Page 3 of Girl, We Go Together
“So much for not making The Shaderoom,” I jokingly said.
His thick brows were dented in concentration at the mayhem that was taking place on the other side of the club.
“What’s going on?” Zynea asked, looking in the same direction.
Barstools, turned-over tables, and people ducking for cover blocked my view, so I couldn’t see what had them so focused.
“Where’s Brandi and Ali?” I asked when I couldn’t see them.
“Girl, they are gone. They both hightailed it out the door,” Zynea quickly answered without ungluing her eyes from the commotion occurring across the room.
In no time, paramedics arrived and were putting me on a stretcher.
“Which hospital are y’all taking her to?” Orion asked one of the paramedics as they were gathering basic information from me.
“Jamaica Hospital,” he answered as they quickly started to push me out of the club.
“Cayla, that’s my name,” I called out to Orion as I was being pushed toward the exit.
I hadn’t had the chance to tell him, and I was sure Zynea was getting around to that before the shots went off. On the way out, I saw what had Zynea’s and Orion’s attention. The man who had grabbed my arm just a while ago was sprawled out across the floor. His ass must have tried to grab the wrong nigga’s bitch.
“Oh shitttt!” Zynea tried to cover the screech that escaped from her lips as we passed the dead body.
When we made it outside, the police were everywhere. I scanned the crowd for Brandi and Ali, but I should have known I wouldn’t find them. They weren’t the hood type. They were both infatuated with the street life, but when street shit like bullets flying occurred, they got low and gone. That’s why Zynea was my best friend; that girl would ride with me until the wheels fell off. I shook my head at the bitches who had left Zynea and me high and dry. I winced in pain as the paramedics lifted me into the back of the ambulance. I couldn’t believe how a night of celebration had ended with me being hit by a bullet.
“Cay, I’m gonna follow you to the hospital in my car, and then I need to head home to get ready for this flight.”
I just nodded my head up and down. Zynea was the only true friend I had.
Chapter 2
Orion Blackwood
After handling things at the club, I rushed over to Jamaica Hospital. When I was pulling up, Zynea was leaving. I thought that was odd, but I minded my business. Although I was genuinely worried about Cayla getting shot, I had to make sure she didn’t want to sue a nigga, too. She had just gotten out of surgery when I got there, and her ass was lucky that the shot was through-and-through. I gently massaged my temples as I listened to the doctor explain the recovery time for this kind of injury.
Her doe-like eyes were focused as he spoke to her. She pulled her full lips into her tiny mouth as he explained the aftercare instructions. I could tell that she was trying to process everything. This wasn’t my first time hearing gun wound aftercare instructions, so I sat unfazed in my phone. Shit, I still have a bullet in my body right now from back when I used to run around in the streets.
“Do you have any questions, Ms. Carmichael?”
She just shook her head lightly from side to side. She hadn’t said much since I entered the room.
“We can let you go home in a few days. Please eat something from this tray,” the doctor said, pointing to what was on her table before making his exit.
I knew I was about to have a lot on my plate with everything that happened at Obsessions. Since we opened, I had my fair share of drunken encounters at my club, but nothing that ever ended in death, let alone gunfire. Insurance could cover most of everything that had happened, but personally, I took an interest in the java-colored beauty who was scraping the last bit of mixed fruit out the bottom of the container.
“What?” she asked me as she placed the empty cup on the table beside her.
“Nothing.”
I smirked as I watched her pick up the next item from the tray in front of her. Her doctor said to eat, and she wasted no time taking things off that table. Growing up, I always had a thing for the thick girls, and the girl lying in the hospital bed before me was thick as hell. While she enjoyed the rest of what the hospital had given to her on a food tray, we engaged in small talk. When an awkward silence filled the room, I pulled my phone out and scrolled around for the next couple of hours.
I would have been driving behind her friend, who trailed the ambulance, if I hadn’t had to answer questions from the police when they arrived earlier. Straight from the club, I sat at her bedside. I was running on no sleep, but that didn’t mean anything to me because I really wanted to make sure she was okay. Now that the sun was rising and she had cleared everything on that tray, I felt a little content knowing that she was good. I could tell that she was in pain, and the painkillers they had given her had her a little loopy. I smiled at how she was slurring her words a bit. When my phone vibrated in my lap, I glanced down.
I ignored the private caller because I knew it was probably just my baby mama, Shenell. I had promised her I would pick up my five-year-old son, OJ, this morning, but with everything that happened, I had enough on my plate. Saying she was the baby mama from hell would be an understatement. Shenell was big on trying to run shit when she knew that kind of pull didn’t work with me. Still, she would turn into a damn brat if she didn’t get her way.
“Thank you for staying. You can go if you’re busy.”
I looked up from my phone and saw Cayla’s round eyes staring at me. I locked my phone and then gave her my undivided attention. Shenell’s ass would have to wait. It’s not like she had a job to go to. She could hold onto my son while I handled business here. She probably only wanted some free time to take her ass outside somewhere. It was Saturday, and the forecast was beautiful. She was a young ratchet ho who always wanted to be seen. Sometimes I regretted even having a kid with her. I made eye contact with Cayla before responding.
