TYCE II (25 page)

“If God lined up a million women and told me to choose one to be with, and have a child with…I would tell him no t
hanks, I already made my choice--
I choose you.”

Angelique started to cry as the horns sounded off behind us.

“I fuckin’ love you Tyce.”

I chuckled a little, “I fuckin’ love you too Angelique.”

“Oh my God that chicken was soooo good!”

Angelique closed the box containing the meatless bones and licked her greasy lips.

“Damn, I shoulda got you a five piece.”

“I know huh, I probably would have ate it all.” She giggled wiping her mouth with a napkin.

I pulled into a parking spot at the hospital. It seemed like I was at this place more than I was at home recently. But instead on coming here on bad terms, the visit today was a good one.

             
Angelique and I held hands as we walked into Sabrina’s room.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me.

“Hey you, I’ve been waiting for you to come see me.” She gave me a pretty smile.

She looked better than she did when I brought her here. I really thought she wasn’t going to make it, but she was stronger than she looked and proof of that was laying right in front of me.

“I’m happy you made it through.”

“Shit, so am I, from what they tell me around here I was pretty jacked up.” She motioned for us to sit.

“So who’s this lovely lady sitting next to you?”

“This is my girlfriend Angelique, Angelique this is Sabrina.” I did the formal introduction thing.

Sabrina smiled, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Angelique responded kindly.

“I thought you said you had two girlfriends.” Sabrina put up two fingers.
“Where’s the one I

met at the restaurant? The one with all the attitude?” Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“You must mean Dallas…she’s no longer with us.” Angelique crossed her legs.

Sabrina looked concerned, “Oh, did she pass away?”

I laughed, “Naw, I jus’ broke up with her this morning…it’s a long story.”

“Oh well, I won’t say I’m sorry to hear that because I’m not…I really didn’t like her much.”

I didn’t want to rehash old stuff so I moved the conversation to a more serious level. Besides, I never liked beating around the bush. I needed to get some things off my chest and I needed to get them off now.

“You feel like talkin’ Sabrina?” I pulled my chair closer to her bed.

“I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t ask that question…but I guess we do have some things to discuss. Let me start, first of all, thank you for saving my life. I would not be here looking out this big ass window at this beautiful day if it wasn’t for you.
Second, I feel soooo embarrassed that you saw me get my pussy ate
and
seen me naked! Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t embarrassed at the time but now since you’re my freakin’ brother it kinda changes things.
”
Sabrina blushed.
I was shocked when she said that, “How did you find out?”
I leaned in closer to her.

“My nurse told me and then my doctor confirmed it. I asked him to run a DNA test and sure enough, about twenty minutes ago he came in with the lab results…I’m your sister. Isn’t that weird, I had a crush on my
freakin’
brothe
r!
”

Angelique’s ears perked up when she heard the c word. Sabrina quickly filled in the details to clear it all up.

“Don’t worry Angelique, he was a complete
gentleme
n, he politely told me that he was committed to his relationship, he was about to let me down gently…but I kinda got hit by a car so that stopped that conversation.” Sabrina joked seriously. “Speaking of which, who the fuck hit me?”

I huffed at that question, “
You ready for this one? Our dad ran you over! Then this nigga ran off
and left
you for dead! I’m sorry to say, I had to kill your uncle Armando and I have Diego tied up in my trunk right now. The only reason I didn’t put a bullet in
his
head is because of you. I wanted to ask you what you wanted to do. If it was up to me I’d take him sky diving without a parachute but I know you got love for his punk ass, sooo what you wanna do?”

Sabrina sighed heavily, “Did he really jus’ leave me there?”

“Yep, and he said you’re dead to him.”

Sabrina took a moment to soak in the disturbing truth. I could see the pain and turmoil on her face. I reached out and stroked her arm attempting to comfort her.

“You know what, fuck him, whatever you want to do with him is fine with me! If he doesn’t give a fuck about me than I don’t give a fuck about him!
It’s your call bro, what do you want to do with your sperm donor?
”

             
Pamela helped Gloria get into the back of the patrol car. It was mid afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. It was
a
beautiful day in L.A. with the morning fog long since burned off
. Today was the day Gloria was finally leaving the confines of her hospital room, and not a moment too soon, she was about to go stir crazy in there.

             
The one bright spot of her stay was when she got to meet her son after all these years. Only a mother who’s lost a child knows what it feels like. The pain is indescribable
. Gloria had to endure that heart wrenching pain for over two decades. The worst thing about it was that she blamed herself for his death. When Tyce walked in the hospital room l
ooking like the male version of
he
rself her heart and spirits
lifted. It was like a refreshing river came through and washed away
all the years of filthy mourning that was stuck in her soul
like a deep rooted weed.

             
Sitting in the back of that patrol car as it drove through the city streets, Gloria reflected on her life. She met Diego when she ditched school one day. She was afraid to tell him she was underage so she lied and said she was 18. They never really dated or anything like that, he would just pick her up and take her shopping sometimes. Of course, he would make her pay for the gifts by sleeping with him, but she didn’t really mind. Diego was quite the catch back then. Gloria knew he had money and power and was on the rise…that’s what attracted her to him
in the first place. But after she got pregnant two years later, everything changed…he changed.

“Is this the address Ms. Adkins?”

             
Pamela looked out the window, “Yes officer.”

The maroon car followed by another unmarked vehicle turned simultaneously down the alley. Officer Hurley, Officer Ruiz, Pamela, and Gloria all exited the car at the same time. Both officers
pulled their guns out and rushed in the same direction.

“Stay back ladies!” Officer Ruiz instructed.

Officer Hurley gave a silent count to his partner with his fingers. ONE…TWO…THREE.

             
Officer Ruiz thrusts the heavy black lid open giving his partner some room to shove his gun inside the wide gap.

“
GET UP SLOWLY WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!!”

The man didn’t move a muscle.

“I SAID GET UP!!” Officer Hurley repeated.

“Is he dead?” Officer Ruiz peeked inside.

“No, he’s still breathing, he’s just unconscious, call the paramedics. Ms. Wright, Pamela, I need you to come and identify the perp.”

Pamela reached out and grabbed Gloria’s hand. She had a limp in
her step as she gingerly walked
toward the officers. With the lid now fully open, all four of them stared into the grimy back alley dumpster.

“Is this the man who shot you Ms. Wright?” Ruiz looked at her.

Gloria peered down at Diego and smiled, “Yes, that’s him alright.”

After repeated pokes in the ribs by a night stick, Diego finally woke up. He shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight with the back of his hand
.

“
Whut the fuck es thes, wher the fuck am I
?”

“Diego Alverez, you’re under arrest for attempted murder and kidnapping!”

“
Whut the fuck are yu talking about
?
I wus the

one who wus kidnapped, whut the fuck es thes
?
Whu the fuck are yu
?” Diego tried to stand up
.

He was lying on a bed of trash bags and boxes so the task was difficult. Not to mention since he was woken up abruptly the paralyzing pain in his balls
returned
and was
spreading through his entire body.

“We’re police officers
Diego
and you’re under arrest.”

It took a few minutes for the police to pull Diego out of the dumpster. He could hardly stand up due to the pain.

“Looks like someo
ne really busted your balls huh
Diego?” Officer Ruiz laughed.

Hurley chimed in, “Hey Diego, we got a witness that isn’t afraid to testify…you’re going away for a long time.”

“
Fuck yu white boy, I’ll be out en a week, money talks en I know sum judges whu luv tu listen tu me
!”

Pamela and Gloria both looked at Diego in disgust. Gloria spit in his face, then she grinned when she whispered to him.

“Pamela and I have a son…he has a lot of money too, and he’ll make s
ure you stay your ass in prison you piece of shit!”

             
The two mother’s held han
ds as they watched the ambulance
drive away with D
iego in the back
, he was on his way to the hospital but after that he was going straight to jail. The officers assured them that
two cops would be posted outside his room 24 hours a day.

             
After meeting with Sabrina and talking it over with Angelique, I decided to do what Diego did to me. I left his ass in
the same dumpster he left me in, now that’s what I call taking out the trash.
I know Diego thought he could just buy his way out of jail but that shit wasn’t going to happen. I was prepared to line the pockets of who ever I had to just to make sure he got convicted on all charges.

             
A couple days later, I met up with Khalil and paid him the money I promised him. He was all happy and shit, he practically snatched my arm out of socket he shook it so hard. I thanked him for being a soldier and told him if he ever needed anything to let me know. He told me now that Armando was dead, and Diego was out the picture, the game w
as wide open and he was ready
to take
shit over.

             
I planned on getting to know Gloria. After all these years of not knowing who or where I came from, it felt kind of odd to know the truth. After such a shitty start, my life turned out alright. Sure I had to go through some fucked up shit to make it here but if I hadn’t gone through that, I wouldn’t be the man I am today.

             
Pamela told me why she named me Tyce. She said it stood for Tough, Young, Cute, and Exceptional. I smiled when she shared that with me. I loved Pamela, and she loved me. So the question I asked
myself
is which one do I call mom?
Pamela or Gloria?

The answer is…both

             
I insisted Angelique move into my bedroom with me. No more separate rooms. It was an US thing from now on…
me, her
and the baby. Angelique was busy doing her party planning thing. Thanks to Gloria, I found out when my actual birthday was. All this time, I never celebrated getting older because I never knew when I was born
. I was happy to hear that Gloria delivered me on May 11. Angelique was all geeked up because that was only two weeks away and she wanted to throw me my first ever birthday party.

             
I went to visit Sabrina again, we spent hours just talking about life.
She told me about Carmela and how sweet she was. She also told me about her fucked up child hood with
Diego. We
still couldn’t believe we were actually brother and
sister. We both admitted to
being sexually
attracted to each other when we first met. But now, all that shit was erased.
All that lust was instantly replaced by a budding love between long separated siblings. We chose to keep that little kiss a secret.

             
Sway and Ranae are still doing the marriage thing. After that whole shit exploded that night, he never called me or tried to talk to me about it. It was understood betwe
en us that aint shit happen. What I did ask him about was how he was dealing with his addiction. That nigga damn
near dropped the phone when he
heard me say that. He asked me how in the world I knew. I told him, after being around dope feins for ten
years;
you learn how to recognize the signs. He assured me that everything was cool and that he was off the drugs for good.