Page 65 of Memphis

Everything was fuzzy except for the pain. The pain was suffocating me, or maybe it was the blood. Either way, I couldn’t breathe. Memphis was gone, probably pursuing the motherfucker who shot me.

I coughed as my mind raced with thoughts. Who, what, why, and where? Who did this, or better yet, who hired them to dothis? The field of possible suspects was wide open. What did I miss to not see this coming? Why the fuck didn’t he take the head shot? I damn sure would have. Where was my got damn security?

I coughed again and closed my eyes. I was tired as hell. Tired and cold but the bullet felt so damn hot. I was still suffocating, too.

Shit, I’m going to die, I thought, and I was selfish enough to be happy I was going before she did. I just couldn’t take losing her.

Ever.

Then I heard her voice, her words coming like a flood—rushed and forceful. Something about an ambulance coming. Something about me opening my eyes. So, I did, taking in every inch of her face while recalling every inch of her body at the same time. There was so much shit I needed to tell her, like how she was my dream come true. I wished I could tell her it was okay for me to die because I got her back. Ifinallygot her back, and she loved me again. I wanted to say that I loved her one last time, but when I opened my mouth, I couldn’t speak. It was full of blood.

“Fuck! They need to hurry the hell up!” she said, sounding mad as hell. This was her version of panicking.

She was holding my hand, and I managed to squeeze it, my eyes fixed on her face before everything…went black.

37

Isat in the waiting area with a straight back, my eyes focused on the digital clock hanging on the wall above the information desk. He wasn’t dead…anymore. The paramedics had to resuscitate him before bringing him here to the hospital where they rushed him into surgery. Lots of blood lost, an injured lung, severe hypoxia. They said he might evenend up on a ventilator. I probably should’ve been sad or worried, but I was pissed.

Completelypissed.

“Got here as soon as I could. Your sister is mad I wouldn’t let her come with me.”

Ray.

I lifted my eyes to him. “Why’d you tell her?” I asked, my voice sounding monotone in my own ears.

“It’s on the news, Memphis. Every damn station is talking about a home invasion and the local man who was shot. They’ve released Bo’s name. I ain’t had to tell her shit,” he replied.

“Who the fuck leaked his name? Shit!”

“Don’t know. What you need me to do? Finish him off? I got scrubs and everything. I can get the twins to work on disabling cameras?—”

“I need you to help me find out who did this.”

In my periphery, I could see him nod. “Okay, you wanna thank them or something? If you’d asked me, I woulda done it. Shit, I started to do it on my own, but I was tryna let you handle it.”

I turned to face him, shaking my head. “He’s a piece of shit in a lot of ways, but he’s mine…for better or worse. I’m the only someone who has the right to kill him.”

He frowned, blinked a few times, and sighed. “You still love the motherfucker. I mean, as twisted as all this shit between you and him has been, I can see that he has real feelings for you, too. I honestly thought you still hated him.”

“I do.”

“But you love him?”

“Listen, if this shit is on the news, his damn family will be here any minute. We don’t have long to talk.”

“Okay. What you need?”

“Fuck,” I muttered upon seeing his mother, brother, and son rushing toward me. “Just stay with me for now. Later, we’ll put together a plan to find out which one of these motherfuckers—” I nodded toward my in-laws. “—tried to have my husband killed.”

His mother looked harried,like she’d just seen or heard a ghost. I almost believed she was worried about her son.

Heavy on thealmost.

“Memphis, why didn’t you call me to let me know what’s going on with my boy?!” she shrieked, her arm looped with Tavares’s. They and Zaccai were now standing over me.

“I don’t have your number,” I replied. The fact that I even answered her was a testament to how stressed I was becausefuck her.

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