Chapter 9
Seated beside her mother, Minx watched Mille play a game on his Nintendo Switch to keep him busy. Her whole life flashed before her. When she peered up, Rose stepped into the room. His dark eyes fell on Mila first before he took a couple of strides toward her.
“How is she?” he asked.
“She hasn’t woken up yet. Look what they did to her.” Minx croaked, a frog forming in her throat combined with a sting that kept her from choking on her tears.
“Minx, there is something I need to tell you,” Rose said, still in disbelief himself over what Finn told him.
Minx never wanted to kill anyone in her life, other than Javon.
When he took Mikki from her, he robbed their entire family.
Minx hated him instantly. She remembered seeing him tied up in that old warehouse with her father and his men and feeling gratification, even as a child.
She knew what was going to happen to him, and she thought he deserved it.
Rose’s hand fell on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
“She’s going to be fine. We got one more mothafucka to take down, and this shit is a wrap. Don’t worry about that other shit. After this, it’s time for us all to heal.”
She loved his perspective and loved him even more for being him.
Her rock. He’d been there for her through the thick of some shit, and Minx wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Finn poked his head inside with Luna not far behind him.
With glossy eyes she viewed Mila in the hospital bed all black and blue and it killed her inside.
What was once a beautiful woman had become something damaged.
“I’m gonna take Luna home. She wants to check on Yoni. I’ll just stick with her until we are ready to make our move,” Finn told Rose.
“You okay, Luna?” Minx looked past Rose at her friend.
“Yeah. I’m just tired, a little anxious. I need to see Yoni with my own two eyes,” she replied.
“Okay. Call me,” Minx said as Finn led her to the door.
She could tell that something was up with Luna, but right now she had other pressing things on her mind.
It wasn’t the time for doubting a damn thing.
She understood that Luna might be scared or in shock, but Minx’s mindset was making sure they stayed on point and didn’t fall apart in the midst of a crisis.
Hell no it shouldn’t be normalized, but Minx didn’t know any other way of life.
Her family usually always bounced back. Sometimes there were things that one could never recover from.
“What’s up with them?” Mille asked, picking up on the tension with Finn and Luna.
She’d been on the edge since the shooting.
“Nothing,” Minx said with a huff as her mother stirred.
“Max,” she muttered, breaking Minx’s heart.
She was at her mother’s side within seconds. With her hand covering hers, she tried to give her some kind of sense of comfort.
“Ma, it’s me,” Minx whispered timidly.
“Minx.” Mila’s beautiful eyes that matched hers fluttered open.
It was like looking into an old photograph of herself.
Minx was undeniably beautiful, a glare of pain behind her eyes that gave Mila pause.
The windows to her soul could reveal a lot to someone that took the time to know her.
Draping herself over her mother, Minx embraced her.
Mila winced. Her wounds were fresh, and she still had to take her time shifting in the bed or she would get hit with a sharp pain.
Like she had many times in her childhood, Minx rested her head against her mother’s stomach and lay there.
The rhythm of her body when she breathed was soothing.
Mila caressed her back gently, and her eyes caught Rose’s.
“Where’s Max?” Mila asked, her voice hoarse and cracking as her brows knitted above her eyes.
Minx tugged away and peered up at her, confused. With a quivering bottom lip, she almost came undone. Was there something wrong? Did Mila not remember them?
“Mama, what are you talking about? Are you okay?” Minx questioned.
“I’m fine. Why you staring at me like I’m a mental patient or something?” Mila chastised, annoyed.
“Ma, Daddy is dead. We buried him over a month ago,” Minx broke the news.
Mila closed her eyes, and realized that they didn’t know.
She was out of it. Hell, for all she knew, it could’ve been a damn dream, but she knew it wasn’t.
He was real. His touch was real. His breath on her.
His arms around her. She sucked in a deep breath that almost took her out before falling back into the pillows on the bed.
She could tell by the glazed-over gaze that Rose wore that he was up on the news.
“You didn’t tell her?” Mila queried, and Minx shot a glance over her shoulder at Rose.
“What is she talking about?” she muttered between a tightly closed mouth.
“I told you I needed to tell you something.” Rose inched closer, and Minx was on her feet swiftly.
“Rose, what’s going on?” Her stomach fluttered anxiously.
“Finn just told me… Max is alive. He saw him with his own two fucking eyes,” Rose disclosed.
Minx didn’t move. Her entire body trembled where, and the waterworks filled her eyes.
“Don’t play with me, Rose.”
“I wouldn’t play about no shit like this, Minx. I said the same shit to Finn. This shit is legit,” Rose insisted.
Minx’s hand fell on her stomach, and she took a couple of stumbles back.
The truth just about knocked her off her feet.
She reached the chair that she sat in not long ago and slowly lowered herself into it.
Developing a slight rock, she sat and brought her hands to her face before she fell over crying.
Rose knelt at her side. He let her get it all out and then she met his concerned gaze with red rimmed eyes.
“He’s really alive?” she asked through tears.
“In the flesh.” Mila joined in.
A slow smile crept over her swollen face.
“I know my man when I see him. He’s real, Minx. He’s not gone.”
“W-W… How did this happen?” she asked, her gaze going from Rose to Mila and back again.
“That’s a long story. Just know that he is alive,” Mila responded.
“Well, then where is he? He just left you here?” Minx demanded. “How are you okay that he left us out here thinking he was dead?” Her sudden disbelief escalated to anger pretty quickly.
“It’s pretty simple. The minute I saw his face, I forgave him. I’d rather have him fake dead than gone forever. We got a gift, Minx. This don’t happen every day. Be grateful.” Her mother schooled her.
Finn pulled into Yoni’s driveway and parked his car.
Luna was quiet the entire drive, and when he looked over at her, she seemed real troubled.
The kitchen light in the house was on, and Luna stared off.
She knew that Yoni was up and in there cooking something that was going to soothe her soul.
Her grandma put her heart into everything she made, down to a damn cold-cut sandwich.
“Aye, what’s wrong?” Finn asked, leaning toward her attentively.
“Finn, I don’t think I can do this,” Luna whispered, tears stinging the corners of her eyes when she faced him.
He saw the anguish there, and didn’t understand it. It also fucked with him because he hated seeing women cry. All he wanted to do was make it better for her.
“Do what? What you talking about?” he questioned.
“This. Us. This relationship,” she articulated. “It’s… your life is dangerous.”
“My life always been fucking dangerous, Luna. The hell you talking about?” he snapped.
“And I didn’t realize until tonight what that meant. You put yourself in the line of fire. You went chasing after those shooters, and it was just… instinct… second nature for you. You could have been killed.”
Sighing, he shook his head, and his nostrils flared angrily. He didn’t like where the conversation was going, and he didn’t know how to steer the shit back in his favor. That was the first time he had ever even been in a relationship like this before, so it was all new to him.
“But I’m good. I’m always good. You ain’t got shit to worry about.”
“I’m sure Mila and Max didn’t think they had anything to worry about either and look at them. Mila was nearly beaten to death, and Max— “
“Listen, Rose probably already told Minx by now, so you might as well know too. Max is alive.”
“What!” Luna squealed, floored as she gaped across the seat at him.
“I saw him with my own two eyes. He’s good,” Finn informed her.
Silence filled the car. Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Minx must be ecstatic,” she said, sighing. “That’s good, but… it doesn’t absolve the fact that it happened. She thought he was dead. You, Rose, and Minx, y’all all came up in this shit. You’re used to it, and… I don’t think that I can do that. I’m not built to be the wife of—”
“Of what?” Finn asked, brows knitted together.
Breath caught in her chest, she sniffled and fought more tears. This was the hardest conversation she’d ever had.
“Finn—”
“The fuck you trying to say?” He spazzed, chest rising and falling.
For the first time, he cared about someone more than he did himself, and here she was taking that shit for granted. Now he was sitting there with his heart in some shit, and she was basically throwing that shit back in his face.
“Speak up, Luna. You ain’t had no problem doing that shit before!”
“Don’t yell at me!” she spat, brows dipping above her angered eyes. “I’m trying to have a mature conversation with you.”
“It sounds like you trying to cut a nigga off. It sounds like you never really knew me if that was the fucking case!” Finn barked. “So you tell me, Luna, what the fuck is it you saying?”
“I’m not about to have this conversation with you right now while you’re like this.” She reached for her door handle.
“Run then. That’s what bitches do when shit get too thick.” He shot her one last cold look before he turned his eyes straight ahead and nodded.
Bop!
Luna popped his ass in the head and rushed to get out of the car.