22
Trudy sat at her son’s bedside and wiped the new tears that replaced the ones she’d just dried.
Her emotions were all over the place when she learned that her son was in the hospital.
That was bad but it wasn’t the worst part.
He had been in there for three days before she even found out about it.
Apparently, everyone on her husband’s side of the family knew, but Sade was the only one who had enough sense to call her.
Actually, she thought that she and her husband already knew and she was just trying to check on him.
That was surprising seeing as how she and Trent never really got along.
Trudy hadn’t seen her son in weeks and she was a complete mess.
She called the police, but they were no help.
They told her that he was grown and didn’t have to live with her.
Telling them about his diagnosis was a waste because they still didn’t seem to care.
Things only got worse when she learned that he was supposedly living with Caprice.
“He’s gonna be okay, Trudy. He’s in the right place to get the help he needs.” Melvin rubbed his wife’s back lovingly. He was actually talking about mental help but he wasn’t trying to press the issue at the moment.
“I just can’t believe that no one ever thought to even call us. Our child could have died, Melvin. What is wrong with those people?”
The doctors were concerned about the seizures that Trent kept having, especially when they learned that he’d never caught them before.
They didn’t know if it was caused as a result of the fight or the sudden withdrawal from his meds.
Trudy broke down when she first saw him.
His list of injuries included a broken jaw that had to be wired shut.
One of his eyes was swollen shut and black.
His faced was bruised and swollen almost beyond recognition.
Anger was too good of a word to describe how Trudy felt once she learned that it was Clover’s ex-husband who was behind the attack.
She almost felt like her hands were tied and she definitely wasn’t gonna get the police involved.
Clover had the potential to have her entire world crashing down around her.
She hated that the younger woman had the upper hand, but there was nothing that she could do about it.
“True, they were wrong for not at least letting us know what happened, but all of this is on Trent. It’s time for you to lay the blame for his decisions at his feet for once.”
As soon as he finished talking, someone knocked on the door. Aside from his parents and siblings, Trudy didn’t want Trent to have any visitors. She was ready to go off and snap on whoever was on the other side of the door.
“Hi. Is this a bad time?” Sade asked when she walked in with a ballon arrangement and bear.
Trudy’s face softened a little when she saw her.
Sade was just as ratchet and messy as the rest of them, but she appreciated her for letting them know about Trent.
That was the only reason why Trudy was gonna let her visit for a few minutes.
“No, come on in. He’s been sleeping on and off since he’s on so many pain meds.”
Trudy looked over at her son and rubbed his hand lovingly.
She could see that Sade was uncomfortable and so was she.
Hate was too good of a word for how she felt about her son’s paternal family.
The very thing that she didn’t want to happen, happened anyway.
Her son had started going around them again and the result was him being laid up in a hospital bed.
“I just wanted to drop something off and see how he was doing.”
Sade sat the gift on the table next to Trent’s bed and stood up against the wall.
Trent looked horrible, and she couldn’t believe that Dash had done that all by himself.
His cousins were fake as fuck, but they were out for blood.
They were talking about fighting Dash, but that was a waste.
Monty was a wild one and he would probably put all of them six feet under before he let that happen.
Her family weren’t about gun play and they never were.
Niggas didn’t really fight anymore and she would have hated for them to find that out the hard way.
Besides, they weren’t even that close with Trent for them to be trying to do so much. Since he’d been staying by Caprice, that’s the most they’d ever seen him in their lives. If it was that deep, they could have helped him that night instead of letting him get stomped into a seizure.
“I know you said that you weren’t there but did anybody else tell you what happened?” Melvin questioned.
“No, not really. I just know that the bar they were in belongs to the grandma of Caprice’s ex-boyfriend. They broke up months ago, so I don’t even know why she wanted to go there.”
Their other cousins were pissed when they learned who the bar belonged to.
They should have known that there was a motive behind anything that Caprice did.
Thankfully, Dot was nice about it and gave her cousins half of her money back.
They hadn’t even been in the bar long and nobody had a chance to eat.
According to them, Caprice got her ass beat that night too.
As messy as she was, she didn’t even have hands to back it up.
“That ignorant bitch! She’s always behind something that happens in the family.”
Melvin shook his head and frowned. His niece had been a troublemaker since she was a teen.
She was the type to start a fire and stand back watching everybody else get burned.
Just about every dumb decision that she made revolved around a man.
He sometimes wondered if his son wasn’t the only one of the grandkids with mental issues
“Yeah, that’s why I wasn’t there. I kinda backed away from Caprice and all her drama.”
That part was true, and Sade barely talked to her cousin now.
Once she sat back and thought about all the bad things that happened in her life, Caprice’s name was attached to every story.
She was miserable, but Sade was tired of being her company.
Listening to how her other cousins talked about her, she was happy about her decision.
“Of all people, why would Trent choose to move in with her?” Melvin wondered out loud.
He and his wife had found the perfect place to treat Trenton and help him get back on track. Unfortunately, he left home before they could even do anything. The longer he was off his meds, the worse his condition was going to get.
Another knock at the door pulled him away from his thoughts. When Caprice walked in, he and his wife jumped up at the same time but for two different reasons. Trudy was trying to knock her head off, and Melvin had to hold her back.
“Get out! Get the fuck out of my son’s room! As a matter of fact, get out of this hospital before I have you arrested!” Angry tears fell from Trudy’s eyes as she lunged at her husband’s niece. She was so tired of her doing shit and never suffering the consequences.
“I was just coming to check on my cousin,” Caprice said as she backed away. She didn’t even know that Trudy and Melvin knew what was going on. She damn sure wouldn’t have gone up there had she known they were in the room.
“Sorry, Uncle Melvin, we’re leaving.” Sade pushed Caprice out of the room and walked out behind her.
“Stupid bitch acting like it’s my fault that her son is laid up in the hospital.” Caprice was fuming as she and Sade walked down the hall.
“Is it not?” Sade looked at her sideways.
“Trent is grown. I can’t make him do a muthafucking thing.”
“Yeah but you have to keep it real. Having the party at Dot’s Spot was not the right move. That girl party got ruined all because you wanted to be petty.”
“Once again, that bitch is grown too. She could have said no.”
“I’m sure she would have if she knew the real story. Thankfully, Dot gave her some of her money back.”
“I really don’t give a damn. I’m not ‘bout to let them put this on me. It ain’t like I started the fight. That bitch hit me first.”
“Looks like she got the first and the last lick. You need to put some witch hazel and aloe on that eye. As tall as you are, I can’t believe you let Clover’s lil ass do you dirty like that.” Sade smirked as she threw Caprice’s words right back at her.
“I see you got jokes, but it’s all good. That hoe gon’ see me again.”
“Girl, go rest that eye and let that shit go. Ain’t nobody else getting in the field with you and you saw that for yourself.”
“They was ‘bout to jump in until Diva and Iva flashed their guns,” Caprice lied. Iva did have a bat, but Diva was ready to straight box it out.
“Yeah, okay. You didn’t go viral, but I saw it on the Nola page boo.”
A video of the fight was posted by an anonymous user, but it was shared a few times.
Clover and Dash’s faces were replaced with an emoji, but Caprice and Trent were camera ready.
She was sure that it was somebody in their circle who posted it because they made sure that their faces weren’t visible.
The comments were dogging Caprice for letting someone half her size beat her ass like that.
But Trent was who she really felt sorry for.
Dash fucked over him and he was in bad shape.
Sade overheard some of her cousins saying that they weren’t calling their uncle Melvin or his wife.
They didn’t associate with the family and they kept the same energy.
She didn’t really care for Trudy either, but even she knew that they were wrong.
Trent was sitting up in the hospital as a John Doe because her family wanted to be petty.
That was why she took it upon herself to let her uncle and his wife know what was up, but she played it off like they already knew.
She didn’t know where Trent’s wallet was because they could have notified his emergency contact if they knew his name.
“I don’t care what you saw. That bitch know she had to sneak me in order to get the upper hand. But on my daddy’s grave, she gon’ see me again.”
“At some point in your life, you have to count your losses and let shit go. That includes family and friends too. I did and I’m much happier now.”
With those parting words, Sade walked away and decided to take the stairs to the bottom level.
She didn’t even want to be on the same elevator with Caprice and her negative energy.
“Dumb bitch.” Caprice frowned at Sade’s departing back.
She was pissed that Sade now had something to hold over her head.
She was even more upset about how it happened.