Page 80 of The Prez

Exhaling roughly, I press the call button and put the phone to my ear. It rings three times before she answers with a cheery, “Hey, Mari. We miss you.”

Swallowing hard, I clear my throat and say, “Hazel?”

She pauses for a beat then says, “Yeah. It’s Hazel. Who is this?”

“Rafael. Listen, you need to get to the emergency room now. Omari was?—”

“I’ll be right there.” She hangs up and I pull the phone from my ear and stare at it for a few moments before I slide it in my pocket. Then Jace and I follow the nurse who takes up to the third floor and shows us the waiting room. I resume pacing the floor. Other people line the chairs of the room, their faces drawn with worry just as I’m sure mine is.

Thirty minutes later, a woman that looks like Omari rushes into the waiting room, dragging a little boy and girl. They must be his niece and nephew. We were supposed to have them at the house with Little Raf this weekend.

She scans the faces in the waiting room before she locks eyes with me. She hurries over, hugging her kids at her side. “What happened?” she whispers as her eyes fill with tears.

I quickly go through what I know, not going into details about his injuries since the kids are listening too.

Hazel wipes the tears from her cheeks, her face drawn. “Do you know who did this?”

My jaw tenses. “I think so, yeah.”

She opens her mouth, but looks down at her kids, then shuts it, shaking her head.

Jace comes over, kneeling within the eyesight of the little boy and girl, smiling at them. Unlike me, Jace looks friendly, probably owed to his boy next door looks, having kids, and knowing what puts them at ease. “Hey. I’m a friend of your uncle’s. I’m Jace.” He shakes their tiny hands. “This is my boss, Rafael.” He points up at me. I try to smile at the kids, but from the way their eyes widen, it’s probably more of a bearing of teeth. “How about you let your mommy and my boss talk and we can go over here and play with those toys?” He points to the pitiful display on the table near the back, but the kids don’t seem to care. They nod quickly and run over.

“Thank you,” Hazel whispers. Jace nods and walks over to where the kids are, going around the table opposite them and making some shooting noises when he picks up a tiny rocket launcher made for GI Joes or some shit.

Hazel eyes are hard when she asks, “Was it Brock?”

I raise an eyebrow. “He told you about him?”

“I met the sonofabitch,” Hazel seethes. “He said some slick shit to Omari one day about his weight and I threatened to shoot him. Guess my warning wasn’t enough.”

Despite the situation, I chuckle. Omari told me about that incident.

I sober quickly though, my blood boiling anew that Brock had the fucking nerve to hurt my property. “Yeah, I had my brothers beat his ass, but he still came after what’s mine. So, he must have a death wish.”

Hazel glances over at her kids, then steps closer to me when she sees they’re not looking over at us. She drops her voice as she says, “What do you plan to do about it?”

There is a lot I have planned, but I have to make sure it really was Brock. But who else would have the desire to beat Omari so badly? Omari has no other enemies. After I sentZeke and Jace after him, I should have considered he’d want to get some revenge.

Keeping my voice low, I meet her gaze head on. “If you really want to know, I’ll tell you. But you would be a party to whatever happens. I’d rather keep you and Omari in the dark, but I can give you a promise. I will fucking avenge him. Understand? I will make sure whoever hurt him fucking pays.”

Hazel searches my face, biting her lip as if considering if she wants to ask, but finally she shakes her head. “No, I’ll … don’t tell me.” She places a hand on my forearm. “But do what you have to do to make sure whoever hurt my little brother gets what’s coming to them.” I nod. She cracks a small smile. “This isn’t how I wanted us to meet. I’m Hazel.”

I try to return her smile, but I’m sure I fail. “Rafael. Omari calls me Big Raf.”

“I see why. You’re a giant.”

A real smile graces my face. She’s just like Omari. Her quick wit and friendliness make my heart squeeze for the man I love.

Fuck, I didn’t tell him I love him. What if something happens? What if, like Elena and Mama, he dies before I can tell him how I really feel? What if?—

“Don’t do that,” Hazel whispers vehemently, reading my panic on my face. “Don’t think the worst. He’ll be fine. My brother is the strongest man I know. He won’t want you to break down when we don’t know what’s going on. Let’s take a seat and wait. Don’t think the worse for nothing.”

Nodding, I walk closer to where Jace and the kids are playing and have a seat. Hazel pats my hand and sits on the floor with the kids to join them. Jace dips his head in her direction and comes to sit beside me.

Hector comes out a few minutes later, saying they just put Omari under and are beginning surgery. He tells us theyfound some internal bleeding but don’t know where it’s coming from, so will be doing exploratory surgery. I don’t like the sound of that, but Hector assures me it’ll be as non-invasive as possible, using what he calls a laparoscopic scope to check his belly. He can’t give me more information because he doesn’t know more, and hurries back to the room. Since he's an emergency room nurse, I’m not sure how long he’ll be able to stick around and give me updates.

After I sit back down, Jace sighs and crosses his ankle over his knee. “How you holding up, Prez?”

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