Page 32 of Honey's Special Roux

“Day, I’m…fuck…I got shot. Can you call my connect at the hospital? I need this shit on the low.”

“Marquise, what did you say? Where are you?”

“I don’t got time to explain. I’m headed back to our side of town now. I should be at the hospital in about thirty minutes. Tell them I think the bullet is lodged in my shoulder. Weak ass gun fucking sucked. Couldn’t even go all the way through.”

“Honey’s going to kick both of our asses, man.”

“Nah. Don’t call her until after I’ve gotten the bullet out my shoulder. She’s at work right now, and I don’t want to mess up her workday. Cooking is her first love, and I don’t want my knucklehead actions to interrupt that.”

Dayari sighed heavily. “Can you even drive right now?”

“I… shit. I don’t think I’ll make it on my own. You got my location. Come get me.”

“If my folks knew what you had me out here doing, they’d beat your ass.”

I chuckled. “In my current state, the dog could beat my ass.”

“Please be serious, dummy. I’m on the way. Try to pull into a gas station parking lot, or somewhere you can leave your car until they patch you up.”

“Fa sho.”

I hung up the phone and closed my eyes briefly. The car swerved out of my lane and cars around me honked their horns. I straightened back into my lane and willed myself to make it off the ramp and into a parking lot at the first exit. I parked haphazardly in the back of a building and allowed my eyes to close.

Darkness welcomed me. The pain of the unattended wound had knocked my ass out. I prayed it was repairable, with little lasting damage. If I lost function in my left arm, Gee would never see the light of day again.

* * *

“Oh, my goodness! Marquise! Wake up. Bitch, you better not be dead.” Dayari’s loud mouth woke me up. For a moment, I couldn’t remember where I was or why she was here. Confusion left me soon as the throbbing pain in my shoulder returned.

“Ugh,” I groaned.

I blinked my eyes open and turned to see my cousin banging on the driver’s side window. My hand lifted to the lock and pressed it. When the door opened, my vision blurred again.

“Nah. Your ass is too big to carry to the other car. You have to do some of the heavy work,” Dayari explained. She wrapped her arms around my waist and supported my weight to her car a few feet away. She placed me in the passenger seat before she gathered my stuff and locked my car up.

“Thank you,” I mumbled as my eyes became too heavy to keep open.

“You’re going to get us in so much trouble, Marquise. You are always doing the most shit, and my dumb ass pulls up every time.”

Dayari pulled out into the busy streets.

Over the last four years, we’d become really close. Honey and Dayari had become close friends as well. We’d go out every couple of weeks with her and her boyfriend. She was like the little sister I never had. I could trust her with my life. At first, it was rough because she didn’t like the lifestyle I lived, but once I started spoiling her with things, she came around.

“I love you, Ari,” was the last thing I remembered saying before the darkness engulfed me.

“Three risottos, two scallops, and carbonara,”Chef Courtney called out.

“Heard, Chef!” We all called back.

The kitchen buzzed with chatter as we all worked diligently to have the perfect service. I’d been on fish tonight. I seared the scallops to perfection. My salmon had crispy skin and an even honey glaze on top. I’d been in my zone all night, so when the head chef pulled me off the station, confusion greeted me.

“Yes, Chef?” I asked as I wiped my hands on my apron and followed her to the back.

“Have a seat,” she instructed.

I obliged. “Did I do something wrong?” I replayed the current dinner service back in my mind. I had cooked all my orders to perfection. I’d been on time, as I always was. I couldn’t figure out why I was in her office, even after my mind thought it over.

“Quite the contrary. I know they’ve offered you a permanent job here, but I have another opportunity for you.”

---