“Yeah, that asshole. I saw the gesture you gave him. What was up with that?”
“That little nigga thought just because I gave him a dance for his birthday that he was gonna get some ass too.”
Jasmine frowned. “I hate that little ugly muthafucka. I always gotta stop him from harassing the new girls.”
“Well, that nigga came back into the locker room while I’m changing and tries to take some pussy. So I grabbed my razor blade and put it to his neck! He’s lucky his ass is Malachi’s brother, or he would be dead right now,” I told her.
“You should’ve slit his throat! I swear when I catch up to Chaz and them, I’m going to castrate them fuckers,” Jasmine said with vengeance.
“I’m with you on that. Niggas like that need to be dealt with severely.”
Just then, a male nurse dressed in blue scrubs with a chart in his hand walked out to us. He was a handsome, light-skinned brother who looked a lot like Lenny Kravitz.
“Are you friends of Miss Ford?”
Jasmine stood up. “Yes, I’m her sister. Is she okay?” Jasmine lied so she could find out what was going on with her.
“Yeah, she’s doing a little better now, but she was not in good shape when she came in. We had to pump her stomach. I’m Chauncey Williams. I’m the nurse covering her room tonight.”
“She was raped.”
“Raped?” Chauncey looked at me oddly. “We checked her out and we didn’t find any vaginal tearing. We found traces of semen, but it doesn’t appear to be forced sex.”
“But why was there was so much blood?” Jasmine questioned.
“Ah . . . Miss Ford started her menstrual cycle.”
“Oh,” I said, relieved. Chaz and the others must have bugged out when they saw her bleeding like that and left her there.
“Miss Ford had a lot of drugs in her system: cocaine, ecstasy, and alcohol. Someone with her condition should really not be doing these things,” Nurse Chauncey stressed.
Jasmine looked at him oddly. “With her condition?”
“Yeah. Miss Ford has an enlarged heart. Her heart rate was unusually slow, so we ran some tests on her and discovered the defect.”
Jasmine exhaled deeply and shook her head. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes, luckily—if you can call this happening lucky—you two brought her in and we can start treating her now. If she never came in, she could have had a heart attack at almost any time,” Nurse Chauncey explained. “Do you wanna see her?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Jasmine and I followed Chauncey back through the double doors to one of the rooms. We saw Kandi lying in bed with all kinds of tubes going up her nose, arm, and chest, running to machines beeping and monitoring her condition. Her face was puffy as she lay under a thin sheet.
“I’ll give y’all some time,” Chauncey said as he closed the door behind him.
Kandi opened her eyes and saw us standing next to her bed.
“Hey, Kandi, you feel better?” Jasmine asked.
Kandi nodded her head. “Yeah . . . I fucked up, huh?”
Jasmine took her hand. “Don’t worry about that. Just concentrate on feeling better.”
“Hey, Kandi,” I said and touched her leg.
“Hey, Nikki. I’m sorry . . . I didn’t listen to you.”
“You weren’t thinking straight. Did Chaz and them hurt you?” I asked, trying to make sure.
“I . . . don’t really remember too much of what happened, but . . . I think I came on my period and grossed them out,” Kandi explained.
“Don’t worry about them. So how come you never told me about—”
“My heart?” Kandi finished Jasmine’s sentence.
“Yeah. You should’ve told me.”
Kandi shrugged her shoulders. “Didn’t think you wanna hear about that.”
Jasmine took her hand. “I do now.”
JASMINE
Both Nikki and I sat with Kandi until she dozed off to sleep hours later. The poor girl was really messed up.
I decided to give Nikki a ride back to The Pink Palace to pick up her car. I was so glad she was there with me, because I was so fucked up in my heart when we found Kandi in that hotel room. I didn’t think it would hit me that hard.
“Thank you for staying with me at hospital, Nikki,” I said to her as I drove down the street.
“It wasn’t a problem.”
“Listen, whatever Malachi is holding over your head, find a way to get out of it, because once he’s got a grip on you, he won’t let go.”
Nikki looked at me. “I know. I’m working on something. What are you going to do about Kandi?”
“I’m going to help her. She needs somebody. She needs a friend.”
“Good. I guess I’ll see you Wednesday night?” Nikki asked.
“Yeah, I’ll see you then.”
Nikki opened the car door.
“Wait.”
Nikki stopped and looked at me.
“Do you still have my number in your phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if you need any help dealing with . . . anything, call me.”
Nikki nodded and got out of my car and into hers. After what Nikki had done for me that night, I felt like I owed her one.
I pulled off and headed back to the hospital. I stopped by the gift shop and bought Kandi some flowers for her room. I went up to the fourth floor to her room. When I went in, I saw that she had just finished breakfast and Nurse Chauncey was checking her vitals.
“How you feeling?”
Kandi frowned. “Like I had my stomach pumped. Now they are forcing me to eat this nasty food.”
“It’s not that bad, Candice,” Chauncey interjected.
I smiled. “Eat up.”
“Well, your sister is doing much better, Jasmine,” Chauncey said in an ironic tone, letting me know he knew I was lying.
“Thanks.”
He turned and looked at Kandi. “Try and get some rest, and a little later I’m gonna come back with Dr. Adams and run a few more tests.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see ya later, ladies,” Chauncey said and walked out of the room.
I went and had a seat in the chair next to her bed.
“You told him you were my sister?” Kandi asked.
“Yeah, guess he let me slide with that one.”
“He’s cute,” Kandi noted.
“Yeah. Anyway, how do you feel?”
Kandi looked away from me. “Like a fool. I know you’re disappointed with me.”
“I’m more disappointed with myself than you.”
“Why? You weren’t the one who got fucked up and taken to a hotel by a bunch of niggas.”
“No, but I should’ve been more of a friend to you. I saw the road you were heading down, fucking with Hester and Jade, and I should’ve stopped you then.”
“I should’ve listened to you.”
We sat in silence for a moment, and I listened to the beep of the hospital equipment monitoring Kandi’s heart.
“So how long have you known about your heart condition?”
“For about seven years now,” she told me.
“So that’s why you had an insurance card in your pocketbook.”
“Yeah, I have an ACE inhibitor at home to lighten my heart’s pumping load and keep it from further enlargement,” Kandi explained.
I frowned. “You shouldn’t have been dancing at the club in the first place.”
“It’s okay. I’m supposed to engage in regular exercise anyway. It’s good for me. It keeps my heart strong.”
“And the cocaine and ecstasy is good for you too?” I quipped. Kandi didn’t respond. “Well, that shit ends today. You hear me?”
“Yeah, Jasmine.”
“And so does your dancing at The Pink Palace,” I added.
at, Jasmine. That’s how I’m paying my rent.” She shook her head. “I’m already a month behind on it as it is.”
“How come you’re so behind?”
“Well, when Rayshawn broke up with me, he left me in the apartment, stuck with the rent and all the other bills we had coming in.”
“Where are your parents?”
“Florida,” she replied. “They think I’m still a student at Clark Atlanta.”
“What happened?”
Kandi leaned back in bed. “Well, I’m from St. Petersburg. I got a scholarship to go to Clark, and I fucked up and partied my ass right out of it. My grades slipped and never got back up, and I lost my scholarship. My folks don’t know that.
“But I had a plan. That’s why I started dancing at The Pink Palace and paying my tuition out of pocket. I moved in with Rayshawn, and I had it under control, until he left me hanging with the rent and all the other damn bills. Pretty soon I couldn’t keep up, and I dropped outta school.”
Damn, that was what I did when I was in college, except I was making so much money dancing that after I graduated, I just kept on dancing and making money. I made myself a business. Kandi wasn’t so lucky.
“Okay, Kandi, this is what we’re going to do: When you get out of here, you’re going to move you and your stuff into my condo in Buckhead. Then we’re going to get you healthy again, and you’re going to get your ass back in school,” I told her.
Kandi had a dumbfounded expression on her face. “Jasmine . . . I . . . why are you doing all this?”
“Because you deserve more out of life than this.”
Kandi smiled with joy. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say you’ll try and do better.”
“I will.” Kandi paused and then looked at me. “Jasmine, don’t take this the wrong way, but what happen between us back at Young Reezy’s house party—”
I held up my hand. “We had fun that night, but this is not what this is about. You’ll have your own room, and you’re free to see whoever you want.”
She smiled.
“Now, if you come in drunk one night and climb in my bed, you just might be asking for it.”
We both laughed.
“Jasmine, can I ask you something?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“What’s your real name? I mean, all this time we’ve known each other, I’ve never asked you that.”
I grinned. “Well, Candice, my name is Jacqueline Dawson, but only my mother calls me Jacqueline.”
“I like that. Your mother lives around here?”
“Smyrna. Her and my father live out there.”
“You still talk to them?” she asked.
“My mother, yeah. My father doesn’t approve of my lifestyle, so we haven’t talked in years really. I could care less about him.”
“Oh, my folks would die if they knew I’ve been dancing at The Pink Palace.” She paused and looked at me. “Am I asking you too many questions now?”
“No.” I looked at her. “Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“My mother suffered from congestive heart failure three years ago, so when I found out about your condition, it really hit home,” I told her. “Scared the hell outta me, actually.”
Kandi got a sad expression on her face “I’m sorry, Jasmine.” She reached over and hugged me. Wow, I hadn’t realized how much I needed that.
“It’s okay, Kandi. Now let’s get you better, okay?”
Kandi smiled. “Okay.”
16
Holding back the years
College Park, GA
NIKKI
I had Penny keep Tyler the night before, and that was a blessing. I hated to admit it, but I’d been keeping my distance from Janelle so she didn’t get involved in that shit again, and after seeing Kandi laid up in the hospital, I was glad I had. There was no way I was going to drag her into that mess again.
I picked up Tyler and dropped him off at the daycare center. I headed home, and as soon as I hit my bedroom, my head hit the pillow and I was out.
About six hours later, my phone woke me up out of my sleep, and I saw Polo’s name on display. I wondered if he had anything new to tell me.
I accepted his call. “What’s up, Polo?”
“Nothing much. I was in your part of town and I wanted to see you. Are you home?”
“Yeah.” I sat up in bed. “Come on over.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he replied.
I got up and went in the shower and freshened myself up. Five minutes later, I got out of the shower and threw on a blue summer dress, went into the kitchen and warmed up some leftover pasta.
I hadn’t eaten anything since the day before. After I got a few bites in, I heard my doorbell and I went and opened it and saw Polo. He was of course wearing a red polo shirt, some Ecko Unlimited jeans with a Gucci belt, and a pair of matching Gucci-printed Nikes.
“Hey, Polo,” I greeted him and he came in.
“What’s going on, Nikki? I heard some shit went down at Reggie’s birthday party last night.”
I wondered if Reggie had told him about what I did to him. “What they saying?”
“They saying you and Jasmine rolled up on some bitches and regulated they ass. What was that all about?” Polo had a seat on the couch.
I guessed Reggie had decided to keep our little encounter to himself. “Yeah, we did. Some foul shit went down with another one of the girls called Kandi that Hester and Jade could’ve stopped but didn’t. Long story short, Chaz and two other niggas took advantage of Kandi and left her in a bad predicament last night.”
“Chaz, that stupid muthafucka that be with Reggie all the time?” Polo said and shook his head. “Figures. Is she all right?”
I sat on the couch next to Polo. “She’s at South Fulton, but not really in that good of shape, but not because of what they did. Kandi has some other medical issues.”
“Well, I’m glad everything is straight now.” Polo looked into my eyes. “I wanted to see you again. You’ve been on my mind like crazy these past couple of days.”
Damn, I had almost forgotten that he said that he loved me the other night. Or maybe I just didn’t want to remember it. And here I was in this little dress, fresh out the shower, and he’s looking at me like scoop of chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone.
“Polo, I’m not sure we should—”
Polo leaned over and kissed me. I had to admit he was a damn good kisser. His hand touched my bare thigh, and I felt my pussy jump. It had been a minute since I’d been intimate with anybody I was attracted to. The last man I was with was Malachi, and that was torture. He made my skin crawl. The last man that made me feel good was Dre, the man I loved.
Polo’s lips tugged at mine with a passion I never knew he had for me. His hand started to move up my thigh, but I stopped him from going farther.
I pulled away from his lips slowly. Dre was still alive, and I was still very much in love with him.
“I can’t, Polo.”
Polo nodded his head. “It’s still too soon, huh? I know you loved Dre, but I don’t think he would object to you being happy again, and I can make you very happy, Nikki. That’s all I want to do is make you happy.”
I leaned back on the couch. “I know you would, Polo, but with everything going on, it’s not good timing.”
Polo looked at me oddly. “When are you going to have Dre’s funeral services? It’s been almost a month since he passed.”
That question took me off guard. I hadn’t even thought about that. I still didn’t want to let Polo know the FBI was protecting him
“The coroner’s office still has his body, but I’m probably just gonna have a private service for him when they’re done.”
“Oh, okay. Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be rushing you into anything. I know you’re still hurting, and with this bitch-ass nigga Malachi making you dance in his club, I know this is stressful for you.”
“Yeah. What are you going to do, Polo? Are you still going to go after him?”
“No doubt. I got a plan in motion right now. Pretty soon that nigga Malachi is going to be served up, and I’ll take over his shit,” Polo said confidently.
“Well, that’s good to hear.” I paused and then looked at Polo. “Do you know who Malachi had sent to shoot Dre? Was it Ricky or Reggie?”
Polo shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know who did it, but both of them niggas are going to get the same thing Malachi is going to get, so don’t worry about it.” He got up and walked to the front door. “You just be careful in that club and let me know if you hear anything I can use.”
“I will.”
Polo opened the door and walked out to his car out front. As I watched him pull off down the street, I felt bad that I had to continue to lie to him about Dre’s condition. He was going to be heartbroken when the truth came out, but I couldn’t risk him not following through with his plans to kill Malachi. As long as he was still alive, none of us would be safe.
An hour and a half later, I was out the door to pick Tyler up from the daycare center. I drove up in the parking lot and pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine. Just as I was about to get out of the car, another car pulled up next to me.
“Nikki, I need you to come with me,” a familiar voice said.
I looked up, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
JASMINE
The hospital decided to discharge Kandi, and I went to South Fulton to pick her up and take her to her apartment to pick up her things and come back to my condo in Buckhead. It felt good doing this for her. I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do.
There was no way I was going to let her go back to dancing at The Pink Palace. That life was not for her. I knew it the first night I saw her there, but I didn’t do the right thing and tell her that. But that was then and this was now.
As I was walking down the smelly hospital hallway, I tried to hold my breath. I couldn’t stand the smell. Made me sick!
I saw Nurse Chauncey at the triage desk, and he came out around from it to talk to me.
“So you’re here to take Candice home?” he asked.