Chapter 19
NINETEEN
I lied awake in Ever’s bed, fully clothed with my eyes trained on the circular motion of the ceiling fan. There was only one question on my mind, and I couldn’t wait until Ever came home to answer it.
Why did she flip like that? I’d been asking myself all day.
The woman I’d seen in front of my mother’s daycare was not the woman I’d been falling in love with over the last three months.
She was kind, sweet, and ambitious. The woman I saw earlier looked identical to her but wasn’t her.
This woman was mean and disrespectful. She’d disrespected my character and the relationship I had with one of the people that meant the most to me in this world.
To say that I was offended would be an understatement. However, I wanted to give Ever some credit. The tear residue on her cheeks and red eyes let me know that something more was going on. I simply needed her to tell me what so that I could help make the situation better.
I checked the time on my phone for the third time. It seemed to fly by, but still no Ever. With it being well after ten and me knowing that it only took twenty minutes to get to her place from her mother’s, I decided to try her line.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
“Hi, it’s Ever. Leave a message, and I’ll return your call when I’m free. Peace and blessings.”
My chest tightened as my gut began sending signals of distress. There hadn’t been a time I’d called Ever and gotten her voicemail. In fact, it was the first time I’d ever heard her voicemail. I didn’t know she had one.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
“Hi, it’s Ever. Leave a message, and I’ll return your call when I’m free. Peace and blessings.”
Sickness quickly overcame me as I stood to my feet and began pacing the floor.
With a hand over my forehead, I tried her phone again.
Maybe she… Maybe it’s dead . I couldn’t form a logical thought because the truth was that the sudden aches of my body told me exactly what I needed to know.
Something was wrong. I could feel it. I could feel her . Feel them .
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
Brrrrrrrrr.
“Yo?”
All hell broke loose in my head the second a nigga’s voice appeared on the line.
“Nigga, who the fuck is this?” I barked into my cell.
“Nigga, this Cane.”
“Okay, and what the fuck you doing with my bitc— my woman’s phone?
” I asked, spit particles flying from my mouth as I searched the room for my shoes.
Wherever the fuck this nigga was in the city, I’d be there in under ten minutes and that was a promise.
I could feel his bones breaking between my fingers as he began to answer my question.
“CANE. I know you’re seeing red right now, nigga, but I’m not a fucking opp.”
Slowing down once I located my shoes to put them on allowed me to really capture the voice on the other side of the line.
Cane wasn’t a dummy and would never test me.
I’d been feeding Cane since he was sixteen.
He was as loyal as they came. His only goal was getting to the money.
Everything else was bullshit to him. He had a bright future ahead of him if he continued moving the way he was.
“Fuck! Cane. What the fuck is going on? Where is Ever? Is she aight?”
“I don’t know, big homie. I pulled up on a nigga rocking her shit. She fucked up, bro. I hopped in her truck, and I’m on my way to the hospital with her.”
“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!”
Red, thick blood trickled down my knuckles as a result of the hole I’d punched into Ever’s bedroom wall. My heart felt like it had been ripped from my fucking chest as I began to struggle to breathe.
“Is she good?”
“Nah, big homie. I can’t even hold you.”
“FUCK!”
“I’m going as fast as I can. I’m taking her to Huffington Medical. That shit like three minutes away.
“Are the kids alright?”
“The kids?” he questioned. “What kids?”
“Two little girls. Are they not in the truck?”
“Nah. Wasn’t no kids in this bitch when I put her in. What kids, fam?” Cane began to panic as he continued to ask. “Kids, Luca? What kids?”
The revelation that my children had been snatched from Ever’s care had my blood boiling. I was halfway down the street on foot before I realized my truck would help me get to my destination a lot fucking faster. I doubled back into the parking lot and hopped in. As I started the truck, I explained.
“We have two daughters. They were on the way home with her.”
“I swear I didn’t see no fucking kids, man. That nigga wouldn’t have been able to pull off if I did. Kids, fam? This nigga got your fucking kids? Who is this nigga? Let me put this bitch to bed myself.”
“Biologically, they’re his,” I admitted, cringing at the thought. “Drop her off and put word out on the street. Dewayne Starks is his name. I got a million on his head. Bring him to me alive. This one is mine.”
“Say no more.” I heard the engine of Ever’s GLE roaring as Cane tried getting her to the emergency room.
It wasn’t surprising that Cane had noticed her in distress.
Her license plates read LUCA. I wanted everyone in the city to know that she was off limits, no matter where she was.
I also wanted them to know what they’d be getting themselves into if they ever laid a hand on her.
Obviously, Dewayne hadn’t gotten the message. He would, though. Soon enough.
“Wait. One more thing.” I choked off my own words.
“What’s up? Talk to me.”
“She’s pregnant, fam. Tell them she’s pregnant.” My voice hardened as it cracked from the overflow of emotions following the thought of losing my unborn child.
“Aight.”
I ended the call on the way to Huffington Medical. There wasn’t a stoplight or stop sign I gave a second thought. Everything was getting run to get to my baby. With blurry, tearful eyes, I dialed Lyric’s cell.
“Hello?” I could hear the sleep in her voice as she answered.
“Baby girl.” I wept, wiping tears from my eyes with my arm as I tried to steer carefully.
“LUCA?” I could hear ruffling in the background while I tried my hardest to get my shit together.
“I’m going back to jail, baby girl. I’m going to kill this nigga.”
“Luca. What’s going on?”
“He got my fucking kids, and he beat the shit out of Ever. I’m going to bend this nigga’s top the fuck back.”
“Luca. Where is Ever? Where are the girls?”
“Ever is on the way to Medical. I don’t know where they are, Lyric. This nigga got them!”
“I’m going to meet you at Medical, and I’m calling Laike. Stay on the phone.”
There was a brief silence before she returned to the line.
“Big bro!” Laike hollered. “What’s up?”
“This nigga has to die, Laike.” I couldn’t control the parade of wet tears that hit my face each time I wiped them.
In my thirty-six years of living, I couldn’t recall a time where I’d shed one.
Not even as a kid. Nothing, and I mean nothing, ever bothered my spirit enough to bring me to tears.
Life was going to happen regardless and that’s how I’d always lived mine.
For every action, there would be a reaction.
For every issue, there was a solution. For every move, there would be a consequence.
It was plain and simple, black and white with me.
Always had been. Not even cuffs locked on my wrist after I’d pushed Chauncey’s top back affected me enough.
I sat and I waited on the police’s arrival and made sure that nigga was dead a few times before I called them to come pick his stupid ass up off the ground.
When I was sentenced to ten years, I didn’t bat an eye.
I’d done my dirt and was ready to lie down to get my shit over with.
“Yes. Yes he motherfucking does!” Laike agreed, pure emotion evident in his tone as well.
“Find my girls, Laike.”
“I’m already on it. Cane just hollered at me. He’s on the way to me.”
“Tell that nigga I got him.”
“No payment necessary. This nigga heated he let the nigga leave with the kids. He said this one is on the house.”
“I’m pulling up. Lyric, get up with her moms. Tell her no police.”
“I’m on my way. Be there in five minutes.”
We ended the call simultaneously as I exited my truck.
I cleaned my face with the bottom of my shirt as I rushed into the emergency exit.
Beds lined the walls of the hall that I walked down.
I searched every bed that was out in the hallway but came up empty-handed.
They’d all been brought in by paramedics.
“Ever Sinclair,” I told the receptionist before she could even ask if she could help me.
She began pecking on the computer at her desk.
“I’m not sure what the last name is but there was someone just brought in by that name.
She was just rushed to the back. There’s a team working with her now, but she can’t have a visitor just yet.
You’ll need to give them at least thirty minutes and then I’ll give you the room number to the one they’re going to put her in.
“Appreciate that.”
As much as I wanted to protest and demand to see her immediately, I knew that the more attention the staff put on me the less they’d be able to give to Ever.
I wanted all hands on deck when it came to her care.
I could wait thirty minutes and I would wait.
I took a seat in the area designated for seating and released a sigh.
Dear God. It’s been a while, but I need You, my nigga . I began to pray with my hands clasped together in front of me.
Lyric, Ever’s mother, and her stepfather sat next to me as we waited patiently for the thirty-minute minimum to elapse.
Silence surrounded us all, everyone in complete disbelief of the situation.
Aside from checking in with Laike, I hadn’t said a single word.
For what? I didn’t have shit to talk about.
If it wasn’t Ever that I was talking to, I wouldn’t be talking.