Chapter 46 Trooper
Trooper
“So what we need to do?” Carlos asked as soon as I told him everything Sophie had told me.
“Nothing, yet. After I know her and the baby are straight and I get them home, I’m killing that muthafucker.”
“Aight, I’m down. Just let me know what you need.”
I smiled and Carlos laughed like he was reading my mind. I didn’t need a gotdamn thing, but I also understood he knew that.
“Shit, I just wanna be there. Sophie’s my people now too, so fucking with her is like fucking with me. I know you got it covered.”
“We’ll talk after I get her home.”
It wasn’t until then that I remembered the message I had from Story.
It was strange enough that he had called me, and even more strange that he’d given me a different number to call him.
He only had access to the phones I got in there for him and the number he gave wasn’t one I recognized, so I pulled out my phone to call him.
“Hey, son. Everything okay? I’ve been calling all night and you didn’t answer,” Story rattled off as soon as he heard my voice. I could tell he was concerned.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just dealing with some bullshit. What’s up with you, though? What number is this?”
“Mine, I need to see you though? Where are you?”
“You need to see me? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just tell me where you are.”
“The hospital. I can’t come out there right now because—”
“The hospital? Why the hell you at the hospital, Troop?”
“It’s Sophie.”
“Sophie? Which hospital? We’re on our way.”
We’re on our way? What the fuck did I miss?
“What’s wrong with Sophie, Sinclair?” I heard a feminine voice say in the background. Now I was really confused as to what was going on.
“Where the fuck are you?” I questioned, getting irritated.
“In Manhattan. I’ll explain when I get there. What hospital?”
“Bellevue.”
“Is she okay?”
“She is now.”
“And the baby?”
“They’re both good.”
“Aight, we’ll be there within the hour,” Story said then hung up.
“Yo, what’s that all about?”
“Story is out and he’s on his way here?”
“Out like a free man?” Los asked, looking as confused as I felt.
“Shit, I guess so. He said he’ll be here in an hour. I think he’s with Sophie’s mother.”
“How the fuck that happen?” Los wasn’t really asking because I didn’t know any more than he did, so I just shook my head and entered the cafeteria.
“Your guess is as good as mine, but we’re about to find out.”
I grabbed damn near one of everything I thought Sophie might eat, paid, then Los and I headed back to her room.
By the time we got there, Maddie was already there and the two were deep in conversation.
Whatever it was had to do with Carlos because the second we stepped into the room, they both looked at him with goofy ass grins.
I was just happy to see my baby smiling. I was pissed with myself for not being there when she needed me, even though I didn’t really have a say in it. Even still, my list of casualties for this situation was growing by the second.
William and Lincoln were at the top of that list, but the gotdamn feds who’d held us were running close behind. They were all going to be dealt with.
“They fuck y’all looking at me like that for?” Carlos asked, making them smile harder.
Maddie was on her feet and walked over to him. But when she tried to hug him, he stepped back.
“Nah, none of that. Answer me first,” he said, holding his hand up.
“I missed you too, asshole.” Maddie rolled her eyes and tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back so he could hug her.
“I missed your hostile ass, but that ain’t got shit to do with what y’all in here whispering about.”
I laughed and walked over to Sophie with the bag of food. I placed it on the rolling cart and lifted the hospital tray.
Sophie was already digging through the bag and pulled out a fruit salad. I chuckled, thinking I should have left all that other shit because I knew exactly what she would eat.
“I was telling Sophie I spent the day with your mom. That’s why I wasn’t here and didn’t answer when she called.”
“My mom?”
I looked right at Carlos as I nudged Sophie over enough for me to climb on the bed with her. This muthafucker’s eyes got wide as hell.
“Yes, your mother.”
“Wait, how the hell that happen?”
Maddie frowned, sensing he wasn’t really feeling that. I laughed before sliding my arm around Sophie while she relaxed against my side and started on her fruit salad. Watching the two of them was funny.
“She came to my… your apartment. When you weren’t there and not answering either of our calls, she stayed. I made us lunch and we got to know each other.”
“Fuck, man.” Los was frustrated as hell and Maddie wasn’t feeling it.
“Don’t get mad at me, it’s not my fault,” she snapped. “If you wanted to keep hiding me, you should have answered your phone.”
“I’m not hiding your ass, Madeline, and I was tied up with the gotdamn feds. It wasn’t like I was just ignoring you. You really think they would have been like, ‘oh, that’s your girl? Cool, get that. We’ll wait.’”
Sophie and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“Yo, shut the fuck up. I’m serious as hell. Ay, let’s go. We need to talk.” Carlos grabbed Maddie’s hand and looked right at Sophie.
“Ay, Sophie, I’m glad you’re okay. Don’t worry about this shit. We got you, baby girl. Trust that. Troop, I’ll holla at you after I get this shit straight.” He turned to Maddie. “Tell your girl bye, we’re out.”
She snatched her hand from him and he looked like he wanted to slap her. They were funny as hell.
“I’m not leaving, I just got here. Sophie needs me.”
“Yes the fuck you are, and she don’t need you right now. Troop got her.”
“She’s good, Maddie. You better go with that muthafucker before his gotdamn head explodes. Maureen been trying to marry his ass off for years now,” I said.
Carlos looked like he wanted to rock the shit outta me.
“Maddie, I’m fine. I’ll call you when I get home and you can come by.”
Maddie rolled her eyes at Los, then walked to the other side of the bed. She and Sophie hugged.
“I’m still mad at you, but we’ll talk about that later. Trooper, take care of my girl.”
“Man, chill with all that. I got her. You go deal with his crazy ass.” I pointed at Los and he shot me a bird.
We all said our goodbyes and they left.
Sophie finished her salad and started a bottle of water before she got comfortable against my body in her tiny ass hospital bed.
The nurse came in right after Maddie and Carlos left and told her they were getting her discharge papers ready, which I was happy about.
I was tired as hell, since I hadn’t slept in an entire day, and was ready to take a shower. I wanted to be in my own bed.
“Ay, I promise I’ll make this up to you, Sophie.” I kissed the top of her head and moved my thumb across her stomach. It wasn’t really my fault, but that didn’t stop me from carrying it.
“You don’t have to make anything up to me. You didn’t do this.”
“Doesn’t matter, I should always be there. You know what though?”
“What?” She looked up at me like she was afraid I was going to say something bad.
“When I listened to your message, everything in me went crazy. It was like a million and one things started going through my head, but the one thing I felt the most was fear.”
“Fear?”
I could tell she didn’t get it. “Yeah, fear, and I ain’t never been afraid of anything in my life.
Not even dying. I’ve always been the kind of person who just did shit, no matter the consequences.
But when I heard your message, I felt fear.
I was afraid of losing you and this baby.
It had me not thinking clearly. I wanted to shed the blood of anyone who played a role in you being here, but more than anything, I knew right then… ”
I stopped because I knew what I wanted to say, just couldn’t get it out.
“That what?”
“I just knew I wouldn’t be okay if anything happened to you.” I inhaled and released it slowly before I hugged her tighter.
We were both quiet for a minute before I heard Sophie’s voice once again.
“I love you too.”
It was soft and low, but I heard her loud and clear. She knew what I was trying to tell her.
“Sophie?”
We both looked up when Alana pushed the door open and walked into the room, but Sophie tensed next to me.
“How did you know I was here?” Sophie asked while her eyes moved from me to her mother.
“I told her.” Story walked in behind Alana, but stayed near the door.
In all the years I had known him, never once had I ever seen this man show any signs of fear, but he honestly looked worried.
I didn’t know if it was from concern about Sophie’s wellbeing or if he was nervous about actually being around her. Her visiting him in prison was one thing, but now that he was out, the expectation of him having to actually build a relationship with her was something completely different.
My child wasn’t born yet, but I had the same feeling in me when I thought about the things about to change in my life.
“What are you… how did you… are you supposed to be here?”
I smirked as Sophie stumbled over her words.
“Yeah, I am. Thanks to your mother.”
Alana glanced over her shoulder, looking his way and smiling, but the second her eyes were on Sophie again, her expression changed.
“Baby, can we talk?”
Nodding, Sophie looked at me then Story.
“Go ahead. I need to speak to Trooper for a minute anyway.”
He walked over to Sophie and I moved from next to her on the bed so he could get near. Story kissed her on the forehead and she extended her arms to hug him.
“You’re okay, right? You and the baby?”
“Yes, we’re fine. I don’t know how, and I don’t really care, but I’m glad you’re here.”
Watching Sophie interact with Story was like watching a child and it made me smile. Her happiness was everything to me.
“Good. Let me holla at Troop real quick and we can catch up. Talk to her, okay?” Story glanced at Alana and Sophie’s eyes followed his before he stepped away and kissed Alana on the cheek. “We’ll be out here.”
Story and I left Sophie’s room just as Alana sat on the bed next to her daughter. I didn’t really have any issues with Alana. The choices she made were kind of fucked up, but who was I to judge?
If Story could see past it, it wasn’t my business. He appeared to have made peace with it. Sophie loved her mother. The lies had caused a rift, but she had to get over that and get them back to a good place. Considering she was about to become a mother herself, she needed her mother.
Once we were down the hall from Sophie’s room, Story turned and hugged me.
“So how the hell this happen?” I asked, getting right to it.
“I still don’t know yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon. Alana pulled some strings, which I’m sure are connected to a hefty price.”
“So far as you know, they just let you out?”
“I got a call for a visitor, expecting it to be you and Sophie. It was a lawyer I had never met before. He told me Alana had sent him and I would be released in a few hours. I didn’t trust or believe that shit, so I walked away and ended the visit.
Sure enough, a few hours later, I was walking through the gates a free man. ”
“And she didn’t tell you how?”
“She won’t say, but I’ll find out. I can’t have her carrying that.”
I didn’t mean to, but my thoughts showed in my expression, which he noticed.
“You don’t have to understand it, Trooper. Just respect it. I love her the way you love Sophie. Would you want that for her? No matter what decisions or choices she made, would you really want her in debt for something your name was attached to?”
I thought about it and he was right. If I were in his position, it really wouldn’t matter what Sophie had done. Even if I wasn’t with her, I would never want her to be in a situation where she owed a debt because of me.
“So what happened?”
“Prescott.”
That was all I needed to say. No other explanation was necessary.
Story’s temple pulsed and his jaw tightened. I saw the darkness in his eyes as he spoke.
“I’ll handle him.”
“We will, but not right now. Your ass ain’t been out five minutes, and we got the feds watching us.”
“Feds?”
“Hell yeah, fucking feds are trying to build a case on Chavez, and they picked us up, trying to get us to flip on him,” I explained.
“Chavez, fuck. What that got to do with you, Troop? Los, I understand, but you’re not dealing anymore.”
“I was with Los when he went to see Chavez and they have pictures. Nothing they can use because it’s just us entering his spot and leaving. Dumb fucks thought that was gonna scare us into snitching.”
“Junior or Senior?” Story questioned, looking right at me.
“Junior, why? What you thinking?”
“Nothing yet, but Harold Prescott controlled Chavez and his family. I don’t leave anything to chance.
His son took over, and he was a bit of a rebel, but that doesn’t mean he’s not connected to Prescott, just like his dad.
Too many connections, and for them to be coming for the two of you, it might be bigger than them just trying to take down Chavez.
Let’s just give it a minute before we make any moves. ”
“Fuck all that. He came for Sophie and she’s carrying my kid. He’s gonna pay for that shit,” I said, making sure Story understood there was no compromise.
“My daughter and grandchild. That’s already understood, but I don’t want you two where I just left. Whether you pull the trigger or I do, blood will be shed. We will just do it the right way.”
I grinned and nodded. “Damn, I missed yo’ ass. We about to light this muthafucking city up.”
Story chuckled and nodded. “Troop, you good?”
I was a patient man with most things, but wanting to take Prescott’s life was a storm I would have to work to calm. I wanted him dead but I valued my freedom. I wasn’t about to make a mistake that could take me away from Sophie and our child.
“I’m good.”
“Aight then, we’ll talk. I need to pay that muthafucker a visit though.
” Story wore a smug grin which I could read easily.
He wanted Prescott to sweat before his life expired.
“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to see my daughter.
Your selfish ass is gonna have to get used to sharing Troop. I got a lot of time to make up for.”
I laughed and nodded.
“You good.”
“Fuck you mean I’m good? I know I am.”
This time we both laughed. He was home and I was damn sure happy about that. I just knew there would be a few people who weren’t and I couldn’t wait until they found out. William Prescott was first on that list. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be pleased about seeing either of us.