stared into his buck-opened eyes scratching at his hands hoping to pry them off of her. She kicked while trying to scream but only being able to let out faint choking noises and droplets of water from her eyes. Her heart fluttered a mile a minute and consciousness was quickly fading from her being. He saw her giving up and slowly relinquishing her body unto his. Tears flowed from his eyes as he realized what he was doing but the rage that was buried inside of him blew out in an instance. In his mind, it was uncontrollable.
Chapter 5
Getting Haggled
Skid sat at his elongated wooden dining room table with a short glass and a fifth of Scotch. All the shit he had ever seen throughout his career as a killer and he had never seen anything like the shit the Stew Maker did. He was sickened by the fact that someone could do something so vile to a body and still be able to sleep at night. He was more of the shoot ‘em up and leave ‘em stankin’ type. But because Bentley killed a cop he knew it had to be done. As he took a sip of his drink, the erratic knocking that overwhelmed his door startled him.