Page 51 of And It’s Still You

“How do you know who I am?” I inquired, taking the items from her as she pressed the towel against my face. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And we have files on everyone connected to or close to the Colliers.”

I nodded in understanding. To me, it wasn’t surprising that they kept tabs on everyone. With their line of work, it was needed.

The nurse stayed by my side as Onyx led us back to where Shea was. My knees went weak seeing him lying in the bed with tubes coming out of him. His chest was wrapped up, but I could see a little blood staining the bandage. It slowly rose and fell at a steady pace, and that was the only thing putting my mind at ease.

I walked over to him and palmed the side of his face, unable to contain my tears. My entire body trembled. No matter how hard I tried to keep it together, I couldn’t. Onyx stood beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Never taking my hand off Shea’s face, I leaned into Onyx for support and sobbed.

“What happened?” I asked after a few minutes when I finally felt like I could catch my breath.

Onyx opened his mouth to speak, but I held my finger up and called Angela. I needed her to hear everything as well so I didn’t have to repeat the story to her.

“Hey, Moya. What did you find out?” Angela answered on the first ring.

I placed her on speakerphone and replied, “Hey, Angela. I’m here with Onyx. You’re on speakerphone so you can hear as well.”

“Hey, Angela,” Onyx spoke.

“What in the hell happened with my son, Onyx?” The malice in Angela’s tone was sharp enough to slit Onyx’s throat. I shouldn’t have felt sorry for him, but I did. Probably because he never showed the soft side of him. Onyx was always hard and rough around the edges. Now he was like putty.

“He’s my son too, Angela,” Onyx replied.

“It’s not time to be literal about anything but what happened to O’Shea. You better get to talking, and I mean fast before I come hunt you down.”

Onyx stepped away from me, dragged his hand down his face, and moved closer to Shea. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Onyx stared at his son and explained, “He saved me. He took a bullet for me, and I wouldn’t even listen to him. My pride, . . . my ego, . . . my animosity, . . . all those things got in the way of me knowing O knows what’s best when it comes to situations as such. I was in my feelings because he denied coming back to JMG. He chose himself and his family, something I never had the courage to do.

“Instead of being proud of him and encouraging him to do the right thing, I wanted to show him things worked better my way. Well, at least I thought so. He tried to talk me out of it. He tried to tell me it wasn’t the right time to move, but I just had to prove my point, only for him to be right.” Onyx closed his eyes and placed his hand over his chest. “Right here. This was where the red dot was. Nixon was ’bout to take me out when Shea noticed. Beforehand, he felt like we were being watched. Shortly after, he noticed the target and moved me out the way. By the time I was able to process what was happening, he was on the ground, bleeding out. I couldn’t even help the team attack Nixon’s. All I could think ’bout was saving my son.”

“And you did just that,” Tre assured him, walking over and placing his hand on Onyx’s shoulder. “If it wasn’t for you springing into action and getting O the medial attention he needed, it’s a possibility he wouldn’t even be here.”

In the coldest tone, Angela snapped. “It’s all your fault, Onyx. You know, I thought by now that you would’ve grown and learned from your mistakes, but it’s obvious you haven’t. It’s all your fault. I know one thing . . . You better pray, and pray hard, that my son pulls through, or I will make your life a living hell. I don’t care nothing about you springing into action. It was too late by then. While you were trying to be petty, O still thought about you first. He saved you during a time you were only thinking about yourself, but that’s nothing new, is it? Let me get off this phone before I really hurt your feelings. I’ll be there in a few hours, and I know exactly where y’all are, so don’t even tell me.”

The call ended, and the entire room was silent except for the sound of the monitors. Onyx sat there, staring at Shea with tears in his eyes. I feared he would break down again, so I gently grabbed his hand and held it.

“The only thing we can do now is pray, Onyx. Pray that Shea pulls through and his body heals. Pray for your mental and emotional strength. I understand that Angela is upset, but please know this isn’t your fault. You didn’t know that things would go sideways. You didn’t know that Shea was going to jump in front of you. All these things were unpredictable, so as much as I love Angela, let her words go in one ear and out the other. It’s not your fault.”

Onyx squeezed my hand. “That’s going to be easier said than done, Moya. To me, all the signs were there. I was just too stubborn to see them.”

I wasn’t sure what else to say to console Onyx, so I talked to God. There was no one else we could rely on but Him. I prayed for Shea, the doctors, nurses, and Onyx. The unknown was scary—terrifying, to say the least—but I knew Shea’s strength. I’d witnessed it time and time again. I was confident he would come up out of this.

I needed him to.

16

O'SHEA COLLIER

Life was crazy.

To be able to hear my loved ones but not be able to respond was killing me. I heard their prayers and cries. I was saying a few of my own. Being in a dark space without anyone to talk to left me with nothing but time to think and listen.

It pained me to hear everyone upset over me, knowing there wasn’t anything that I could do about it but listen.

Moya constantly prayed over me. I could tell she was close to my ear, to my heart, from the way her voice sounded like she was right next to me. Whatever was happening, I prayed I was able to go back to them.

All I could do was hope and pray that God wasn’t done with me on Earth yet.

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