***
Back at the hospital, in Marcus’ room, the nurse held a clipboard and went over some things with Marcus. As he already knew, he would have to come back in to see the doctor. Physical rehabilitation was required whether he liked it or not. All the while the nurse got Marcus’ paperwork together, there was a noticeable tension in the room. Roy, Kayla, and Lorna simply sat over on the other side of the room while Marcus answered the questions.
Much confusion was brewing at the back of Marcus’ mind. He knew that Kayla still had his phone, somewhere. Asking for it would definitely set off a red flag of sorts. Rather, he knew he would just have to wait until he was officially released before he hit his boys up. He wanted to know what they had found out – if they had found out that the two dudes who shot up his apartment were sent by Hakim. He knew that if this was the case – and it probably was – he’d probably have a little explaining to do. Nonetheless, he continued to weigh his options. As soon as the nurse walked out of the room to go put the information from the paperwork into the computer, Lorna stood up and came straight for the edge of the bed.
“Tonight,” she said. “What we gon’ do is take you back to my place, Marcus. Then, once you’ve slept a little bit, we can get workin’ on getting you up to Fort Wayne as soon as possible. Ain’t no point in you even thinkin’ that you gon’ just be walkin’ round Indianapolis like ain’t nothin’ happen. Last thing you need if for somebody to come for you out in some parking lot or something and all you got is a fuckin’ cast on and your arm in a sling. We not even gon do that shit.”
“What about my appointment’s, Mama?” Marcus asked, looking away from his mother. Her overbearing ways could really push him to his limits, but he kept is cool. “You heard the doctor? I’mma have to come back for visits and then the physical therapy.”
“Nigga, they got that shit up in Fort Wayne,” Lorna said. “Ain’t like Fort Wayne is no little town or nothing, Marcus. They got all this same shit up there. And it would probably be even better if you do it up there.”
“Why you say it’d be better if I do it up there?” Marcus asked.
Just then, Lorna slanted her eyes at a nurse walking back. She was black with long blonde hair extensions and very easily could have been from the hood.
“You don’t always know who’s takin’ care of you,” Lorna said. “For all you know, whoever work here, could know whoever the hell this is that shot up your place. At least in Fort Wayne, you ain’t gotta worry about knowin’ nobody. The only person you know up there is your cousin Larry. But, I will tell you this, though.”
“What?” Marcus asked.
“Don’t go gettin’ involved in this same kinda shit up there,” Lorna warned. “You need to be up there gettin’ your arm back together and sittin’ in the house, minding your damn business. Maybe you should take this as a warning sign, Marcus. As much as you don’t want to, maybe you should take this as a sign from God that it’s time for you to do something different with your life – something to where you ain’t gotta worry about people coming after you and shit.”
“Mama, whatever,” Marcus said, looking away.
Ever since Marcus was a teenager, he had found that he had far more success making his money in the streets. He worked at a McDonald’s that was downtown inside of a hotel when he was fifteen years old. After five or six months of that – something which he compared to slave labor once he saw his paycheck – he definitely knew that working in the fast food or restaurant industry was not going to work for him. He was playing basketball when he was in high school, but got to the point where he was too busy making money to show up for practices. Plus, after a while, he started to see hoe schools just exploit players to make money and build a name for themselves. When he would hear some of the school profits on the news and whatnot and think about how he was being paid absolutely nothing to play on the school’s team, he decided that he was out. Any dream of every making the NBA was too far – and too unlikely – away. When he graduated from high school, he was making enough money in the street that he really didn’t need a job. However, when an old buddy of his got on at UPS, making good money with benefits, Marcus had decided to go ahead and give that a try. He worked there for three weeks – three long weeks – before the administration had found that it made a mistake in processing is information. Human Resources had failed to direct Marcus to taking his pre-employment drug screening. When Marcus went and took the test, he found out some days later that he failed and was terminated from working there. That was okay, though. He didn’t really care for throwing around a bunch of boxes anyway. The very thought of him going out into the racist world and trying to please the white man to get a job just did not sit well with him.
All the while Lorna had been telling Marcus her ideal plan for keeping his low until things blew over, Kayla could not help but to stare at Marcus. In the back of her mind, she replayed the scene from earlier – the scene where she was in the bathroom when the shots began. This, of course, would only lead her to remembering how she’d found Marcus’ on the floor in front of the glass patio door, shot. Still, though, Kayla could not wait to be alone with him after this long, hard, and scary day. She wanted him to tell her the truth, in all details, about why whoever could possibly be after him.
Within an hour’s time, Marcus was allowed to get dressed. He was then escorted to another part of the hospital floor where nurses put his bandaged his arm up then put it into a sling.
“I ain’t never had to wear one of these before,” Marcus said, looking at Kayla and shaking his head. Lorna and Roy had stayed back in the waiting area by his room while Kayla walked with him and the nurse to get his arm bandaged up.
“Yeah,” Kayla said, forcing a smile. “Just be glad that it ain’t turn out worse, yet.”
Marcus picked up on how Kayla had said the word ‘yet.’ Just as he was about to speak, the nurse came back over to finish up with Marcus’ arm. When she finished, Marcus and Kayla told her thank you and headed back down the hall, toward the waiting area by his room.
“You scared, ain’t you baby?” Marcus came out and asked.
Kayla, who was walking at Marcus’ side and being extra careful that he not bump his arm into anything, looked at him. She could not help but to think about the car that had asked if he was at her house.
“I mean,” she said, hesitantly. “A little bit. I mean, do you really sell over in my neighborhood to where they would know, or think, that you might be there sometimes?”
Marcus nodded slightly. “Yeah,” he said. “I got some niggas over there I fuck with. And it ain’t no secret me and you together.”
“So,” Kayla said. “When you gon’ tell me who it is that might have done this? You think they gon’ come back?”
“I’mma ride with you,” Marcus said. “You can take me back to my place to get a few things then over to my mama house, if you ain’t gotta go home and help with your brother and sister.”
Kayla shook her head. “Naw,” she said. “My mama is just gon’ actually have to be a mother tonight until I get home. I know she gon’ be mad, but I don’t care.”
“You know how she is,” Marcus said then snickered.
“Yeah,” Kayla said, rolling her eyes. “She been blowin’ my phone up… Prolly had some man that was try’na get with her and so she was try’na hurry up and get over to wherever he is. She’ll be okay without all that tonight.”
“You know she gon’ be on your shit about all of this, don’t you?” Marcus said.
“I know, I know,” Kayla said. “She already said what she had to say earlier. So, Marcus, I wanna know, though, is there anything that you keepin’ from me? Could these people be rolling by my house cause they think you might be there?”
“I’mma tell you everything in the car,” Marcus promised. “And no, I can’t think of any reason why they would even be after you. It’s some straight bullshit that they even after me. I told them I did not do this, but, as you can see, they don’t w
anna go for it.”
“Do you think your mother is right?” Kayla asked, softly.
“About what?” Marcus asked.
“Brandon and Juan,” she said. “You think there is any way that they coulda had something to do with any of this.”
Without a second thought, Marcus began to shake his head. “Hell naw,” he said. “Don’t go buyin’ into my mama shit. That’s all she want people to do is to believe her and everything that she got to say. I put that on everything I own that there ain’t no way that Brandon and Juan got anything to do with any of this. I can just about guarantee you that they out looking for whoever did this shit right now. Shit, or at least they try’na see if they can find out. That’s the part I don’t like.”
“The part you don’t like?” Kayla asked. Just as she was about to add on more to her question, she and Marcus were coming to the waiting area. Roy and Lorna, who had been talking back and forth to one another, stood up. Kayla smiled, knowing that she was going to have a real talk with Marcus as soon as they got into her car.
“I’mma take him back to his place to get some things then I’mma bring him over to your place,” Kayla said to Miss Lorna.
Lorna grinned. “Okay,” she said. “Just be careful, please. Watch everything and everyone around you in case these fools just so happen to show back up over there. Get in and get out and hurry up and get only what you need.”
“Marcus,” Roy said, in a very commanding way. “I’mma hit you up tomorrow to see how you doin.”
Marcus nodded at his uncle, knowing exactly what that meant. He could tell that his uncle was trying his hardest to keep his composure. It would not surprise Marcus one bit if his Uncle Roy already had his ears and eyes out in the hood, trying to get to the bottom of this. Marcus immediately got nervous at just the thought of that. The deal he had made with Hakim was completely and totally separate from anything having to do with his Uncle Roy. And Marcus knew that his Uncle Roy was not going to like hearing something like that. Roy had always taught Marcus that the best way to stay safe out in these streets, if staying safe was something that was even possible, was to keep it all in the family. The very fact that Marcus’s place had been shot up at all told Roy that his nephew must not have been doing that. Marcus knew that Roy was not going to bring it up in front of his girlfriend and mother. However, he could tell by the look in his eyes that he had a lot of unanswered questions – questions that there would definitely be no escaping now.
Lorna and Roy just so happened to be parked on the opposite side of the hospital from where Kayla had parked her car. They all rode the elevator downstairs together, splitting up on the ground floor. Now it was just Marcus and Kayla, finally to themselves after this crazy day, as they walked to the parking garage. Curse words immediately slipped out of Marcus’ mouth as soon as the double doors to the parking garage opened and the cold, winter wind came rushing in. He had been wearing his sweatpants and a sweater the hospital staff found for him to put on. As he got into the passenger side seat of Kayla’s car, Marcus struggled a bit with putting on his seatbelt. Once he got it on, he relaxed and pushed his head back into the headrest. It was now going on 11 o’clock at night. He’d only been in the hospital for eight or nine hours and already missed the feeling of something as simple as a seat in a car.
Kayla backed out of her parking spot and started making her way toward the parking garage cashier.
“I know I’mma sleep good tonight,” Marcus said, in a very positive way.
Soon enough, they had paid at the parking garage and we on the highway, headed out east on Interstate 70.
“So, Marcus,” Kayla said, letting him that she wanted some explanation. “What the fuck is all this about?”
Marcus took a deep breath, really wishing that none of this had happened and that he did not have to tell his chick.
“Okay,” Marcus said. “Remember when I took that trip down south to get that work.”
“Yeah,” Kayla said, nodding. “For the Makim dude?”
“Yeah,” Marcus said. “And his name is Hakim, not Makim. Well, yeah, so the nigga had me drive down there to get the shit from his connect, I guess after it come across the border or something.” Marcus knew that he had to watch his words very carefully, as he did not want to tell Kayla everything. “Well, I get the shit back up here, on the day I’m supposed to, and the nigga ain’t at his place. Come to find out, he had to go outta town for some family emergency or something. I think he went to Cincinnati or Dayton or some shit in Ohio. So, I hit him up and tell him at his fuckin’ place with his shit. He tell me sorry this and sorry that, that he wasn’t there to meet me. He told me that his garage was open and that I could pull inside of there and use his tools and shit to get the bricks out of the paneling in the car.”
“Okay, okay,” Kayla said. “So what’s the problem, Marcus? Why would he be after you and try’na shoot your place up and shit?”
“Cause,” Marcus said. “Dude ain’t come back for like a week and that trip was like what, two or three weeks ago. Well, a couple weeks ago he come callin’ me sayin’ some shit about how one of the bricks wasn’t right. He said some shit about how there was like a hole in one of them and the weight was off or something. I don’t know. I just told the nigga, like dude, I ain’t got your shit. I did the part I was supposed to do. Long story short, we got into on the phone, with him throwing around a bunch of numbers and shit about whatever was missing and how much it all come up to be. I told him check with his niggas in Dallas about all that. Why would I steal however much of his cocaine? I went out and looked in the panels of the car and everything. No white shit nowhere. I called him and told the nigga, I ain’t got your shit.”
“But he convinced that you do?” Kayla asked, just for clarification.
Marcus looked across at Kayla, knowing that he had left a big part of the story out. “Yeah,” he said, basically.
At the back of Marcus’ mind, he could not help but to think about the gap in the story. He could have sworn on his own life that he would never fuck around on Kayla when they first met and things started to get serious between the two of them. However, when he lay eyes on Tweety, that all changed. Tweety was the one who had been at Hakim’s house when he got there after the trip down south. At first, knowing the kind of nigga that Hakim is, Marcus played it cool and kept it respectful. However, even he could not deny how Tweety was practically throwing it at him. And it was all for his taking.
Tweety could only be described as a bad bitch. She was all tens, from the face all the way down to her feet. With a nice brown complexion, her skin was smooth and flawless. She was wearing just enough makeup to accentuate her pretty face, but not so much that it would take away from it. Her ass was the kind of ass that many chicks nowadays would pay for or be in the gym eight days a week, doing squats to get – the kind of ass that Marcus could see from the front. One thing led to another and she was on her knees, sucking his dick just inside Hakim’s front room. Marcus knew that it was wrong, and even more so wrong because of who she belonged to. However, after feeling her silky mouth slide all the way down his shaft, almost effortlessly, the last thing on his mind was some nigga who was out of town. Next thing next, she was bent over the couch with Marcus hitting it from the back. And she was a squirter at that, which only pushed Marcus over the edge even further.
Marcus looked at Kayla, knowing that he needed to say something to get her to calm down just a little bit.
“Kayla,” Marcus said. “You know a nigga is gon’ handle this shit.”
“How?” Kayla asked, clearly irritated and with thoughts swirling around in her mind. “Tomorrow or the day after, you gon’ be headed up to Fort Wayne, Marcus. What does that mean for me, huh? Huh? I’mma be the one left down here with these people may be coming after me.”
“Shit,” Marcus said. “I think you just bein’ paranoid, Kayla. Like my uncle said, all that could have just been a coincidence that whoever was rolling by your place and asking f
or me. If they really thought I was there, do you really think that they would have been asking if I was there? They sure ain’t ask when they came to my place. They just showed up and started shooting.”
“This is different, though, Marcus,” Kayla said. “I got my little brother and sister and stuff.”
“I know, I know,” Marcus said. “But I promise you, baby, I think you just overreacting. Plus, I put it on my life, I ain’t tell Hakim no shit about you or where you live.”
“So,” Kayla said. “You know how this city is. Just cause you ain’t tell him don’t mean that he ain’t find out from somebody or something. It ain’t like people in that life don’t know we together and shit, and plus I been living where I stay a lot longer than you been living over off Shadeland, you know? How do you even know this Hakim nigga, anyway, Marcus? Huh? How the fuck you even know him? Is it somebody that your uncle set you up with?”
Marcus shook his head. “Hell naw,” he answered. “You know how my uncle feel about this shit. He think you should only work with family if you wanna stay safe.”
“Yeah, I could tell at the hospital that he was kinda shitty about something, but I ain’t know what,” Kayla said.
“Yeah, well,” Marcus said, looking out over the east side as the highway inclined above the roofs of houses. “I already know he prolly gon’ get in my shit tomorrow.”
Kayla sniffled. Just then thought of Marcus going up to Ft. Wayne to lay kind of made her sad.
“So,” Kayla said. “You really gon’ lay low up in Fort Wayne like your mama said.”
Marcus looked away, still not being all that keen on the idea. “I mean…” he said. “I guess I’mma have to. Do I want to? Fuck no? I ain’t scared of these niggas. How’s it gon’ look if I’m bein’ ran up out my own city like this?”
Who Can I Trust: A Naptown Hood Drama (Trust Issues Book 1) Page 13