by Shan
"I'm not saying anything. Paternity cannot be established through just blood type. All I know is that at least one of Zavier's parents should have a matching factor. Let’s go speak with the doctor and see what he wants to do next."
Taron was so busy talking with the nurse that he was no longer paying me any mind. I used that as an opportunity to slip out unnoticed. I rushed out of the lab, raced down the hall, and out of the hospital. Once I was outside, I pulled my hoodie over my head, and moved sleekly through the night. After tonight, I'm letting Sy know that I'm not helping him do shit else. If he wanted to take Tamar down, he would have to do it on his own.
"Aye, B!"
I looked up and noticed a familiar face standing a few feet in front of me. He was dressed in all black with a hoodie very similar to mine. A cigarette hung from his lip, and a pistol idled by his side.
"Black?" I questioned now recognizing him from a slight glare that shined onto his face from the street light.
"Yep, what's good fammo? I've been dying for this moment youngin'," Black said blowing out a cloud of smoke.
Black is a known killer from out of Dallas, who has knocked off more people than the war in Iraq. He has done plenty of work in Atlanta and was well respected all over the damn globe for jobs he has done. It didn't surprise me that he was here; now that Keylan was gone Tamar needed more cutthroat goons on his team, and who better than Black.
"Let Tae know I got some info for him that I know he'll benefit from," I stated nervously. My eyes darted around as I plotted my escape route in my head. I wouldn't have much room to get away but I would try. Black's aim is superior and I knew he wouldn't miss me but there was no way I would just lay down like some coward.
"Boss man ain't trying to hear shit and neither am I. You took away something very precious to a lot of people youngin'. I've been itching to get at you for real. Boss man called me and told me he needed me to handle this because he didn't have the heart to do it, so I came running," Black explained.
I nodded my head, backed away a couple of feet, and then turned around and took off running as fast as possible.
POW! POW! POW!
I felt each bullet as they entered my back and sent me stumbling over to the ground. I got up on my knees, tried to crawl away, but was kicked in my stomach and tossed onto my back. I looked up at Black and didn't see an inch of innocence in his eyes. I'd known this dude for many years and knew he wouldn't have any mercy on me. Black was rotted to the core; his heart was black, and made of steel. I contemplated pleading with him to allow me to make it another day but knew that was exactly what he wanted. Blood seeped through my mouth and nose and I began to gasp for air.
"Go to sleep nigga!" Black yelled before he emptied the remainder of the clip into me.
POW! POW! POW! POW!
19: Rozalyn
Things were not looking good for Zavier and I wasn't quite sure how I should feel right now. I had a rare blood type and couldn't even do what was needed to save my own damn son's life. No one was looking to be a match for him and waiting on the blood bank made me feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Taron had Tamar believing that there was another man involved that could possibly be the father of Zyir and Zavier but that was the least bit true. All the kind words, all the begging that Tamar did the other night had completely gone out the window. He'd called me so many bitches, sluts, and whores in the last twenty four hours that I started to believe the shit was true. If Brandon wasn't the father and Tamar wasn't either then who the hell was? I know for a fact that I didn't sleep with anyone else around the time I got pregnant.
"Hey baby. How are they?" Cheryl asked as she met me half way down her drive way.
"Umm, Tamarion and Zyir are doing okay. They ran all kinds of test on them and determined they were well enough to come home," I said feeling all kinds of emotions rush through me.
"And Zavier?" Cheryl questioned with a sense of sadness in her voice.
"Not too good. He has lost a lot of blood, the blood bank is low on blood for him and we are just waiting to get some in."
"Oh God. Yea, Ron told me they were having a hard time finding blood. What's going on with---well I know it's not my business but Tamar isn't the father of the twins Rozalyn?"
I shook my head no and broke out into a horrendous cry. Just hearing another person speak my shame aloud hurt me to the core. I know everyone was looking at me with very unforgiving eyes especially at a time like this.
"Well what about Brandon, Rozalyn? Taron told me he was out. Did anyone try and get in contact with him about giving blood?" Cheryl asked sounding just as confused as the situation.
"He couldn't I don't know what's going on---Tamar is thinking I slept with someone else but I didn't Mrs. Cheryl---I didn't!" I cried.
She took me into her arms and we walked both boys into the house. Cheryl and I discussed everything that happened at the hospital last night over hot green tea that she'd made. She told me not to worry about anything and that God would make a way out of no way. I wanted to believe her but with my son on the verge of death; it was a hard thing to do.
I sat with Cheryl and listened to her preach to me about the many mistakes I’ve made in my life. She explained to me the beauty about being given a second chance and how a person should never take advantage of them. Hearing all this got me to thinking about the other night at the restaurant with Tamar. We’d been given so many chances to work on our relationship and be a family as we should but each time we both somehow ruined it. Tamar asked me to be with him again and I flat out told him no, walked away, and didn’t even look back.
I honestly felt that all of our chances had run out. What more could I offer to Tamar besides more heartache and pain and him doing the same to me. My main goal was to start focusing more on my children and my relationship with Messiah. I know that I could be a good woman and love someone the way that I want to be loved but I just had to give it a shot. Men like Messiah don't come around often and I needed to see to it that he didn't get away from me.
***
"Thank you for letting me use your truck," I said to Tamar as I handed him his keys.
He and Kari sat bundled up in the corner of Zavier's room, looking like the world's greatest couple. That bitch hasn't left his side since she found out he and I were in the same hospital and I needed him. He believed there was another party involved that could have fathered my twins and I had to let him know that wasn't so.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?"
Tamar looked at me like I was bugging him and the bitch Kari had the nerve to suck her teeth at me. I crossed my arms over my chest and patiently waited for Tamar to make a move. I know he did not expect for me to talk in front of this evil, conniving ass bitch.
"In private please," I said becoming frustrated.
Tamar got up from his chair and exited the room. I followed behind him and frowned once I noticed him going to the elevators.
"Tae, I only need a couple of minutes. Right here is fine," I sighed placing my hands on my hips.
"Well I'm about to go outside and fire up this blunt. You wanna talk, you can talk then."
I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but shoot Tamar a friendly smirk as I followed him onto the small, convoluted elevator. He leaned against the back doors and I pressed the button to take us to the first floor. Once we were off the elevator and outside, Tamar reached behind his ear and pulled out a blunt. He lit it up, took a couple of tokes, and offered it in my direction.
I took the blunt from his hand and took two light puffs from it before handing it back. I found a relaxing place against a pole, crossed my arms over my chest, and looked in Tamar's direction. He looked so relaxed, so calm, and so--so much like the family man that I've always wanted. I normally saw him so serious and always in game mode that I didn't even know this mellow side even existed.
"Look, I just wanted to say regardless of what happened with this blood situation. You and Brandon were the only ones that I was with. I know for
a fact that there is no other possibility---"
I stopped mid-sentence when I saw a handful of doctors and nurses rushing towards the emergency room doors, pushing a man on a gurney. The individual only caught my attention because he was wearing clothes similar to what Brandon had on last night. As they came closer, I realized that my eyes hadn't been playing tricks on me. My hand went over my mouth seeing the bloody bullet holes that covered his clothing and flesh. Tamar caught the look of horror on my face so he turned to look as well. His reaction wasn't as shocking as mine; he more angered and flat out baffled. He flicked the blunt across the concrete, grabbed his cell phone from his pocket, and stormed off into the night.
Instinctively I chased behind the doctors and nurses that were pushing Brandon into the hospital. I wanted to know what happened to him, was he going to be okay, and if there was anything I could do to help. I mean he was my kid's father, right? I had a right to feel sympathetic and scared for him. Right? Confused tears ran down my face as I followed behind the army of staff, trying to unravel the codes that they spoke amongst each other.
"Excuse me!" I called out but they were all too busy to even hear me.
After watching them disappear through the busy double doors of the hospital, I made my way to the nurse's desk ready to see what information I could get on Brandon. There was only one nurse working behind the desk at the moment, a black chick with long fake nails, and a super long, thick weave. She was a very attractive female and seemed like she had a lot of sense.
"Can I help you?" she asked as she rolled her chair closer to me.
"No, she's good."
I looked over my shoulder to see Tamar standing over me. His nostrils flared repeatedly as he gently pulled me away from the nurse's desk.
"Your child is upstairs fighting for his life and you down here worrying about this muthafucka!" Tamar said through somewhat gritted teeth.
I could only stare at Tamar knowing that this was no coincidence. Brandon had showed his face last night and after finding out he wasn't able to donate blood; he was shot down. This had only one person's name on it and I knew for sure I was looking at him.
20: Tamar
I sat back fiddling with my thumbs as all kinds of thoughts rushed through my head. Black was supposed to have handled Brandon, murked him, snatched his lights out, and the muthafucka was still breathing a whole fuckin’ day later. I’d called Black’s cell phone thirty times in the past hour and have yet to receive an answer from him. I was very tempted to make my way over to the trauma unit and finish Brandon off my damn self. When I found out that he wasn’t able to donate blood to his shorty—my shorty, I put the order in to have him killed the moment he walked out of this hospital since the nigga was no longer needed. I hope he didn’t think because he was possibly the father of the twins that I was gonna let him slide for all the bullshit he’s done. Although I couldn’t pull the trigger myself, it was a must that he went down. There was no way possible I could have his conniving ass roaming the same streets as me again. Just seeing him yesterday for the brief moment that we were in each other’s presence, I knew for a fact that he was up to something. I had no idea what but I knew that I couldn’t let him make it away from this hospital.
Sadly, the fool was fighting for his pitiful life as doctors did everything in their power to save him. I know for a fact I saw at least four to five bullet holes in this nigga so he had to have bled out profusely and on top of that the shit happened on yesterday evening, but yet he was still breathing.
Just how many lives does this green-eyed bastard have? I wondered to myself.
I sat here and thought about all the times this fool had escaped death since he’d been a child and really wondered if he had some type of angel watching over him. I know that I’ve been shot, shot at, stabbed, and everything else but Brandon has been through the trenches and back and still seems to come out just fine. But I will worry about that later.
I sat a few feet away from Zavier’s bed half-way listening to Chalo, one of Dmitri’s workers explain to me how he found Dmitri and his assistant rotting away in Dmitri’s mansion and how he felt that I was responsible. Dmitri’s safe had been ripped off, his surveillance videos were missing, and whoever was accountable for his death pretty much knew the ins and outs of Dmitri’s home. I vaguely watched Chalo’s lips move as he spit threat after threat to me, never showing him any emotion, any weakness, or even a sign that I cared about what he was telling me. Showing emotion would somehow signify guilt and that I didn’t have. Dmitri was like a father to me and to hear that he was dead was devastating but I wasn’t the one responsible. I didn’t have anything to gain from Dmitri dying nor did I have anything to lose. He is or never was a threat to me so why on earth would I kill him? He called me a thief and cut me off but in the end it turned out to be the most beneficial thing that he’d ever done for me.
Chalo and I have never had problems; his presence here was like a present to me. He was here to give fair warning that soon someone would be coming for me and if they had to hurt my family to get to me; they would.
“Chalo, you know I didn’t do this right?” I asked finally breaking my silence after an hour long.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore Tamar. There was the accusation of you stealing and then this--I don’t know. All I know is that Donald is very upset and he wants someone to pay. He doesn’t care who,” Chalo further explained. “He says that he wants you to come and see him and if you don’t he will send the army after you. You know that he is not a violent person and that is why he is giving you until after the service to come and talk to him like a man.”
I chuckled, “This shit is crazy as fuck.”
I shook my head in disbelief and instantly began thinking where I could take my family to get them out of harms way. This shit seemed as if it would never stop and honestly I was getting tired of it all, constantly looking over my shoulder, sleeping with a gun under my pillow, and always looking at every muthafucka as a threat. I think I’ve finally reached the point where the bad outweighed the good. The only good thing about this game is the money, power, and respect I got but when shit kept falling into my lap and spilling over into my family’s lap all the money, power, and respect didn’t matter.
“Look, preciate you coming by Chalo but I have nothing to say to Donald except for that I am sorry for his loss. I had nothing to do with Dmitri’s death but if he insists that I did and he comes after me then I guess we have a problem.”
“Then you should come--”
“I’m not coming to do a muthafucking thing!” I bellowed. The sound of my voice echoing off the walls caused Zavier to stir a little in his sleep. I moved closer to his side, grabbed his hand, and stared intently in Chalo’s direction. “Like I said, let Donald know that I am sorry for his loss.”
Chalo stood up from his chair, reached out to shake my hand but I only stared at it like he’d been infected with the plague. Nigga would be gunning for me later so there was no need to exchange pleasantries like everything was cool when it wasn’t. I watched as Chalo exited the hospital room, then immediately picked up my cell phone to dial Black’s number again; this time he answered on the first ring.
“Aye, I need to see you at the hospital—now.”
***
“Oh my God, you scared the fuck outta of me!” Kari yelled as she placed her hand over her rapidly rising chest.
“Didn’t mean to, what are you doing?” I asked getting a glimpse of the magazine that Kari tried to slide between the couch cushion.
“Nothing, just reading and catching up on a few movies.”
I moved over to the couch and took a seat next to Kari, pulling the magazine from between the cushion, “Brides?” I questioned noticing that she was reading a magazine dealing with weddings.
“Yea, Donica left it in my car so I just started reading it. It’s nothing,” Kari laughed nervously.
“It’s addressed to you. I thought that I told you to chill on that marriage
shit,” I said with a frown.
“Well that was a couple of months ago. I figured since we’ve been spending so much time together that you may have changed your mind.”
“Nah, why would I have changed my mind? You left the hospital the moment you got a chance, like it was killing you to be there and you haven’t even called one time since you left to see how my shorty was doing!”
“I stayed by your side the whole time and only left after I saw you let Rozalyn use your fucking car and besides he’s not even your damn kid! Why should you care?”
It took everything in me not to slap the shit out of Kari and spit in her damn face! The bitch must’ve lost her damn mind to say some foul ass shit like that to me, either that or she just didn’t know what kinda man I was. I’ve taken care of the twins since they were fuckin’ born so as long as I was alive I wasn’t about to allow another man to care for them.
“Look, I need you to pack your things and leave my house. It’s over Kari,” I said, my tone stiff and serious.
“What? Wait a minute, what do you mean it’s over?” Kari slid to the end of the couch and stared at the side of my face.
“It’s over. I need my wife back and I can’t get her if I’m laid up with you every day,” I sighed.
“You say that like it’s nothing! What do you mean you need your wife back? What the fuck Tamar? Don’t do this to me! No, you cannot do this to me! I left my husband to be with you!”
“Didn’t nobody tell you to leave that nigga man! Look, I got some shit I gotta handle and then I’m going back to the hospital to be with my son. I need you to be out of here by six pm tonight. I’ll send Black through here to make sure of it,” I stood up from the couch and proceeded to leave the room.
Kari jumped up and grabbed my arm, pulled me around to face her, and dropped down to her knees. I looked down at her shaking my head, hoping that she was not about to start begging me. My mind had been made up for weeks now and nothing was going to be able to change that. I tried to go the gentlemen route and get Rozalyn to come home, be romantic, take her out to dinner, eat her out, and then practically beg her to come home but she wanted to continue to play crazy. Now it was time that I brought her home by force. Being that I got the Italian mob coming after me, I knew that I could force her on a vacation where we could spend a few days alone. A few days was all I needed to convince her that I’d changed, and changed for the better.
