Page 3 of Make Me Remember

“Jenahra, you know they don’t give a damn about black lives. Had Jacob killed a white man like SS, he would still be in there.”

“Carter, I just don’t feel good about this. I feel like they are going to try to go after my baby.”

I slowly shook my head at them talking about me like I wasn’t in the car with them.

“Don’t worry, Nahra. God got it under control.”

She nodded as he grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Can y’all take me to the hospital to see Kane?”

“You sure you don’t want to wait until tomorrow?” Mama asked as she turned to me.

I nodded as Dad handed me a bottle of Advil. They weren’t as strong as my pain pills, but they would help. “Thank you.”

Mama passed me her thermos of water that she always kept with her. She just didn’t know. I would have chewed this shit to get some relief. The phone rang through the Bluetooth, and Dad answered it. “Hello?”

“How’s my nigga doing?”

I already knew that was Uncle Storm. Besides my immediate family, Christian, KJ, and Rylan, that nigga cut for me… hard. Maybe even more than my crew of cousins. He believed in my abilities before I even did. My own father didn’t look out for me the way he did. There wasn’t an ounce of sadness in me when Uncle WJ killed his ass. Although I was only seventeen, I had had enough of that nigga and was on the verge of taking his ass out myself. All it would have taken was one more serious argument with him disrespecting my mama, and he and I would have been tussling.

“He seems okay. We are heading to the hospital. I think he needs to lay eyes on Kane.”

“That’s understandable, but that nigga alright. They went in and got the bullet and cleaned out joint debris. Most of the trauma of the situation was trying to keep Kenny and Keisha calm. All they could seem to think about was losing him.”

I closed my eyes. I never even thought about that. Losing Kendrick was tough on Uncle Kenny. I was only a kid when it happened, around nine or so, but I remembered it clearly. It was the first death within our close family members. That shit had nearly destroyed everyone. I could remember my mama crying and praying for them when she thought we were all asleep.

“I can understand that,” my mama said. “I hate this for Kenny. I’m just happy that Kane made it through. Thank God. We’ll be there soon, baby boy.”

“A’ight. Jacob, I’m proud of you, man. See you when you get here. I have your cane.”

“Thanks.”

The rest of the ride was quiet. I was in my head big time, and I felt like all this shit was going on simply because of me being involved with Jameka’s ass. None of the family would be suffering from this bullshit had it not been for that. I took a deep breath as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from Karima.

Opening our thread, I read, Thank you for saving my brother. Had it not been for your quick thinking, he would be dead, and Nome would have been burnt to the ground. I just got to town, and I can’t wait to hug you.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, closing my eyes to soak in her words. I reopened them to respond to her. If I would have never been involved with Jameka, this shit wouldn’t be happening. They are out for Henderson blood because of me, Rima. How do I fix this shit? I mean, that’s the only thing I feel guilty about. I don’t care about Traylon or his soul, but my family… I’ll die to protect y’all.

A frown formed on my face as I thought about just how much my family meant to me. I wanted to ensure they were safe. I couldn’t do that for my mama because I was a kid, but as a grown ass man, there wasn’t shit I wouldn’t do to protect them. Kane shouldn’t have been a victim in this though. He was only twenty years old and didn’t have shit to do with anything going on between us and this family.

I texted KJ, although I knew he was on his honeymoon. I was pretty sure he’d already been called. I’m sorry, man. Kane is fine and I’m out, but this shit shouldn’t have happened. I feel like all this is on me, and I’m gonna do whatever I can to make it right. I love y’all.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as we pulled up to the front entrance of St. Elizabeth Hospital.

“Thanks, baby,” my mama said.

Dad had gotten out and opened her door then opened the door behind me. It was easier for him to pull me out than for him to open the other door and have me to scoot my way out. As he was pulling me out, I could see Uncle Storm walking toward us with my cane. When I got on my feet, I said, “Thanks, Pop.”

He gave me a slight smile then patted my back as Uncle Storm handed me my cane. After resting my weight on it, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Before I could walk away from the car, Uncle Storm wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You good?”

I nodded. He stared at me a little longer, and I knew he didn’t believe me. Walking away from the car, I headed inside to see Kane. We went through the emergency room area, and the minute we took a right down the hallway, I could see my family. The twins ran straight to me, and both hugged me tight at the same time. I dropped my cane and rested my arms on the two of them. Because of how close I was to Uncle Storm, I was pretty close to his kids too.

Actually, I was close to everybody. I didn’t even know why, because I was pretty low-key. I didn’t get in other people’s business unless they involved me in it somehow. Having everybody’s back in my family, whether they were right or wrong, was probably why I felt close to everybody.

When they released me, Bali picked up my cane and held on to it as Maui and Ashanni hugged me next. It seemed there was a line of cousins waiting to hug me before I could get to where Uncle Kenny and Aunt Keisha were. Once I’d hugged the two of them, there was Angel and Milana. I slapped hands and gave half hugs to all my male cousins.

Kingsley stood in front of me and nodded then hugged me. Kane was his brother, and they were as thick as thieves since they were only a year apart. When he let me go and I saw Uncle Kenny standing there with his hair wild, I thought about lil Kendrick. I think we all did that whenever we saw his hair wild like that.

He hugged me. “Thank you, nephew. Thank you.”

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