36. Azalea
36
Azalea
I hate hospitals.
And I was still kinda high.
But I pushed through and drove Isaac to Summerville General, because that’s what you do for the person you love.
He walked right up to his brother, who I hadn’t seen since that first day we met in his office.
“T, what’s goin’ on, man?”
He turned to us, his eyes as red as mine. “She was having severe pain when she woke up, apparently.”
“How’d she get here?”
“Called herself an ambulance. She said she tried all three of us and couldn’t get anybody.”
“Fuck. Where’s she at? Can we see her?”
“They said soon.” His eyes finally shifted over to me. “Nice to see you again, Officer.”
I grimaced inside. “You, too. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
He nodded and put his eyes back on his brother. “Lemme talk to you right quick.”
Isaac squeezed my hand. “The family’s over there. If you wanna wait for me to introduce you—“
“It’s fine. Go do what you need to do. I’ll be okay. And your mom is gonna be okay.”
I made my way over to the waiting area. Two sets of eyes belonging to two beautiful women followed my every move. I sat across from them and gave a sympathetic smile, hoping I wasn’t intruding.
The one holding the baby said, “You’re with Isaac?”
“Yes. I’m Azalea. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Savannah.” She smiled warmly. She had a very nurturing, inviting energy. “I’m Taurus’ wife. This is Christopher. And this is Electra.”
“Victor’s fiancée,” the other woman said. Her energy was a bit colder. More polished.
After a few moments, they exchanged a look, then Electra said, “I just have one question.”
I lifted my eyebrows.
“Are y’all together together?”
“I’m his girlfriend.”
Savannah let out a sigh. “Thank God!”
“Hallelujah!” was Electra’s response.
“Wow. What’s that about?”
“Sorry, but we worry about him.” Savannah put the baby on her shoulder and patted his back. “He’s the youngest and the…”
“Wildest,” Electra finished. “Nobody likes to get on him too much, so they save their venting for us.”
“Giiiiiiiiirl…” Savannah trailed off. “This one keeps me up enough every night, but when Isaac gets to acting up, my husband gets all grumpy and wants to fuss all night—“
“ Gets grumpy?” Electra laughed. “No, but that’s real, because it’s the same with Vic. Every time something happens, he’s upset and I have to walk on eggshells until things get better.”
I tried to keep a neutral expression while I processed this, but inside, I was irritated. I wanted to shout about what a good man Isaac was, and that they just didn’t understand him, but I knew all they would hear would be my man, my man, my man , and that wouldn’t serve anybody. So, I just sat there and took it.
“They love him,” Savannah said. “But they don’t know how to reach him. Seeing you here gives me hope—“
“ Us . Gives us hope,” Electra corrected.
“From what we hear, you’re good for him.”
I lifted my chin. “We’re good for each other.”
Electra smiled. “He’s better now. It seems like it took him months to warm up to me.”
“Me too,” Savannah agreed.
I chuckled. “Honestly? Same.”
“He’s been through a lot,” Savannah said. “Which, I’m sure you know. The thing with his dad.”
“So basically, what we’re saying is that we’re glad you’re here.”
“Thanks.” I cleared my throat and stared at the floor, unsure of how I fit in here. A wife, a fiancée, and…a new girlfriend, who didn’t really understand all the dynamics.
“How did y’all meet?”
It never crossed my mind that we’d have to answer that question. It should have, but I was too caught up in the whirlwind, which was why I was a hair away from losing my job now.
“You don’t know?”
They shook their heads.
“I was his…probation officer.”
I braced myself for the awkwardness, but nothing prepared me for the brutal truth.
“Um, I’m pretty sure that’s against the law,” Electra said. Straight, no chaser. “And it’s unethical. There’s a power differential there that makes this…” she trailed off.
It stung. It really did. I swallowed thickly and searched for something that might make this all sound a little bit better.
“Did this start while you were—while he was…under you?” was Savannah’s question. “Because…it just seems like he’d be…vulnerable in this dynamic.”
“I…” I trailed off. “It was—“
Isaac’s presence engulfed me as he settled into the hard hospital chair to my right.
It was subtle, but the two women stiffened and straightened up at the same time.
“Yall have something y’all wanna ask me?” His eyes moved back and forth between them. “Go ahead.”
“We were just asking how y’all met.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m supposed to believe neither one of my brothers mentioned that part to y’all when they were pillow talking?”
They didn’t respond.
“If you must know, I pressed her. Hard. Because I wanted her. She denied me, because she didn’t wanna cross a line, and then she transferred me at my request. Nobody took advantage of me. I’m a grown ass fucking man.”
Electra leaned forward. “We didn’t mean—“
“You didn’t mean to ask questions you already know the answer to? Ain’t nobody stupid over here. You ain’t gotta question her. She don’t need to be hazed. This ain’t Alpha Delta Sigma or whatever the fuck. She’s here because I want her here. That’s all you need to know.”
“Okay. Damn.” Savannah rolled her eyes. “I thought Taurus was the mean one.”
“And I thought you were gon’ put that baby on a diet, but there he is, still being big.”
“Isaac!” I said, looking at him in shock.
Strangely enough, Savannah burst out laughing, and Electra quickly followed suit. I felt like I was missing something, but Isaac’s arm around me made me forget my insecurities in the moment and relax into him.
“I apologize,” Savannah said to me. “I was being a little messy, although I do care about your mean boyfriend.”
Electra nodded. “Same, sis.”
Isaac scoffed. “Oh, you care, huh? Not enough to send me one of them plates your husband be braggin’ about though.”
Savannah’s eyes went wide. “I’ve sent you several! Barbecue chicken, lamb, catfish, lasagna. I just thought you were eating them and not saying thank you.”
“Savannah Jackson.” He shook his head. “Your husband has never given me a single plate.”
“Wow.” She thought about it for a minute. “So, he’s been eating both of y’all’s plates for lunch this whole time.”
“Now do you see why I say he ain’t shit?”
She burst out laughing again. “Well, he’s nice to me .”
Isaac chuckled at that.
“And Isaac, since you got jokes about my child, you can hold him while I go to the ladies room.”
She plopped the baby in Isaac’s lap before he had a chance to protest. He was an adorable little chunk. I immediately smiled and cooed at him.
“You want kids?” Isaac asked.
“Eventually.” I made a kissy face at Christopher, who rewarded me with a drooly smile. “Do you?”
“Eventually.”
“Awww.”
We looked up at Electra, who was listening intently with absolutely no shame.
“What?” she said. “Yall are cute.”
Christopher chose that moment to spit up on Isaac’s t-shirt. He held him up in front of him and looked him in his big brown eyes.
“This is because I called you fat, isn’t it?”
The two smiled at each other like they had an understanding, and it was the cutest thing me and my ovaries had ever seen.
“I’ma go clean up. Be right back.”
As soon as he left, Electra leaned in closer. “You okay? We weren’t hazing you. We were just being messy.”
“It’s okay. Yall aren’t even totally wrong.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m suspended from my job as we speak.”
“Over Isaac? How’d they find out?”
“Long story involving my ex and an anonymous phone call.”
Savannah returned just then. “Where’s my baby?”
“He spit up,” I said.
“Girl, you missed it.”
Yeah, Electra was the messy one, alright.
While she caught her up, I zoned out for a second and allowed myself to wonder how the investigation was going. They’d be calling my boyfriend to testify on the record about my behavior, and the absurdity of the whole thing made me ache with regret. But was I willing to give up Isaac? Not in a million years.
“What are you gonna do?”
Savannah’s question brought me back to the present.
“I have no idea. I love my job. I can’t imagine losing it, but then again, I took the risk.”
“Well, this one won’t understand that. She’s a Real Housewife of Summerville,” Electra said, pointing at Savannah, who returned the sentiment with a playful elbow to the side. “But I get it. My job is everything.”
“He just kind of made me fall for him…through sheer force of will or something.”
They both used every muscle in their necks to nod hard at that.
“I couldn’t resist him.”
“These Jackson brothers,” Electra said. “There’s something about them.”
“Right?” I shook my head. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if there’s anything to do. I have to have him.”
“Okayyyyyyy.” Savannah shivered like she was having a flashback. “I know that feeling, girl. Whew. First time in my life I ever craved a man.”
“Like…” Electra trailed off with stars in her eyes. “I can’t even describe it. That man be trying to kill me. And I like it.”
“Okay, but does he ever—“
“Here, take this boy before he throws up on me again.”
We quickly broke our huddle, which I hadn’t even realized we’d formed, and shut our mouths as Isaac handed the baby off to his mother.
“The doctor called us back,” he said to me. “You good?”
“Yes, go. I’m fine.”
He stared down at me, put a hand on my cheek, and bent to kiss me. It was just a quick peck, but he put a little extra on it at the end, giving my bottom lip a soft nibble with his. I don’t know if it was for their benefit, or mine, but I think we all enjoyed it just the same.
I watched him swagger away, lowkey ashamed to be turned on while sitting in the hospital waiting on word of his sick mother.
“Chiiiiiiiile.”
I turned back to two grinning faces, hoping they couldn’t tell that my composure exited when my man did.
The guys came out together a few minutes later, joining us in the hard hospital chairs.
“How is she?” Savannah said.
Vic shrugged. “From what we can tell, it’s some woman stuff.”
Electra rolled her eyes. “This man has a master’s degree, y’all.”
Taurus scoffed. “So do I, and I don’t know what the fuck the doctor was talking about, either.”
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s called ovarian cyst,” Isaac said quietly. “And it’s not fatal, thank God.”
I put my hand on his back and rubbed him gently, feeling his body releasing the fear he’d been holding since he got that phone call. I wanted to hold him, but that would have to wait.
“She has to have surgery, though. Tomorrow.”
“I need to get the baby home, but I can come back,” Savannah said. “I’ll see if my mom can keep him.”
“I can bring you some clothes back up here if you wanna stay,” Electra said.
While they talked amongst themselves, Isaac put a hand on my knee and said the last thing I expected or wanted to hear.
“She wants to meet you.”