In the Ring: A Dario Caivano Novel

by Perri Forrest

  God, I know that I don’t come to you as often as I should. I also know that you could very well turn me away. But I’m asking that you don’t. I’m asking that you hear me, God. I’m begging that you bring my baby back to me. You blessed me with his presence many years ago and you don’t know just how much that changed my life for the better. I need him, God. He needs me. I will do better by him, God. Just please give me the chance to show you that. Thank you for listening to my prayers. Amen . . .

  I didn’t even know what time it was. I only knew that it seemed that hours had turned to days as I sat there watching my son in that bed with tubes everywhere. I was dying a million deaths knowing that because of me and my actions that he was lying in that bed fighting for his life. Had he not been so filled with hatred for Tyler, he wouldn’t have made any kind of attempt on my behalf, and I felt like shit. Each time I heard beeping, my tears became more aggressive. Even with the nurses telling me that he could sense my sadness and that I needed to re-channel for him, it was hard to do. Until somebody came to me and said that my baby would be fine, I wasn’t going to be worth a damn. My emotions were on autopilot.

  It seemed every hour on the hour, a different nurse was sent to urge me to get some rest, but that wasn’t going to happen. Ever since I’d come to, I was right there by Rai’s side and that’s where I would be. I needed to be there if . . . no, when my baby woke up. I needed him to know that I hadn’t left his side and that he was safe.

  “I love you so much, Rai. I hope you can hear me. Go ahead and wake up for Mama so we can get back to fun, okay? We’re still in the middle of summer; we can go wherever you want to go. How about we go to Jamaica or to Paris or something like that. I’m sure there’s a ton for kids to do. Or, you know what? How about we do a cruise? I think that could be good. Yeah, we’ll do that. I’m gonna make the arrangements . . . I’m gonna make the . . . arrangements for that,” I told him, trying to steady my tone. I didn’t want him to hear how torn apart I was. I held his hand in mine. “I’ll tell you what. I’m gonna just take a short nap and then when I wake up, we can talk these plans through, okay?”

  I moved the chair I was sitting in as close as I could next to his bed and then, with his hand still in mine, I leaned my head on top of his blanket. “I love you, kid. More than I love anything and anybody in this whole world. You wake up for me,” I whispered, as my lids closed.

  Much to my surprise, when my eyes began to flutter a short time later, I realized that I had indeed dozed off. Even before I lifted my head, I already knew that my neck was in trouble because of the awkward position I’d fallen asleep in.

  I sat up slowly and straightened myself out wanting to yelp in agony at the agitated nerves attacking me right then. And to make matters worse, my bladder decided that it wanted to act a fool too. I had to pee really badly. As much as I hated catheters, I would have preferred to have one right now so that I didn’t have to leave my baby’s side. But I just decided that I’d be quick.

  I looked over at the nurse that had just entered the room, and she nodded my way as if she already knew that I was going to ask her to stand watch for me.

  “Thank you,” I said to her as I breezed past and made my way out of the room and down the short hall to the restroom.

  When I was done emptying my bladder, I went to wash my hands and was met with a complete stranger. “Oh God, girl . . .” I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror. “You look rough.” I ran my hands underneath the water until it turned to a warm temperature, then used some of the water to tame the beast that was my hair. With no brush and no comb, I made due with what I had there which were my fingers. The last thing I needed was for Rai to wake up and be frightened by the sight of me. Hell, I was frightened by the sight of me.

  Several minutes later and a splash of water in places, I was at least decent once again. I looked in the mirror once more. “God, you heard me, right? I’m counting on you. . . I know the haul is very long and I’m ready to conquer that. But I need this beautiful baby of mine awake to be able to do that.”

  I closed my eyes for a few moments of silence and to take a few deep breaths before I headed back bedside. As soon as I opened the bathroom door preparing to step out I heard, “Hey beautiful . . .”

  After the initial shock wore off, without so much as a word, I flew into Dario’s arms and buried my face in the comfort of his welcoming chest.

  CHAPTER 47

  Chanel

  “How did this happen?” Dario asked. He held me tight in his arms, kissing the top of my head. For the first time in a long time I felt like I could breathe. “I only heard a snippet on the news and I rushed here without listening for the rest.”

  “It all happened so fast, Dario. So fast. One minute I was arguing with Tyler and the next minute he was saying shit he had no business saying and then, Rai . . . he charged at him. Tyler turned around and the way he turned, he ended up . . . knocking . . .”

  “Okay, it’s okay,” he said, stopping me.

  “How long have you been here?”

  “I got here a few hours ago. I know visiting hours are over, but I needed to be present. So, I’ve been camped out there in the waiting area with your mother and your sister.”

  I formed a thin smile. “So, you met my mother, huh?”

  “Yeah, your sister too—officially, this time.”

  “Was my mom’s fiancée out there?”

  “No, I think he called her a few times though. He might be on his way. I’m not sure. I just kept watching the door to see if you’d come out at some point. I got lucky while making frequent trips down this hallway.”

  I tightened my grip around him. “I’m so glad you’re here, Dario. I’m so scared.”

  “He’s going to be fine. He’s strong. He knows that his mom needs him and he needs you too. He’ll be fine.”

  “But I’m so scared of him hating me, though.”

  “That won’t ever happen. He loves you more than life itself. There’s no amount of anything that will make him hate you. Trust me on that.”

  I shook my head and closed my eyes. I wasn’t as confident as Dario that that was the truth. Dario might not be either if he knew the truth.

  “I told him that I’m taking him on a cruise when he wakes up so I have to start making those plans. He’ll really like that.”

  “Of course he will. What kid doesn’t go crazy over a cruise? I went on a few with the family when I was growing up. He’ll love it. Guaranteed. All the food he can eat, activities, the ocean . . . he’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

  I pulled back and looked up at Dario. I couldn’t believe that he was actually there, but I was happy that he was. “I have to get back to Rai.”

  “I know you do. Just know I’ll be right out here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Can you kiss me, please?” I asked Dario, surprising myself.

  “You don’t even have to ask.”

  When our lips touched, it was a feeling of comfort and belonging that I appreciated. I needed it. I needed him.

  In the middle of our lip lock, I heard my name being called in the distance. When our kiss broke and I looked in the direction of the voice, I saw Rai’s nurse frantically waving me in her direction. I took off running as fast as I could, with Dario right on my heel. By the time we got to the door, the nurse had already disappeared back on the other side leading to Rai’s area and we were right there with her.

  As I burst into Rai’s room, not knowing what to expect and basically floating on hope and more than a few prayers, I was met with my baby’s eyes . . . wide open! My knees buckled and I barely made it to his bedside before I burst into happy tears. I sobbed like a baby as I softly wrapped my arms around the person that kept my heart beating. I held on as though I was holding on for dear life, because he had just given me back my life.

  “Thank you, God,” I whispered over and over.

  CHAPTER 48

  Dario

  I walked into Wicked in a great mood. Rai
was out of the woods, Chanel was back where she belonged, and life was just what it was meant to be. And now my day was about to get even better, and very interesting. I couldn’t wait. In fact, I think I might’ve slept all of an hour, awaiting this moment. It might’ve been a rush greater than the one I got during my first fight. If it wasn’t, it felt like a close second.

  “Hey!”

  “Hey is for horses, man!” I kidded.

  “Wow. So, I guess corny is the new you, huh?” Quinton said sarcastically, as he approached.

  “I don’t have a corny bone in my body.”

  “Bullshit. Only the corny stand their boys up the way you did. Had my ass waiting for your call like some woman, and shit!”

  “Right . . . like you waited!” I laughed. “I’m sure you had a million and one backup plans.”

  Quinton grinned. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “See! I know you all too well.”

  “But all jokes aside, though. I’m sorry to hear about what happened. That was some fucked up shit. I’m damn happy that little man is good, though.”

  “Yeah, that was scary as hell, man. But he’s good. He’s really good.”

  “And his mom?” Quinton smiled.

  “She’s good too.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

  “So, anyway . . .” I said, changing the subject. “When can I expect your friend? You know I wanted to give special treatment today. I made a lot of arrangements to make this a success.”

  Quinton gave me one of those sly grins of his, then looked past me and toward the entrance. “Speak of the devil. There he is now,” he responded, looking over my shoulder.

  I watched as Quinton approached the guy and conversed with him for a few minutes. Now, it was my turn to smile. As they made their way back to where I stood on the other side of the gym, I turned around.

  “What’s up, Tyler?” I greeted.

  “Awww, so that’s what we’re doin’ now, Q?”

  Quinton’s shoulders rose then fell in a nonchalant hunch. “Doin’ what?” he asked, releasing a laugh that exposed more than half his teeth. “I just said that my boy invited you to work out at his new gym. That’s what you’re here for.”

  “Yeah that, and a nice talk between men,” I supplemented.

  Tyler stood there, looking at me with the smuggest of looks on his face and I wanted to bash his shit in right then and there.

  “Talk about what?” he asked with attitude.

  “Oh, just about how kids and women are off limits—particularly, the ones in my life.” I turned to Quinton. “Q . . . you can go ahead and take off, man. I appreciate your help.”

  “Yeah, Q . . .” Tyler smirked. “Go ahead and take off, man.”

  Quinton laughed some more, gave me a bro shake, ran upstairs and back down with a bottle of water, and then left Wicked.

  “So, clearly, you know I’m not here for the pleasantries. I’m here to do this shit one-on-one and man to man.”

  “Far as I’m concerned we don’t have business, my dude. This shit you did to get me here was unnecessary. You could’ve come to me.”

  “Nah, see you’re wrong, we do have business. A whole lot of fucking business and I’m not gonna beat around any bushes to get to that business. Truth of the matter is you’re a bitch-ass who fucked with my family and I don’t take kindly to that shit.”

  “Ha! Your family? Let me guess, you’re talking about Chanel. If it’s her, that’s done.”

  “I’m talking about Rai. And as far as Chanel it’s done because it wasn’t ever shit to begin with. You’re a sack of shit and I knew that when I—”

  Before I could get my words out, Tyler swung. Although I dodged his fist in time, it still pissed me off that he was willing to take the bitch way out and sucker-punch me.

  “Fuck the talkin’, boxer boy! We gon’ do this shit, let’s go!” he yelled while squaring up.

  He was talking my language. I was ready. The only thing that I had been waiting for was the fight to start fair and square so there wouldn’t be any chances for him to say that it was otherwise.

  We took off in a battle. Tyler threw his left leg out trying to connect with my rib. I caught it midway and then lunged my right fist into his chest, temporarily knocking the wind out of him, before taking him down to his back within seconds. He swung furiously to try to get the advantage, to no avail. I leapt backwards off of him to allow him up, because truthfully, I wanted the full fight. I wanted him to feel the full wrath that his actions brought about, and laying him out so early wouldn’t give me that satisfaction.

  “Get the fuck up, punk!” I taunted.

  And as soon as he was off the ground, and had shaken himself off, I commenced to raining blow after blow on him—his jaw, his nose, his chest, his ribs. It was a street fight and I didn’t need to adhere to the rules of the ring. That was why I wanted him to come to me, and it worked perfectly.

  He was focused and tried his best, but my short time with him told me that he spent far too much time on the field and not enough time backing up his ‘big man on campus’ persona.

  “You swing like a bitch, you fake-ass tight end!”

  The wind against my fists as they made contact with his flesh was invigorating. This fucker, Tyler had taken four months of all of our lives that we couldn’t get back. He needed to realize the error of his ways.

  When blood began to splatter from Tyler’s mouth, it fueled me at a level I didn’t even think was possible. I wanted to see more, so I went in for the kill. I wanted this motherfucker to be unrecognizable. He’d almost taken Rai’s life and he had fucked with Chanel’s life by trying to force her into some bullshit-ass relationship. Yeah, I wanted his blood on my hands and that’s what I was going for, until I heard Quinton yelling out to me in my fury.

  “DC! DC!” I heard him saying, while wrapping his arm around my neck in an effort to pull me back. “Dario! Come on, man! It’s done!”

  CHAPTER 49

  Chanel

  “Mama, you should really go home and get some rest.”

  “I’ll rest when I’m dead,” she snapped, chilling in one of the lounge chairs of the room they’d given us down the hall from Rai.

  “You shouldn’t say shit like that, Mama,” Rochelle broke in.

  “Well, it’s true. I’m not leaving this hospital for real rest until I know my grandbaby is all the way in the clear.”

  “Mama, they’ve already cleared him. He’s good, thank God. And he’ll more than likely be moved out of ICU in the next day or two.”

  It had been two days since Rai woke up and he was doing really well. He was still in ICU because with the head injury, they wanted to make sure that he was completely out of the woods, so had been running a few tests just to be sure. But they had indeed given me the green light on a full recovery. Luckily, there was no permanent brain damage from his head hitting the pavement. Some kind of way, his fall had broken just enough and touched more grass than ground. But in my panic, at the time, all I saw was concrete. I didn’t even remember that we had grass until they mentioned what the first responders had communicated, once they arrived to the ER.

  “Well, then in the next day or two, I’ll be going home to sleep in my own bed. Until then I’ll keep doing what I’m doing: taking me a shower, getting something to eat and grabbing my Kindle to read. Don’t worry about me.”

  I turned to my sister. She and I didn’t have the relationship that sisters should have, but the fact that she had shown up for Rai meant a lot to me. I smiled at her and she smiled back, an unspoken that there was still something semi-sisterly between us.

  “I’m good too,” Rochelle offered. “I’m chillin’.”

  “Okay. If y’all say so.”

  “We do,” my mom stressed.

  “I do have something that I want to talk to you about, though,” Rochelle said, catching me off guard. “It’s important.”

  My response was with some reluctance. Although things were mild and we were able
to coexist in this environment, there still wasn’t too much that I needed, or even wanted to say to her.

  “Okay, when did you wanna do that?” I asked her.

  “We can do it today. We’re here by ourselves, and I’ve been waiting to do it. So, if it’s okay—”

  “That’s fine.”

  Right as Rochelle was about to start her conversation, there was a knock on the door as it pushed open, simultaneously. “Is it okay to come in?” Dario asked.

  I smiled at him extending my hand to him. “Of course it is, baby.”

  At Dario’s arrival, Rochelle shot me a look of uncertainty. “Do you want to wait?” she queried.

  “No,” I answered, as Dario took a seat next to me. “What’s this scratch over your eye, babe?” I asked him.

  “It’s nothing,” he answered, causing me to give him a quick side eye glance. “Okay, if you say so.”

  “It’s really nothing, babe.”

  “Alright. Go ahead, Rochelle.”

  Rochelle looked from me to my mom and then at Dario. “I wanted to ask you how much Tyler said that day. Mama told me that he made some comment about . . . you know.” Her eyes darted again over to Dario. She was being careful. I guess with the sensitivity of the conversation, she felt the need to do that because in our past, Rochelle had never held back on anything or bit her tongue about nothing.

  Fuck fear, I told myself once again.

  “Rochelle, it’s cool. Go ahead,” I urged.

  “Well, did he say everything to Rai is what I’m asking?”

  “You mean the ammunition you gave him four years ago to use against me?” I spat.

  “Chanel. I never meant—”

  “Miss me with that, Rochelle. Please. Regardless of what you meant to happen . . . it happened.”

  “So, does that mean that he did . . . say everything, I mean?” she asking prodding.

  “No,” I said, my neck rolling with my reply. “He didn’t. He just told Rai . . . to ask me where I got him from.”