Chapter 11
Giavanna placed apples and strawberries in her grocery cart before grabbing a bunch of bananas. When she made eye contact with Unique, who was having the time of her life sucking on her tiny fist, she smiled.
“Is it good, mama?” she cooed, making Unique grin. She was beginning to drool a lot more, and Giavanna had warned Brazil that she might start teething soon.
“Giavanna? Hey.”
Giavanna’s head lifted, and she could only laugh when she came face to face with her middle school boyfriend, Tremaine.
“Hey. Very long time, no see.”
“I know right. I moved to Charlotte after we graduated. I came back to Diamond Cove last year. How have you been?” His attention moved toward the shopping cart. “You had a baby?”
“Oh no. This is my cousin’s baby. She died when Unique was only a few days old. I get her from time to time, but she lives with her father primarily.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Damn. You aren’t married yet?” His eyes scanned her fingers for signs of a ring.
“No. I did hear about you and Sonya. Congratulations.”
Her words made Tremaine release a snort. “We were together for a year, engaged for two years, and married for three months. That’s been over. It’s also one of the reasons that I moved back.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“No need to be sorry. It was this big social media thing when I proposed and when we got married. Those were probably the two happiest times we had during the entire relationship. She was the type that liked to put on for social media, and my dumb ass just used to go along with it.”
“That sucks.”
“I know you said you aren’t married, but that doesn’t mean you’re single. If you are, I’d love to get your number and catch up sometime.”
“Sure. We can do that.” Giavanna swallowed down a lump as she gave Tremaine her phone number.
As far as she knew, there wasn’t a rule book to dating with cancer.
Did she tell him they could keep it casual, but he shouldn’t get attached because there was a chance she might die?
Did she tell him that some days, she didn’t even have the energy to breathe let alone talk or interact?
In a way, she felt like dating should have been the last thing on her mind.
But cancer or not, she was still human. They broke up in eighth grade, but the pair was still friends all throughout high school.
Tremaine was a popular light skinned, pretty boy, with curly hair and dimples that played basketball.
The ladies loved him, and he loved them back.
Checking her watch, Giavanna saw that she had fifteen minutes before Brazil was due to pick Unique up.
Rushing down the aisle, she grabbed a protein shake to sip on while she prepared dinner because she was hungry, and the food would take at least an hour.
The grocery store was right around the corner from her house, so she was confident that she’d make it.
Inside the car, as she pulled the seatbelt across her body, Giavanna became hot out of nowhere, it was almost as if her body was overheating.
She contributed it to rushing through the grocery store and checkout line because it was only seventy degrees outside.
It wasn’t cold, but it certainly wasn’t warm enough for her to be feeling faint.
Maybe it was the combination of walking fast and being hungry.
She knew she had to do better about taking care of herself.
Even if she only ate fruit or drank protein shakes, Giavanna didn’t need to go long periods without eating.
As she drove, she became queasy, and she prayed that she didn’t have to stop and throw up.
Being fine one minute and feeling terrible the next was something she would never get used to.
Every time she tried to have a good day and be optimistic and cheerful, something happened to spoil her mood.
Thank God, Brazil was on his way to get Unique.
Giavanna had her for six hours, and she didn’t start feeling bad until the end, which was a blessing.
Random bouts of illness were the reason she was hesitant to keep Unique overnight.
All she wanted was for her life to get back to normal, but she had a long way to go before that happened.
Giavanna pulled up in her driveway like someone was after her.
Moving slowly but with urgency, she removed Unique’s carrier from the car and walked to the front door.
After unlocking it, she placed the carrier on the floor and went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.
She was so warm and flushed that Giavanna was slightly dizzy.
Maybe she was dehydrated or overly hungry.
After she chugged down the water, she walked back to the living room.
Forget the protein shake, she was going to eat some fruit and relax until she felt better even if that meant not cooking.
Finally tired of being confined in her carrier, Unique began to cry. “I’ll be right back, Baby. I have to grab a banana or something,” Giavanna spoke as if the baby could understand.
Taking a few steps had her winded, and Giavanna had to hold onto the wall and compose herself.
She had no clue what was wrong with her, and it was scaring her.
When Giavanna felt that she was safe to take a few more steps, she walked outside, and the wind decided to blow at the perfect time.
The slight breeze felt divine against her clammy skin.
“Just a few more steps,” she mumbled. Giavanna was almost at the car when her world began to spin, and she hit the ground.
Tech sat lounging in Cam’s living room chair.
He had been inside the man’s house for the past hour with Lethal and Belvin.
The plan was to get somebody else to do the job, but Lethal wanted in on the action.
Tech couldn’t stop his son from riding for his, but he could be there to make sure nothing went wrong.
His mother told him to never say never, and he had found that to be true.
Because as much as he vowed to never go back to prison, he’d go down for Cam’s murder before he let Lethal take the fall for it.
Belvin felt the same way about Tech that he felt about his son.
Tech wasn’t riding alone as long as he was around.
They just had to make sure they didn’t get caught.
They also had to hope that Cam came home alone because they didn’t want to have to kill innocent bystanders.
Anyone that walked through that door with Cam was getting their ass blown off.
The house didn’t have an alarm system and had been checked thoroughly for cameras.
Tech didn’t expect to be in any shit and especially not so soon, but he’d do anything for his kids and that included going to jail or hell.
The men heard the door being unlocked from the other side, and they all sat up straight while clutching their pistols. The door closed behind him, and Cam clicked on the light. “What the fuck?” he asked with a frown upon seeing the men in his home.
“No funny business, homeboy,” Tech warned as he stood with his gun aimed at Cam.
“I don’t have shit in here. On God, I was robbed for $50,000 not too long ago.” While he was pleading, Cam took his eyes off Tech for one second and when he noticed Lethal, rage filled him.
“That bitch got my money. Keyonna and Khrome teamed up and took $50,000 from me. She robbed you, and she robbed me. She’s all about herself. I know you’re not killing me because of that bitch. She wanted to rob you. She’s grimy as hell.”
“Shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down,” Tech stated between clenched teeth.
Cam slowly moved towards the chair that Tech had been seated in. His heart was racing a mile a minute. He knew there was no way they were letting him live. Despite all the dirt he’d done in his life, Cam wasn’t ready to die.
“Please let me go, man. We can let all this shit go. No beef. I swear.”
Lethal and Belvin remained quiet. With his gloved hand, Tech pulled a pack of walnuts out of his pocket. “Shut the fuck up. The only reason I want to see your mouth moving is to eat these fucking nuts. Take them,” he growled.
“I’m allergic to walnuts,” Cam panicked. He wasn’t sure which was worse. Being shot or his throat closing up. He ate some butter pecan ice cream once as a child, and he damn near died. Had he gotten to the hospital a minute later, it would have been over for him.
Tech didn’t want to hit him with the gun because he didn’t want any kind of foul play to be suspected in Cam’s death, but his patience was wearing thin.
He jerked his head in Cam’s direction, signaling for Belvin and Lethal to train their guns on him.
Tech then opened the walnuts and removed a few from the package.
Placing the nuts on Cam’s lips, he pushed, hoping some of the nuts entered Cam’s mouth.
The man had his lips sealed, and it was pissing Tech off.
“Eat the got damn nut! You’re going to die either way.
And if it’s not from eating the nuts, I can promise after I’m done torturing you, I’m going to drop you off in the woods half dead so coyotes and God knows what else can rip you to shreds.
By the time your remains are found, there will only be bones left,” Tech promised.
Cam was on the verge of tears as he allowed Tech to place the walnuts in his mouth. The moment they hit his tongue, the inside of his cheeks, lips, and tongue began to itch. His fate was sealed.
“You choked a pregnant woman and made her go into premature labor, but you’re sitting there about to cry.
Bitch-ass nigga,” Lethal spat with disdain.
Every time he thought about Lyric inside that incubator fighting for her life, he wanted to do Cam dirty.
He eyed the man with contempt as Tech forced another walnut inside of Cam’s mouth.