Page 54

I woke up popping all the tubes off of me.

It was hard for me to breath, but my first thought was Blessyn.

The last call I made was to Perc to come and save her.

The shots I took, I just knew my life was over.

The grim reaper came to see me twice but I was determined to live for my family.

I was just about to get my damn girl back when someone opened fire on us.

The machine started beeping around me when I pulled the IV out of my arm.

“Mr. Larry, no.” A black woman came running in.

“Get this shit off of me.” I started flinging all the wires and shit everywhere.

“Wait,” she snatched my arm.

I looked at the woman and saw my mama in her. She was an older woman around her fifties. She wasn’t stronger than me but it was something about her touch that made me slow down.

“I need to check on my family. Where the hell am I?” I asked, looking around.

“You’re in Miami. Your brother brought you here to heal. He’s paying me pretty hefty to make sure you don’t do anything to bring further harm to yourself.”

“I hope my brother told you that I don’t follow the rules.”

“Yes, he told me if you woke up, that you were going to be on high alert, but to reassure you that everything is okay.”

“Is it? ‘Cause I don’t feel like it is. My son and my wife not here with me, why is that? In order for me to fine, then I need to be with them. Obviously, he didn’t think this shit through all the way.”

“If you don’t mind, can you please just let me call your brother before you try to get up. I have to tell you that your left side is extremely weak and you’re not able to walk right now.”

“I’m not able to walk? Fuck you talkin’ ‘bout?” I tried to get up and fell but she grabbed me in enough time to lay me back down on the bed.

“The bullet is still in your back. All it will take is one wrong move and it will paralyze you. They wanted to remove it but it was too close to a nerve. I know plenty of people living life with a bullet in their back but they let themselves heal first so the muscle can strengthen back up. Now I have my daughter here that’s ready to start therapy on you.

I just need you to calm down and relax.”

“Get my brother on the phone. Matter of fact, bring me a phone so I can talk to him.”

She left for a few moments and came back with her cell phone to her ear. Perc knew I wasn’t going to abide by anyone’s rules. If I didn’t see my son and at least know how Blessyn was doing, I was getting out of here even if I had to crawl. The nurse held the phone out for me.

“Yo, what the fuck goin’ on and why the fuck am I in Miami and my family in Atlanta?”

“I know you used to being in control but I moved you for a reason. I don’t trust anybody in this city and you laying in that bed was only making you vulnerable for a bitch to come and finish you off if they knew you were still alive.

Blessyn was surrounded by cops so I couldn’t move her like I wanted to. ”

“I’m coming home,” I told him.

“Lucky stay where the fuck you at. As soon as Blessyn is ready, I’ll send them down there. She’s getting stronger every day. I don’t have anyone to get the kids so I’ll catch a flight within the next few days.”

“Where my mother-in-law at? Can’t she get the kids?”

“She’s dead, Lucky. The muthafucka killed her first before trying to take you and Blessyn out.”

“I’m coming home. Don’t fuckin’ talk me out of it,” I hung up the phone in his face. “Ayyee, where that fuckin’ therapist muthafucka at? Tell her to let’s get this shit going. I need to get home.”

A beautiful woman walked into the room that looked exactly like the nurse from earlier. The only difference was the color of her skin. She smiled at me but I didn’t return one. I didn’t want to be friendly and I damn sure wasn’t trying to do anything other than start walking.

“My name is Cat. I’m here to help my mother with your recovery. My goal is to get you up and walking within a few weeks.”

“Don’t have weeks. Make that shit happen within days. I need to get home to my wife and son.”

“Do you know the amount of time it’s going to take for me to get you walking that soon? Your back muscles are weak. Those are some of the hardest muscles to strengthen.”

“Didn’t ask you that. Do your job so I can get the fuck on.”

“Okay, no problem.”

As rude as I was, she didn’t say anything else.

She started by stretching me which was painful.

My muscles were so tight that every time she moved my legs, I felt like my back was going to break.

Catrina let me rest for a few minutes before sitting me up on the side of the bed.

My left side had a little feeling in it but it was still a little numb.

“I’ll leave you sitting up while you eat your lunch. Before bed, we will try to get you up on a walker just to add pressure to your back and legs. No walking today.”

I had lost a few pounds since being shot.

This was my first real meal since opening my eyes and I still couldn’t eat.

I wanted to talk to Blessyn to make sure she was straight.

The pressure was on my therapist hard but I really need her to get me up and walking by tomorrow.

I was booking me a flight back home in the next few days.

It was time for me to get my ass back on the streets and show Atlanta that I was still the same Lucky from back in the days.

Since the death of Kj, I hadn’t carried a gun.

Now that I had almost lost Blessyn, I was never going anywhere without my fucking guns.

I was going to die to protect what the fuck was mine.

Being so far from them was making me feel like I wasn’t being there for them.

Whoever came at me that night was close to me and knew my moves.

I made Boogie stay his ass home since he had company.

Now his ass sat in the corner of my room with a gun laid across his lap.

“Boogie, I need you to go home and watch after my family. I’ll be straight.”

“I’m not leaving you this time, bruh.”

“Boogie, my family needs you. No one knows where I am. When I touch down in the city, I’ll call you.”

“Nigga I ain’t leaving you. Blessyn got Perc. Who got you? If I was with you then we wouldn’t damn be here. I’m not goddamn leaving. This shit gotta end and I’m ready to blow off anybody fuckin’ head ‘bout y’all,” Boogie said.

“Give me your phone.”

Boogie dug in his pocket for his phone and handed it to me. I dialed Perc’s number in hopes that he was around Blessyn so I could talk to her. Since the shooting, I didn’t have a clue how she was doing or where she was shot at. It was like I was in a damn bubble.

“Yo?”

“Blessyn with you?”

“She still in the hospital. I’m taking Kani up there in a few.”

“When you get there. Let her call me. I wanna hear her voice.”

“Umm, I know you don’t know this but she can’t really talk. She got shot in the neck and it damaged some of her vocal cords. The most she can do is whisper and even that hurts her. She went deaf in one ear and they doubt she’ll get the hearing back. I can have her text you if you want.”

“Nah, I’ll figure something out.” I hung up the phone. “Boogie book us a flight home for in the morning. Tell that Cat chick and her mama I said bring they ass here.”

Boogie got up to find them. They both came back in a rush.

“Yes, sir?” Cat entered the room, followed by her mama.

“I need y’all to pack some bags. We going to Atlanta.”

“I can’t do that. I have a family to take care of,” Cat stated.

“Aight, then stay the fuck here. I’m going home to my family.”

“You can’t walk and you still need a lot of medical attention.”

“Mama, what’s your name?” I asked the mother.

“Cecilia.”

“Ms. Cecilia, do you need to stay behind with your daughter or can you come with me to tend to me and my family? My wife needs medical attention as well. I’ll pay you whatever you ask.”

She looked at her daughter and back at me. “I’ll be able to assist you.”

“Thank you. Cat, you are no longer needed,” I dismissed her.

She rolled her eyes at me before walking out of the room and bumping shoulders with her mama.

I didn’t need her taking care of me if she couldn’t make the sacrifices.

I also understood that it was the last minute and she had a family.

To be honest, I didn’t give a fuck about anyone right now but Blessyn and Kani.

If people couldn’t get on board, they were getting dismissed.

It was a struggle getting me in a car, through the airport, and on the plane but we made the shit happen.

Nothing was going to stop me from getting to my family even if it meant me hopping on one leg or riding in that ugly ass wheelchair.

I popped a few pain pill right before the plane took off and had no idea when we landed.

Boogie made sure he booked a flight when the airport wasn’t as busy so we could get in and out without someone noticing us.

I didn’t want anyone to know I was alive.

We pulled up to Perc’s spot right before the sun came up.

I stopped there first because I knew my son was there.

Going to see Blessyn at the hospital was too big of a risk and would have to wait.

I was going to send word by Perc that she needed to come home when she got released and I wasn’t talking about her house either.

“I can’t believe you brought yo ass back here after I told you not to,” Perc rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He was still half-naked and didn’t notice Cecelia with me.

“Go get yourself together and then we’ll talk,” I told him.

My nurse and Boogie helped me from the wheelchair to the sofa. My side was starting to get a little feeling back into it but the heaviness was still there. I dragged my leg to get it up on the sofa as Perc was making his way back into the living room.

“I know you didn’t want me back home but I had to get here. There was no way I was leaving my family here and you too. Especially with Blessyn mama dead now. How much longer she got in the hospital?”

“A couple of days. She’s up walking but they are concerned about her getting her voice back. It’s very low and the more she talks the painful it is.”

“I was thinking about going home but I don’t think we need to go home.”

“You can go to my spot out in Lawrenceville until we figure this shit out. Nobody knows where that spot is and it’s big enough for you, the family, and the nurse.”

“What about you?”

“I’m good.”

“Nigga if they did this to me what you think they gon’ do to you.”

“You gotta be a fool to think I’m ‘round this bitch slipping. Remember nigga, I carry big guns with me, you don’t. You better let that shit go that happened with Kj and pick them guns back up. Make these muthafucka respect you again.”

My brother had a point. They had gotten so comfortable that they came after me and Blessyn. It was time for me to put my businessman hat down for a minute and go back to crazy ass Lucky that the streets knew me as.