Chapter 25 #2
She didn’t move and I looked over her face, taking in every bruise, every bandage, every place Rome had left evidence of what he’d done. The swelling near her cheek had gotten worse. Her lips were dry despite whatever they kept rubbing over them, and faint shadows rested beneath her closed eyes.
“You should’ve never had to deal with none of this,” I told her. “Not Rome, not Marv, not me putting that gun to your fucking chin…” I said catching myself. “Well actually that’s how we got acquainted so I don’t know if I’d take that back.”
My thumb stopped moving and a different kind of guilt worked its way through the anger.
I hadn’t put her in front of Rome’s car, but my world had closed around her too.
Marv had come to her apartment because of shit connected to us.
Because he was high, paranoid, and convinced everybody had betrayed him.
I’d warned her to stay away from him without telling her why, like that half ass warning could protect her from a nigga too far gone to recognize who was innocent.
I should’ve found him before he found her.
My phone vibrated against my thigh. Causing me to sit back. I pulled it from my pocket and looked at Mike’s name on the screen. I stepped away from Navy’s bed but didn’t leave the room. “What’s up?”
There was noise behind him was loud with slamming car doors and a big crowd wherever he was at, then Mike exhaled into the phone. “You might wanna call BJ.”
The way he said it let me know something was wrong. “What happened?”
“It’s Marv.”
I looked toward Navy. “What about him?”
“He got into some shit with Paper and a couple other niggas. From what I’m hearing, they started shooting at each other near one of them warehouses off Twenty-Seventh.”
I gripped the phone tighter. “He hit?”
“Yeah, but that ain’t what killed him.”
I stared through the glass wall into the dim hallway.
A nurse passed pushing a cart, unaware that my whole family had found another way to fall apart before the night ended.
Mike continued. “Marv tried to pull off after the shooting, lost control, jumped the median, and hit a tree. The Mercedes wrapped around that bitch. They said he was gone before rescue got there.”
For a few seconds, I couldn’t answer. I heard Mike say my name, but my mind had already gone somewhere else, back to Marv high and talking crazy.
Back to him believing shit that wasn’t real.
I had told him where that shit was going to lead.
I told him to get sober, told him to get help.
Told him I wasn’t chasing him through the streets while he destroyed himself, but none of that changed the fact that he was my cousin.
We grew up together, fought beside each other, ate in BJ’s kitchen together. Marv had been there through too many years of my life for the news of his death to land like he was just another nigga who made a bad decision.
I lowered my head and pressed two fingers against my eyes. “Damn.”
“I’m sorry, bro.”
A tear slipped before I could stop it. I wiped it away quickly, but another came behind it. “I fucking told that nigga,” I said, in a low voice. “I told him he was gone die behind that shit.”
“I know.”
“He wouldn’t listen.”
“I know man.”
I looked back at Navy. “Where he at now?”
“Most likely the county morgue. The police got the whole scene locked down.”
“And BJ?”
“She don’t know yet.”
I closed my eyes. BJ had already been worried about him. She had called me because she knew something inside Marv was breaking apart, and she believed I could pull him back from it, but I hadn’t. “Go tell her,” I said.
Mike got quiet at first. “You sure you don’t want me to wait for you?”
“I can’t leave here.”
“I know, but that’s your grandma.”
“And Navy just came out of surgery missing a leg. I’m not walking out on her.” I glanced toward the door, expecting Lulu back at any moment. “Take somebody with you. Don’t let BJ hear that shit over the phone, and don’t let her be by herself after you tell her.”
“I got it.”
“Call me when you get there. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I will. Oh, and one more thing.”
“What?” I asked.
“That nigga Rome got picked up too during a traffic stop. Word spreading around about what he did to Navy, that’s fucked up.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Don’t forget to call me.”
The call ended and I stood near the window with the phone still in my hand, staring down at the parking lot several floors below. Marv was dead, Navy was lying in a hospital bed because of him and Rome. Rome was in police custody and BJ lost a grandson.
One night had taken a hammer to every life connected to us. I wiped my face again and returned to the chair beside Navy. “I tried to save that nigga,” I said quietly. “I really did.”
Her fingers moved beneath mine. At first, I thought I imagined it. Then they shifted again. I leaned forward. “Navy?”
Her eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. Her mouth moved slightly, and a faint sound came from her throat. I stood up so fast the chair rolled backward. “Navy, open your eyes.”
Her brows tightened and the heart monitor began beating faster, with the steady rhythm changing as she fought through the medication.
I reached for the call button but stopped when her eyes slowly opened.
They were unfocused at first then she stared toward the ceiling, blinking against the light before her gaze moved across the room until it found me.
“Lev?” The word barely carried.
“I’m here.”
Her eyes drifted closed again before reopening as confusion moved across her face as she tried to look around without lifting her head. “What happened?”
I moved closer and took her hand. “You’re in the hospital.”
Her fingers tightened weakly around mine. “I know that.” Even sedated, she still had enough of herself left to sound irritated.
I shook my head feeling sorry for her. “Just relax.”
Her eyes stayed on me as pieces of memory began returning one by one. I saw it happening in her face before she spoke. “Marv came in my house. He was high.” Her breathing changed. “He hit me.”
“I know, Navy.”
“I ran outside and…” Her voice broke and her eyes widened. “Rome.” The monitor sped up again. “He tried to kill me.”
I leaned closer. “He can’t get to you; the police got him.”