Chapter 5
Troy
It felt like it was taking forever and a day to make it back to my place. The whole ride there, I was getting a bit agitated. I didn’t know how I was going to get through this. I had a feeling that something was going to go wrong. I didn’t know how or why. I just had that feeling.
The minute we pulled up on my block, I felt an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. When we passed by the spot where I was shot, I felt like I was about to hallucinate. I knew it’d been a week now, but I still couldn’t believe that Kaylin’s sidepiece shot me. I mean, I knew I gave that ho one hell of an ass whooping, but she should’ve taken her problems out on Kaylin, not me.
“Where’s my car?” When we pulled up in my driveway, I immediately noticed that it wasn’t there.
“It was a little messed up, so I put it in the shop,” Mark said, looking at me. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, okay. That’s cool. I don’t mind at all.”
We all just sat in the car as if we didn’t want to go inside. I didn’t know about them, but I knew I wasn’t ready. I hated coming back to my condo. It made me think too much about everything.
“You ready to go in, ma?” Mark asked me softly, breaking me from my thoughts.
Clearing the lump that had formed in my throat, I gulped and said, “Yes.”
He then got out of the car and walked over to the other side to open my door. He reached out one of his hands and helped me out of the car. While he grabbed my things, I quickly glanced around. It suddenly felt good to be home. It just dawned on me that I could’ve died a week ago.
“All right, come on.” Mark grabbed my arm to assist me. I wanted to object and remind him that I wasn’t a child, but I didn’t. He was just trying to help me out, and I was thankful for that.
The bright sun beat against my face as I slowly made my way toward my front door. I felt like it was going to take me forever to make it to there, because my legs were unsteady and I was afraid I’d fall.
“Where are your keys, ma?” he asked, once we made it to the door.
“They’re in my purse.” I pointed to the purse he had in his hand.
“Hold on to my shoulder.” He handed me the purse, and I fished out my keys and gave them to him. He opened the door and allowed me to go in first. “Where do you want me to put these?” he asked, holding up my bags.
“You can put them on the kitchen table,” I replied, pointing to the kitchen as I took a seat on the sofa. I had gotten tired just that fast.
“You good, ma? You need anything?” He patted my leg as he took a seat on the sofa next to me.
“Nah, I’m all right.”
“You sure?” he asked again.
“Yeah, I’m sure, boo,” I responded by scooting a little close to him. Looking into his eyes, I leaned forward and gave him a passionate kiss, the kind that takes your breath away.
“What was that for?” He looked surprised.
“Just because. What, I can’t give my nigga a kiss now?”
“Nah, ma, it’s cool. You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Come on, ma, don’t be like that.” He looked hurt, but I ignored him.
He tried to move over to me, but I raised my hand, stopping him in the process. “Get Jayden in here so we can discuss everything,” I said to him. I wasn’t really mad at him. I thought I was still feeling some type of way about what had happened between Weedy and me earlier.
“Cool,” he said, pulling out his phone. He dialed Jayden’s number and told him to come up.
I got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen to get me something to drink. When I came back, he was still sitting over there pouting. I walked over to him and sat down on the coffee table in front of him.
“I’m sorry, Mark. Everything is just too much for me right now.” I apologized yet again today. “I want to thank you for being there for me. I really don’t know what I would’ve done without you being by my side. Not just through this, but also when Mimi got killed. You’ve been everything I need and more.”
Getting up, I sat on his lap and started kissing him. I was trying to make up for getting mad at him when he was only trying to help me. I needed him to know how much I appreciated him.
Looking directly in my eyes, he stopped kissing me and said, “Ma, I told you time and time again that you don’t have to keep thanking me for doing what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know how dudes used to treat you before, but I’m different. I’m with you, so I’m going to be there for you, no matter what.”
Hearing him say those words made my heart skip a beat. Other than Mimi, no one had spoken to me like that, especially not the niggas I’d been with. Hell, my parents weren’t even there for me, so to hear him say that made me teary-eyed. Leaning my forehead against his, I let the tears fall freely.
“Why are you crying, ma?” He leaned my head back, but I couldn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to. How would it sound if I told him about everything that I’d been through with Weedy? He might have thought I was all kind of dumb bitches and shit.
“I’m fine, Mark,” I said as Jayden knocked on the door. “Come on in, Jayden.”
“Sup with y’all?” he asked as soon as he saw me crying on Mark’s lap.
“I’m just emotional, that’s all,” I replied, rising up from Mark’s lap. I sat next to him on the sofa as Jayden sat down on the loveseat across from us.
“Y’all want anything, something to eat or drink maybe?” I nervously bit my lip.
“Nah, I’m good,” Jayden replied.
“Me too,” Mark responded after him.
“Okay.” I exhaled. “Well, I need to discuss a few things with you guys. I already told y’all about the stalker, the salon being trashed, and the notes. Y’all also already know that we can’t find Kaylin or the kids.”
“Yeah, we know all that,” Jayden replied.
“Well, Mimi’s funeral services are scheduled for tomorrow.” I took a deep breath and exhaled, then continued. “But what y’all don’t know is that Mimi will be having a closed casket.”
“Why? I thought she was shot in her back. Why she gotta have a closed casket?” Jayden asked, looking confused.
My heart started to pound while my stomach was doing back flips. “The reason she gotta have a closed casket is because they can’t find her body.”
“Say what?” Jayden exclaimed, leaning forward.
“The people at the funeral home cannot find her body!”
“What you mean?” Jayden jumped up in anger.
“I’m saying that they can’t find her. As in it wasn’t there when the coroner went to pick it up,” I said.
“Where is she? How can someone lose a whole body out here? That’s impossible! Somebody had to see something, or knows what the hell happened,” he said, pacing back and forth. From the way he was pounding his hand in his fist, I thought he was about to spazz out.
“I don’t know. I went through all that with them. Nobody knows anything, so they say.”
“This shit sounds fishy as fuck, ma. You talked to the detective about this shit?”
“No, I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet.”
“Why though? This shit is serious. You can’t just lose a fuckin’ body and not expect the family to ask what’s goin’ on!”
“Every time I call him, he doesn’t answer, and when I went down to the station, they gave me the runaround.”
“Oh, yeah. We ’bout to see ’bout this shit now,” he growled.
“No, Jayden, it’s no use. We’re just going to have to wait until after the funeral to find out what happened to her body. I already have too much stress on me as it is, and I’m sure you guys have a lot going on yourselves.” I was trying to talk a little sense into him, because I needed him to wait. Now was not the time to be starting trouble, especially when Mimi’s kids were out there somewhere.
“I’ll wait, but just know I’m not waiting too long,” he said, slamming the door.
I turned to Mark for comfort. He took me into his arms, and I snuggled up closer to him.
“He’s just mad. Give him some time to cool down,” he said, rubbing my arms.
“I already knew that he was going to be mad, but I had no idea that he was going to act like that. I just need him to wait a little while for me, that’s all.” I laid my head on his shoulder.
“Jayden is a hard dude. He doesn’t let nothing get by him. If there’s a problem, he always wants to fix it right away.”
“Hell, I can see that!”
“It’s going to be all right, ma. He won’t be mad forever.”
I was about to reply when I heard a ringing coming from my purse. I was confused, because my phone was actually sitting on the table. For a few seconds, I was scared to touch my purse. Suddenly, I remembered that I still had the phone Mimi had given to me.
“What the fuck?” I grabbed my purse and fished out the phone.
“What’s going on?” Mark asked, but I didn’t answer him. Looking at the phone’s caller ID, I saw it read, “Private Caller.”
“I don’t know. This is the phone that Mimi gave me before she was killed. She’s the only person who’s supposed to know this number.” I sat still, staring at the phone in my hand.
“Maybe someone got the wrong number or something. Just answer it and see,” he said, hunching his shoulders.
“Hello,” I answered. “Hello, who the fuck is this?” I said when they didn’t say anything.
Pressing the phone closer to my ears, I could hear shallow breathing on the other side. “Helloooo,” I said, stretching the word, but the person still didn’t say anything. “I know you’re there, so you might as well just say something!”
The person on the other end still didn’t respond. Instead, they just disconnected the call. Throwing the phone on the sofa in frustration, I huffed and took a seat.
“What’s wrong, ma?”
“I’m just tired, Mark. Someone has been calling me for the past few weeks and won’t say shit. It’s starting to piss me off.”
“Well, get your number changed then.”
“I will. I’m going to do it later. Right now, I just need to get some rest for tomorrow,” I said, getting up. I walked in the bathroom and started running my bathwater.
“Well, do you need me to get you anything? Something from the store? Something to eat? Anything?” Mark asked, walking in the bathroom behind me.
“Nah, I’m straight. But you could go and get me a bottle of water and them pills out of my purse.”
“Okay,” he said, walking out of the bathroom. I kicked off my shoes, took my pants and panties off, and waited for him to get back so that he could help me take my shirt off. I knew my shoulder was too sore to try it alone.
“Here you go,” he said, handing me the pill bottle and water.
“Set it right there for me.” I pointed to the bathroom counter. “Can you help me take my shirt and bra off please?”
“Sure.” He placed the things on the counter, and then carefully helped me out of the rest of my clothes.
I removed two pills out of the bottle, opened the water, and took my pain medicine. When I was done, I got into the tub to relax my sore body.
“Hand me a washcloth and my body wash right there on the stand, please.”
Getting the washcloth and body wash like I asked, he came back over by the bathtub, but he didn’t hand them to me. Instead, he got down on his knees and wet the washcloth in the water.
“What are you doing?” I asked, suddenly becoming shy.
“What do you think I’m about to do?” he asked, chuckling. “I’m about to bathe you. Is something wrong with that?”
“Uh, no, no. Nothing is wrong with that,” I stuttered.
“Okay, then.” He shrugged as he took the washcloth and drenched my body gently with water. He made sure to soak every inch of my body, and when he got to my shoulder where the bullet hole was, I flinched a bit. I didn’t want him to see my scars.
“It’s okay, baby. I love every part of you.” He kissed me lovingly on my shoulder, and when I heard that, I thought, I can’t believe he just told me that he loved me. Hell, this is his first time saying it.
“I love you too,” I replied sincerely, looking into his eyes. I couldn’t believe I almost let Weedy get next to me again. I should have whooped my own ass for even thinking about messing with Weedy after all of the shit that he had put me through. Why would I want to go back to a man I had to share when I had my own man right here?
He squeezed some body wash into the washcloth and began to bathe me. I wanted to object, but I didn’t. It not only felt good, but it was actually nice to have someone cater to me.
“Stand up,” he said, getting up off the floor.
I stood up with my hands covering my breasts.
“You can put your hands down, ma. I already seen all of that,” he said, smiling.
I let my hands fall, and I started to breathe slowly as he started washing the top half of my body. My heart was beating like a bass drum. That’s how afraid I was. When he got to my midsection, he stopped.
“You can breathe normally, ma. I’m not going to bite you,” he said as he rubbed the washcloth against my stomach.
“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. He proceeded to wash the rest of my body and, when he was finished, he turned on the shower and rinsed me off.
“Where are the bath towels?” he asked, turning off the water.
“They’re in the linen closet in the hallway.”
“Okay.” He left the bathroom.
I stepped out of the tub to examine my body in the full-length mirror. Lately, I’d added on a couple of pounds. It went lovely with my body, and no one else could tell the difference, but I could, and I didn’t like it. Moving a little closer, I turned to see the holes left in my shoulder and side. They weren’t too big, but they looked huge to me. They were already starting to form into keloids. My eyes got misty as I looked over my once-perfect body. I figured no one was going to want me once they saw me completely naked.
“You’re still perfect, ma. Them little war wounds ain’t nothing. You’re just a gangsta chick to me, and I’ve always had a thing for your kind,” Mark murmured, walking up behind me. Wrapping the towel around my body, he began to dry me off. When he was done, he handed me the robe that was hanging on the back of the door, and I put it on.
I turned toward him and gave him a long kiss. I wanted him in the worst way. I needed him, and if things were different, I wouldn’t mind having him right this moment. “Call Jayden and tell him that you’re staying over tonight,” I said, looking intently at him.
“Okay.” He pulled his phone out.
“Y’all still staying at the motel?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, look, y’all go and get y’all things. I’ll let y’all stay in one of Mimi’s properties not too far from here.”
“Ma, you really don’t have to do that.”
“I can and I will. Why would I let y’all stay in some sleazy motel, when Mimi has a lot of properties around Georgia?” I went straight into my room to get some clothes to put on.
“Where you think you goin’?” Mark asked as I took out a pair of pants and a shirt.
“I’m going with you guys to pick up y’all things,” I said letting the robe fall from my body.
“Man, you don’t need to be going nowhere, ma.”
“Yes, I do,” I said, slipping on my sweatpants. I didn’t even bother to put on a pair of panties, and I knew there was no way in hell I’d be able to put on a bra.
“Ma, you don’t need to be going back out this time of night. You just got out of the hospital, bruh.”
“Mark, don’t fight me on this. I’m going with you guys to get your things so that y’all don’t have to sleep in that hotel no more.” I slipped on my tennis shoes and then went into my closet to get me a jacket, because it was getting kind of chilly outside.
“Come on,” I said, stopping in front of him. He said nothing. All he did was look at me, shake his head, and walk out of the room. I’d make it right later on, but right now we were leaving, and I didn’t have time to argue.
I went to look for my keys so that I could take my own car, but then I realized that my car was in the shop. “Shit.” Suddenly, I remembered that one of Mimi’s cars was still parked in the garage at the house.
“I’ll just use her car until my car comes from the shop,” I said to myself as I cut the light off and went to meet Mark in the living room.