by Tiece
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Chapter 1
Mark's menacing eyes were stretched wide, looking like a mad man. The gun gripped tightly in his hand had his heart thumping heavily inside his chest. The barrel of the gun was still smoking as the loud yells from the people in the background awakened his thoughts of what he’d just done. He glanced at his surroundings; feeling lost, confused, and betrayed by the woman who he’d thought was true to him. She’d broken his heart more than she knew. He wanted to hurt her like she’d hurt him and from what he could tell, he’d done exactly that.
He looked down to see Olivia and Zay on the ground. Zay was more so covering her with his limp body, but neither was moving. Mark still had the gun raised in his hand, standing there like he was frozen in time. Dillon frantically stood close by not knowing what he was about to do next. Mark seemed stuck in a trance and as the adrenaline pumped anxiously through Dillon’s veins, he quickly ran over and kicked the gun out of Mark’s hand. He wasn’t about to let anyone kill his brother if he could help it.
Mark snapped out of the daze that he was caught up in once feeling the swift, hard kick from Dillon’s shoe to his hand. He was still stunned, standing there looking very psychotic. Dillon took this as a chance to sucker punch him in the face, causing him to stumble backwards. Mark didn’t attempt to fight him, because once he’d gotten his balance back he took off running to his car. In his mind, he could already hear the sirens from afar and he knew that they were coming to get him. In a matter of seconds, he had quickly fled the scene. There was no way in hell that he was going down like that.
Dillon immediately ran over to his brother. He felt helpless as he turned him over on his back. “Zay! ZAY!” He shouted out, anxiously shaking him in hopes that he’d open his eyes. “ZAY!” Blood was everywhere on Olivia’s clothes and Zay’s. He couldn’t tell who was hit and where. He scanned over Olivia quickly as she lay there not moving. He shook her lifeless body with one hand while trying to feel a pulse on his brother with the other hand. “Olivia, wake up!” He called out, but Olivia still didn’t move. Dillon’s mind was in overdrive as a few people started coming over. Some were still calling the police and a couple of others were now trying to help him.
“Are they okay?” One person asked.
Another bystander stood there with her hand over her chest. “Who would do something like this?” She pondered.
All of a sudden Olivia began to blink her eyes a little. She could hear Dillon in the background about to lose it as he lay over his brother almost in tears. For a brief second, she couldn’t move. Dillon glanced over from his brother back to her once noticing that her hand had moved.
“Olivia,” he called out. “Are you okay? Have you been hit?” She was still groggy and out of it as she tried to sit up. “Have you been hit?” He asked again.
A bouncer that was leaning down beside them was already checking Olivia as he searched her over.
“My God, what happened?” She asked just above a whisper. She was still dazed and looking around like she was delusional. A cut was on the side of her temple, indicating that she’d hit her head pretty hard once falling to the ground. This in turn knocked her out cold. Zay, on the other hand, had taken one of the bullets and was the only one hit during the two shots that were fired.
“Has she been hit?!” Dillon questioned the bouncer again, looking from Zay then back over to Olivia.
“No,” the man said. “I believe she just hit her head on the concrete.”
Dillon felt better about her, but searched his brother quickly, noticing that the blood was coming from the gunshot wound that had hit him in the left side of his abdomen.
“Oh my God!” Olivia let out as she noticed Zay just laying there.
“Calm down.” The man said, trying to ease her nerves.
“What the hell happened?” She questioned, feeling bewildered and on edge as she tried to come to Zay’s aid.
“Your crazy ass husband happened.” Dillon answered. “Zay, come on bro just open your eyes.” He knew that Zay was still breathing, but he didn’t know how bad he’d been hurt. “Zay, please just open your eyes for me.”
The sirens started getting closer and closer just as Zay opened his eyes, looking around. Dillon immediately stopped him from moving. “Hold still,” he told him. He lifted up Zay’s shirt so he could get a clearer look at the small wound oozing blood from it. Zay tried to look down at himself, feeling the heat from the bullet that could’ve very well have taken his life. “Hold still, bro. I got you.” Dillon applied pressure on Zay’s wound in hopes of stopping him from losing so much blood. He looked around the buzzing crowd as people pitifully stared and whispered. They were in just as much shock as they were that this had happened.
Dillon was getting frustrated just sitting there. “Where’s the fucking ambulance?!” he yelled out.
“I called 911,” a slim, dark-skinned female said. She raised her iPhone as if to verify her claim.
“I did too,” another voice sang.
The bouncer looked over at him. “My partner called too, man. They’re coming. It sounds like they’re nearby.” Sure enough not long after he said that, the police and the ambulance pulled up into the parking lot of the club.
Olivia was hysterical just seeing the ambulance pull up. “Oh my God!” she screamed out. Her heart was racing ninety miles per second. She never in a million years thought that Mark would do nothing as stupid as this. She leaned over Zay, seeing the blood soaking his shirt almost caused her to have a panic attack. “I'm sorry this happened,” was all she could muster up. “I’m so sorry.” She cried.
“It’s not your fault,” Zay finally spoke. “It's alright, babe. Just don't panic on me, okay.”
Dillon looked over at Olivia. “Yeah, it’s okay. Just calm down,” he said. “He’ll be alright.”
“Help is here,” Olivia whispered in his ear then she tenderly kissed him on his lips. Zay winked an eye and forced a warm smile her way then reached his hand out to hold hers. She was still sobbing and breathing heavily, but was glad to see that he wasn’t blaming her for anything.
A tall, slim, white guy with a bald head jumped out of the ambulance along with a black guy who was short and stumpy. The short guy looked around to see the people chattering and pointing to Zay who was still on the ground. The two police had gotten out of their vehicles and instantly started asking questions to the people that saw what happened. The bystanders backed away to let the EMT guys handle the situation as they waltzed in and put Zay on a gurney. Finally, they had him in the back of the ambulance and were ready to pull out.
“You ride with him.” Dillon said. “I’ll be following closely. Let me just speak with the police. Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”
“Are you sure?” Olivia asked, not wanting to burden him no more than she’d already had.
“I’m positive. My brother needs you.” Dillon assured her. “We’ll just have to come back to get your car.” Olivia nodded her head and climbed up in the back of the ambulance to take the ride with Zay to the hospital.
Once inside the ambulance, the EMT questioned her quickly. “Who are you to him?”
Olivia wiped the falling tears away from her face with the back of her hand, desperately trying to suck it up and get herself together. She sniffled and finally said, “I'm his, his girlfriend.”
The guy nodded his head with approval then focused his attention back on Zay. He was moving rapidly with a professional consistency to help Zay in whatever way he could as Olivia just held
on to his hand for emotional support. The guy placed an oxygen mask over his face and stuck him in the arm with a quick IV needle.
Meanwhile, Dillon watched the ambulance disappear out of the parking lot. He had tears in his eyes, but he wouldn’t let them fall. In his mind, he just prayed that his brother would be okay.
“Hey, excuse me.” One of the officers called out as he walked over Dillon’s way. “Can you tell me more about the situation that occurred here tonight?” He asked, noticing the blood on Dillon’s clothes and hands.
Dillon paused, making sure to say the right things. “All I know is that this man got out of his car and ran up to us, seemingly upset and irritated already. He started asking for our money. After some words were exchanged, he just shot his gun twice and unfortunately, one of the bullets hit my brother. I believe he just thought we had money on us, because my brother was driving this car.”He said glancing back at the burgundy Bentley. “I don’t know.” He added as if he was a bit confused himself.
The cop was jotting down what he’d heard on his notepad then looked back up at Dillon. “So the guy shot is your brother?”
“Yes sir,” Dillon responded.
“Did you see what kind of car the man was driving, because I’ve gotten like three different types of vehicles so far?”
“No sir,” Dillon responded. “As you can see, the street lights are out in this part of the parking lot. Plus, I wasn’t trying to see his car. I was rushing to my brother’s side.” He explained, feeling anxious to leave to check on Zay. “If you don’t mind sir, I’d like to get to the hospital to be with him. Honestly, that is all the information that I know, though.”
“Okay, that’s fine. An officer will come to the hospital to speak with you there.”
“Thanks,” Dillon said. As he opened up the door on the Bentley to get inside, Zoe’s white Lexus cornered the parking lot. She pulled right up beside Dillon, noticing the police lights and the people standing outside of the club looking frantic. Dillon just stood there clueless for a second, already knowing her car the minute he saw it.
She got out of the car and looked at him strangely. “What are you doing here?” She questioned, being that the last time that she’d seen him, he’d walked out on her.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were in Atlanta.” He questioned back while trying to act hard, but really he was totally caught off guard by her presence.
“I was.” She commented also trying to act like she didn’t care to see him, but deep down she wanted nothing more than to run over and hug him. “I thought you were in Atlanta, too.”
“Well,” he said about to explain why he’d come to Augusta with his brother, but she cut him off.
“What happened, here?” She questioned, looking at the police who hadn’t yet walked off. “I was meeting my sister. Where is she? Was this a set up or something?” She curiously asked, looking back over at Dillon. She knew that Olivia would try to play matchmaker in a minute.
“There has been a shooting here tonight.” The police cut in and told her.
Zoe instantly frowned as she inquiringly pondered, “A shooting?”
Dillon just shook his head at her. He really didn’t want to talk around the police. “Just leave your car parked here and ride with me. I’ll bring you back to pick it up.” He said.
“What happened? Where is my sister?” Zoe asked, trying not to panic. It was a little darker in the area that they were parked in, but finally she’d started paying more closely attention to Dillon as he stood there. “Is that blood on you?” She nervously questioned.
“Just calm down,” Dillon quickly told her. He could see the panic in her eyes. “Olivia is fine.” He looked down at his phone as an incoming text message came through. “This is her now telling me where they’re headed.”
Zoe took in a deep breath of relief, but was still curious to know what happened. “Where is that and why is there blood on you?” She continuously asked, looking around at the crowd as they were now leaving the club.
“She’s with Zay. They’re heading to the hospital. He’s been shot.”
Zoe’s eyes worriedly widened. “He’s been what?”
“Come on, I’ll explain it on the way.” Dillon said. “Just get in the car.” Zoe quickly walked around the car to get in on the passenger side. Five minutes later, they were headed in the direction of the hospital.
****
In the rear of the ambulance, Olivia was holding Zay's hand and saying a silent prayer for him. Her eyes were puffy and wet from crying. All she could do was just watch him, almost feeling helpless. The more she stared at him, the more that oxygen mask on his face made her chest tighter as if anxiety was creeping in. She couldn't do nothing but shake her head with pure disgust in her heart for Mark and what he’d done.
Zay was staring up at her, his eyes were cold, but he wasn't angry with her. His thoughts were on Mark’s pussy ass and the stunt he’d pulled. Right away, from the moment he jumped out of the car, Zay knew that he wasn’t about that life. He was just caught up in the heat of the moment and felt like maybe he had something to prove. The truth was that he probably never intended for any of it to happen, but after he’d showed the gun then he was left with no choice but to use it.
Zay couldn’t speak at the moment from the mask covering his face, but he reached his hand up to wipe Olivia’s tears. He just wanted her to know that it would be okay. If nothing else, he appreciated her being there for him and regardless of what happened his feelings for her hadn’t changed.
The EMT was nursing the bullet wound to the best of his ability. He'd patched up Zay momentarily until they made it to the hospital. With an IV needle wedged in the vein of his right arm, Zay was just ready to get there. The pain seemed almost unbearable. The EMT guy looked over at Olivia to see if he could get more information from her.
“Ma'am, do you know who shot him?” He asked.
Olivia's eyes glanced in the direction of the guy, but as soon as she was about to say something, Zay squeezed her hand a little just so that she’d understand what he was trying to tell her. He definitely didn't want her to say anything about the shooting, not yet, anyway. She and the EMT guy were just staring at each other as he waited patiently for an answer then she softly responded.
“I don't know.” She then looked back at Zay, pulling his hand up to her mouth and kissing the back of it softly. He nodded his head and under the mask, she saw a smile come from him. The sirens then went off indicating that they were arriving at the open-ended garage, emergency entrance of the MCG Hospital. When the rear doors of the ambulance swung open, they rolled Zay out quickly as he lay on the gurney. One doctor and two nurses were waiting there. Olivia stood by his side the entire time, not wanting to leave him.
Inside the emergency room, they wheeled him down a bright corridor with lights hovering over him on the ceiling. They rushed him inside a treatment room and stopped him underneath an array of bright florescent lighting, where a couple of surgeons were already waiting. Olivia, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to follow them inside of that room. She was asked to get checked herself, since they’d spotted a small cut on the temple of her head. Within thirty minutes, they’d treated her for her minor cuts and patched her up. Once she walked into the waiting room, Dillon was already there. She immediately went over to him, looking like she was about out of it.
“Are you okay? How’s my brother?” Dillon quickly questioned since he wasn’t given any information, but was only told to wait.
“I’ll be fine.” She said then instantly started wiping the tears that started to fall at just the thought of her beau being in that horrible position. “Zay is in the operating room, I believe. I don’t know much else about his condition right now.”
Dillon wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay. He’ll be okay.” He said, hoping like hell that he would seriously be okay. “You have to calm down. Your sister is in the restroom. She showed up to the club asking questions and asking about
you since you weren’t there and so I asked her to ride here with me. I didn’t want her driving with her emotions all over the place.” He quickly lied, knowing that they hadn’t quite been upfront to anyone about their relationship; especially Olivia and Zay.
“Thanks, I’m glad you looked out for her.” Olivia said, now trying to get herself together by patting and blinking her eyes to fight back the tears. “Please know that I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“I know that you didn’t and I also know that your feelings are genuine when it comes to my brother. We’d just gotten caught up tonight thinking that it was cool to go out. No one knew that your deranged, unstable husband would be lurking.”
Olivia sadly shook her head. “This is just not like him. I would have never in a million years thought that he’d do something like this.” She said, still wiping her eyes. She knew that she’d fucked up in her marriage. Plus, she’d already had a feeling that Felisha had told on her, but why was Mark that mad? He’d cheated on her with her best friend. He had no right coming at her sideways; especially with a gun in his hand. To her, he’d become the biggest pussy that she knew and she almost hated him for it.
“You just never know what people might do. Just because you think you know someone doesn’t mean that you know everything about that person.” Dillon told her.
“Tell me about it,” she agreed with a disappointing shake of the head. “I think I should go check on Zoe. I believe she’ll feel better to see me.”
“No, I think you should sit down and get your thoughts together. She’ll be out soon.” He said, making her have a seat so she could calm down. “Matter of fact, I’ll go check on your sister. You might want to call your parents just in case they hear something and let them know that you’re okay.” Olivia nodded her head only showing that she agreed with him then Dillon hurriedly made his exit out of the waiting room so he could find Zoe.
The minute Dillon stepped out of the waiting room, he broke down. He just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Even though he’d washed his hands of the blood from Zay’s wound, it was still some on his clothes. This only reminded him of what had happened. Then, hearing that his brother was possibly in surgery almost tore him apart. That news definitely played on his emotions as he leaned against the wall finally allowing his tears to fall. He went down to the floor on one knee and started praying to God that Zay would be okay. As he softly cried in prayer, Zoe exited the restroom and rushed to his side. She hugged him tight, not knowing what news he’d gotten.