A Street Doctor's Virgin: Standalone

11. Quadir

11

Quadir

S trolling the aisles at Target, Qua tried his hardest to stay focused on what he came in there for. His thoughts had been scattered since his failed date with Saige a week ago. At first, he didn’t give a fuck that he’d made her feel a way. Moon reached out to him and gave him an earful about upsetting her big sister and how bad he’d fucked up. As the days dragged on, he couldn’t stop thinking about Saige or how he made her feel. He wasn’t trying to be an asshole on purpose, but he thought he should just be upfront as possible with her.

He slowly but surely started to feel extremely guilty because he realized how he must’ve come across. Wanting to reach out to her and make things right, he contacted Moon who denied him access. For the last few days, it’d been the only thing he was able to think about though.

“Excuse me,” Qua apologized as he bumped into the woman who wasn’t looking where she was going either.

“It’s fine,” she mumbled.

Quadir spun around when he recognized the voice. “Saige?”

She halted in her steps but kept her back to him. He slowly walked over to her and for some odd reason, his heart was beating faster and faster with every step.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses in the middle of Target?” He questioned when he noticed the rim of the glasses.

“I’m hungover as fuck, and if you don’t mind, I need to go. I’ve been in enough trouble as is because of you,” she barely whispered.

“Wait, hold up,” he gently grabbed her arm but didn’t miss when she winced in pain. “You good, beautiful?”

She eased her arm away from him, still looking at the floor. “I’m fine , Quadir.”

“What happened to your arm?”

“I fell on it. Now, if you don’t mind,” she tried to walk by him.

He blocked her path, stopping her again. He reached out and lifted her face to his and got the shock of his life. “Saige, what the fuck happened to your face?”

“I got into a fight at the club last night, that’s all. Quadir, really, I have to go,” she pleaded with her voice cracking.

“Nah,” Q lifted the oversized Fendi sunglasses and became pissed. Both her eyes were black along with a purple bruise on her jaw and her lip looked slightly swollen. “What the fuck happened, Saige? And don’t lie to me.”

Tears trickled down her cheeks which tugged at his heart strings, unbeknownst to her. “I told you, I got in a fight. I-I-I can’t be seen talking to you.”

“Why?” He moved her sunglasses from her grasp as she tried to grab them. His thoughts started swirling as he put her comments together. “Did Carmine do this to you?”

“Quadir, please,” she begged softly.

“Ima enjoy beating the fuck out of that nigga, I swear to God.”

“No, please. D-don’t say anything to him, it’ll only make shit worse.”

“Worse? Nah shorty, he ain’t gon’ be able to do worse from the grave. What the fuck he putting his hands on you like this for? Don’t bullshit me, Saige.”

“For going on a date with you,” she fidgeted with her fingers.

Q chuckled out of anger. “He’s a piece of fuckin’ work. That nigga at yo crib right now?”

“N-no. He left this morning.”

“Do you feel safe there?” He asked because he was concerned about her safety. When she didn’t respond, he nodded. “That’s all I needed to hear. Ima follow you to yo crib, you gon’ pack a bag and come stay at my house.”

“I c-can’t. I don’t want him to hurt me again, Qua,” she looked up at him.

He hated the fear that he saw in her eyes. He hated it even more that a Sartori boy put the fear there. “Aye, I got you. As long as you around me, I’ll never let a nigga hurt you, aight? What Carmine did to you ain’t cool. Especially since it was because of me.”

Saige stood there quietly as another stream of tears cascaded down her face. Quadir gently pulled her into a hug and comforted her. He couldn’t even remember why he’d come to Target in the first place. All that mattered to him now was making sure Saige was straight. The wild part was that he barely knew her, but he knew that he wanted to protect her. Specifically, from a nigga like Carmine. Out of the three Sartori brothers, Carmine was his least favorite. He dealt with him off the strength of the family name, but if Qua never had to see Carmine’s crazy ass again he’d be just fine.

Q knew that Carmine was a loose cannon and had the worst attitude of the three boys. Carmine walked around with some chip on his shoulder, and Q couldn’t wait to be the one to knock it off. He understood that going after a Sartori would have the mafia on his ass, but he didn’t care. Someone needed to teach Carmine a lesson about putting his hands on women, and Q figured there wasn’t anyone better than himself.

“Let’s go,” he instructed her after letting her go.

Hesitantly, she nodded and walked with him out of the store. Ironically, their cars were parked only a few spots away from each other. As promised, he followed her to her house that was twenty minutes away. He grabbed his pistol from under his seat and got out.

“You don’t have to come in,” she told him when he approached the door with her.

“Shorty, you pulled off on me at Tulu with a bag of food, which I wanted, by the way,” he jokingly said, forcing a small smile on her face. “If you think Ima let you go in here alone, you got me fucked up. Yo ass probably lock the door and not come back out. I learned my lesson with you, beautiful.”

Letting out a low giggle, Saige unlocked the door and let them inside. “It’ll just be a few minutes.”

“Take yo time, ma. Ain’t no rush.”

She nodded then slowly made her way up the stairs. Q decided to stay right by the door just in case Carmine’s ass wanted to pop up. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he sent Levi a 911 text and let him know that they needed to chop it up later. When he looked up, he saw Saige struggling to carry her large Gucci duffle bag down the stairs. He rushed up and grabbed the bag from her then helped her the rest of the way down.

“Have you been to the doctor?” He asked her as they walked out of the house together.

She shook her head while locking up her house. “No.”

“I’ll assess your injuries when we get to my house,” he assured her.

He placed her bag in the trunk of his car, helped her in then got in himself and pulled off. The car ride was filled with silence outside of the tunes from the radio.

“You really didn’t have to do this,” Saige finally broke the silence, halfway through the ride. “Especially since you see me as just a friend.”

He chuckled at her sarcasm. “I’m the type of nigga that always makes sure my friends straight. And, about that night, I apologize if I offended you. That wasn’t my intention. When I said I wasn’t the type of nigga you wanted taking your virginity, I meant that in the most respectful way possible,” he paused for a moment. “Saige, I don’t really date women because I’m busy as fuck. I don’t have time to give a woman my all. Your virginity is something special and should be given to someone who can make you a top priority. I know that I can’t do that, and that’s what I meant by that statement.”

“Oh,” she nodded and relaxed into the seat. “That makes sense now. Thank you for explaining that to me.”

“No problem. How’s Ramel doing? He healing okay?”

She cracked a full smile for the first time since they’d been around each other. “He’s doing great. That little boy doesn’t listen for shit. We tell him to take it easy, and he’s doing everything except taking it easy. He wants to run and play like he didn’t just have major surgery.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a kid,” Q chuckled. “The gravity of the situation isn’t real to them. All they know is that they feel a little better, and they want to get back to their normal lives.”

“That’s….that’s pretty much Ramel,” she took her phone out of her pocket then rolled her eyes.

“Is that Carmine?”

She placed her phone in her lap. “No.”

“Then who else got you rolling your eyes at your phone?”

“Nobody.”

When Qua saw her phone light up again, he quickly snatched it out of her lap before she even had a chance to pick it up. The initials SD flashed across the screen, but Q decided to answer anyway.

“Wassup?” He casually answered like it was his own phone.

“Please, give me my phone,” Saige quietly begged with her hand stuck out.

“Who the fuck is this?” Carmine’s voice came through.

Q smirked even though Carmine couldn’t see him. “The big bad wolf.”

“Qua?” Carmine asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Ding, ding, ding muthafucka. Since you like to put your hands on women, I want you to come see me about it,” he spoke authoritatively before hanging up and giving Saige her phone back.

“He’s going to fuckin’ kill me,” she shrieked, placing her head in her hands. “Fuck!”

“Aye,” he pulled into his driveway and shifted the gear into park. “I told you I had you, and I meant that. Carmine ain’t getting close to you again. Not as long as I can help it. I hope you don’t go back to him because if he did it once, he’ll do it again, and I need you to know that. I also need you to trust me when I say I got you.”

Saige nodded slowly and Q shut his car off. Hopping out, he rushed to her side of the car and helped her out then grabbed her bag out of the trunk.

“Your house is…absolutely breathtaking,” she complimented when they stepped inside his seven-bedroom castle.

“Thanks, beautiful. Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

Quadir gave Saige the grand tour of his home, excluding the medical suite. He didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about him or start asking too many questions. He examined her injuries and found nothing to be broken. She had swelling and bruises but nothing that wouldn’t heal over time.

“Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator. I have to run out real quick, but I’ll be back soon,” he let her know as they ended the tour in the kitchen.

“Wait, y-you’re leaving?”

“Yeah, but you’ll be safe here, I promise. Carmine has no idea where I live, and I have the best security here.”

“How long will you be?” She questioned with worry and fear oozing out of her eyes.

He rubbed the back of his neck because he felt bad that she was that damn scared. Carmine had really done a number on her, and he hated that for her.

“You know what? I’ll stay here. Get comfortable, let me make a phone call, and then we can just chill for the rest of the day.”

Saige nodded and Q dotted up the stairs to his bedroom. Pulling the French doors shut, he took his burner phone out of his sock drawer. He plopped down on his bed and placed a call to Levi.

“Yeah?” Levi answered on the second ring.

“I ain’t gon’ be able to make it out the crib right now, but I still need to chop it up wit you.”

“Nigga, you aight? The fuck you mean you can’t make it out the crib?”

Quadir laughed at his best friend and filled him in on the events that led to him not being able to leave the house.

“You know if we go at that nigga, we gon’ have the whole mafia on our heads,” Levi said after Q divulged his plan to kill Carmine.

“I’m already knowing, and I ain’t worried about it. We have friends in high places too. Plus, I know all the lil’ homies are strapped and ready for whatever.”

“You sure it’s a good idea to get yourself involved in a war while you’re legit?”

“Nigga, I’m hardly legit. The Italians are keeping me one foot in and one foot out. If we knock down that empire, I’m a free man. We have to go at this smartly, and we gon’ chop it up a lil’ more fa’ sho, but I just can’t leave shorty here right now,” Q let him know.

“That’s a bet. Get at me when you free again my boy.”

“Fa’ sho’,” Q ended the call and put the phone back in his drawer.

The only people that called that phone were the Italians anyway, and he knew they probably weren’t going to be calling now. It was indeed about to be a war, but Q wasn’t worried in the slightest. His nickname wasn’t Grim for nothing. He’d lay any nigga down if it meant protecting the fragile woman that sat in his living room. He might’ve not known her that well, but right was right and wrong was wrong, and Carmine was dead ass wrong.

Joining Saige downstairs, the two of them spent the rest of the day getting to know each other. It was Q’s only day off during the week, and he found that he thoroughly enjoyed kicking it with Saige. He learned so much about her, and though she was bruised, Q still thought she was so damn pretty.

By the end of the night when they were both ready for bed, Q despised the feelings that were sitting in his chest. It was like he had a strong attraction to Saige, but it was different than any other attraction he had for any other female. It wasn’t just a sexual attraction. He liked the way she thought, her outlook on life, and her sweet but fiery spirit. Everything about her was much different than the women he was used to dealing with. He had to keep reminding himself that she was a virgin, and that he was only going to hurt her in the long run.