Epilogue
MRS. COLE
Weeks later…
“If this bitch comes through this line one more time, I’m gonna replace her anxiety pills with some water pills.
I’m sick of her ass!” Although I hissed my frustrations, Lola’s soft chuckle drew my attention.
The young pharmacy tech was messy as hell and stayed in my business.
I did more sneaking around these days because her ass was always up my ass.
Lola was hired three months ago after my last pharmacy tech quit out of nowhere.
I swear, good help wasn’t any-damn-where these days.
The pharmacy I worked for was locally owned, meaning, the owners didn’t have in their budget to hire any more help. My salary was non-negotiable, so I sucked it up and made do with who I had.
“Dr. Cole, I have a message from Mr. Williams. He claims his medication isn’t working properly. Do you want me to refer him back to his doctor?”
Shit! “Yes. There’s nothing I can do about his medication not working. Maybe he needs to have his doctor switch his dosage.”
“Okay.” Lola typed away on the computer, putting notes in Mr. Williams’ chart.
“There’s another message from Dr. Burns’ office. They’ve received several calls from patient, Michael Golds, complaining that his pain pills aren’t the same as what’s on his prescription bottle.”
Who actually looks at that shit?
“His wife Googled the number on the pills he has and told his doctor they’re steroids, which leads me to my next issue…. Mr. Golds is in the hospital after experiencing chest pain.”
Eyes stretching, my heart did a nosedive.
“Okay,” I dragged out. “Obviously, she is trying to poison that man. Check her profile to see if she takes steroids.”
“Already done, and no ma’am. You think we could’ve made a mistake?”
It definitely wasn’t a mistake.
“They’ve had those pills for three days. If they felt there was an error, they should’ve brought them back right away. So, someone’s lying.”
I let it go because there was nothing anyone could pin on me.
I started filling orders that were waiting for my approval.
Minutes later, the pharmacy’s front door opened with a ton of commotion.
There was only one customer in the small shop, who looked like she’d faint at the sight of several armed men filing into the building.
Quickly, I reached for the alarm.
“Freeze!”
Freeze?
“Put your hands where I can see ‘em!”
Orders were barked left and right. Following the first command, I stayed frozen in place, gaping at the number of guns pointed in my face.
“Brenda Cole?”
Scared shitless, I nodded. Next thing I knew, handcuffs were being placed around my wrist.
How did they get behind the counter so quickly? The door was locked and only accessible by staff. I glanced over to find Lola talking with one of the men wearing an FBI vest. She looked too calm. Almost as if…
“You bitch!” I screeched.
Lola met my gaze with a simple smile.
“Good thing I was here,” she said. “I stopped a lot of people from being on the receiving end of your loony ass.”
Shocked, I started crying as I was led out of the building.
“Mom!” Vick jumped from his car and ran towards me. The agents held him back. “What’s going on?”
“I-I don’t know! Victor! Victor, help me!”
SIN
Across town, I read the breaking news report with a smile on my face.
After an anonymous tip, local pharmacist, Brenda Cole, was arrested on federal charges stemming from several complaints filed by doctors and patients alike.
The Drug Stop was raided shortly after 2 p.m., prompting many customers to show at the pharmacy, demanding their prescriptions be rechecked.
Authorities have advised that any patient who’s filled prescriptions at this pharmacy, return to your doctor’s office to verify that your prescription is correct.
Local 3 will continue to keep viewers posted on this breaking story…
I owed Auntie Sophia a few stacks. When I saw her after my wedding, I dropped the information about Vick’s mom in her ear. Auntie being a doctor, I knew she could help me. So, when she told me she’d handle it, I wasn’t expecting her to do anything different.
This, however, was epic. Nothing like ruining someone’s reputation and sending them to jail, other than killing them, of course. But as Brooklyn said, killing Vick’s mom wasn’t the heat we needed.
Vick didn’t have anything to do with what his mother was doing. Auntie confirmed just in case the fellas and I had to handle him, too. Vick and Fallon were still together as far as I knew. After today, though, Fallon would probably be leaving his ass too.
“Look, Baby.” I handed Naomi my phone and let her read the article. Her mouth dropped.
“Get the fuck outta here! That bitch!” she shrieked, drawing everyone’s attention.
We were at the basketball court, participating in a charity tournament. Well, Zoo, Brooklyn and I were competing. Our women were sitting courtside, tending to our babies. Naomi had my little princess two months ago. Naima was our world and the most perfect mixture of the two of us.
PJ was still pregnant, much to her dismay. Zoo doted on her like she was incapable of taking care of herself. Mean-ass PJ was no more. Zoo came along and turned her ass all the way around. I was proud of my nigga.
As for Bri Bronx, she and Brooklyn were being a little more careful, let him tell it.
In reality, they’d end up pregnant soon, too.
Their weddings were coming up by year’s end.
I couldn’t wait for my cousins to join me in marriagehood.
Once they got a taste of this peaceful, joyous, settled life, they wouldn’t want to let it go.
“Now you can be at peace, Baby.”
Naomi handed me my phone back and smiled. “I am at peace, Sin. You gave me that the day you walked in that elevator and called me on my shit. I love you for that.”
Leaning over, I kissed her lips, then kissed my juicy little girl’s cheek.
Everything was perfect in the Smith world.
A whistle sounded, signaling it was time for Zoo, Brooklyn, and I to take the court.
Where we went from being courtside for our women, and they now sat courtside for us.
They screamed and yelled the entire game, coaching us the exact way we’d coached them through the season.
My cousins and I had the best women in the world.
Glancing at the shot clock, I watched time tick away as I dribbled the ball up the court.
In this game of love, time was either for you or against you.
In our case, time was definitely on our side.
It took time to learn and love someone the right way, that’s what most would say, but time was what one made it.
If the shot clock read one hour or three-hundred hours, could Naomi make me fall in love all over again at the drop of a dime—absolutely.
Our shot clock wouldn’t expire until the day I took my last breath.
THE END.