Chapter 3 Dominique ‘Dique’ Royal
DOMINIQUE ‘DIQUE’ ROYAL
Iwasn’t sitting down for shit. They had chairs lined up against the wall like this was some regular hospital visit, like people came up here to wait on good news and hold hands and be patient.
I wasn’t one of them people. I’d been walking this same hallway so long the rubber on my J’s probably knew the floor better than the fucking staff did.
Every time I passed that door where Carmen was at, I slowed down just a little without meaning to, like my body needed to confirm she was still in there and okay before I kept moving again.
My phone rang in my hand, and I already knew who it was before I even looked. Keondra had been calling nonstop since that shit hit the news. I let it ring one more time, then answered while I was still walking because if I stopped too long my mind was gone go somewhere I ain’t need it to go.
“What?” I snapped.
She came through the phone sounding all loud, talking fast, already halfway worked up. “Don’t ‘what’ me, Dique! I just seen the news and they talking about a shooting and Carmen name all over the damn screen. What happened? Is she okay?”
I slowed my steps down but I ain’t stop completely. I kept moving, just not as fast. “She ain’t get shot,” I told her. “Relax.”
“That is not me relaxing,” she shot back. “Why she at the hospital then? Why they keep saying her name like that? I don’t like how they saying it. That sound like some serious shit like she’s a target!”
I glanced toward the door again. I could see Dom through the little glass, sitting close to the bed, not moving much.
That alone told me everything about where his head was at.
He was just staring at her and the monitors.
My brother loved Carmen, but I could see the look in his eyes, he was in love with her looking at her how a husband looks at his wife.
“She went into shock,” I told her. “It was too much at once. They got her in there, she straight though and the baby straight too.”
Keondra didn’t say nothing for a second, then I heard her breathe out like she’d been holding it in.
“Oh my God… Amour right here keep asking me what’s wrong what’s wrong and I don’t even know what to tell her.
Kids always know when something is wrong with their mommy. I probably stressed my poor baby out.”
That made me stop for real this time. I had a daughter and I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if somebody played with her life. “She good, she okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, she fine,” Keondra said, softer now. “She just know something wrong. You know how she be. She keep looking at me like she trying to read my face.”
I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “Keep her in the house tonight. Don’t go nowhere, don’t have nobody pulling up. Just chill.”
“Dique,” she hissed, “Why you saying it like that? I can’t move around like I want to anyway without a damn shadow watching my every move.”
“I’m not saying nothing extra,” I replied, keeping my tone calm. “I’m saying be still. Let me handle what need to be handled and I’ll be there.”
She was quiet again for a second, then sighed. “Okay, but you better call me if something change. Don’t do that thing where you say everything good and then disappear Dique, cause I know how my baby daddy moves.”
“I got you.”
“And tell Carmen I said I’m praying for her.”
I almost smirked at that because Keondra don’t say shit like that unless she really feeling it, but I kept it to myself. “I will.”
“And Dique?”
“Yeah.”
“Be careful.”
I ended the call and slid my phone back in my pocket, then stood there for a second longer than I meant to.
It’s crazy how fast shit changed. One minute everything is regular, next minute shit is pure chaos in our world.
I pushed off the wall and started walking again.
The elevator dinged and I looked up automatically.
The doors opened and O’Shynn stepped off.
She didn’t ask nobody nothing. She came straight down the hallway like she already knew where to go, but I could tell by the way she was holding herself that she was forcing that calm face.
Her face was together, but her eyes wasn’t as still as they usually be.
Anybody else probably wouldn’t catch it, but I know my sister.
I stopped walking and met her halfway. “You straight?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she quickly said, already trying to move past me.
“That ain’t what I asked,” I said, turning with her instead of letting her brush me off.
She looked at me then, just for a second, then shifted her focus to the door. “Is she awake?”
“Yeah, she in and out but she good and the baby is too.”
That made her pause just enough for it to register. Her shoulders dropped a little, then she pulled herself back together like she remembered where she was and who was watching. “Dom in there?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She stepped up to the door and looked through that little glass window like she needed to see it herself before she went in.
Something besides this was up with O’Shynn but I couldn’t pinpoint it.
I leaned against the wall and watched her for a second, then glanced down the hallway when I saw Tone coming back up.
“We need to talk O,” I told her. I never got in her business but maybe I needed to start.
O’Shynn turned from the door, with a curious expression. “About what?”
Before I could even talk my phone started ringing again, but this time it wasn’t Keondra, it was Mama.
Candy D name lit up my screen, and I already knew what type of time she was on before I even answered.
If Keondra was worked up, Mama was about to be on a whole different level worse than she was earlier since she couldn’t get no answers.
I picked up and barely got the phone to my ear before she started.
“What the fuck is going on?” she snapped, loud enough that both Tone and O’Shynn looked at me.
“I turned on the TV and they talking about a shooting and Carmen name all over the damn news like she some type of headline. Where is she at? What happened? And why can’t I get Dom or O’Shynn on the phone? Why did you hang up on me earlier?!”
I pulled the phone away for a second and shook my head, then put it back to my ear. “Ma, chill.”
“Don’t tell me to chill,” she quickly cut me off. “Don’t do that! Tell me what happened. Is she okay? And don’t you lie to me either, Dique, I know how y’all be trying to water shit down.”
I glanced at O’Shynn and she already knew Mama was on the line. She mouthed, “What she saying?” but I just waved her off for a second.
“She straight,” I told Mama, keeping my tone respectful so she ain’t cuss my black ass out. “She at the hospital. She went into shock, but she good and your grandbaby is too.”
Ma got quiet for half a second, then I heard her let out a breath that sounded like it came from her soul. “Oh my God… I was about to get in the car and drive down there myself.” she gasped.
“You don’t need to do all that,” I said. “We got her.”
“Who the fuck shot at her?” she snapped right back, raising her voice again. “That’s what I want to know. Who felt comfortable enough to raise a gun at my daughter-in-law in the middle of the damn day?”
Did it matter what part of the day it was?
Was what I really wanted to ask, but she was already ready to cuss my black ass out.
That part almost made me smirk even though the situation was serious, because Mama didn’t play about Carmen.
That wasn’t just Dom’s wife to her. That was her daughter now, period.
“We handling it,” I informed.
“No, don’t give me that,” she came right back. “I’m not one of your little friends. Who did it?”
I rubbed my jaw and looked down the hallway again, letting a second pass before answering. “We got it, Ma. That’s all you need to know right now.”
She sucked her teeth loud as hell. “Mmm. That’s what I thought. Y’all already plotting something.”
O’Shynn shook her head like she was trying not to laugh, and even Tone looked away for a second. I focused back on ma. “Just stay at the house,” I told her. “We’ll come see you tomorrow.”
“I’m not going nowhere,” she said. “But you better keep me updated and tell Carmen I said she better not scare me like that again; I don’t got time for that.”
“I’ll tell her.”
“And Dique?”
“Yeah.”
“You better be careful too. All that moving around y’all do, don’t think I don’t know what come with it. Especially with your hot-headed ass. All I want is for my boys to make it out of that life.”
“I know ma, I know.” I told her.
She hung up before I could say anything else, and I just stood there for a second with the phone still in my hand before slipping it back in my pocket.
“She was going off?” O’Shynn asked.
I looked at her. “You already know.”
That got a small smile out of her, but it didn’t last long cause like I said, something else was on sister’s mind. Let me find out she was letting that football nigga stress her out and I was gon’ put belt to ass on that nigga.
The hallway got quiet again for a minute but shit still didn’t sound peaceful to me cause it felt like more of a waiting game than anything else.
A little while later, the elevator opened again and this time it wasn’t nobody from our side.
Kilo’s people stepped off and you could tell who was who immediately.
It was the Same kind of energy we carried, just different faces, and a different type of loyalty.
His mama was in the front with swollen red eyes with two niggas behind her who looked like they been holding it together since the news broke.
You could tell they was in the streets too.
They didn’t even look at us at first. They went straight toward the nurse’s station, asking questions, in low but tense voices.
It didn’t take long before they were pointed down the hall toward the side Kilo was on.
Dom stepped out of Carmen’s room when he saw them cause that’s the type of man he is.
He didn’t wait, didn’t send nobody else, and didn’t act like he was above stepping into that moment.
He walked straight to them and spoke first, keeping his voice calm like he always did like the Boss he was.
“He’s in surgery,” Dom told them. “They doing everything they can right now.”
Kilo mama looked at him like she was trying to read more than what he was saying. I could’ve told her that shit was pointless…nobody could really read Dom.
“He alive?”
“Yeah,” Dom answered. “He fighting.”
That was enough to keep her standing. One of the dudes stepped forward then. “We heard what happened outside. Who did it?” he asked. His long dreads hung down his back, and he had a mouthful of golds with tattoos on his face.
That question lingered in the air for a second.
I already knew what the answer was gone be before Dom even opened his mouth.
“We got it,” he told him real simple with nothing extra.
Ol’ boy actually looked like he could be Kilo’s brother, and he also looked like he wanted more, but he also knew better than to press it right there.
Not in a hospital, not in front of his mama, and because he knew he couldn’t go against the Miami King and win.
Dom reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Anything he need, it’s handled. Doctors, money, security, whatever. He made sure my wife ain’t get hit. That don’t go unnoticed.”
That changed something this time more like respect. Even in the middle of all this, that part mattered. Kilo’s mama nodded slowly, like she accepted that, even if she didn’t have all the answers she wanted.
“I just want my son to make it,” she said.
“He will,” Dom told her.
And the way he said it, it didn’t sound like hope. It sounded like a decision. They moved down the hall after that, and Dom stood there for a second longer before turning back toward Carmen room.
He looked at me and O’Shynn. “They keeping her overnight.”
I nodded. “You staying?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not leavin’ her here.”
That was expected. That was his wife. O’Shynn stepped up and looked at him for a second, then nodded too. “Call me if anything change.”
“I will.”
She looked back at the door one more time before stepping away, but she didn’t leave yet.
None of us moved for a minute. The night had finally slowed down, but it wasn’t even close to over.
Me though? I was done with the hospital for now.
I ran my hand over my face and let out a deep breath I ain’t even realize I was holding. “I’m about to slide,” I said.
Tone looked at me. “Where you going?”
“I need a minute. I been up here too long. I need to clear my head and my balls.”
O’Shynn gave me a look like she already knew what that meant. “Clear your head or go see Keondra?”
I smirked a little. “Both.”
She shook her head. “You stupid. You might as well just be with her.”
“Yeah, I’m stupid, but I also pay the cost to be the boss,” I shot back.
Truth was, I did need to get up out of there for a minute.
Not because I didn’t care, but because I cared too much.
That kind of pressure sat on you too long, you either gone do something smart or something real dumb, and I wasn’t in the mood to test which one it was gone be especially when Dom already called the move.
All I could think about was killing somebody, so I needed to go.
I looked at Dom one more time. “Call me if anything move.”
“I got you,” he said.
I nodded, then turned and walked toward the elevator, already pulling my phone out my pocket because right now? A blunt and Keondra didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. Wasn’t like it was shit else to do tonight, if Dom wanted us to wait, we wait.