Memphis Streets 2 (Urban)

Chapter 30- Jaleesa

Dice is never going to wake up. The more time that passes, the more I'm convinced that he will never be more than what he is right now: a living, breathing vegetable. After all, it's been a little over two months and he hasn't so much as twitched a finger when I hold it. I've been telling myself that I want him to wake up so that I'll at last have some good news to take over to Brielle. Maybe his recovery will somehow spur hers-or vice versa. Shit. I don't know. I'm not a damn doctor. While I'm sitting here in the room, rubbing cocoa butter into Dice's arms and hands, I'd be lying to myself if I didn't admit that I didn't feel ... something for the cute guy.

Hell, maybe I've always felt something, even as far back as the day that he and Brielle met at the mall. I was the first one to peep him out, but he was staring at my girl so hard, I brought it to her attention. I was a little jealous at how he threw money around, buying us anything our hands touched. But when he let it be known who his damn brother was, I was honest when I told my girl to squash any and all thoughts about hooking up with his ass. I'd been in the game too long not to believe that nothing but trouble was going to come of it. While I'm being honest, I completely understand why Brielle didn't listen to reason.

Dice ain't like any of other niggas I've ever come across. He has this smooth, old-time gentleman flavor to him, but his ass also knows how to flip the script the next minute and be like the hardest gangsta walking. If his ass was a VD, then I'd say that he was the total package and I might've given my girl a run for her money. Realizing that the thoughts racing through my head are seriously fucked up, I lower Dice's hand and step back from the bed. Even then I can't pull my gaze away from his still face. Like Brielle, I can't help but wonder what is happening inside his head.

Wouldn't it be something if they were somehow together in their weird comatose state? Maybe they're dreaming that their limo hadn't got jacked on prom night and that they made it to the Peabody Hotel. I can only imagine how well Dice can work a woman's body. Shit, I've already stolen my fair share of looks at what type of equipment he's working with underneath his hospital gown. My jealousy is complete. That was what my girl has been riding all that time? No wonder her ass couldn't think straight. I creep back to the side of the bed and lift up the sheet.

"Well, I'll be damned," a voice thunders.

I drop the sheet as my gaze jerks up to Shaniqua. Pulling up the rear are a couple of her roughneck Flowers. My hand inches back into my jacket and then wraps around my gat.

"I heard that some fucking Queen G bitch was coming up here every day, but I thought that was some street bullshit."

Shaniqua cocks her head as she struts into the room. My eyes are drawn to the ugly, crude gashes that Brielle's razor blade made on both sides of her face a few months back.

"I mean, you got to be a real stupid muthafucka to roll your ass up here." I take another step backward.

"Look. I ain't looking for no trouble."

"That's too muthafuckin' bad now, ain't it?" She makes it to the foot of the bed while I inch my way back near the top.

These bitches are ready to jump and whup my ass, and frankly there's not a damn thing that's going to stop them. I bump into Dice's IV stand and then trip when I try to move around it. Falling, my hand squeezes the trigger on my gun.

POW!

I hear a gasp, but by the time I hit the floor, these bitches are on me like white on rice. We scrap, and we scrap hard. I catch a couple of hard blows against my head, but I land a few of my own. Hell. I got brothers. I ain't no punk. But let's face it. I'm still outnumbered, and these stank hoes are punching body blows like heavyweight champions.

"Grab that bitch and let's head out," Shaniqua barks.

That shit ain't going down. If they manage to get me out of this room, it's lights-out and my ass will be standing before Jesus within the hour. I go for my gun again but discover that the muthafucka has fallen out of my jacket. I try to feel around as these bitches are lifting my ass off the floor. Kicking and punching with everything I have, I catch two of these bitches dead in their mouths, and it's enough to stun them and make them drop me. When I hit the floor again, hip first, pain like I've never known ricochets throughout my body, and I scream out like the punk bitch I was trying not to be. The tears that rush my eyes blind me for a second, but still have the presence of mind to feel around the floor for my gat.

"Fuck it. Just fuck that bitch up!" Shaniqua barks.

In the next second, these bitches are back on me, knocking down poles and machines that almost crack my skull open. I'm vaguely aware of a loud, beeping noise filling the room, but that shit is so not important compared to my ass struggling not to black out. When my fingers brush against my Glock lying underneath the bed, the door bursts open and a voice thunders,

"What the fuck is going on in here?"

I keep throwing aimless punches and clock Shaniqua upside her head before grabbing one of her big door-knocker earrings and yanking that muthafucka clean off.

"Fuuuuuuck!" Shaniqua rears back and then punches me so hard that my mouth fills with blood.

After that, this big nigga I've seen off and on guarding the door lifts this screaming bitch off of me. I scramble to get up but end up slipping and sliding in a pool of blood. Whether it's mine or someone else's, I don't know. I want to get the hell out of here. A foot away from me, Shaniqua is rolling around and gripping her arm.

"That bitch shot me!"

"That's not all I'm going to do." I grab the gun again and swing the muthafucka her way so I can put this bitch down once and for all.

When I squeeze the trigger, this big, gorilla-looking muthafucka kicks the gun out of my hand, and the shot goes more toward the bed where Dice still lies. Horrified, I slap a hand over my bleeding mouth and try to stand again. Everyone holds their breath and leans over to see if my stupid ass shot a comatose body. When it's clear that the bullet completely missed him, we all go back to breathing again. However, I'm still the most unpopular girl in the room. Get the fuck out of here. I push the pain in my hip to the back of my mind and scramble again to get to my feet. By that time, doctors and nurses start pouring in.

"What in the hell is going on in here?" one of the dudes in a white coat asks as another Cartel Lord grabs me by my waist and lifts me effortlessly into the air.

"Get off me, muthafucka!" I throw more punches, not giving a damn about where they land.

I may be small, but I'm not going to let these muthafuckas kick my ass, and if I'm gonna cop a charge, then I'm going to make sure that it's for something that I can pump my chest out with pride while I'm in the clink.

"Pipe the fuck down, small fry. Your ass is in enough trouble as it is," this nigga barks, and gives me a good shake.

"Ain't nothing going on," the nigga lies with a straight face. "We were having a little family disagreement."

The small staff scatters. The two nurses rush to pick up the beeping machines and poles off the floor. "We heard shots," the doctor says, looking around. When his eyes land on the puddle of blood on the floor, he starts to inch back toward the door.

"It's nothing. The little girl here fell and busted her lip. She's going to be all right." He gives me another shake.

"Ain't that right, shawty?"

He's looking to me to back up that stupid lie? When I open my mouth, this angry nigga gives me another hard shake that rattles around the few marbles I have left in my head. I bob my head along to cosign whatever lie this nigga wants to tell.

Across the room, Shaniqua's jaw is clenched tight and her narrowed glare says this shit ain't over by a long shot. From now on, I'll have to be looking over my shoulder for this bitch. The doctor pushes up his glasses.

"Look, this is a hospital, not a-"

"Oh my God!"

Everyone's head swivels toward the gasping nurse, and our eyes follow her line of vision to the bed.