11. DaVinci
11
DaVinci
“ S park this shit,” Lake passed me a blunt from his center console after we got inside his car. “Yo ass need it.”
I laughed because that couldn’t be a truer statement. My mental was all over the fuckin’ place after hearing River tell Clo Baby that she wanted to die. My sister wanted to die, and it was all thanks to me opening my mouth. Lighting the blunt, I hit it a few times, allowing the drug to invade my lungs before passing it to Lake. We smoked in complete silence, which I was glad for. I didn’t know what to say to him.
“Did she struggle?” He asked once the blunt was finished.
Glancing over at him, I knew he was referring to Tonya. “No.”
“Were you ever planning to tell me about dad?”
A heavy pocket of silence consumed the car as I stared at his profile. My heart was beating wildly. Truthfully, I never planned on telling him shit about it. Some things were better left unsaid.
“River told me yesterday, if you were wondering,” he sat up in the driver’s seat and glared at me. “I don’t think she meant to, but she did. Now, were you ever going to?”
“No,” I responded honestly. There was no point in lying about it. “I didn’t see the need to.”
He scoffed and his nostrils expanded. “You didn’t see the need to let me know that you was the muthafucka that took Dad away from us? You didn’t see the need to let me know that my sister was being molested? You didn’t see the need in explaining to me why the fuck Mom hated y’all so much?!” He seethed with steam coming out of his ears. “You didn’t see the gahdamn need?! But you saw the need to tell me that you was gon’ kill Mom though!”
“You were a kid then, Lake. How the fuck was I supposed to explain some shit like that to you?”
“Nigga, I grew the fuck up!” He thunderous voice ripped through the car with a wild look in his eye. “You and River kept that shit from me! I don’t even blame her. I blame you! ”
I shrugged casually and nodded. “You’re right. Blame me. Be mad at me. There’s not shit I can do to change what happened, Lake. I’ll tell you one thing though… I’d kill that dirty ass nigga again and again for ever touching River like that. That child’s play shit is wicked, and I don’t condone that. You can be mad at me, that’s cool, but just know I had a really good reason. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”
“You’re still a fuckin’ liar!” He continued to roar. Once Lake was turned up, there was no turning him down. “Get the fuck out. We gotta square up.”
“What?” I laughed and flicked the tip of my nose. “Lake, I’m not fighting you.”
He snatched his door open and hopped out. “Get yo lying, bitch ass out!”
I wasn’t gonna fight him, but the bitch ass part made me click out, so I slid out of the car to give him exactly what he was looking for. This wouldn’t be the first time Lake and I came to blows, but it’d be the first time Tonya wasn’t around to save him. I don’t know why the nigga picked fights with me, knowing I was gon’ sit him down every time. I never even gave him a chance to swing. My fists had a mind of their own, so they went for what they knew and started landing all over Lake’s body. My lil’ brother ain’t no hoe, and he could go heads up with any nigga. I just wasn’t one of them niggas though.
“Hey! Hey! I’m gonna call the police!” A female’s voice shouted from behind us.
The word police brought me right back to reality. “Who’s the bitch now?”
I kicked him one last time before storming off, trying to find my damn car. That pissed me off even more, that it took so long to find it. After I kept setting the alarm off, I finally located it and got inside. When I started it up, a call from Clover came through.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Please don’t tell me that was you and Lake in the parking lot fighting,” she pleaded in a quiet manner.
“Aight. I won’t tell you,” I snickered, noticing my knuckles were bleeding.
She sucked her teeth. “DaVinci! You two are not supposed to be fighting at a time like this!”
“He wanted the issue, I gave it to him. Don’t be mad at me, be mad at that nigga.”
“I’m disappointed in both of you!” She irritably snapped. “Fuckin’ dickheads, both of you! The psychiatrist came to talk to Brooke and me because you niggas couldn’t be reached.”
“What’d she say?”
“River needs to be placed on a psych hold for now and then referred to a psychiatrist where she can do intense therapy four days a week.”
Sighing, I hit my head on the headrest a few times. “Fuck, man. Can she have visitors?”
“She can but…”
“She doesn’t want to see me,” I filled in the blank with a heavy heart.
“Right.”
I wasn’t even mad at River, but that shit did cut me deep. Like I said before, she had part of my heart, so to know I brought that kind of distress on her tore me up. The only option I had was to respect her wishes and back off until she was ready to talk to me. I planned to still send my love through whoever she did let visit her though.
“Tell her I love her, Clo. ‘Cause I know she gonna let you visit with her.”
She snickered, which told me that I was right. “I will.”
“I’m in the car whenever you’re done.”
“Okay, baby,” she hung up, leaving me with my loud ass thoughts.
Attempting to silence my mind, I placed a call to Charm.
“Wassup, bro?” She answered after the third ring.
“I need to take your sister somewhere. Somewhere nice. She deserves it. Where’s the one place she’s talked about since she was a kid?”
“Awhhh, that’s so sweet! Um, you know what, she’s always wanted to go to Africa or Santorini.”
“Greece?” I asked for clarification.
“Nigga, do you know another Santorini?” She sucked her teeth and laughed.
“Aight, bet. I appreciate that.”
“No problem. Is your sister okay?”
“ My sister?”
“Yeah, I just saw on some blog that she was rushed to the hospital. I texted Clo but she hasn’t responded. Is everything alright?” She asked with genuine concern.
“Fuck. Yeah, she’s fine, but let me call you back.”
I hung up without waiting for another response from her. I needed to get in contact with Jon and our PR person, Madison. So much for keeping River’s hospital stay quiet. Since I was the cause of it, the least I could do was keep her privacy intact. If anyone found out she had attempted suicide, that would be all over the blog sites for weeks to come. I couldn’t have my baby sister reliving that bullshit day after day. Madison and Jon were the dream team, so they could get this shit sewed up faster than I could blink.