by T. Styles
Scarlett wasn’t with Jasmine for longer than two hours before I received a frantic call. Scarlett said she was bathing Jasmine when she accidently fell with the baby and broke her leg on the edge of the tub. Although I was willing to give Scarlett the benefit of the doubt, Denim had her suspicions. She said that Scarlett never wanted to watch Jasmine so she hurt her on purpose.
Scarlett always said that it was an accident but I knew a secret she didn’t tell my sisters. Camp thought she was only married to him but Scarlett told me that she was married before. I also knew that she was abusive to a daughter who she and her ex-husband had together, which was why she ran away from her old life into ours. Although I promised to keep Scarlett’s secret, I also demanded that she get help for her problems. Now that she had Master I was going to see to it that she kept her vow.
“What about the warrants?” I whispered to Scarlett.
“I don’t think they report babies being born to the police. Hopefully I won’t get locked up.”
Scarlett had a warrant out for her arrest for abusing her daughter. She was due in court to answer to the abuse charges and never showed up. Instead she met Camp that same day and had been with him ever since. She was a tortured soul.
I sighed. “Well where is Camp?” I asked her looking at my watch. “He should’ve been here by now.”
“Did you reach him?”
“It went to voicemail.”
Scarlett looked up at me and sighed.
“He doesn’t care,” she said softly. “He doesn’t care about me anymore and I don’t know what to do.”
I felt bad for her. I knew that even though she was fucking the African dude her heart really lay with her husband. But the way she was going about getting Camp back was messy and wouldn’t work in her favor. I was sure of it.
“Things will work out,” I responded. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
The baby started crying and Scarlett moved awkwardly around in the bed. The baby’s wail got louder and Scarlett seemed more frustrated. Afraid she was five seconds from tossing the baby into the wall I picked him up from her. She looked up at me and the distraught look on her face softened. She appeared calmer. I rocked the baby in my arms for five seconds before he quieted down. He was adorable.
The nurse walked into the room. “Okay, it’s time for us to check his vitals.” She smiled at him while he lay in my arms. “I’ll bring him right back when I’m done.”
“No,” Scarlett yelled. She must’ve realized how crazy she sounded because she looked at all of us and lowered her head. In a low voice she said, “I mean you don’t have to bring him back right away. I’m kind of tired.”
I handed Master to the nurse and she cradled the baby in her arms. “I understand. Most new mothers tire easy. I’ll be back with Master later on tonight. You get some rest, dear.”
Scarlett nodded and smiled. “Thank you.”
When the nurse left and we were alone everything was silent for a moment. I wished I knew what was on my sisters’ minds. Did they also think Scarlett was acting as weird?
“Like Bambi said, where the fuck is Camp?” Race asked breaking the silence. “He should’ve been here by now. This nigga just had a son. A cutie pie at that.”
“Can you call him for me again?” Scarlett asked me.
“I’ll call the nigga,” Race said grabbing her phone out of her purse. “If I have to grab him by his dick he will come see his kid. You can put money on that.”
As Race stepped to the side to use the phone I felt bad for Scarlett. Kevin and me had our shit but I knew he would never deny me while I was in the hospital after having his baby.
I was just about to brush Scarlett’s red hair, which she loved, when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and was irritated the moment I saw “The Pest” flash on my screen. It was Cloud. Instead of picking up the phone I texted him.
Me: I’m busy.
I waited for a few moments, pacing the small spot in Scarlett’s room I was standing in. Any interactions with him took a lot out of me. And that’s wild since I’d been in a military war before.
Cloud stayed on my fucking nerves. Ever since he found out that I killed Bunny, he blackmailed me into having sex with him. I thought about killing him, or making him go missing. But he had the Band-Aid that was on my arm when I killed her. I accidently left it at the crime scene and he found it when he went to check on her. He threatened to go to the police with it since her case was now cold. If I knew where it was he wouldn’t be a problem for me because he would be dead.
The worst part is outside of Scarlett, nobody else in my family knew I killed Bunny.
Cloud: Why didn’t you answer the phone?
Me: Like I said I’m busy. What u want?
Cloud: Some pussy
My skin crawled and I immediately frowned.
“You aight, Bambi?” Denim asked me. “You look like you just seen a ghost.”
I looked up at her. “I’m fine. I just saw a text I wasn’t feeling that’s all.”
I focused back on the text and typed a response.
Me: That ain’t happening.
Cloud: I guess I gotta go talk to your boy then.
My heart rate picked up and I rushed into the hallway to call him before he reached out to Kevin. I dialed his number and waited. He answered the phone after the first ring.
“Fuck is wrong with you?” I yelled without giving him a chance to say hi. “Why you always blackmailing me and shit?”
“I miss you,” he said as if we were lovers. “That’s why.”
“Cloud, I’m not fucking around. Why you gotta play so many games? I don’t love you and I never will and it fucks me up when you mention my husband’s name. I thought we had an arrangement.”
“I’m not worried about your love for me no more. You just keep giving me that wet pussy and hot mouth and I’ll keep your secret safe. But the moment I feel as if that has changed I’m done with you, and I’ll destroy your marriage. You should’ve seen your husband the last time he was over here. He still fucked up about what happened to his aunt, Bambi. And I’m the only one who knows. I think you forget about that sometimes.”
I leaned up against the grungy hospital wall and looked up at the ceiling. The phone was pressed firmly against my ear. “What do you think Kevin would say if he knew that I killed Bunny and you kept it from him? And that you blackmailing me for pussy? Huh?”
“Bambi,” Denim said holding Jasmine’s hand. “What did you just say?
When I looked to my right I was staring at Denim. I didn’t hear her come into the hallway. I was slipping. Normally I could hear someone sneaking up on me before they even thought about it.
Denim was angry. She had no idea that I killed Bunny to keep her hands off of our money and she would never understand. I could tell. In her mind family was family no matter how terrible they were. That’s the main reason she took so much of her mother’s shit.
I focused back on the call while looking at Denim. “I gotta go. I’ll hit you later.”
“Meet me at our spot in twenty minutes or else.”
I hung up from him, stuffed the phone into my jean pocket and walked toward Denim. I wanted to be careful because I didn’t know how much she heard.
“What’s up? Scarlett okay in there?” I looked down at Jasmine who was holding onto her mother’s leg. I ruffled the baby’s hair a little and she smiled up at me.
“You killed Bunny?” Denim asked as a tear rolled down her face. “Did I really just hear you say that?”
My head dropped. “It wasn’t like it sounded. She was trying to ruin us, Denim. I didn’t want to say anything to you because I didn’t want you involved. But do you remember when the boys were missing and she was coming over the house all those times?”
She nodded.
“Well she was coming over to take the money in me and Kevin’s safe. When I wasn’t looking she stole the info that we kept inside that same safe for the Russians’ coke delivery.
She was trying to change the shipment so that it would come to her instead.”
“You’re not answering the question.”
“Denim, she was evil! She was going to take the money and cut us out. What would we have done? Huh?”
“So you killed her for money?”
“I killed her for us. For our family.” I placed my hand over my heart. “I didn’t know what else to do, Denim. It was my responsibility and our husbands weren’t around to help me decide.”
“Does Kevin know?”
I didn’t respond.
“Bambi, I can’t believe you did that.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you killed a member of our family. I don’t know you anymore.”
“You know me. I’m the one who’s been in your corner from day one. I’m the one who did what I needed for this family and I would do it again. Bunny put herself in a position to be the enemy and I took her out. Is that so wrong?”
She wiped away a few tears that snuck up on her face, gripped Jasmine’s hand harder and rushed down the hall.
“Denim, can we talk?” She kept walking. “Denim, please!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DENIM
I felt like I was driving aimlessly down the road. Where was I going? I couldn’t remember.
I couldn’t believe what I overheard when I walked up on Bambi. I always knew she had her shit with her but I didn’t think she’d stoop so low that she’d murder a family member. Bunny wasn’t the nicest person. She wasn’t even the most attractive but she was a Kennedy. And now she’s gone. Although Bunny was an evil person she was still our husbands’ aunt and they loved her, especially Kevin. What the fuck was wrong with Bambi?
That was always the thing that worried me the most about Bambi. In the back of my mind I knew that she could possibly hurt any one of us. As a veteran of the United States military, she had the training and the skill to kill us and make sure our bodies were never found.
The fucked up part about all of this is that I wanted to tell Bradley so badly. He was my husband and unlike my sisters, I didn’t keep secrets from my man. But the other side of me would feel like I was betraying my sister if I stepped to him about this. Since I took vows I shouldn’t have even been thinking about not telling him. But my marriage is different from my sisters’. Bradley and I always had a close relationship and there was nothing I wouldn’t tell him.
There have even been times when I told my husband a close secret that one of my sisters told me in confidence and it never got back to my brothers-in-law. He was trustworthy like that and we were perfect for each other. But would he be able to handle this?
Even if he could I didn’t want to give it to him right then with everything on his plate. He was already dealing with my dumb ass sister. The moment he broke her jaw we got back in the car and I dropped him off at a hotel out Virginia. He had plans to stay there until Grainger got well and we could be sure she wouldn’t snitch.
I couldn’t think about Bambi. I had to focus on my husband and my own mess. But I did make my mind up in that moment to tell Bradley everything. Fuck Bambi and her secrets!
My mind was going a mile a minute when I realized I didn’t give Jasmine her snack. Normally she would be babbling and making all kinds of noises but I could tell she knew I was mad because she remained silent. So I reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a bag of cheese curls. I opened the bag.
“Eat these until we get home,” I said placing the bag into the passenger seat. “I’ll make you a sandwich later.”
When I released the bag and heard it smack against the seat my eyes widened. Suddenly my heart pounded and I gripped the steering wheel tightly. I didn’t want to look over at the passenger side but I knew I had to. Slowly my head moved to the right and my worst nightmare was true. My daughter was not in the car!
I screamed at the top of my lungs and made a quick U-turn. I almost hit a black Escalade and a green dump truck. With all the shit going on in my head I left my baby in the parking lot of the hospital! I’d never done anything like that before.
“What the fuck is wrong with me?” I screamed. “How could I leave my own daughter?”
Dear God please keep my baby safe. I thought. Don’t let anything happen to her.
I dipped in and out of traffic trying to think about how I left her in the first place. It didn’t take me long to recall what happened.
When I found out that Bambi killed Bunny, I rushed outside to the parking lot to get my car. Normally I would put Jasmine inside of the passenger seat and walk to the driver’s side. But with the new medicine she didn’t talk as much as she used to so I didn’t sense her. Because she was quieter I didn’t always know she was there. If she would’ve made noise like she normally did then I would’ve heard her.
Why didn’t the stupid bitch make noise?
What am I talking about?
What’s wrong with me?
I was such a horrible mother that I called my baby out of her name when it wasn’t even her fault. I blame Bambi for all this shit and if something happened to my child I would never forgive her.
When I made it back to the hospital I barreled into the parking lot. I was so quick that I almost hit another car. When I made it back to the place I left my baby my body was weak.
Jasmine wasn’t there!
CHAPTER TWELVE
RACE
I sat in the lobby of the hospital holding my cell phone against my ear. Denim was tripping hard now! How she gonna leave her kid in the middle of the parking lot? Had it not been for us leaving early and seeing her out there, Jasmine would’ve walked into the middle of the street and…you know what…I don’t even want to think about it. She was safe and that was all that mattered.
When Denim didn’t answer, I hung up and threw my phone back in my purse. I hadn’t been that mad in a long time.
“She ain’t answer again,” I told Bambi.
Jasmine was a few feet away from her kicking at the wall.
“I know Denim had the thing going on in her head with Bradley, but it ain’t like her to do her kid like this,” I said. “You know how overprotective she is with Jasmine. I mean really.”
“You preaching to the choir,” Bambi said shaking her head.
“But what is wrong with her?” I continued. I really wanted an answer and something told me Bambi knew it. “Denim’s tripping hard as fuck. I can’t believe she left Jasmine in the parking lot by herself.”
“If Bradley knew this shit he would flip out,” she said.
I gave her a serious look. “But he not gonna find out.” She didn’t respond. “Right, Bambi?”
“Not from me anyway. Although I do wonder if Denim can hold secrets as good as I can.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said. I wonder if she can keep my secret and carry it to her grave like I’m willing to do for her.”
“How you sound? She our girl. She’s a lot of things but a snitch ain’t one of them. Why you talking like that anyway?”
She exhaled. “No reason.”
I didn’t know what was going on but I could tell there was a problem between them two. I wasn’t going to bother Bambi too much about it because it was not the time or the place. We needed to reunite Denim with Jasmine because by then I’m sure she was losing her mind.
“Hold up, where’s Jasmine?” Bambi asked looking around me.
When I turned my head I didn’t see her anywhere. “Oh, my God! Where did she go?”
Bambi and I hopped up and frantically looked for our niece. We went from office to office within the hospital like we had the proper authorization. Five minutes passed and we still didn’t locate her.
“This can’t be happening right now,” I said to Bambi. Sweat poured down my face.
“It can and it is,” she responded opening a door to a supply closet and walking inside. “Now the only thing we can do is find her.”
A few minutes later Denim walked right up to us. She wa
s extra sweaty and looked like she had been crying for a week. “Please tell me y’all got Jasmine.” She placed her hand over her heart and her chest moved up and down. “Please.”
I looked at Bambi and she looked at me. I couldn’t believe we were about to tell this girl that we had her baby but now we lost her too.
I was about to feed her the bad news when Bambi touched my hand. “I’ll tell her.” She looked at Denim. “Jasmine is—”
“Oh, my God y’all do have her,” she yelled looking behind us.
When I turned around, I saw Jasmine coming out of a room I know we looked in. I walked down the hall to look in the office again I figured she was probably hiding under the desk when we came inside. I closed the door and walked back over to Denim and Bambi. I was just happy Jasmine was okay.
Denim rushed toward Jasmine, dropped to her knees and gripped her into her arms.
“Thank you, God! Thank you for bringing my baby back to me.” Denim separated from Jasmine and said, “I’m so sorry, baby. I will never do you like that again.”
“What were you thinking about, Denim?” Bambi asked her with an attitude. “What if a pedophile would’ve gotten her?”
Denim kissed Jasmine on her head stood up and stepped to Bambi. Her fists were clenched and I could see the veins pulsating under the skin on her neck. “Why would you say some shit like that? Besides, what do you think I was thinking about? Have your forgotten that quickly or do you need a reminder?”
“You better get out of my face,” Bambi said slowly and calmly.
“Or what? Are you gonna do me like you did—”
Denim didn’t finish her sentence. Instead she looked at me, backed up and grabbed Jasmine’s hand. Without another word she rushed out of the hospital.
“What the fuck was that about?” I asked Bambi.
Bambi ran her hand back through her long hair. “Let’s go grab a drink. I need one badly.”
****
We were at TGI Friday’s during happy hour sitting at the bar. Bambi was on her fourth vodka martini and I was on my first mojito. Ever since Bambi gave up sobriety, she pushed the limits on the bottle. She wasn’t as bad as she was before when drinking became a problem for her but I knew that situation was right around the corner.
