Page 37 of Somebody Else Will

So, I was prepared to help Denishia through whatever she was feeling, especially knowing that someone else had possibly caused her mother’s sudden demise. As I drove to the hospital, I placed a call to Longhorn Steakhouse and ordered our food topick up in the next hour then turned into the hospital parking lot.

I wished I had gotten over to Aunt Jocelyn’s house while I was in town, but with all the shit popping off with Denishia, I couldn’t find the time. I’d be sure to call her and let her know that I would drop by next time I was in town.

After parking and assisting her out of the car, we made our way to Jamia’s hospital room. Denishia didn’t want to be here long, and I shared her sentiments. After I left, she could sit up here all day with her. I had become selfish with her time. I wanted it all to myself. No, Ineededit all to myself.

When we got to Jamia’s room, she was sitting up in bed, talking to Jerzey. Well, Denishia could kill two birds with one stone. Jamia smiled big when she saw us. That was a damn good sign. Her bandages had been removed, but I could see all the stitches in her face. That shit looked so painful. For her to be sitting here talking and smiling showed just how resilient she was.

“Hey, y’all!” she said.

Denishia smiled slightly. “Hey, girl. How are you feeling?”

“I’m good. I’m flying high. They are about to come clean my face and rebandage me. Blood was seeping through.”

No wonder.She was high on pain meds. That made sense. She smiled at me and said, “Heeeeyyy, Zeeeeeeke.”

I chuckled as I glanced at Denishia and Jerzey. They were trying to stifle their laughter, but they were doing a piss poor job at it. “What’s up, Mia? You need to give me some of that shit they gave you.”

“Shiiiiiid,” she said. “You’d be laying next to me, high as hell.”

I chuckled. Denishia went to her bedside and halfway examined her scars. There were about four lines of stitches in her face. There was a long one across her cheek, one between her eyebrows leading down her nose, another on her forehead, andone on her chin. It was a blessing that woman didn’t slice her neck. Jamia would have bled out at the floral shop.

“Denishia, what you looking at?” Jamia asked sarcastically. “Girl, the doctors already examined me. Go examine your man over there.”

Denishia laughed and said, “Shut up, Jamia.”

When Denishia walked over to me, Jamia said, “Y’all look so good together. I told you what that nigga wasn’t willing to do, somebody else will. Ezekiel was that somebody. You look so happy.”

I pulled Denishia closer to me as Jerzey smiled. Jamia continued rambling. “We gotta get Jerzey together now. She and Mekayla are going to talk tomorrow so she can put that trauma in her past. Then she’ll be able to have and sustain a healthy relationship with a man. She can’t do that as long as her soul is in turmoil.”

Jerzey rolled her eyes. “That medication got her lips loose as fuck.”

I chuckled. “If y’all need me to step out so you can talk, I’ll go to the waiting area.”

“Naw. We can talk tomorrow or the next day. That shit would take me all day to go through. I’m ready to put that shit behind me though. Mekayla is doing so well. I’m so happy for her and how she has grown. She’s a wonderful mother and wife. She was already doing so much better by herself, but when she met Jacob and married into the Henderson family, it seemed she got even better.”

“Hmph. You need to get her to hook you up with one of his fine ass cousins you told me about,” Jamia said.

Jerzey again rolled her eyes and huffed as the nurse came in. Denishia and I laughed quietly at Jerzey’s frustration. She gave us the finger and smiled. Once the nurse set all her stuff downon Jamia’s bed table, she looked up at us and said, “Hello. I’m Farrah, Jamia’s night nurse. How are y’all?”

“We’re good. Thank you. How about you?” Denishia responded.

“Good, thank you.”

The nurse glanced at me with a slight frown, like she was trying to figure out who I was. I got that a lot. My face was familiar to them, but they couldn’t place me. Sometimes, I liked that. I didn’t always feel like being bothered. Then, other times, I didn’t like it, because it made me feel like I needed to be working even harder, focusing on my career every moment of the day.

When she was done bandaging Jamia up, she turned to me and said, “Ezekiel Wheeler! It took me this long to figure out where I knew you from. Lord, have mercy. I lovedUnwrapping Your Love.”

I smiled slightly. “Thank you so much.”

I turned to Denishia to see her smiling big. It looked like one of those proud mama smiles. I chuckled and pulled her closer, then kissed her forehead. The nurse smiled. “I was going to ask what brought you to Beaumont but realized that was a dumb question. You’re here because Miss Jamia is here.”

Now she was doing that nervous rambling thing people did when they were starstruck. She took a deep breath and shook her head as I chuckled. After flushing out Jamia’s IV, giving her more meds, and gathering all her things, she smiled at us and left. Denishia turned to me and asked, “Are you ready?”

“Whenever you are, gorgeous.”

I didn’t want to say hell yeah and make her feel some type of way, but I was ready to get to that gushy shit between her legs. This time, I planned for both of us to be extremely satisfied. I wanted to be so satiated in her shit that I didn’t care whether I made my flight or not. If a woman could have me wanting to turn down my bag, she had to be the one.No doubt about it.

When Ezekieland I got to my place, he wanted to go right in, but I didn’t feel my freshest. I needed a shower. We’d been out and about all day… since this morning, checking on Jamia and the floral shop, back to the hospital to bring Jerzey a late lunch, gone to Starbucks to meet up with Will, then back to the hospital once again. I needed to get these germs off me, ASAP. We’d even met up with one of the detectives. I didn’t want to sleep on the information Will had given me. After Jamia had said they’d visited her while we were gone, I knew I needed to contact them ASAP to bring her assailant to justice.

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