Page 77 of Red Snow
“WELL, LOOK WHOdecided to show up,” Marcus says as I enter his room. “What the fuck is this? Roses? Why would you bring me roses, Jarrod?”
I laugh as I toss the bouquet of red roses on the bed on top of his legs. “Hey, just be grateful I love you enough to bring you anything. Don’t act like you don’t love roses. Bitches love roses.”
“Oh, now I’m a bitch. Okay. Babe, you hear this shit?” Marcus says as he looks at the woman sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed. Yolanda looks at the roses and smiles.
“Oh, don’t pull me into y’alls craziness,” she replies, her long black hair glowing in the sunlight shining through the open blinds of the room. “I do think the roses are beautiful though.”
“Well thank you!” I chirp. “At least Yolanda is appreciative of my kind gesture, unlike somebody else.”
“You two are a mess,” Yolanda says, giggling to herself. “How do you deal with the two of them, Danielle?”
Sergeant Howell, standing at the end of the bed wearing tight jeans and a thick sweater, just shrugs. “I have no idea. They are a mess, indeed, but they’re the best mess in the department, so I put up with it.”
“Did you hear that?” Marcus interjects. “She just said we were the best in the department. Wow.”
“So Marcus had to get stabbed in the back for you to finally admit that we’re the best?” I joke, and the whole room laughs together. Once the laughter dies down, Yolanda looks up at me as she stands up.
“Hey, on a serious note,” she says as she walks towards me with outstretched arms. “I wanted to take a moment to thank you, Jarrod.”
“Thank me for what?”
“For saving my Marcus,” she replies with tears in her brown eyes. “And for making sure justice was served for Brandi’s death. I know you had to kill him to protect yourself and Marcus, but I can’t say I feel bad about that. My heart hurts for Brandi, but knowing you did what you did makes things a little easier. So, thank you. I know Brandi thanks you too.”
Yolanda moves in and we embrace.
“My pleasure,” I reply, doing my best to fight back my own tears for Brandi. Our relationship wasn’t a relationship, but that doesn’t mean I’ll forget her anytime soon. I push thoughts of her to the side and focus on Yolanda. “Just make sure you take care of my guy over there, alright?”
“You know I will,” she replies as she steps back. She smiles at me, but then I see her smile fade as her eyes shift to something behind me.
“Hey, Marcus,” I hear a very familiar voice say from the doorway. When I turn around, my breath is taken by the sight of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her red hair is glowing, her face is beyond flawless, and she looks like everything I’ve ever wanted in my life rolled into one gorgeous woman.
“Stacey! What’s up?” Marcus chirps. “Damn, you waited until I got a knife in the back to come see me?”
“I’m sorry,” she says, glancing at me. “I’ve just been really busy, but I heard about what happened, and you know I had to come make sure you were okay.”
Stacey struts into the room wearing white leggings and a black sweater, and goes to give Marcus a hug, leaning over the bed, but being careful not to put too much pressure on him.
“I’m doing alright,” Marcus says as they embrace. “How have you been?”
“Good. Busy,” Stacey says, before turning to face me, causing my heart to rush, but Marcus speaks again before she can address me.
“Stacey, allow me to introduce you,” he says, motioning towards Yolanda. “This is my boo, Yolanda. Boo, this is a good friend of mine. This is Stacey.”
The two women smile as they shake hands for the first time.
“It’s nice to meet you, Stacey,” Yolanda says.
“Nice to meet you, as well,” Stacey reciprocates. Then, her eyes shift to me again. This time, she speaks. “Hi, Jarrod.”
My heart feels like it’s beating a million miles per second. “Hey, Stacey.” Fuck, she looks so ridiculously good.
Why do girls always do that? When they break it off with a guy, they always turn their awesomeness up ten notches before they see each other again, so that the guy is standing there staring like an asshole, wondering what the fuck he was thinking for letting things get messed up.
“How have you been?” she says, and I’m not even sure how to reply.
“Umm, okay, I guess,” I do my best to answer honestly. “Been wanting to talk to you.”
“You could’ve called,” she begins, but catches herself. “Oh, I guess I messed that up when I told you not to call.”
