Who Can I Trust: A Naptown Hood Drama (Trust Issues Book 1)

by Tamicka Higgins

  Lorna made sure to watch her tone. “Ever since Marcus started hanging out with them two,” Lorna said. “I just ain’t had a good feeling. There was something about them that really got under my skin, if you know what I mean. And I know you probably won’t really be able to understand what it is that I’m talkin’ about. But it’s like a motherly type thing. When it comes to your child, you can just pick up on stuff in the world that you would have never picked up on before. And something about them two niggas used to bug the shit out of me, back when Marcus first started hanging out with them.”

  At that moment, Kayla was starting to wonder if Lorna knew what kind of life Marcus had going. At the same time, she knew that it was not her place to say. If she brought it up, that would be one thing. However, Kayla knew that she was not going to be the one to bring it up.

  “Why you say that, though?” Kayla asked. “I mean…They always seemed coo to me and stuff.”

  “I guess they would,” Lorna said, rolling her eyes. “You know how niggas be. The real likable ones be the main ones that you just can’t trust. Anyway, like I was sayin’, when Marcus first started hanging out with them two niggas, I remember specifically telling him to watch his back. Something about them two just ain’t seem right to me. You see the way they over there talking and actin’ like they don’t even know the victim’s girlfriend and mother like that.”

  Kayla glanced over at them and nodded her head. “Yeah,” Kayla said, with it all now making sense. “They ain’t even hug you, his mama, or anything.”

  “Exactly,” Lorna said. “But let me tell you what I found out about them two like a year and a half ago. So, anyway, I told Marcus about how I felt about them two and, as usual, he said that they was his boys and they was just there for here and all that ole silly shit. Well, I was chillin’ over at friend’s house – it was like a house party kind of thing, actually – and the two of them came walking through the front door. I was all the way in the back, so they ain’t really see me, or at least it don’t seem like they did. Plus, you know how I step out when I go somewhere. I was lookin’ so good that niggas up in there probably thought that I was in my twenties or something.”

  Kayla snickered a little bit, loving how confident Lorna was in her looks and knowing that she looked so good as she aged.

  “So, anyway,” Lorna said. “They stayed and chilled with everybody for a minute, but they was sittin’ in the front room. Once they left, after getting something to eat and not really stayin’ long, like nigga’s do, everything changed.”

  “What happened?” Kayla asked.

  “I’m gettin’ there, I’m gettin’ there,” Lorna said. “My friend, who was chillin’ with me in the kitchen, was tellin’ me that people don’t really like when they come around.”

  Kayla thought about that and was genuinely surprised to hear it. She had never heard the faintest piece of bad information about Brandon and Juan. Sure, they looked rather suspect, but they surely were not the only niggas in all of Naptown to look like that – nothing new for Kayla. She glanced over at Brandon and Juan then back to Lorna as she went on with explaining.

  “So, like I was saying,” Lorna continued. “Folks got to talkin’ and stuff, you know how people do, and come to find out, them niggas had another buddy who got caught up in some shit.”

  Kayla’s eyes opened wide. “Are you serious?” she asked, wondering why Marcus had never mentioned anything like that. She thought about it for a second and it made sense why he would not, however.

  Lorna nodded her head. “Girl, yes,” she said. “I heard, and don’t you go repeatin’ this shit before you get caught up in whatever they was, or are, caught up in, but I heard that they got caught up in some shit to where they used to have some friend who now buried up at Crown Hill.”

  Kayla shook her head. “Naw, Miss Lorna,” she said. “You not serious, is you?”

  Lorna nodded. “Girl, yes,” she said. “And I’m just telling you cause I remember when I was younger and some of the drama I had, I just wish I had somebody to warn me about some of these men. Somethin’ ain’t right about them two niggas. I don’t trust’em any further than I can throw them, if you know what I mean. People at the party was tellin’ me that they used to drive down south, I think to Mississippi or somewhere, I get these big ole bunches of weed and shit and drive back up to Indiana, probably working with some Mexicans or something, I don’t know. But whatever they was doin’, they used to have a third partner, before they met Marcus, mind you, and whoever that third partner is dead and in the ground.”

  “You think this was a setup?” Kayla came out and asked.

  “Girl, don’t say that too loud,” Lorna told her, glancing over at Brandon and Juan. “But I don’t know if it was a set up or maybe if someone was really after them two niggas and thought that maybe they lived over in Marcus’ apartment or something. You just never know, especially nowadays with all of these niggas killin’ one another. All I know is that whoever they used to hang with, before Marcus, got killed some years back and now my son is sittin’ up in the hospital with a bullet lodged in his shoulder. What would you think? Who is the common denominator?”

  Kayla nodded, fully understanding exactly what Lorna was telling her. She then thought about how Marcus had clearly been on the lookout before the bullets started flying. She was oh so sure that whatever reason he was looking out of the patio blinds for, especially when there was that sound of a car breaking, had something to do with this. However, she also knew that Lorna, as a mother, was probably already stressed and really fearful for her child’s life, as any mother would be. With that thought, she decided to keep that part to herself and not say anything right then. She just did not want to go and make thing any worse than they already were.

  “Look, I can’t say what did or did not happen, Kayla,” Lorna said. “But I will tell you this. Girl, you betta watch your fuckin’ back when it comes to them two niggas. I don’t know how you feel about them, but something about them just rubs me the wrong way. I mean, they just seem like they are up to absolutely no good – no good at all. I just wish Marcus would stop hanging out with them kinda people. I told him, cause this is exactly the kind of shit that happens. I don’t like this shit one bit, and I just hope that Marcus is gon’ be okay and that this will be a wakeup call for him.”

  Kayla nodded, fully understanding what Lorna was saying. “I feel you,” she said.

  Just then, a doctor – white man with dark hair and big glasses, dressed in a long white lab coat – came walking up. He smiled.

  “Hello, Miss Miller,” the doctor said.

  Lorna stood up, being fully attentive to whatever was about to come out of the doctor’s mouth. Within seconds, the sounds of swishing pants came up behind them. Brandon and Juan, seeing the doctor, come out of Marcus’ hospital room, came walking up to see what was goin’ on with their boy. Lorna sensed that they were standing behind her and rolled her eyes, wishing that they were not even there.

  “We were able to get the bullet out of his shoulder,” the doctor said. “Your son lost a lot of blood and he will probably have to be here for at least a couple of days.”

  “At least he is gon’ make it,” Lorna said. “That’s good enough for me, doctor. At least my boy is gon’ make it.”

  “Yeah,” the doctor said. “But he will probably have to undergo physical therapy of sorts. We are not entirely sure how long and to what extent just yet, but I would imagine that it would be a while before he will have full use of his arm again. Once again, I am not totally sure, however.”

  Lorna nodded. “Thank you, Doctor,” she said. “Thank you for letting me know. Can I go in and talk to him now?”

  The doctor shook his head. “He is still out,” he answered. “And the nurses are finishing up some things. I suspect that he will be waking up within a couple of hours if you would want to wait, which I am sure that you will.”

  “Of course,” Lorna said.

  The doctor walked away,
heading over toward a nurses station before heading into a different room. Lorna looked at Kayla. “Baby,” she said. “I don’t know what you got to do today, but you ain’t gotta wait up here all day if you don’t want. I told my job what happened and that I wouldn’t be coming back in today and they cool with that, so I’mma be up here.”

  “Right, right,” Kayla said, as she was thinking. She then thought to look at the time, on her cell phone. It was getting close to the time that Latrell and Linell would be getting out of school. Part of her felt guilty for even thinking of leaving the hospital while Marcus was lying up after being shot; however, at the same time, she knew that there was so little that she would be able to do. “My little brother and sister gettin’ out of school in a little bit,” Kayla told Lorna. “I prolly should go make sure that they get in the house okay and stuff and I can come back up here.”

  “Okay, Kayla,” Lorna said. She briefly glanced at Brandon and Juan before sitting back down.

  Kayla turned around to head for the elevator. Naturally, Brandon and Juan were in her path. They walked her across the lobby and toward the elevator.

  “This some fucked up shit,” Juan said, with Brandon nodding his head. “And you said that you ain’t see the people who did this shit, Kayla?”

  Kayla shook her head, trying to be as nice to Brandon and Juan as she would normally be while also thinking about what Lorna had just said to her minutes earlier, before the doctor came out of Marcus’ room. “Naw,” she said. “I was in the bathroom when the bullets started flying into the apartment and shit. Glass was breaking and everything. Like I said, when I came out, I found Marcus on the floor in his bedroom. I went over to him and found that he was hit and then called the police and stuff.”

  Brandon shook his head. “Don’t you worry,” he said. “We gon’ figure out the niggas that did this shit. This shit ain’t coo.”

  “Why would anyone want to get Marcus?” Kayla came out and asked. “I mean, why would anybody want to do this?”

  Kayla noticed how Brandon and Juan looked at one another before looking back at her. Something about how they did that told Kayla that there was something that they were holding back. The two of them then shrugged their shoulders.

  “I mean…” Juan said, clearly sounding hesitant and sounding like he was trying to think up something to say. “This shit is just fucked up. Naw, we don’t know who would do some shit like this, but we gon’ ask around and find out.”

  Kayla nodded as the elevator door opened, feeling like there just might be some truth to Marcus’ mother’s suspicions.

  “So, what y’all bout to do?” Kayla asked.

  Brandon looked at Juan then back to her. “Shit,” he said. “I guess we just gon’ wait till Marcus wake up and shit.”

  “Coo,” Kayla said. “Well, I gotta go home and check on my brother and sister. I told his mama that I’d be back up here later on. I hope that everything gon’ be okay.”

  Brandon nodded. “I do too, I do too.”

  “Aight then,” Kayla said, still not being able to not look at Brandon and Juan in a different light with what Lorna had told her. “I’ll see y’all maybe when I come back up here.”

  On that note, the elevator doors closed. Kayla tried to be strong, keeping the tears back and trying to think positive thoughts. Even though the doctor had said that Marcus would be okay, she still could not get the image of his body on the floor when she came out of the bathroom. Furthermore, she was really getting concerned now about if and when whoever shot up his apartment would come back and try again once word got around that he had been shot and survived. Kayla knew, as she rode the elevator downstairs to the first floor and zigzagged her way through the hospital and to her car in the hospital parking garage.

  ***

  When Kayla pulled up out front of her house, she could not help but to cringe when she saw that her mother’s car was still parked out front. There were times she would come home and find that she was gone. Today, out of any other day of the year, would have been perfect in Kayla’s eyes to be one of those days. At least, she took a deep breath and walked right on inside, hoping and praying to God that her mother did not start any shit with her when she walked through the front door. Today was just not the day. Kayla’s emotions were running too high.

  Kayla unlocked the door and walked into the quiet living room. After pushing the curtains of the front window to the side a little bit to let a little bit of light into the house, she then noticed her mother. There she lay, on the couch, passed out with her legs spread open. Kayla hyperventilated and grunted, hating how her mother would lay around in such a provocative when she had a perfectly good bedroom upstairs that she could go lay in without someone having to walk through the door and see a 40 plus woman with her legs spread out and no cover over her.

  “This shit don’t make no damn sense,” Kayla said, to herself, as she walked through the living room and into the dining room. As soon as she was making her way around the dining room table, she heard her mother waking up.

  “What was that?” her mother, Rolanda, asked.

  Kayla shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Nothin’, Mama,” she answered and walked into the kitchen. In the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and got herself something to drink while she leaned against the countertop and reflected on everything. Within a matter of seconds, her mother was making her way across the dining room and into the kitchen. Without even thinking, Kayla shook her head and turned around, now facing the window over the kitchen sink. “This bitch,” she mumbled.

  “What was that?” Rolanda asked, now standing in the kitchen doorway.

  Kayla finished her drink then set the cup down into the sink, shaking her head. “I ain’t say nothin,” she said.

  “I thought I told you when you left this morning to come back with my car when you dropped Latrell and Linell off at school, huh?” Rolanda asked. “What the hell happened with that, Kayla?”

  Kayla turned around and faced her mother, deciding that she was just going to keep it real and let her know what happened.

  “I went and saw Marcus,” Kayla said. “If that is alright with you.”

  “Ain’t no reason to get an attitude or anything, Kayla,” Rolanda said. “I was just askin’. And since you ain’t got no car of your own, and you live under my roof, maybe you should be getting Marcus to come over here and pick you up. I know he don’t live nearby or nothin’, but if the nigga really did care for you, I am sure that he would have no problem coming over to the west side and picking you up. What are we from the highway exit? Like less than a mile?”

  “Well,” Kayla said. “He probably won’t be doin’ that for a little while now, Mama, so I’m sorry, if that’s what you want to hear.”

  “What the fuck you mean he probably won’t be doin’ that for a while now?” Rolanda asked. “What happened? He drop you and get himself somethin’ better or some shit.”

  Kayla took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She swore to herself that if her mother was not her mother, she would have lunged across that room at that very second and let her know what he really thought. And there would have been very few words exchanged at that. Kayla just shook her head. “No, Mama,” she said. “So here’s what happened. I was over at his place, chilling like we always do.”

  “You was over there fuckin’,” Roland said. “Girl, don’t act like I was born yesterday or some shit. I ain’t stupid.” The two of them squinted at one another. “Okay, go ahead,” Roland encouraged. “So, what happened?”

  “Like I said,” Kayla said. “I was over at his place, chilling, like I said, and…”

  Rolanda could sense that Kayla was starting to talk about something that was very personal to her. She lightened up a little bit, wanting to know what all it was.

  “And what?” Rolanda asked, sternly.

  “Mama,” Kayla said, starting to have second thoughts about whether or not she should even tell her mother what all had happened. She decid
ed, though, that sooner or later, she would have to know or she would probably find out. After all, Indianapolis is a big city if you’re white, but if you’re black, the world becomes such a smaller place. “Somebody shot his apartment up/”

  Rolanda practically choked on the words that were about to come out of her mouth. “Shot his apartment up?” she asked. “What are you talkin’ bout, Kayla?”

  “Just what I said, Mama,” Kayla said. “I was over there and somebody shot up his apartment. Guns and bullets, you know the kind of thing.”

  “Girl, watch your mouth,” Rolanda said, now coming closer. “Okay, so you was in there, chillin’ or whatever, and somebody rolled up and just started shooting at his apartment.”

  Kayla nodded. “Well,” she said. “I had just went to the bathroom. When I was washing my hands, that when it started.”

  “Like how many gunshots, Kayla?” Rolanda asked.

  “Oh, hell, Mama,” Kayla said, feeling herself start to tear up. “I don’t know. It was a light, I do know that. Like I said, I was in the bathroom and next thing I know, bullets started flying into Marcus’ apartment. I could hear glass breaking and stuff. I was so scared.”

  “I bet,” Rolanda said. She then could tell that there was more to the story that her daughter was not telling her. “So, what else, Kayla? I know you wasn’t gone this long, I mean it’s damn near three o’clock in the afternoon, because somebody shot up his apartment.”

  Kayla was hesitant before going ahead and telling her mother the rest of the story. “Mama,” she said. “Marcus is in the hospital. He was in his bedroom when the shots started and…and…and…he got hit.”

  Rolanda’s eyes bulged out of her face as she started to shake her head. “No,” she said. “Where was he shot at? I mean, what part of his body?”

  Kayla looked down at the floor, thinking about how she had found Marcus on the floor in the space between his bed and his patio door. “He was shot in his shoulder,” Kayla said. A tear now rolled down the side of her face. “Mama, there was so much blood and stuff. I swear to God, I thought he was gonna die right then and there…I swear I did.”