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

by Tamicka Higgins

  Kayla smiled and excused herself before walking down the hall. Soon enough, Brandon and Juan were stepping onto the elevator. Kayla stepped into Marcus’ hospital room. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to his shoulder – to where the doctors had been operating on him. He clearly looked as if he was a little foggy from whatever they had used to put him under.

  “Well, shit,” Marcus said, playfully. “Ain’t you gonna say wassup to a nigga or somethin? I mean, damn.”

  Kayla smirked a little bit then kneeled down to kiss him quickly on the lips. No matter what, she never thought of herself as the kind of chick that would kiss all up on a woman’s son right in front of her.

  “How you feelin?” Kayla asked.

  Marcus tried to move his shoulder, not even thinking about how that is the last thing he should be doing. Immediately, he winced.

  “Don’t do that,” Kayla said.

  “I mean, a nigga alive,” Marcus said then smiled. “I was more worried about you. I thought about you when I first woke up.”

  Kayla smiled and slid her hand into Marcus’ hand. She could see in his eyes how much he loved her. There was no doubt about that. However, now she wanted to know what all was going on. Suddenly, this winter was getting very cold, very fast. Her entire walk up in the parking garage, she could not help but to look over her shoulder a couple of extra times compared to usual. She never saw anything, and tried to convince herself that she just might have been acting paranoid. Still, however, there were too many unanswered questions. As she talked to Marcus, she made sure to keep her voice down. In Kayla’s mind, the jury was still out on whether or not she was going to mention the dudes coming by her house to Miss Lorna. She knew that she first wanted to talk to Marcus about it and see what he say.

  Marcus picked up on Kayla’s long silence. “Baby,” he said. “What’s wrong? I mean, I thought you’d be a little more excited than this to see me. I know my boys was here, but I asked about you first when I woke up.”

  “I know, Marcus,” Kayla said. “I know. I’m just thinkin.”

  “What you thinkin’ bout?” Marcus asked.

  Kayla glanced back at Miss Lorna before she began explaining. “Marcus,” she said. “Latrell and Linell went out to play in the snow earlier when I went home to make them something to eat.”

  “Yeah,” Marcus said, not really sure of where this story could be going. “And?”

  “And when they came in, they told me that two dudes in a black car pulled up out front of the house and asked if you were there,” Kayla said. She then leaned in. “You need to tell me what is going on cause somethin’ just don’t feel right. Who would be shooting up your place and why? And don’t try to bullshit me. I saw the way you was lookin’ out of the patio door, through the blinds. It was obvious that you were keeping an eye out for somebody, so please just go ahead and tell me who. Did you tell the police?”

  “What the fuck you mean did I tell the police?” Marcus asked, clearly thinking that what Kayla had just asked him was ridiculous. “Hell naw I ain’t tell the fuckin’ police. Why would you even ask me some shit like that?”

  “Cause you sure ain’t tell me,” Kayla responded. “And I coulda got shot and shit, too.”

  Marcus grinned and looked away from Kayla. He hated how what was going on had almost affected Kayla. While he was grateful to God that she had just so happened to have walked to the bathroom right before the bullets started, he hated how everything was only dependent on a moment’s time. There were so many different ways that this scenario could have gone. At the same time, he was surprised that things would come to bullets flying into his apartment building.

  “Marcus?” Kayla said, grabbing his attention. “Tell me what the fuck is going on. Who are these people and why would they be coming by and asking my little brother and sister if you were there or not?”

  Marcus was clearly hesitant on answering. Just as he was opening his mouth to go ahead and tell his woman what was going on, a nurse – plump, blonde white girl with blue eyes – came walking in. She smiled at Marcus.

  “So, how are you feeling?” the nurse asked.

  At that moment, Kayla backed away from the bed to give the nurse room to look at any machines and whatnot that she might need to tend to. She rolled her eyes, hating how just as Marcus was about to tell her, the nurse came walking in. In so many ways, the smile on her face was the exact opposite of how Kayla was feeling. Two guys coming by her house had changed this entire game.

  “Oh, I’m alright,” Marcus answered. “Just starting to feel a little stiff and shi—stuff, but other than that, I’m okay.”

  “That is certainly good to hear,” the nurse said as she checked over some things on a computer screen. “Just so you know, hon, they hospital will be serving dinner in about thirty minutes or so. Doctor said you’re fine to eat whatever.”

  “Okay,” Marcus said.

  “Alrighty,” the nurse said, now standing in the doorway. “Just push the button if you need anything. I’ll be around, okay.”

  “Thank you,” Kayla said, smiling. She then turned back to Marcus. Marcus groaned, wishing that all of this was not happening. “Well?” Kayla said, obviously wanting Marcus to continue with this story. “What is going on, Marcus?”

  “I’m not gon’ explain it all to you here,” Marcus said. “But it’s over some work.”

  “Some work?” Kayla asked. “You ain’t never had this problem before. What changed? Did the system change or somethin’ to bein’ out in them…”

  “Shh,” Marcus hissed, glancing out into the hallway and at his mother. She was now on the phone with someone as she sat in the waiting area. “That ain’t what I’m sayin,” he said. “What I’m sayin’ is that these dudes that me and Brandon and Juan was dealing with…they think that I tried to fuck’em over.”

  “Fuck’em over?” Kayla said. “Why would they think you tried to do some shit like that, Marcus? This shit ain’t makin’ no damn sense to me.”

  “It ain’t makin’ as much to me, either,” Marcus said. “Like I said, baby, I ain’t gon tell you everything in this hospital bed like this cause you never know who might be listening. But you remember that weekend I did that trip.”

  Kayla thought back for a moment. Marcus had taken a trip to and from somewhere south back right before New Year’s. “Yeah, when you went down south, right?” Kayla asked.

  Marcus nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Well, they basically think that on that trip, I took some of they shit off the truck. They try’na say that the right amount wasn’t in there and that I got it.”

  Kayla’s heart jumped. “Are you fuckin’ serious?” she asked. “Well…Do you got they shit? If you got they shit, then just give it back.”

  “Hell naw I ain’t got they shit,” Marcus said. “What the fuck? Why the fuck would I have they shit?”

  “Okay,” Kayla said, realizing how that could have come across to a nigga. “My bad, my bad. But Marcus. What you…I mean, how you gon’ get them to see that you ain’t got they shit?”

  “I’mma go talk to’em,” Marcus answered.

  “Talk to’em?” Kayla snapped back, shaking her head. “How you gon’ go talk to the very niggas that came and put a hundred fuckin’ bullets into your apartment? I don’t know what you thinkin’, or if it’s that shit the hospital got you on, but you got shot today. It don’t seem like whoever they are they are open to sitting down and havin’ conversations. Hold up…Who are these dudes?”

  Marcus hesitated. He really did not want to answer because he already knew how his mother felt about his boys Brandon and Juan and he was thinking that his mother might have been running her mouth as usual to Kayla. At the same time, he remembered his Uncle Charles telling him when he was growing up that he would be lucky to have one true friend in life. For Marcus, he felt twice as lucky and as if that luck might be the reason God only had this bullet hit him in the shoulder. He knew that his boys Brandon and Juan were just as confused about the situation as h
e was.

  “They some niggas that we know,” Marcus said.

  “We who?” Kayla asked, wanting clarification.

  “You know,” Marcus said. “Me, Juan, and Brandon. Like I said, I’m not gon’ tell you everything in this hospital cause I don’t know who else might be coming in, but I’mma make sure all of this get taken care of.”

  “How you gon’ do that, Marcus?” Kayla asked, not seeing how such would even be possible. “I know your doctor musta told you already that you won’t be able to use your arm for a minute and that you’d have to go through physical therapy.”

  “Fuck,” Marcus said. “I know, I know. I just don’t want you to worry.”

  “How you gon’ tell me that you don’t want me to worry, Marcus?” Kayla asked. “Whoever these niggas are, they came by my place and asked my brother and sister if you was there. I think they gotta know a lot more than you think they do for them to be doing some shit like that.”

  Just then, Kayla felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. At first, she ignored it. However, once it continued vibrating, she finally pulled it out her pocket and looked at who was calling. It was her mother. She rolled her eyes as she shoved her phone back down into her pocket. She already knew that it was probably her mother calling about some silly shit. Right then, she was just not in the mood for it.

  “Kayla,” Marcus said. “I don’t know what I’mma do. They think I got they shit. I don’t got it and I told them like a month ago and again last week when they called me ‘bout that shit that I don’t have it. Whatever they gave me down in Little Rock was on that fuckin’ truck. I only stopped for gas on the way back and next thing I know, I supposedly got they shit.”

  “How much?” Kayla asked.

  “How much what?”

  “How much money we talkin’ with all this?”

  Just as Marcus was about to explain, the hospital cafeteria worker came rolling a cart into his room. It was dinner time and he was asked to choose what specific dinner he wanted. When the nurse sat whatever he had asked for on the table in front of him, Marcus looked at it then up at Kayla.

  “I’mma need some real food,” Marcus said.

  Within seconds, Lorna came walking up to the hospital room doorway. She smiled and waved at the cafeteria nurse as she walked by, heading down the hallway. Kayla watched as she stepped into the room.

  “Marcus,” she said. “I was thinkin’ bout goin’ to get something to eat when I saw the food people comin’ round.”

  Everyone looked at his meal, on the table. “I know that ain’t gon be enough,” Lorna said.

  “I take whatever I can get,” Marcus said.

  “Aight then,” Lorna said. “I’mma either go up on Martin Luther King or down on 16th Street. We’ll see how I’m feelin’ when I get out there. Sixteenth is closer, but I kinda want some bar-b-q.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” Marcus said. “I don’t care what it is. As long as it’s better than this stuff.”

  Lorna looked at Kayla. “You want anything, Kayla?” she asked.

  Kayla shrugged. “You don’t have to,” she said.

  Lorna insisted on getting Kayla something to eat. Kayla went ahead and agreed and said that she would wait there until Miss Lorna got back. Soon enough, it was just Kayla and Marcus again.

  “You think these dudes gon’ try again?” Kayla asked.

  Marcus shrugged. “I don’t even know,” he answered. “Probably not. I mean, they don’t even know if they got me or not. I don’t know how they would. There are at least two or three other cars like the car I got that be parked in the parking lot at my apartments, so I don’t even know if they know if I was hope. I know my ass wasn’t opening the blinds so wide that they would see me.”

  “Okay,” Kayla said. “Then why else would they come by my place after your place done been shot up and you in the hospital cause of a bullet to the shoulder? Hold up… How they even know where the hell I live, or who I am for that matter?”

  Marcus looked dead into Kayla’s eyes. “Fuck if I know,” he said. “You know I ain’t tell’em that shit. Who the fuck knows how they know? Plus, you know how niggas be knowin’ people in Indianapolis and shit. I swear, I’m ready to get the fuck up out of this place.”

  “Is that why you was talkin’ about movin’ away?” Kayla asked. “Huh? Is that why you was talkin’ bout movin’ down to Atlanta?”

  “I had been thinkin’ bout that shit anyway,” Marcus said, hesitantly. “But I can’t front and shit. I am gettin’ tired of how small this place feel sometime.”

  Kayla pulled a chair up to the side of Marcus’ bed and sat down. She felt her phone vibrating again. She hyperventilated as she pulled it out of her pocket.

  “Fuck,” Kayla said.

  “What?” Marcus asked, looking over the side of the bed.

  “It’s my mama,” Kayla said. “She done called like three times since I fuckin’ got here. She know where I am. I don’t know why in the fuck she would be callin’.”

  “Just answer,” Marcus said.

  “Just answer my ass,” Kayla snapped back. “You know how her ass is. I managed to get the hell out of the house when I came up here without having to talk to her ass. You know she just callin’ to start some shit.”

  “You tell her what happen?” Marcus asked.

  Kayla hesitated before answering. “Yeah,” she said, nodding her head. “I told her about what happened and how you was in the hospital.”

  “I know she had some shit to say about that,” Marcus said.

  “Basically,” Kayla said. Finally, her phone stopped vibrating. A MISSED CALL alert popped up as Kayla pushed her phone back into her pocket.

  The room slowly got quieted between the two of them while Marcus picked over the flimsy hospital food. Thoughts kept swirling around in Kayla’s head. She knew that she and Marcus had probably talked enough about whatever went down with the two dudes that had shot up his place. Kayla prayed to God that they were just doing it to scare him, or maybe that they would think, or not even know any different, that they had maybe gotten Marcus. Whatever they thought, Kayla now wanted to know why whoever these dudes were would come by her house after the shooting. Was Miss Lorna right in thinking that Brandon and Juan had something to do with it? Kayla wanted to think not, but life had taught her enough as this point to where she knew better. She knew that sometimes the ones who were closest to you would be the first to do you dirty. Now, Kayla knew that she would just have to wait…and waiting under these circumstances was just not comfortable.

  ***

  Rolanda dropped her cell phone onto the floor, her eyes barreling down on her nine year old twins Latrell and Linell. As the cold metal of the end of a pistol pressed against the temple of her head, she could not help but to sweat. Tears practically streamed down her face as she felt the gun nudge into her head.

  “Please don’t,” Rolanda pleaded. “Please, don’t do this.”

  “Call her again,” the man said.

  Rolanda angled her eyes up and glanced at the tall, somewhat buff dark skinned man. In the darkness of her living room, he loved ten times as scary as he did when he’d forced his way into the backdoor then into the kitchen. Out of instinct, Rolanda was about to react. She had been frying fish and her first reaction was to throw the pan of hot grease at the nigga who had forced his way into her house. However, once her eyes lay on the end of a metallic pistol, she was practically frozen with terror. Within seconds, another man had come walking in behind this one. Like the first, he also had a gun and a look of anger in his face that was oh so malicious. Almost like a planned operation, the guy who had come in second rushed into the living room and got the Linell and Latrell together, holding them in the corner by the television and telling them to be quiet. Within minutes, Rolanda was on her knees with a gun to her head and being told to call her daughter.

  “Was is this about?” Rolanda demanded to know. “Why the fuck are y’all doing this shit to me and my kid? Why? What the fuck is thi
s about?”

  Without even speaking, the man holding a gun to Rolanda’s head used his free hand to slap her across the back of her head. He used all of his force and Rolanda could feel it. She was getting a little dizzy as the back of her head stung. All the while this happened, like any mother, her eyes were stuck on her kids on the other side of the room. The terrified look in their eyes was enough to break any mother’s heart. They truly looked innocent and confused.

  “Bitch, do what the fuck I said,” the man said. “Call your daughter again. We need to know what fuckin’ hospital room. Call her, shit.”

  Rolanda did as she was told, slowly reaching down and grabbing her cell phone. She called Kayla again, praying to God that she would answer so she could get whatever information they wanted so that these nigga could leave and stop terrorizing her and her kids.

  The man holding the gun to Rolanda’s head looked up and across at his accomplice, who stood over the kids in the corner. “Nigga, I know we saw her head down to that hospital,” he said.

  “Yeah,” his guy said. “So the little niggas wasn’t lyin’. That nigga wasn’t here. He in the hospital.”

  Rolanda could feel the eyes on her as she was listening to the phone ring. Once again, rather than hearing Kayla’s voice answer “hello,” Rolanda was faced with yet another voicemail greeting. She cringed, hoping and praying that neither one of these crazy niggas would get the idea of blowing she or her kids’ brains out.

  “She ain’t answer,” Rolanda said, reluctantly. “I called again and she ain’t answer.”

  “Bitch,” the man said. “I know she must’a told you what room he was in.”

  Rolanda shook her head. “No,” she said. “I swear to God she didn’t tell me.”

  “You her mama,” he said. “What kinda bitch – cause that’s what she is to me, just like you – don’t tell her mama what room her boyfriend in when he take a bullet? That’s how I know you lyin.”

  “I swear,” Rolanda said. “I don’t know what fuckin’ room he is in. And we don’t talk like that no way. I saw her when she came home and she told me what happened at that he was in Methodist, but I don’t know what room.”