Chapter 16
Troy
We’d been sitting in the hospital waiting room for hours now, waiting on Kailay to get out of surgery. The doctor said that it wasn’t going to take long, but it did. I hoped that nothing went wrong, because if it did, I’d lose it. Kailay, along with her twin sister Kayla, were both my godbabies. I treated them as if I had given birth to them myself. Once I found out she was the one who was hurt in the accident, I lost it. I was calling everybody and their mama trying to figure out if they’d seen or heard from Julius, Stacy, or Kaylin. I wanted so badly to make them bitches pay for what they’d done, once again.
I looked over at Mark, Jayden, and Mimi, who were all sleeping. I knew they were tired, but I couldn’t sleep. When something was weighing on my mind heavily, I couldn’t sleep. Kailay was that something, which was why I hadn’t closed my eyes yet. I was too worried about her and wondering how she was doing. Wherever Julius, Kaylin, and Stacy are, they better hope and pray like hell that she pulls through this, or else shit won’t be too pretty for them.
I looked over to where Mimi was sitting on Jayden’s lap asleep, and I sighed. She’d been through so much these past few months that the shit didn’t even feel real. My girl looked so worn out that it made me want to cry. Had anybody said that we’d be living our life like this, I’d have bet my last dollar that they were lying, but we were, and I would’ve been a broke bitch. We never imagined that our life would take a turn like this. Hell, we never imagined ourselves stepping foot back into Louisiana, because when we had left, we vowed not to, unless it had something to do with Kayla. Otherwise, we never fucked with it.
I was deep in my thoughts when my phone started to ring. I quickly grabbed for my purse to retrieve it. Once I had it, I got up and walked a few feet away from the waiting room area.
“Hello,” I said, answering the phone.
“Oh, my God, I’ve been calling and looking all over for you. How have you been?” Candy frantically said into the phone. “I thought you was dead or something.”
“Calm down, mami. I’m alive and I’m doing fine, as you can see,” I said with a light chuckle. “I’m just out of town taking care of some business.”
“Well, it’s nice to know that you’re alive. When are you coming back so that I can cuss your ass out face to face?” she asked, sounding a little mad. I laughed a bit. I barely knew her when she started working at the salon, but we became good friends.
“Girl, chill out with all that. You and I both know that I’m not going anywhere no time soon,” I said, laughing a bit. “Anyway, how’s everything going at the salon? Is anyone giving you trouble?”
“Everything is actually fine. I had to give Summer a few days off. She came over here on some bullshit, hollering about we were slaving for y’all while you’re out there having a good time,” she said, catching me by surprise.
“You talking about the light-skinned chick with the buck teeth in her mouth, making her look like Bugs Bunny’s sister?” I asked, wanting to know if we were talking about the same person.
“Yes, that’s her,” she replied, confirming what I thought.
“But, I thought she was the quiet one. The one who kept to her business and not worrying about nobody else’s,” I said, wanting to know what happened that made her think she could play the game like that.
“Baby, she ain’t quiet anymore, honey,” she replied.
“Well, you know what? Since little mama want to have a big heart, fire her ass.”
“But if I do that, then we’re going to be short-staffed,” she replied as if I gave a fuck. I didn’t want anybody around if they thought that they could talk some slick shit about me.
“Well, put a want ad in the paper, pass out fliers, and place a NOW HIRING sign in the window or something. Just get the bitch out of there,” I said, just as Mimi walked up on me.
“What’s going on, Troy?” she asked. I raised a finger up, indicating for her to hold on.
“Okay, I got you. Now when will you be back?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, make sure you take care of the salon. Make sure people are paying their dues, make sure that we stay fully stocked, and make sure that the books are right,” I replied. “I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, see you soon,” she said before I hung up the phone.
“What’s wrong, Troy?” Mimi asked again.
“Nothing,” I replied.
“Well, who was that you was on the phone with?” she asked, putting her hands on her hip.
“That was Candy,” I said.
“Well, what did she say? What’s going on at the salon? Is she having problems out of anyone?” she asked, looking concerned.
“She only said that some chick was saying some slick shit out of her mouth and she gave her a few days off,” I replied, hunching my shoulders.
“Well, who was it?”
“The little chick Summer.”
“You talking about the little quiet chick, who never says anything to anybody?” she asked, looking surprised.
“Yeah, that’s her, and it seems that she’s not quiet anymore.”
“Well, what did she say and what are you going to do about it?” she asked. I opened my mouth to answer her when my phone started to ring again. I looked at the caller ID, only to see that this time it Weedy calling. Not really wanting Mimi to know who it was, I let the call roll to voicemail.
“What’s up? Why didn’t you answer the phone? Who was it?” she began to ask, but the doctor interrupted her.
“I’m looking for the family of Ms. Kailay Williams,” he asked, looking at his chart, then around the room.
“Umm, over here,” Mimi replied, just as Mark and Jayden got up from where they were seated and came over to us. “What’s going on? Is everything all right with Kailay?” Mimi asked, blurting out question after question.
“Well, Kailay’s just now getting out of surgery, and I’m pleased to say that everything went well,” he said, which made me release the breath that I had been holding.
“Will she survive this? Will she be able to have a normal life?”
“We were able to stop the bleeding, which means that Kailay’s expected to make a full recovery. She’s going to be hospitalized for a week or two maybe. All depending on how fast her wounds heal,” he replied with a smile on his face.
‘Oh, thank you so, so, so much,” Mimi said, wiping the tears from her eyes. I guessed those were tears of joy. She then reached in and gave him a big hug.
“It’s my pleasure. She’ll be in her recovery room in a minute. You’ll be able to see her. I’ll send someone out here as soon as they’re done,” he said.
“Thanks, man,” Jayden said, reaching his hand out for the doctor to shake it.
“You’re welcome,” the doctor replied, shaking his hand. “See you all later.” And with that said, he left.
I turned to Mimi, giving her an extra tight hug. I was both relieved and happy that Kailay was going to be just fine.
“Are you fine? You feeling better?” I asked as we went to take a seat.
“Now that I know my daughter will be okay I’m doing better, but I will never be fine until I end the lives of the people who caused me all this pain,” she said, raising her head up. The look in her eyes was one that I’d never seen before. I hope that Kaylin and Stacy were ready, because they were about to feel the revenge of a kept bitch.