Page 6 of Dionysus
Now, here he was alone, and here I was a vessel. I could hear the footsteps approaching, “Hi, Mr. Jackson, I’m Coffee Carter, Dionysus’s doctor. We’ve been searching high and low for the next of kin. I had to—”
“Lady, how long has he been like this?”
Zeus was in his element. I could tell he really didn’t care about the fluff.Come on, Zeus, calm down, bro, so that she can tell you.
“He’s been here a few weeks.”
A few weeks!I knew I wasn’t coming out of this if I hadn’t already. I was trying to understand the method of God’s madness.
“He was shot multiple times. In the back that pierced straight through his chest, and the other on the side of his head, missing his temple. We were able to remove the bullet, which is the reason for the swelling in his face, but that bullet caused some damage. Mr. Jackson, I’m not sure he will—”
“Don’t you say it!” Zeus shouted at her. “Don’t you fucking say it!”
Oh, that nigga Boogie is dead. Zeus is going to fuck him up.That nigga shot me in the head?I was getting angrier by the second. The beeping sounds picked up.Faster.The thought of Boogie walking around while I was here and in some fucked up in between made me even more mad.Faster. Faster.
“What’s wrong with him?” I heard Zeus shout.
Nigga I’m mad!I thought.
Suddenly, my heartbeat slowed. The darkness grew deeper.Wait, no!I didn’t know what was happening.Deeper.The thought of being left alone terrified me. I felt trapped, as if I were caught between the afterlife and the real world. If I never came back from this, I hoped that heaven had a ghetto for a fucked-up nigga like me.
TAMEKA
I paced the hospital hall, walking back and forth. For weeks, I had been caught between handling business and making sure Bianca hadn’t taken her last breath. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to enter the room and see her lying there, lifeless. My baby was here in the physical, but I felt like her soul was gone, and I couldn’t let her go.
Seeing her on that stage, exposing her body to men pissed me off. When Horace told me she was doing it, I didn’t believe him until she left the house. I had someone follow her to confirm.
To know that Sergio and I had given her the world, only for her to spit in our faces and present herself like that.Had I been too hard on her? Had I smothered Bianca so much that she was ashamed of her name and throne that we had curated for her?As my mind continued to race the idea of that boy, she so called herself liking, had gotten her tied into some shit. How could she like someone who killed her family?
The Valencias were ruthless. We didn’t give second chances, and knowing she screamed his name to save him made me angry. It made me so angry that it was I who snatched the gun from Felipe, aimed, and fired.
Watching that bullet go through Dio and hitting her made me sick. I rushed down the hall and into the bathroom and threw up. There were so many things wrong with this situation. Had Horace done what the fuck I asked, the death of Dio couldhave been executed in a different manner. However, he let his emotions get the best of him, which caused me to let mine get the best of me.
Horace owed me his life, and until I found him. His daughter and wife would be in my possession. It was going to be a life for a life. “Stupid muhfucka!” I shouted in the stall.
It was only so long I could hold Sergio off before he found out about Bianca’s situation, and there was so much I needed to share with her, but I couldn’t. I washed my hands and tossed a few water splashes onto my face before exiting the bathroom.
My heels kissed the flooring as I made my way to the machine. I needed something to settle my stomach before I rushed to the bathroom again. I stood in front of the machine trying to decide what to get when a gentleman came from the opposite side of the hall.
He stood slightly to my side, allowing my eyes to catch him from my peripheral vision. I placed the money in the machine, and the only sound was the dispensing of my drink. I grabbed it and turned to walk away as he began using the machine. I took another look at him and became curious about his reason for being in the hospital.Was he a young father going through the same thing? A sick parent? A friend?
“It’s tough, isn’t it?” I blurted out.
He grabbed his drink, then stared at me. “Every day is tough,” he said dryly.
I cleared my throat. “Family?” I asked.
He stared at me curiously. His body shifted fully in my direction. “It’s personal. I’m not the man who can say he feels sorry for many, but in this situation, I feel sorry for the family that created a point of no return. I’m not sure what you’re going through, but I can promise you it’s not like what I’m going through. So, ma’am, have a nice evening.”
My head slightly flew back as he turned to walk back down the hall, disappearing around the corner. This man’s demeanor was one of no remorse. I could tell whoever had crossed him had really fucked up and I understood his sentiments. I headed back toward Bianca’s room. When I reached her door, I stood there and watched Felipe at her bedside with his head on her hand.Another drop in my stomach.When he raised his head, he and I glanced at each other. The tears that streamed down his face matched the ones that ran down mine.
There was a point in my life when I had it all together. I was able to keep Sergio blind and shit in order. Everything I worked so hard to keep at bay was falling apart. How would I ever be able to explain how Felipe Romero was, in fact, Bianca’s father?
I stood on the front stoop of Esteban’s people’s house. I had only been here one other time and that’s when I had to check his goofy ass about my money. I’d never experienced any of his people outside of his cousin. She was a feisty little bitch, so I never dealt with her except the time at that party. However, a nigga was desperate. I needed money and since the cartel had been around nobody was fucking with me.
Tameka had my life in her hands, destroying it by the day. The only thing I could think of was finding out where that nigga Dio stayed to see if he had hidden the money he stole from me there. I was praying the little nigga didn’t spend it all. I just needed something to hold me over until I could find my family and leave New York. The cartel had a nigga walking around watching his back every other minute.
The door swung open to her little mean ass standing there. “What do you want?”
