ADDICTED TO HIM II (17 page)

“That’s my baby! My baby! Lying on a bed fighting for her life! I can’t lose my baby! God, please don’t take my baby!” I yelled and sobbed uncontrollably. I felt the nurse wrap her arms around me but it did nothing to soothe my pain.

“Sweetie, you have to calm down. We’re going to need you to give some blood, so we can see if you’re a match,” the nurse said softly.

“But she’s my baby,” I said still crying because whole heart hurts.

“I know sweetie but sometimes the child doesn’t match the mom,” she explained. I nodded and stood to my feet. I followed them to another area to fill out paperwork and give consent for the test before a lab tech came to take a blood sample.

“Now what?” I asked the nurse as we walked back to the waiting room.

“Now you can see her while we wait on your results,” she said and grabbed my hand. She led me into my daughter’s room and seeing her like that broke me all the way down. My baby had tubes all over her. She wasn’t even breathing on her own.

“NOOOOOO! GOD PLEASE DON’T TAKE MY BABY!” I screamed and dropped to my knees on the floor. I was crying so hard, my sobs rocked my body. “I promise I’ll be a better mom God, please just don’t take her. We can move back home God!” I cried out, praying it wasn’t too late.

I don’t know how long I cried. All I know is the nurse never left my side. Knock! Knock! “I’m sorry Ms. Cunningham, you weren’t a match. I was hoping you were since the man that was brought in with her wasn’t either,” Dr. Smith said and my mouth hit the floor.

“How? What you mean?” I asked as I could feel the tears cascading down my cheeks.

“Amiria’s blood type is O. Both yours and Amere’s are AB. He’s not the father of your daughter,” Dr. Smith said.

I took a step back and tried to find a seat so I could sit down. When I located it, I placed my head in my lap and tried to think. When I had Amiria, I was sleeping with Amere and two other guys but they both died. The other guys were friends and we were just having some fun. I wanted Amere to myself, so I posted the sonogram online and tagged him in it. Never in a million years did I think my past would come back and hurt my daughter. I began to cry again because the only two options that could save her right away are already dead. “Do you know who the father is?” the nurse asked as she rubbed my back.

“Dead,” I said before sobbing again.

I should have stayed home. We weren’t happy but weren’t fighting for our lives. I came here to hurt Tamia. I just wanted to show her that I was still in the picture and now my baby is in a coma because of me. Meanwhile, Tamia is off somewhere in college probably about to graduate and happy! “I can’t lose my baby. What do we do?” I asked.

“We have to pray and find the right blood type, or she won’t make it,” Dr. Smith said before walking out of the room.

“God has the last say so sweetie,” the nurse said before she followed out the room behind the doctor.

I pulled the chair close to the hospital bed and began to sing to my baby.

Oh lord I want you to help me

Oh lord I want you to help me

Help me on my journey, help me on my way

Oh lord I want you to help me

I couldn’t even sing anymore as I began to break down again and cry. If my baby dies, it’s because I killed her by being stupid and childish. My selfish decisions will be the reason I have to bury my child.

“Why you stop?” the nurse asked. I didn’t know she had come back into the room.

“This is all my fault,” I said to her.

“Did you shoot her?” she asked as I shook my head no. “Sweetie, people makes mistakes but God does not. No matter what the outcome is, it’s for the best,” she said as she walked closer to me. “While I’m waiting, I want you to help me,” she sang and I started crying again. The nurse sang the entire gospel song for me and I cried the whole time.

I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if I lose my daughter. She’s the only bright spot in my life. She’s the only person that makes me happy. She’s the only person that loves me.

Candy

Talking with Tamia is always funny because she’s a complete chatterbox until I bring Rashard up. You say his name and I guarantee you will get an attitude, subject change, or ignored completely. At the hospital, I wanted to tell her everything that happened leading up to that child and that man getting shot, but I couldn’t without telling her things about Rashard she wasn’t supposed to know. If it wasn’t for that reason alone, I would have told her exactly how I felt about the entire situation. I know the guy was wrong for bringing his daughter to a business meeting but I wish I would have known she was in there. Twan and I could have chased him by our damn selves and killed him had I know the little girl was in the car.

After Tamia was discharged, the nurse told her she needed to take it extremely easy by not doing anything basically. So, knowing she had no one here but Armani’s missing ass, Rashard’s trifling ass, and me, I decided to offer my place. We get along great and she’s clean, so we shouldn’t have any problems. She doesn’t know anyone here except the people she met at school and the only people that comes to my house are Rashard and Deuce. It just seemed like everything would be perfect. I get bored when I’m there alone and she needs someone to have her back, in case that guy comes back to get her.

We left the hospital and headed straight for her house, so she could pack her stuff. We talked the entire time and I was wondering where the hell her roommate was. Tamia mentioned briefly that the guy let it slip that Armani was free, so I’m wondering why she didn’t come looking for Tamia so they could gang up on his ass and have each other’s back.

I’d been trying hard to get Tamia to give Rashard a real shot because that’s the only way he’s going to drop all of them hoes he had. I know single Rashard and I know Rashard in a relationship, so I know when he’s ready to settle down he will but she ain’t trying to hear that. The knocking at the door interrupted our conversation. I wish you could have seen the look on Tamia’s face when Deuce started knocking! Priceless.

“Girl, that’s Deuce, what you doing?” I said as I laughed at her. She was literally creeping down the hall like a fucking ninja! “Come in, it’s open!” I yelled so they could come in and get these damn boxes, so we could go on home.

The news broadcasted the story of Amere and Amiria being shot in the truck. It said one of them died and the other was in critical condition but it didn’t say which one. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. “I hope that little girl didn’t die because of me,” I said out loud to myself before I heard a loud thud.

I stood to my feet to see what was going on and couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a man on top of Tamia, punching her over and over. “Oh shit!” I said before I tackled him. We both hit the wall but I jumped up first and swung at him, but he ducked and scooped me up before slamming me on the floor. I could hardly catch my breath but I didn’t stop swinging at him. He dodged most of them and was able to hit me in the face as everything went black.

When I began to regain consciousness, he had Tamia over his shoulder as he headed out the door. I tried getting up but the defeated look she had stopped me. When I was about to scream out to get his attention, she motioned for me to be quiet. I knew she didn’t want me to help her because she thought I was going to get hurt but together, we could have taken him down. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stood to my feet. I watched in horror as he threw her in the back of a cab before hopping up front.

I took off running behind them and just when I was about to give up, Deuce pulled up next to me. “What the hell you doing girl?” he asked with the window down.

“Follow that cab now!” I yelled and hopped in the backseat because Brandon was up front.

“What’s going on?” Deuce asked as he took off after the cab.

“Nigga, you don’t fucking see my face?” I asked, knowing damn well I looked fucked up because I felt fucked up.

“What happened?” Brandon asked.

“The nigga that’s been trying to kill her came and tried again. I tried to help her,” I said and shook my head.

Deuce trailed closely behind the cab as it swerved in between cars on the highway. Right when we almost had it, they turned off and we missed the turn. “Take the next one!” I yelled so we could figure out where they went. We made the next right, hoping to catch them on the adjoining streets but they weren’t there. Deuce drove down the street like a bat out of hell when I noticed we passed a cab that was just sitting on a side street. “STOP! Go back! I saw them!” I yelled as Deuce hit a U-turn immediately, almost hitting another car.

The ringing of my phone in my bra distracted me briefly as I pulled it out and saw it was Rashard calling.
“Can’t talk right now, we’re in pursuit!” I said before I disconnected the call.

“Ya’ll ass so rude with that shit,” Deuce said and frowned as he turned on the street and the cab took off.

“Fuck all that man, don’t lose them again.

We followed them for twenty minutes before I began to wonder where the hell the police were. I couldn’t believe how good of a driver the nigga was! All I know is we couldn’t catch up to them for shit. “Fuck this shit!’ Brandon said and lowered his window. “Get closer fam,” he said to Deuce as he began to shift his body to hang out the window. Being around this as long as I have, I already knew he was about to start shooting. We got right up behind them when Deuce switched lanes.
POW!
One shot was all it took for Brandon to take a tire out as the cab began to swerve. We were coming up on the bridge and we desperately needed to stop them before they crossed that bridge.

I was on pins and needles as the guy continued to drive on three tires and rim, nearing the last intersection before crossing the bridge.
BOOM!
A car came out of nowhere and struck the side of the cab just as it was crossing and sent it rolling a few feet over before stopping upside down.

Rashard

As soon as Candy hung up in my face, my mind began to race. All I know is someone is in trouble and if she’s saying “we” and her and Tamia are together, then it’s my responsibility to be there for them. My whole situationship with Tamia seemed like a bunch of me not being there when she needed me the most and even when I was there, I was knocked out and wasn’t able to do shit. I don’t want her to think I can’t protect her and after all of this was over, I’m moving her into my house. Not my condo. The house nobody knows about after I tell her everything there is to know about Rashard Peterson.

“What can I do for you?” Geek asked as he answered his phone.

“I need a trace on Candy’s phone. I need to know where she is right now,” I said into the phone as I headed towards Candy’s house. I have no idea where they were because I didn’t even know Tamia had been released from the hospital. I had to be the one to save her.

“Follow the red dot that just appeared on your navigation screen,” Geek said and hung up.

I looked at the screen and the dot was behind me. “Fuck!” I said and punched the steering wheel before hitting a U-turn. “The fuck they doing over there?” I asked myself out loud. It took ten minutes for me to catch up to them and I noticed Deuce’s truck and began to wonder why they called him and not me. “Shit, he was probably with Candy,” I said, answering the question my brain was processing. It took me a few minutes to notice the cab that they were following and I could clearly see where it was going.

See, if the cab made it across the bridge, they would be entering the hot zone. The hot zone is where the police are flooded! Being that they are in a cab, the police will assume that Candy and Deuce are trying to rob the cab driver or whatever and take out the truck. The precinct on that side of town shoot first and ask questions later and if they make a mistake, it’s covered up. I turned off and made a right, hoping to cut the cab off at the last intersection. Every time I got a clear view of the street they were on, I could see that I was catching up to the cab. I held my breath until I passed it and made a left heading back to cut them off. I was in the blind and hoped that I would hit the right car since I was running a red light.

BOOM!
I T-boned the cab, which cause it to flip a few times before landing upside down and sliding the rest of the way across the street. My car caved in all the way to my legs and prevented me from getting out the car. “Fuck!” I yelled and punched the steering wheel until I began to smell gas.

“Fuck man, where you come from?” Deuce asked after he made it to my car.

“I needed to help, what happened?” I asked.

“Nigga c’mon and get out, I smell gas,” Deuce said as he ignored me.

“I’m stuck bruh, I can’t get out,” I said and looked down at my legs.

“Can you feel on side of your seat?” Deuce asked, which confused me but I stuck my hand on the side. “Let your seat all the way back,” he said and I gave him a confused look. “Man, c’mon before you kill us both and I ain’t tryna die by fire, my nigga,” he said laughing and I realized he was as high as a kite. One thing I know about people that smoke weed is they don’t panic and they began to think outside of the box.

I let my seat all the way back and waited for further instructions. When I looked back to where Deuce was, his ass was gone. “Fuck!” I said out loud to myself.

“Aye, close your eyes!” I heard Dre yelling before the back window shattered. I opened my eyes and watched as Deuce wiped as much glass as he could out of his way before climbing halfway in. It became clear what he was about to do so I stretched my arms as far to him as I could. He grabbed me under my arms and began to pull while I shimmied until my legs were free. They were hurting like hell and when I looked down, I saw how bad they were. Both of my legs had huge gashes in them and blood was everywhere.

Deuce dragged me all the way to his truck. When I looked in the direction of the cab, I saw Candy lightly dragging Tamia towards it. Confusion set in completely when Deuce’s cousin ran to Tamia’s side and helped Candy lift her, so they could move faster. About five minutes later, I heard a gunshot. I tried sitting up but I was in so much pain, I could barely fucking breathe. Deuce’s cousin opened the door and placed Tamia in the back with me and Candy hopped all the way in the back of the truck.

“Are you ok?” Tamia asked me with blood dripping down her beautiful face.

“You asking me like you’re ok,” I said before I passed out.