TYCE 5 (2 page)

Angelique picked up just before the call went to voice mail. “Hey Pamela,
how you doin’? How’s Khari?”

Angelique heard a brief pause and a
slight sniffle before Pamela responded to her question.

“Hey Angelique, Khari is ju
st fine. She’s sleeping soundly,” she said evenly.

“Okay, that’s good. G
ive her a kiss for me.”

“Angelique?” Pamela whispered.

“Yeah? What is it? What’s wrong?” Angelique stood there with the phone in one hand and the hot blunt in the other.

“
Tyce has been shot and he’s in surgery right now.”

Her
hands began to shake again and her knees quivered. She had to sit on the bed to keep from collapsing onto the floor.

“Is he okay?! What the fuck happened?! Where is he?! What hospital?! Oh my God. Oh my God.”

Pamela raised her voice a little. “You have to calm down. Do you hear me? You have to calm down. He’s at Cedar-Sinai hospital. He’s been in surgery for the past two hours or so. They’re doing everything they can for him.”

She
yelled into the phone. “Who’s there with him?! I gotta get down there! Shit! Oh my God! What happened?!”

“Dallas said he got shot in the back twice. She’s there with him and so is Gloria and Sway.”

Angelique dropped the blunt on the floor. “Dallas is there?! What the fuck is she doin’ there?! She probably is the one who shot him! I’m on way down there right now!”

The front of the hospital in the smoking section was the official meeting spot for all those concerned with the well-being of
Tyce Adkins. Sway, Dallas, and a distraught Gloria were standing around wearing expressions of worry and extreme distress on their sad faces. Sway was wearing blue sweats with a Green Bay Packers T-shirt. He obviously grabbed the first pieces of clothing he could find and left his house in a hurry after he heard the disturbing news. He smelled just like he’d just stepped out of the shower and his curly hair was still a little damp.

“What the fuck happened Dallas?” He sat down next to her on the bench.

She lifted her forehead up from her knees and turned toward him.

“I don’t know. He went outside the restaurant to get his phone and a few minutes later I heard shots. I grabbed my purse
‘cuz it had my gun in it and I ran outside ‘cuz somethin’ told me it was him. I ran as fast as I could toward him when I saw him fall. I just screamed and started shooting at the man that shot him.”

“Did you see who it was?” Gloria looked down at Dallas as she hugged herself.

“No, he had on a mask and it was starting to get dark. I don’t know if I hit him or not. All I know is that he ducked behind some cars and took off running.”

Sway scratched his head in frustration.

“Shit, it could be anybody. Tyce has all kinds of enemies. We could be chasin’ a ghost!”

Dallas leaned back on the wood bench and looked everyone in the eye one by one.

“Tyce does have a lot of niggas that don’t like him, but, we gotta look at the most recent beefs. I think it gotta be punk ass Thad, or my cousin’s bitch ass partner Roman.”

Sway cocked his head. “
Ain’t Roman the nigga he fucked up in the barber shop ‘cuz he was talkin’ shit?”

“Yep. And he got jus’ enough bitch in him to sneak up from behind and shoot h
im in his back. Scary ass nigga,” Dallas scowled.

As the trio was trying to put together the puzzlin
g pieces behind the violent act Angelique came running up the sidewalk. She had on six inch heels, so it was more like a fast trot. Before she got to the clear glass doors she saw Tyce’s posse posted up far to the right. Instead of going inside, she figured the crew knew the latest, so she decided to join them and get updated. On the ride over, she’d done her best to sober up and appear normal. She smoked the rest of the blunt and sprayed herself down with Victoria Secret body spray which she kept in the center console of her Jag. She also rinsed her mouth out with Scope after she parked her car and spit the sudsy green liquid into a small bush next to her driver’s side door.

As she joined the gang, Gloria was the first to offer comfort and a loving embrace. Sway extended his wide chest and cradled Angelique in his arms as she let the tears slide down her cheeks.

“He can’t leave me. He can’t die. I know he’s a fighter. He has to fight hard and pull through this. He has to.” Angelique sobbed into his shirt. “How is he? Did he make it out of surgery ok? Can I see him?”

Gloria touched her back gently. “No sweetie, we can’t see him just yet. He’s still in surgery. They haven’t told us anything but
that. All we can do now is pray for the best.”

Angelique wiped her swollen eyes. “I hate this waiting not knowing shit. I
jus’ want him to be ok.”

Dallas interrupted Angelique’s sincere expressions with a loud sucking of her teeth.

“Bitch please! He wouldn’t even be in surgery if it wasn’t for your ass. He got shot when he was in the parking lot getting his phone to call you! If you would have called him back like you said you was, none of this shit would’ve happened! Where were you?! Huh?! Where the fuck were you?! You were probably somewhere gettin’ high. Comin’ up in here lookin’ like left over skank!”

Angelique balled up her fists. “I swear to God bitch if
you don’t shut the fuck up I’m gonna throw your short ass through that fuckin’ window! For all I know, you had somethin’ to do with this with your sneaky ass!”

“Ladies please stop arguing! It’s nobody’s fault!” Gloria put her hands
in the air. “Bad things happen. That’s it. End of story.” She zipped up her light jacket and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “I’m going to get some coffee and I don’t want to hear any glass breaking, or loud talking while my son is in there fighting for his life. You understand me?” She narrowed her eyes at Dallas first and then Angelique.

Angelique sighed. “Yes
maam.”

“I’m sorry Gloria.” Dallas crossed her arms and shot her enemy a cold glance.

After two more hours had passed, the party anxiously awaiting news on Tyce had swelled to six. The new members were Sabrina and Bree. Pamela couldn’t make it down there to be with the other loved ones because she was taking care of Khari. Everyone agreed that that was the best thing to do, however she kept calling every 15 minutes to check in.

As the young doctor walked
through the door and into the waiting area, all eyes were on him.

“I assume you all are waiting to hear about our patient
, Mr. Adkins is in recovery. The surgery went well, but it was extremely delicate and difficult.” The surgeon rubbed his clean shaven face. “He suffered two gunshot wounds. One to his teres minor muscle, which is behind the upper right shoulder, and one to his thoracolumbar fascia, which is located in the lower back. Both bullets lodged in the muscle tissue, but the lower one embedded itself four inches from his spine. That was the tricky part.”

Angelique stood up. “So, he’s going to be ok? Right?”

The doctor nodded slowly. “He’s going to live, however, he’s not out of the woods yet. We removed the bullets and he is stable. Lucky for him, he’s young and in good physical shape. I can tell he works out and that is to his benefit because he has strong muscle fibers in his back. That alone kept the bullets from doing further damage.

On the downside
, he may have some temporary paralysis in his legs. It’s too early to gage how much, or even if there will be any. I just want to prepare you for the possibility. If that is the case, he will need physical therapy to get his mobility back up to speed. The spine itself is not damaged, but there is significant swelling around the area of the wound and once that swelling subsides we’ll be able to see how the nerves in that area respond.”

Gloria put her hands to her face. “So is he paralyzed now?”

“No, he’s not. However, it’s too early to determine how his lower body will respond after surgery. He has feeling, but we can’t tell how his body will be affected. We’ll know more in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

“Can we see him?” Dallas rubbed her palms together nervously.

The doctor smiled. “I’ll let one person in at a time for five minutes once he’s awake and admitted to a room upstairs. He should be ready in about 30 minutes, so you’ll need to decide what order you will go in to see him and coordinate that with the attending nurse at the desk. My name is Dr. Barnes. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to have me paged.”

“Thank you Dr. Barnes. We appreciate you being so straight with us.” Sway nodded his head.

“No problem. I was pulling for him. Oh, the bullet missed his tattoo, so his name is unscarred. I’m sure it has some special meaning to him so I’m happy to report that to you. Have a good night folks.”

I was still a little groggy when Angelique stepped into my room. She had to pull up a chair and sit next to my head because I was lying on my stomach with my arms flat on each side of me. That was the position of rest I would have to get used to because of the open wounds on my back. I wasn’t in any pain. Rita, the young Hispanic nurse assigned to my care made sure of that. I had to study Angelique’s face for a second before her beautiful features came into focus.

Her expression was
an emotional mix of worry, pain, stress, and relief. I could tell she’d been crying and she was just happy to see me alive. Her long hair was swooped over one shoulder and a fresh coat of shimmery lip gloss graced her full lips. Her eyes were dull, but even in a distressed state her natural beauty managed to shine through.

“Hey sexy mama. H
ow you doin’?” I shifted my eyes to meet hers.

She leaned over and kissed the cheek that wasn’t plastered to the clean white bed sheet. Then she rubbed my head
with soft tender strokes as she held back new happy tears that threatened to leak from her brown eyes.

“I’m fine baby. I
wanna know how you’re doin’? How are you feelin’?”

I smiled up a
t her. “Right now, I feel great thanks to the morphine the nurse jus’ gave me.

Have you checked on Khari? Did you talk to my mom
?”

“Yeah, she’s the one who let me know what happened. She’s been calling every 15 minutes to
check on you. Khari’s fine and she said she would come and see you tomorrow and bring her with her. Gloria is coming in to see you and she will call Pamela so she can talk with you. She won’t go to sleep until she hears your voice herself.”

I grinned at the thought of my mom. I knew she was a stubborn woman.

“I wanna see Gloria next so I can put both of their minds at ease.”

“Ok, I’
ll tell her to come in after me.”

Angelique paused and
looked at a painting of the ocean on the wall to collect her thoughts. She finally spoke after several long seconds of silence.

“
Tyce, I ahhhh, I don’t wanna talk about us or any of the shit that happened recently. I’m jus’ so thankful and happy that you’re still here and Khari still has a father. I also want you to know how much I love and care about you. I know my past actions may not show it, but if the doctor would have come out and said you didn’t make it…I would have died right then and there. I would not want to go on living in this stupid world if you’re not in it. I love you.”

She swallowed hard and let out a long shaky sigh. I wanted so bad to hug the shit out of her and hold her until she felt better, but I was still too weak.

“I love you too, and I’m sorry I put you and everybody else through this. This shit won’t happen again.” I promised myself and her.

“
Tyce, this is not your fault. Some punk ass nigga shot you in the back like a bitch. And you don’t need to think about that right now. All you need to do is worry about gettin’ better. So what do you need? What can I get you?”

I took a deep breath and felt a dull pain in my ribcage. I
winced a little and instantly got furious inside. My once strong body wouldn’t allow me to move a muscle, so instead of pushing myself up off the bed I just wiggled my feet.

“There is
somethin’ I want you to do for me.”

Angelique’s eyes widened. “Sure, what is it?”

“I want you to tell Dallas to come in after Gloria leaves. I want to talk to her so we can put this shit together. I gotta find out who tried to kill me…and then show him how it’s really done!”

Angelique shook her head side to side. I could tell she was not feeling that idea one bit.

“Look babe, I’m all for gettin’ even with a muthafucka and you know that, but you need to rest. How do you know Dallas wasn’t a part of this? Nobody knows who shot you at this point. Why do you need to talk to her?”

I frowned up. “What? What the hell are you
talkin’ about? She wouldn’t do that.”

She folded her arms defiantly. “I don’t trust her
, or anybody else right now.”