by Ambria Davis
“Yeah, ma, everything is straight,” I told her. “Now what was it that you were trying to tell me?”
“Oh, yeah,” she suddenly remembered. “Like I was saying, as you all know, the baby is doing fine, but his mother isn’t. He’s going to be able to go home tomorrow, but what we want to know is who’s going to be taking him? We can’t release the baby to just anybody.”
“That’s fine, because he’ll be going home with me until his mother gets out of the hospital,” Sky said from behind me. My neck twisted in her direction so fast, I was afraid that I was going to get whiplash. “Well, with me and my husband.”
“Like hell he is. You and Brinay don’t even get along. What makes you think you can take her baby home with you?” Kourtney asked, outraged. I knew she was heated by the tone of her voice.
“Bitch, who are you even?” Sky answered smartly.
“I’m her fucking sister.”
“But you could never be. Her mother only has one daughter, and her father has two. I’m one of them, and she’s the other one, and I know you ain’t no kin to me.”
“We may not be blood related, but trust when I say that I’m her sister,” Kourtney said matter-of-factly.
“Like I said, you ain’t no kin. Therefore, my nephew goes nowhere with you, bitch.”
“You must have me confused with some bird, bitch,” Kourtney said, taking a step closer to her.
“Nah, I don’t have you confused with anyone. I got you just right. You acting like you big and bad, all behind a baby that ain’t for you,” Sky challenged her.
“Y’all need to stop all of this,” Chance said, trying to defuse the situation.
“I don’t have to stop anything. Like I said, my sister’s son ain’t going nowhere with this hoodlum,” Sky threw in there.
“Bitch, you can say that a million times, but you think your sister gon’ choose you over me?” Kourtney challenged her. When she didn’t say anything, Kourtney continued. “You making noise for this baby like you really care. You don’t even care about your own sister. How many times have you talked to your sister in the last few years? Where were you when your sister needed her family? Now you want to pull this? Bitch, get yaself a life, please. Nay don’t even care about you like that.”
“You can say whatever you want to. How do you know that I don’t care for my sister? How do you know anything? You’re a fucking friend. I’m sure my sister don’t tell you everything.”
“Look, we can go back and forth all you want. Truth of the matter is, I don’t give a fuck. You still ain’t leaving this hospital with Nay’s baby,” Kourtney yelled.
“Look, right now is not the time for all of this,” I finally said. I was getting tired of everything.
“Well, what about the child’s father?” the nurse asked me. My eyes went to Kourtney, whose eyes immediately traveled to mine. I was happy that Sky was standing behind me, because the look on my face would’ve been a dead giveaway.
“Umm . . . He’s not here at the moment,” Kourtney answered.
“Well, we’re going to have to think of something, because this baby goes home tomorrow,” the nurse said before she walked out of the room. I stood there stuck. I needed to come up with a solution, and quick. There was no way I was going to let my child go home with Skylar, and I damn sure wasn’t about to let my child go home with just anybody. I was going to make something happen in those twenty-four hours. I just don’t know what it is yet.
Chapter Nineteen
Kourtney
I don’t know what this looney bitch, Sky, was smoking, or who the fuck she thinks she is, but she had things all fucked up. She had to be out of her rabbit-ass mind if she thought she was taking baby Dontae anywhere. I don’t know what they’ve been telling this ditsy broad, but she needs a wake-up call and fast. I know damn well her and Brinay weren’t on any speaking terms, so her talking that bullshit about her nephew and all that was nothing but a front. I don’t know what she had up her sleeve, but I’d be damned if I let her pull anything with my sister’s baby.
I stood there as she popped her gum, hollering about “her sister and her nephew this,” and “her sister and her nephew that.” She hollered about how she had more rights than any of us in this room. All I could remember, however, were the many stories Brinay told me about how she and her bitch of a mother would treat her. How they wouldn’t feed her, and did all kinds of fucked-up shit to her, and yet, this bitch was trying to take her son home. I immediately got teary-eyed just thinking about it. Who’s to say that she wouldn’t do the same thing to him? Who’s to say that she wouldn’t treat him bad, especially when she finds out who his daddy is? No way in hell. This bitch would really have to kill me before I let baby Dontae go home with her.
I knew how I could get when a bitch pushed me, so I had to get out of that hospital nursery. I wasn’t leaving at all. I just had to get away from the Wicked Bitch of the West. To be honest, I had a feeling that the hospital was going to release Nay’s baby to Sky and them. I mean, they were, in fact, sisters, and I didn’t have any weight. That’s why I wished that Dontie would come clean already. It was time for him to tell his bitch about him and Brinay. Shit, after all, he didn’t know they were sisters. Besides, he was messing with Nay before he started fucking with ol’ girl, from what I knew. What I don’t know is why he fucked around and married her ass. Then he had the nerve to spit that bullshit about buying Brinay the ring first. It didn’t matter who he bought the fucking ring for, what mattered was who was wearing it and who got the last name. Him saying that he bought that ring for Nay was a waste of time, since he had another bitch wearing it, along with his last name.
“You all right?” Chance asked the minute he reached me. I was outside the hospital, sitting on the bench by the emergency entrance.
“Hell, no, I ain’t all right,” I replied. “You didn’t hear that bullshit Dontie’s wife was spitting just now in that hospital? Ain’t no way I’m letting her take my sister’s baby home with her tomorrow. Fuck that shit. I’ll kidnap him out of here before I let that shit happen.”
“Man, you know Tae will not let Sky take his son home. So you don’t have to worry about none of that shit there,” Chance said, trying to cover for his boy, but fuck all that.
“I don’t know shit. Fuck, I don’t even know Dontie like I thought I knew him. For all I know, he could be behind that bitch, making her say she’s going to take him home,” I said, meaning everything that came out of my mouth. Brinay and I obviously didn’t know Tae as well as we thought we knew him, so that meant I didn’t trust his ass as far as I could’ve thrown him.
“Ma, chill out. All that there ain’t even called for. If it’s one thing I do know about Dontie is that he do love Brinay and his son.”
“Yeah yeah yeah . . .” I said, tuning him out. I didn’t have time to put up with none of that bullshit. I pulled my phone out and was about to make a call when it started ringing. The number was unfamiliar, but I still answered it anyway.
“Hello,” I said, answering it on the third ring.
“Hello, Nay, is that you?” a male voice asked.
“Who is this?” I asked, because I didn’t recognize the voice, nor did I recognize the number.
“This me, Brandon,” he answered. I ran the name through my memory bank but didn’t come up with anything. Then I remembered I had all of Brinay’s calls forwarded to my cell phone.
“Brinay’s brother, Brandon?” I asked, because I remembered her brother was in jail, and he wasn’t supposed to get out for another two years.
“Yeah, that’s me,” he answered. “Who this and where is Brinay?”
“Umm . . . I’m Kourtney, Brinay’s best friend,” I answered, trying my best not to answer his other question. I didn’t know how to tell this man who was in jail that his sister was laid up in the hospital.
“Nice to meet you, Kourtney. I’ve heard so many things about you,” he said.
“All good things, I hope.”
“Yeah. Where’s my little sister? I’ve been calling her for the past few days, and she has yet to answer me. Is something wrong?” he asked again. I was about to answer when I realized that he wasn’t calling me from the jailhouse phone.
“Where are you, Brandon?”
“Umm . . . I’m in Miami.”
“I thought you was in jail,” I said.
“I was, but I got out this morning. That’s why I’ve been trying to call Nay these last few days to let her know that I was getting out earlier,” he said, sounding a bit excited. I know that excitement was only going to last a few minutes until I told him about his sister.
“That’s good to hear, but about Brinay. Umm . . . She’s in the hospital,” I said slowly.
“What?” he asked. “What’s going on with her?”
“Well . . .” I replied, just as Dontie and his wife walked out of the hospital door. They looked at me, and I rolled my eyes at them. I didn’t have time to be playing with them. I then proceeded to tell Brinay’s brother about her accident. He wanted to know more about her situation, but it wasn’t my business nor was it my place. If she wanted to, that was her place to tell him whenever she got ready.
“Damn . . . man . . .” he said after I finished telling him about everything that was going on. “What hospital she in? I got to get to South Carolina to come see my BriBri.”
“Actually, we’re in Miami as well,” I told him. “I thought I told you that.”
“What hospital is she in?” he asked. I quickly told him the hospital name.
“Okay, thank you. The minute I find a ride, I’ll be there.”
“Wait. Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you,” I told him. This might be good for my girl. She might wake up for him. I waited for him to tell me where he was before I hung up, promising him that I’d be on my way in the next ten minutes.
Right when I hung up the phone, I spotted Tae walking back to the hospital. I didn’t see his wife with him, so I’m guessing he sent that ho home. Good, because I don’t know how much more of that ho’s mouth I could take.
“What’s up, Kourtney?” he asked when he made it to where Chance and I were.
“Ain’t shit up,” I dryly answered his ass. I wasn’t trying to be friends with this nigga when he was playing both sides.
“Oh, so you got an attitude now?” he asked, once he heard the way that I had answered him.
“Fucking right, I got an attitude. You need to put yo’ ho in her place,” I said, matter-of-factly. “You out of all people should know how I am behind Brinay and her baby. Ain’t no way I’m letting that sadity ho take my friend’s baby home with her. I don’t care how much she claim to be Brinay’s sister. She know my girl doesn’t fuck with her like that. That ho was just talking to hear herself talk. You lucky I didn’t punch that bitch in her face for the way she was popping off at the mouth. Only because we were in a hospital and my nephew was in the room did I not fuck her ass clean up. Next time, she won’t be so lucky.”
“Man, I already know that’s why you were mad, but you can chill on all that. Sky ain’t taking my son no-damn-where,” he spoke, getting angry. I didn’t give a fuck about anything right now. I was prepared to go to jail if Dontie’s dog ass didn’t come up with a solution, and the hospital ended up giving her baby to her sister.
“You better look like you feeling the same way when it’s time for him to be released tomorrow,” I told him as I began walking off, heading to my car. I stood a few feet away from where Dontie and Chance were standing and turned around. “Just be prepared to be outed if the hospital doesn’t want to give me Brinay’s baby. I don’t care how you’re going to feel, but I’m bringing the daddy into that situation. I don’t care if your wife is there or not.”
I stood there for a few more seconds as his jaws clenched. I knew he was mad, but I wasn’t playing. I was prepared to let them know who Brinay’s baby daddy was if the hospital refused to let her son come home with me tomorrow. Dontie had better be ready for whatever it was that his wife was going to do tomorrow. Brinay’s baby wasn’t going anywhere with her ass, and that was a bet.
Throwing my shades over my eyes, I walked off. I was going to pick up Brinay’s brother, and we were going to come straight back to the hospital. I didn’t even get a chance to see my friend. Hell, with all of the things going on with the baby, she’d understand why I hadn’t. I hope like hell she hurries and wakes that ass up.
Chapter Twenty
Brandon
I’ve been waiting on this day to this to come for years now. I would’ve done geophysics to be a free man. I don’t know how much longer I could’ve taken being locked up. I hated that I had to be locked in a cage as if I were an animal or something, but all of that is in the past now. I’m a free man, and I couldn’t wait to see all of the things that I’ve been missing. Besides, I haven’t seen my little sister since she was sixteen. She was now twenty-five, and I missed her little ass like crazy.
Yeah, we kept in contact, and she sent me a few pictures here and there, but I made sure that she never came up here. I didn’t want her to see me like this, because I knew it wasn’t going to do anything but depress her, which is why when she got accepted into a college out of state, I made it my business to make sure that she went there. The farther she went away to school, the better she was. I didn’t want her to get caught up in this Miami life. That shit took eight years of my life. There was no way in hell I was going to let it get my little sister too.
I had all hopes of my little sister being there for me when I got out, but they were shot down. I kept wondering why she wasn’t answering her cell or house phones. I had been calling her for the past week, and now I know why. It hurt me to my soul to know that my one and only sister was laid up in a hospital, and I couldn’t be there for her. It was a good thing the people released me two years ahead of time, because now, I could take care of her.
I stood outside the gas station, waiting on my little sister’s friend to come get me. I was glad that she had offered to come, because I knew it would’ve taken me a minute to get there if she hadn’t. I didn’t have any friends. All of them, including my girlfriend, turned their backs on me the minute I got locked up. If it wasn’t for my sister, I don’t know how I’d have been able to survive up in jail.
“What’s up, young blood?” an old dude asked as he walked out of the store. “You waiting for someone?”
“Yes, I’m actually waiting for my little sister.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, walking off.
“Hey.” A bright yellow girl yelled from a window of a car. “You Brandon?”
“Yeah, that’s me. You’re Kourtney, right?” I asked as she got out.
“Yeah, that’s me,” she said, walking over to me.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, reaching out my hand for a handshake. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me, giving me a warm hug. At first, I was caught off guard but quickly realized that shorty was just trying to show me love.
“Nice to meet you too,” she said, pulling back. “You can put your things in the trunk.”
“Okay,” I replied, doing as I was told. We both then hopped in the car and were on our way to the hospital.
For the first part of the ride, it was silent. Shit, we really didn’t know each other. The only thing we had in common was my little sister. As I sat there, I decided to check shorty out. She was light-skinned, which wasn’t my thing, but she was cute with it. She had a cute face and a nice body. Her eyes were odd-shaped but cute, and she had a nice pair of lips that I wouldn’t mind sucking on. Oh my God, I thought. Here it is, I barely knew this chick, and I was already thinking about having sex. I blamed that on all of the years I spent locked up. My hormones were raging, and I needed relief bad. Get it together, Brandon, I said to myself. Since she was in my sister’s life, that meant she was now going to be a part of my life too, so I might as well get the formalities out of the way.
“So you’re my sister’s friend,
right?” I asked, turning to her.
“Yes,” she said, never taking her eyes off the road.
“Where did you all meet?”
“We met in school back in South Carolina,” she answered. “We both started school together, and we’ve been friends ever since.”
“Oh, cool,” I said, nodding my head. “Y’all keeping y’all grades together?”
“Most definitely. Your sister wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, flashing her beautiful smile. That was the first time I noticed she had a set of dimples. “She’s a school freak.”
“Good. She don’t need to be out in the streets. I’ve always preached to her how important school is, and she should keep her head in her books and finish it.”
“Oh, so that’s where she gets it from,” she joked, finally taking her eyes from off of the road, but only for a quick second.
“Hey . . . hey . . . I just want my little sister to be better than I was. I don’t have a high school education or anything. There were many days when I wanted to stop everything I was doing to go back to school, but I couldn’t. I had to make sure that my mother and sister were able to eat and sleep well at night. I’m not saying that I regret being the man of the house. I just wish I would’ve went about being it another way. I should’ve stayed in school and gotten myself a good job that paid good money. Then I wouldn’t have had to lose out on eight years of my life, you know,” I told her. “Being locked up made me realize all of the mistakes that I made. I was young and dumb. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve been smart about the choices I’ve made through my thirty-one years of life.”
“I feel where you’re coming from,” she replied. “But your sister is going to be fine. She already knows what she should and shouldn’t be doing. Again, you’ve taught her well. It’s time that you trust in what you’ve instilled in her and see how things go.”
“I hear what you’re saying, shorty, but me and my sister don’t have anyone. It’s just us two in this world.”