Chapter 27

Even with the way I’d been doped up off the medication and had been sleeping since last night, something inside made my eyes open. My body could feel a threat hovering nearby. Markita sat on my hospital bed, waiting and staring at me with an evil look.

I didn’t go through the dreaded routine of asking her what troubled her. I just stared at her, becoming acutely aware of the cell phone she held in her hand - my iPhone. I heard her singing the faint frustrating sound she made, blowing hot air my way.

“Who the fuck is Zetta?” Markita asked, and there was something about her question that scared me.

“Zetta?” I mentioned, acting as if I didn’t know who she was talking about.

“Yeah, Zetta, the same bitch who has been calling you ever since last night. Forty-six times, to be exact. And she’s the same bitch who texted you.” She paused looking at the message. “Here, let me read it to you. It says, ‘I hope you not one of those guys who ducks a girl after a good kiss, ‘cause you’re a very good kisser with those soft-ass lips you have?’” Markita glared at me after reading the text message.

My eyes ballooned in shock, roaming curiously around the hospital room. No nurses or doctors were around to save my ass if Markita decided to go crazy and kick my ass. I was at her mercy right now from my bed rest position My attention was everywhere, my body on alert. What the hell made Zetta text me some bullshit like that for?

Markita’s tight demeanor loosened a bit. Her main interest at the moment was Zetta and why she had texted me, talking about a kiss. I wouldn’t have heard the incoming calls because my clothes had been cut off me last night after I entered the hospital. Markita must have gotten my personal belongings and went snooping through my phone. I never had a problem with her going through my phone before, so I wasn’t surprised by her actions. I was more surprised by Zetta’s incriminating text message.

“Answer me, motherfucker!” she snapped, punching me hard in the chest.

“Oooh!” I gasped, sitting upright in bed, trying to catch my breath. Coughing violently, I studied her evil look a little more. Pure hatred covered her face as she vigorously chewed on a piece of gum, looking at me like I had committed a capital crime, which sent my heart fluttering with nervousness. I hadn’t had any peace in life ever since I got back in the killing game. Now all these phone calls and text messages from Zetta only made matters worse.

Markita eased off the bed and slammed my iPhone on the floor, shattering it into tiny pieces. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. You know the type of look a woman

gives you when she’s hurting inside and has no other way of showing that pain? Yeah, that would be Markita right now!

“You know what? You ain’t shit!” she cried. “Nothing but a low down, good for nothing, cheating-ass dog! All I ever wanted was to love you and make you happy and this is how you carry me? You do some shit like this to me?” she said, backing up towards the hospital door.

“Markita, wait, just wait,” I said as humbly as I could. “Please?” I begged. “You tripping about nothing. Somebody just tried to kill me and all you can think about is who is calling me? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Don’t even try to flip this shit around, motherfucker!” she went off, letting me know I couldn’t reserve the angry game on her. Usually, I’d go off on her and she’d pipe down, but not today!

“Two and half years, Melo. Twenty-eight months, sixteen days, and eighteen hours, I have done nothing but been faithful to you, and you…” She paused with a sigh, looking deep into my eyes. Tears fell from her eyes and she looked away from me, wiping her eyes.  “You took my love for granted and cheated on me,” she accused, totally wrong about everything. But you can never stop women when they think they’re right about something. Right now, she was on a roll, and it would literally take an act of Congress to get her to listen to me. I was in too much pain to be going back and forth with her over something I knew I didn’t do.

“Kita, I did not che—”

“Don’t lie, motherfucker! Don’t you dare lie to me!” she snapped, making my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.

I couldn’t believe she was taking the phone calls and damaging text message to the extreme. I know it looked messed up, but if she’d just listen and let me explain, she’d realize that I’d never hurt her intentionally.

“Kita, baby, I love you. Fuck I look like cheating on you and be dumb enough to give out my cell phone number when I know you check my shit every night? That woman is a new author for the publishing company. I swear on everything I love!”

“That’s the weakest bullshit I’ve heard.” She laughed furiously. “I don’t believe that shit. What the fuck you doing kissing the bitch for if she’s just some author?” she raged, opening the door.

“Kita, you tripping over nothing! Don’t leave this room mad like this over some bullshit!”

“I’m tripping over nothing? Over nothing?” she repeated, wiping away her tears. “You call kissing some other bitch nothing, someone who just so happens to be blowing up your motherfuckin’ phone every day? I had to press ignore and send the groupie bitch to voicemail cause she kept calling you so much. Ain’t nobody in the world that pressed for a motherfuckin’ job. Naw, naw, you did something with that bitch. I ain’t dumb by a long shot, motherfucker!” she hissed, and then she kept going, not giving me a chance to defend myself. “I tell you what, since you like kissing the bitch, you can have her, ‘cause I’m done with your trifling, lying, no good cheating ass! I hate you!” she said and then she stormed out of the hospital room.

“Kita! Kita!” I yelled, watching the love of my life walk out on me and disappear as the hospital door closed.

All the machines I was hooked up to made it very hard for me to leap from the bed and chase behind her. I closed my eyes slowly, feeling the tears well up in them. The only thing on my mind was, Why me, Lord? Why you ruining my life by taking my wife from me right now, when you know I need her more than ever?