by Coffee
“What up, A?—Aww, nothing much. Just handling that business I told you about earlier.—Oh, I’m straight, ya heard me.—I don’t know yet…”
Samiyah was flabbergasted at how he ignored her but the moment his hired help called, he was casually talking like it wasn’t a thing, like they weren’t in the middle of something important.
Samiyah walked up on him and snatched the phone from his ear and placed it to hers. She heard Audra giggling and then say, “I’ll see you lat—” She hung the phone up and hummed it at him.
Gerran dodged it, barely. “What the hell is your problem?”
“You’re fucking her, aren’t you?” Samiyah yelled so loud her voice cracked.
He laughed but she saw nothing funny. As messed up as their marriage was, she was still his wife.
“What if I am? You’re fucking Elias.” Gerran accused.
Samiyah was so inflamed by his insinuation she could have wrung his neck. “Uurgghh! No, I’m—You know what, I want you to get the fuck out. Take everything you need because whatever the hell you leave behind will get trashed.”
There was nothing left to say. Gerran had no good intentions. So she stormed out of the room and flew down the steps, retreating to the guest bedroom. She was ready for him to be gone.
Two hours later…
Gerran was at her door, wiggling the knob, only to find it locked. He knocked. “Open up.”
“No thank you. Just go.”
“Come on, Samiyah. I really gotta holla at you and then I’ll bounce.”
Samiyah rolled her eyes because she could forgo hearing whatever his holla consisted of, but she opened the door anyway. “What?” Her eyes were puffy.
For one brief moment, Gerran felt a twinge of regret. Seeing Samiyah so upset and fragile made him second guess being so venomous. After all, she was there when all the chips were down. And when he didn’t have two nickels to rub together, she still managed to make him feel ten feet tall.
She truly was everything except faithful and that slice of reality brought out his fangs.
“Before I go, you should know that you’re cut off, from everything.” He motioned his hand to slice at his throat.
Samiyah gasped. “Wow! Really?”
“But lucky for you, though, I’m still gon’ pay the mortgage because like you said earlier, this is still my house. But be clear on this, I ain’t paying shit else. And before you think about giving me a woe is me I’m your wife speech, let Eli or whatever other sap thuggah you fuckin’ fund you.”
It took a second for his cruelty to register. Samiyah was completely blown away by the stranger standing before her. She felt weakened by his low blow but then she toughened up.
“I won’t beg your wicked ass to change your mind but let me say that I am so fuckin’ disgusted with you. Acacia isn’t your child? You’re mad? I get that. But how in the fuck could you be so damn heartless toward me while I’m carryin’ your child?”
The chance that she was pregnant with his baby was there but his belief in the paternity of Lil’ Acacia being his earned him nothing but heartbreak, so he refused to accept it this time around.
He hunched his shoulders. “You know what they say: Mama’s baby, daddy’s maybe.”
No words, at least not from her, could penetrate his thick skull to get him to see beyond his resentment and if he was trying to make her despise him, he succeeded.
“I fuckin’ hate you!” Tears poured from her eyes and her voice quaked.
Gerran looked as though he was unaffected. “And I don’t fuckin’ care that you do.” With the last of his things in hand, he stepped.
Samiyah was so furious, she slammed the door behind him. He crossed a line there was no coming back from.
***
“Knock, knock,” BG said as he opened the door, stepping into Yuriah’s room with Munch right behind him.
“What’s happening, whoa?” Kamal stood up to dap him and then Munch.
“Nothing much, ya heard me. We just swervin’ through. You know how we do.” BG headed over to Minnie, handing her a vase of red roses.
“Thank you.” She stood up to hug him. “Yuri’s going to appreciate this.”
“Nah, that’s for you, ya heard me.” BG corrected.
“Me?” Minnie found him charming to say he was just a kid.
“You deserve a smile, ya dig.” BG smirked and his set of dimples caused his cheeks to cave in a little.
“Watch that boy wake up and put yo ass to sleep, pushin’ up on his girl.” Kamal clowned BG’s Casanova way.
BG turned around to face Kamal. “I wish he would. He been down two and half nah. He need to get on up.”
BG turned back toward Minnie. “I also brought you a plate. I don’t know what all you eat but I put everything on it, ya heard me. My teedy made turkey, ham, stuffin’, potato salad, it’s all in there.”
“You’re too sweet.” Minnie peeked underneath the aluminum foil.
“You’re fam. Gotta look out fa ya.”
“Then where my plate?” Kamal threw his hands up in the air as if to say, What’s up?
“What I look like bringin’ another man dinner? I don’t rock like that!” BG clowned.
“Oh? That’s what’s up. I’ma remember that when yo ass pull up a seat to my table,” Kamal pointed his way.
BG waved him off. “Shenae loves me. You gots no control over that.”
While BG and Kamal exchanged words, Munch walked over to Minnie and hugged her. “How you holdin’?”
“I’m hopeful and that’s where my strength is.”
“That’s what’s up. You gotta stay prayed up, ya heard me.” Munch then grabbed his little brother by the shoulder. “Keep Minnie company while I holla at Mal.”
“A’ight,” he responded.
Munch nodded for Kamal to step out with him. Kamal pretty much figured they needed to have a private talk about last night since he didn’t receive the 7/11 text. No text meant they crapped out.
They chatted about nothing serious on their walk outside. However, once they found a sequestered place to talk, Munch gave him the details of last night.
A few minutes later, after he broke everything down to him, Kamal only had one question since everything else was understood.
“Is the girl still alive?”
“Yea, she is.” Munch shook his head yes.
That eased his conscious. Kamal was a firm believer of keeping women and children out of men’s business and that included extorting or using them for information.
If he had known Fo’ Eleven’s art of persuasion included taunting Hakeem by using his girl as inducement, he wouldn’t have allowed that piece of info through.
With Kamal being a family man, he couldn’t afford the price of karma collecting off of Shenae or his children. So when Fo’ Eleven called him earlier today and told him he had a couple of thug misses on the same tier as G’Corey’s baby’s mother, who were guaranteed to get her to talk and an address on his mother, Kamal declined the intel and told him to bring him something else.
“A’ight, cool. Well, this shit been goin’ on too fuckin’ long and dude ain’t that smart. So, let’s plug into all our underground channels and put a heavier hunt on his ass. That means we search Saint Rose, Mandeville, Laplace, Thibodaux, Houma or any city within a fifty mile radius because he ain’t that far.” Kamal began mapping out a strategy.
“I’m with you on that. I’m ‘bout to get on the horn with Hollywood right nah and see what he got for me.”
“That’s a bet.”
The men shook on it and headed back upstairs.
Three a.m. in the morning…
The hospital room was dimly lit and quiet with the exception of what little noises could be heard from the traffic in the hallway. Kamal was sleeping on the other side of the room and Minnie was asleep in her usual spot, just a few feet away from Yuriah’s bed.
“Minnie?”
She stirred out of her sleep effortlessly. She’d
been sleeping light these days.
Minnie was unsure if she heard her name but nonetheless looked over to Kamal to respond to his calling. She noticed he was asleep.
“Mmm,” she groaned. I need to get more rest, she thought.
Paying it no mind, she laid back down. She closed her eyes, only to open them again. She heard her name a second time.
She was tired but not delirious, so this go around she got up and walked over to Kamal.
“Kamal?” She semi-whispered his name as she stood over him but he didn’t budge.
Why in the heavens would he sleep talk her name? She didn’t know but she would be sure to ask him come morning.
As she headed back to her uncomfortable spot, she glanced at her husband and then jumped back. She sucked in a small amount of air in one quick breath, forgetting to breathe afterwards.
Minnie backed up slowly and back over to Kamal. She was in a state of shock.
“Kamal!” She bluntly called his name, waking him up fully.
“Huh? What’s wrong?” He shot up to his feet, looked at her curiously before following the direction of her pointed finger.
She then rushed over to his bed to confirm her eyes were not playing tricks on her.
They weren’t.
“Call the doctors,” she all but screamed. “Yuriah is out of his coma!”
Chapter 22
Four weeks later…
A few days before Christmas
Minnie woke up in a panic when she didn’t see Yuriah lying next to her in bed.
“Yuri, baby!” She threw the covers back and went searching through the house. “Yuriah!” She called again, only to discover him in the kitchen.
He looked over his shoulder when he heard her enter. “Good morning, Nervine.” He kissed her when she walked up on him.
“I got your nervous. Why didn’t you wake me up to tell me you were hungry?” She tried taking the spatula from him so she could finish cooking but he wouldn’t allow her.
“That’s because I’m not hungry. Now, go sit down and let me do something nice for you.”
“Baby, you shouldn’t be doing this, though.”
“Says who? Because according to my doctor he returned me to full activity and cleared me off of bed rest a couple of days ago. But you, my overprotective MD, was there to know that for yourself.”
“True, but I can still take care of everything for you. Home health is what I do, you know?”
“I feel you, but making my very attentive wife breakfast is what I’m doing today. Now, go have a seat.” He directed her over to the kitchen table.
His physician assured Minnie that Yuriah was as healthy as a horse. All of his outpatient physical exams and repeated X-Ray screens proved it to be so.
Despite knowing that, Minnie couldn’t help but be paranoid. She spent so many weeks on edge, she became accustomed to it. She thought to rebut him anyway but placed a finger over her lips and sat down like he said.
He wore a smile of approval as he plated her breakfast. He was happy to be doing something other than laying up all day. And for him, there was no better way of celebrating life than to cater to the reason he found a will to live.
Minnie sat back and watched him work magic over the stove. He moved about like nothing traumatic happened to him, to them. She didn’t want to sour the makings of such a sweet day, but she found her thoughts too troubling to contain.
On one end, she was beyond ecstatic to see him so full of life and energetic and then on the other, she was fearful that it could all be taken away from her, for good this time.
Yuriah headed toward Minnie sporting a smile that only she could elicit. He placed her spinach omelet, toast and hash before her and then kissed the top of her head. “Breakfast is served.”
Minnie looked up at him smiling, but it was plastic.
He detected it and questioned it. “What’s up, bae?”
She fumbled her words, unsure of how to ask them. “Baby, can I have a really hard talk with you? I have been uneasy lately.
“You don’t have to set me up for a conversation. If you have something on your mind, let it off.”
“I’m going to just get straight to the point, then. What’s going to happen to G’Corey? Is there going to be some kind of battle between you two? I mean he tried taking your life. What if he tries again? I’m scared to lose you.”
“Baby, I’m Teflon. The doctors ain’t tell you?” He tried taking a light approach to a heavy subject.
“Yuri, I’m being for real. I don’t know what got into him. I didn’t think he was capable of being so evil but no one knows where he is and when I asked Munch and Kamal what was going on, they made it seem as if it was nothing to stress about. But I am stressed.”
If I ain't trippin’, neither should you.” He grabbed her by her chin. “Look me in my face. I ain’t got no worries.”
“I know but—”
“Mouse, some things are best left unsaid because once they’re spoken you won’t be able to get it out of your mind. You’re concerned about him coming for me again and I love you for that. But know that he can’t do nothing to me that I can’t do to him first.”
“What does that—”
“Curiosity kills the cat, so trust me enough to know when to stop asking questions, a’ight, love? I’m not goin’ nowhere and I’m gon’ keep you safe.”
Minnie nodded her head. The looming thought of G’Corey resurfacing didn’t just disappear but she wasn’t going to allow it to further contaminate their beautiful morning. She always trusted him so there was no reason to go against him now.
She leaned over to him and kissed his lips. Changing the subject, she stood up to her feet. “It needs to feel like Christmas up in here.”
She headed over to the counter where the remote control was. Cutting on the TV, she found the music station on Cox that played continuous holiday music. Donny Hathaway’s This Christmas was playing.
“Now what are the chances my favorite song would be on? It’s a sign, bae. Get up.” She waved her hands for him to come where she was.
“Unh unh, I don’t dance.” Yuriah smiled.
Come on, bae. Be merry with me.” She started moving from side to side.
He shook his head no but ended up standing to his feet when she gently tugged for him to get up. Yuriah stood there looking at her sing along into the cooking spoon, handing him a ladle to use as his own mic.
It was only moments before he too got swept up in the joy his other half was creating. And with a two-step of his own, the couple had their first official dance as husband and wife.
***
Man Man was in the living room watching a marathon of Hey Arnold and staying clear of G’Corey. His mother wasn’t there to protect him and he had enough run ins with his older cousin to know better than to play with him.
G’Corey stepped outside onto the porch to smoke, leaving the door open but shutting the screen door so he could keep an eye on Bad Ass. He had a lot on his mind.
As he waited on a phone call, he leaned over the banister and allowed his thoughts to settle on the last conversation he had with Black.
“Say, bruh, you heard from Hakeem? I was supposed to catch up with the boy the other day but he been dodging my calls.”
“That boy ain’t dodging nothing, ya heard me. He was touched a couple of days ago,” Black informed him.
“Fuck no! Hell no! How he die?” G’Corey couldn’t wrap his head around that.
“One to the dome.”
“Mannn, that boy didn’t live that life. What was the motive? Was he robbed or something?” G’Corey was trying to piece how and why his people was did in.
“Nah, word circulating that Munch knocked him off. Heard that shit was over you, too.”
“What?” was all G’Corey could say while suspended in a state of stupor.
“His girl was there when it happened but he left her alive. And oh, yea, just so you know, Yuriah ain’t dead, either. He’s in a com
a, but he’s still alive.”
He and Hakeem didn’t grow up shooting marbles together but the five years he’d known him, he’d been solid.
He didn’t deserve that shit and his baby moms don’t deserve that pain, but I know how to return favors, Munch, he thought.
And as for Yuriah, if he managed to walk out of the hospital, he’d see to it that he extinguish his chances to survive their next encounter.
G’Corey’s phone rang. It was Skittles. He took a long drag from his Black & Mild and then answered. “What up?”
She went in the moment she heard him. “I did what he hell you asked. I put on my Betty Do Right voice and that shit got me nowhere. What the fuck you had me come down here if the hoe wasn’t gonna put me on payroll?”
“Was Minnie there? What all happened?”
“Shit happened. And fuck no, Minnie wasn’t there. Some Alveka, Alverda or whatever the fuck her name is was the only one there talkin’ ‘bout they’re not hiring.”
“A’ight, that’s cool.”
When the time was right, G’Corey was going to open up a position himself.
“Hoe, no the fuck that’s not cool, you ole stank mouth bitch! Why you had me dye my hair this bland ass black when you knew this bitch wasn’t going to hire me?” Skittles was fuming, frowning at herself in the rearview mirror of her car.
“You must listen through your asshole. I didn’t say shit about you getting a job. I said I needed you to look the part so they would want to hire you.”
“So, let me get this straight. I did all this bullshit and they not gon’ hire me?”
“No. You don’t even want a fuckin’ job, so why you trippin’? Besides, I got my reasons.”
You got your reasons? “Bitch, square the fuck up when I get home. It took Charmin three months to get my rainbow effect on point and now, thanks to you, I’m lookin’ hit all because you said I had to look hirable. You’sa plungee hoe. I swear to God!”
“Shut the fuck up with that stupid shit or get gulfed in your mouth on sight. If having Kool-Aid hair what you’re worried about, I’ll have your dumb ass lookin’ like a crayon again.”