A Hustler's Promise 2 Promises Kept

by Jackie Chanel

  “Don’t say anything else,” Jaicyn interrupted quietly. “I don’t want to hear about anything that’s going on up there. I don’t want to hear anything about his condition from anyone that doesn’t have a medical degree. Just leave me alone and let me think.”

  Blaque didn’t say anything else to her. In fact, no one said anything to her all the way to Cleveland.

  During the ride to Washington Heights from the Cleveland airport Jaicyn sat in the front seat of the rented Ford Expedition with her eyes closed. Everyone thought she was sleep but she wasn’t. She was thinking.

  After she checked on Rayshawn, she had to plan her retaliation. Shooting her fiancé wasn’t going unpunished. Everyone in Washington Heights should have known better. Unless King had spread the word, no one there should have known that Rayshawn was out the game. To go after him was the equivalent of going after King and Ramel had paid the price for that.

  When King was shot, Rayshawn put aside his emotions to handle the business. Now it was her turn. Only, Jaicyn didn’t know how to do that. She didn’t even think if she could. This was one time, she’d definitely have to let Blaque and Slim take charge.

  It was raining in Washington Heights when the small group finally pulled into the entrance of Park General Hospital. Jaicyn had the door of the Expedition open before Blaque had even pulled to a complete stop. She waited until he had stopped the truck completely before she climbed out.

  There were at least ten people standing outside of the Belleview Hospital Emergency Room. All of her old crew was impatiently waiting for her arrival. Moving in sync like the Secret Service, they all rushed over to the Expedition and formed a barrier around her as Corey led the way into the Emergency Room. Under any other circumstances Jaicyn would have found this hilarious, but there wasn’t anything funny about this situation.

  Despite numerous protests from the Patient Services clerks, which Corey ignored completely, the crowd trekked across the lobby to the ER entrance. Before they could go through the door, an ER nurse stopped them.

  “Hold up,” she said. “You can’t go back there.”

  “I’m looking for my fiancé,” Jaicyn spoke the first words she’d spoken since leaving Atlanta.

  “And that would be?” the nurse questioned.

  “Rayshawn Moore.”

  The nurse stared at Jaicyn, a hint of recognition in her eyes. The woman who stood before could not be the same girl who she went to school with!

  “Jaicyn?” Leslie Peterson asked. She hadn’t seen Jaicyn since she came into her father’s deli demanding to know where her mother was. That had to have been over ten years ago.

  “Yeah, who are you?” Jaicyn questioned.

  “It’s me, Leslie Peterson. Do you remember me?”

  Jaicyn looked at the nurse. She remembered her. She remembered that Leslie was the one who told her that Angelina was back on crack.

  “No,” Jaicyn lied. “Where’s Rayshawn?”

  “He’s in surgery,” Leslie replied with a hint of an attitude. She knew that Jaicyn was lying. Of course she remembered her. Obviously, ten years hadn’t changed her. Jaicyn was still a bitch.

  “Are you his nurse?” Jaicyn asked.

  “No,” Leslie replied.

  “Do me a favor then,” Jaicyn said rudely. “Get me the doctor or nurse who admitted Rayshawn. That’s who I need to be talking to right now, not you.”

  At first Leslie was going to say no. She was the Head ER nurse and Jaicyn wasn’t going to boss her around. But she put her own anger aside and led Jaicyn and the crew back to the waiting area.

  “Have a seat. I’ll be right back with Dr. Banks.”

  Jaicyn sat down. Rickie and Bobbie sat beside her. Jaicyn looked at Johnny.

  “Where’s Little Man? Where’s Slim?” she asked. “Where is Marcus?”

  “Marcus is on his way,” Johnny answered quickly. “Slim’s on a plane. He’ll be here in a few hours. Little Man isn’t answering his phone. His baby mama knows what happened. She’ll tell him.”

  “Good.”

  Jaicyn looked at the people standing around her. She didn’t realize until that moment that she missed each and every one of them. The way they were all gathered around her, offering their support and waiting for instructions, led her to believe that not one of them believed that Rayshawn was a snitch.

  In her peripheral Jaicyn saw Leslie walking towards her with the same doctor who’d treated King two years ago. Jaicyn met them halfway along the corridor. She didn’t want everyone to know what was going on until she knew first. That didn’t stop Dayshawn and Johnny from following as Dr. Banks led her into a secluded section of the lobby, away from the others.

  “What’s going on with my brother?” Dayshawn asked. “Is he alive?”

  “He’s been in and out of surgery since he was admitted,” Dr. Banks explained. “Rayshawn’s condition is critical. Everything at this point is touch and go.”

  Jaicyn took a deep breath. “What do you mean? Is he going to make it?”

  “I can’t answer that,” Dr. Banks said. “Rayshawn has many serious gunshot wounds. I didn’t get to do a full examination before I realized we had to get him into surgery right away.

  “What do you know then?” Dayshawn asked. “Where’d he get shot?”

  “The surgeon removed bullets from,” Dr. Banks looked down at Rayshawn’s chart, “his right shoulder, his hip, and his wrist so far.”

  “Fuck!” Jaicyn yelled.

  “It gets worse,” Dr. Banks said. He looked back down at the chart. Rayshawn’s prognosis only got worse as the list went on.

  “He got shot in his lower back,” the doctor continued. “He also shattered his kneecap. He’s going to need a knee replacement if he survives this,” the doctor informed them grimly and snapped the folder shut. “That’s all I know. You’ll have to speak with his surgeon when he’s done.”

  When Jaicyn looked at the doctor she sensed there was something in the chart that he wasn’t telling them. Rayshawn wasn’t going to make it and he didn’t want to be the one to tell her.

  All of a sudden the medicinal smell of the hospital overcame her and her knees got weak. She started to breathe heavily and it felt like the room was spinning. Johnny noticed her swaying slightly from side to side and made her sit down. He left her alone with Dayshawn and went to find her some water.

  “Dayshawn,” Jaicyn whispered. “He’s not going to make it. He’s going to die, isn’t he?”

  Dayshawn inhaled deeply, trying to will away the sense of dread that loomed over the small group. Rayshawn was tough. He was a solider. He couldn’t be fighting for his life on an operating table.

  This was not happening!

  “He’s going to make it,” Dayshawn answered but fear and uncertainty in his voice betrayed him.

  Tears poured from Jaicyn’s eyes. As Dayshawn hugged her tightly she let out an anguished wail and put her hand on her stomach, feeling her unborn child kick inside of her. He probably knew that something wasn’t right.

  After a brief display of emotion, Jaicyn had pulled herself together and walked back over to the remaining members of the Oak Park crew. She sent everyone home, much to the pleasure of the ER nurses. She instructed Sonya to check Rickie and Bobbie into a hotel, but the girls’ protests were so obnoxiously loud that Jaicyn let them stay with her.

  “We might have needed protection,” Dayshawn said to Jaicyn when she rejoined her family in the small waiting room. “Why’d you send everyone home?”

  “They don’t need to be here.”

  “Jaicyn,” Dayshawn started to say.

  “They don’t need to be here!” Jaicyn yelled.

  Jaicyn fingered her engagement ring nervously. She didn’t want the people who looked at her as a leader to see her crumble. Which was exactly what would happen if Rayshawn died. She didn’t need Dayshawn’s questions either.

  For two of the longest hours of her life, Jaicyn waited for a doctor, nurse, hell, even a nurse’s aid to
come by with some information, but no one did. Not even Leslie who kept peeking at her from the nurse’s station. Every thirty minutes Dayshawn mumbled something about no news being good news and Jaicyn wanted to slap him. They were in a hospital! Rayshawn had gotten shot! There was no good news…period!

  “Did you call Autumn?” Jaicyn asked Dayshawn. “She should be here.”

  “She’s on her way,” Dayshawn answered.

  As soon as the words left his mouth, Autumn burst through the lobby entrance, frantically scanning the room for her friend. She saw Jaicyn sitting down and ran over to her.

  “How is he? Is he still alive?”

  “He’s still in surgery,” Dayshawn answered.

  Autumn looked at Jaicyn. She’d expected to see her friend to be a withering ball of nerves and tears. Autumn had no idea if she’d be able to comfort her. Jaicyn was strangely calm. She looked tired and scared, but she wasn’t hysterical.

  “Are you okay?” Autumn asked Jaicyn. “Did they give you a sedative?”

  “No, but I have to stay calm,” Jaicyn rubbed her belly. “I can’t go into premature labor and deal with this shit too.”

  Autumn sat in the chair between Dayshawn and Jaicyn and took both of their hands in hers.

  “All we can do is pray. And I know you’ve probably done it already but let’s do it again. Come on Rickie and Bobbie.”

  Jaicyn snatched her hand away from Autumn’s and stepped away from the group.

  “I’m tired of praying,” she snapped. “Praying has never worked for me.” She pointed her eyes and finger to the ceiling and laughed.

  “He doesn’t hear me,” she began to cry. “I used to pray all the time. I prayed that my mother would come home. I prayed that she’d stop using drugs. I prayed that Ramel wouldn’t hurt me. I prayed that Rayshawn wouldn’t go to jail. Hell, I even prayed that something like this wouldn’t happen. So pray all you want, but leave me out of it.”

  “Jaicyn, don’t get blasphemous just because you’re scared,” Autumn pleaded. “Pray with us.”

  “Believe me, Autumn, you have a better chance of your prayers being answered if I’m not involved,” Jaicyn replied and walked towards the nurse’s station.

  “Any word?” she asked Leslie who shook her head no.

  “He’s still on the table,” Leslie said. “Jay-Jay, I just want to say-” but Jaicyn had walked away.

  She rounded the corner just in time to catch the tail end of Autumn’s prayer.

  “As a family, Lord Jesus, we come to you in faith that you will hear our voice. We are asking that you touch our brother. We know that your healing virtue is available to those who reach out to You. You have cured the sick, comforted and strengthened those who were sad. Lord, we ask that you guide the hands of Rayshawn’s doctors and nurses. Give them healing hands. Deliver Rayshawn from this ordeal. Make him strong, full of life and laughter again.”

  Autumn glanced up at Jaicyn and continued her prayer. “Lord Jesus, we also pray for our own strength. When doubt or unbelief or weakness fills our mind and hearts, we pray that you will renew our faith and help us focus on Your words, ‘do not fear, only believe’. We pray in Your Spirit, Lord Jesus. Amen.”

  When Autumn finished, Jaicyn wiped her tears on her shirt. She’d never been especially religious, even though her grandmother was a devout Catholic. She believed in God but God had stopped listening to her prayers. She hoped that he was listening to Autumn now.

  Jaicyn felt movement behind her and turned around to see Dr. Banks, Leslie, and another doctor had come into the waiting room and were patiently waiting for their prayer to end.

  “Jaicyn,” Leslie spoke softly, “this is Dr. Massiano. He’s Rayshawn’s surgeon.”

  Dr. Massiano pulled up a chair and sat in front of the group who were still holding hands. He looked tired. He’d been in surgery with Rayshawn almost six hours. He had very bad news.

  “Hello Jaicyn,” Dr. Massiano said. He looked at Dayshawn. “And you must be his brother, I assume?”

  “Yes,” Dayshawn answered. “Dayshawn Moore. This is Autumn and Jaicyn’s sisters, Rickie and Bobbie.”

  “Are Rayshawn’s parents here?”Dr. Banks asked.

  “Our parents are dead,” Dayshawn answered. “It’s just me and him.”

  Dr. Massiano glanced at Dr. Banks. He wanted him to be quiet. Dr. Banks was not known for his pleasant bedside manor and this situation was too complicated for them not to be sympathetic.

  “This is the situation,” Dr. Massiano spoke slowly. “Rayshawn is critical but stable. He’s in the ICU right now. Did anyone inform you of his injuries?”

  “A little,” Jaicyn said.

  “Well, he came in with ten gunshot wounds.”

  Jaicyn’s mouth dropped open but no sounds came out. Autumn, Rickie, and Bobbie gasped. Ten gunshot wounds! The only person they knew who’d been shot that many times and lived was 50 Cent.

  “Are you serious?” Jaicyn whispered.

  “Unfortunately I am. Some of them weren’t bad. The more severe injuries are what I need to talk to you about,” Dr. Massiano said. “And since you and Rayshawn aren’t married yet, Jaicyn, Dayshawn is the only one who can make this decision.”

  “What is it?” Dayshawn asked.

  “Rayshawn was shot in the back and the bullet fractured two of his lumbar vertebrae. The way the bullet is lodged in between the bones, even if he has the best surgeon try to remove it, he may never walk again.”

  “But he’ll be alive?” Jaicyn asked. If she had to choose between Rayshawn being alive and in a wheelchair or dead, the choice was obvious.

  “Yes, he can survive the surgery. But the likelihood of walking again is about fifty percent after a surgery like this.”

  “Do the surgery,” Dayshawn said. “Call in the best back surgeon in the country if you have to, but do the surgery.”

  Dr. Massiano nodded. “That’s not it, though,” he said. “A bullet hit Rayshawn directly in his chest. It missed his heart by centimeters. Right now, it’s constricting an artery. We need to perform another operation to remove the bullet but it’s risky. If we don’t get the bullet out, Rayshawn will die. But with the trauma that his body has experienced, he might not survive such an intense surgery. Plus we don’t have anyone in this state that can do it. We’d have to Life Flight Rayshawn to Baltimore to Johns Hopkins. If that bullet moves while he’s in transit, he’s not going to make it.”

  “What’s his status right now?” Autumn asked.

  “He’s unconscious. He’s on a respirator and in a body cast. Even if he wakes up he won’t be able to move.”

  Jaicyn’s chest started to tighten and Autumn squeezed her hand. Rayshawn was in a no-win situation. She was going to lose him. She fingered the gold ring on her finger the she grabbed before leaving the house and remembered the day he gave it to her ten years ago, in the very same hospital.

  “Can we talk about this?” Dayshawn’s voice cracked. He could barely make sense of everything that Dr. Massiano had dumped on him.

  “Of course” the doctor replied. “Just keep in mind that we have the helicopter prepped and a call in to Johns Hopkins. They’re expecting him.”

  “What do we do?” Dayshawn asked, looking at Jaicyn. He couldn’t make the decision alone, no matter what the doctor said. He couldn’t fathom saying the words that could bring an end to his brother’s life. He put his hands over his eyes and wiped his tears.

  “I don’t know,” Jaicyn cried. “How am I supposed to know?”

  Autumn looked back and forth between Jaicyn and Dayshawn, both overcome with grief and emotion. She knew that they were scared but to her the answer seemed simple. They weren’t looking at the situation like she was. All they heard the doctor say was that either way Rayshawn was going to die, which wasn’t true. He could make it if they performed the surgery.

  Yeah, it was risky and the end result could still be the same if they left him here in Washington Heights with a bullet lodged in his heart. He
’d be dead.

  Autumn allowed Jaicyn and Dayshawn a couple of minutes to shed some tears before she spoke up. She spoke in a soft and comforting tone when she really wanted to yell at them for wasting precious time.

  “Hey you two,” she said. “We have to decide something and the way I look at it, we let them take Rayshawn to Baltimore. If there’s even the slightest chance that he will survive, don’t you want to take that chance instead of giving up? Because Dr. Massiano was very clear, if he doesn’t have the surgery he will die.”

  “Don’t say that,” Jaicyn cried. “He can’t die. He can’t!” Jaicyn finally broke down. She kept crying harder and harder. Rickie and Bobbie looked shaken but they stood over their sister rubbed her shoulders and hair while she cried.

  “Jay-Jay, don’t lose it now,” Autumn said. “Rayshawn is not going to die. He’s going to make it. Just let the doctors do what they need to do.”

  “I want to see him,” Jaicyn said, wiping her eyes. “I need to see him.”

  “So, we tell them that we want them to do the surgery,” Dayshawn said. “Baltimore’s like five hours from here. By the time we get there the surgery should be almost over.”

  “I’m going with him,” Jaicyn insisted. No one argued with her.

  With their decision final, Dayshawn informed Dr. Massiano what they wanted to do. The doctor agreed with their decision. He would have done the same. Anytime there was a slight chance that his patient might live he felt the risk was worth it.

  As he prepped Rayshawn for transport, Dr. Massiano was impressed with his vital stats. Rayshawn’s heartbeat was strong enough and his blood pressure was decent. If his vitals stayed the same, there was a greater chance that he would survive the surgery. But on the rainy night in Washington Heights, it was the trip to Baltimore that Dr. Massiano was worried about.

  Chapter 20