Page 8

Chapter Eight

Stacks

When Kasha’s mama called and told me she was in the hospital, my heart sank.

I don’t care what I said. I wanted nothing to happen to her.

When I hung up with Mrs. Janice, I called Buck just to put him on point.

I should’ve known his ass would want to tag along.

I didn’t have time to go back and forth with his ass, hence the reason he had James watching Nic and Benny and he was following me in his truck.

He offered to drive, but I needed some space and freedom to move when I wanted.

While I was dodging in and out of traffic, not caring about the laws of the road, Kilo called.

“Yeah?” I answered, already annoyed because I knew he was about to be on some big brother shit.

“Yeah? The fuck wrong with you?”

Breathing heavily, I told Kilo what was going on and where I was headed.

“You think he did some shit to her?” he asked.

“I’on know. I won’t know shit until I get there,” I countered.

“Look, Jackson. If she’s in the hospital after being with that nigga, she couldn’t have been in on the shit.

He probably did some shit to her for not complying.

Don’t take yo’ ass in there acting like Buck.

We both know that nigga don’t give a fuck what the situation is if he feels like his feelings hurt.

” I had to laugh at that because he didn’t lie one bit.

Look what happened to Joi, and he snatched Nic’s ass up when he thought she was about to have an abortion.

“Nah, I’m not on that. At least I’m trying not to be. I can’t make no promises, though.” I was being as honest as possible.

“Aight, bro. Let me know what’s going on. Buck with you?”

“Yeah. He’s in his truck. Probably on the phone wit’ Nic. I told him to stay his ass home.”

“You know that wasn’t gone happen. That nigga loves shit like this and you’re our lil’ brother. You ain’t ever gotta go into some shit alone.” I nodded because I agreed, but some shit I just wanted to handle myself.

“I hear you. Let me get my head straight before I get there. Muthafucka had her in Wood Haven. I got about another hour to go.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up. The rest of the ride I was in my head about how I was gone deal with this shit with Kasha. I wanted to have a level head, but the shit was hard to do. I guess I’ll get the answers I need when I got to the hospital.

***

“Nigga, you owe me some fuckin’ gas money. Every time you got some shit going on, it’s a gah damn field trip. If I wanted to do that shit, I would’ve brought Benny wit’ me.” Buck fussed as he got out his truck that he parked next to me.

“You could’ve stayed yo’ whining ass home then, nigga.” I frowned. I headed into the hospital, ignoring that nigga because I didn’t have time for his shit.

When I got inside, I went straight to the elevator, heading up to the floor that Mrs. Janice said they were on.

“Shit gone be straight, bro. Kash is strong. She’s gone be straight,” Buck offered. I declined a response because my words were stuck. I couldn’t concentrate on shit but putting my eyes on Kasha and Jace.

The elevator dinged and opened on the third floor and stopped.

I stepped out with Buck on my heels. I didn’t bother with going to the nurse’s station.

I followed the signs to the family waiting area and headed there.

It was surrounded by glass, so I was able to see inside.

I spotted Jace inside sitting with his grandparents.

He noticed me and took off in my direction.

“Stacks!” he bellowed as he ran in my direction. When he got close, I pulled him into a hug as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Wassup, lil’ homie? You straight?” I pulled back and examined him, and he looked to be fine.

“Yeah, I’m straight. Ma isn’t, though,” he responded somberly.

“She’s gone be straight, man.” I tussled his hair as his grandparents approached us. They greeted Buck and shook his hand before Mrs. Janice started speaking.

“Thank you for coming, Jackson. When I got that call, I thought the worst. They haven’t told us anything yet. Only that she was dropped off and unconscious,” she informed.

I nodded.

“Did someone say when the doctor would be out to update you?” As soon as the question passed my lips, a middle-aged black woman, adorned in a lab coat, appeared.

“Family of Kasha Sims?” she announced.

“Do you see anybody else in here?” Buck interjected.

“Man, chill.” I gave him a warning look because I didn’t need his dumb ass to get us thrown out.

“That’s us,” her father spoke up.

“Like I was saying, we finally got Ms. Sims situated. We ran a few tests after you informed us she was diabetic. Her blood sugar levels were extremely low from the lack of insulin. That caused her body to go into shock and into a hyperglycemic coma.” Hearing her say coma caused my heartbeat to stall.

“Wait. You said she’s in a coma? How the fuck that happened?” She needed to start explaining herself and now.

“It happened as I stated, because her body went into shock due to the lack of insulin. We contacted her doctor back in Cannon Hills and saw that she had to administer her insulin daily. According to her mother, she’s been away from home a little over two months.

She may have thought she was in the clear,” she stated.

“How long will she be in a coma?” her mama asked.

“That depends on Ms. Sims. Like I stated, her body went into shock, so that could mean some sort of trauma happened. I haven’t contacted the authorities yet. I wanted to leave that up to you all.”

“No need for that,” Buck interjected. “We got it.”

“When can we see her?” Mrs. Janice asked.

“You can see her now, if you’d like. Since it’s just a few of you, you all can go back.” Her parents thanked her, and she disappeared.

“Jackson, you can go ahead,” her mama urged.

“Nah. Y’all go ahead. I just came to make sure Jace was good.”

“Stacks, you not gone check on my mama? She said she missed you,” Jace voiced. The shit was tearing me up to see my lil’ homie like that.

“Come on, Jace. You can come with us and give Jackson a minute.” His grandfather rubbed the top of his head and left with Mrs. Janice in tow. When they left, I sat in the nearest chair so I could catch my breath.

“You good, bro?” Buck asked from beside me.

“Man, I can’t go in there and see her like that. This shit is fucked up. The fuck was she even doing with this nigga?” My head was all over the place.

“That’s only some shit that Kash can answer. Shit may sound stupid coming from me but hear her out, bro. We know Kash. She wouldn’t be on no fuck shit like that,” he tried reasoning.

“Yeah, you thought you knew Joi, too.” I got up and left his ass sitting there because I didn’t have time to hear this shit. I needed to breathe.

I found myself in the hallway outside of her room, battling with my emotions about whether or not I should go inside.

“The muthafucka ain’t gone open by itself,” Buck announced from behind me.

I knew he would be by my side sooner or later.

Without another word, he opened the door and walked inside ahead of me, leaving the door open for me.

Trailing slowly behind him, my eyes trained in on Kasha lying in that hospital bed, with tubes and monitors hooked up to her.

Despite all of that, she still looked beautiful.

My heart was beating overtime as I watched her as if she was just sleeping.

Wiping my hand down my face, I quickly wiped away the tears before they fell.

“I’ll be back,” I announced, turning around and heading for the door.

“Stacks,” Jace called out to me. “Don’t leave, please.” He begged.

“I’m coming back, homie. I promise.”

His eyes were worried, and I hated to see that shit. I couldn’t stay here right now, though. I had to leave or else I’d tear this hospital apart brick by fuckin’ brick.

After telling her parents and Jace I’d be back, I left with Buck on my trail. He didn’t speak until we got outside.

“You need me to stay until you get back?”

“Nah. Go home. I got it.”

“You sure? I can call Nic and let her kno—”

“Go home, Lincoln. I got this. I just need to get my head together. I’m not worried about that muthafucka coming back up here, so they’ll be good until I get back.” He nodded, but I know he wanted to say something else. It wouldn’t be him if he didn’t.

I got in my car and just sat there for a while before I even started it to pull off.

My head and emotions were all over the place.

In my heart I knew that Kasha wouldn’t be on no fuck shit with that nigga, but the other part was pissed the fuck off she didn’t trust me enough to let me know what this nigga had going on.

She thought she could handle the shit herself.

I’m positive that’s how the shit went down, but it didn’t make it any better.

I finally got on the road, with Buck trailing close behind. He sat in the hospital’s parking lot in his truck while I sat in my car. I knew he wouldn’t leave until I did. That’s why I didn’t argue with his ass.

Halfway through the ride, Rein called.

“Yeah?” I answered, never taking my eyes off of the road.

“Hey. I was just calling to check on you. The call you got earlier seemed to change your mood. I wanted to make sure you were good.” I appreciated her concern, but I didn’t feel like being bothered right now.

“I’m straight. I just got some shit going on. I appreciate you for checking on me, though.”

“You sure you’re okay, Stacks? You don’t sound like it.”

“I’m fine,” I breathed out. “I’ll holla at you later.” I hung up the phone before she could respond. I didn’t feel like sharing my emotions with another female right now.

I continued the rest of the ride in silence, not even bothering to turn the radio on.

I let my thoughts consume me and before I knew it, I was pulling up at home.

Buck was behind me, and I expected that.

What I didn’t expect was to see Rein’s bike in my driveway.

I took a moment to get my emotions in check before I got out my car.

“That’s the biker chick?” Buck asked with a frown on his face.

“Yeah.”

“You left Kasha to come be with this bitch?” he asked loud enough for Rein to hear.

“Nah, I didn’t even know she was gone be here. She called on the way and I told her I had some shit going on.”

“Bet.” I watched as Buck walked up to Rein and knocked on her helmet like he was knocking on a door. She snatched it off and had a sexy ass grimace on her face. “You need to bounce,” Buck instructed.

“Excuse you?” she countered.

“Ain’t no excuses. Get the fuck on. My brother ain’t got time to deal wit’ yo’ hoe ass poppin’ up and shit. Did he tell you to be here waiting for him?”

“No, he didn’t but I—”

“—You ain’t gone do shit but leave or get second-degree burns from me dragging yo’ ass ’cross the concrete. Get yo’ hot pussy ass on ’fore you piss me off.” I just shook my head and headed inside. I didn’t have time for this shit.

“Stacks, you gone let him talk to me like that?” she asked incredulously.

My only response was a shrug because I didn’t have the energy for this shit. Noticing she wasn’t going to get a response, I heard her bike start and seconds later, she left.

“I’on wanna be bothered wit’ yo’ ass, either. I’ll hit you up later,” I said to my brother.

“I wasn’t coming in no way. Hit me up and don’t make me bring my ass back over here, Jackson.” he warned.

“Bye, Lincoln.”

Once inside, I went straight to my room to take a shower.

While in there, I let all my emotions out because after tonight, I didn’t have time or room for them.

It was time for me to show muthafuckas what happened when they thought they could play with me.

The jokes and game was just my personality.

A psychotic menace was who I was bred to be.