Chapter 7 #2
I was reluctant to let her hand go. When I did, I didn’t like the feeling, so I watched her out the door while she stood in the hall.
“You know who shot you?”
“Nope, but the body is in the parking lot of my club. I was on my way to check on things when I heard the shot and felt it.” I looked down at my side before my eyes went back to Caya standing in the hall.
“Why the fuck didn’t you lead with that?” He had his phone to his ear within seconds.
I shrugged, eyes still on Caya. I was so stuck on this woman, so obsessed with everything about her. I talked shit about the type of man I was becoming. Something inside of me broke and that wall I kept reinforced for years was crumbling.
I didn’t know who my brother called, but when he got off the phone, he was staring at me seriously before he spoke. “Ain’t no body in your parking lot.”
“No shit, they probably moved it.”
“No yellow tape or anything, Rennix. Who you got beef with?” he asked. I could feel his eyes while mine remained on Caya.
“Hell if I know. Now you know why I shouldn’t be staying here tonight.” I cut my eyes back to him.
“Then you ain’t,” he muttered, then turned to leave the room. Seconds later, my baby reentered.
“Y’all are intense.”
“That ain’t me. That be him and Rem. Ol’ angry asses. I’m cool.”
“For somebody who just got shot, you are.” Sadness settled into her features, making me feel like shit.
I didn’t know why but I had never feared death.
I welcomed it with the mindset of if it was my time, then it was my time.
Tonight though, something happened. Tonight I realized that in death I wouldn’t have her, and that rocked me to my core.
“Yo, stop worrying about it. I’m good. Now what did Cylah say about keeping Adonis?”
“That she already intended to keep him and I didn’t have to rush back.”
I nodded and looked up just in time to see G walking back into the hospital room, seemingly deep in thought.
“Aight, they’re gonna release you, but you can’t do shit strenuous and you gotta take all of those fucking meds. Don’t filter anything out because you need all of it.”
“Come over here with me.” I looked up from the couch at Caya standing in front of the window, looking out at the sun setting.
“Why do you spend so much time at my house when you have this view?” She sipped from the teacup in her hand and looked back at me.
“’Cause it just be me in here.”
“When you bought it, it was just you, right? Out here damn near in the woods with a whole driveway.” She turned and moved toward me.
“Yeah and I was cool with that. Ain’t know no other vibe.”
“What changed?”
“Family. You… Adonis. I used to fuck with the silence, waking up to just myself out here. Then I spent a night at my brother’s house.
The twins and their sounds didn’t annoy me, it felt necessary.
Their spot felt lived in, like memories resonated there.
Then I stayed at your spot, and something so simple as hearing you snore like a pig created a need in me.
Even that morning when I was up making breakfast with Lil G did something for me.
When I came back here, it felt inhumane, like I was isolated, like this wasn’t a home but instead a place I used to put up walls and keep myself in. ”
“Do you think you put walls up because of your mother?” she asked, climbing on the couch and maneuvering to find her comfort while trying not to hurt me.
“Ion know. I never thought about it that way. Lowkey I probably do. Growing up there was so much chaos unless we went to our grandmother’s spot.”
My head found her lap while she massaged my neck and head. “I feel that.”
A comfortable silence filled the space.
“So am I to assume you want kids?”
“Didn’t at first, but yeah I’ll go for a three piece including the one I already got.”
“The hell you mean the one you already got? Rennix, don’t play with me.” Her hand stopped massaging my head and neck because she was ready to spaz.
“I got you, which means I got him. So calm your hostile ass down before you fuck up the moment,” I warned, squeezing her thigh and closing my eyes.
“Oh.”
“How many more you want?” I questioned.
“How do you know I want more?”
“’Cause I want more, and you ain’t going nowhere.”
I felt her eyes, so I opened mine, and sure as hell she was staring down at me. “How do you know any of that, Rennix?”
“Because I do. You do too, you just gotta stop fighting progress and let yourself fall with me, baby. I ain’t gonna hurt you.”
“How do you know that? How do we know anything when nothing in this life is promised?”
“Probably ain’t, but I’m promising you that I ain’t gonna hurt you. I ain’t never gave you a reason to doubt me, but every reason to carry my words with the highest trust. Let me fulfill you, baby. Just like you do for me.”
She was smiling so hard I had to chuckle. Of course she had me spewing this corny shit. “I guess I can do that. Now don’t make me all these promises and fuck up. I’m holding you to every promise you make.”
I nodded, finding myself more comfortable and in less pain, clutching her thigh like it was a pillow. I didn’t know when I fell asleep, but we were dead asleep when I felt my phone ringing under me.
I found it and saw Reminisce was calling and it was four in the morning. I answered, looking up at her before answering.
“Yo.”
“I’m on my way in, bitch. You up?” he asked, voice filled with the type of concern I knew filled him. He was about to be on that hovering shit, I could feel it.
I moved slowly, feeling like I’d been hit by a fucking car rather than a bullet. Once I was on my feet, I leaned down and shook Caya. She stirred in her sleep, speaking gibberish.
“Get up and go to bed, baby.”
“Fifteen more minutes,” she groaned, not studdin’ shit I said.
“Just go get in the bed, Caya.”
Finally, she sat up and wiped sleep from her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Four. I’m about to spit with Rem for a minute, then we can go back to sleep.”
She shook her head. “You know I gotta get back to the city to get Adonis and I have two heads. I gotta get a rideshare.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to be without her. I was still very much fucking attached at the hip. “Lemme grab some stuff and we can leave by six. That’s cool with you?”
“No, because you need to rest, not drive back to the city and be moving around.”
“I’ma rest at your spot while you do them heads.”
She sucked her teeth. “You’re so hardheaded.”
“He damn sure is, but we all just learned to accept it.” Reminisce’s voice filled my living room.
My eyes finally parted from Caya and landed on my twin. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world. He was carrying the fear of almost losing me and not being close enough to act, true Reminisce shit.
Before Caya could exit the room, Rem gave her a side hug. When it was just him and me, he walked over to the couch and took a seat. “Sit down, Rennix.”
“I am, it’s just too fucking hard to get up. I never realized how low this fucking sofa is.” I glared at the couch I loved at one point in disdain.
He chuckled, rubbing his hand down his face. “I ain’t had a lick of sleep. G called me and I was on a plane less than thirty minutes later. I was on pins and fucking needles wondering what the fuck happened. I knew you were alright, but I had to see it, to make sure you were good.”
“Shit happened so fast, man. I was on my way in and felt that shit. I don’t know who shot me, but I know I dropped them. G said there is no body or yellow tape. I ain’t harpin over it, but that doesn’t sit well with me.”
“You sure you dropped them?”
I nodded.
“Then that means whoever shot you wasn’t out there alone.”