by Kia
All I could think about was my son, and how I was going back to stay with Slick when we finally left here. Neiman was the type of bitch who needed a nigga, and I couldn’t take it. Yeah, I depended on my nigga, but I never been the type to be as stupid as my sister. Ain’t no way in hell I would be at a hospital by a nigga side after these circumstances. Not after he done embarrassed me.
My man, Percy, gave me a lot of problems but I never had to deal with no hoe. Not saying he didn’t mess around because I don’t know if he did or didn’t. But if he did, I never knew about it, and he respected me.
Shit, Nel didn’t even have money. He was broke as fuck, causing all this pain to my sister. At least my man made sure I was straight. Being with Percy, I ain’t never had to work since the day I met him. Neiman take care of this nigga and all. All he had to offer was dick. And depending on how this injury went, he might not have that to offer anymore.
See, that’s why I wanted to be away from her. I was directing too much thought and energy to her and this hoe ass nigga. I had my own hoe ass nigga to worry about. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn’t his fault. Hell, he took the loan from Bleek to catch up on what he’d lost. It was really my fault that my son was gone. My baby daddy was the one who tried to rob him. Percy had no control over that. He was stuck in the middle of my bullshit.
“Can he talk now? I have questions,” Neiman said as she stood over Nel on one side of the bed, and the doctor on the other side.
“Yes. If he’s not talking to you, it’s because he doesn’t want to. But he can,” the doctor revealed.
“Hmph,” I hissed under my breath.
Neiman looked back at me and rolled her eyes before swinging her long box braids. I will never understand why everyone was bringing those Poetic Justice braids back in style. I was cool with my shoulder length hair.
“I can leave you three alone for a minute and you can try to see if he talks to you. At this moment, he’s in shock, so it might be a while.”
“What do you mean?” Neiman asked.
“Well, when you wake up from a coma, you’re still trying to figure out if you’re alive. He’s in a state of confusion. After this state, he will then enter the sad state. And then the guilt state. Then comes the anger.”
“Damn, I gotta go through all that?” Neiman asked with her arms folded.
“Let his other bitch take care of him. Hell,” I finally let out with much attitude.
There was a long pause. “I’ll leave you all alone to talk,” the doctor said as she eased her way out.
“Nyssa, please don’t start with me. Please. I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt because of all the shit you going through. Bear with me.”
“I guess.”
“Baby, why won’t you talk to me? I only want to help,” Neiman pleaded as Nel lay there looking stupid. I could tell his ugly ass was comprehending because he kept sending mean looks my way, and I returned them all. Fuck him.
“Baby, I came as soon as I heard,” a woman said as she burst through the doors. I didn’t know if she was the baby mama or fiancé.
“Chakira,” he said in a faint and scratchy voice. Then he started coughing.
“Aint this a bitch,” Neiman said aloud as Chakira made her way over to Nel.
“Baby, how are you feeling?” Chakira asked.
“Feel like I shoulda died,” he said, putting his head down.
“Aww, don’t say that. I’m here, baby.” Chakira took him into her arms.
“And you just gonna let this shit happen?” I asked as Neiman stood there in shock.
“And you are…”
“Bitch, don’t worry about it,” I snapped back at Chakira.
Chapter Twenty-One
Neiman
I had been here a whole day begging this nigga to talk to me, and he didn’t say a peep until Chakira came. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t hurt. He had some nerve. My sadness was replaced by anger. If he wasn’t already in a hospital bed, I would have slapped the hell out of his ass.
You know what? Fuck that hospital bed.
Slap!
I felt the sting from my hand as I ran it smooth across his face.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Chakira asked in shock.
“Mind your business, bitch,” Nyssa said, standing in Chakira’s face.
“Oh, you can talk to her, huh?” I asked Nel as he tried to grab is face, but his fingers were still paralyzed. I walked over to him and kneeled down.
“Neiman, what you want from me? Damn! I’m embarrassed, okay? You were the last person that I wanted to disappoint. That’s why a nigga can’t even look you in the eyes right now. I know you’ve done a lot of shit for me. I know, baby. And I’m sorry.”
“Pernel!” Chakira said with her hand over her mouth.
I kept my eyes focused on Nel.
“Unbelievable,” Nyssa whispered to herself as she shook her head.
“Yo, won’t you mind ya business for once, bitch. Worry about ya own nigga and how you gonna get him out the jam,” Nel hissed.
“Neiman, really?” Nyssa asked in disappointment. She lightly hit him in the chest.
“I didn’t know he could hear me. Shit… I was talking to him while he was in the coma because the doctors said it was good for him. Didn’t know he could comprehend.”
“Hello!” Chakira yelled to let us know that her annoying ass was still in the room.
“Chakira, come back later. I need to holla at Neiman,” Nel said, and she peacefully left after agreeing to come back later.
“Come back later? For what?” I asked him.
“She has my child, Neiman, and I want to see her. That’s what.”
Chakira smirked and exited the room.
“I’ll wait for you outside in the waiting area,” Nyssa said as she left Nel and I alone. Believe me, she mugged his ass the whole way out.
“Baby, why you didn’t talk to me?” I asked.
I had to know. Didn’t he know how much I loved him? I guess my grandma was right… love just ain’t enough. I’m just tryna figure out what else do I need? No, I wasn’t weak, but I didn’t want to leave him at a time when he needed me the most. Maybe he didn’t know how much he needed me.
“I just need some time.”
“For what?” I asked.
“I can’t feel my fucking legs. I’m paralyzed, and I just don’t know how a nigga gonna bounce back from this,” he said, looking pathetic.
“That’s why I’m here, Nel. To help you get through this.”
“How? Huh? How, Neiman? You God or something? Can you turn back the hands of time? Huh? What the fuck can you do?” he asked, getting louder with each word.
“Mothafucka, you mad at me? Nigga, you was the one out here dipping your dick and shit! Not me! You the one that got caught in a goddamn closet! You! You had a child by that man’s wife! You! You had a home to come to. Nel! Fuck you hiding in a closet for? Huh?”
“Because you do what the fuck you always do, nag! Like now! Get the fuck out my room and don’t come back!”
All I could do was shake my head. Being paralyzed couldn’t even change this nigga, and I was all out of energy. Before I could leave, the doctor came in to talk to us.
“Glad to have you both here and talking so we can discuss alternatives,” she said before advising me to take a seat.
“For what?” I asked.
“Alternatives for him to walk again.”
“I have a chance?” Nel asked in excitement.
“Yes, sir, you do,” she smiled.
“But… what’s the catch?” I asked. Knew it wasn’t going to be free.
“It will require an eight hour surgery and rehab,” she said.
“Damn, eight hours?” he asked. “That’s a long time to be under.”
“But you will be fine. We have the best doctors in the district, let alone the state,” she boasted.
“Yeah? But how much will this c
ost? He ain’t got no insurance,” I informed her.
“The surgery plus the rehabilitation will be $112,000.00.”
“Wooooh,” Nel whistled.
I didn’t have that kinda money and neither did he. But why did I care? And how long would I care?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Divine
The next night…
Malina was confusing me. First, she wanted to stay in Miami a few days to shop, but after delivering the head, her ugly ass decided she wanted to come back home immediately. So here we were… on the road and almost home.
“Damn, it’s dark,” Malina said as we drove under the bridge that stood a few exits down from our apartment.
“Well, you’re the one that was so in a rush to get back, so deal with it. Look, Clark road coming up right now,” I said as I saw that we only had one mile to go.
“Divine, why you didn’t drive? You know I can’t see at night,” Malina said as she leaned closer to the wheel and squinted.
“Nope. You wanted to be home so early, so you drive. Stop whining,” I said as we finally took our exit.
“You ain’t shit.”
“Whatever. That nigga Glory must be taking you out on that date tonight…”
“Nah, he said tomorrow night. Tonight I’m going to see my little boo thang,” she said in a seductive tone.
Her mouth was seconds away from salivating. She was definitely about to get some dick. Whoever this nigga was had her lusting for it.
“So you gonna fuck with Glory too?” I asked as I smiled and shook my head.
Malina was too hot to touch. That’s why she had never had a broken heart because she never stuck to one nigga like the rest of us did… or tried to.
“It depends on how I feel about my boo thang. If Glory can slang that dick like a bat, like my boo can, I can work with that.”
“And what if he can’t?”
“Then I’ma stick with my boo thang.”
“Who your boo thang?”
“You don’t know him.”
“Try me. Who?”
“You don’t know him, Divine. He an ol’ square ass nigga from the east.”
“The east?”
“East Arlington.”
“Damn. When you start fucking with them weird ass niggas?” I asked in curiosity.
Them East niggas were lame as hell and some wannabes. The only niggas from the east that had my respect was Don Crip, and that nigga wasn’t even from the east. He was from Mississippi. The only thing he did was live there, and that was back in the day before he did that bid. Word on the street was that he was out.
Time just flew by. I was only sixteen when he went away, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Tone, Pierre and some other nigga had plex with some Mexicans. Them Mexicans in Arlington don’t play that shit, so you know they blasted off at Tone and Pierre. I remember being at a party and having to run for cover. Saw all them niggas out there getting funky. Word on the streets is Don Crip’s bullet isn’t the only one that was found inside the victim’s arteries. But Crip was the only one who did time. Never folded under no pressure, and that’s why he was the only nigga I respected from the East.
“He’s lame, but not weird. You know I don’t fuck around with them,” Malina said, bringing me back to my conversation.
“Home, sweet home,” I said as we parked the SUV in front of our apartment.
“When you wanna take the truck back to the rent a car?” Malina asked as she killed the ignition.
“I’ll do it in the morning. Neiman texted and said she would bring my truck tonight.”
“Do I need to be here when you drop the SUV off or will you catch an Uber when you’re done?” she asked as we walked up the rigid stairs that led to our place.
“Nah.”
“Okay, cool. I won’t be here,” she said as she sped the pace and unlocked the door.
As she ran to her room, I walked in the other direction to mine. I needed some alone time anyway to think about my life and where I wanted to go with it.
Turning on the TV, I plopped on my back and looked at the ceiling with my hands behind my head. Life was crazy. It was amazing how my whole life had changed in one day.
I started to think about the good, bad and ugly when it came to this money shit. ’Cause I was really tryna get it by any means. Feel me? Just didn’t need nothing stopping my flow. On the cool, I began to wonder would Malina be the one to bring me down. Though we both weren’t used to money, she was acting like it. Like when we got around Glory’s plug in Miami, she started acting all funny and asking irrelevant questions.
On the top of that, this nigga tipped us too. Tipped us an extra five G’s and Malina lost her mind, acting like five G’s was a lot. It wasn’t. No, I’m not complaining but greed is what gets the majority of the hustlers knocked out the picture. Pretty sure that’s why Bishop was on the run.
“Bye,” Malina said, then I heard the door slam.
After she left, I went to kitchen to make some food. Before I could sit down to eat, there was knock at the door. It was Neiman. I opened the door and walked back to the table. I did not feel like hearing her mouth today. All her ass did was talk all the time about Nel, and she was always mad. Yeah, I love her, but she can keep that shit on her side of town.
“Hey, cuzz,” she said as she walked in the living room with her head down. She wanted me ask what was wrong. I could tell by the way she kept taking deep breaths.
So I finally asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nel woke up.”
“That’s good. Right?”
“They said he will walk again.”
“Well hell! There you go! Why you seem mad?” I asked as I continued to eat my fish.
“It’s going to cost me too much money, so I can’t do anything about it.”
“That nigga ain’t got insurance?” I asked.
“Not a damn thing.”
“So, it’s already in your mind that you’re going to pay for this. Right?” I asked in disbelief.
“I can try to make something shake, but you know how that go.”
“Bitch, let his wife do that.”
“She broke too.”
“Well I don’t know what to tell you.”
I wanted to offer her a job, but I didn’t trust her. Neiman was one of those women who acted off her emotions and did too much when she was hurt. That was a common slip up with this hustling shit too.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Malina
Slick was waiting on me in the parking lot the minute I left the house. I couldn’t wait to see him.
“Hey, cutie,” I said as I hopped in his car and threw my overnight bag in the back seat. Slick was looking fine as hell with the fresh fade. It was so fresh, I could still smell the alcohol that the barber used at the end of the cut to wipe the extra hair away and clean it. He had on a black fitted shirt, black pants, black Gucci shoes, with the back Gucci belt. Didn’t know which cologne he had on, but it smelled like blackberries. As usual, he was blowing on a big ass blunt.
“Sup. Wanna hit this?” he asked as he passed me the blunt.
I took a few tokes as he drove off and messed with the radio. I began to relax a bit.
“Got liquor?” I asked. I wanted to get drunk and fuck the shit out of him. It was one of those nights.
“Nah, I got some muddy water if you want that.” Muddy water was another word for lean. Down south, lean was a big thing.
“I’m straight. Where we going?” I asked as I let the sunroof back and my window down. It was so pretty out. The moon was full, and wasn’t a cloud in sight. Everything was so clear.
“Where you wanna go?” he asked.
“Shit, I wanted to go to your crib, but I don’t wanna worry about Tayla pulling up.”
“She outta town.”
“Yeah, but still. A woman will pop up when she gets that gut feeling, and I ain’t trying to risk it.”
“You tell me. You must wanna get
a room?” he asked as we headed toward downtown.
“Yeah, let’s go to the Hilton.”
“Bet.”
“You got rubbers?” I asked.
“Hell yeah. Can’t run up in bitches raw when I got a girl,” he replied with much attitude.
“So what you saying? I’m dirty?” I folded my arms and waited for a reply.
“Nah. I ain’t saying that. It just ain’t fair to my girl. Know what I’m saying?”
“Explain.”
“I’m not saying you dirty, Malina, but I don’t know if you are or aren’t. It be the prettiest ones that be sick. Feel me? You look good and I been knowing you a while, but then again… what person would tell the world if they really was dirty?”
“No one.”
“Exactly. I’m just not about to play with her life like that.”
“You really love her?” I asked.
“I mean… she cool.”
“Did you love Divine?” I asked but got nothing but silence. Guess he didn’t hear me so I asked again. “Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Love my cuzz…”
“Why you wanna know? Huh? What’s it to you?”
“Just wanna know.”
“Yeah, I did,” he said. I knew that before he told me because he still had her name on his neck.
“You still do. Don’t you?”
“Dawg…”
“I just wanna know. Damn.”
“Yes, and I always will. There. Stop asking me shit about her. I’m tryna fuck the shit outta you, and you worried about her.”
“Not worried, just curious. Why’d y’all break up?” I asked.
He turned the music up and shut me out until we got to the hotel. He paid for us to get a room on the top floor because they were the most expensive and the chances of us seeing anyone that we knew were slim. I agreed. That weed had me feeling right.
When we got to the room, the fridge was full of liquor. That made me excited. I began to chug the hell out of that Jack Daniels.
