by Linette King
“Well shit, you act like I said something to piss you off earlier and you haven’t talked to me since. Now you in my room mugging me from the door!” she responded, frowning at me and ready to throw down. I can’t do nothing but laugh! Everything she said makes sense as to why she would be on guard and I’m picturing everything that happened. Can you imagine waking up to someone glaring at you from across the room? Someone you know was pissed off at you. I can, which is why this is all so comical. I’m not a dummy. I know I cannot beat Tamia’s ass straight up without my razors, and I already spit it out on Daddy’s ass. A lot of good that did me, by the way.
“You did piss me off earlier, but I wasn’t talking to you because you weren’t talking to me. I came in here mugging you because I smelled that fried chicken, but you ain't save me none helfa!” I said, still laughing. I was really hoping like hell that she bought the excuse I literally just pulled out of my ass. She kept staring at me before she got back in her bed. I saw how she didn’t turn her back on me too.
“Well, I guess I’ll let you go to sleep,” I said to her before locking her door and closing it. I walked slowly to my room, crawling into my bed, and burying myself under the covers before falling back asleep.
I woke up to my text message tone going off. I have it programmed to beep every two minutes after I receive a text until I check it.
Dave: how about breakfast sweetheart?
Armani: Sure. Come over. Its open.
I unlocked the door for Dave and went to take a shower and wash my face. I looked at my reflection as tears slowly streamed down my face. My eyes were puffy and my left cheek was red from Daddy slapping me. I still can’t believe he did that to me. I hop in the shower and apply my makeup, making my skin appear flawless. The way I lined my eyes made them look beautiful, instead of puffy. I walked in my closet and decided on my tan romper and gold belt with gold accessories. I normally don’t like wearing belts, but this one is wide enough, so you can’t see my love handles. It kind of squeezes everything in, making my ass look bigger. As I’m walking down the hall, I can hear Dave and Tamia talking.
“So, why don’t you let me take you out some time, Miss? It will be my pleasure.” I hear Dave say and my skin begins to boil. I cannot believe he would ask to take me out and before I can even finish getting dressed, he’s hitting on Tamia! She can’t handle him like I can! The moment she finds out he’s married, she will run and move to another country!
“No thank you. Have a good day,” she responded like she’s too good for him. The nerve of this bitch not to want to date him, like he’s beneath her. Well, maybe she said no because she knows he and I are dating. But then again, you never know with Tamia! I’m really starting not to trust her! She’s always cooking something just to show off. Hell, she cooked last night in the middle of the night, so I know she’s not hungry right now!
“Are you ready to go, Daddy?” I ask, stepping into view and making my presence known.
“Yes, I am. I was just talking to your friend here, but I didn’t catch her name,” he said, obviously wanting to know her name. She completely ignored us because she was too busy running! She runs from everything, well honestly, everything but a fight. I’ve known Tamia all of my life, and I’ve never witnessed or heard of her backing down from a fight. Growing up, she didn’t win them all but she fought enough to be A1 like steak sauce with them hands now.
I watched Dave watch Tamia walk down the hall to her bedroom. When he turned back around and caught me staring at him, he didn’t even mention or hint at being sorry for being disrespectful. He grabbed my hand and we headed out of the door.
“Where too?” he asked, holding my hand as he drove his yellow Lambo. I freaking love this car because it's so fast and I feel free whenever we ride in it. I’m always surprised when he picks me up in it, being as though he has a wife and this car is bright yellow.
“IHOP is fine with me,” I reply. I can taste those strawberry pancakes already with maple syrup. I get the same thing every time we go. Two strawberry pancakes and three orders of bacon. Yes, I love bacon, which is probably one of the many reasons why I can’t get rid of this Kangaroo pouch.
We pull in the IHOP parking lot and it's not that pack for a Friday, which is a good thing. I ask the waitress to seat us in the back and wink at her. She nods her head and leads us to a booth on the far left side of the restaurant.
“What was that?” I ask Dave after we ordered and the waitress walked away.
“What?” he asked, playing dumb.
“That, back at my place with you looking at my roommate and asking her out on a date?” I ask, looking intensely in his eyes.
“Aww, my baby jealous? Don’t worry baby, I only got eyes for you,” he said smiling and holding my hands from across the table.
I heard someone clear their throat and when I looked up, I saw Vincent standing over me. I quickly snatched my hands away from Dave and stood up to greet Vincent. Vincent is one of my sponsors. He’s about 6 feet even with silky hair because he’s mixed with black and Puerto Rican. So yeah, he’s two different types of crazy and has made it clear that he doesn’t want me with anybody else. I’m nervous because Dave and Vincent are both glaring at each other and I’m not too sure what to do next.
Michelle
Tiffany and I went to the mall together and honestly; I only went to get my mind off of Ray. I am so tired of the way he treats me, but I love him so much. Sometimes, I think about the child we could have had together and I cry. I’ve cried so many tears for this man that I could cure the world of thirst. Tiffany isn’t any help either, constantly bringing him up and telling me to leave him alone. She’s always telling me I deserve better; like I don’t already know that shit! I know I could possibly be missing out on someone better by keeping it tight for Ray. I guess I’m holding on to this tiny shred of hope that one day everything will go back to the way it was.
Well, that was yesterday and I’m going to leave the past in the past, along with my damn phone! I got so mad at Ray for not answering his phone that I threw mine into the wall like an ass! Raphael is going to be mad because I was supposed to be at work, but I drank Cîroc until I passed out last night. I’m just now able to stand up without throwing up. I would call to let him know I will be late, but I have no phone.
I drag myself out of bed to take a shower and get ready for work. Once I’m done, I hop out and lotion myself down before brushing my teeth. Thirty minutes later, I’m dressed and out the door heading to Walmart. I don’t have much money and Walmart has those family mobile plans. I can spend $100 and get the phone and unlimited everything in one trip, and I can call Raphael on my way into work.
While on my way to work, I tried calling Raphael and Candy but neither of them were answering their phones. I threw my phone in the passenger seat after I realized that I have a new phone and that's probably why they weren’t answering their phones.
As I was stopped at a red light, I started to have thoughts of Ray. When it’s good, it's awesome but when it’s bad, it’s all bad. At this point, I’m not sure if the good outweighs the bad or not. Sometimes, I feel like it's time I cut my losses and move on with my life. I’ve given Ray too many years and tears to still be at a standstill, six years later.
I reached over and grab my phone, just as the light was turning green, so I dropped it and pulled off. The closer I get to the club, the more this strange feeling comes over me. Something doesn’t feel right but I don’t know what, so I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road. I’m not the smartest chick in the world but I do know that when you’re having the kind of feeling I’m having right now; you do not proceed in the direction you were going.
As I’m sitting on the shoulder of the road, I hear gunshots, so I get down on the floor in my car. I’m so scared that I don’t know what to do next. I hear gunshots entering my car through the windshield window as I hop in the backseat. I can feel my heart beating in my stomach, I’m so scared. I don’t own a gun so I can’t sho
ot back, and I don’t even know who’s shooting or why? It feels like hours have gone by when in all actuality, it was only minutes before I heard sirens and felt it was safe enough to get up. When I sat all the way up, it felt like my world was coming to an end. I hopped out of my car as fast as I could and ran all the way to the black on black Honda that I know belongs to Ray.
Before I can get close to it, it catches fire and I can hear him beating on the windows from behind the tint. I know it’s never going to break because he has bulletproof windows and I drop down to the ground sobbing uncontrollably. He is dying right in front of my eyes and there’s nothing I can do to help him. I’m sitting on my knees in the middle of the road watching the car burn.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” I hear someone ask me but I couldn’t break my stare from the car just a few feet away from us. “Ma’am, it's going to blow, we have to move,” the paramedic said. I could hear her but I couldn’t move. I started to feel woozy. I could feel my body swaying before everything went dark.
Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep
I woke up to a beeping noise. Judging by the noise and the brightness, I could tell I was in the hospital. I slowly opened my eyes and got an instant headache. When I reached my hand up to stroke my head, I noticed it was wrapped. I tried to sit up but the pain in my stomach stopped me dead in my tracks. I flipped the cover back and my stomach was also wrapped. I’m confused.
“Good morning. I’m Jennifer, your nurse for today. Are feeling any discomfort?” asked my nurse as I nodded my head.
“My… head… my… stomach,” I struggled to get out. My throat was so dry I couldn’t even swallow. “Water,” I croaked out. My nurse gave me my hospital jug of water and it felt like heaven going down!
“Why am I here? What happened? How long have I been here?” I rambled out once I was able to talk.
“We'll start with the easiest question. Today is Tuesday, so you’ve been here for four days. You are here because you were shot in the stomach. The bullet went straight through. You passed out and hit your head on the ground,” she explained and all the memories hit me at once. I started crying real hard, making my head hurt even worse.
I could clearly remember pulling over because of the bad feelings I was having. I remember seeing Ray’s car flip over and explode before he even had a chance to attempt to get out.
“Shhh sweetie, you’re fine. Everything is going to be ok,” she said, rubbing the top of my head. “Ray, where is he? Is he ok?” I ask.
“I don’t know Ray sweetie, you were in the car alone,” she replied.
“No, you don’t understand. I need to see Ray. I need to make sure he’s ok! Please, help me find him,” I begged but she just looked at me with sad eyes.
My monitors started beeping like crazy and Nurse Jennifer was trying to calm me down. “Sweetie, you have to relax,” was the last thing I heard before I passed out.
“How is she?” I heard someone ask.
“She’s fine. She’s just overwhelmed with emotions right now. She kept asking about someone named Ray. Maybe you can find him for her and she will be ok.” I heard Nurse Jennifer say.
“Naw, she need to leave him wherever he’s at! I’m tired of my cousin crying because of him,” the voice I now recognize as Tiffany says.
“Excuse me. Sorry for interrupting. Mrs. Jennifer, I’m Tamia and I’m supposed to shadow you today for clinicals.” I heard a different voice say. I opened my eyes slightly and I can’t believe how pretty she is. I can tell she has a cute shape, even in her scrubs. She looks about my age, so she can’t be a nurse already.
“Who are you?” I ask, startling everyone in the room. I watch as Tamia walks over to me.
“My name is Tamia and I will be shadowing your nurse, Mrs. Jennifer today,” she says with a smile. I nod my head. “Ok, I’m going to check your vitals now, ok Michelle?” she says. It’s more like she’s asking if it’s ok with me, so I nod my head. I watch her as she checks my blood pressure and temperature. She turned towards nurse Jennifer and said, “18”. When she turned back to me I was looking confused. “The amount of breaths you took in that minute,” she explained.
“Oh. I didn’t know you were counting,” I said.
“Yes ma’am, that's because I never tell anyone when I’m counting their breaths. Had I told you, you would have subconsciously changed it up, whether faster or slower,” she said.
“Oh ok, cool,” I said.
“It was nice meeting you. I have other vitals to catch up on, but I will come back in a few hours, if that’s ok with you,” she said.
“Yes, that’s fine,” I said and she turned to walk out of the door.
I looked at Tiffany and she was frowning looking at the door but quickly wiped it away when she noticed I was looking at her. “She’s a natural,” I said to Nurse Jennifer, who smiled in return. “So, she looks my age, is she a nurse already?” I asked my nurse.
“Mind your own damn business, Chelle!” said Tiffany, snapping on me.
“Well, I was just curious,” I replied.
“Not curious enough to ask her your damn self,” said Tiffany. She had a point but I didn’t want to offend someone who was assigned to take care of me. Hell, she might decide not to give me any of my medicine!
“Actually no, she’s not a nurse just yet. She graduates in a few months in Health Administration and one of the requirements is to shadow an RN for 200 hours. She’s starting early, so she will not be pressed when it’s time. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. She has taken all of the classes necessary to take the nursing board exam if she wanted to,” Nurse Jennifer answered my question.
Tiffany listened until Mrs. Jennifer finished talking before storming out of the room. “I don’t know what her problem is,” I stated and Mrs. Jennifer just shook her head before leaving as well.
Rashard
I grabbed my Boost mobile phone that, I along with my team captains, had and chirped each of them telling them to surround each truck and disarm them without making noise. It took about thirty minutes for them to complete their first mission and I must say that I was impressed.
“Raphael, I want you to approach Brittany’s brother and say, ‘we have your sister, tell your men to stand down’,” I said to Raphael on the phone.
“What?! Man, they ain't finna punk me! I say you let me blast these fools, Shard!” Raphael responded angrily.
“It’s not about being punked. It’s about being smart. My men are outside with their men but in here, it's one against four and a whole bunch of people that has nothing to do with this,” I said calmly into the phone receiver.
“Alright man,” Raphael said defeated.
I turned to look at the monitors, so I could watch the interaction. Raphael walked right up to him and said exactly what I told him to say. We never disconnected the call, so I could hear everything I needed to hear. I watched closely as the gunman clenched his jaw muscles and balled his hands into a fist. Raphael took a step back and turned around attempting to walk away. “Never turn your back on someone angry,” I said to Raphael.
Before he had a chance to turn back towards him, the gunman hit him in the back of the head. “Fuck!” I said out loud to myself.
“You want me to help him, boss?” Candy asked and for a second, I forgot she was even here.
“Look under Raphael’s chair. There is a rifle there with a scope,” I paused to glance back at the monitors and saw that Raphael and the gunman were going at it! Blow for blow! I looked at another monitor and saw the gunman that was watching the VIP Booths leave his post, heading towards the fight but the one that was supposed to be watching Candy left his to stop him.
“I got it boss. What’s next?” Candy asked. Thinking fast, I knew this was Candy’s only shot simply because no one was watching her or whomever their target is in the VIP Booth.
“Open the third drawer and close it completely three times, and hit the button that will appea
r,” I told her.
“Damn boss, you got shit everywhere,” she said as I heard the slot opening, giving her a clear view of her mark.
“Stick your rifle out and kill the two guys in all black that are fussing. One of them was supposed to be watching you and the other watching the VIP Booths,” I said.
A few seconds after I turned back towards the monitor, Candy swiftly took down both gunman. “Two down, two to go,” I spoke into the receiver.
“Not for long,” Raphael said.
“Raph man, you can’t kill him right now. Too many witnesses,” I responded to Raph.
“Self-defense,” he said out of breath. I could tell he was getting winded. I knew just how to help him without being seen.
“Candy, leave,” I spoke into the receiver.
“Boss, I never question you but I can’t,” she replied.