Page 6

“You just wake up.”

The monitor continued its steady rhythm beside us.

Beep

Beep

Beep

For once, I was grateful for the sound. Every beep meant his heart was still beating. Every slow rise of his chest meant he was still fighting. I sat back in the chair without releasing his hand and simply watched him breathe. There were a million things I should have been thinking about. The doctor had just told me my husband might wake up unable to move his legs. Our baby would be here before we knew it. There was our family sitting on the other side of those doors, terrified about what was happening to him. And the hardest pill to swallow was that whoever had done this to Malik was still somewhere out there.

Chapter 2

Trigga

Istood in front of the window staring down at the hospital parking lot. My hands were buried deep inside the pockets of my hoodie. Mr. Browne’s blood had dried into my clothes hours ago, but I hadn’t bothered trying to clean myself up. Every time I looked down at the dark stains, I was reminded of just how much blood had covered my hands while I tried to help keep that nigga alive until the paramedics arrived. Crazy considering the motherfucker had once put a bullet in my arm. I shook my head at the thought because life was funny like that.

My eyes shifted toward the reflection in the glass. Behind me, Mali sat beside her aunt with her head resting against her shoulder. She looked drained. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she hadn’t said much since we’d gotten word that her father made it through surgery.

I wanted to sit beside her, but something had been bothering me since we got to the hospital. Ghost was stuck on my mind. I could still see that black Camry pulling away when I rushed outside after hearing the shots. More importantly, I could still see Ghost sitting inside that motherfucker. I caught a good glimpse of him when he hit the corner that led toward the exit of my complex.

I hadn’t said anything about it yet. At the time, there had been too much going on for me to even process what I’d seen. Now that everything had slowed down, the image kept replaying in my head. Ghost had been there. I stared out of the window a little longer, trying to make sense of something that wasn’t making any more sense now than it had the first ten times I thought about it. Finally, I shook my head and turned around to be at Mali’s side. Sha was standing behind me. I immediately stopped. I didn’t know how long he’d been there, but judging by the way he was staring at me, it had been long enough.

For some reason, the look made me uncomfortable. Sha wasn’t the type of man who needed to say much. Most of the time, the way he looked at you was enough to make you start wondering what the fuck you had done, even when you hadn’t done shit. I pulled one hand from my pocket and rubbed it across the back of my neck.

“You good?” I asked nervously.

Sha didn’t answer. His eyes stayed on me. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other before briefly looking away. When I looked back, the nigga was still staring. Now I really felt like he knew something I didn’t.

“What’s up?” I asked, this time laced with a little bit of annoyance.

Sha finally moved closer and then stopped directly in front of me. His eyes searched my face for another second before he spoke.

“So, what you know, little nigga?”

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I dropped my line of sight from him and tried to step around him. I barely made it past his shoulder before his hand gripped the front of my hoodie. He pulled me back, turned me in the direction of the elevators, and started walking with his hand still gripping the fabric.

“Uncle Sha!” Mali’s voice stopped us.

Sha turned his head toward her. She had lifted her head from her aunt’s shoulder and was staring directly at his hand on me.

“We’re just going to chat, baby girl,” Sha responded in the calmest tone.

Mali’s eyes immediately moved to mine.

“I’m good,” I told her.

The last thing that I wanted was for her to worry about any more shit. She didn’t look convinced, but I gave her a small nod before turning away. Sha started walking again, and this time I went with him. As soon as we cleared the waiting room and were out of everybody’s sight, he released my hoodie. I barely had time to turn around before his hands hit my chest and sent me stumbling backward. My back hit the wall, and when it did, he stepped in front of me.

“What do you know, little nigga?”

I stared at him for a second. There wasn’t any point in holding the shit in anymore.

“I think my old homie did this shit.”

Sha’s face didn’t change.

“Who?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.