by Shan
“What’s the names?”
“Tamar Andrews, Tamarion, Zyir, and Zavier Andrews.”
“Okay yes, if you would just go through here and take a left. They are in room T310.”
I nodded my head and signaled for Kevin and Taron to follow me. We went through the door, made a left, and found room T310 just as we were instructed to do. Tamarion and Zyir were both lying in their own separate hospital beds with Tamar sitting between the two of them. Tamar got up from his seat, walked past me and over to Taron. He raised his hand and punched Taron so hard in the face that he ended up stumbling backwards and hitting a table full of instruments before he ended up hitting the floor. I moved closer to Tamarion and Zyir not knowing what the hell was going on.
Did Taron have something to do with the accident? I thought to myself.
“I’m just now reading that balled up piece of paper that Rozalyn gave me last night. I can’t believe you bruh! You went behind Key back and got this bitch pregnant! I can expect some shit like this from this fool here,” Tamar said as he pointed at my brother Kevin, “But not from your ass. This shit is fucked up and you know it. Even more fucked up that you had to get Rozalyn to tell me instead of you coming to me like a man.”
“What the hell is going on?” Kevin asked as he moved closer to me and the kids.
“Toya’s baby Keymani is mine,” Taron said as he got up from the floor and wiped blood from his lip.
“What? Fuck you mean?” Kevin asked with a huge frown on his face.
“It happened one time, we were both drunk and that was that. It never happened again after that. I ain’t know she was gonna get pregnant, I never once even thought that baby could be mine after that one fucking time. Damn!” Taron shook his head and paced the space of the small hospital floor.
“Okay enough of all that. I need to know what’s going on with my boys and where is Zavier? Ya’ll can have this discussion later,” I said intervening.
There was really nothing that could be done about Taron being the father to LaToya’s baby just like there was nothing that could be done about Brandon being the father of mines. What’s done is done and there was no going back and changing any of it. We all had to accept our faults and move the hell on. Right now my main concern was my children and not this who was fucking who bullshit.
“Kevin!” I yelled.
“I can’t believe you man!” Kevin yelled. He walked out the room, bumping into Taron as he left. I knew the only reason he was pissed was because he and Toya were still sleeping around every chance they got. She was living over in Keylan’s mansion, spending up whatever money that he left, and having the time of her life. We really didn’t speak much because I felt as if she didn’t deserve everything she got after Keylan’s death. They weren’t together when he died, he’d moved on with Starr, and I felt that if anybody should’ve gotten anything it should’ve been Starr and not Latoya.
“Look, where is my son? We don’t have time for all this other bullshit. Where is Zavier?” I asked again.
“He needs blood. I can’t give him blood because of course I’m not his fucking father! You need to take your ass down there to that nurse’s station and see if you are a match,” Tamar said. He wrapped a towel around his arm, pulled on it, and went back to the chair he was sitting in before.
I caught the confused look that Taron gave the both of us but I wasn’t about to speak on it. I kissed both Tamarion and Zyir on the forehead and then left the room to see if I would be a match to give Zavier some blood. I didn’t know his condition but I hoped that someone could let me know something quick.
17: Messiah
“Look, there is nothing that I can do about it okay! My dad doesn’t want to deal with you anymore, he asked that you no longer call him or show up to his house; just act like you never even met him!” Dmitri yelled as he slammed an empty glass down.
“How the hell—what the hell does he mean? How am I supposed to get money if I don’t have access to any work? That nigga Tae was stealing from ya’ll and you wanna sit up here and put this shit on me like it was my fault!” I said
“Messiah, I find it funny that we’ve never had these kind of problems until you came around. A whole brick comes up missing after Tamar is gone, money is not right, client’s weight is off! I don’t know, I thought that you were somebody I could trust and you made me look like a fucking fool. I should’ve gotten rid of your ass when Tamar told me to.”
“Oh really? You let that fuck nigga tell you what to do huh? I’m sure he had something to do with ya’ll getting rid of me now. How am I supposed to live Dmitri? Let’s not forget that my grandfather made your dad plenty of money back in the day. I deserve the right to be able to do the same.”
“You keep talking about your grandfather doing this and that but what have you done? You were just some nickel and dime hustla living through your damn grandfather! I boosted you up and you fucked me over! Fucking loser!"
Hearing Dmitri talk to me like I was nothing pissed me off and kinda hit me in the damn heart. My grandfather made plenty of money back in the day when we came to the states, he taught me everything he knew and I had plenty of success when I got older and started doing my own thing. I don't know what Dmitri was talking about calling me a nickel and dime hustler. I was the king before I got locked up and Tamar took all that away from me.
"Sy, just get out of my office. We have nothing more to talk about," Dmitri waved his hand dismissively like I was his maid or something. Fuckin' Italians didn't have respect for anyone and thought that blacks were worse than a piece of gum stuck to their shoe.
POW! POW!
Dmitri's eyes bucked open as he grabbed at the two holes that penetrated his chest and leaked dark red blood. He gasped for air, looked at me with apologetic eyes, then slumped over his desk.
I put my gun away, grabbed the set of keys that sat on his desk, and made my way over to his safe.
"Mr.---oh my God!" the assistant screamed.
I quickly pulled my hammer back out and fired at her but she ran away. I ran out of the office and into the hallway, looked both ways but didn't see her.
"Fuck!" I yelled.
I ran over to the banister, looked over the stair case, and spotted her running towards the front door.
POW! POW! POW! POW!
"Shit!" I yelled out.
One of the bullets penetrated her back causing her to hit the floor right in the entrance of the door. I shrugged my shoulders and went back into Dmitri’s office to hit his safe.
"Muthafucka wanna talk to me like I'm some damn mutt!" I hissed as I unlocked the safe. My eyes lit up seeing the piles of money that lay in neat stacks. I grabbed every bit of it, stuffing as much as possible in my pockets, and the rest I carried away in my hands.
For good measure, I fired another shot into Dmitri, and made my way out of the office. If these muthafuckas wouldn't allow me to work for it then I would just take it. It made no difference to me.
****
I sat outside the hospital, with my guard on high alert. I knew that it would eventually get back to Dmitri's father that I killed him which meant I was working on borrowed time. It wouldn’t be long before I would have an army of crazy ass Italians after me. Shit was not going the way I expected it to. My plan was beginning to unravel right in front of my face and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Tamar was still sitting on top, the only connection I had to getting where I wanted to be was lying dead in his upscale office. I'd unintentionally begun a war that I wasn't prepared to fight.
"Over here!" I yelled out of the crack in my window.
I unlocked my doors, looked around, and waited for him to get in. Soon as he shut the door, I cranked the car up and drove a few blocks down the road.
"Why haven't I heard from you? You took my money and just disappeared on me," I said parking behind a van.
"I did what you asked me to do. Apparently it worked cause they called me up here to give some damn blood for the lil' nigga."<
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"Give blood for what?" I asked wondering about the kids. When I cut Tamar's brake line, the last thing I wanted was for his shorties to get hurt. Hurting them meant hurting Rozalyn and that's not what I wanted at all. I hoped by some small lick of luck that I was able to repair things with her and we can move on with our lives. I really cared about shorty and wanted to see where things could go with her baby daddy out of the picture.
"One of the twins was hurt in an accident and apparently he lost a lot of blood. They having trouble finding a match and begged me to come up here."
"Damn, shorty was hurt?" I sighed. "Did you give blood?"
"Hell nah, this may be some kind of set up. You seen all them niggas walking around outside. Those are his men and I ain't trying to walk into no ambush."
"I don't even know why you showed up in the first place. What's gonna happen if you try and give blood and they find out you not a match B? You're just gonna fuck up everything," I said shaking my head.
"There is still the possibility that the twins may be mine and I at least need to try. I can't have that on my shoulders."
I sighed, "I don't wanna take that chance. How about I give you another five racks to just go home and let them find another match."
I met Brandon back when he first got locked up for murdering his girlfriend. He was my cell mate for two months before he was transferred to a mental institution after being declared as being temporarily insane. Those two months that he was down, I learned everything I needed to know about Tamar and Rozalyn through him. The fact that they were no longer together, him having sex with Rozalyn right before she got pregnant with her twins, and the small possibility of them being his.
He displayed so much anger for Tamar that I knew he would be beneficial to me on the outside. As soon as he left the mental asylum, I paid him five grand, and then gave him another five grand to pay a tech at the lab to say that Tamar wasn't the father of the twins. It was possible that we didn't even have to go to the extreme of paying for a false test but I wanted to be certain that the results came back the way that I wanted them to.
The fact still remained that Brandon could be the father but then it was possible that he wasn't. I didn't want him going up in the hospital and giving blood and it came back that it wasn't a match. The goal was to put a dent in their relationship and ensure that they would never get back together. I wasn't so sure it had worked since Rozalyn never brought it up but I had a feeling it was why she had been so down lately.
"Look, now I'm thinking maybe it might be a good idea for you to try and give blood. If it comes back that you're not a match, then Tamar might start to believe that there was another man," I said now thinking that it might not be such a bad idea.
"Wasn't another fuckin' man!" Brandon yelled becoming visibly upset. He grasped the handle of the door and pushed the door open.
I laughed, "Yea okay. Just give blood and hit me up later. I got something else I need for you to do."
"Yea a'ight," Brandon got out of the car, looked around, and then made his way back to the hospital.
I would hate to have friends like him. I thought as I drove away.
18: Brandon
Honestly, I felt bad as fuck doing this shit but I had no other choice. I no longer wanted to hurt Tamar and definitely wasn't interested in seeing Rozalyn hurting. She'd been through enough with or without me being in the mix and didn't deserve to suffer anymore.
As much as I wanted to quit while I was ahead. I had to keep going because I needed the damn money. I'd lost everything when I got locked up and could barely afford to put a roof over my damn head. With the five grand that Sy paid me I was able to get a raggedy ass apartment, a bum ass sofa, and a few groceries. I hate the day I ever betrayed Tamar and wish I could take it all back. Sleeping with Rozalyn, killing Keylan, shit even killing Brittany. She was someone that truly loved me and I wish I would've recognized that instead of going after something that wasn't mine.
I know Tamar's heart wasn't forgiving of those that crossed him but I wished somehow I could mend things. I needed work bad and without Tamar approving me to do so I would never find it unless I worked for the opposing side. He had shit on lock in the South and everyone knew me and what I'd done so they wouldn't dare cross him. Sy had been my only option to get some type of money in my pocket. He'd told me to look him up when I touched down if I wanted to make some money and that's exactly what I did. I never expected him to use all the information I had stupidly given him to go after Tamar and Rozalyn. I just knew that he was going to use me to help him push some weight around but the fool was on that dumb shit just like I had been before being locked up.
"That sucka ass nigga is here."
I looked to my left and spotted a big bulky looking dude speak through an ear piece. He shot me a mug as I walked through the entrance of the hospital. I didn't know if coming here was a good idea or not. This all could've been a set up and I was just walking into a trap. The DNA test was supposed to read that Tamar wasn't the father of the twins but every time I called Rozalyn and asked about seeing the boys she told me that they were at Tamar's. I knew Tamar and knew that he wouldn't continue to take care of kids that weren't his. The fact that he has yet to come after me had me baffled.
If I wasn't the father and Tamar was, why the hell did Taron call me and ask if I could give blood? The shit wasn't making any sense to me but I guess I would soon find out what was what.
"This way," Taron said. He held a bag of ice to his lip, and ushered me through a set of double doors. I walked side by side with Taron until we made it to a room that had two hospital beds. I looked around and spotted Rozalyn in one corner and Tamar and a chick with freckles in another. I shook my head not knowing what the hell was going on. Rozalyn had a huge ass bandage on her forehead, Tamar had all kinds of gauzes wrapped around his left arm, and a big bandage across his exposed chest.
I attempted not to make eye contact with anyone but couldn't help but stare into the eyes of the woman that I loved more than anything in this world. Her beauty was beyond any woman that I'd ever seen. Even with the puffy, swollen eyes, she bore a look that just couldn't be touched.
"Nah nigga, keep your ass right there. Muthafuckin’ nurse will be down in just a minute," Tamar said as he stood up from the chair he was sitting in.
I noticed one of the twins looking at me and wanted to go over and talk to him. He had an IV coming from his arm and a couple of other tubes coming from his mouth and nose. Looking at him, I honestly didn't see any resemblance to myself. He looked just like Rozalyn's older brother Zavier, damn near a splitting image of him. I didn't see me, Tamar, nor Rozalyn in his features.
"I---I just wanted to talk to him. He mine right?" I asked nervously.
"He might share your blood but he will never be yours! All I need is for you to let these folks take your blood and move the fuck around!"
"So, you just gonna use me to save the lil' nigga but I can't see them and get to know them. Man fuck that!" I protested.
"Brandon please--"Rozalyn stepped in but Tamar jumped in front of her and faced me.
"Nah Rozalyn, you not about to beg this coward to do a muthafuckin thing! He gonna do this shit or else they gonna carry his ass down to that muthafuckin' morgue. His choice!"
I looked at Tamar trying not flinch at his words. I knew that he meant every word and could make it happen. His goons were posted all around the hospital and I'm sure all of them were heavily armed. I was going to give blood anyway but I at least wanted to barter my way into the twins’ lives if they were indeed mine.
"We're ready."
I looked over my shoulder and spotted a heavy set nurse dressed in blue scrubs with a huge smile on her face. I backed away from Tamar before following behind the nurse. "Go with him and make sure he do this shit," I heard Tamar say before I exited the room.
Taron went with us as the nurse took me to the lab they had within the hospital. My legs felt like spaghetti as I made my way over to a chair a
nd was instructed to hold my hand out. I didn't know what would happen if I wasn't a match. Tamar would no longer need me and could easily order his goons to take me out the moment I stepped foot out of this hospital. I thought about unmasking Sy and letting Tamar know what was up but then that could go either way.
"Do you know your blood type?" The nurse asked as she grabbed my index finger.
"Think I'm AB negative," I replied.
"Are you sure?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
"Yea, I'm sure."
She looked at me, shrugged, and then poked my finger with a small needle. She pushed down on the finger until there was a good amount of blood and scooped it up into a tiny tube.
"Give me just a minute and let me double check it."
I nodded my head and looked down at the floor. Taron stood over me like a watch dog waiting for me to make one wrong move.
"How is lil' dude doing?" I asked trying to make conversation.
"Fuck happened to you?" Taron asked ignoring my question.
"You see them people said I was crazy," I said with a smirk.
"You ain't fuckin' crazy! You knew exactly what you was doing!"
"Excuse me, but he's not a match either. I will get with the blood bank to see where we are on getting the blood for Zavier," the nurse said as she sadly looked at Taron.
"What the fuck is going on?" Taron wondered aloud. "Ma'am you sure that his mother can't donate blood? And if not then this is supposed to be the father, why wouldn't he be a match. Is he not the father?"
I chocked back a glob of spit and silently awaited her answer hoping that she wouldn't say anything that would get me killed.
"Paternity cannot be established through blood type but AB type can only give blood to someone that is AB as well. The mother definitely cannot since she is RH positive and Zavier is A positive. One of his parents should be a match."
"Okay but they're not, so what are you saying?" Taron asked.