CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

TASHA

 

I’m sitting in a stolen Ford outside of my house. Normally I don’t steal cars but tonight I’m making an exception. Besides, I couldn’t trust my ride to get me around while I searched for my mother without someone noticing it. After what Crystal told me, that Hollywood had her, I needed to make sure she was okay. Or at least try to help.

 

Part of me wanted to go to the cops to get their assistance but the other part knew I needed to handle this in the streets. Besides, getting them involved would bring into play all of the crimes I committed.

 

I was just about to go inside my crib to see who was there when I see a nigga in a black hoodie moving slowly around the back of our house. I grabbed the gun I took from Crystal and snuck behind the person before they made it to my door. My heartbeat rapidly as I rushed toward him and tackled him to the ground. Once down I turned him over to point my gun into his forehead. I’m about to blow his face off when I see it’s my girl instead.

 

“What the…” I tucked the gun in the back of my pants. “Nikki…what the…why are you back here? What’s going on?”

 

She moaned a little. “I’ve been shot, Tasha.” She removed her bloody hand off the side of her stomach. “And I need help. Because I’m probably gonna die.” She moaned in pain.

 

Her eyes closed and my heart dipped. I got off of her, lifted her up and rushed her to the stolen car. I placed her in the backseat so she could be flat. “Whatever you do, please don’t die on me, baby.” When I looked down at her, her eyes were still closed. “Nikki, are you hearing me, don’t die on me! Now wake the fuck up because you can’t be going to sleep.”

 

She opened her eyes slowly. “Don’t worry, Tasha. I won’t die.” Her smile was weak and melted my heart. I knew she was trying to be strong but she didn’t have to. All I wanted was her to survive. “Just, please hurry and get me out of here before I…before I won’t have any control.”

 

I closed the door, ran to the driver’s side and dipped behind the steering wheel before speeding away from the house. When I remembered that I was also speeding in a stolen car I took it down just a notch. “Talk to me, Nikki.” I looked at her from the rearview mirror. “Nikki, talk to me so I can make sure you don’t fall to sleep.”

 

“I’m up.” She moaned. “Just get me to the h…hospital.” She coughed. “Please, baby. I don’t feel too good.”

 

“I’m driving as fast as I can,” I paused. “But I need you to tell me something too.” I looked at her through the rearview mirror. “Who, who did this to you?”

 

She moaned and didn’t respond.

 

“Nikki, who did this to you?” I yelled louder.

 

“I don’t know but it was, it was two big men.” She paused. “They came into my house.” Her voice got lower. “They kept telling me to come with them and I didn’t, I didn’t wanna go.” She moaned some more. “I don’t know what they wanted from me because I don’t have any money.”

 

My temples throbbed. Was this about Hollywood? It had to be! I mean, what did we think would happen when we took his wife? “And they let you get away alive?”

 

She giggled lightly. “Not at all. I put so…so many holes in them with my mamma’s gun, they didn’t know what happened.” She paused. “But one of them got me too.”

 

I loved my bitch even more. Hearing how she defended herself was so her. Guns were her life and I’m sure they had no clue who they was fucking with. “But how you get away?”

 

“Went to my neighbor’s backyard and hid in their shed. OUCH!” She screamed. “I knew, I knew they wouldn’t think to go next door so I figured I would be safe. Plus my blood trail got lost in the grass.” She paused. “What do you think they wanted, Tasha?”

 

I knew it was Hollywood and I felt bad for getting her involved in all of this shit. And to be honest it was making me hate Crystal even more. As if I needed any other reasons. “Don’t worry about all that right now, Nikki. As a matter of fact I don’t want you to talk too much.”

 

“You gonna marry me after this shit, Tasha?” She asked. “Because something tells me this was somehow related to you. So the least you could do is be my Hersband.” She paused. “And the baby...I’m worried about the…”

 

“The baby will be fine,” I said remembering she was pregnant. “The baby will be just fine.”

 

“I…I hope so,” she said softly. “We gonna have more than one baby?” She said in a low voice. “’Cause I always wanted a huge family.”

 

I continued to steer the car. “You make it out of this and we can have as many kids as you want, Nikki.”

 

“You promise?” She moaned louder.

 

“I promise. I put that on everything.”

 

When my cell phone rung I answered even though the number was blocked. “Who this?” I continued steering with one hand.

 

“It’s me, Crystal. Look, Tasha, I know you said you don’t wanna hear from me but I gotta tell you something.”

 

I immediately hung up and threw the phone into the passenger seat. When she continued to call I wondered if she had any more info on ma so I answered again. “What the fuck you want, Crystal? Whatever it is, make it quick. I don’t have any time.”

 

“I wanted to tell you, that I’m so sorry,” she paused. “I keep thinking about how close we were a week ago and how far apart we are now. And I don’t like this for us. We sisters. And I know you always forgive and I know I always fuck up but I need to know if you can forgive me just one more time. I don’t want anything from you, sis. Just your forgiveness.”

 

Just hearing her voice caused my temples to throb, especially with my bitch doing badly in the back seat. So forgiving her was the last thing on my mind. “You got ma or not?”

 

“No…I’m trying to—”

 

“If you don’t got ma there ain’t no way I could ever forgive you so don’t even ask.”

 

I thought about telling her that I have Nikki and that if she died it would also be her fault but I don’t bother. It ain’t worth it for me. Crystal ain’t worth it for me. Instead I end the call, tossed it on the passenger seat and continue down the road.

 

When I heard a sound from my girl like she’s taking her last breath I panicked and the car swerved. “Nikki…Nikki! Answer me! Answer me please!”