1. Jane Blackmoor #2
“Are you her family?” the nurse, whose nametag read Fatima, queried with a wrinkled brow.
Kong’s blank stare nearly hollowed her stomach.
“Right now, they are both stable. I’ve already said too much. If you take the elevator to the fourth floor, you’ll reach the waiting area for the OR. They will take everything from there.”
Kong didn’t even thank her as he spun to face Moose.
Both were anxious as hell, and the sooner they got to Mozzi, the better.
The hospital was usually off limits in situations like this, but there was no way around it this time.
Now the goal was to get him the fuck up out of here before somebody tried to finish what was started.
There were two places the opps had the best chances of catching you; the club or the motherfucking hospital.
“Let’s go.” Kong nodded toward the elevator.
Forty-five minutes ticked by. Moose excused himself for a boost, slipping into a nearby bathroom before joining Kong in the waiting room.
Settling in one of the chairs, he tapped his foot with one arm propped against the arm as he chewed on the tip of his thumb nail.
Taking in his rigid posture and antsy movements, Kong scoffed and shook his head.
“What happened to that shit being recreational?”
“Stay the fuck out my business,” Moose grumbled, not even looking his way as he studied the faces passing them in the waiting area.
“What else happened?” Kong queried, changing the subject in hopes of time moving a little faster so they could get word on Mozzi and Coast.
“You think I wanna talk about this shit right here? Right now?” Moose snapped his head in his direction.
“Nigga, you wanna shoot the shit about the weather?”
Sitting up, Moose clasped his hands in front of him and rested his elbows on each arm of his chair.
Fidgeting, he studied his fingers, twirling his thumb around the other because he couldn’t sit still.
The shit with Mozzi, the job with Ash, and what he did to Inari, it was all fucking with him.
He had to lean on the coke so he could push through.
“Some shit happened with that play, that’s all.” Moose shook his head.
“Some shit that’s gon’ come back on us?” Kong leaned in and whispered.
“Nah,” Moose assured him. “Right now, that ain’t my main concern. We need to figure out where the fuck this came from.”
“Only a few people got enough heart to come at us like this. That shit with Donahue is fresh. Fire made it clear he wants his shit back. Mozzi came at Nickel twice. I doubt that nigga was about to sit around and let him come for him a third time. We need to talk to him.”
“Where the fuck are these doctors?” Moose peered around as the elevator doors nearby dinged before sliding open. “Mothafucka.”
Lin, Roni, and Gill piled off together. All glammed up and on point.
He gave his brother credit for good taste.
His lineup was top model fine. It didn’t make up for their Zeus network attitudes, though.
Roni was probably the coolest of the three.
She was chill and lowkey, but she had a whole other life.
By day, she was a social elite, daughter of two HBCU graduates, Greek ties, and some more shit.
She fucked with Mozzi because of his wild nature.
Shorty only pretended to be down, though.
Moose always got the feeling that she would sing like a fucking canary if some shit ever went down.
“Where is he?” Lin demanded, eyes frantic but looking very put together in her two-piece short set and heels.
“The fuck y’all doing here?” Kong pinched his brow, clearly not in the mood for their shit.
“We heard about Mozzi. Don’t fucking play with us. Where is he?” Gill demanded.
“First of all, calm the fuck down. I’ll karate kick all you bitches out the nearest window,” Moose clarified. “Second, if you ain’t family, fall the fuck back. We’ll let y’all know how he is when he gets out of surgery.”
“You can’t just keep us in the dark, Moose! We deserve to know what’s going on with him,” Roni chimed in.
“Why?” Moose shot back. “One of you bitches rocking a ring on your finger or carrying a Blackmoor heir and I don’t know about it?”
Gill opened her mouth like she wanted to speak, but after a second glance from Moose she thought against it. Nearby, one of the double doors for the staff only opened, and a surgeon stepped out in mint green scrubs. The older black gentleman’s dark eyes searched the waiting room.
“I’m looking for the family of Coast Bellamy,” he announced.
“That would be me. I’m her aunt.” Bee’s voice alerted Moose and Kong to the doorway.
Audiemar stood with her, arm resting over her shoulders as the doctor approached them.
The minute he got word on what happened, he knew he had to be the one to go and get Bee.
She tried to play it cool most of the drive over, but her worries were getting the best of her.
Things with Coast were rocky, but she thought they were slowly finding their way.
“How is she?” Bee questioned the doctor.
“I’m Dr. Williams. She’s stable. The bullet did some damage to her rotator cuff and nerves. With a little bit of therapy, she should be fully functional. I expect her to make a full recovery.”
“Oh, thank God. What about the baby?” Bee asked, hand still pressed against her chest as her heart slowed down.
“The OBGYN did a full exam. Both mom and baby are fine. They’re closing now, so she should be moved to recovery soon. I have another patient to check on, but if you have any more questions, feel free to have me paged.”
“I only have one.” Audiemar’s strong baritone nearly froze the entire waiting room. “When can she go home?”
Dr. Williams frowned, a little thrown.
“She’s going to recovery. We typically would like to monitor both her and the baby for the next twenty-four hours at least. I don’t advise—”
“I’m not asking what you advise, Dr. Williams. Make sure her discharge papers and post op care are ready to go within the hour.” Audiemar nudged Bee along to join Moose and Kong.
The doctor lingered a bit longer, mouth still partially open before turning to address the nurses at the check-in station.
He got the feeling that the forceful, formidable man he’d just dealt with held some type of power, and he didn’t want to risk going toe to toe with anyone who had that kind of impact over the hospital.
The Blackmoors had in fact become benefactors over the years, and Desiree served on the board of directors.
“Audie, are you sure—” Bee tried to object.
“Trust me on this, Bee,” he told her, pausing to form a circle with Kong and Moose.
“What’s the word on Mozzi?”
“Nothing yet,” Kong replied.
From a door further down the hall, another doctor emerged.
A brown skinned black woman with sandy brown hair and weary brown eyes.
She didn’t wear a drop of makeup, but her skin was flawless and practically blemish free.
Starting toward them in her navy scrubs, she removed her cap from her head as the elevator doors dinged once again.
Kong watched a team wheel a woman in on a gurney, disturbing the hallway calling out jargon and other details to each other.
“What do we got?” Another nearby surgeon stepped up.
“Black female. Thirty-one years old. Suffered trauma to her frontal lobe during a car accident. Shots fired over on Shandon, multiple injuries. From the initial exam she didn’t seem to have any other injuries, she has not gained consciousness.
BP is 128 over 65,” one of the trauma nurses called out.
Kong’s gaze landed on the face strapped to the gurney. His next breath temporarily robbed from him when Nayelli’s battered face came into view as they passed.
“The fuck?” Moose uttered, eyes glued to the turn of events right along with Audiemar.
Swiping his beard, Kong’s pulse throbbed in his eardrums, and the hospital lights suddenly seemed a hell of a lot brighter. What the fuck was happening? Was it a full moon, or some sinister shit in the air? When Audiemar’s eyes locked on him, a glacier of ice passed between them.
“I’m looking for the Blackmoor family,” the attractive brown skinned doctor announced.
“How is my son?”
“Lucky to be alive,” she voiced, stern and seemingly irritated as she massaged the back of her neck. “He refused anesthesia during his surgery and gave the surgeon a black eye before someone finally managed to sedate him.”
“I need him released, now.” Audiemar went into his pocket for his cell phone when it vibrated with a new alert.
“I cannot sign off on that.” She shook her head. “He suffered blood loss, and we just got his BP stabilized. I want to monitor him at least overnight to make sure there’s no clotting or other complications.”
“Sid. I’m at Ree Heights Memorial. Please tell Dr…
.” Audiemar paused long enough to lift the badge off the pocket of the doctor’s scrubs and exam her name.
“Carmen Simpson, that Mozzi and Bee’s niece, Coast, will be released into your care this evening.
Meet me at the estate within the hour.” Audiemar held the phone out to Dr. Simpson, who scoffed, slid her eyes back in her head with annoyance, and grabbed the iPhone from his hand.
“Hello, yes, this is Dr. Simpson.” She didn’t have much room to say anything else.
It was obvious everything that needed to be said had been established when she handed the device back to Audiemar.
“We’ll get everything faxed over to Dr. Roche for both patients.” She complied.
“Thank you.” Audiemar looked into her slanted brown eyes and pocketed his phone. “Bee, let’s go downstairs. You two stay up here until they are released. I’ve got Brim and company coming to the back exit so we can get them out of here.”