Page 8 of Hush Money & Hits
“You’ve been here for two days.” My mother’s voice cracked. I held my breath while wondering why she was avoiding the question about Tee.
My chest felt like an elephant was standing on it. It was uncomfortably tight, and I had parted my lips to speak when a nurse entered the room halting my words.
“Well, hello. We’ve been waiting for you to stay awake for longer than a few minutes. How do you feel?” she inquired in a chipper tone.
I couldn’t answer her. All I could do was stare at my mother, who had eyes filled with sadness. I choked down a sob as she mumbled the words, “She didn’t make it.”
Pain radiated through my neck down to my chest, abdomen, and even my thighs. No matter how much my body ached, all I could think about was Tee. There were plenty of times she worked my nerves but dead? Fuck. As tears spilled over my eyelids, the nurse alternated between comforting me and asking me questions. I’d been shot in the side of my abdomen, my left thigh, and my right shoulder. Thanks to the call I made to 911, my mother told me the paramedics got to me before I bled out.
Even with my eyes open for a moment, all I could see was Kalim standing over me. A chill so cold ran down my spine that I shivered. It wasn’t until the nurse asked me if I was hungry that I realized I was actually starving. She knew more than likely I wouldn’t be able to handle anything heavy, so she promised to return with chicken broth and Jello.
“Baby, do you remember what happened?” my mother asked as soon as the nurse left the room. “The police have been up here three times in the two days that you’ve been here. They leave a card every time.”
I blew out a shaky breath. I absolutely remembered who shot me. I also remembered everything that happened. I knew my mom wouldn’t say anything, but I wasn’t telling her who killed Tee and tried to kill me. Tears burned my eyes as I thought about the fact that Tee was dead, and I could have been dead. I had no clue if she actually had someone to follow him but if so, that was the dumbest thing she could have ever done. The nigga was more than rich. He was connected. A connected, cold-blooded savage that didn’t make it this far in the game without being smart as hell. It had to be the drugs that clouded her judgement because what the fuck? There was no telling who the men were that Kalim killed. All I could do was hope they weren’t anyone in our family.
Between anger and sadness, I wasn’t sure which emotion I felt the deepest. Opening my mouth to lie was a task I wasn’t up to completing. I simply shook my head no, and my mother released a small sigh. “This is crazy. Who would do something like this? Why? She had finger marks around her neck and bruises on her face. She was also naked.”
My mother didn’t know I danced. I was an adult, but I didn’t want her to know her thirty-year-old daughter danced topless for money. She already felt bad accepting money from me because she knew I really didn’t have it to spare. If she feltlike she was part of the reason I was dancing, she really wouldn’t want to take the money. Thinking about dancing was another reason for me to cry. I didn’t want the tears to fall in front of my mother, so I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. There was no telling how long I’d be out of work.
I needed my money out of Tee’s house and my phone. My phone! My eyes flew open alerting my mother.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just remembered my phone. I had my phone on me when I was shot.” My neck was stiff, but I ignored the pain as I looked around the room.
It wasn’t like I’d be sad if the police got in my phone and heard the recording of me saying Kalim’s name. However, I wasn’t going to cooperate with them. Diamond Cove PD would be quick as hell to ask me to write a statement and get on the stand but when Kalim sent someone after my ass, they wouldn’t be anywhere to be found. I was about to be out of work and fucked up physically. I couldn’t even turn in bed without wincing from the pain, so I wouldn’t be dancing any time soon. On top of that, when Kalim found out I wasn’t dead who was to say he wouldn’t come back and try to finish the job. I didn’t know what to do and suddenly, despite the growling in my stomach, I couldn’t fathom eating. The urge to vomit was consuming me. Every time I’d swallow, saliva would quickly fill my mouth. A sure sign that I was about to throw up. If the police didn’t have my phone I needed it. As soon as I could get it.
My mother looked over her shoulder. “Your clothes had to be cut off of you, and they were bloody, but they didn’t throw them away. They’re in that plastic bag right there. Your phone is too. It’s dead.”
“What else did the police say?” Breathing a sigh of relief that I at least had my phone, I asked my mother for more information.
“Just that they aren’t sure whether she willingly had sex or if she was raped. They weren’t able to get any DNA, so the person she was with must have used a condom. They’re also pretty sure that she was beaten and shot after she had sex. You didn’t see the face of the person that shot you?”
“No,” I lied. “Tee and I had been drinking, and I wasn’t comfortable driving home. I took a shower and went to bed in her guest room. When I woke up, I heard a loud thump. I wasn’t sure what happened, so I called 911. After I heard the gunshot, I put my phone in my shorts and got under the bed. That’s all I remember.”
“I can’t believe this. You two were in bed. Tee was in her own home. People are so damn cruel.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “And that’s not the only thing we’re dealing with.”
My stomach churned as my mother shook her head. “What else?” I was afraid to hear the answer.
“Marlon hasn’t been seen since that day. He hasn’t been home. He hasn’t called your aunt. She thinks something may have happened to him. Both her kids,” my mother sobbed, and tears once again filled my eyes.
Tee must have done exactly what Kalim accused her of, and one of the men had to be her brother. Soon, I wasn’t going to be able to keep myself from throwing up. It was coming. I could feel it. I couldn’t imagine how my aunt felt. The entire situation was messed up, and I didn’t know what to do. Neither one of them really sat back and thought their plan through because if they did, they would have never tried it.
I was alternating between being afraid for my own life and wanting Kalim to pay. I would never say my cousins deserved to die not even when they were in the wrong. But I damn sure didn’t deserve to be almost killed. Now, I was going to be out of work and lose everything I’d worked so hard to save, and it wasn’t fair. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do or how I wasgoing to handle the situation, but I was beginning to feel like I didn’t really have much to lose.
CHAPTER 5
PEARCE
I walkedinto my mother’s home and was greeted by the smell of the food being cooked in the kitchen. The house that my father bought my mother when I was younger had been sold when I was nineteen. My mother wanted her forever home. She took the money she got from the house and gave it all to me. She then used her own money to put a nice downpayment on another home. One that she could proudly say she got on her own. It was just her living in the house, but she purchased a four-bedroom home. It was a good thing she did because my grandmother moved in with her two years ago. Once my grandfather passed, she didn’t want to live alone.
I knew they were both in the kitchen throwing down. My mother didn’t work on Sunday or Monday. I walked to the kitchen and found my mother, grandmother, and aunt Jackie talking, laughing, and cooking. Three glasses of wine rested on the kitchen counter. My grandma was whipping up cornbread mix, my mother was stirring macaroni noodles, and my aunt was icing a cake. I knew Jackie’s three sons and my aunt Tanya would be coming over at any moment. We got together for family dinners once a month.
“Hey, baby,” my mother smiled at me. “This is the second time in a row you haven’t brought Tasha. Where is she at?” the month before, Tasha didn’t join me at my mother’s house because she had the flu.
It had been four days since she left. Four days since I spoke to her or saw her face. I wasn’t any closer to having answers, and I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t give a fuck. I didn’t really want to talk about it, but maybe she wasn’t coming back. And my mother was going to keep asking me about her every time she saw me without Tasha.
“She was sick last time. This time, I don’t know where she is.” Walking over to the refrigerator, I pulled the door open and removed a can of Sprite.
