Loving Angel (31 page)

“
I can’t even do anything right now, I don’t feel good,” she complained.

“
Well, I feel bad for you but you’re gonna have to find the strength somewhere deep inside.” I got up and started gathering garbage.

She did a long drawn out sigh and got up and began helping me.
I guess she realized that resistance was going to be futile. It took us over three hours to get the house clean. Mina took a shower and then we sat at the kitchen table eating sandwiches I made while she was in the bathroom.

“
Are you going to rehab?” I got straight to the core of what I wanted to know.

She scratched her head and wouldn
’t meet my eyes. “Yes.”

“
You don’t sound very convincing Mina. I can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to so it’s up to you to make your own decisions.”

“
I’m going,” she replied petulantly.

“
Ok, tonight I’ll go on the internet and try to find you a rehab center.”

“
And who’s gonna pay for it?”

“
I will.” Or at least I would get the money from my husband.

“
You’re really doing good now aren’t you?” I hoped that wasn’t envy I heard in her voice because I had enough haters and didn’t need my own mother being added to the list.

My phone rang before I could phrase a reply. It was Daisy.

“What’s up girl?”

“
Where’re you at? I’m coming to get you.” Her voice sounded hoarse and broken like she’d been crying.

“
What’s wrong?” I inquired worriedly.

“
Just tell me where you are Angel,” she demanded on a sob. I guess it was my day for crying women.

“
I’m at Mina’s.” she hung up the phone after my reply and didn’t answer when I called her back.

“
Who was that?” my nosey mother asked.

“
None of your business; what you need to be worrying about is rehab and getting your shit together.”

“
It must feel real nice living that cushy life you’re living while you watch the rest of us wither away,” she sniped maliciously.

“
What?” I threw my hands up in anger and frustration. “It’s my fault you fucked up your life so I shouldn’t enjoy mine? I’ve been there for you a lot more than you’ve been there for me. Your damn man even tried molesting me and you didn’t do a damn thing about it.” My voice had risen to shouting level and I was pointing my index finger in her face.

“
I don’t have to listen to this,” she cried, rising from her chair with the rivers of tears running down her face again. “I may not have been a great mother but I wasn’t as horrible as you’d like to believe and it’s because of you and your constant accusations that my man finally got tired and left me.” She stormed out of the room on her cloud of delusions.

I shook my head in disbelief. I was starting to think she had a few screws loose and maybe that was why she just wasn
’t getting what I was saying because no normal person could be that fucking dense.

I sat in the kitchen and waited until Daisy called and said she was outside. I grabbed my stuff and left without even saying bye to Mina, I just wasn
’t in the mood for more of her dramatics.

When I got in the car Daisy
’s cheeks were tear stained and she had a death grip on the steering wheel.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked for what felt like the millionth time.

“
I called Carter back and he said he has H.I.V and I should get tested.” She was looking directly ahead through the windshield and the tears were coming faster.

“
Oh shit oh shit oh shit…” I threw my arms around her and kept repeating my litany not knowing what else to say. Tears were coming from my eyes also.

“
What am I going to do?” she wept.

“
You haven’t gotten tested yet, so you don’t know if you’ve got it for sure,” I reassured her. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions until we know for certain.” I used my sleeve to wipe my tears and then repeated the process on my cousin’s face. “Let’s go to the free clinic and get tested.”

“
You’re gonna do it with me?”

“
Of course I’m gonna do it with you, you know I got your back.”

She gave me a hug and then pulled herself together to drive over to the clinic.

When we got there we wrote our names on the waiting list and got some forms to fill out. We were going to get tested for all known form of STDs. It wasn’t long before they called our names. A nurse took me to a room and drew my blood and administered the Rapid H.I.V test. She said my result for the rapid test would be ready in a couple of minutes if I wanted to wait. I took a seat in the lobby because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night if I was left in suspense.

Daisy got done with her tests and came and sat beside me and took my hand for comfort; I needed it as much as she did. I was a nervous wreck and my mind kept reminding
me about the time I caught Tyga with that stripper at Glitter. What if he’d been fucking bitches without protection? But then I’d remember the time I found the condom receipt in his pocket so that was a good sign.

When the nurse
called me back into the room to deliver my result I was a nervous wreck. I sat in the chair opposite her and prepare myself for the worse.

“Well I have some great news for you, your H.I.V test came back negative,” she smiled, lifting a great weight off my shoulders. “You’ll have to wait to get the rest of the results. Those will be in the mail in about a week.”

“
Thank you so much.”

“
You’re welcome.

I left the room feeling happy as hell for myself but still a little worried for Daisy, but when I saw the stress free look on her face as she sat in the lobby waiting for me I knew she was in the clear also.

“You’re good?” I asked her anyway.

“
Yeah, you?”

“
I’m good too,” I rejoiced as I hugged her and jumped up and down. People were looking at us acting all crazy but I didn’t care.

“
I dodged a major bullet there, thank god Carter stopped having sex with me months before we broke up” she sighed, shaking her head sadly. “I was so worrying about my own shit that I forgot to tell you what else Carter told me.” I gave her an expectant look. “He said I should tell my sister to get tested also.”

“
Oh hell to the fucking Nah.”

“
Yup,” my cousin nodded vigorously. “That bitch done gone and fucked my baby daddy, now if she really does have something and he gave it to her, as sad as it is to say, she would deserve it.”

“
Damn she hella grimy. You called her and told her to get tested?”

“
Not yet. I was too worried about myself to be thinking about her ass, but I’m definitely gonna call her and let her ass know.”

It was funny how you reaped what you sowed. I wasn
’t hoping she had some incurable virus, but I also wasn’t going to feel sorry for her if she did. Keya had been doing her family dirt for a minute and if this was what came from all her dirty work, then it wasn’t like she didn’t deserve it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

TYGA

We had just ended our weekly meeting and everyone was filing out when I called Boss over. My girl had filled me in on what was happening with her cousins and the whole STD scare and I wanted to give him a heads up on that bitch Keya. The hoe refused to get tested because she probably already knew that test would come back positive. I might have wished for my brother to kick rocks when I got mad at him , but deep inside I didn’t really want to see any harm come to him. We shared the same womb for nine months after all, if nothing else, that should mean something.

“
What’s up?” Boss asked all cordial and shit. Since I got back from Jamaica he’d been acting real different. He wasn’t trying to get on my last nerve every five seconds and he was following orders without any back talk. I didn’t know what brought about the change or even if it was legit, but I was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

“
You talked to your girl Keya yet about that whole STD shit?”

He gave me a puzzled look.
“Talk to her about what?”

I guess that answered my question. If he had spoken to her he wouldn
’t have to ask about what. “Some nigga she was fucking got tested positive for H.I.V.”

“
Damn,” he exclaimed with a stunned looked that quickly transformed into one of relief. “I knew I couldn’t trust that bitch, that’s why I always used a rubber when I fucked her.”

“
You dodged a bullet then.”

“
Damn right I did,” he boasted. “I’m not a complete idiot; I knew that hoe was fucking mad niggas so I made sure I strapped up when I hit that shit. Good looking out.” He gave me a pound before bouncing.

“
I swear that nigga up to some shit,” Delco declared from the armchair where he was sitting rolling a blunt. “I just can’t figure out what it is yet.”

“
I don’t think he’s ever been this pleasant in his entire life.” Pleasant for Boss didn’t mean walking blind people across street or reading to kids with cancer, it meant not hating on other people or trying to kill them with death stares or disagreeing just for the sake of being difficult.

“
I’m telling you he’s up to some shit.” He lit his blunt and then took a toke from it before passing it to me.

I sat back and sucked the weed into my lungs
and received a passport to temporary bliss. “Well I’m sure we’ll see whatever he has up his sleeve in time.”

“
You still have that meeting with Kit today?” I was supposed to meet up with Kitsune and discuss why he had my baby brother working for him. Turns out Chance was lying when he said he wasn’t slinging shit with his friends. Nigga cooled off for about a week and then was back up in Harlem getting into trouble. I would have given him the beat down I promised if I thought it would help, but the way things were looking only a miracle would save his black ass.

“
Yup. I have to leave in about ten minutes or I’ll be late.”

“
You want me to roll with?”

“
Nah, I got Lux and Biz. They’re only gonna be sitting in the car outside the restaurant anyways, it’s nothing big.”

“
A’ight.” He retrieved his blunt and took another toke.

The weed was so damn good we finished the first blunt
and started on another. It came from the last re-up with got from Arizona. Those cats down there were supplying me with some real good shit. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I had Kit’s market on lock and we’d end up having a turf war. I wasn’t looking forward to warring with him, many soldiers and civilians alike were going to lose their lives, but I sure as hell wasn’t gonna back down.

I ended
up being nearly thirty minutes late for my meeting. Kit was sitting at the table nursing a drink and looking impatient.

“
Sorry I’m late,” I apologized as I took the seat across from him.

“
Better late than never, what did you want to talk to me about?” I could tell from his body language he felt I was taking up his time.

“
Did you know my younger brother Chance has been running around in the streets selling product for you?” I phrased it as a question because I didn’t want to come off as combative and jumping to conclusions. You did catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

“
Think I heard something of the sort. But what you have to understand is that I’m at the top, a whole bunch of other niggas below me, so if your brother is working for me it doesn’t mean I hired him.”

“
Didn’t think you hired him, but I’d appreciate it if you’d fire him.”

He shook his head in the negative
. “This is a business my nigga, I can’t be firing your brother just because you don’t want him working for me. If you want him to quit then you have to take it up with him.”

I gathered all the patience I could muster before I
responded. I realized he was gonna try to be hard for whatever reason. “I don’t know if you know my brother personally. But the nigga not ready for the streets, he’s too young and too green. You can find a million other niggas who would do a better job than him.” What I left unsaid was that he should find someone else.

“
I understand you’re worried about you brother, but that’s not my problem. As I said before take this shit up with him.” He spoke calmly but I got the message. He neither wanted to help nor was he going to. To Kit my brother was just another solider and even though we’d done business in the past it wasn’t gonna affect his decision.