Page 31 of Sun Kissed Moments

Me: Justina, answer my call, bruh. Real shit.

“You look like you about to pass out, bruh. Sit down,” Angelo urged.

I plopped down on the couch and rubbed my chest. It felt like an elephant was sitting on me. Attempting to do anything I could to get to Justina, I went to IG to contact her. I rarely went on social media, so I wasn’t surprised to have hundreds of messages, mentions, and tags waiting for me. Everyone was losing their minds over seeing Justina and me linked up. Frustrated that she had me blocked, I wanted to strangle her ass.

“My fuckin’ chest hurts bad as shit,” I mumbled. My head hurt like hell too. They hurt so badly that I wondered if the stress of the last few days had finally begun to take its toll.

“You need to go to the hospital,” Angelo suggested.

For whatever reason, the more I thought about how bad my chest and head hurt, the more those muthafuckas hurt. Then nausea took over. Last thing I wanted to do was die on foreign soil. Hannah would kill me.

One phone call and four hours later, I looked at the doctor like he was stupid. I could’ve sworn his ass just told me that my heart was fine.

“Ain’t no fuckin’ way,” I stated. “I felt that shit. I know I had a heart attack.”

Dr. Horton looked at me over the rim of his tiny ass glasses and chuckled. “No disrespect, Mr. Richards, but I’ve been a cardiologist for thirty years. Why do you think they called me instead of the cardiologist who’s on call?”

“They wanted to be sure,” Angelo said.

“They wanted to be sure,” Dr. Horton reiterated. “Now. We’ve done a chest X-ray, echocardiogram, an MRI of your brain, and an ultrasound of your heart. We’ve done the necessary blood work, and none of your cardiac markers are elevated. This could’ve been a fluke.”

“That’s yo’ fuckin’ diagnosis, bruh? A fluke?” I quizzed.

“Would you like me to make something up?” he questioned.

I grilled him.

He shrugged. “Didn’t think so. I’ll have you out of here in a second.” He disappeared out the door, leaving me with Angelo.

I rubbed my chest, thankful that I was okay but confused about the pain I felt. Honestly, I was a little scared it would return.

“Wait… You remember when I joked about how serious you were about Justina?” Angelo asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Nigga, it’s deeper than I thought.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You love her. Like really love her,” he surmised.

“No shit, nigga. The fuck you think I'm doin' all this shit for?"

He waved me off. “What I’m saying is, you need to get back to Miami and get yo’ girl before you really do croak over.”

As much as I agreed with Angelo, we had work to do. “We gotta solidify this deal,” I stated.

“Bruh, fuck UMR. If you don’t get back to Justina, you ain’t gon’ be around long enough to do any fuckin’ thing.”

Yeah, he was right. I had to get back to Justina. The sudden loss of her presence and voice was about to take me out. This was further proof that I had to have Justina in my life. It was no longer a matter of want. I needed her. It was life or death.

Since receiving that message, I remained holed up in my house, refusing to face the world. My name was being dragged from here to the deepest part of the ocean. Folks were labeling me all kinds of stupid bitches. I had Shy T blocked, but I was sure he was having a fucking field day. After spotting him the other night staring me down, I was sure he was somewhere laughing his ass off. Even with a few people defending me, I was still drowning in a court of public opinion.

Sighing, I tried to forget about Dane and carried more boxes out of my bedroom and downstairs to the den. I’d finally began remodeling my room, and with anger as my fuel, I was doing a great job so far.

A beep from my security system alerted me to someone’s arrival. I placed the box on the floor and wondered who was pulling up. My mama was here, still minding my business, but she didn’t tell me that she expected anyone. It was almost dark, and I wasn’t expecting anyone either. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw Dane’s Ghost parked in the driveway.

Hurrying to the door, I snatched it open as he stalked up to the front door. He wore a scowl on his face that terrified me, but he looked so damn good I nearly swooned.