The Streets Keep Calling (14 page)

“Hey, baby.” Maria walked in the room in sexy lingerie.

“Hey, honey,” I responded, not giving much attention to her.

“I know money and work have been stressing you out lately.” She began to massage my shoulders. “So I have a little bit of information that you may want to hear.”

“And what is that, Maria?” She finally had my attention. I was interested to hear just how much information Maria could provide that would actually help my financial situation.

“I know where Breeze is,” she whispered in my ear.

“Oh, yeah?” I said, knowing that was no fucking surprise.

“Yes, sir. He's staying in Virginia Beach near the courthouse. I can give you the address.”

“And how did you get this information?” I asked just for fun. I knew exactly how Maria knew, but I was curious how she would answer.

“I've been dropping the kids off there to visit. It looks like he's making a lot of money, Biggs. You should see the size of the house he lives in. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if his come up is the cause of your money losses,” Maria added.

I didn't say anything as she spoke. It was amazing how Maria really thought she was manipulating me. She had no idea that I knew everything she did. I wondered at that point if I should tell her I knew this house she was speaking of was the house she and Breeze used to live in. Not to mention this same house had supposedly been sold.

“Baby, I think it's time you showed Breeze you mean business. He's gotten away with too much. Besides, our family is suffering. You and the boys should pay him a little visit. I don't want anyone to get hurt; just shake him up a little bit. This time you guys will definitely come out on top. I'm sure he's there relaxing, thinking he's safe.”

“I wonder what would make a woman turn on a man so quickly,” I said to her, insinuating that there must be something more she's not telling me. I wanted to know Maria's motivation.

“Baby, I hate seeing you like this. You're always on edge and we are constantly fighting. You don't even touch me anymore. I just want you happy. I want our relationship back.” Maria almost sounded sincere.

“Thanks for the information. Guess it's time I show everyone I mean business,” I said, knowing that, in the end, it wouldn't be just Breeze who felt that wrath.

After a lot of convincing from him, Breeze and I spent a quiet weekend in Richmond. He brought me up to speed on everything. I mean, this man poured his whole heart out to me. It was a lot to take in. Now, worry and uncertainty had really settled in my heart for him and his children. It had been proven that Maria was a loose cannon.

I struggled with myself on what to do.
Can I really deal with this? A small part of me feels I should leave. Hell, my life could be in danger. Meanwhile, Mr. Biggs still comes in the bank every week, smiling in my face, knowing damn well I'm Breeze's lady.
Breeze got on his knees and begged me to stay. Deep down, I truly loved this man. I had to wonder if I was willing to gamble my heart for him.

“I loved that movie,” the kids expressed after watching
The Princess and The Frog
. We had just gotten back from Busch Gardens. I figured letting them watch a movie would settle them down so they would go to bed. Breeze loaded them up with way too much sugar while we were at the park. After eating snow cones and funnel cakes all day, my teeth started hurting.

“Tanisha, can you come in the kitchen, please?” Breeze asked.

“Okay,” I responded, leaving the kids in the living room.

“Wow, I didn't even hear you come downstairs,” I stated. Breeze was pacing back and forth.

“They're coming for me,” he replied in a low voice.

“Who?”

“Tanisha, now isn't the time. You know who's coming. We talked about the worst-case scenario. Well, it's happening now. Take this gun and take the kids to the panic room. Remember, don't open the door unless I say our code word: grapes,” he instructed.

“I don't know how to use a gun,” I responded with fear.

“Just aim and shoot. We don't have much time. I can see them beginning to surrounded the house. I guess they waiting for us to turn the lights out. Meanwhile, I put clothes and food down there just in case. The kids are sleepy so hopefully they won't hear a thing. I love you,” he replied.

“I love you too,” I said before kissing him. I quickly moved the kids down to the panic room and locked the door. My eyes were fixated on what the security cameras showed. I began hearing shots fired from all different directions. Breeze was handling his gunfire with these men who appeared to look like black ninjas. A few minutes, which seemed like hours, passed. It was so quiet that I could have heard a pin drop. Suddenly, I saw someone get into Breeze's car and speed off; but I couldn't tell if it was him or the culprits.

The police sirens were coming closer. I was silently praying that Breeze wasn't dead. I left the kids in the panic room with cartoons on. They were drifting in and out of sleep and had no idea what was really going on. I slowly crept upstairs so I could see if anyone was still in the house. These voices were coming closer; I hid in our bedroom closet and I cracked the closet door open.

It was none other than Mr. Biggs and Maria. He had a gun to Maria's chest.

“Please, Biggs. What are you doing? You promised no one would get hurt,” Maria cried frantically.

“You worthless, cheating, money-hungry bitch. Don't tell me what the fuck to do. I gave you everything. All I wanted in return was your loyalty. If your greed would set Breeze up to die, then your greed would do it to me too. I'm not dying for a whore like you. That nigga ain't been out a year and you already fucking him. Maria, people talk. Besides, I had a private investigator on your ass the whole time,” he said, flinging pictures on the bed.

Biggs shot Maria in the chest and simply left. Once I heard the front door open and close, I came out of the closet. Shortly after, the police entered the house. One officer called for an ambulance.

“The paramedics are on the way,” I told Maria while compressing the wound on her chest with some clothes I'd grabbed in order to stop the bleeding.

“Where are my babies?” she asked, barely able to breathe.

“They're safe,” I assured her.

“Biggs shot me. All of this is my fault. I told Biggs everything about Breeze and his business because I wanted to get back at him. Biggs promised me no one would get hurt. He was only supposed to rob Breeze and scare him a little. I didn't expect things to end this way. Tell my kids that Mommy loves her sugar babies. They'll know what it means. Please take care of them,” she asked before taking her last breath.

“Ah, fuck,” I yelled as I hopped into my car and sped down the road.

My whole right side was killing me. I felt pain in my ribs and in my right leg. I didn't know where I had been shot and really didn't give a fuck. The greatest thing was I was alive. I hated to leave Tanisha and the kids alone in the crib, but I was sure they would be safe in the panic room. There was no way anyone would even know it existed, and even if they did, there was no way they could get in there.

“Think, Breeze, think,” I kept talking to myself as I drove.

I was feeling weak and knew I needed to get help, but I wasn't sure that going to the hospital was the right thing to do. That's when I had to call the only person I trusted, my ma. The only safe place I knew was Grandma's house. I managed to dial my ma from my cell.

“Hey, baby!” My ma said, happy to see my call.

“Ma, I need you. I need you bad, Ma,” I said, knowing I needed my mother right then more than I'd ever needed her before.

“Oh my God! What's wrong, Breeze? What's wrong?” Ma started to panic. “Don't tell me the police is after you again?” Ma thought she was reliving her worst nightmare.

The first time I got locked up, I was on the run for months, and when they finally caught up with me I was hiding out at my grandma's crib. The police ran up in the house in the middle of the night with guns drawn. That scared both my ma and grandma half to death.

“No, ma, I'm hurt. I'm on the way to the crib now,” I said, then hung up. I didn't have the energy to say anything more.

Ma was from the streets, so in most emergency situations she stayed calm and did whatever needed to be done. As I looked down at my T-shirt, I noticed it was soaked with blood. I felt like I was starting to lose consciousness but I was determined not to close my eyes. I only had a couple more minutes before arriving at my grandma's crib.

I was thankful when I saw Grandma's house from a distance. I pulled up on the curb, not giving a fuck how I was parked. I dragged myself out of the car and rushed toward the front door.

“Grandma.” I barged through the front door, fell to the floor, and literally began crawling across the floor. She was in the living room, watching something on TV

“Oh, Lord,” she screamed out.

“Please, Grandma, I need help. No cops or paramedics,” I begged before coughing up blood.

“What happened?” Ma asked, grabbing a hot washcloth before dashing onto the floor beside me.

“I'm getting cold,” I replied, shaking.

“Boy, I was looking out the side window for you,” she explained.

“We can't lose you now. I need you to fight,” Grandma insisted.

“I got a plan. Just focus on them grandkids of mine,” Ma pleaded.

“Okay,” I responded, barely able to move my head. Ma knew that, if nothing else, I would strive to live for the sake of my kids.

Ma and Grandma managed to get me back into the car. As we drove, I heard Ma make a phone call to her longtime girlfriend, Roxanne. Roxanne was a registered nurse. I heard Ma tell her I'd been shot and to meet us at the Red Roof Inn. That's what I loved about Ma, she was so gangster. She kicked right into motion. She didn't need any coaching or anything.

It didn't even seem like a whole thirty minutes had passed before I was laid out across a hotel room bed with Ma and Roxanne standing over me. Roxanne shoved some kind of pill cocktail in my mouth, and gave me a couple of injections. Then she patched up my wounds. She explained that the wounds looked worse than they actually were. I only had a flesh wound on my side and the bullet went straight through in my leg. She explained there wasn't any way to be sure if my leg was broken, but by touching it and by visual examination, she didn't think it was broken. She said the only way to know for sure was if we did an X-ray, and that wasn't gonna happen, so we just had to take her word for it. Later, Roxanne explained to Ma how to change my bandages and when to give me my medication. She'd given her antibiotics for possible infection, and some pain medication. Ma spent the next couple of days with me in the hotel, then she took me back to Grandma's house. There, they cleaned me up real good and made sure I was comfortable in bed. I was in and out of consciousness, but I clearly remember Grandma's crying and constant praying for me.

 

“Good morning, baby,” Grandma greeted me while changing the bandages on my wound.

“Did I sleep through most of the night?” I asked abruptly, not able to really remember.

“Boy, you've been asleep for two days straight. The two medicines we've been giving you are strong; but you're healing well,” Grandma said.

“Where's Ma at?”

“I'm right here,” she spoke before entering into the bedroom. I attempted to sit up but I was too weak.

“It will be a few days before you'll get your strength back,” Ma said. “We need to get some food in your system. You haven't eaten, but, we did make sure you had plenty of water and Powerade. Roxanne said to make sure you were well hydrated,” Ma added.

“All right,” I responded frustrated.

“How about some chicken broth to start off?” Grandma suggested.

“Yeah, whatever,” I said, not really caring.

I had other things on my mind. For one, I hated not being able to do what I wanted and when I wanted. This was worse than being locked in a fucking cell. So much shit had gone wrong and everything happened so fast. There were so many people who could have been the ones to cause all this. At this point, everybody was a suspect and I didn't know who to trust. The way I saw it, everybody had motive to set me up. I wouldn't put it past Trixy. I knew she was pissed about how everything had gone down between us. She could have been on some payback shit since I called her out for robbing me. Not only that, she could have done it because of her whole jelousy thing with Tanisha. The way she had gotten all emotional and turned into a psycho bitch when she found out about Tanisha, she probably did it hoping Tanisha would get hurt too.

Then there was Maria. She wanted to be on some baby momma drama shit when she found out about Tanisha. Plus, she was all about the dollars, and you never could put nothing past a greedy bitch. Come to think of it, Maria was at the top of my list as the number-one suspect. She was Biggs's woman. If anybody had the best connect to take drama to, it would have been her. Plus, Biggs had a beef with me to begin with, so Maria probably didn't even have to try to convince him to go fuck with me. She probably gave him a copy of the keys to the front door of the fucking house. Even Tanisha was suspect at this point. I never really did know what or if she and Biggs had something going on. She would always mention how he would flirt with her every time he came in the bank. Besides, who knows if she was still fucking with that Mexican cat, Jose. She could have planned this up from day one. This nigga Jose was with the Mexican cartel. She could have been his inside worker this whole time and I never would have known.

“Has Tanisha been calling?” I asked my ma.

“Yes.” Ma nodded.

“Did you tell her anything?” I wondered just how much Tanisha knew.

“No, I only talked to her once, and quickly had to get off the phone with her to tend to you. All she mentioned was that she and the kids are okay. She was more concerned about you.”

“Good,” I said, relieved ma hadn't told her anything.

“I was waiting for you to come to so I could ask you what you wanted me to do about the kids. I can call Tanisha and arrange to pick up the kids today if you want. I figure having the children around will cheer you up. I'm sure they miss their daddy, and they probably asking about they momma, too,” Ma said

“Yeah, you're right,” I said, wondering why Maria hadn't called to check on the children.

“And one more thing,” Ma said before taking a pull on her cigarette. “I'm going to say this and then leave it alone, but I think that after all that girl has been through, you owe her some sort of explanation, Breeze. That child is worried sick about you. And not only that, she has been taking good care of your kids these days that you been here with us.”

“Ma, not now. I'm gonna call her and explain everything later. But now is not the time,” I said, not trying to hear any of all that right now. Not that I didn't agree with what she was saying, but I had a lot of other things on my mind.

“Okay,” she blurted out.

“Can you just call Tanisha for me and tell her you gonna come get the children? Put in on speaker phone. I just need to hear her voice, please,” I requested. Ma quickly dialed Tanisha's number.

“Tanisha,” Ma stated after dialing her number.

“Hello, Ms. Miller, have you heard from Breeze yet?” Tanisha asked, whimpering on the phone. Her voice almost brought tears to my eyes. At that very moment, I knew that girl truly loved me but I still couldn't give in too soon. I needed to sort some things out first.

“No, baby, I'm sorry. Listen, I'm going to pick my grandbabies up today. How are they doing?” Ma questioned.

“They're asleep right now. They're pretty distraught about their mother,” Tanisha said.

“What about that wench? Don't tell me she hasn't even called to check on those children.”

“Oh, no. Ms. Miller, you don't know, do you?” Tanisha said in a sympathetic tone.

“Know what, Tanisha? Is there something you need to tell me, honey?” Ma asked. From the tone of Tanisha's voice, I already knew bad news was about to follow.

“I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you this, Ms. Miller. I thought her family would have contacted you all by now. Maria was shot and died at the scene,” Tanisha explained.

My heart dropped and I began to gasp for air as I listened to what Tanisha was saying. A knot began to form in my stomach. Maria was a lot things, and I had grown tired of her ass, but she was still the mother of my kids. All kids needed their mother and father. What the fuck was I suppose to do now?

“Oh my God,” Ma replied, taken aback. “Listen, baby, I want to thank you for taking care of the kids for me. Let me get your address so I can come get them now. I know you got a lot on your plate,” she explained, and then left the room to go write down the information.

“Pray, baby. You've gotta pray. God hears our cries,” Grandma tried consoling me.

“I'm good, Grandma. I'm a big boy. I can handle this,” I reassured her, then asked for some time alone.

I couldn't believe this was happening. I thought God was on my side. Sure, we had a deal and I'd broken the vow, but I'd always learned God was a forgiving God. Well right then it sure felt like he was getting even with me. He'd taken my kids' mother away from them. Why did they have to pay for all of our shit? None of this was their fault. If God, could do that to them, who knew where my fate lay. Maybe they would end up without a father, too. I laid my head against the pillow and looked toward the right. That's when I noticed a familiar item sitting on the nightstand. There lay the necklace that Moses had made for me in jail. I reached for it and squeezed it tight. I didn't know how it got there, but I was glad it was there. I needed it now more than ever. I pulled the necklace close to my chest and begged God to help me get through this.

“Please, God, you promised you would help me make it. Where are you, Lord?” I prayed aloud.