Trouble In Paradise (18 page)

“You know what that
really means don’t you?”

She slowed and looked at him,

“No, what?”

“It just means a higher medical bill.”  

She shook her head. 

“Let me find out, you cheap,” she smirked. 

He smiled and flared his nose at her; she laughed and shook her head. 

The doctor slowed up, turned around and said,

“Ok, I really would only allow two people at a time but since you all have been waiting for so long I’ll let all three of you go, but you have to be extremely quiet.  He has been medicated well so he may not be responsive.” 

“Ok, thank you Doctor.” 

He shook their hands and walked off. 

Victoria went through the door and walked up to Joshua.  He had IVs running through his veins and a tube down his throat. 
H
e couldn’t speak if he wanted to
.  His eyes were open just barely. 

“Baby,” she said putting her hands on his chest. 

His eyes fluttered but he didn’t respond.  He was highly dosed up, tears came to her eyes and she kissed him on his face and then his forehead. 

“I love you,” she said. 

At that moment her mind went back to the moment he told Danielle he loved her.  It was like a knife through her heart, he sounded so sincere when he said it.  She looked at him and tears ran down her face, Shay pulled her back and put her arms around Victoria.  Dantae rubbed her back as she cried.  He walked up to Joshua.  Dantae could not believe all of this happened in the forty-five minutes he was gone. He felt a heavy grief, he should’ve taken Joshua to the store with him, then he wouldn’t be lying in this hospital bed, but then one of the girls would be here, it was a no win situation and Dantae was trying to find his blame in the situation.  Joshua’s eyes fluttered. 

“J man can you hear me?” he asked. 

Joshua’s eyes fluttered again. 

“I think he can hear me,” he said. 

Victoria walked up to the other side of Joshua. 

“Baby can you hear me?” she said. 

His eyes fluttered, “Yes, I do believe that was a yes.” 

He was breathing softly. 

“I’ll stay here with him, you guys can go home if you need to,” Victoria said. 

“Yeah right as if that’s going to happen”. 

At the same time Dantae spoke she got a text message.

“Your phone works back here? Mine doesn’t.”

“Every once in a second I’ll pick up a signal.” 

“Well you’re the one that needs to get something to eat.”

Victoria opened her text message. It read:

Let me at least feed
you; I won’t take up too much of your time.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

“Do you need me to come with you?” Shay asked. 

“No, no you can stay here.  Do you want me to bring you something back?” Victoria asked them. 

“Yeah just bring back whatever you’re getting.”

“Ok.”  

She walked out the room and down the corridor.  She needed to get out of the hospital, she needed the fresh air.  She opened up her phone and sent a text: I need food, you’ve got thirty minutes. Send. She didn’t really know how she should feel going to get food with Greg when her fiancé was in the hospital.  Truth be told, this was his entire fault and she was still pissed about it.  She didn’t want him to be lying in a hospital bed but he should not have been deceitful, he brought all of this grief on himself and all of us could have paid a price for it.  She was mad at him, she didn’t know if she should be or not, but she was. 

“Men,” she said out loud, “they always bite off more than they can chew.” 

Her phone chirped she opened it.  It read:

Be
there in five minutes
. 

She hit reply.

Then you’ll have twenty five minutes.

Send.  A minute later her phone chirped back, she opened it. It read:

Ha ha
. 

But the joke was on him.

Chapter 22

Victoria climbed into the passenger seat of Greg’s Li
ncoln Town car.  The seats were comfortable and they felt warm. 

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey beautiful what’s up, is everything ok?”

“I don’t think things will be ok for a while.”

“What happened?” 

Victoria rolled her eyes. She didn’t really feel like talking about it anymore. 

“Can we please not talk about it?” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to burden you, I’m sure you must be exhausted, you should let me give you a sponge bath, I’ll massage your back
, legs, and those pretty feet of yours. You should relax; you’ve been through a lot.” 

She had been through a lot.  She was exhausted.  Everything he was saying was true but a sponge bath?  She wanted to take him up on his offer.  She was still mad at that very moment and getting more pissed because
she couldn’t take it out on Joshua. 

Greg saw her pout
and crossing her arms he wondered what she was thinking about.  She was so attractive even when she was ruffled up, her chocolate brown skin looked smooth and sweet.  He was aroused by her and trying to find a way to reach her, even though she was in the passenger seat of his car, she was far away.  He did notice that almost every time he had been in her presence she was there in the physical but far away, except for the lounge. 

“What would you like to eat?” he asked. 

“It doesn’t matter, somewhere where there are burgers.” 

“So are you going to let me take care of you tonight?  You can just unwind.” 

She looked at him.  He was handsome and generous.  He seemed to always be around when she needed someone, or when she was going through something, was that supposed to mean something to her.  She barely knew him yet she felt certain closeness to him.

“Yeah,” she said
“I think I will.” 

“You think you will, or you will?” 

She chuckled. 

“I will, but first I do need to take some food back to my comrades.” 

He frowned, “Then it will be harder for you to explain your whereabouts.”

Now it was her turn to frown. 

“I am my own woman, I don’t have to explain myself to anyone,” she said with a sister girl neck roll. 

He smiled again,
even that was cute
he thought.

“If they would like to know where I’m going I’ll let them know I’m leaving for the night.  Shay has her own room at The Drake Hotel and I’m sure Dantae has somewh
ere to go.”

“Maybe you should ask first baby, didn’t Shay come down here to support you, and what if Dantae was staying with Joshua then he might need somewhere to stay.” 

“They can stay together,” she said. 

He looked at her questionably. 

“Ok, ok,” she said, “I’ll see if they need me.  Shay’s gonna give me more grief than anything ‘cause your right, she’ll say I came all this way.  I’ll tell her to shut her mouth and mind her business.” 

Victoria was pissed, not at Shay nor Dantae nor Greg.  She was pissed at Joshua and she couldn’t curse him out so she was going off about everything else.  She sighed.  She closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck.  He pulled into Wendy’s and drove up to the drive thru speaker. 

“Welcome to Wendy’s would you like to try our new ve
getarian salad today?”

Greg
was wondering what a vegetarian salad was, it was already a vegetarian meal because it was a salad so he decided to humor himself. 

“What is a vegetarian salad?” he asked. 

“It’s a garden salad with kidney beans instead of chicken strips.” 

“Oh
ok, hold on for a minute please.”

H
e turned around to ask Victoria what she wanted.  He saw her shaking her head and held his arms up.

“What?”

"She laughed,

“W
hy are men so stupid?” 

They both laughed. 

“Just get me three Number 1s with two cokes and a sweet tea,” she said. 

“You want cheese on that?” he asked.

“No.” 

He ordered the food and started back toward the hospital.

“I noticed this seat was already warm when I got in it, just dropped off your girlfriend?” she asked. 

“What
?  No you didn’t,” he said playfully.  “Is that a real question?” he asked. 

“Yeah, it probably happens all the time.” 

He shook his head,

“Come on now.” 

He reached over her lap and she felt his body heat instantly.  He felt hers too.  There chemistry was powerful to say the least.  They hadn’t even touched each other and they could feel the intense charge running in the atmosphere. 

Ooh what is this?
She thought. 

He touched the button that heats the seat, she felt it get warm under her and she squirmed a little. 

“Oh ok,” she said. 

He smiled. 

“I knew you were already tired so I took the liberty of heating the seat for you.  Was that ok?” 

She blushed, “Yeah, I’m glad you did that.  I could sit back and listen to an ole’ school mix or something and soak in a bubble bath.”

“Ole’ school mix, what you know about ole’ school,” he said. 

She chuckled, “Well my definition of ole’ school is like SWV, TLC, Xscape, Shy,” she blushed again. 

“Well this is new generation ole’ school I guess,” he said.

She shook her head up and down slowly,

“Un huh
, you can say that.” 

They were pulling into the hospital entrance.  She flipped her phone open and sent a text to Shay.  If she was still in the room with Joshua she wouldn’t get it. 

“I might have to go in.” 

Victoria’s phone chirped it was a text message from Shay, it read:

You need help with the food?

Victoria hit reply:

I’m going to take off for tonight, I’m exhausted and I just need to clear my thoughts, come get the food, I’m at the emergency entrance
. Send.  Three minutes later Shay came walking outside; she stopped and searched the parking lot for Victoria. 

“Flash your lights,” Victoria said. 

He did Shay saw it and walked toward the car, they both noticed she put her hand in her purse as she got closer.  Victoria laughed,

“That girl just wants
to bust a cap in somebody,” she said. 

Greg caught on. 

“So ya’ll some gangsters from Memphis huh?”

Victoria rolled down the passenger window.  Shay stepped to the passenger side, she peered in. 

“Boo!” Victoria said. 

Shay took a step back. Victoria snickered,

“You can put that gun away, don’t shoot it’s just me.” 

“Dud,” Shay said. 

“Dud, nothing you w
as ‘bout to bussin at us.”

They laughed. 

“You know how I do.”

Victoria handed her the food and drinks. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

She gave her the sister girl code that she wouldn’t be making another appearance tonight, a.k.a. she was with her sideline. 

Shay said, “Be safe.” 

Victoria nodded, she rolled the window up.  Greg pulled off.  Shay took a mental note of Greg’s car and license plate number just in case her girl wasn’t in the right state of mind.  She’d hate for her to come up missing or something then she’d have to hunt for him and show him how they get down in Memphis.  She started back into the emergency room.  Opened her phone and sent Victoria a text:

Y
ou have some explaining to do
. 

A
second later she got a text back saying,

I know and you know I will.
 

Shay sent her another message
;

W
hat shall I tell Joshua when he wakes up, you know he’s gonna wanna see you
. 

She stopped walking because any further and she w
ouldn’t have a signal.  A text back said:

T
ell ‘em I stepped out to get some air
.

Shay thought about the irony of that message, she figured Victoria knew the meaning
behind it to.  She thought this had already hit the fan but the way Victoria was handling it, she didn’t know how much worse it could get.  Should she stick around for it, after all look what happened to Leon? 

Danielle went to jail, so who identified his body?
  She wondered.  Someone should call his parents.  She sighed, knowing she would have to be the Good Samaritan that delivered the bad news.  Her head dropped, this is so crazy.  She stepped inside of Joshua’s room.  He was awake.  Shay swallowed.  She gave Dantae his food and drink.  Shay looked at Joshua. 

“Are you hungry?” she asked. 

“No,” he said. 

The nurse had been in the room and r
emoved the tube that was down his throat, he had a little bit more color to his face. 

“Do you want something to drink?” she asked trying t
o be as helpful as she could be.

F
or some reason being so close to Victoria and knowing she was with someone else kind of made her feel like she was doing something wrong.  She walked up to him and hugged him.  Dantae watched their exchange.  She kissed him on the cheek,

“My hero,” she said playfully. 

He tried to smile but instead she got a lopsided grin. 

“You would’ve done the same thing for me,” he said. 

She folded her arms,

“Now I don’t know about all that.” 

“How do you feel?” 

“Numb.”  

“Well that must be better than feeling the real pain you should be feeling.” 

“Yes,” he said, “that is true.  Where’s Victoria?” he asked.

Damn it
, she thought,
I was wondering when he was going to ask
.  It’s not like she didn’t know he would ask, but she was trying to keep his mind on everything else. 

“Is she ok, she didn’t get shot or anything did she?  The last thing I reme
mber was the guy walking in the room and gun shots.” 

Shay looked at Dantae and back to Joshua.  Joshua’s face started to lose its color. 

“Don’t tell me she was shot,” he choked back air. 

“No, no, calm down Joshua,” she said.  “She wasn’t shot, but the guy was, he was killed.” 

Joshua gasped and started to cough, he coughed harder and started to spit up, Shay grabbed the garbage can and held it up to Joshua’s face.  He heaved big breaths trying to calm himself. 

“Where’s Danielle?” he asked. 

“She’s in jail,”

Shay said like it was obvious. 

“Where’s Victoria?  I have to see Victoria!” he demanded. 

Shay took another deep breath and said,

“She stepped out to get some air.” 

Joshua didn’t hear the double meaning he heard exactly what was said.  He didn’t even know Victoria was talking to another guy; he was completely lost on that end.  He let out a sigh of relief, glad she was ok. 

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if something had happened to her.  Better me, than her any day.” 

Looking at him, Shay
felt guilty, she wrestled inside herself.  Sometimes I can’t stand being a woman, these emotions.  She put a fake smile on her face.  Now what was she supposed to say when that breath of fresh air time runs out.  She plopped down next to Dantae.  She looked at him he looked at her and kissed her forehead. 

“My Charlie’s Angel,” he said and kissed her again.

*****

Greg opened the door to a huge condo on the upper east side of Chicago. 

“Wow this is huge,” she said. 

Everything in the living room was white. 

“I’m guessing this is not a room you sit in very often.” 

“No, not quite.” 

He gestured to another room. 

Victoria walked in and admired the red and blacks,
in this room the colors really pop off each other.  There was a red modern rectangular couch sitting at the base of the wall, a black area rug with a red and black table sitting on top.  There were black leather chairs with red throw pillows sitting opposite of the couch.  On the wall behind that was a full bar, with bar stools and a fully staffed liquor shelf. 

“Nice,” she said. 

“Make yourself comfortable.” 

“Can I use your restroom?” she asked.