Chapter Sixteen
Brichelle “Brick” Walker
One Month Later
“You have been reviewing my security tapes, my bank ledgers, and my member logs for a month you still aren’t any closer to wrapping up this investigation?
” I asked Agent Michelle angrily as I rubbed my temples and handed her the envelope with all the documents inside.
Since I had agreed to help the FBI with their investigation, every week I met Michelle and Agent Harris at the justice building to give them audit information about my gym.
I still had no idea who was scamming my members out of money and creating fake identities with their information and no matter how much I begged Michelle, she wouldn’t tell me.
She said some bullshit about official investigation protocols, but I knew that she was just trying to keep me from warning my brother that the police were after him.
Little did they know I had already cried my tears and come to terms with what Cozart had done.
He deserved whatever he had coming to him for using a business that our father built for us with his blood, sweat, and tears as a way to steal from innocent people.
It would take some of them years to rebuild their credit and financial situation after being victims of identity theft and fraud.
I had protected him from everything and everyone, but this was his own doing, and I couldn’t protect him from himself.
“We almost have enough evidence for an airtight case, so it won’t be much longer.
We are just trying to dot out i’s and cross our T’s.
This scammer is a crafty motherfucker who will snake their way out of anything, so we have to have our shit together.
We can’t leave any room for error,” Michelle said.
That was another thing she did when she spoke on the scammer, she never used genders and always referred to him or her as them or they.
I was sick of these games and ready for all of this shit to be over.
“You are rubbing your head again, do you have another headache? You need to get that checked out to make sure everything is ok,” Michelle told me.
I caught her doing that a lot, trying to be my friend as if she hadn’t been lying to me about who she was for months.
I agreed to help with the investigation because I felt partly responsible that my gym was being used to scam people, but I didn’t fuck with her sneaky ass at all.
The sooner she could get the scammer out of my gym and out of my hair, the sooner she could take her ass back to wherever FBI agents work when they weren’t undercover pretending to be someone else.
“Everything is fine, see you at work tomorrow.” I dismissed her and turned to walk out of the building.
How I was feeling was none of her concern and I didn’t want her to act like it was.
I walked to the car and got inside, then exhaled deeply, and lay my head back on the seat.
I didn’t like Michelle, but she had a point.
I needed to figure out what was going on with me and where these constant headaches were coming from.
I pulled my phone out of my purse and made an appointment with my primary care physician through my insurance app.
My doctor had an appointment available for the end of the week; I accepted and switched from the app to my call log. I dialed Zumo’s number and it rang twice before he answered, “How far away are you?” He questioned before saying hello.
“Damn hey. How are you doing?” I smirked as I rode through downtown Atlanta heading over to the interstate.
“You’ll find out how I’m doing while I’m eating your pussy.
Get here quickly before I come and find you,” Zumo retorted causing me to laugh loudly.
Since the night he came over and consoled me, he and I had been inseparable.
Even though I signed an NDA with the FBI, Zumo was the only person who knew about the investigation.
I didn’t tell him that Michelle was an agent and she was undercover, but I did tell him that someone that worked for me was scamming my members out of money.
He had been there for me through this process, and I didn’t know what I would have done without him.
I decided to let him take care of me and he hadn’t let me down.
I gave him a key to my place, and he gave me a key to his place.
Every night we were at each other’s house having good sex and sleepovers.
“Pussy is on the menu for you, and I know it’s your favorite dessert but I’m starving. What are you in the mood for tonight for dinner?” I questioned as I weaved through traffic.
“I’m going to cook for you, it was supposed to be a surprise that you would see when you made it home, but now you know,” he admitted and I smiled so hard my cheeks began to hurt.
He was the sweetest man I had ever met, and he made me feel like a high school girl with her first crush.
Before I could say anything, my phone beeped and it was my brother on the other line.
I rolled my eyes and ignored the call, I had been ignoring Cozart’s calls a lot lately.
I had been putting on a good front at the gym so I wouldn’t sabotage the FBI’s case, but I was pissed at my younger brother, and it was harder to fake it with him than with anyone else so I steered clear of him and pretended to be annoyed with him so I wouldn’t have to talk to him regularly.
A few seconds later, the other line beeped again, and it was Cozart. He usually didn’t call back-to-back something had to be wrong.
“Hold on for a second baby, this is my brother,” I told Zumo as I clicked to the other line.
“Yes Cozart,” I answered and rolled my eyes.
“It’s Pops… get to Grady Memorial now. He had a heart attack. That’s all the information the nurse gave me. She said she was able to find my number as the last called contact in his phone,” my brother said but I couldn’t hear anything he said after my father and a heart attack.
“I’m on my way,” I said as I ended the call in his face and clicked back over to Zumo.
“Hey baby, is everything ok?” He questioned.
“It’s my daddy. He’s had a heart attack.” I cried as I got off the nearest exit thankful that I hadn’t made it too far from downtown.
“Where is he? I’ll meet you there?” Zumo fired off questions back-to-back. Tears ran down my face as I processed what had happened.
“Please Lord, I lost my mommy I can’t lose him too.” I cried as the tears blurred my vision. My hands were shaking; my heart was beating so fast I felt like I had been running on the treadmill. It became hard to swallow.
“I can’t breathe Zumo,” I struggled to speak and my tear felt heavy.
“Baby, listen to me you have to calm down. You are panicking and you don’t know if he’s ok.
Your daddy is going to be fine. Nothing is going to happen.
He’s not going to die. Please pull over and share your location with me I’m coming to you now baby I’m getting in the car.
” Zumo told me, but it sounded like my ears were filled with water and his voice was muffled.
“I can’t lose him,” I said as my eyes got heavy and my head felt like it was about to explode. I let go of the wheel and clutched my head in both hand dropping the phone from my hands. I heard the loud crash, but I didn’t feel anything and I couldn’t see anything but darkness.
When I opened my eyes, the lights were bright. I was in a hospital bed. I looked to the left, and Zumo was sitting in a chair with his right leg shaking uncontrollably. I tried my best to sit up but my lower back was killing me.
“Daddy,” I called out weakly. I felt like I had barely whispered because my throat was so sore. It had to be loud enough because Zumo heard me and his eyes went wide with relief.
“THANK GOD YOU’RE WOKE BABY,” he stood up from his chair and walked over to me quickly. He began planting kisses all over my face, my eyes, and my nose. He rubbed my hair gently, and I closed my eyes and rested my head against his palm. He was truly becoming my safe space.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again, you almost gave me a heart attack trying to get to you,” her murmured as he rested his head on top of mine and held me in his arms.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t control it. One minute my hands were on the wheel, and the next minute I was losing control. Is daddy ok?” I asked him sadly as my hands began to shake.
Before he could answer, a nurse and doctor walked into the room together.
“Hi Ms. Walker, how are you feeling?” The doctor asked me as he walked over to me, on the opposite side of the bed, and shone a flashlight in my eyes. I winced from how bright the light was and placed my hand over my eyes.
“Sore as hell, but alive,” I griped.
“You can say that last part again because you were incredibly lucky young lady. You got into a head on collision with another vehicle, and you have a few minor bruises but no major injuries. There was one unexpected finding from your emergency evaluation,” the doctor smiled at me.
My eyes went wide with fear.
“This is about those headaches, isn’t it. I knew it was a brain tumor that’s why I didn’t want to get it checked out,” I groaned as tears formed in my eyes. My father had a heart attack, I had a brain tumor, and my little brother was a scammer; we were cursed.
The doctor chuckled before shaking his head, “You don’t have a brain tumor Ms. Walker, but based on your hormone levels, you’re approximately six weeks pregnant,” the doctor smiled at me.
“WHAT!” ZUMO and I yelled at the same time as we looked at the doctor and looked back at each other then looked at the doctor and looked back at each other again.
“Nah, I think I have a brain tumor doctor it’s the only logical explanation. Maybe that’s what’s messing with my HCG levels,” I argued.
“Ms. Walker, you don’t have a brain tumor, you are pregnant,” the doctor repeated then he patted my knee and left the room.
It felt like he took the air with him as I struggled to breathe.
Zumo walked back to his seat and plopped down, like what he had heard had made it difficult for him to stand up.
“Call that doctor back in here and tell him he can’t just drop a bomb and leave like that.
We need to know what some options are,” I exhaled in annoyance then immediately went into crisis management mode.
There was no reason to sulk in the problem.
Zumo and I were grown, we didn’t always use protection, and I wasn’t on birth control.
Shit happened; we just had to handle it.
“What do you mean other options? You don’t need any other options. We need a little time to process this, but we’ll work through it,” Zumo assured me. My head snapped so hard in his direction I felt like my neck was about to pop out of place.
“We absolutely need other options. Time is the last thing we need. A baby grows more by the day and after a certain number of weeks you can’t terminate a pregnancy. We need to handle this now, like tomorrow.” I looked at him like he was crazy.
“Brick relax,” Zumo said as he placed his head in his hands.
“I can’t relax. The FBI is crawling so deep in my ass if I fart, they want to know if I ate Chipotle.
Somebody’s stealing from my members. I don’t know if my brother’s involved.
My daddy almost died today. My life is falling apart and now this.
” I twisted my face up like I bit into a Cry Baby piece of gum.
“I understand you’re scared,” Zumo retorted as he stood up and walked back over to console me.
“I’m not scared, I’m fixing the situation because that’s what I do.
I fix shit. Now call that doctor in here so he can point me to some options.
I already set up an appointment with my primary care provider this Friday and wait until I tell her that the headaches were from a baby.
I didn’t even realize I missed my period.
Lord, I don’t know if I’m coming or going.
” I rambled nervously as I looked down at my hands.
“Brick I don’t agree with this,” Zumo told me as he stared at me eye to eye.
“Are you serious? This is my decision.” I retorted not believing that he had the audacity to feel like he had a say in what I did with my body.
“You’re right, it’s your decision, but it’s mine too.
Listen when I lost my wife, there was nothing I could do to save her or my daughter.
I never even got the chance to meet my baby girl.
I won’t ask you to keep this baby because it is your body, but if you choose to end our child’s life, please don’t ask me to live with that.
I don’t want any part in it,” he told me as he backed away from the hospital bed.
“If anybody should understand why I want to end this pregnancy it’s you. If your wife hadn’t gotten pregnant, she would still be here,” I spat angrily.
“I know you are going through a lot and I’m right here to help with every piece of it but won’t support you killing my flesh and blood.
” Zumo kissed me on the forehead and walked away from the bed.
When he made it to my room door, he grabbed the knob and looked back, “Your father is awake and stable, your brother called and told me to give you the news. I told you he would be ok,” he smiled sadly at me before turning the knob and walking out.
I would have rather he yelled at me, cursed me out, or told me to get the fuck out of his life instead of peacefully ripping my heart into a million tiny pieces with a forehead kiss and a sad smile.