Page 6 of Dr. Bell

I could only chuckle at the text. Genika knew like I knew—that baby wasn’t mine. It wasn’t because we hadn’t fucked like crazy. We had and each time I made sure to strap my shit up. I wasn’t trying to be a father living in a house without his children. As a man with four sons, I was raising them to take accountability for the slightest shit they did. It would’ve been hypocritical of me not to do the same.

“You’re an asshole. I hope you know that.” Bianca sailed past me, still wearing the scowl she’d issued me minutes ago.

“Love you, too, baby.”

She smacked her teeth and continued toward the hallway where her office was located.

Antonias came up beside me and rested his arms on the counter of the nurses station. “You should really ease up off Bianca before you’re ‘round here without an office director as well.”

Antonias was the first doctor I added to my staff. He and I knew each other from medical school and had families that paralleled in just about everything. One thing I recognized in recent months was that he had a thing for my sister. I wasn’t sweating it because we were close. We got each other, which was why shit worked between us.

Aside from us and my cousin, there were three other doctors on staff as well as three nurse practitioners. At twenty-two, I’d set out to build a facility that catered to the streets. While I was still in school, I worked tirelessly to see my dream through. This shit was for my family who came before me. Once I was done with medical school, I dove in headfirst into getting the clinic open for business. I’d been walking through the halls of my hard work for several years now, proud of everything it had become. We were here rain, sleet, hail, or snow. For the streets never rested, so neither could we.

As I moved through the rest of my afternoon, it grated my nerves that Pretty still dominated my thoughts. For whatever reason, her ass cussing me out the way she did fueled the fire burning for her even more. A part of me wanted to call Genika, so that I could fuck Pretty from my mind. The other part of me wanted to dial the number on Pretty’s resume and find out just what the hell had me so stuck on her. Problem was, I wouldn’t rest until I got to the root of why the hell I was so drawn to her. I’d never been rendered thoughtless and speechless. Not by anything, especially not a woman.

COCO

“Canwetalk?”

Quilo shrugged his big shoulders. I hoped his favorite dinner would put a smile on his face. Even that hadn’t softened him up.

“I know you’re upset with me, but I had to do what was best for you.”

“You really think uprooting me from everything I know is what’s best for me?”

Without hesitation, I nodded. “You barely made it out of the eleventh grade because you stayed in so much trouble. You’re too smart to be throwing your life away, Quilo.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, aight. You think I’ma do better here? You do know that trouble is everywhere, right? Moving to a whole other city doesn’t mean shit.”

I grimaced at him cursing. “It’s a fresh start. You also barely escaped jail time this last incident.” Just thinking about it turned my stomach. I didn’t want to see my brother behind bars ordead. To think that he was following in our father’s footsteps truly instilled a fear inside me that I despised.

“Again… What is moving to this city gon’ do? If you ask me, we were better off in Orlando. At least I knew how to move.”

“That’s just it, Quilo. You shouldn’t be moving like anything other than a high school kid. Having to look over your shoulder—”

“Stop it, aight,” he cut me off so smoothly, my eyes narrowed. “Look, I get what you tryna do. All I’m sayin’ is, don’t be mad if some shit happens here.”

Frowning, I said, “That’s a crazy thing to say.”

“It’s not. You gotta get outta that fairytale mind of yours. You want everything to be perfect when it’s not.”

On one hand, I hated Quilo’s outlook on life. Then again, he wasn’t totally wrong. I did want everything to be perfect. Or at least put together. Right now, things just felt so messed up. Especially since I was back to square one with my job search. As much as I hated to admit it, the position at Dr. Bell & Associates was the best one I’d seen so far. Plus, it paid well and offered set hours, which was what I needed.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting a good life for us, Quilo.”

He glanced away from my solemn stare as the waitress placed our food in front of us. Tonya’s Steakhouse was touted as the best steakhouse in Pensacola. I brought Quilo here thinking he’d warm up to me. So far, I wished I would’ve just given him more time to come around.

Before eating, I mumbled a prayer, nearly tearing up as I did so. I wasn’t sure how to get through to my brother. Being ten years my junior, it was hard to get him to listen to anything I had to say. It broke my heart that he resisted me at every turn. For so long, I thought raising him had been the right thing to do. Some days, I wondered if taking over our mother’s role was best.I didn’t doubt that my brother loved me. However, the guidance he needed was out of my hands, and it terrified me.

We started eating and within minutes, I lost my appetite. Quilo was back to being silent. Needing to take a moment to myself, I excused myself from the table. I’d barely made it inside the restroom before the tears came. Inside one of the clean stalls, I silently cried.

Mama, I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry I let you down.

Giving up on my brother was not an option; no matter how much it hurt me. I’d go to my grave seeing to it that he walked a different path than that of the man who fathered us. It took me a minute to get myself together before going back to the table.

Quilo took one look at me and knew that I’d been crying. His fork clanked against his plate as he placed it down. Clearing my throat, I picked my fork back up and tried to force myself to eat a few more bites. This steak wasn’t cheap.

“I’ma do my best, aight?”

---