CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I called Jokah as soon as I made it to my car.
He answered on the second ring. "What's up, baby?"
"My daddy's in the hospital."
There was a brief pause.
"What happened?"
"I don't know. Somebody from the hospital called and said he was brought in with a bunch of injuries."
"You good?"
"I don't know."
That was the truth.
"Where you at?"
"Leaving work."
"What hospital?"
I gave him the name.
"Aight. I'm meeting you there."
"You don't have to—"
"I'm meeting you there, Kaior."
I didn't argue.
"Okay."
"I'll see you in a minute."
"Okay."
I ended the call and pulled out of the parking lot.
My mind ran through every possibility on the drive there.
With my daddy, there was no telling what could've happened.
His addiction had taken him places none of us could follow, and after years of trying to help somebody who didn't always want help, distance had become easier.
That didn't mean I didn't love him. He was still my daddy.
By the time I pulled into the hospital parking lot, Jokah was already there. I spotted him leaning against his truck and immediately headed toward him. He pushed away from it when he saw me.
"Come here."
I walked straight into his arms.
"You talk to anybody else?"
I shook my head against his chest.
"Not yet."
"He conscious?"
"That's what they said."
"Aight. Come on."
He took my hand, and we headed inside.
After checking in, we were directed upstairs. I didn't realize how nervous I was until we stepped onto the elevator and Jokah squeezed my hand.
I looked at him.
"I got you."
I nodded.
When the doors opened, we headed down the hallway until I found the room number I'd been given. I stopped outside the door.
Jokah looked at me. "You good?"
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
I took a breath.
"No."
His hand moved to the back of my neck, and he kissed my forehead. "Come on."
When I pushed the door open, my heart dropped the second I saw my father. His face was swollen and bruised. One eye was nearly closed, and cuts covered parts of his face. Seeing him lying in that hospital bed looking nothing like the man I remembered made my stomach turn.
"Daddy."
His head moved toward me.
"Kaior?"
I hurried over to the bed.
"Oh my God."
"I'm aight, baby."
"No, you're not."
I reached for his hand.
"What happened to you?"
His eyes dropped.
"Some bullshit."
"What kind of bullshit gets you beat like this?"
He didn't answer. I was about to ask again when Jokah walked farther into the room behind me. My father's entire body went rigid. His eyes widened and I felt his hand tighten around mine.
"Daddy?"
He didn't answer. He was staring past me, so I followed his eyes toward Jokah. Jokah had stopped moving too. For the first time since we walked into the hospital, the calm expression on his face changed. It wasn’t much, but I saw it. Then I looked between them.
"Daddy, what's wrong?"
My father finally looked at me.
"Who... who is that?"
I glanced at Jokah.
"This is my boyfriend."
Then I smiled a little, completely unaware of the fucking bomb I just dropped between them.
"Jokah, this is my daddy, Kevin."
Jokah stared at him and my father stared right back. Then Jokah's eyes shifted to me.
"Kevin?"
"Yeah."
Jokah looked back at my father. "How you doing, sir?"
My daddy's eyes widened even more. "I'm..." He swallowed. "I'm good."
"What happened to you?"
My daddy looked away from me. "I got jumped."
"Jumped?"
"Yeah."
"By who?"
"I don't know."
I stared at him.
"How you don't know who did this to you?"
"It happened fast, baby. I was in the wrong place around the wrong people."
I wiped underneath my eyes to catch my tears.
This was exactly what I was afraid of every time months went by without hearing from him.
Every time somebody mentioned seeing him somewhere he had no business being.
Every time I wondered if the next phone call I got about my father would be worse than this one.
"You have to stop this."
"I know."
"No, Daddy. I'm serious. This addiction ruined our family."
"I know, baby."
Tears filled my eyes again.
"You need to change your life before you get killed. What if they would've killed you? What if instead of the hospital calling me, it was somebody telling me you were dead?"
His eyes dropped.
"I know, baby."
"You always say that."
"I know."
I shook my head and wiped my face. Something told me I was wasting my breath and everything I was saying was going in one ear and out the other.
"I'm gonna find your nurse and see what's going on."
"Okay."
I squeezed his hand before letting it go. "I'll be back."
I looked at Jokah and he nodded. "I'll stay with him."
"Okay."
Then I walked out of the room.
The second Kaior walked out, and the door closed behind her, I looked at June Bug. Out of all the people in Broward this nigga could've been related to, he had to be her fucking father.
He looked different lying in that hospital bed, cleaned up and patched together, but there wasn't no mistaking him. I did that shit. And Kaior had been standing beside me crying over him.
June Bug stared at me for a few seconds before he opened his mouth. "How long you been with my daughter?"
"Long enough to care about her."
"Does she know what you do?"
"No." I gritted my teeth. "And she won't find out either."
His eyes stayed on mine, as I stepped closer to the bed.
"I agree with Kaior."
His eyes widened.
"You should get your life together before the streets kill you."
I didn't need to elaborate. He knew exactly what the fuck I meant.
"I told you everything I knew."
"I remember."
"I wasn't lying."
"We gone find out."
He looked toward the door before lowering his voice. "I want to go to rehab."
"Then go."
"I ain't got the money for that."
"That sounds like an excuse."
"It ain't."
"You just told your daughter you know you need to change. She walks out the room and now you telling me you wanna go to rehab. So, either you serious or are you wasting everybody’s time."
"I'm serious."
I stared at him for a second.
"Then I'll pay for it."
His eyebrows lifted.
"You?"
"Don't make me repeat myself."
"Why would you do that?"
I looked toward the door.
"For her."
He went silent.
"But understand something. I can pay for the rehab. I can't make you get your shit together."
"I know."
"Then don't have her crying over you again."
He nodded.
"A’ight."
The door started opening. I stepped away from the bed as Kaior walked back into the room.
"I found her."
She looked between us.
"What y'all talking about?"
"Your daddy getting his shit together."
Kaior looked at him. "What does that mean?"
Kevin cleared his throat. "I'm going to rehab."
"What?"
"I told him I wanna go."
Kaior stared at him like she was waiting for him to take it back. "You serious?"
"Yeah, baby."
Her eyes filled with tears again, but this time she smiled. "Don't play with me, Daddy."
"I ain't playing."
She walked over and hugged him carefully.
"That's all I've wanted."
"I know."
I watched her wipe her face when she pulled away. "The nurse said they're not discharging you tonight. She'll be back in a few minutes to explain everything."
"A’ight."
"And I'm coming back tomorrow."
"You ain't gotta do all that."
"Yes, I do."
Kevin looked at me before looking back at her.
"Aight, baby."
Kaior grabbed her purse and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "I love you."
"Love you too."
She walked over to me, and I reached for her hand. "Ready?"
"Yeah."
I looked at Kevin.
"Get some rest."
He nodded.
"I will."
I didn't need to say anything else. He already knew what time it was. We walked out of the room, and Kaior stayed quiet until we reached the elevator. The doors closed behind us. Then she leaned into me. I wrapped my arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
"You good?"
"I think so."
"He’s alive. That's what matters. And he wants to go to rehab."
I looked down at her.
"Yeah."
She smiled through the tears still sitting in her eyes. "Maybe this scared him enough to finally get his life together."
My jaw tightened.
"Maybe."
She wrapped both arms around my waist.
"Thank you for coming."
"You ain't gotta thank me for that."
"I know, but still."
The elevator doors opened, and we headed toward the exit.
Kaior held onto my hand the entire way. She thought tonight might've been the thing that saved her father's life.
Maybe it was. But as we walked out of that hospital, one thing stayed heavy on my mind.
I put her father in that bed. And now I had to figure out how the fuck I was going to keep what happened in that warehouse from hurting her too.