~~~Chapter 9~~~
Sitting on the couch, with my heart in my ass, I anxiously rocked my foot, before answering my phone. “Hello?”
“What you doing, sissy poo?” My sister Jhyrah chipperly asked.
I breathed into the phone. “Sitting at home, stressing.”
“Stressing about what?”
“Zae. We had a real bad argument. Then before that, I had this dream. He was dying…but I didn’t tell him that part.
I just told him that somebody was shooting at him and Claro,” I rambled.
“Then Claro randomly pops up over here, telling him that they gotta go handle something. And I just know that something bad is about to happen, Jhyrah. I can fucking feel it.”
“Wait a minute. Back this up for me,” she instructed. “Cause that was a information overload, girl. Start with the argument. Why was you and Zae into it?”
“Because,” my voice cracked. “I was throwing up. I been throwing up, and he accused me of being pregnant.”
“Okay…and that was something to argue about? I thought that nigga been wanting to knock you up?”
“Yes, he wanted me to have his baby. But…you know that we was broken up. So, we went over two months without sex. And we just started back fucking two weeks ago.”
“Damn. Two weeks in, you wouldn’t even be having no symptoms yet. And you said that you been throwing up. So…who did you sleep with, while y’all was on that break? Wait a minute. Don’t tell me it was that nigga you came to the spot with. That weekend ya’ll was ordering up the whole damn menu.”
I sadly laughed, as she referenced the time I’d brought Malice to her restaurant.
Me and my siblings had a strict rule that we didn’t have to pay whenever we were patronizing the other’s businesses.
That was the perk of us being family. I just didn’t bother cluing Malice in, because I liked the fact that he didn’t know who my family was.
Because I felt like people were far too performative once they realized that I was a Braxton girl.
“Yeah, it was him,” I admitted.
Jhyrah gasped. “What the fuck? So, are you pregnant?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. More than likely.”
“Oh, wow. And where is that nigga?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“So, you don’t even have a number on the nigga, Jaylah? I find that hard to believe.”
I sighed. “Of course, I have his number.”
“Okay, then why are you talking like you aint in contact with him?”
“Because I’m not.”
“And why is that?”
“Because. Zae answered the phone, after he dropped me off. Then Zae broke my phone. By the time I got a new one, he wasn’t responding to my texts.
Then I ran into him, and he claimed that his phone was malfunctioning and he never received my texts, or some shit.
In the meantime, he’d gotten back with his bitch.
So, that’s a wrap, as far as I’m concerned. ”
“And you think that he wouldn’t handle his business with you?” She wanted to know.
I exhaled. “I just told you that he’s back with his gal, Jhyrah.”
“And? Girl, your fucking last name is Braxton. Stop acting like we aint like that. That nigga will fall in line, just like everybody else.”
“But that’s the thing. He seems rather serious about his relationship, and I couldn’t see myself running up with a baby, asking for a ghetto co-parenting situation, with a nigga I barely know.
I’m good. If anything, I might fly out to Cali or New York and get rid of it.
Cause I refuse to be the oddball out the bunch.
The only one with a baby and no daddy. Fuck no. ”
“Damn, sissy poo, I really hate that for you. But don’t feel like you gotta keep up appearances for nobody.
Cause you know how we do. Our parents aint with the bougie shit, and don’t give a damn about you getting married or whatever.
You’re financially set for life, and you have the village.
So, you can still have the baby. With or without the nigga. ”
“Right. But do you really believe that daddy would just let that slide? Or he’d hunt that nigga down?” I had to ask.
Jhyrah giggled. “Girl, you already know that Jahrein’s ass is never gonna let a nigga get down on his daughters. He’d find that nigga and lay hands on him, and then blackball him around the city.”
“I’m already knowing.” I tittered.
“So. You think that Zae is gonna break up with you behind this?”
I gulped. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe.”
“Well, I personally feel like you underestimate the power you have, for whatever reason. Zae aint going nowhere. Whether you’re pregnant or not.”
“You think so?” I quizzed, just before my other line beeped. Glancing at the phone, I realized that it was my big cousin Keyasia calling. “Jhyrah, this is Key’s ass calling.”
“Okay, merge her ass in, then,” Jhyrah bossily urged, as she always did.
“Kay,” I agreed, before tapping my screen, and merging the calls together. “What’s up, Key?”
“Jaylah,” Key uttered frantically. “Wale just called me,” she mentioned her husband’s name. “He said that…Zae and Claro…Zae and Claro just got shot.”
Hearing that, I dropped my phone, and released the loudest wail. This couldn’t fucking be.
***
Traveling through the hospital felt like an alternate reality.
I couldn’t believe that my dream had quickly come to fruition.
I’d barely gotten any information from Zae’s family, as they were all inconsolable.
Thankfully, a cousin took out the time to text me the details about the hospital.
And now, I was ambling across the ICU visitor’s waiting area to approach his sister, who was standing up, surrounded by unfamiliar faces.
“Zaria,” I called out to her, causing her to turn to face me.
Immediately, I noticed the tearstains on her cheeks. “Ooh, Jaylahhh,” she broke down into heavy sobs.
Instinctively, I took her into my arms. “I know.” I rubbed her back.
“It’s bad,” she whispered. “Claro was DOA.”
“What?” I gasped, as my heart dropped down to my stomach.
“Yes.” She nodded and sniffed.
My shoulders trembled, as I wasn’t expecting to hear that. “OMG,” I cried. “Is…is Zae okay?”
She sniveled. “He was shot three times, but I think that he’ll live. I’ma call my mama, and get her to trade places with you, so that you can see him. They’re only letting one of us back at a time.”
“Okay,” I sniveled, before releasing her.
Stepping aside, I watched her call Ms. Sherry, she and Zae’s mama.
Then a few minutes later, Ms. Sherry stepped out into the lobby.
Once she laid eyes on me, she immediately hurried over to pull me into her arms. Regardless of any friction between me and her son, me and Ms. Sherry were always good.
She was my girl, and loved me for her son.
Holding each other tightly, we cried together, never uttering a word. Then I eventually got it together, approached the receptionist desk, signed in, got a temporary badge, before heading back to the ICU rooms. Once I approached Zae’s room, I took a deep breath, before stepping inside.
As I was ambling over to the hospital bed, Zae turned to look at me. The look of defeat was etched in his expression, while his eyes were crimson red.
“Hey, baby,” my voice cracked.
“’Sup?” He struggled to get out.
Now standing next to the bed, I leaned down to lightly hug him, careful not to apply much pressure, since I wasn’t exactly sure where he’d been shot. Then I kissed his cheek before standing upright. That’s when I realized that he was clutching my forearm, forcing us to lock eyes.
“I…I…I should’ve listened to you.”
Seeing the tears slip from his eyes did something to me.
“It’s okay,” I sniffed. “You didn’t know.”
“Yeah, and now…Claro is gone,” he broke down. “My nigga is gooone,” he quietly sobbed.
Nodding, all I could do was cry too. I was truly hurt to learn that Claro didn’t make it, and couldn’t fathom how Zae felt, as his best friend. This was devastating, while I wondered how this would change Zae as a person.
After we’d both cried for a few minutes, I cleared my throat. “So…what happened?”
He pinched his nose, as he seemingly contemplated. “He came to get me because…a house that we run was hit today.”
I frowned in confusion. “A house? You…I thought that you was done with trapping, Zae?”
He exhaled, while rubbing a hand over his exasperated face. “I was trying, baby. I really was…but financially I felt like I wasn’t quite ready to let go of that side money. And I can’t risk my dispensaries getting shut down by moving real dope through them.”
So, basically the nigga had never stopped hustling illegal narcotics. Even with all the legitimate business he was doing.
I shook my head disappointedly, knowing that Zae was far from the average guy and had reached milestones that some men never would in their lifetimes. So, to see that he wasn’t content with grossing a couple million a year told me that he was money hungry, which was clearly his downfall.
I sighed. “So, what else happened?”
He gulped. “We pulled up to the spot and was reviewing the camera footage. It was a lot going on at once. All I know is that we eventually got back in my truck. One of our partners was standing outside of my beamer, chopping it up. And then somebody pulled up, and started blasting. They hit everybody that was standing outside. Claro…Claro tried to bust back, and caught one to the head. And now, I can’t get that shit out of my head.
I see it every time I close my eyes. His fucking brain matter splashed across the dash. ”
“Oh, wow,” I cried.
“Yeah,” he sniffed. “I’m fucked up. I’m hit. Lost my right hand…and I’m really just thinking about crashing out.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You need to focus on shaking back. Fuck everything else. Especially this street shit, Zae. God is clearly trying to tell you something.”
He pinched his nose again, as a stoic expression overtook his face. “Yeah, I hear you.”