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“Okay.”

I slid my arm around her shoulders and pulled her against me. She came willingly and rested her head against my chest while we stood there watching morning settle over a place that didn’t feel the same anymore. Over a place that no longer felt safe. I kissed the top of her head. The next conversation wasn’t one I wanted to have, but after everything Ghost had already done, there was no more protecting him from the consequences of his own shit. And there damn sure wasn’t any more keeping secrets from Malik Browne.

Chapter 8

Bleek

This grating ass noise woke me up. I opened my eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling while I tried to figure out what the fuck I was hearing. Another deep snore came from my right, followed by a short pause before the shit started right back up again. I turned my head. Ty was slumped down in the chair beside my bed with his arms folded across his chest and his head tilted to one side. His mouth was slightly open, and judging by how comfortable his ass looked, he had been asleep for a while. I shook my head. My eyes moved toward the other side of the room. Sha wasn’t doing much better. He was stretched out in the chair on my left with his legs extended in front of him and his chin resting against his chest. Unlike Ty, at least he knew how to sleep without sounding like somebody was starting a lawn mower every thirty seconds.

I looked between the two of them. When the night had wound down, Sha had driven Tori home. I had to force Eternity to get out. She didn’t want to go home, and if I hadn’t reminded her that our youngest daughter still didn’t know what happened, I was sure she would’ve planted herself in that unoccupied chair for the rest of the night. After she left, Sha eventually came back.

Then somewhere between talking shit with my brothers and whatever medication they had given me through my IV, I fell asleep. Apparently, they had decided to stay. I turned my attention back toward the ceiling.

The room was still dark enough that I knew it was early, but thin strips of morning light had started slipping around the edges of the curtains. The television was off, and other than the occasional sounds coming from the hallway, everything was quiet. Ty snored again. Well, almost everything. I let out a breath and tried to shift against the mattress. Pain immediately reminded me not to.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

I went still and waited for the pain to ease. My shoulder hurt, my side hurt, and my back felt like somebody had driven a truck through that motherfucker. Once the pain settled into something I could tolerate again, I looked down at myself. I was dressed in a hospital gown with a blanket covering the legs that wasn’t fucking working anymore.

Yesterday, there had been too much happening for me to really sit with what the doctor had told me. I tried moving my right leg underneath the blanket. My eyes stayed on it. I concentrated harder than something so simple should’ve required. I was waiting for the movement that I had spent my entire life taking for granted. When nothing happened, my jaw tightened, and I looked away. I could feel the depression trying to creep up on me, but I wasn’t doing that shit to myself this morning. I knew that I had a long road ahead of me, but whatever it took, I’d do it. There wasn’t another option.

My eyes moved toward Ty and then Sha. I had too many people depending on me to decide that lying in this bed was where my story ended. More importantly, I had a son coming.

That little nigga wasn’t about to meet his daddy for the first time and find me feeling sorry for myself. If I had to learn how to walk all over again, then that’s what the fuck I was going to do. A light knock came from the door. Neither Ty nor Sha moved. They must have been knocked out for real. I looked toward it.

“Come in.”

The door opened slowly, and then Tahari stepped inside. For a second, he looked toward Ty and Sha sleeping on either side of me before his attention returned to me.

“You up?” he asked.

“Apparently.”

My response was flat because I hated dumb ass questions. There was still so much for him to learn about me. He stepped further into the room and quietly closed the door behind him. I watched him carefully, and something about the way he stood there told me this wasn’t a social visit.

“You good?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

He looked toward the two sleeping men again and then back at me.

“Nah, actually…” he paused as he dragged a hand over his face. “I need to talk to you.”

I studied him for a second. Whatever was on his mind had apparently been heavy enough to bring his ass back here first thing in the morning. I nodded toward the empty chair farther across the room.

“Then talk.”

Tahari didn’t sit. His eyes moved toward Sha.

“It’s about the shooting.”

The topic was enough to get the attention of one of the sleeping men in the room. Sha’s head lifted, and when I looked over at him, his eyes were already open. The motherfucker hadn’t been sleeping nearly as hard as I thought. Ty, on the other hand, let out another loud snore. Sha looked across the bed at him.

“Wake this nigga up,” I said to him.

Ty jerked when Sha reached across and smacked his shoe.

“The fuck?” Ty said in a raspy morning voice.