Chapter 14
A Cold Reality
Me and Clover were cuddling on the couch watching Poetic Justice. One thing about this light-skin king of mine, he is always going to put us on to a good classic. I loved being in his energy; he is so gentle and sweet to me.
We were chilling when we heard someone beating on the door really hard. Clo tapped me on my leg, told me to get up, and grabbed his gun from under the sofa cushion. He went to the door to see who it was, peeked through, tucked his gun into his shirt, and opened it.
Rudy walked in with a guy I had never seen before.
They sat down on the other couch, and the room grew so silent I could tell something was wrong.
Rudy was shaking uncontrollably, crying, and the dude was holding her, telling her, “Everything is going to be okay, and someone is going to pay for every tear she drops.”
“Mama, what’s going on?” Clo asked, getting on his knees to sit on the floor by her leg.
“My baby, someone hurt my baby,” she said, crying and shaking as she really broke down.
“Mama, what baby? You’re not telling me what’s going on,” he said, getting up and pacing the floor.
“Donny said he was going to go see your father to tell him the police stole his work three hours ago. About thirty minutes ago, the hospital called and said they found him unconscious, shot three times and left in an alley. They revived him, but he’s not doing too good. He’s in the ICU,
” the guy said.
Clo passed out. I got up, went upstairs, and grabbed a warm towel.
When I came back downstairs, the big guy was holding onto him and walking him to the couch.
I patted his face with the towel, waking him up.
Rudy grabbed a cold bottle of water, put it to his mouth, and he drank it slowly.
She hugged him tightly and told him everything was going to be fine.
At that point, Clo gave Rudy the strength to be there for both of her boys.
“So what are we about to do about this fuck nigga? There’s no way he’s going to leave my cousin out there like trash,” the guy said.
“Trent, I don’t think my daddy would do that. You’re tripping. Let’s sit on it, and if I find out he did it, I’ll pop his ass myself,” Clo said.
“Well, I came to get you so we can get to the hospital,” Rudy said.
“Let’s get dressed,” Clo said, walking me up the stairs. All the clothes we brought were at the house.
Clo shouted downstairs, telling his mama and cousin to go ahead and we would meet them. When we got to the house, Silk was on the porch smoking a blunt with Junie. Clo walked me to the house, and Silk could instantly tell something was wrong.
“What’s going on, brother? Talk to me,” Silk said.
“Someone shot Donny, bro. He’s in the ICU,” Clo said.
Junie fell out of her chair, sobbing really hard. I held her tight.
“He was just here! He said he was coming back, I’m waiting on him,” she said.
“We’re about to go to the hospital. Tam, go put on some clothes,” Clo said.
I went to my room and put on a black two-piece set I got from Fashion Nova—a regular jogging suit—and slid on some slides. When I got to the car, Clo, Junie, and Silk were already inside. I slid into the back seat with Junie.
When we got to the hospital, we met up with Clo’s mom and cousin.
They were just leaving Donny’s room and told us we could go back.
Me, Junie, Silk, and Clo all went back. They had Donny on a ventilator; he was in a deep sleep.
Junie was crying, rubbing his head, and saying, “Baby, you’ve got to fight through this. We’re going to go see that movie you wanted to see, and I’m going to stop being mean. Just come back to me, I need you.”
She kissed his forehead, and he moved his mouth like he was trying to say something.
We sat for an hour in the waiting room. Rudy sat next to me and Junie; she was so glad her boys had women in their lives other than her. She called Clo and Donny’s dad five times, but he didn’t answer.
We left the hospital. Everyone was going over to Clo’s house to eat, but Junie wanted to go home, so Clo dropped her off.
When we got to Clo’s house, it was just me, Rudy, Clo, Silk, and Trent. Rudy asked me for a hand in the kitchen, so I went and helped her. We made fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, grits, and biscuits.