Chapter 8
E'Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent
Jackson Memorial had started feeling a little too fucking familiar.
Three days in a row I'd pulled into the same parking garage, parked in damn near the same spot, rode the same elevator, and walked the same halls hoping somebody would finally tell me my cousin was ready to get the hell up outta there because hospitals wasn't my thing and never was.
I shut the driver's door of my Range Rover and adjusted the cuffs on my black button-down before locking it. Mike climbed out the passenger side while Kev slammed the back door behind him, stretching like he'd been riding for hours instead of twenty minutes.
"You know this nigga better be awake today," Mike muttered as we headed toward the entrance. "I'm tired of talking to somebody who can't talk back."
"He awake," I said, slipping my keys into my pocket. "The doctor called this morning and said they took most of the tubes out."
"Bout damn time," Kev mumbled. "Been laid up looking like a fucking science project."
I laughed under my breath. "Don't say no shit like that when we get upstairs."
"Why the fuck not?" Kev grinned. "That nigga would say it to me."
"He definitely would," I admitted with a simple head nod.
The three of us stepped through the revolving doors, and that blast of cold air hit us as people moved in every direction.
We made our way toward the elevators, and that's when somebody caught my eye. A nurse I’d never seen before crossed the hallway a few feet in front of us with a tablet tucked against her side.
She was a pretty little, brown-skinned thing too with a long ponytail swinging against the middle of her back every time she walked.
She wasn't rushing, but she wasn't wasting no time either.
Another nurse said something to her in passing, and she smiled before answering without ever breaking stride.
"Damn..." Kev mumbled beside me, low enough that only me and Mike heard him. "Jackson hiring different these days."
Mike laughed. "I know exactly which one you looking at."
"I wasn't hiding it."
Neither was I, and I ain't gone lie... she was fine without even begging for attention. She looked like the type that stayed busy and kept it moving, barely noticing three dudes walking the opposite direction.
I smirked to myself. "Y'all cut that shit out," I said, pressing the elevator button. "We ain't here for that."
Mike bumped my shoulder with his. "Says the one that looked first."
I shot him a look. "Yeah, I looked."
Kev laughed. "Exactly."
The elevator doors slid open before either one of them could keep talking, and we stepped inside. My mind left that hallway just as fast as we'd walked through it because right now, the only person I came to see was Marv.
The elevator dinged before the doors slid open onto the ICU floor.
Soon as we stepped out, the atmosphere changed.
Downstairs was loud with organized chaos but up here, everything felt slower and quieter.
The only sounds were the monitors beeping behind the closed doors, nurses talking in low voices, and the occasional squeak of rubber soles against the freshly waxed floors.
It was the kind of silence that made people whisper even when they didn't have to, they just didn’t want to be a disturbance.
I nodded at the receptionist behind the desk as we walked past. By the third day, damn near everybody on this floor recognized us.
Between me, Kev and Mike coming up there every day and the rest of my family rotating in and out, we'd practically become part of the staff.
Every single time I came, the females stared like they wanted to eat my dick off a bone, but I was never hear for all of that.
"Afternoon, Mr. Laurent," one of the older nurses greeted me with a smile.
I smiled back. "How he doing today?"
"A whole lot better than yesterday."
"I'll take that."
She nodded toward the hallway. "He's been asking about ya’ll all morning."
I chuckled to myself. "That's probably because he’s tired of looking at these four walls already. This shit is like a luxury prison."
"He definitely is." She laughed before looking over at Kev. "Just don't let him get too worked up. He's still got a long way to go."
Kev placed his hand over his chest like he was offended. "Me?" he asked. "I'm the calm one."
The nurse looked over at me. "He’s lying?"
I didn't even hesitate. "Bad."
She laughed and shook her head before getting back to the computer in front of her.
We continued down the hallway, passing room after room until I spotted Marv's number on the wall.
My hand stopped on the door handle for a second before I pushed it open.
Soon as I stepped inside, I could see most of the tubes were gone.
The oxygen cannula still rested beneath his nose, and the monitors continued doing what monitors do, but he looked more like himself.
He was still beat up as hell, with his shoulder wrapped up, and bruises scattered across his face and neck, with busted lips but he was alive and that alone was enough for me.
Marv turned his head toward the door, and the corners of his mouth formed into the weakest grin I'd ever seen him make. "Damn..." he rasped. "Look who finally decided to come see me."
I leaned against the foot of his bed and looked him up and down before shaking my head. "You ugly as fuck."
He laughed and immediately grabbed the side of his ribs. "Agh... damn."
"Told your dumb ass not to laugh," Kev said, dragging a chair over beside the bed.
Mike folded his arms and looked Marv over for another second. "I ain't gone lie..." he smirked. "You look like shit."
Marv rolled his eyes. "Fuck all y'all."
I stared at him thinking, yeah there he go.
That sounded more like my cousin. Marv shifted a little, trying to sit himself up a little higher before cursing under his breath.
Just watching him struggle was enough to tell me that bullet damn near tore his ass apart.
I reached over without saying nothing and hit the button to raise the bed instead.
He looked at me, nodded, then settled back against the pillow.
"Appreciate it fam," he muttered.
"Yeah," I said. "Don't get used to me being nice."
He smirked. "Fuck you."
"I was wondering when my cousin was gone show back up. Thought they replaced your ass with somebody polite."
Mike stayed leaned against the wall near the window with his arms folded.
Nobody said much for a second because we were all doing the same thing, looking him over making sure we wasn't missing nothing the doctors hadn't told us.
The swelling had gone down some since the first day, but he still looked like he'd gone twelve rounds with death and barely won.
"You scared Grandma," I finally told him.
His eyes drifted toward the ceiling. "I know."
"She damn near moved in this hospital."
"I know man, I heard." He replied looking regretful. If that was one thing we didn’t play about, it was Barbara Jean.
She loved her grands just as much as we loved her.
She raised us all to stick together although we gave her hell growing up, just some bad ass knuckle heads running the streets of Liberty City.
"You know she cussed me out?"
That made him laugh a little. "What she say?"
I shook my head. "Said if anything happened to you, it was my fault because I should've been watching you.
I told her I been done with this street shit.
" I responded with a lot of truth in it.
That dog for the hustle was just in me, but my family refused to leave the streets.
I was well respected and people knew what was up with me but this real-estate mogul shit for me, is where the real money is.
He smiled, but it didn't last long. "She always did blame you for everything."
I leaned back in the chair with seriousness behind my eyes. "Because she know you hardheaded."
"Nah..." he said with a tired grin. "She know you older."
Kev pointed between us. "I ain't jumping in that shit."
"Smart man," Mike chuckled.
The room settled down again. The joking had done what it was supposed to do and lighted it up, taking the edge off because we all needed that little laugh before getting into the reason I really came up there.
I pulled the visitor's chair closer to the bed, resting my forearms across my knees while looking him dead in his face.
"Aight." I said watching his smile disappear. "What happened?"
Marv let out a slow breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "I been trying to piece this shit together ever since I woke up."
"So piece it together." I told him meaning business.
He looked over at me. "I left the warehouse by myself."
I nodded for him to keep going.
"I made one stop like I was supposed to," He paused, squeezing his eyes shut for a second.
"Then after that everything happened fast as fuck.
I remember seeing a car pull up beside me and next thing I know, they started shooting.
I couldn't even tell you how many of 'em it was," Marv continued, staring past me like he was trying to watch the whole thing play back in his head.
"Two... maybe three. Hell, I don't know.
I just know bullets started flying, and I wasn't about to sit there and let them kill me. "
"So you shot back," I said.
"The fuck you think?" He looked at me like I asked the dumbest question on earth. "I ain't just finna let a muhfucka Swiss cheese me."
“Just making sure you ain’t gone soft on me. Keep going.”
"I hit the gas, they kept shooting, and I remember trying to lose 'em.
After that..." He frowned, with frustration all over his face.
"Everything start getting blurry. I remember getting hit.
I remember the steering wheel damn near slipping out my hand, and I remember crashing that muhfucka.
Everything after that feel like pieces instead of one whole memory. "