Page 9 of Surrogate For My Best Friend’s Man 2

“Is Auntie Shante okay?”

“I hope so.”

On the way out, I saw Kim’s bag again. A blue blanket sticking out. “ For me and Deuce’s twins.” I shook my head. She's crazy, that's all it was, obsessed and delusional. But I knew one thing, I wasn’t ignoring her again. I was going to find out what the hell she meant! I mean yeah she might be delusional and crazy but I don’t think she would just make no shit up like that. I got Brittany in the truck and my phone rang and it was Malik calling.

“What’s going on?” I answered.

“They keeping her.”

My heart dropped. “Why?”

“Blood pressure was high and they wanted to monitor her and the babies.”

“Is she awake?” I asked.

“Yeah she was when I was in there I came outside to get some air.” He responded.

I exhaled. “She can’t have no more stress.”

“I know and she ain’t gone have no more if I have anything to do with it .” He said.

“I’m sorry this was supposed to be a special day,” I said.

“That don’t matter right now.” Malik let me know.

“I know, I’m just saying if that crazy bitch wouldn’t have come in there on bullshit I wouldn’t have had to whoop her ass!” I explained.

“I’ll call you later.” Malik let me know before hanging up.

More calls came in from grandma Lorraine, cousins and unknown numbers. Everybody wanted answers but I didn’t have none. I silenced my phone and sat there in the driver’s seat thinking. That morning I had been worried about decorations and now Shante was in the hospital and Deuce was locked up. And Kim had said some shit I wasn’t ready to even think about. I pulled the visor down and my hair was a mess and makeup smeared, and there was a scratch on my neck. “Unbelievable,” I mumbled.

I pulled out of the lot, still telling myself Kim had made it all up. I needed to believe that because even if a little bit of what she said was true I wasn’t ready for that at least not yet.

SHANTE

The ambulance doors slammed shut behind me. Everything after that felt like a blur. The sirens echoed through the streets while one of the paramedics kept wrapping that blood pressure cuff around my arm every few minutes.

“Try to relax.” The paramedic instructed.

Relax? How the hell was I supposed to relax after what just happened? Kim had completely lost her damn mind. The second she walked through those doors carrying them big ass gift bags, something in my stomach dropped. I knew she was about to start some shit. But I never thought she’d do… that. “For me and Deuce’s twins.” Were the words that kept replaying in my head.

Lord knows I wanted to beat her ass. I ain’t care about being pregnant and all the people standing around, I ain’t care about the decorations, the balloons, or that damn cake. I wanted to snatch Kim up by that cheap ass lace front and drag her all over that banquet hall. Just thinking about it made my head hurt. If she’d kept her damn mouth shut, none of this would’ve happened. Instead, I ended up laid out on that floor, praying that the babies were okay, and now it felt like my whole life was falling apart.

“You with me?” The paramedic’s voice pulled me back.

“Huh?” I asked.

“I asked if you’re having any pain.” He asked again.

“My head,” I swallowed. “And my stomach.”

“Scale from one to ten?” He asked.

“About a seven.” I replied.

He typed something into his tablet. “You’ve been under a lot of stress today?”

I looked over at Malik, he hadn’t taken his eyes off me since I passed out.