Chapter 2
Orion Blackwood
After handling things at the club, I rushed over to Jamaica Hospital.
When I was pulling up, Zynea was leaving.
I thought that was odd, but I minded my business.
Although I was genuinely worried about Cayla getting shot, I had to make sure she didn’t want to sue a nigga, too.
She had just gotten out of surgery when I got there, and her ass was lucky that the shot was through-and-through.
I gently massaged my temples as I listened to the doctor explain the recovery time for this kind of injury.
Her doe-like eyes were focused as he spoke to her.
She pulled her full lips into her tiny mouth as he explained the aftercare instructions.
I could tell that she was trying to process everything.
This wasn’t my first time hearing gun wound aftercare instructions, so I sat unfazed in my phone.
Shit, I still have a bullet in my body right now from back when I used to run around in the streets.
“Do you have any questions, Ms. Carmichael?”
She just shook her head lightly from side to side. She hadn’t said much since I entered the room.
“We can let you go home in a few days. Please eat something from this tray,” the doctor said, pointing to what was on her table before making his exit.
I knew I was about to have a lot on my plate with everything that happened at Obsessions.
Since we opened, I had my fair share of drunken encounters at my club, but nothing that ever ended in death, let alone gunfire.
Insurance could cover most of everything that had happened, but personally, I took an interest in the java-colored beauty who was scraping the last bit of mixed fruit out the bottom of the container.
“What?” she asked me as she placed the empty cup on the table beside her.
“Nothing.”
I smirked as I watched her pick up the next item from the tray in front of her.
Her doctor said to eat, and she wasted no time taking things off that table.
Growing up, I always had a thing for the thick girls, and the girl lying in the hospital bed before me was thick as hell.
While she enjoyed the rest of what the hospital had given to her on a food tray, we engaged in small talk.
When an awkward silence filled the room, I pulled my phone out and scrolled around for the next couple of hours.
I would have been driving behind her friend, who trailed the ambulance, if I hadn’t had to answer questions from the police when they arrived earlier.
Straight from the club, I sat at her bedside.
I was running on no sleep, but that didn’t mean anything to me because I really wanted to make sure she was okay.
Now that the sun was rising and she had cleared everything on that tray, I felt a little content knowing that she was good.
I could tell that she was in pain, and the painkillers they had given her had her a little loopy.
I smiled at how she was slurring her words a bit.
When my phone vibrated in my lap, I glanced down.
I ignored the private caller because I knew it was probably just my baby mama, Shenell.
I had promised her I would pick up my five-year-old son, OJ, this morning, but with everything that happened, I had enough on my plate.
Saying she was the baby mama from hell would be an understatement.
Shenell was big on trying to run shit when she knew that kind of pull didn’t work with me.
Still, she would turn into a damn brat if she didn’t get her way.
“Thank you for staying. You can go if you’re busy.”
I looked up from my phone and saw Cayla’s round eyes staring at me.
I locked my phone and then gave her my undivided attention.
Shenell’s ass would have to wait. It’s not like she had a job to go to.
She could hold onto my son while I handled business here.
She probably only wanted some free time to take her ass outside somewhere.
It was Saturday, and the forecast was beautiful.
She was a young ratchet ho who always wanted to be seen.
Sometimes I regretted even having a kid with her.
I made eye contact with Cayla before responding.
“Na, it’s nothing important, beautiful.”
She gave me a half smile that showed off the small gap between her two front teeth before twiddling her thumbs around one another. Something was on her mind.
“What are you thinking about?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“My dog.”
It was a random ass thought, but I was interested in entertaining it. When some people go through traumatic stuff, they start thinking about everything in their lives. Her thinking about a dog after being shot wasn't the craziest shit I’d heard.
“What happened to it?”
“Nothing. He’s home by himself right now, and I’m not supposed to get discharged for a couple of days.”
She leaned back in bed and sighed before grabbing her cellphone from the nearby table.
“You got somebody to feed him? I can drop by to walk and feed him if you need me to.”
She gave me an uncertain look, which was understandable. After all, we were strangers.
“Mmm,” she twisted her mouth unsurely, “I can ask Zynea.”
She typed around on her phone, and then it started ringing, so she answered the call.
“Oh, dag, I forgot they were putting you on the road already. No, it’s okay, I’m gonna see if someone else can do it for me. No, don’t be sorry. I love you, too. Safe travels.”
She ended the line and then rolled her brown eyes over in my direction.
“So…” she said sweetly.
“So?” I crossed my arms over my chest and then looked at her with a smirk. “You need a nigga, huh?”
The corners of her mouth turned upward, revealing her deep dimples and bright, full set of teeth.
“Well, technically, Mello needs you.”
“Who the fuck is Mello?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“My Shih Tzu. His name is Marshmallow, but I call him Mello for short.”
She scrolled around on her phone and then turned it my way so I could see the white dog she had. She was smiling hard in the picture with him. I looked at the time on my Apple Watch and then stood from my seat. After a light stretch, I gave her my phone number so she could text me her address.
“Where are your keys?”
She pointed to the table on the other side of the room.
“You can get them out of that hot pink purse right there.”
I went to get the bag and handed it to her.
“You just couldn’t go in there and get it?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“A nigga that’ll dig around in your purse will fuck around and steal from you. Don’t let no nigga dig around in your bag,” I said with the straightest face.
She chuckled before grabbing the bag from me, reaching inside, and then handing me the keys.
“I'm gonna stop at my crib and wash this off me first if that’s okay?”
I still had her blood on my clothes from the night before.
“Oh, that’s fine.”
I felt my phone vibrate in my hand, and when I saw the random number pop up, I knew that it was her texting me her address. Quickly, I unlocked my phone and then saved her number in my contacts.
“Do you need anything from your crib since I’m going?”
“Umm, just call me when you get there. I do need a change of clothes to come home in.”
“Aight.”
I started to walk out until her voice stopped me.
“I really hope you’re not a weirdo or anything like that.”
I turned around and screwed my face up.
“Girl, if I am, it’s too late now. You already gave me your address and your keys. See you later, bookie bear,” I said playfully.
She sucked her teeth and then let a small laugh out before I exited.
After getting home, washing, and then changing my clothes, I headed over to Cayla’s apartment.
My house was on the border of East New York and Queens.
Luckily, her apartment was too. I was surprised that I hadn’t seen her ass around the way.
After sitting and talking with her all morning, she struck me as the type of woman who didn’t get out much.
The ten-minute drive had me thinking about what I was really doing here.
I didn’t know this woman from a hole in the wall, and here I was, climbing up all these damn stairs to her place.
When I got to apartment 6C, I took a little moment to catch my breath before unlocking her front door and letting myself in.
The smell of clean linen invaded my nostrils immediately.
I smiled at Cayla’s tidy space. The plush carpet had me naturally coming out of my sneakers at the door before I walked any further.
Just when I was about to make that stupid noise people do to call dogs, I heard scurrying in the distance coming my way.
When I made eye contact with Mello, his ass started barking and coming near me.
“Aye, aye, ya mom sent me. Back the fuck up,” I quickly said in my own defense.
I started to back up when his ass started coming closer to me while barking. He was showing his teeth. For him to be so little, he was protecting his spot, and I had to respect it. When he got too close to my leg of my sweats, my intrusive thoughts were about to kick in.
Cayla seemed like a cool woman, but I was about to punt her damn dog right into the wall if he didn’t chill out.
“Aye, be easy,” I said as I created distance between him and me.
Right when I was about to step back to kick the shit out of his ass, my phone started ringing.
“Yo, this little muthafucka is not feeling me.”
I answered quickly when I saw it was Cayla calling.
“Put me on speaker.”
I did as she said.
“Mello, shut the fuck up. Making all that damn noise!”
The dog stopped barking and turned his head to the side, staring at my phone.
“Good boy. That baby wants a treat. Huh? Mama baby wants a treat?”
He started wagging his tail and looking in the kitchen.
“Orion, go to the kitchen. The cabinet next to the fridge has the treats in there. Just give him one little bacon strip. After that, he'll be cool with you.”