Chapter 8
The bright lights of the nurse’s station buzzed like a trapped hornet, but Tasha ignored it.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, with her forehead pressed against the heel of her palm.
Her lower back throbbed with a dull, persistent ache that radiated down her thighs.
Every time she reached for a chart or adjusted a patient’s IV bag, she felt a sharp pinch flare in her abdomen.
She kept brushing it off as cramps, but it was getting out of hand.
She wanted to go back home and curl into a ball right next to Juelz, but the ER was short-handed, so she had to stay.
“Tasha, you good?” You been staring at that monitor for five minutes,” Nurse Kenya asked as she breezed past.
“Yea… yeah, just a Li’l tired,” Tasha lied, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Nurse Kenya didn’t buy it. She stopped, arms crossed, her eyes scanning Tasha’s face. “Girl, this the second time I caught you looking like you about to pass out. You need to make an appointment to get checked out.”
Tasha nodded her head, looking off in the distance. “I’m withcha when you right, and right now, I couldn’t agree more withchu.”
Nurse Kenya’s eyes narrowed. “Do you need to call Dr. Madison up here?”
Tasha didn’t answer. She looked at her trembling hands, her fingers shaking slightly. She didn’t want to say it out loud. Tasha knew her body was betraying her. It was giving her too many signs, but she kept ignoring them. As she was on her way to the break room, the trauma alert sounded off.
CODE TRAUMA! ETA NOW! CODE TRAUMA! ETA NOW!
The paramedic came in, gurney slamming through the doors.
Two teens, one bleeding out and the other one was unconscious.
Everything was happening so fast, blood pooling on the floor, monitors were wailing.
The scene was chaotic. Tasha moved quick, snapping gloves on as she prepared to start an IV line on one of the patients.
Nurse Lisa called out, “Blood pressure tanking… someone call Blood Bank now!”
Dr. Madison came rushing into the room of the unconscious patient, eyes assessing her as they performed CPR. “Tasha, Epi, now!”
Tasha was stuck in a zone, trying to let her own pain subside and she froze. Just a second.
Dr. Madison was beside her now, his voice sharper than before. “Tasha, push the epi. Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. She just stared at the syringe, with her fingers trembling. Dr. Madison didn’t wait any longer. He reached and took the syringe from her hand. “Back out! Go have a seat. Now!”
She didn’t argue. She knew they were in the middle of saving someone's life, and that was the most important thing right now. So she did as he commanded. Another nurse grabbed her arm to help her sit down. “Are you okay, Tasha? What’s going on?"
“I think I need to leave. I’m not feeling too good. And I don’t want that situation to happen again, so I’m gonna go.”
The other nurse was bending down in front of Tasha, and she nodded her head. “Okay! I’ll let the team know that you’re not feeling well and had to leave. Please call us with an update. Are you good to drive, hun?”
Tasha stood up, slowly, and started gathering her bags.
The air in the ER felt thinner now as she made her way toward the exit.
Every set of eyes she passed felt like a judgment.
A silent reminder that for the first time in her career, she’d been the weak link.
She finally found her car and fumbled with the keys.
Once inside, she just sat there for a beat, head resting on the steering wheel.
She picked up her cell to call Juelz, but he didn’t answer.
She threw her cell back in her purse and pulled out the lot, the hospital fading behind her.
All she wanted was a hot shower and her bed.
Across town, Juelz’s phone kept buzzing on the nightstand, but he didn’t answer. He was in the one place he had no business being.
“Damn, Juelz…you got me so wet for this dick. Umm…shit.”
Shyann’s nails dug into his chest, his eyes rolled into his head as she fucked him, as if she owed him back rent.
The room was dark except for the soft flicker of a muted TV and the glow from the city lights leaking through the blinds.
Her moans bounced off the walls, but Juelz wasn’t saying a word.
His jaw stayed tight. Guilt sat heavy on his chest. He knew this was wrong.
Every thrust reminded him of that. But he did it anyway, for Tasha’s sake.
Juelz knew how much Tasha loved her nursing license, so when someone threatened to have it taken away, he would do whatever it took to protect her.
“Yes, Juelz. Umm…yessss,” she moaned, looking down at him, biting her bottom lip like she was proud of this moment.
He couldn’t look at her. Couldn’t stand the way she was watching him like this was intimacy.
He felt sick.
He was betraying his peace. His Tasha.
He was there knee deep in some pussy by someone Tasha called her best friend. Juelz grabbed the pillow beside them and threw it over his face, trying to block her out.
“Shut the fuck up, already. You doin’ the most. My dick just as soft as it was when I was born. All that back and forth shit you doin’ bout to give a nigga carpet burn.”
She laughed, moving the pillow of his face. “Whatever. This the best pussy you ever had.”
That did it.
Juelz pushed her off, getting up fast as if her skin were on fire. “Nah,” he said flatly. “My girl pussy is the best I ever had. Yours?” He shook his head, disgust clear on his face. “Don’t even make my dick hard. Don’t ever get that shit twisted.”
She rolled onto her side, unbothered, lips still curled in a satisfied smile. “Mm-mm,” she said. “Same time next week, nigga.”
He didn’t answer.
He was already gone in his head. Juelz yanked the dry condom off his soft penis and pulled his jeans back up. He refused to look at her. He couldn’t believe she was doing this to his girl. Her supposed to be best friend.
Shyann had always watched him from the side. Not obvious. Not thirsty. Just enough to clock everything.
The way he touched Tasha like she was fragile and powerful at the same time. The way he showed up for her and the way he chose her.
That shit ate at Shyann. Because no matter how many niggas she had around her, nobody ever loved her like that. Nobody ever looked at her like home. So when she got close to Tasha, it wasn’t random. It was strategy.
One night, while Tasha was sick and barely holding herself together, Shyann's cousin Kenya, who works at the hospital, saw something she wasn’t supposed to.
A slip-up.
A bad decision.
A moment of desperation.
Tasha, hurting and out of options, took meds she wasn’t cleared for.
Kenya caught the whole thing on video and, without hesitation, sent it straight to Shyann's messy ass. So, when Shyann caught Juelz on his way in the house while she was waiting for Tasha to come out, she made her move.
“Hey, Juelz. Com’ mere for a sec,” she called, leaning out the window.
“Whaddup with chu?” said Juelz.
“Take a look at this video.” Shyann let it play.
His whole face changed.
“So what the fuck you showin’ me that shit for, Shyann?”
“Because, nigga! Give me what I want, which is some of that dick, or I send this video of your precious Tasha straight to the medical board.”
“Fuck you. Yous a clown ass, trifling bum-ass, bitch. That suppose to be ya friend.”
“Yeah, whatever. Spare me the speech. Just answer when I hit you.”
And that was the moment everything changed. The moment Juelz knew he was gonna have to really give her what she wanted.
He walked out of the hotel room and slammed the door without a word. By the time he hit the car, his hands were shaking. He sparked a blunt, tried to steady his breath.
One pull.
Two.
But no matter how much smoke filled his lungs, it couldn’t drown the taste of betrayal still sitting on his tongue.
Back in the room, Shyann rolled over and grabbed her cellphone. Tasha had called her an hour ago. She smiled, lips curling like victory. She had everything she ever wanted now. Tasha’s trust. Juelz’s body. And a loaded secret tucked in her camera roll, ready to explode whenever she felt like it.