“Ma’am, all I can say right now is they’re working on him. Please have a seat. The doctor will be with you shortly.”
“Shortly as in a few minutes or a few hours? That’s my husband back there. I would really like to know how he’s doing.”
I could see the young woman’s eye twitch. “I repeat, the doctor will be with you shortly. There is nothing else that I can say right now.”
I rolled my eyes and walked away. Jacoby walked next to me, and we both took seats in the waiting area. Even with a leather jacket on, I was cold. I had gotten all of my hair cut off earlier, and the short cut that I sported surely didn’t keep my head warm. Jacoby kept looking at my hair, but he didn’t say anything about it. I felt like a bad mother for putting him through so much. It wasn’t until I reflected on all that we’d been through these last few months when I realized how much of a burden my marriage had been on our son. First, for Jacoby to learn that Cedric really wasn’t his father was enough. Then for him to run around after Cedric’s women, asking them to stay out of our lives, that had to be hurtful for him. All he wanted was a stable family, yet what we provided was a dysfunctional mess.
I reached over for his hand and held it with mine. “If Cedric survives this, I don’t know where we go from here. But, I want you to let me handle this from now on. I know you feel as if I’ve been weak, and that’s why you’ve taken things into your own hands. But I got this, trust me. Get back to your life as a teenager and try to have some fun. I don’t want you to worry so much about me and Cedric, because—”
“I worry, because no matter what, the two of you are still my parents. I know Cedric isn’t my biological father, but he has taken good care of me and you too. He has a high sex drive, and I do believe that your lies contributed to some of this as well. But none of us are perfect, Mama. If I forgive you, I have to forgive him too.”
I swallowed and blinked to wash away my tears. “Thank you,” was all I could say.
On the inside, I was too angry to forgive Cedric right now. I was too angry about what he had put us through. Yes, he’d provided for his family, but that was what he was supposed to do. I didn’t share any more of my thoughts with Jacoby. And as I’d said before, I would handle this.
Jacoby got up to get a soda from the soda machine. He also said he needed to return his girlfriend, Adrianne’s, phone call. He walked away to go call her, so I reached for my cell phone to check my messages. I had five messages from Trina. She wanted to know where I was, and she sent several text messages, asking for me to call her back. I really didn’t want to be bothered, but I sent her a text, telling her that I was at the hospital waiting to find out Cedric’s condition. The second I put the phone back into my pocket, I saw two of the officers from earlier enter through the sliding glass doors. I turned my head, but the one I had spoken to earlier had already spotted me. He wasted no time coming up to me.
“Do you have a few minutes to talk?” he said, scratching his bald head that was full of dents.
I sighed and got up from the chair. Before walking away, I looked around for Jacoby and saw him standing next to the bathroom, talking on his cell phone.
“This will only take a few minutes,” the officer said.
I followed him into the hallway, in no mood to be questioned. Didn’t they find out everything they needed to know from Rich, Jacoby, and the killer herself? This officer was barking up the wrong tree, and he had racist pig written all over that red, puffy face of his.
I eased my hands into my pockets and leaned against the wall. My blank expression alerted him that I didn’t want to be bothered. “What is it that you want to ask me?” I said to the officer.
He pulled out a notepad and scanned his eyes up and down to look at it. “Are you and your husband separated or divorced?”
“Right now, I don’t know what we are. But you may want to ask him that question if, or when, he comes out of this.”
“I’m asking you. Some of my sources say that the two of you are separated, and that you were angry because your husband filed for a divorce.”
My face twisted. “Of course I was angry. But are you implying that I had something to do with what happened?”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this, that’s all.”
“If you want to get to the bottom of this, go talk to that hoochie who was in the back seat of the police car. She can probably tell you more than I can, and please don’t stop there. My husband has been screwing around with several women, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they all conspired to do away with him.”
“Well, that’s why I’m here. Did you pay Paula Daniels to kill your husband? I mean, she doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who could pull off something like this alone.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Why couldn’t you see her doing it? Because she’s a white woman, and they don’t do things like that? You would like to believe that I paid her to kill my husband, but if I wanted to do so, you best believe that I would’ve picked up the doggone gun and shot him myself. You’re wasting your time, Officer. Going this route will get you nowhere with me.”
He ignored me and kept on with the questions. “Where were you today? Do you have an alibi? And just to let you know, we will be checking your phone records. If there are any conversations between you and Miss Daniels, we’ll be in touch.”
“I’m not going to answer another question from you. If you want to question me further, you will do so in front of my attorney. Meanwhile, stop showing sympathy for murderers. No matter what color they are, do what you must to keep them behind bars. If not, you’re the one who has to live with it, not me. Thank you, Officer. Have a nice day.”
I walked away with a mean mug on my face. How dare he go there with me? I figured he wanted someone else to go down for this, other than Miss Prissy whom he obviously felt sorry for. The more I thought about this, the more my anger took over. It got worse when I saw Trina come through the door, searching for me. I cut my eyes and moved in another direction. It wasn’t long before she caught up with me down the hallway.
“Stop this, Kayla, and tell me what’s going on. Did you attempt to kill Cedric?”
I turned to her and snapped. “Hell, no, I didn’t, but I can think of a whole lot of people I wouldn’t mind shanking right now. What do you want, Trina? Why do you keep bothering me?”
“If you didn’t attempt to kill Cedric then who did?”
“It’s none of your business, and if you think I did it then keep on believing that.”
“Look, you don’t have to get an attitude about it. I asked you that because Jacoby told me you killed him.”
“Jacoby was mistaken. Now, tell me again why you’re here?”
“I’m here because I’m your friend and you need my support. I get that you’re still upset about the conversation that took place at my place earlier, but, at least, now you know the truth.”
I pursed my lips and shook my head from side to side. I couldn’t help the sarcasm. “Yeah, I do. And I’m so grateful to you for telling me everything. After keeping their little secret and protecting their feelings, thank you, Trina, for all that you’ve done. As for you being here for me, no, you’re here because Keith is still in this hospital from being stabbed by your lover, Lexi. I’m sure you can’t wait to get by his side, so don’t go pretending to be such a supportive friend of mine, please. I wouldn’t call it a friendship, would you?”
Trina narrowed her eyes and muffled her lips. I could tell she was trying to prevent herself from going there with me.
“I saw Keith earlier, so I didn’t come back here to be with him. And I’m not going to argue with you about this friendship thingy; been there, done that. When you’re ready to talk, call me. I’m here for you, like I’ve always been. Yes, I’ve made some mistakes, and I should have told you about Evelyn and Cedric. But I had my reasons for not going there. Reasons that you may or may not understand.”
I wasn’t the kind of
woman to keep up a lot of drama, especially in a public place, but Trina needed to hear me loud and clear. “You mean, reasons that I will never understand. Now, get out of my face, Trina. I’m so done with this right now. You and Evelyn, both, can go to hell.”
“I’m too blessed to go there, but do yourself a favor and get a grip. This attitude thing ain’t you, and I must say that you don’t wear it well. I won’t share my reasons for not telling you about your cheating husband and backstabbing friend, but I will tell you this. They have a child on the way, so be prepared for Evelyn to go after Cedric’s cash. I don’t know if he’ll make it or not, but whatever you do, tell her that he’s dead. With her believing that he is, that may change the game, if you know what I mean. Meanwhile, I’ll keep my distance, yet pray that everything will work out for you.”
Trina walked away, leaving me stunned yet again. A baby? It didn’t even dawn on me that the baby Evelyn was carrying was Cedric’s. I thought it was her ex-boyfriend, Marc’s, child. I mean, really? If I’d had a gun, I would have gone back there and made sure Cedric was dead. My anger turned into hate. I just couldn’t stay there any longer.
Jacoby was still on his cell phone, talking to Adrianne. When I walked up to him, he told her to hold.
“What did the officer say?” he asked.
“Nothing important. But, uh, if you don’t mind, I need to get out of here. I’m not feeling well, and being here is making me sick.”
Jacoby frowned. “What about Cedric, Mama? Don’t you care about him? Don’t you want to know if he’ll survive? I know you’re upset about all of this, but he’s your husband and—”
“And I’m his wife,” I shouted. “I am his fucking wife and that bastard cheated on me, got another woman pregnant, and had the audacity to buy another one a house! To hell with Cedric, Jacoby! If you want to stay here, please do. As for me, I’m going home! I need to get the hell out of here and go home!”
Jacoby wiped away sprinkles of my spit that landed on his face. He slowly lifted his phone and told Adrianne he’d call her back. “Then go,” he said to me. “Adrianne is on her way up here. I’ll call you later to keep you posted on Cedric.”
“Don’t bother,” I said, looking around at the many people staring at me as if I was crazy. It definitely wasn’t my intention to put my business out there like this. I was totally embarrassed. “I’m sorry about this, but I . . . I can’t do this.”
I tearfully walked away and left the hospital. While inside of my car, I rested my forehead on the steering wheel and broke down. Tears wouldn’t stop falling. I held my chest, wishing that the pain inside would go away. Why me? I thought. Why did all of this bad news hit me like this in one day? I felt as if I’d lost everything. Other than Cedric, there was another person to blame. Evelyn. I had to go see her, just to look her in the eyes and give her a piece of my mind.
Almost thirty minutes later, I arrived at Evelyn’s loft. Like always, security was walking around, and I saw her car parked in the parking garage. Cedric had probably paid for her car, and I thought about keying the side of it. But after I parked, the security looked at me, smiled, and said hello. I spoke back, but I could tell that he was alarmed by how distraught I appeared. He watched my every move, and unfortunately for me, I wasn’t sure if Evelyn would buzz for me to come inside. I took my chances and pushed the code to alert her that someone was there to see her.
Seconds later, her beautiful, blemish-free face appeared on the screen. Why did she have to always look so darn pretty? It wasn’t that I was jealous of her, but there was no denying that out of all of us, Evelyn always got the most attention from men. Even while we were in high school, most of the boys wanted to date Evelyn. It could have been because she was a slut, too; a slut who got her hands on my husband, and had the audacity to be pregnant by him.
“Hello, Kayla,” she said with that same smug smirk from earlier. “What do you want?”
“We need to finish our conversation. Now that Cedric is dead, I think we should talk about what to do with your baby. You are carrying his baby, aren’t you?”
Evelyn didn’t say a word. She buzzed me inside, and on my way up in the elevator, I felt as if I wanted to throw up. I swallowed and bit into my trembling bottom lip. When the elevator parted, I looked straight ahead and saw Evelyn standing with the door wide open. Neither of us was smiling and seriousness was locked in our eyes. It was obvious that we were about to handle our business.
I stepped forward, but before Evelyn could say one word, I reached out and slapped her so hard that a new hairstyle formed on her head. My hand stung, and I watched as a red handprint swelled on the side of her cheek. Her forehead lined with wrinkles, and as her mouth dropped open, I turned to walk away.
“Thanks for the conversation,” I mumbled. “It was well needed.”
“You bitch!” she shouted. “You are going to pay for that! I swear to God that you will pay!”
I ignored her and got back on the elevator. Before it closed, I returned the same smug smirk that she had been representing all day. Whatever she had in store for me, I welcomed it. It couldn’t be any worse than what she had already done to me.
Chapter 2
Trina
I was to the point where I’d had enough of Kayla’s attitude. Evelyn’s backstabbing ways, as well, were too much for me to handle. After Kayla left my apartment earlier to go see about Cedric, I politely asked Evelyn to leave. There were times when I felt as if I had the worst best friends ever. I understood that no one was perfect, but this was too much. I was tired of kissing Kayla’s ass, and I always found myself trying to convince her what a good friend I had been. I truly felt as if it wasn’t my place to tell her about Cedric and Evelyn, but I decided to poke my nose where it didn’t belong and let it all come out today. My timing, however, was off. Evelyn was ready to spill her guts, and Cedric had been shot. Now, here we all were, mad at each other, again, and trying to blame each other for why things had turned out this way.
I waited in my car for a while, and right after I saw Kayla leave the hospital, I went back inside. While speaking to Kayla, I’d seen Jacoby on his cell phone, so I assumed he was still inside. Once I had a chance to speak to him, I was going to spend the night in Keith’s room. He was still in the hospital, after being stabbed by Lexi. Thankfully, she was dead, and nobody had to run around searching for the person who was responsible. I was so glad that Keith survived the stabbing incident, and hopefully, Cedric would survive too. No doubt, Kayla was upset right now, but there was no way in hell that she wanted the man she had loved since forever to die.
The moment I entered the hospital, I saw Jacoby sitting in a chair. Another family was gathered in a circle, conversing with a doctor. Seconds later, all hell broke loose. Cries rang out, screams echoed loudly and one lady fell to the floor.
“Noooo,” she shouted. “Not my Rico! I can’t believe he’s gone!”
Several people attempted to help the woman off the floor. She kept kicking and screaming Rico’s name. She then grabbed one young man by his shirt and ordered him, as well as several others, to handle the situation.
“I don’t care what y’all niggas do,” she shouted through gritted teeth. “Y’all find those niggas and do to them what they did to my baby!”
More chaos erupted, especially when one of the family members picked up a chair and threw it. Security was called, and Jacoby and I stepped aside until the chaotic situation cooled down. He told me he still hadn’t heard anything about Cedric, so I walked to the check-in station to see what I could find out. The nurse behind the counter looked as if she didn’t want to be bothered.
“I know you’re busy,” I said, deciding to lie about who I was. “But my nephew and I have been waiting for quite some time to see what’s going on with my brother, Cedric Thompson. Can you please check with someone to find out?”
“He arrived about forty-five minutes ago, and if the doctor hasn’t come out to speak to you, I’m sure it will be soon. As you can
see, we’ve had a lot going on this evening. The night is still young.”
To ask for patience, at this time, wasn’t understandable. Forty-five minutes or ten minutes, somebody could’ve come out to say something. For now, our hands were tied so all we could do was wait.
“I’m real worried about my mother,” Jacoby said as I sat next to him. “I’ve never seen her like this. The look in her eyes is cold, and for her to walk out like that was crazy.”
“I know, but she’s been through a lot these past several months. Give her time, okay?”
“I will. I know how she’s feeling, but I feel so bad for Cedric. After seeing him like that, I just can’t get the thoughts out of my head. I hope he’ll be okay.”
“Me too.”
Jacoby updated me on what had transpired at Cedric’s house. And after he informed me of Cedric’s affair with his receptionist, I was numb. No wonder Kayla was so bitter. She definitely had a lot on her plate, and I really wanted to be there for her. I wasn’t sure if she was going to head back to my apartment, or if she was going back to the house she once lived in with Cedric. I asked Jacoby to call her, but that was when my cell phone rang. It was Evelyn. I could barely say hello before she started yelling into the phone.
“You’d better get some control over your stupid-ass best friend. Please tell her that if she put her hands on me again, I’m going to press charges and have her arrested.”
I rolled my eyes. Some people loved drama and Evelyn was one of those people. “What are you talking about, Evelyn? When did she put her hands on you?”
“She just came over here, claiming that she wanted to talk about the baby. Since Cedric is dead, I figured she would offer me some kind of money to help me take care of our child. I don’t know what I’m going to do now, but whatever I decide, please tell her to stop hating because this baby doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
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