Thug Matrimony (24 page)

“Here come that nigga now.” Snake left Whitey alone to go
peek out the window. He looked around to make sure it was just Phillip and Dougie. “Let them in,” Snake ordered, as he sat down at the small round table.

Dougie stepped through the door first. His gaze scanned the room, then Whitey and over to Bullet. He nodded at Snake and stepped inside. Dougie followed him, his glare scanning the room for Lil’E.

The two men remained standing. Bullet stepped over to the TV and turned it off. Dougie pulled out a black n’mild and lit it. Lil’E was on the floor shivering. She was trying to control her bladder.

“Where is she?”

When she heard Phillip’s voice she froze and pissed on herself.

“Over there on the other side of the bed,” Snake told him as he watched Phillip head over to where she lay. He stooped down and yanked the tape off her mouth and eyes.

“Yo, what the fuck is he doing? I thought he didn’t want her to see him?” Snake asked Dougie.

“What difference do it make? He paying y’all to merk the bitch, right?” He pulled hard on the black-'n-mild.

“I know you didn’t think you would get away with fucking up my money, threatening me, and having this baby? Um, um, um.” He waved his index finger back and forth. “Lily, you’ve been a bad girl, and Daddy’s very disappointed in you. I was planning on taking you places you’ve never been.” He wanted her to say something. “You don’t have anything slick to say?”

“Fuck you. Whatever you gonna do, do it and get it over with.” Her throat was so dry she could barely get that out.

Phillip let out that signature laugh. Dougie and Snake joined him. “All righty, then. That’s what I’m talking about. So, tell me, you thought that bitch was gonna protect you, huh?”

“Let’s do this, Phillip. Oh, I forgot. You had to hire some flunkies to do a man’s job. Hurting little ole me.” And she grinned, causing him to stand up and kick her in the face.

“Now, bitch.” He watched her writhe around in pain. “Oh,
you can’t talk now, can you?” He kicked her in the stomach. She began to cry out. “Uh-huh.” He kicked her again. “Y’all niggas, I want this bitch to take three bullets to the stomach. I don’t need no fuckin’ babies. I got a family.” His cell rang. He hawked and spat on her. He turned the cell off. As he walked over to Snake, he reached inside his suit jacket and threw a stack of bills at him.

Snake snatched the stack out of the air and thumbed through it. “Yo—”

“Nigga, that’s half. Hit me up after the job is done for the rest. Let’s dip, bro.”

“Hold up! What the fuck you mean half? That ain’t the muthafuckin’ agreement we made. Don’t be walking off. We ain’t talked about this shit. I’m not the only muthafucka gettin’ paid. We need to fuckin’ discuss this shit. I’m not yo’ bitch, so you definfitely ain’t gonna be treating me like one. So what the fuck is up? Talk, nigga.”

“Man, this is business. What the fuck you wanna talk about? The job is half done, so you get half the dough. When it’s finished, hit me up and I got you. I ain’t tryna skip on a funky-ass twenty-five g’s. Shit, nigga, my suit cost more than that.” Dougie opened the door for his brother and they walked out, slamming the door behind them.

“Man, who in the fuck that nigga think he is?” Bullet snapped. “I got beef with him and don’t even know the pussy.”

“Damn.” Whitey looked down at Lil’E and frowned. “He fucked you up. I guess I won’t be gettin’ none of this pussy.”

“I guess you won’t be. Let’s get this over,” Snake ordered. Then he turned to Bullet. “If that nigga don’t pay up, then you can have all the beef you want with him. Now get this bitch so we can take care of her, get the rest of our money, and take our asses back home.”

They left the motel room carrying Lil’E. Snake and Bullet got in the front of the pimped-out Chevy while Whitey jumped in the back with Lil’E, who didn’t appear conscious.

They drove to New York and advanced through the Verrazano Bridge.

“Damn, look at all these homeless muthafuckas.” Bullet scanned the long dark alley.

“Fuck them. They’ll steal her clothes and shit, but will keep it moving. Go down there.” Snake pointed to what looked like a deserted area. “Handle that, Whitey.”

Bullet brought the car to a stop. Whitey opened the door and shoved Lil’E out. He pulled out his burner, shot her three times in the stomach, slammed the door back, and Bullet sped off. The vehicle came to a screeching halt, then backed up and out flew her purse.

Ten hours later, Angel was finally fully dilated. Kaylin had to call his sister to bring a video camera. He was there when Malik was born and was grateful to be here for his daughter. Half of the Santos clan was at the hospital anticipating the arrival of a new member.

“Okay, Mrs. Santos, it is almost over,” Dr. McCombs assured her.

“Almost? Almost?” Angel damn near screamed. “I want this agony to be over with now!” she breathed as the contraction threatened to knock her out.

“Okay. Here we go. I see the head. I want you to give me a nice big push,” Dr. McCombs instructed. Angel pushed, as the doctor tugged at the baby.

“All of that hair for you to comb, baby,” Kaylin teased.

“Shut up, Kaylin!” Angel snapped.

He laughed. “I got this all on video,” he joked. “I’ma sell it as baby mama gone wild on delivery table, 19.95.”

“Make him leave, somebody!” Angel said between breaths.

“I love you too, baby,” he teased.

“Okay, Mommy. I need another push, but this one needs to be a little harder. Go ahead and push.”

“Oh God.” She gritted her teeth as she bore down.

“That’s good. Go ahead and push again, but a little harder for me,” Dr. McCombs coaxed. “Good,” she said as she pulled the baby all the way out. “And it’s a baby girl!”

“Oh God,” Angel panted as she lay back, exhausted, and looked at the slimy little being.

“Come on, Daddy. Give the nurse the camera, while you get the honors of cutting the cord.”

Kaylin’s eyes were glued to his baby girl. “She’s pretty like me,” he stated as he took the cutting instrument from Dr. Mc-Combs. He clipped the cord and smiled.

“Congratulations, you guys did very well.” She handed the baby to the nurses who immediately started cleaning her up, and Dr. McCombs began cleaning Angel in preparation to apply the stitches. The baby was yelling at the top of her lungs.

Kaylin came over to Angel’s side and kissed her. “You did real good, Ma. Real good.” She rolled her eyes at him and he smiled and kissed her again.

“Okay, Mommy, you only needed a couple of stitches. And again, you did very well. Congratulations to the both of you.”

“Here’s your baby.” The nurse handed the bundled-up baby to Angel.

She stared at the baby for several minutes, taking her all in. “I’m a mommy.” She beamed as the tears welled up in her eyes.

Kaylin was glad to catch that moment on camera before putting it down. “Let Daddy hold her.” Angel kissed the baby on the cheek and passed her to Kaylin.

“Jahara Kayliah Santos,” he said proudly. “Daddy’s precious little angel.” He explained the meaning of Jahara.

“Daddy, we forgot to weigh your little one,” Dr. McCombs told him. “Here. We’ll let you once again have the honors.” She led him to the scale by tugging at his elbow. He gently laid her down but wouldn’t let her go. “She’ll be okay.” She smiled at Kaylin, as he reluctantly let a screaming Jahara go.

“Man, just like her brother she has a strong set of lungs.”

“That’s a good thing. Well, she comes in at seven pounds, one ounce, and … she … is twenty-one inches long.” She skillfully swooped up Jahara, wrapped the receiving blanket back around her, and handed her back to Kaylin. “Wow, Mommy. I can’t imagine how much she would have weighed if you went full term.”

Angel smiled at her. She was happy that it was all over and only wanted to fall into a deep comalike sleep.

As soon as Jamaica heard gunshots, she grabbed her grandfather’s hand and they stepped back but peeked around the Dumpster. When the car pulled out of sight they ran over to Lil’E. Now they were standing there going through her purse.

“Grandpop, call the ambulance,” Jamaica pleaded. “She’s bleeding and she’s pregnant.”

Her grandfather’s hand shook uncontrollably. He was excited that they had a few dollars and excited about the pregnant white woman lying on the ground. He pressed 911 on E’s cell phone. “Hello. There’s a white pregnant woman lying here on the ground. She was shot, what sounded like three times. She needs an ambulance in a mighty big hurry.”

“Where are you, sir?”

“Down here under the Verrazano Bridge.”

“Is she breathing, sir?”

“I don’t know and I ain’t touching her to find out. She’s lying down here next to two beat-up vans. A white one and a red one. You can’t miss her.”

“Sir, can you stay there with her until the paramedics arrive?”

“Jamaica, turn this thing off. Let’s get outta here.” He handed Jamaica the phone, as he thought about where they could go spend the night. Eight hundred dollars should keep them out of the alley for a week.

“Yo, P. It’s me. That’s done,” Snake said into Phillip’s voice mail for the tenth time. He was getting angrier and angrier.

“Man, if this nigga is trying to gank us, I’m going back to get the body and dump her right in front of his place of business,” Whitey vowed.

T
his was Trae’s first night home and Tasha was ecstatic. He was walking slow, and with a cane, but it was okay. Omar and Bo had helped them from the hospital, and the kids were at their grandparents’.

The apartment was silent and Tasha stepped back to allow Trae his moment. She knew what he was feeling and knew that the moment for him was ten times as intense for him as it was for her. This was his home long before he met her, and he had a lot of history here and it held a lot of memories. This same apartment went from being his bachelor’s pad, to his one-wifey-only pad, to a family dwelling. They only used it once in a blue moon.

Trae stepped into the kitchen and looked around. He recalled Tasha blending the hell out of strawberries and bananas while pregnant with their first baby, the one that she lost. He turned around and stopped once again in the living room and looked around. This was where Tasha first gave him some head. His dick jumped at that memory. He made his way down the hallway and opened the door to what used to be his weight room. Now it held two twin beds, a crib, stuffed animals, and toys.
Damn,
he said to himself. Leaving the door open he made it to the bathroom, peeked in. A woman’s touch. Tasha’s touch. She had the same mauve and light gray color scheme as their guest bedroom
at their home in Cali. He went to the master bedroom and sat down on the bed, taking it all in. So many memories … of his hustling days. He didn’t even notice Tasha standing in the doorway.

“Baby, you need anything? Are you all right?”

He skimmed his face over his hands. “I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be alive,” he mumbled.

“Come again?”

“Nothing, baby. Come here.” He patted the spot next to him.

She sat down and ran her hand over his bald head. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” He nodded his head yes. “I know. It got me too. My stomach does somersaults as soon as I pull up in front of the building. It doesn’t seem real. I remember the first time I stepped foot in this apartment. It feels just like it was yesterday. You were so sure that I would be a permanent part of your life. I was so unsure, scared, and confused,” she confessed. “You seemed … so for real about us and I didn’t want to throw myself out there and then learn that it was all a game to you.”

“See what you would have missed out on?” he teased. “Disappearing on you, three babies, a coma, you would have missed all of that good stuff.”

She giggled. “Whatever, nigga. I can laugh now, but at the time I didn’t know if I could hang. A damn roller-coaster ride.”

“Yeah, I can say it’s been that. But over all, have I made you happy? Have I kept my promises to you?” He leaned over and brushed a strand of hair away from her eye.

She pretended that she had to think about it, before finally answering, “Yeah, so far.”

“Aww, you got jokes, don’t you?” He stared at her for a while. “Thank you for being there. Thank you for being there when I woke up. You ever had those dreams where you were falling, and when you woke up you were trying to catch yourself?” He closed his eyes for a minute. “Well, that’s how I was feeling. I was falling, and you were holding your hand out to me smiling, but I kept falling further, further away. I was scared to look down so I
kept looking up at your hand. When I couldn’t see it anymore I panicked and couldn’t breathe and when I woke up your hand was in mine and you were snoring.”

“No, I wasn’t.” She slapped the back of his head.

He smiled at her. “It didn’t matter. You were there and that allowed my heart rate to return to normal, as well as my breathing. For real, if I would have woken up and you weren’t there, I don’t know if my heart and breathing would have returned back to normal, yo. I think I was going to actually cash out at that point. I try not to think about it, but the thoughts keep coming back.”

She could actually see the panic in his eyes. “Baby, it did get scary at times. In my mind and my heart at times I could feel you slipping away from me. But over all my spirit was telling me that everything would be all right, that you was not going to leave me. Some nights, some days, I couldn’t breathe, eat, or sleep! Then one morning, and it wasn’t the first time or the last, I felt as if I could go no further. I was forced to get down on my knees and start praying. I felt like I was having an anxiety attack. I prayed and prayed. I don’t even know how long I was on my knees but I didn’t stop until a peaceful surge came over me. That surge confirmed that you were coming back to us.

“I will always be there for you. You are my soul mate. They would try to get me to go home and get some rest, but I couldn’t leave you. I knew you needed me and I wouldn’t, I couldn’t take that chance. You are my everything, Trae. You are a part of me.”

“It’s over. You don’t have to worry about losing me anymore. It’s all behind us now.”