Page 35 of Honey's Special Roux

I nodded. “Yeah. Let me get a couple of wash bins and some gloves. Hold on.”

I moved around the room like I was his actual nurse. I put on a pair of medium size medical grade gloves and filled up two gray bins with water. One had anti-bacterial soap in it while the other was just plain hot water. I set them on the table and pulled back his bedding.

I helped him wash up and pull on a white muscle shirt, boxers, and basketball shorts. All the dried blood had washed away. His handsome freckles were visible and cute. I loved his face.

“Thanks, bae.”

“You’re welcome.” I pecked his lips and caressed his cheek with my thumb. Marquise still looked handsome as hell, even while hurt.

I attempted to sit back in my seat, but he pulled me into the hospital bed with him. I lay beside him and rubbed my fingers against his chest.

“Tell me what happened,” I demanded in a gentle tone.

He smacked his lips in protest.

“Oh, you don’t want to give me the full story?”

“I just want to rest, Honey. It ain’t much else to tell you from what I said when my folks were here.”

“There is, but I will not beg you to tell me. All I know is this shit better be the last time I get a call like this,” I explained.

“It will be. I’ll stop having them call you about it. I will leave you in the dark about what I do in the streets.” The frustration in his voice almost pissed me off.

“Good. Keep your crimes to yourself. I don’t want that shit in my life. Never have, but you also never listen.”

He chuckled. “My crimes keep you spoiled. My crimes keep your bills paid. You like to pick when you don’t like my lifestyle.”

“You know what?—”

“Marquise.”

I jumped with fright at the unexpected interruption from the door of the hospital room. I paused and looked to see Merlot walk fully into the room and shut the door.

“Look, Unc, I can explain.”

“No. You will shut your ass up and listen.” Merlot stood at the foot of the bed with an unreadable expression on his face.

Merlot looked a lot like Marquise. I figured it was because of how much Marquise resembled his mother—Merlot’s sister. They had the same bright skin and freckles on their faces. I summed it up to mean freckles were a genetic marker in their family lineage.

“Can you give us some privacy, young lady?” Merlot asked me.

“She good. She can stay.” Marquise spoke for me.

Merlot chuckled. “A’ight then. I specifically told you not to go over there. Two boys are dead, and one critically injured. Gee is also in an intensive care unit. If he survives, there will be a war. We have so much going on in the cartel to deal with some petty ass war, Marquise. Shit was avoidable.”

My heart ached. I wasn’t a dummy to the lifestyle he lived. He’d told me he’d done a lot of damage in the streets. Naivety led me to believe he only beat up people. However, deep down, I knew that was only half of what he did. To hear about his actions tonight was something else. It changed something within me. Could I love a man who killed people? Could I love a man who went against orders and sought after trouble? From what I gathered, he had gone on a rogue mission to begin with.

“H-how old were the boys?” I asked Merlot.

“That doesn’t matter,” Marquise interjected.

“Shut up. How old were the boys, sir?”

Merlot licked his lips. “The oldest was seventeen. He died en route to the hospital. The other one was fifteen. He was dead on the scene. The one in critical condition is sixteen. They don’t know if he will make it through the surgeries.”

“Excuse me,” I mumbled. I climbed out of the bed and exited the hospital room. I went down an empty hallway and pressed my back against the wall. My chest burned as I sobbed into my hands.

These boys were so young. Practically babies. How could Marquise hurt them? How could they have been any threat to a grown man?

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