The blast hit him hard, sending his body flying into the wall behind the couch. His head exploded on impact, his body folding like a lawn chair. I watched him drop; his body still, but I wasn’t done.
Gunshots rang out. One caught me in the back. The hot lead made me stumble, but it snapped me right into defense mode.I spun around, returning fire. I hit one of the men in the neck who’d come in from the balcony. He dropped like a sack of rocks.
I didn’t care who the shooter was. I bolted out of the house, pain roaring in my back.
“Damn, my nigga, what happened?” Tory asked with urgency when he saw the blood on my hands.
“Somebody was in there. They shot me after I took that nigga out. No hospitals. Take me to the airport.”
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yeah, drive off, nigga.” I lay back in my seat as he reversed out of the driveway.
The blood kept coming, but I wasn’t stopping for anything. I had a private flight waiting, and I needed to get the fuck out of Sable Cove.
All I could think about was Yummi, hoping I didn’t bleed out on my flight. When we got to the runway, I stepped out of the truck and boarded the plane. There was a medic on the airstrip, so I paid them to patch me up enough to get through the flight. They assured me they would, and they worked on me the whole way to Colorado.
$$$$$
When I touched down in Starlight Hills, Colorado, I was barely breathing.
That flight damn near killed me. I blacked out three times on the way there, and by the time we landed, the medic on board was panicking. They rushed me straight to the hospital with lights flashing, sirens blaring, like I was somebody important. I was just another nigga trying to outrun his demons, bleeding out on a private jet.
I had plans to pay Storm and hide out at her crib, but not right away. I was going to lie low in a hotel. But now, I needed her, and thankfully, she was an ER nurse at the hospital and working the night shift they wheeled me into.
Tears were in her eyes, and she looked scared. Before I knew it, they were putting me in an induced coma and had me knocked out for days. I woke up to Storm and nobody else since I was far away from home. She stayed by my side, did overtime to help the other nurses, and played caretaker. I can’t lie—Storm held me down. I was laid up, healing. Couldn’t move right, couldn’t think straight, barely wanted to breathe most days, and she was right there telling me I could. It was just too bad that I couldn’t be with her like before because I was engaged to Yummi.
SHUT DOWN
Mula had been crashingon my couch for weeks. He moved like my place was his. Ate my food. Smoked my weed. Took long-ass showers with the steam rolling out the door like it washisbathroom. I watched him sleep, lying out with one armover his head, tattoos stretched across his chest, and his chain glinting low under the lamp.
I told myself this wasn’t just afling. That summer was no accident. We had athing.
So when the TV got low and the night got quiet, I slid off the couch, crept over real soft. I sat on the edge of the bed, my heart thumping, breathing in his scent of soap, weed, cologne, and somethin’ raw.
I leaned in, real close.
“Let me help you relax, Mula...”
His eyes opened slowly, but this time, he didn’t just brush me off. His voice was low, raspy, but serious.
“Storm... nah. I can’t do that.”
I blinked, confused and feeling the heat in my chest rise.
He sighed, rubbed his hand down his face, eyes tight like the shit was heavy on him.
“Look... I ain’t tryna lead you on. I know we had a lil thing. That summer... yeah, it was what it was, but I got a lot goin’ on. Real shit. I’m tryna get my head right.”
I sat there, silent, watching him, waiting for him to say something that made sense.
He exhaled again, his voice lower now. “I got a girl. Or... Well, a fiancée now. It’s complicated, and you won’t understand if I told you.”
I stiffened. “You told me you were single in the summer. Let me guess… It’s that girl I caught you kissing on the boat that night.”
“Yeah, but… She’s... different,” he uttered, his voice low, eyes somewhere far away. “We been through... some shit. Shit you wouldn’t understand.” He shook his head like he was done explaining.
“I just need you to hold me down for a lil longer. That’s what I’m paying you for. Don’t get it twisted. Don’t make this more than it is.”
