Bankroll Squad (5 page)

“It’s going to be okay Malcolm. We all love Kyla. I know we argue all the time, but nevertheless, she’s just like family to me. You know God always has a plan for everyone and everything. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” Malcolm asked.
“You’re telling me not to worry about Kyla, my ex-fiancé, who damn near gave her life trying to help me tonight? This woman adored me and I treated her like shit. And now I’m about to lose her!”
Malcolm’s eyes were wet and he was completely shaken up of the incident. In his mind, he kept replaying the scene. The robber’s instructions, then BOOM! He was knocked out afterwards, so he had no clue that Kyla had been shot until he saw her slumped over on the horn of the steering wheel. She had lost huge amounts of blood. Her fragile body had suffered from the effects of a 12-gauge blast. Why didn’t they just shoot me too? He thought to himself. At that very moment, he felt like the worst person in the world. He thought of all the horrible things that he had made Kyla endure and how no matter what he put her through, she still loved him completely. She loved him for who he was, not what he possessed. Not for what he did for a living, but for the characteristics that he was composed of. Unconditional love that never wavered regardless of the conditions. Malcolm thought of the good times that they shared. All of the times before the misunderstanding. She was the type of woman who was fascinated by the simplest of activities. Fishing. Cooking. His wife couldn’t cook a rat in a house fire, but he was attracted to the fact that she tried every day and night. He thought back to the time when him and Kyla graduated from college. She was headed to medical school and always had him factored into every single one of her plans. He had other plans, one that required him to put aside everything that he had worked for. In her desire to make Malcolm happy, and against his and her family’s wishes, she threw her plans into the exact same bucket as Malcolm; and tried to follow his new, fastpaced plan for success. She followed it faithfully. Now she was on her death bed.
“Excuse me. Umm, Mr. Powers?” The doctor interrupted Malcolm’s train of thought.
“Yes, Doc?” He answered, expecting to hear the most horrible news that he had ever heard in his life.
“Let me speak with you privately sir.” He got off of the floor and walked up to the doctor.
“We’re all family. Whatever you can say to me, you can say to all of us.”
The doctor adjusted his glasses and flipped a couple of pages through the notes on his clipboard.
“Okay well.... She lost a lot of blood. The impact of the buckshots threw her body into immediate shock, which in turn, caused her to faint. After passing out, the blood loss was so severe that it caused her to flat line. Twice. Both times we were able to bring her back, but she’s in a vegetative state. She’s being kept alive via life support. I advise you to pull the plug-”
“What! Why are you out here telling me to pull a fuckin’ plug instead of replenishing her blood. If she dies, I swear the GOD that-”
“Well, sir, Dr. Henry has already found her a match and is giving her a blood transfusion as we speak. However, if she does recover, she’ll more than likely be partially brain dead and bound to a wheelchair.”
“A wheelchair! She didn’t have any spinal injuries, what the fuck are you talking about MAN?”
Pam rubbed Malcolm’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, but he jerked away and scowled at her as if she was an enemy.
“Mr. Powers, please try to relax a minute so that I can explain the situation. One of the buckshots that we removed from her neck severely injured one of her spinal nerves. It doesn’t look hopeless, but when added to the rest of her injuries, it doesn’t look promising. I’m sorry that I couldn’t deliver you any better news, but I wanted to be truthful. You understand?”
Malcolm’s shoulders slumped down. “Yes Doc.....”
“I’m also sorry that I suggested for you to pull the plug. I didn’t know if you would be able to handle the financial aspect of it. That machine is very expensive, but if you can pay, we’ll leave her on it as long as you can pay for it.”
Typical ... he thinks I can’t afford it
, Malcolm thought.
“Doc, how long do you think she could stay on life support until she becomes conscious?”
The Doctor rubbed his chin briefly and his forehead wrinkled as he appeared to be lost in thought.
“Well,” the doctor said, “there are different situations and results for every individual. There are some people who awaken after 2 months, or even pass away after 2 months or even less time than that. However, there are situations, though extremely rare, in which a person stays on life support in a coma for 7 or 8 years and one day ... wake up.” Malcolm pondered this for a second.
“Pam, cut this hospital a check for $2,000,000. That should cover at least two years, right Doc?”
The doctor’s eyes seemed to bulge out of his head like a cartoon characters’.
“Uh ... certainly Mr. Powers.”
The doctor looked as if he had lost his train of thought for a minute. Then his whole demeanor changed.
“Mr. Powers, I assure you that me and my staff will do everything in our ability; and use every medical procedure available to bring Ms. Brent back.”
“Thank you Doc. I appreciate it. Can she have a visitor now?”
The doctor wanted to say “no,” but realizing that he was speaking to a very rich man, he catered to his interests.
“Ummm ... sure, but just one visitor for right now ... actually ... give us another hour or two to finish up and you can visit her. Okay?”
Malcolm nodded his head at the doctor and sprawled out in one of the seats in the waiting room. Brink, unusually silent, went and sat right besides him. The doctor brung them out some pills to calm them down; and after taking the pills, they went to sleep. Pam stayed awake thinking to herself.
I can take her position without any problems now. And since Kyla won’t be following Malcolm around all day and night, I should be able to finally make my move. His wife is no match for me ... besides, he don’t love that bitch anyway.

five

T

he Wolf and the Cowards had that Bentley broken down to the smallest denominator. A.S.A.P. After taking it, it had become unrecognizable

and untrackable within 35 minutes. Jelly, the man who was the owner of the North side Chop Shop, gave them $80,000 for everything at first, and the Cowards were happy. The Wolf said no. Actually, he said “hell no.” He demanded at least $100,000 for the vehicle

parts and engine. Jelly said $80,000 was his final offer. The Wolf took it. Then they showed Jelly the jewelry. He said $40,000 after inspecting the diamonds and checking to see if it was real platinum, and again, the Wolf said “no.” $80,000, the Wolf demanded.

“Fuck your jewelry!” Jelly exclaimed nonchalantly.

The Cowards were getting frustrated at The Wolf for messing up sure money by trying to be a negotiator. Desperately, Coward 1 said, “Okay, forty thousand dollars is fine. We’ll take it.”

Jelly looked directly into Cowards 1’ s eyes. “I said ... fuck your jewelry!”
Shit, Coward 2 thought to himself, Wolf just

fucked us out of forty thousand dollars by trying to be greedy. Fuck! When they left the chop shop, Wolf acknowledged that he did overstep his boundaries with Jelly. Instead of him getting his usual 50%, he decided that he would take $20,000 and let the Cowards take $30,000 a piece. They happily agreed, and all negative thoughts left the Cowards’ minds. They turned the radio up in the Dodge Neon and sang along with the music. They were all in festive moods. Wolf put on the stolen watch, Coward 2 put on the stolen chain. They were ballin’ now, Coward 1 thought to himself as he rubbed his hand across the stack of money that belonged to him.

$ $ $ $ $

Jennifer had been calling Malcolm’s cell phone for about four hours now. Every single phone call went straight to his voice mail. At first she thought that maybe he had been arrested, but after calling the jails, that concept was never confirmed. He has never done this before, Jennifer thought to herself. He’s cheating on me. That bastard! Around this time of night, Jennifer would usually be sleep, but the cocaine had other plans. She was fully energized and there was no chance of her going to bed anytime soon. She went and took a bubble bath, dried off, then took a stroll into their walk in closet. Once you walk in, there was a computer that kept inventory of every outfit available. All you had to do was type in the particular occasion, and a picture of every outfit that was either new or clean appeared on the monitor. Jennifer typed in “club, dress.” She didn’t like what she saw when she hit enter, so she typed in “club, skirt.” Jennifer hadn’t been to a club in three years, but if Malcolm was cheating, then so be it. A short, black Prada skirt appeared on the monitor; along with the section that it was located. She clicked the “Accessory” feature and a patent leather pair of black high heels appeared on the computer monitor. The heels had straps that would wrap around her leg and stop at the bottom of her thighs. Since Malcolm started fucking her, her ass had spread about four inches. She went from 34C-24-32 to 34C-24-36.
Her ass was pha
t! At least, that’s what she heard whenever she went to the grocery store or the mall to go clothes shopping. Guys always swarmed over her and every time it happened, she always made sure that they understood the fact that she was married. She never cheated on her husband, not even once. But tonight, two could play at that game. Besides, he hadn’t gave her any dick in two months now. If you turn a woman into a freak, you must service that freak. Otherwise, it will attempt to get service elsewhere. Jennifer got dress and went to stand in front of the life-sized mirror. She turned to the side and admired her “apple bottom” pushing out the limits of the skirt. There was a split going down the middle of the front and the middle of the back. No bra tonight. No panties. She grabbed about $500 and went to go wake Jeffrey up. Jeffrey was stunned but he did not comment. She asked him to go bring out her BMW.

“The old one?” He asked.
“The old one.” She answered.
He went to retrieve it. She went to the mirror and

started applying lip gloss and a light coat of make-up. She stuck her fingernail in her purse to dig out more cocaine. She snorted it. She felt a rush surge through her body. She felt good. She got in the car and turned the radio up loud, listening to Trina’s “The Baddest Bitch.”

$ $ $ $ $

Catfish was trying to get more information from the bartender.
“I’ll pay you $1,000 to show me where the Wolf stays.”He said.
“I don’t want your money. I’ll show you where he stays for free, and then I’ll show you where I stay.” She said.
Catfish was slightly irritated because it wasn’t the right time to be flirting, but at the same time, the bartender was
nice
. Plus she said that she was going to show him where the Wolf lived, so his job was still getting done.
“What’s your name? Or should I just call you Ms. Bartender?”
“No you should not. You should call me in a hour when my shift is over with.”
She smiled at him and held out her hand; her other hand was on her hip. Catfish didn’t know what she wanted. He assumed that she wanted money so he tried to put some in her hand. She looked insulted.
“Baby, you don’t do a good job listening do you? I told you that I didn’t want your money. Gimme’ your phone so that I can program my number into it.”
He pulled out his phone it was an Iphone just like Malcolm’s. He handed it to her.
“It’s hard to listen when I’m always giving orders.” Catfish said.
“Oh. ... so you’re a boss. ... that’s what’s up. My name is Tracy ... but everybody calls me Wet.”
Catfish’s eyes seemed to enlarge after she made her last statement. He glanced down at her waist. It was tight, slim, flat and exposed. He glanced at her shorts. They could almost pass for a pair of bikinis. He saw her pussy print and started thinking about what he could do with a woman like that.
“Ahem....” Wet cleared her throat and handed him his cell phone back.
“Don’t forget to call me in one hour.”
Catfish nodded and turned to leave before Wet called out.
“Damn, I can’t catch your name?”
He stopped.
Damn, where is my mind at?
“My name’s Catfish.” He smirked at her and left out of the bar.
Catfish,
Wet thought.
I knew that was that nigga’. Motherfucker!

$ $ $ $ $

Seeing Kyla with tubes, needles, tanks, monitors, and machines going into her body made Malcolm cry. His heart hurt. He owed this woman his life, and if she ever recovered, he vowed to give it to her twice over. Maybe even three times over, depending on how many kids that she wanted.
I hope she still feels the same way about me when she recovers,
Malcolm thought. He took his left hand and rubbed it across the left side of her face. There was no wound on that side of it. It was beautiful; smooth and bronze.

She appeared to be sleeping, but Malcolm knew this wasn’t true. He knelt down besides her bed and said a prayer for him and for her.

“Lord, I know that I’ve made some mistakes in life. Sins. Some sins unintentional and Lord, you know that

I’ve even made some intentional sins. Lord, I wanna ask for forgiveness for everything that I’ve ever done that went against God’s will. With a clean slate, Lord, I wanna’ ask you to deliver Kyla out of this coma. Forgive her for all the sins that she’s committed. Please help her Lord, and please help me to have her. In Jesus Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.”

“Amen,” came three voices in unison from behind him. He stood up and turned around. It was the doctor, Pam, and Brink.

“I’m sorry Mr. Powers, but there are a couple of tests that we have to run on Ms. Brent. Why don’t you go home tonight and get some sleep, it’s been a very long day for all of you. Just visit her tomorrow, whatever time that is convenient for you and your friends. She’s in good hands, and in the event of a miracle or an emergency, someone from the hospital will contact you.” The doctor offered his hand to Malcolm.

“Wait”, Malcolm said.

He turned to Kyla again, wiped the tears from his eyes, and gave her a kiss on her left cheek. He turned, shook the doctor’s hand and Malcolm, Brink, and Pam left the hospital. Malcolm had arrived at the hospital via ambulance, but when he heard Pam pulling out her keys, he knew that she had driven her vehicle instead of Brink driving his. He didn’t know what vehicle she’d brought out until she pushed a button and a raspberry colored Aston Martin roared to life. They all got inside, Malcolm in the passenger seat, Brink in the back. Pam started to turn the music up, but Malcolm told her to turn it off, there was an important issue that needed to be discussed. She turned it off.