Chapter 30 #2
I should never have had sex with Shio. Not because I was heartbroken, but because I was embarrassed.
My giving myself to him the night before he proposed marriage to another woman reeked of desperation.
My cheeks flushed warm. I must have been the worst lay of his life.
For a man to sleep with a woman, and the very next day ask to be married to another—I had to have been awful.
I should have asked the wives for tips.
“Soy una perdedora. (I’m such a loser.)”
“You know the point of girl talk is to actually talk back, Shya.”
I could feel her breathing slowly and knew she was on her way to sleep.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to talk to Maura about my dad, so I get it.”
Hmmmm… Hmmm. Hm hm hmmmm… Hmmmmm… Hmmmm… Hm hm hmmmm.
I began humming a tune that she seemed to love.
It was the same one that I hummed to her on the plane, and the same one I hummed to my baby brothers.
It was the same tune I hummed when my feelings got too overwhelming.
The tune was my reprieve when there was absolutely nothing I could do about my circumstances over the years.
Click
Complete darkness surrounded us, prompting me to tighten my grip around Shya when I heard the sound.
“H-h-hello?”
The power shut off, and since there were no windows down here, I couldn’t see in front of my face.
Stretching my hand over the bed, I blindly felt around for my phone.
Once it was in hand, I shone it over Shya’s face, and her little mouth was open wide as she slept.
Easing her onto the bed, I stood while navigating to the flashlight.
Hmmmm… Hmmm. Hm hm hmmmm… Hmmmmm… Hmmmm… Hm hm hmmmm.
Walking towards the door, I pointed it in front of me.
I didn’t stop humming, scared of what had made the sound, but also thinking it could have simply been the power shutting off.
But now I wondered what had caused the house to lose power?
There were no storms. Finally, at the base of the stairs that would take me to the main floor, I shone the phone’s flashlight and immediately wished I’d stayed inside the room.
“Ahhhhh!”
Temptation. Craving. Feeling.
Him.
Not him, but him.
In the dark, beyond my flashlight, he was there, already halfway down the stairs. The one who had supplied me with what I wanted or needed the night of the Discover’s proposal. I saw him again at the club just before Felipe arrived. And once more, the night when all of the ladies had come over.
He leaped toward me, and at the same time, his hand covered my mouth. I dropped the phone, fear racing through me. It must have landed on its back because the light was gone. Still, his hand was over my mouth, suppressing my screams.
“Don’t scream.”
I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me.
I am bigger than my addiction. I am in control.
I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me.
I am bigger than my addiction. I am in control.
I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me.
I am bigger than my addiction. I am in control.
“Listen to me, Solana… You’re in danger. I know I’m not the one you want to trust, but right now, I need you to come with me.”
What were the odds? What were the chances that right when life became too much, my vice was right here? I could feel my body tremble, and so could he because he began to curse under his breath.
“Solana, we gotta fuckin’ move. But if you want to live, don’t make a sound.”
He removed his hands from my mouth, and I indeed did not make a sound unless you counted the thumping of my heart that matched the soft panting of my breath.
I could hear him moving, and when the light from his phone shone over his face, I took a step back.
He was so young and so handsome. He didn’t look like he sold drugs that not only made people feel good but also ruined lives.
“I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me. I am bigger than my addiction. I am in control. I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me.” I moved backward toward the room where Shya was asleep.
“Solana… I just need you to trust me. You’re in danger. We have to go. Now.”
I whispered silently, my lips moving but the quietest sound coming out. “I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me. I am bigger than my addiction. I am in control. I will overcome this addiction. This addiction will not get the best of me.”
“Fuck… Look… Hmmmm… Hmmm. Hm hm hmmmm… Hmmmmm… Hmmmm… Hm hm hmmmm.”
My calf hit the bed. I’d made it into the room without facing forward. His tune made me pause, his humming identical to mine. He took slow steps until he was directly in front of me again.
“H… how do you know that song?” I whispered.
“Because I know who you are, Solana. Well, I didn’t before I sold you that shit, which is my bad, by the way. But I know who you are.”
He flipped the phone around, the flashlight now pointing at his face, with his phone screen illuminating my face. My eyes focused on him instead of the phone, taking a moment to outline his features. He looked like a young adult, yet there was a softness and hardness in his face at the same time.
“Look, Solana.”
I took a step back from the picture on his phone, falling onto the mattress since there was nowhere else for me to go. I blinked nonstop, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
“?Cómo conseguiste esa foto de mi madre y de mí? (How did you get that picture of my mother and I?)
“Tengo la foto porque esta es mi hermana. (I have the picture because this is my sister.)”
He pointed to the photo, and my ears burned as my brows creased, trying to process his words.
Wait, he is speaking in Spanish.
“Este eres tú y esta es mi madre. Nuestra madre. (This is you, and this is my mother. Our mother.)
“You speak Spanish?”
“Yes. I speak a few languages. My mother made sure my sibling and I were fluent in most. Now, we have to go, Solana. I won't hurt you. I’m sorry for sellin’ you drugs. I’m sorry for everything. But lemme fix it.”
In disbelief, I just stared at him. I didn’t have any siblings from my mother.
My mother didn’t have any more children.
I was her first child, and she died giving birth to me—or so I was told.
My father’s words were so few about my mother that anything seemed possible, like a drug-dealing, Spanish-speaking man claiming to be my brother.
Brother.
Not like I was short of those, but my mother’s son.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay.”
“Uh… Aite. Come on.”
I stood but then stopped. “Wait. I can’t leave the baby.”
“What baby?”
“She’s on the bed.”
He shifted the light and there was a jump scare. Shya was sitting up in the bed, eyes wide open.
“Hey. I-I’m Uncle Ro. Can I pick you up?”
Ro. His name is Ro, I thought to myself, not remembering if Italian or the girls had told me his name.
“Ngisize,” Shyla said while whining.
“She doesn’t speak,” I said as I stuffed my feet into a pair of house shoes.
I didn’t know where we were going, but with the lights off in the house and no one here, I had to trust him.
Plus, he had a picture of me with our mother.
It was indeed me in the picture because I had the same photo, except there was no sister in it.
Did I have a sister?
Ro moved toward the bed. Lighting was scarce, but from his phone, I could see enough.
Shya climbed into his arms.
“Let's go! Stay behind me.”
Following behind him, I saw him pull a gun from his waistband, and then everything became real. I remember him saying I was in danger, but I never processed it because he was the danger just moments ago. Knowing now was not the time to ask questions, I stayed close as we climbed the steps.
Zip Zip
I could feel hot air go past our heads, and I instantly trusted him. He didn’t lie. Someone was here to try to kill me.
“Shit! Get low, Solana.”
Pow Pow Pow
He shot back in the direction of where the bullets had come from, but we kept moving, not missing a step as we climbed the stairs. Now on the main floor, there were windows, and I could see a silhouette of a person shooting from the kitchen.
Plaw Plaw Plaw
The body in the kitchen dropped, and the figure from the door had been the one to do so.
“Price?”
“Yeah. I saw the lights go out and a nigga walk through the back.”
My possible brother tucked his gun and pulled me along.
Shya wasn’t crying, but her eyes were open.
She shifted her head around, looking as if she knew what was happening.
Her alertness made me breathe easier. She was unharmed, and I needed her to be.
Shio would never forgive me if something happened to his daughter in my care.
“Fuccck! I appreciate you, bro!”
Price held the door open, and if I weren’t so shaken up, I would throw my arms around him. I needed to praise Pearla on how good a job she’d done deciding to give him a chance.
“No sweat, Ro. Y’all go. I’ma make sure ain’t nobody else in here and try to get the power back on.”
Price looked the baby and me over before going back into the dark house. When we heard his gun sound again, it proved that there were other men inside the house.
“Fuuuuck!” Ro shouted quietly. “Come on. I parked down the street.”
“Why so far?”
“Solana… I stole the fuckin’ car.”
What?
Before we could make it off the lawn, a car pulled up in front of Jisei’s townhouse, causing me to freeze, and Ro to pull his gun out.
“I’m ’bout to beat yo’ muthafuckin’ ass! A gun, Ro?” A lady in scrubs hopped from the car, and the sight of her had me feeling a wave of emotions. The girl had rounded the car and had a menacing glare at Ro. “Who baby?”
Plaw Plaw
She jumped and tried to take cover behind the car. “Are those gunshots?”
“Yes! Look, we need to get the fuck outta here!”
He pulled his sister up, shoved her in the passenger seat, opened the back for me, and did the same. With the door closed and Shya still resting on his chest, he marched to the driver's side.
“You going to drive with the baby?” his sister asked what I was thinking. Instead of Ro responding, he shifted Shya in his lap.
“At the party I was working tonight, I heard a bitch sayin’ to have her and this baby killed, so I came.
” He threw his thumb toward me in the back seat before pointing to Shya in his lap.
He was now driving, and Shya wasn’t causing any lack to his driving skills as he navigated the wheel with one hand.
Letting his words digest, my eyes rounded, realizing he had just said someone at a party wanted me dead.
“Work! What fuckin’ job? You ain’t got one,” she said, staring at his face and head, her profile visible to me.
“Where do you think I get the money I give you from?”
“Them weak-ass drugs you be tryna sell!” she screamed as he turned, the car on two wheels.
Drugs are definitely not weak.
“And be careful, this is my client’s mama's car!”
“Listen, sis. I need you to trust me. I do valet, I told you that. I’m trying, sis. I’m fuckin’ trying.”
“Okay, but you heard a bitch say what now that had you playing superman?”
“African girl. Sounded Kenyan, though. She was on the phone, giving instructions to kill her and the baby.” He jutted his head my way this time instead of his thumb.
Ro turned out of the neighborhood, going as fast as the Cadillac could take us.
“And you decided to play Clark Kent?”
“Ngisize,” Shya blabbered, and I wanted to grab her, but I was still too shaken up.
From the shooting, the revelation, and the girl in the front seat, I was sure a new wave of trauma would have me fighting the drug cravings even more.
Who wanted me killed? Bahati? No, she wouldn’t order a hit on her own child.
“When it comes to my sisters, damn right, I’ma suit up. Just like I do with you.”
“What?” she said, the side of her face I could see scrunched up.
“Ngisize!”
The girl turned in her seat, and my eyes bulged. She didn’t look at me with the same surprise as I did her. She still seemed upset.
“What the fuck is going on? And why does this baby keep saying, “Help me.” What the fuck did you do to her?” The girl whose face I couldn't stop staring at frowned at me after asking the questions quickly.
“Hunh?” I asked just as the car made a sharp turn.
“This is our mean-ass, big sister. And the baby does speak. She just don’t speak English or Spanish. She speaks Zulu. Ngisize means help me.”
“Ngisizeeeee!” Shya wailed as if she was finally relieved someone said something she understood.
“Ungakhathazeki. Sizokusiza. (Don’t worry. We will help you.)” Ro’s sister—my sister— said to Shya because her face fell. “Wait…”
Ro hit another turn, and the only thing that kept me planted instead of flying across the back seat was the look of realization coming across his sister’s face as she stared at me.
“?Solana?”
To be Continued….