“Oh, I can keep her for you,” I said quickly.
“No, Glow.”
“Glee. Tell Mama she can come the weekend after next. I need some one-on-one time with my niece, anyway. I gotta make up for neglecting her arrival home. Just show me what you’ve learned while I was hibernating and being in my feelings. Also, you should get you a hotel. Don’t make that drive in one day. Your body needs rest.”
“How about this… If you eat three times a day and keep it down from now till Thursday night, I’ll tell Mommy no.”
Glee held her pinky out. We hooked fingers, and I stuffed my mouth again. Small cries had us detaching, and I tried to get up, but Glee’s arm pushed me back on the bed.
“Nope. Finish up.”
Glee stood and ran out as I forked pasta into my mouth. The pasta was heavy, but after days without food, I needed this— well, my digestive system needed it.
Picking up my phone while chewing, I checked my call log, finally in a better mood. Tunan hadn’t called once. He hadn’t texted either.
“Leader, meet your TeeTee.”
Pushing my plate aside, I held my arms out. Glee raised her brow at the food being pushed away.
“I’ll eat and hold her. Gimme!” Tears sprang to my eyes immediately when I looked into her small face. “Oh my God!”
She was the tiniest, most beautiful baby on the planet. She was so pink, and her features were so vivid for someone so new. She looked like Glee’s twin, but I could also see the father’s DNA swirling in her features. Whoever he was, he was handsome, for sure, because she was a doll. I knew in that moment that this was my baby just as much as it was my sister’s.
“I get so mad at myself, but then I see her, and I don’t regret a thing. I don’t regret him. I don’t regret her. She’s so perfect to me.” My sister smiled, and the room got brighter.
“I love her name, too, Glee. She’s perfect.”
“She is… Now, finish your food. I have milkshakes in the freezer.”
I shook my head, knowing our stomachs were about to be fucked up.
Chapter 6
Shio Cuppacio
“As you can see, it’s a clean break.” The doctor held up an X-ray so we could clearly see the skeletal arm.
Sure enough, the bone was broken. A whimper from the left made me refocus my gaze from the middle-aged, pot-bellied doctor to a tear-faced Bahati. She was no longer holding her arm to her chest; it was now in a sling. Her dirty clothes had been replaced with a silk pajama set, thanks to the flight attendant who helped Bahati take a shower after I declined to help her. Solana had toughened it out with the rest of us and was sitting in her clothes while caring for the small toddler, my daughter. I still hadn’t seen her directly. With so many thoughts racing through my mind, I had to disassociate myself before I could give her my attention.
We’d landed four hours ago, and while I needed a shower, a gym session, maybe one or two blunts, and a triple shot of the finest whatever was in my collection, I was accompanying Bahati to see the doctor. She’d been screaming her head off during the latter part of the plane ride after the liquor wore off, so I had the doctor meet us at the hangar. He took one look at her arm and told us she needed a hospital. He wouldn’t even be able tohelp her at his private practice. She needed X-rays to determine where the break was, because, according to him, there was indeed a fracture. His colleague had proven him right. I pressed my head into the wall since I was standing near the door with my hoodie pulled over my head and arms tucked into the black hoodie I’d gotten from the trunk of my Maybach, which was also waiting.
Bahati looked up at me for answers while the man, who could ease her pain, stood there in a white coat. Since we’d killed a slew of motherfuckers in Mexico, we were ushered through the private entrance of Jagoda One. Due to the excessive money we’d poured into this bitch, she’d been seen without ever being processed into the system. It took a few rounds of X-rays and assessments I hadn’t expected, but there was nothing I could do but wait it out. Thankfully, the baby slept through the whole flight, more than likely due to being shaken up, and the doctor had also looked her over and determined she was fine.
“So… Do I need surgery?” Fat tears slid down Bahati’s round face. Her voluptuous lips were trembling, but I wasn’t sure if she was crying from the pain. Something about Bahati was rubbing me the wrong way. I was trying to shake the shit off because I knew I was pissed that she’d held the child from me. Still, I wanted to be anywhere but near her.
“Not at all. I’ll get you put in a cast for about six weeks. You’ll be somewhat restricted and experience some itching, but you’ll be as good as new in no time. I can get started on the cast as soon as I gather the supplies. In the meantime, I’ll have a nurse start you on an IV for a small dose of morphine. I know the Lortab has more than likely worn off.”
The doctor stuffed the black-and-white X-ray into a folder and tucked it back under his arm. It would be discarded, just like any footage of us caught on camera walking the halls once we left.
“I have to advise that the morphine does come with side effects. Dizzi?—”
“Dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, itching, hallucination, vomiting, oh… and constipation.” Bahati finished.
The doctor was impressed.
She shifted on the elevated bed, letting her head hit the pillow. “I’m a pharmacy technician.”
My eyes cut to Bahati, knocking the smirk off her face. This doctor was recommended by someone on our payroll, and her volunteering information was unnecessary to this unfamiliar doctor. It could very well put us in a position to get jammed up. I didn’t know if someone had reported her being kidnapped or what. The last thing I needed was the fucking laws buzzing around, especially since Don had revealed that some already were. It hadn’t been too long since we killed a detective, but we’d decided to avoid doing so again. We didn’t need any pigs veering on our trail, making us renege on our plan to keep everything cool in Jagoda Bay.
