Page 44 of Make Me Forget

“I hate this, man. Jacob don’t bother nobody,” Rylan said.

“I know. I just wished he would be more selective about where he put his dick. She has been fucking with him about not wanting her for almost a year. What the fuck? I gotta talk to my lil brothers and make sure they ain’t fucking around with nobody in this damn family.”

“Well, hopefully, they’ll all be moving soon,” Christian said.

“What you mean?”

“The sewer treatment plant got shut down today. Unless they can all afford aerobics systems, they gon’ have to get out of here, or the environmental people gon’ be crawling up their ass. The water will probably get shut down tomorrow. They knew this shit was coming for over six months. They should have been preparing for it,” Christian said.

“They were expecting us to rescind our decision and fix shit. Uncle WJ was firm as fuck. We were already only giving them the minimum because of some other bullshit. They were in for a rude awakening this time,” Rylan said.

“Congratulations on your engagement, nigga. You could have told us,” Christian said.

“It just happened yesterday. We been busy as fuck because, like you, we ain’t wasting time. We already got our marriage license and shit. We tryna do this as soon as the parentals can get shit together. So I’m thinking it may happen right before I leave for the next competition or right after I come back.”

“Damn, that’s quick. Y’all having a wedding?”

“Yeah. Cassie wants one. So I need y’all to be groomsmen, along with my brothers. Hopefully, Jacob will be able to be in it.”

“Yeah. Let me go let Mya know that I’m going to the hospital.”

“Yeah, I gotta go tell Angel. Pick me up on your way out, bruh.”

“I got’chu.”

We all slapped hands and went our prospective ways. There was no way I would be leaving Cassie at home alone after this shit. As I walked home, I saw all the women standing outside talking. Cassie came running to me and hugged me tightly. “It’s gon’ be okay, baby. You wanna go get dressed so we can go to the hospital?”

“Yeah.”

She kissed my lips and disappeared back inside the house. Karima was hugging Milana, and they headed inside Karima’s house. I wasn’t sure if they were going to the hospital or not, but I was going to call the cops to patrol. Uncle WJ had supposedly done that, but those muthafuckas were slacking big time.

I went inside my house and made sure my gun was loaded. Those muthafuckas wouldn’t catch me slipping.

“When I got there, there were about ten men fighting Jacob. One of my other cousins had stepped in, trying to help, then a couple more of us arrived at the same time to run them off. This was all because their cousin left a misleading letter before killing herself. He has a restraining order in place, so there is no confusion about whether he wanted to be with her or not. I also think there’s record of her destroying his truck some months back, her showing up at his mother’s place of business, and breaking a window at his house.”

The cop listened intently as I gave details of what I saw when I arrived on the scene. They wanted to cut up? We could cut up too. Jacob was pressing charges. While we didn’t know all of them, we were absolutely sure that one of them was Jameka’s brother, Traylon. If he was as much of a punk as I thought he was, he would be dropping other names as well.

The cop shook my hand and walked off. We sat in the waiting area, waiting to see Jacob. They’d taken him in surgery to reset some bones and make sure everything else was okay. Cassie sat quietly on one side of me, holding my hand, and Karima was on my other side. A lot of my cousins were pacing back and forth, especially the hotheaded younger ones.

Ryder J came in on one, ready to go find those niggas. To say he was Uncle Ryder and Aunt Tiffany’s son, he acted a lot like Uncle Ryder’s brother, Philly. Philly was the type to shoot now and ask questions later. He’d calmed down a lot after he started a family with Mrs. Kema.

Kane, King, Ace, Royal, Crew, and SS were pacing just as much as he was and were trying to leave to go find those niggas. Uncle Storm had to step up and be a voice of reason at this point. He knew now wasn’t the time to be hotheaded, because those lil niggas were reckless at times. The police had already been called. So if they went back to Nome fucking shit up, the cops would automatically know it was in response to what happened to Jacob.

I relaxed as best I could while rubbing Cassie’s hand between mine. Before we even saw her, we definitely heard her. Jess was coming down the hall in a rampage, as if those niggas were up here at the hospital with us. Aunt Jen stood, trying to calm her down. “Jess, please. Not now, baby. Save that for when we get home.”

“Yeah. I’m gon’ fuck somebody up too. That’s my baby in there. You know how I move when it concerns him.”

“I do. But this ain’t the place. This is a hospital. Nobody here is responsible for what happened. And please don’t get your cousins all fired up again. When we get back to Nome, you still can’t go being reckless, baby. Jacob is going to be fine. Unfortunately, some of this is his fault. He knew that girl was crazy, and he chose to sleep with her anyway. Now she’s dead, and he’s in a hospital.”

Jess rubbed her hand over her face as Tyeis and Nesha grabbed her hands, leading her to a corner to talk. I slowly shook my head as the doctor came to the waiting area. When everyone stood, he looked a little intimidated. I would be too. There was damn near thirty of us here.

“Hello. I’m Doctor Banks. Are you the family of Jacob Monroe?”

“Yes, I’m his mother,” Aunt Jen said.

He nodded at her and began explaining. “Everything went well. He didn’t have a lung puncture, thank goodness. There was a broken rib, and he has a really bad ankle sprain. He also has some tearing in his ACL, but it’s minor. We got him all fixed up, and you’ll be able to see him shortly. Well… not all of you, but his immediate family… spouse, parents, siblings.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Aunt Jen said.

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