Chapter 27 Peace Graham #2
There were a few voices, but they were muffled from where I was standing.
I tiptoed inside the building, making sure to check every corner as I walked further inside.
Once I got inside, I ducked down behind the dusty old counter.
The voices were a little clearer, so I decided to listen to see how many people were inside.
“My son!”
Pow!
I heard a popping sound that reminded me of fireworks. A woman’s screams blared in the distance.
“Bitch! Did you think this was a game? I tried to spare you, but you wouldn’t stop.”
“You killed my son! You’re gonna pay for this!” The pain and anger in her voice couldn’t be missed, and I recognized Belleza’s voice. The secondary voice caught me off guard because it was Dreaux. I wondered if she sent him another message after I deleted the original ones.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find you? Huh? All you had to do was let it go and focus on the money, but you couldn’t do that.”
“Fuck you, Dreaux. I’m gonna make sure you suffer when I kill that whore of yours.”
“You won’t have the opportunity to touch my bitch. You’ll be in the river with cement bricks tied to your hands and feet, right along with your pussy ass son.”
“Only in your fucking dreams. One of us isn’t gonna make it out of here, but it won’t be me, mi amanate.”
“You witnessed me kill mothafuckas for playin’ with my bread, so what did you think was gon’ happen when you fucked with my family? If you ain’t want yo’ life, all you had to do was say so.”
I heard the sound of footsteps, so I ducked down even further. Fear struck me as I realized the men were headed towards the same room Dreaux and Belleza were in. Dreaux would be outnumbered, and there was no way I could stand by and allow them to kill him.
There was no time to think of a plan, so I held my gun in front of me as I followed the sound of the voices.
The men were attempting to sneak into the room with their guns out.
If I moved too quickly, it could put Dreaux’s life in jeopardy, but if I hesitated, we both could end up dead. I followed them but stayed out of view.
“Your biggest mistake was thinking you could get over on me, Dreaux. It’s gonna be sad to see you go.”
Everything happened so quickly as the men stepped into view.
I pulled out my gun and shot one of the men in the back of the head before he could fully make it inside.
I hit the other man at the same time that he aimed his gun at Dreaux.
Within a matter of seconds, more gunfire erupted, and I heard Dreaux roar.
Three bodies were on the ground as Belleza limped her way over to Dreaux.
He was clutching his side as she held onto her stomach.
Belleza was too focused on Dreaux; she didn’t have time to react when I lit her up with bullets. Adrenaline rushed through me as I watched her body jerk. I stood over her body, watching blood pour from her mouth. Squatting down, I gathered all the saliva I could and spat on her.
“I told you his dick wasn’t worth dying over. You should have listened, bitch.” I put a bullet between her eyes, then rushed over to Dreaux.
I noticed blood on him, but couldn’t find the entry wound. When our eyes locked, he stared at me with an incredulous expression. There was no time for explanations because I had no idea if someone had heard the gunshots or if there were more people on their way inside.
“Baby, where are you hit?”
“My stomach,” he grunted.
I helped him up and allowed him to lean on me. He winced as we walked, but we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.
“Shit!” Dreaux pushed me out of the way and pulled out his gun. I hadn’t noticed the man sitting up with his gun aimed towards me, with shaky hands. I mistakenly assumed they were all dead. Dreaux shot him, then limped over and shot each one of them in the head to make sure they were gone.
“Baby, we’ve got to go!”
Panic began to settle in as I moved close to him.
He yelled out in pain, and I couldn’t risk him bleeding out.
Dreaux did his best to help me, but his body was growing weak.
Once we got a good distance from the building, I helped him sit on the ground and raced down the street to grab the car.
I had never moved so fast in my life, but this was a matter of life and death.
I lifted him and placed him inside the car as he groaned in pain.
As I drove down the street, I called Justice. He answered on the first ring, and I tried to tell him what was going on without saying too much.
“I can’t say too much, and I don’t have much time. Dreaux’s been shot, and I need you to tell me what to do. Please don’t ask me too many questions because I don’t have any answers right now.”
My heart was thumping so loud, and my ears were ringing. I tried to focus on the road so I wouldn’t draw attention to us. The last thing I needed was for us to get pulled over by the police.
“Where are you?”
I sent him my location since I had no idea where we were.
“I’m gonna send you an address. Get there as fast as you can. If he’s bleeding, apply pressure to the wound. I’ll meet you at the address.”
“Okay.”
Justice disconnected the call as the address came through.
I hadn’t even realized there was blood on my hands until I looked down to open the link Justice sent me.
I reached into the backseat to grab my favorite pink hoodie that I kept in case it got cold.
I kept one hand on the steering wheel while I pressed the hoodie into his chest.
“Baby, I need you to stay with me. I’m only a few minutes away from the location.
Keep your eyes open!” I could see Dreaux drifting in and out of consciousness, so I tried everything I could to keep him awake.
God must have been on my side because I sped the whole way to my destination.
The GPS said 12 minutes, but it jumped to 7 because I was driving so fast. My eyes shifted from the road to Dreaux, and all I could do was pray we made it in time.
When I turned onto the street, I saw Justice standing outside a house, with Truth standing next to him. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, they opened the door to retrieve Dreaux. I saw another gentleman talking to Truth as they all walked inside the house, but I had no idea who he was.
I trailed behind them as they rushed Dreaux inside.
They carried him into the basement, but Justice told me I couldn’t go down there.
Instead, he led me to a bedroom and handed me a towel and some clothes to change into.
When I took a look at myself in the mirror, I saw how disheveled and crazy I appeared.
There was blood all over me, including my face.
As I stood in the shower, it felt like an out-of-body experience.
My brain was moving a thousand miles a minute, but my body seemed to be moving in slow motion.
The water washed the blood down the drain, and I couldn’t believe I had taken a life.
T lives. This wasn’t some game simulation or virtual reality.
The adrenaline began to wear off, and my body began to crash.
My hands were shaking in the shower as the scenes played out inside my mind over and over again.
I had no business being there in the first place, so I could only blame myself.
There were no regrets when it came to saving Dreaux, but I wasn’t sure how I would move past it.
An hour passed before I emerged from the shower and into the bedroom.
I dried off and put on the clothes Justice provided.
They were a little too big, but they were comfortable.
I headed back downstairs to see if there was an update on Dreaux.
My mind wouldn’t even allow me to think about the worst-case scenario because I refused to live in a world without him.
He was going to be okay, and we were going to get the happily ever after we deserved.
When I got downstairs, Justice and Truth were in the kitchen talking. The conversation stopped the moment I walked in, but I could tell it was because of their concern.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” Truth asked, walking over to examine me.
“I’m okay. A couple of scratches, but nothing major. How is he?”
“They are still working on him. We should have an update on his condition soon. In the meantime, do you care to explain what the hell you were doing out there? Why would you put yourself in danger when you had no idea what you were getting yourself into?” Truth chastised me like a child, but I understood where he was coming from.
“I don’t know. It was clear that she only came after Dreaux’s family because of me. I thought I could handle her so she would leave them alone once and for all.”
“Do you hear how stupid you sound? You could have been killed,” he hissed. My head dropped in shame because I fucked up and couldn’t even justify my decision.
“What my dad is trying to say is that things could have gone a different way, and we would have to explain to Promise why her mother was never coming back. Dreaux has been in the streets for years, and he knows how to handle himself. Even if he were in danger, he wouldn’t have wanted you there.
It’s one of the reasons he keeps those two parts of his life separate. ”
“I know. I guess I was trying to help because he’s been saving me since I moved back home. It was a stupid decision on my part, but I don’t regret saving him. They would have killed him.” My voice cracked at the realization of how close to death we were.
Truth wrapped his arms around me, and I broke down for the first time since the shooting.
He held me as I released all of my emotions.
It felt like my body was having a delayed reaction, and reality had finally settled in.
By the time he let me go, the older gentleman walked into the kitchen with two women who resembled him.
They were both dressed in scrubs, so I assumed they worked in the medical field.
I noticed the blood stains on one of the women’s scrubs and almost lost my cool. Truth squeezed my hand to give me reassurance, but the only reassurance I needed was my man to be okay.
The somber expressions on their faces only increased my anxiety as I waited for them to give us the news.
“We were able to remove the bullet, but he lost a lot of blood. He coded on the table, and we did everything we could to save him, but—”
I tried to hold it together, but my body grew weak while she spoke. I couldn’t even process her words before my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and everything faded to black.