Page 99 of The Prodigy

28

Malika

Iactedmyassoff when I got to the hospital.

I knew something was wrong when Cyrus showed up at my job and demanded that I come with him. He had another guy with him who I didn’t recognize, and that guy drove my car back to the house.

The whole way to the hospital, I asked him where we were going, what was going on. I begged him, but all he would say is that he’d tell me when we got there. Pulling up in front of Midling General sent my mind into overdrive. I thought maybe something was wrong with Dionne or Chase.

That’s when he told me Jakari got shot. Funny thing was, I got just as emotional as I would have been if it had turned out to be my sister or my nephew.

“Pull yourself together,” he instructed. “He not gon’ wanna see you broke down. When a nigga’s laid up, he needs his woman to be strong.”

That was easier said than done.

Once I actually laid eyes on him, the tears just came. I couldn’t stop them.

But once I got them out of my system, I put myself on alert. Forced myself to be strong. And when he told me what I needed to do, I decided I was gonna do that for him even though the logical thing to do was to run and never look back.

I never even considered it.

It’s so fucking strange. I still didn’t know what we were to each other. I didn’t have a blueprint for how to navigate this fake marriage. So I resigned myself to letting my feelings lead me. They were my beacon, and right now, they were telling me I was invested in this. That I had a stake in what was happening to Jakari. I had a role to play, and as long as I wore his ring and his name, I was gonna play it.

Right now, I was in a chair next to his bed. We were watchingFresh Princereruns on the tv. Every now and then, he would shift position and grimace. He was in pain, but he wouldn’t take the pain meds they offered. He only wanted ibuprofen. I didn’t understand it at all, but it wasn’t my job to question it.

I picked up his cup and shook it. Empty.

“You need some more water?”

He nodded. “I don’t want tap, though. That shit tastes like plastic. See if they got some Evian or Fiji or something.”

“Oh, you a bougie thug, is that it?”

He chuckled. “Guess so.”

“Just water? Nothing else?”

“Nope. Just water.” He paused. “And you.”

Smiling, I grabbed his cup and exited the room, shutting the door behind me. Before I could take two steps, Gab was in my face.

“Is he awake?”

“…Yes.”

“Alright. Excuse me.”

She pushed past me to the door, and I didn’t have the strength to argue about it. Or the authority. Say what you want about her, but Jakari was her baby, and there was no way in hell she was gonna let me regulate anything about him as it related to her. So I went on my way to get Kari some good water. She could have this one.

Two gigantic men sat on either side of the door. They must have come when I was in the room. I was walking past them when I stopped and turned back.

“Hey, we haven’t met.”

They both looked at me with cold, dark eyes. These men didn’t play, I could tell.

“I’m Malika. Jakari’s wife.”

The energy changed instantly. They both jumped to their feet and extended eager hands to me.

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