“Whaddup, mama? You done?”Juelz’s voice came through the radio speaker loud and clear. He leaned against the side of the house where he was working, tool belt hanging low on his hips, wires exposed in the panel in front of him. He hated missing her appointment, but he’d gotten called out to do an electrical installation job. Every few seconds, he glanced at his phone as if he could somehow see through it.“What’d the doc say ‘bout my li’l nigga?”
“You and this nigga word, I swear,” Tasha said as she turned onto the highway. “Everythin’ is just fine, Jue. He is growing perfectly in line with the chart.”
She could hear Juelz clapping his hands.“That’s whaddup, bae. I can’t wait to hold my li’l man.”
“That’s much better than you callin’ him li’l nigga.”
They shared a laugh.“I’m ‘gon always be me, girl,”hesaid, flipping the light switch on and off to test his work.“You know you my peace, right?”
“Yeah, and you my chaos,” she said, heart fluttering wildly. “I love you, Jue.”
“That’s whaddup.” He tightened the last wire in place on the panel box. “I’m finishin’ up now. I should be back at the house by the time you pull up.”
The road ahead stretched long beneath the fading evening sun, lined with big ass oak trees and crowded with steady traffic. The sun cast long, dancing shadows, making it difficult to track the few cars approaching from the opposite direction.
“Can you have my bath ready for me? I just wanna soak and go to sleep,”Said Tasha.
“As long as you have that pussy ready for me,”Juelz shot back.
Tasha rolled her eyes, rubbing her belly, but the smile faded as she reached the top of a steep rise in the road. Something felt off to her. The sunlight suddenly looked too bright and too harsh. Then she saw it. A dark pickup truck was barreling straight toward her. Fast as hell. The truck swerved violently across the fading yellow lines, drifting fully into her lane. Directly at her.
“Oh…oh Gawd. What the hell?” she whispered, the casual joy draining instantly from her face, replaced by a cold, metallic fear.
“Tash?”Juelz’s voice sharpened.“What is it? What's goin’ on?”
Her grip tightened around the steering wheel. She slammed on the horn. Once. Twice. Again, but the truck kept coming.
“They comin’ right at me, Juelz! They—on my damn side of the road!”
“Tasha, PULL the fuck OVER!”Juelz shouted through the phone.“Get off the road! Fuckkk!”His voice was a panicked roar.
“I can’t!” she cried. “It’s a guardrail—I can't get over!”
Her foot mashed the brake pedal to the floor as the seatbelt dug painfully across her swollen stomach. The distance between them disappeared in seconds.
Then—
She could see the dark, grimacing silhouette of the driver, a sudden, sick grin flashing in the low sun.
She squinted her eyes, trying to see who it was, as she started whispering a prayer to the child within her. Recognition hit her like cold ass water. Her eyes widened.
“Jue! It’s—it’s her! SHE COMIN’ TOWARDS ME! OH MY GAWD! WHAT DO I DO? Ahhhhhhh!”
Her final, guttural scream was swallowed by the world dissolving into a maelstrom of violent noise: the thunder of tearing, twisting metal, the final, agonizing sound of the phone skittering across the dashboard, and the deafening, crystalline shattering of glass.
“Tashaaaaa?!”
The last thing Tasha heard was Juelz’s desperate cry of her name before everything went black.
Juelz sat in a cold hospital waiting room along with Tiffany, Niyah, Kane, Sintonio, and Mar. They were all waiting for the doctor to come back out with an update on Tasha and the baby. The call had ended with a sickening crunch, then silence. He’d driven like a damn madman, rushing to get to her. His heart was a frantic drum against his ribs, praying to a God he barely talked to anymore. A nurse and the doctor had finally come out from the back, their faces saying more than their mouths.
“Family of Ms. Hayes, please.” They all stood up and walked towards the two. “That’s us,” Juelz yelled back. “How my girl doin’? Is my son okay, doc? Be straight with me.”
The doctor took a deep breath, and Juelz knew already it wasn’t looking good. Tiffany damn near lost her footing as Niyah had to be held up by her husband Sintonio.
“First, let me say, I’m sorry you had to be here under these circumstances, ” the doctor began, his eyes full of a professional sorrow that offered no comfort at all. “I wish I had better news for you all but Tasha sustained massive internal injuries. We’redoing everything we can, but… There are complications. The baby is in distress.”
Juelz felt his throat close up. “No… no. Doc. Aye, man, you gotta go back in there. You can save them. You have to.”
