Page 13 of Cove City: Vol. I

I was able to capture a few pictures. I spotted Pierre’s tall stature at the front of the crowd. I lingered in the back for a second, but couldn’t see. I squeezed my way through the tight crowd until I heard a little back and forth, then gunshots erupted. Before I could run out, I was pushed by the chaotic crowd. I stumbled over someone when a sharp pain hit me. “Ahhh!” I screamed.

When I glanced down, all I saw was blood seeping from my shirt. My hand shook as it touched the bloody spot. My eyesraised to Pierre’s gun aimed at me. He had shot me. My body dropped to the ground. My breathing picked up as I began to panic. I could hear voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying, I sucked in one last deep breath before everything went dark.

My eyes fluttered open to a hospital room. The groggy feeling consumed me. The first thing I did was flip the covers back and gently touch my side. “Sss,” I hissed from the slight pain.

I eased up to see Pierre sitting there watching me. “What are you doing here?” I mumbled.

I tried fixing my hair because I just knew I looked terrible. He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. He dropped his head in guilt. “I fucked up,” he mumbled.

“No shit, you shot me,” I hissed.

I’ve been in many fucked up situations, but this was by far the craziest and scariest. I’ve fought the best, gotten so drunk I had to beg God to forgive me, hell even sucked a little turtle dick, but being shot was not on my bucket list. Pierre raised his eyes to me, and they were begging for me to forgive him.

“A nigga sorry. I was just out of my head.”

“What were you doing there? What was that place?”

He stood from the chair, coming over to me. “How you feeling? You still sore?”

He ignored me like I didn’t ask a question. “I’m fine. Please don’t touch me.”

He nodded slowly as he crossed his hands over each other. I noticed the hospital gown was open exposing the side of my naked ass. I quickly swung the covers back over me. My eyes scanned the room, taking in a beautiful bouquet of blue flowers. It added some color to the plain room. A grin eased on my face.

“You didn’t have to get me flowers, it won’t make up for being shot,” I mumbled.

“Shit it was the least I could do. Look, Tuesday, I’m sorry. I am. You happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t have an excuse for what I did, but you shouldn’t have followed me.”

I had no rebuttal because I shouldn’t have followed him. “I want my story,” I blurted out. “Before you say you don’t have one, I want to know what that was about.”

He stared at me long and hard. I could tell he was thinking about it, but he owed me. I wanted to hate him, call the cops to haul his ass out of my room, but I needed this job, bad. I would have to swallow my hatred for the greater good. He ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Fuck. What do you want to know?”

Tap! Tap!

The light taps on the door directed my attention there. I turned to look when a man with orange flowers came through the door. He walked into the room smoothly. He was just as dark and tall as Pierre, a bit slimmer but fine, and had a nose ring and tattoos everywhere. “I just wanted to apologize,” his raspy voice said.

He handed me the flowers, then shot Pierre a cold stare. “Who are you?” I asked.

He glanced down at me, and I felt a tingle. “I’m Chevy. On behalf of my crew and me, we wanted to apologize.” He winked.

“She doesn’t need your flowers, dawg,” Pierre interrupted, sounding as bitter as dark chocolate.

Chevy stopped and looked at him. “I’m going to have some decorum not only because were in front of a beautiful lady but because were in a fucking hospital. The hostility isn’t needed, especially if you're trying to holla at this shorty. Keep that shit cute my nigga. I’m not Zeus.”

Zeus? Who the hell was that?Their eyes landed on me, and I quickly looked ahead. Then back at Pierre, then at Chevy, who gave me a slight bow, and left the room. I could see Pierre gettingangrier by the second. Whoever this person was, they pissed Pierre off, and I wanted to know everything.This Cove and Lake Hill thing could be something.

“Pierre, calm down. Listen, I want to get out of here as soon as possible, and then we can talk. All I want to do is get this story for my job. After that, you can go on whatever kind of rampage you want. Cool?”

He looked at me and didn’t say a word.

“I will take that as a yes.”

“You are something else.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.” I smiled.

I pulled up to Gutta Kutz because I needed to talk to Soho. When I stepped inside the barbershop, I noticed Pierre wasn’t there. I felt relieved because I wasn’t ready to face him yet. Soho was in the middle of a cut, but I didn’t care.

He paused what he was doing and looked up at me. “Sup, Sash.”

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