The Surgeon. |✔️|

XVI.

Beyoncé

No one moved a muscle. Silence continued to consume us and Jay never tore his angry eyes away from mine.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Jay said in silent breath. Idris continued to cough up blood and groan in pain, while I sat stuck on what to do next.

"Jay, just let me explain-"

"You're fucking what!? Beyoncé you better repeat yourself cause maybe I ain't here you the first time."

I winced at the nasty anger so present in his tone; "My estranged husband."

"Nah, forget all that proper word bullshit, you fucking married to this nigga or not!?" He yelled at me.

"No." Idris managed to speak up. Jay blocked out his words and continued to burn a hole in my face.

"Just please let me explain," I pleaded with sorrowful eyes. I reached out for his hand but he yanked it away in such a manner that I lost my balance.

"Since you're more acquainted with this coke head, you fucking deal with him. I'm done." He brushed past me with such fury and loudly slammed the basement door shut when he made it upstairs.

As best as I could, I wiped away my tears and sunk down to the ground in front of Idris. Gently, I touched his cheek and he immediately winced in pain. His jaw was slightly bent and eyes were closed to shut. His chapped lips were swollen and he had multiple lesions spread across his face. On the rest of his body, his dress shirt was ripped to shreds; I couldn't help but also notice the gaping wound on the side of chest that seemed to come about by being stabbed.

"How did you let this happen? .." was all I could muster to say as I tried to keep from breaking down.

He said nothing at first yet continued to cry heavily; "Do you even care?" He managed to say though slurred words.

I frowned, "Idris, look at you! Regardless of how our relationship is going right now, you need my help." I mumbled the last part. We continued to sit in silence until I got up and began digging around in the medical cabinet. I grabbed a few gauze and antiseptic wipes to clean and patch up his wounds, then quickly drew up a syringe full of local anesthesia to numb the area and provide some relief. Placing everything on a tray, I took my seat back in front of him and assessed him properly.

"You know you don't have to do this."  He mentioned.

I sighed, "At least be thankful I'm doing something. I could just let you bleed out and continue on with my day .. but Aaliyah wouldn't approve of that."

Idris let out a light chuckle, "That is the truth." I worked quickly to minimize the amount of stress his body was going through and did the best that I could as he continued to groan in pain.

"So I guess you can't let me out either, huh?" He said in a joking manner.

"You already know that answer. They were seconds away from killing you." I reiterated. "All because you couldn't pay your dues?"

He sighed, "More like I was using my dues to aid my addiction." He lifted his head slowly and stared at me the best he could. "Dabbling in drugs wasn't nothing new for me, yet it seemed like once I lost my job things turned upside down for everybody. We weren't in a good place and I was using money from our joint account to get high from Jay, .. day in n' day out. It was invigorating for me to point that I began to sell and make my own money. It was a terrible place to be and a dangerous occupation, but I didn't give a shit about us or our child."