ADDICTED TO HIM 3

by Linette King

  I want nothing more than to start work now that I’m finished with school. Work and school has been my only bright spot. Since I’ve completed my schooling, I need to lean towards working. “Listen Tamia, the other members on the board don’t want to hire you,” Nurse Jennifer said and I felt like I had been gut punched.

  She looked directly in my eyes as I struggled to catch my breath. The tears clouded my vision as they quickly fell from my eyes. I could feel that all too familiar lump forming in the back on my throat. “Why?” I asked halfway, knowing the answer before the question rolled off my tongue. I can only imagine how dim my once bright eyes were as I fought hard, trying to stop the tears from falling.

  “Baggage. Since you started shadowing here, it has been one questioning incident after another,” she said and I knew exactly what she was talking about. All of the drama in my personal life was causing me to lose the only bright spot I had left.

  “Is there something I can do?” I asked because right now, I need this distraction almost as much as I need oxygen to breathe. I didn’t even realize I was still crying until she gave me a box of Kleenex.

  “I need you to separate yourself from the people that are bringing this negative energy into your life. Don’t worry about being lonely because when you learn to separate yourself from the wrong people, you will be making room for the right ones,” she said. I nodded my head as I continued to rid my face of my tears.

  “I’m going to hire you based on your knowledge and work ethics. You will be on probation for 90 days. Any drama, Tamia, and you’re out,” she said with finality. Her tone and the look she gave me when she said it let me know that she means it.

  “Thank you so much! Can you do me one more favor?” I asked with a slight smile on my face.

  “Sure, what’s up?” she asked. I watched her slide to the edge of her chair like she was about to receive the best gossip of her life.

  “So, there’s this guy I’ve been dating and well, umm… he’s here,” I said and paused to let it sink in.

  “Girl, I’m not bout to lose my damn job giving you private information!” she snapped, as she stood to her feet with a deep scowl on her face.

  “Nooo! He’s not being seen,” I said as I laughed at her. I watched the frown fade away and waited for the smile to return.

  “Oh!” she said then sat back down.

  “He’s in the lobby. A girl he grew up with is also here and so is his little sister and me. They wouldn’t let him come back here with me because they think he’s going to roam the halls. Can you bring him back here?” I broke it down for her to understand. I placed my hands together like I was pleading with her and batted my long eyelashes.

  “What does he have on?” she asked after she laughed at me.

  “I don’t remember.” I laughed as I tried hard to remember but couldn’t. “Just yell Ray!” I said. I shocked myself with that one because I’ve never called him Ray before. I watched her nod her head and walk out of the room.

  A few minutes later, Nurse Jennifer returned with a worried expression on her face as Rashard followed closely behind her. “What’s the matter?” I asked with alarm evident in my voice.

  “It’s gonna be alright TT,” Rashard said, as he took the nurse into a deep, loving embrace.

  “TT?” I asked. I guess I was sitting here talking to my damn self the way they were carrying on and ignoring me.

  “I’m about to go check on my baby. Call your mama and tell her to get her butt up here now!” she said and walked swiftly out of the room.

  I waited patiently for him to finish the phone call that should have been placed to his mother the moment we pulled up with his little sister. When he ended the call, he looked stressed completely out. “Man, it’s fina be some shit ma!” he said, as he ran his hands through his dreads.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked because if you ask me, the shit had already been handled.

  “My mom, Janice, is a loose cannon when it comes down to us,” he said and shook his head. He leaned back in the chair and slouched down. “I wasn’t tryna call her because ain’t shit she can do about shit but just be here. Anyway, how you feeling?” he asked. I knew that was his best attempt at changing the subject.

  “I’m good, just ready to go home but nobody has been in here yet. We need to move Candy there until Deuce shows his lying face and can be there for her,” I said all in one breath. I was really building up the courage to say what I really wanted to ask him. He looked at me with a weird expression like he already knew what I was about to ask him. I held my breath as I waited for him to respond.

  “Why you call Deuce that?” he asked with his eyes squinting at me suspiciously.

  “He hasn’t been answering his phone for her, so I just figured something was up with him,” I responded, as I stared him down.

  He didn’t respond and before I could dig any deeper, Dr. North came in the room to examine me. After she left, the x-ray tech came in with the x-ray machine and took x-rays of damn near my whole body, since everything was hurting. Hell, they would have been better off throwing me in the MRI machine but it’s cool because I didn’t want to have to lay still as long as you have to when you have one of those.

  “How do you know my nurse?” I asked Rashard after everyone had come and gone out of my room.

  “That’s my mama sister,” he said as he stood up. His phone was ringing and he was about to walk out of the door to answer it. All types of alarms started going off in my head and one thing I was not about to go through again was the shit I went through with Amere.

  “Why you taking the call outside?” I asked, once he got to the door. I watched him nervously look between me and the screen on his phone, like he was weighing his options. He opened the door and left. I sat there trying to figure out what I was going to do. The house he bought me is beautiful but I don’t want to build a home with someone I couldn’t trust. At the same time, I can’t go back to Candy’s house with everything that happened there, even though Brandon is dead. I should just get my own place since I’m going to be working soon.

  Lisa

  After Michelle got dressed, we headed back to the living room to join the others. When we walked in, no one looked at us and it was probably because Michelle snaps out whenever someone is looking at her. I grabbed a chair from the table for her to sit in and placed it next to the spot where I was going to sit. “Iight Twan, the floor is yours,” Andre said to Twan, once we were seated. I could feel the heat from Andre’s glare on the side of my face but I refused to look at him.

  I watched Twan stand to his feet and fix his clothing then walk in front of the television. “I’m skipping the introductions and small talk. Let’s get straight to it,” he paused and then looked around the room. It appeared that he had everyone’s undivided attention. Well, everyone except Michelle. “Ya’ll failing miserably at ya’ll jobs!” Twan continued. I noticed Michelle’s body stiffen and I think everybody else did too.

  Twan reached for his gun, so I reached for Michelle. “Calm down. He has a gun,” I whispered in her ear. Her shoulders slowly relaxed as she sat back against the chair. “Use your words,” I said to her. Twan watched her intensely before he moved his hand away from where I’m sure his gun is.

  “Dre, what’s your progress?” Twan asked with his attention on Andre.

  “Man, I been taking care of my bitch. She just lost her daughter and shit, so I ain’t been doing shit but making sure she good,” Andre said. Twan shot me a menacing look like it was my fault they hadn’t been able to reach out and touch Rashard yet.

  “What’s your progress?” Michelle asked Twan. I looked at her because she did not sound like Michelle at all at this moment. She had a slight smirk on her face but her eyes were as black as coal. If you have ever seen soulless eyes before, then you know exactly what I see when I look at her right now.

  “Bitch, don’t question me! What’s your fucking progress?!” Twan snapped.

  Michelle stood to her feet so
fast, the chair fell over. I reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her. “Get da fuck off me!” she yelled and snatched her arm away from me. Daphney and I both jumped on the other side of the couch when she looked in our direction. “STOP IT!!!” I heard Michelle scream. I peeked my head over the couch to look at her because she sounded like herself again.

  I watched the color in her eyes come back slowly but I didn’t move. “I’m sorry Lisa,” she said, as she walked around the couch. I looked at her with fear written all over my face as I reached out and grabbed her extended hand, so she could help me stand up. I slowly walked back around the couch with her as I took a questioning gaze in Andre’s direction. He shrugged his shoulders as I sat down on the couch. I watched Michelle pick her chair up and then sit down.

  “I’ve been following Tamia. She got a new boo, Brandon,” Michelle said but nobody responded. Everyone was looking at her, probably trying to figure out if they should respond or not.

  “Ray got a few other chicks from what I heard. I have an inside man, well girl, Armani,” she said and I could see a sparkle in Twan’s eyes.

  “Damn, good work!” Twan exclaimed. I could tell he was excited about her having someone on the inside. “Where’s your cousin?” he asked, as if it had just dawned on him that someone was missing.

  “Dead,” Michelle answered like it was nothing.

  From my understanding, they were joined at the hips so it’d be more like losing a sister rather than a cousin, but she doesn’t care. “Who killed her?” Twan asked, like he was getting amped up.

  “Me,” she said with a shrug. I don’t think there was a jaw in the room that wasn’t on the floor when she said that.

  “What?” she asked, like she really had no clue why everybody was looking at her with shocked expressions on their faces.

  “Why’d you do it?” Twan asked.

  “She had been sleeping with Rashard so she had to go,” she said then stood to her feet. “Drive me home Lisa; my head hurts,” Michelle said to me. I glanced over at Andre and could see the vein in his forehead protruding, which let me know he was upset.

  “Come straight back!” he said through gritted teeth.

  I didn’t miss the shocked expression on Twan’s face as I quickly nodded my head and followed Michelle out of the door.

  “Aye wait!” I heard someone yell, as I was climbing into the driver’s seat of Michelle’s car. I looked towards the apartment buildings and saw Bo running towards me. “He probably need a ride,” I said to Michelle, who sat in the passenger’s seat with her attitude on 10! I swear, this girl’s attitude is a force by itself.

  “Why you let him do you like that?” he asked out of breath.

  “That’s none of your concern,” I replied.

  “Listen man, you deserve much better than that. I can see you’ve been through a lot and letting a nigga beat on you ain’t gone make yo life easier,” he said. The way he was looking at me, I could tell he has pity on my current predicament but I have a plan.

  “I’m almost free,” I said, as I looked up at the living room window. I could feel someone staring at me and lo and behold, the blinds are open. I’d bet my last dollar that Andre is seething with anger at this very moment.

  “You might want to watch your back now,” I said after I looked away from the window. Bo turned around and looked up to see what I was looking at.

  “He don’t want these problems. Listen, I can protect you,” he said.

  “Get in,” I said, then hopped in the car.

  “What are you doing?” Michelle asked. I glanced over at the blank expression on her face, which reminded me that I’m trying to play a lunatic.

  “I need his help but I can’t talk here,” I said to her, as Bo climbed in the back seat. I quickly cranked the car up and drove off.

  We rode in silence for about ten minutes, so I could gather my thoughts. Neither one of them said a word but the tension in the car was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. “You know you can trust me right,” Bo began but the sound of Michelle sucking her teeth stopped him from talking. I looked over at her and could see her panting in her seat.

  “Pull over!” she said. I glanced over at her like she was crazy because we are currently on the expressway.

  “Mich-”

  “PULL OVER!!” she screamed, grabbed the steering wheel, and snatched it in her direction. The car veered into another lane barely missing another car. I snatched the wheel back, attempting to regain control, but that only made everything worse. The entire car started to spin. I turned the wheel in the other direction in hopes of getting it back straight as I slammed on the brakes. The car continued to spin and began to tip slightly. Fear swept through my body as I let go of the wheel and removed my foot from the brake pedal.

  All four tires were planted back on the road as the car slowed to a stop in the middle of the expressway. I breathed slow, deep breaths as I tried to slow my heart rate down. I looked at Michelle and Bo, and they both were breathing just as heavy as I was. BEEEEEP!!! The sound of a horn caught my attention and when I looked up, an 18 wheeler truck was headed straight for us.

  Rashard

  The hardest thing I have had to do in a long time was walk away from Tamia at a time when I know she needed me. In the short amount of time that we’ve been dating, I’ve grown to admire the strong woman that she is. All I want is to make sure she’s happy but shit, I’m still trying to figure out how to balance all of the things I have going on in my life. Lately, I’ve been being pulled and stretched in every direction.

  I haven’t been to see my mama in a few weeks because I was trying to cover all bases. I know eventually she will meet Tamia, and I didn’t want Tamia to mention me being in a coma because my mama will put me on blast. None of my family members knows about anything, other than Tamia. I know you may think I’m wrong but shit, I’m just trying to make everybody happy. The problem is, I may end up hurting everybody in the process. Hopefully, they’ll understand what I’ve been going through.

  Then, there’s my empire. I’ve been neglecting it too for the past few weeks and the streets were damn near dry until some cat from out of town started supplying them. I’m not worried about him though because my shit is exclusive and from what I hear, his shit is watered down. With that being said, when I send my people that I’m in need text, it will take no time for everything to flood the streets. The good thing about what I do is, people can be gunning for my position but they have no idea who I am, so they could never stop anything on my end.

  On top of that, Chardae has been texting and calling me since I been at the hospital. At first, I knew she was just in her feelings about what I said to her and how I left her, but now she’s on some dumb shit. The text she sent me right before my aunt Jennifer came in the lobby to get me said she wasn’t going to allow me to see my son. I didn’t respond to her because I got distracted with my aunt and I wanted to wait until she gave me an update on my sister.

  When Tamia asked me why I was leaving to take the call, my first thought was to just come clean about the baby because I didn’t want to keep lying to her. That’s why I just left. I’ll be back to check on her, Myra, and Candy but I needed to do some mending to ensure that I could be a part of my son’s life.

  I halfway expected Tamia to start yelling and cursing but she did none of that. She didn’t call out to me as I walked out of the door and I hoped like hell she wasn’t already done with a nigga. I know the cupcake phase of our relationship hasn’t even been a cupcake phase but if she just be patient and let me get shit together on my end, it will all get better.

  “Where you goin?” I heard my Aunt Jennifer ask from behind me.

  “Fina get Tamia something from the store,” I responded then turned around to face her. She was looking at me like she knew I was lying but she didn’t say anything. “How’s Myra?” I asked.

  “She’s going to be alright. She has a few broken ribs and a few bruised ones. They have her heavily sedated at my requ
est, so she won’t feel any pain. I plan on keeping her here for as long as I can, so she can rest and heal,” she explained. “So, you will have to help your mom out with the baby,” she continued.

  If Tamia hadn’t already killed Brandon, I would have been heading in his direction to torture him slowly. I nodded my head and turned to walk away when she grabbed my hand. “That’s a really good girl in there. Don’t lose her. You won’t find her again,” she said and walked away.

  “Fuck!” I said out loud to myself as I walked in the lobby of the ER.

  “You leaving?” Armani asked. I shot her a look and she looked away. This bitch has been a pain in my ass for too damn long. If she keeps on with the bullshit, she will be sleeping with the fish.

  My phone chimed, indicating I had a text message.

  Natasia: i wanna feel u

  I could feel my dick getting hard, so I readjusted myself in my pants. Ok, yea, I know I ain’t shit but that damn Natasia can do some things with her mouth piece and the way she throws that ass back, I haven’t been able to leave her alone. All she had to do was send a text like this one or one of those random freaky pictures and I was on my way. She knew what she had and she knew exactly how to use it, and I took full advantage of it. The bright side of that is, Natasia knows her position and she plays it well. Well shit, I haven’t given her a reason to act up, so I hope she remains cool, calm, and collect this dick.

  “Which one are you going to see?” I heard Armani ask once I made it to my car. I turned around to face her with a scowl on my face until I realized she was looking at my dick.

  “Bitch, mind ya damn business and stop looking at my dick,” I said as I hopped in the car.