ADDICTED TO HIM 3

by Linette King

  “Can Peterson have another guest?” she asked whoever answered the phone. I frowned at her and tried to play nice, so I wouldn’t have to shoot her or the big ass security guard she brought out here earlier. “Ok,” she said and hung the phone up.

  “Room 6, first-” I cut her off by walking away from her while she was trying to give me directions. I know where the fuck I’m going! Hell, the little bitch knows I was just here. I walked through the doors and headed to check on my baby sister. When I walked in her room, all eyes were on me. I glanced around the room and saw my mom, Ashley, and Aunt Jennifer. I’m sure they only let me back here because of Aunt Jennifer because they normally get on your damn nerves when they tell you only two can go back.

  I walked up to my mom and waited for her to finish praying before I touched her back. When I heard the door close, I looked up to see that Aunt Jennifer closed it. “You let this happen to my baby over a bitch, Rashard?” my mom asked without raising her head.

  It felt like all of the breath left my body when the reality of what she was saying hit me.

  My mom was blaming me for this but I had nothing to do with it. I stood there seething with anger because I couldn’t respond. I’ll never disrespect my mom, so it’s best that I just don’t say anything at all. “It’s not his fault,” Aunt Jennifer said and my mom looked up at her.

  “Didn’t you say that nigga took my baby because he wanted the little bitch that my son has?!” my mom snapped at Aunt Jennifer.

  My jaw hit the floor because I couldn’t believe they knew what happened. “Mom, it’s not his fault! It could have happened-”

  “You right, it could have happened to any one of us! This could be you laying here or me! And where is she?” my mom snapped and cut Ashley off in the process.

  “She’s here too,” I answered her somberly. I watched her shoulders relax like she was glad that Tamia got hurt too. “Candy too,” I said because I felt it would be best to put it all out on the table now, instead of pissing her off with more bad news later.

  She whipped her head around so she could face me so fast, I thought it was going to roll off her shoulders. “What the hell happened to Candy?” she asked, as she looked at me.

  “He got her first,” I said, as I shook my head.

  “Oh my Lord! How is she?” she asked me, as she clenched her chest. I looked over at my aunt Jennifer for support.

  “It’s touch and go Janice. At this point, it’s up to her,” my Aunt Jennifer said.

  “And where is he?” my mom asked me with a weird expression on her face.

  “Dead,” I answered her, as I looked directly into her eyes.

  “Wait, you-”

  “No, Tamia.” I answered before she could ask me if I had killed him. Her eyes grew wide as the shock of what I said registered. A slow smile spread across her face.

  “I like her,” she said and my jaw hit the floor.

  A few minutes ago, she was “that little bitch”; now she likes her. “I like her too,” Aunt Jennifer said. “Shard, you know she’s who I was going to try and hook you up with, right?” she asked and we laughed.

  “I was already trying but she’s hard to break down,” I said and shook my head.

  “That’s because a woman isn’t meant to be broken down son. Build her up and captivate her mind, then she’s yours,” my mom said to me. I looked around the room and both Ashley and Aunt Jennifer were nodding their heads.

  Aunt Jennifer left because she had to get back to work. She told us to page her when Myra wakes up. “Where are all the kids?” I asked because it was getting late.

  “With Bo,” Ashley said and it shocked me. Normally, Bo only looks out for himself, so for him to take the time out and watch the kids for them is really admirable for him.

  About ten minutes later, my mom’s phone started ringing. “Hello… yes, this is she… a 911 call? Probably those kids, you can send a unit and scare their bad asses!... I’ll be there shortly… yes, my son is there and will let you in… ok thanks, bye.” I listened to my mom’s one sided conversation. “Your bad ass kids called 911 again,” my mom said to Ashley and we laughed.

  “You not gone call and snap? You use to beat us!” I said, as I pretended to be jealous.

  “Naw, you know Bo don’t answer phones,” she said and I nodded my head because she was right. You can call that man over and over, and he will not answer the phone.

  “Well, let me go and check on my future wife. I’ll be right back,” I said and walked out of the door.

  I walked to Tamia’s room but she wasn’t in there. They must have moved her, I thought to myself because I know Aunt Jennifer would have told me if she was discharged. I walked around the ER as I looked for her.

  Once I found her room, I couldn’t believe my eyes as I watched Tamia kiss someone else with so much passion. I wanted to believe that what I was seeing wasn’t real. I wanted to believe that Tamia was different but I guess this is what I get for how I’ve treated women. To stand here and watch the woman I wanted to drop everybody for kiss another nigga like we wasn’t planning to move in together fucked me up. I wanted to walk away but my feet didn’t agree.

  I was stuck. Planted in place. I couldn’t move. I just watched. When she pulled away from the kiss, she didn’t even look away from him. “I love you,” he said, as he looked up at her.

  “Amere,” she said then closed her eyes and took a step back.

  “This what we doing huh?” I asked calmly from the door. Amere turned his head and looked at me but didn’t say a word. Tamia’s hand subconsciously flew to her bottom lip, like she could take what she just did back.

  She didn’t say anything as she looked at me. I shook my head and walked away from the door. I can’t believe this bitch played me and for the nigga that played her! This nigga cheated their whole relationship! This nigga fucked her best friend behind her back for years! This nigga ain’t shit but this is the nigga she chose.

  I shook my head and walked back to my sister’s room. I wanted to go check on Candy but I didn’t want to see “touch and go Candy”. I wanted to see my sister that always has an attitude. I don’t think I could handle seeing her the way she is now.

  I could hear sobbing as I stood outside of Myra’s room door. I barged in and mom was on the floor and Ashley was holding her. I looked at Myra and she looked fine. I could see her heart was still beating and everything.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked but she just continued to cry.

  “The police just called and told her to get home now because something was wrong,” Ashley said with tears in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked because my thoughts went straight to the kids.

  “They wouldn’t say,” Ashley said.

  “Man, ya’ll in here crying like the kids ain’t there!” I snapped and stormed out the door.

  “Where you going?” Ashley asked, as she ran behind me.

  “Make sure my babies ok, ass!” I yelled at her. She hit the floor crying and yelling after my words hit her that the babies are home. I ran into Aunt Jennifer on my way out the door. “Can you go check on mama and Ashley? Something popped off at the house and I need to go check it out,” I said as I bypassed her. I didn’t wait for an answer because I need to make sure the kids straight.

  Lisa

  I laid on the floor pretending to be asleep through the whole ordeal. Call me what you want but I weighed my options when Bo first caught us in here and my best bet was to pretend to be knocked out! Hell, I know for a fact, Bo would have beat the shit out of me if I helped Michelle. I also knew that if I just stood and watched, Michelle would kill me. So yeah, I caught a quick nap on their ass! I listened to them duke it out until it got quiet.

  I opened one of my eyes and saw he was about to rape her. I didn’t want that to happen to no fucking body, so I started moving slowly. I was trying to talk myself into stabbing him in his back but the more logical me knew that this small ass knife I chose wouldn’t do shit but piss
him off, so I went back to sleep. Fuck it!

  I was too happy when I heard the sirens because I knew Michelle was going to kill me. See, I think she saw me open my eyes but I can’t be too sure, so I just pretended to stay sleep. I don’t know how she was able to subdue him because I was too fucking scared to try and look again. Hell, it didn’t even sound like rape to me. It sounded like they were fucking. “Damn, that’s how she got em,” I thought out loud to myself.

  I waited until I heard the front door open and close before I opened my eyes. I sat up slowly because I was dizzy as fuck, so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get away. The sirens grew louder, so I knew they were closer. I crawled over to Bo and he was still alive but choking on his own blood. I grabbed his body and turned him on his side, so the blood would flow freely from his mouth.

  “Stay... away... from... her,” Bo said and coughed up more blood.

  “Did ya’ll have a baby?” I asked because I had heard everything they were saying to each other. He nodded his head and gripped my wrist tightly.

  “She wanted… to trap… Ray. I got… her preg.” He began coughing up more blood.

  “Ssssshh. Stop trying to talk. Help is on the way,” I said to him as I rubbed his head.

  “She got… abortion,” he said and soft cries distracted me.

  I stood to my feet and ran out into the hallway. I saw three beautiful children standing in the hallway with the tallest one standing in the front. “Stay away from them!” the little girl said to me. It touched my heart that she wanted to stand up for the smaller kids. I was just glad that Michelle’s psychotic ass had already left.

  I went back into the room, so I could climb out of the window and run away. It took a minute but I was able to get it open. I looked out of the window and could see the officers running up to the front door. If I jump now, I can make a clean getaway.

  “FREEZE!” I heard an officer yell once I got one leg out the window. I held my hands up high as another officer stormed in and rushed to Bo’s aid. The officer that yelled at me approached me slowly, then snatched me out of the window roughly.

  My leg started to sting and burn. I looked down at it and could see that my leg got cut on the window sill when he snatched me out of it. My pants leg was wet from blood. I reached down to pull my pants leg up to get a better look, but the officer kneed me in my back and pinned me down on the floor. “Ouch!” I yelled out.

  “SHUTUP!” he yelled, as he patted me down.

  I didn’t have anything on me, not even my ID, because everything was in Michelle’s car. The officer handcuffed me tightly and didn’t remove his knee from my back the entire time we waited on the paramedics to come in and get Bo.

  After they carried him out, the officer yanked me to my feet and I heard my shoulder pop. Tears sprang to my eyes instantly as my shoulder throbbed. I looked down at it and screamed at the top of lungs! It looked disfigured, so I knew he had dislocated my shoulder when he snatched me up off the ground. “SHUT… UP!” he said through gritted teeth, as he shoved me towards the door. I cried harder with every step I took because my shoulder would not stop hurting.

  When we made it on the porch, he shoved me again. I stumbled and fell down the stairs. The pain that ricocheted throughout my entire body was one I can’t describe. I grinded my teeth together to keep from screaming out because it appears that my screams of agony are pissing him off. He grabbed my arm and yanked me off the ground.

  I looked over at the kids who were huddled around the guy with dreads. I couldn’t see his face because he was looking down at the kids as he talked to them. I know it’s the infamous Rashard that’s now with Tamia but use to be with Michelle. The same guy she tried to plant a baby on by getting his brother to get her pregnant. Pure unadulterated fuckery!

  “What’s your name?” the officer asked me as he waved Rashard over to me.

  “Lisa. Lisa Cunningham,” I answered him.

  “Good evening son. I’m sorry to bother you but do you know this lady?” the officer asked Rashard, once he made it over to where we stood.

  He examined my face as I examined his handsome face. Even though he was angry, he was still oh so sexy to me! “She fucked Rashard, so she had to go,” replayed in my head in Michelle’s voice and I looked away. If she will kill her own cousin for fucking with this man, I know she will kill me.

  “Naw, I don’t know her,” he said to the officer but I could feel him staring at me.

  When I looked up into his eyes, they had no emotion whatsoever, and it scared me far more than Michelle did. It scared me so much, I started answering questions that he hadn’t even asked me. “I didn’t do it!” I blurted out but his eyes got darker.

  “Shut up!” the officer yelled in my face. Spit flew from his mouth but I was too caught up in Rashard to look away from him or even acknowledge anyone else at this moment.

  He glanced around and then slid his thumb across his throat slowly. Everybody knows what that means; hell, even green people that have never even been to the hood. “Nooo! I didn’t do it! You gotta believe me! Please believe me!” I begged because I didn’t want to die.

  The officer opened the police car door and pushed me inside. I screamed out in pain because I landed on my shoulder. I shook it off quickly, so I could look at Rashard. He was still standing in the same spot with the same look in his eyes. “It was Michelle!” I screamed out to him as a final attempt to stop him from killing me. I thought I saw something in his facial expression change but I couldn’t be sure.

  The kids ran up to him and the look vanished as he got down on his knees and talked to them. “Why’d you stab that boy?” an officer asked after he sat in the driver’s seat. He pulled off and when I looked back at Rashard, he was smiling at me. That smile was far worse than the look he was just giving me. A chill went down my spine.

  I rather go to jail than be on the run from him and Michelle, I thought to myself.

  Armani

  As I sat in the lobby, I began to panic about the things I said to Amere out of anger. I have no idea how to fix it other than going back up to talk to him. When I made it to his room, I had everything that I wanted to say already at the tip of my tongue, but his room was empty. I tried to ask a nurse on the floor where he went but nobody knew.

  That’s how I ended up back out here in the lobby. I didn’t know what to do to fix this mess. For some reason, the quote Tamia had on the wall in her room was stuck in my head. It was huge and in black and white. It said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” I can’t tell you who said it because I don’t remember. I don’t even know why I remember the freaking quote because he doesn’t make any sense! How the fuck can I use different thinking when this is the only way I know how to think?

  “Fuck!” I said out loud because now I have to go home to Joe. I stood up to walk out of the ER but I saw Rashard heading inside, so I sat back down. I started to scroll through my Facebook news feed as I waited for him to finish whatever he was about to do. I sat there with my fingers crossed that they let him back and nearly jumped for joy when they let him in the back. I needed to know where he was, in case Joe needed to know when I made it home.

  I quickly stood to my feet and headed out to my car. I stopped at the gas station to get some Tylenol for the pain I was about to receive. Then, it hit me; this is the first time that I didn’t lose him and I have news other than who he’s fucking! I felt pumped as I turned the radio on and plugged my phone into the auxiliary chord, so I could listen to my music. Of course, I had to play my girls Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé because I was indeed feeling myself.

  I rapped along to the lyrics at the stop light. I was going all in like I was Nicki Minaj in concert. I was so excited and amped up that I threw my truck in park at the light and changed the song to Throw some mo by Nicki Minaj and Rae Sremmurd.

  I climbed on the hood of my truck with the music blasting as the beat dropped. The light turned green and the people
behind me started to blow their horns but I didn’t care because I was in the zone.

  Ass fat, yeah I know

  You just got cash? Blow some mo’

  Blow sum mo’, blow sum mo’

  The more you spend it, the faster it go

  Bad bitches, on the floor

  It’s rainin’ hundreds, throw sum mo’

  Throw sum mo’ throw sum mo’

  Throw sum mo’, throw sum mo’

  I was on top of my hood throwing it in a circle to the beat as Nicki Minaj sang her hook. I was bouncing it all over the place until this guy pulled over and offered me a job. I thought it was so funny that I actually got in my car and followed him. When we were talking, he made it sound like he had this hot club that was jumping but I followed him to this little hole in the wall juke box looking joint.

  I climbed out of my truck with a look of disgust on my face. “Never judge a book by its cover,” Raphael said to me. I looked at him and smiled, then followed him inside the club. As soon as we walked through the doors of Carte Blanche, I was in awe. The place looks amazing! I’ve never thought I would work at a club. Hell, I never thought I would work period, yet here I am.

  “Damn,” I said out loud when I looked up and saw bitches in cages. There were four cages total, one in each corner.

  “Follow me,” he said and lead the way to his office. “Do you work?” he asked and I shook my head no. I don’t have any experience doing shit but fucking. I need to get to a computer, so I can get my sponsors’ phone numbers out of my google drive files. I need to contact them, so I can make amends and hopefully get back in their good graces. “I like the show you put on in the road. You ever dance before?” he asked and I shook my head no. I couldn’t believe someone was offering me a job.

  “One of my cage girls decided she doesn’t want to partake in cage dancing anymore. Would you like that position?” he asked me and I frowned my face up.