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“No more than five minutes, okay?”
“Okay,” Nico responded.
Nico closed the door behind him and walked up to the side of BJ’s bed. BJ was almost unrecognizable because of all the bandages and surgical tape, and the wires, IVs, and monitors attached to him, and the breathing tube attached to his mouth. He noticed the Velcro handcuffs on BJ’s arms, hooking his wrists to the bed railing to prevent him from trying to remove any of the medical equipment.
“BJ, it’s Nico. Can you hear me?”
BJ was silent, his eyes closed.
Nico was as tough as they come, but the sight of his homie in that condition almost made him shed tears. He undid the Velcro handcuff on BJ’s right wrist and clutched his hand.
“BJ, it’s me, Nico.” He could feel BJ starting to squeeze his hand. That was the best feeling. It felt like a surge of electricity shot through his body when BJ squeezed his hand. “You gonna be all right, my nigga. I promise you that.”
BJ squeezed Nico’s hand. Nico could see that BJ was starting to sweat. He looked around and he saw a box of napkins, took a few, and then blotted the sweat from BJ’s brow.
After he did that, Nico could see BJ trying to motion something to him. BJ couldn’t talk if he wanted to, because of the breathing tube attached to his mouth.
Nico tried to figure out what was going on, and was wondering if he should call the nurse. But then he realized BJ was motioning for a pen or a pencil so he could write something. Nico told BJ to relax, that he would be right back with a pen and paper. He quickly left the room and approached the nurse, who gave him a pen and a small notepad, and reminded him that he only had a few more minutes in the room. Nico assured her that he wouldn’t be long and quickly made it back to BJ’s room, where he put the pen in BJ’s hand and held the pad for him.
BJ mustered up all the strength he could and struggled to write the letters L and O.
Nico held on to BJ’s hand and squeezed. He didn’t want to tell him anything about Lo at that point because he knew BJ needed to focus all of his strength and energy on trying to recover from his own wounds.
“Everything is good. Don’t worry about nothing. Just relax, so we can get you healed up and outta here.”
BJ motioned for the pad, and Nico again positioned it so he could write.
BJ then scribbled the words NO KIDS. BJ didn’t want his kids to come to the hospital and see him like that. Nico reassured him that he would get word back to his girl and make sure that she didn’t bring the kids with her to the hospital.
The nurse walked into the room and told Nico that he had to go. Nico told BJ that they were making him leave and that he would be back to check on him the next day.
Nico felt drained when he left the hospital and made it down to the parking lot, where his driver was waiting for him. He instructed the driver to take him to his crib out on Long Island. The roads were deserted because it was nearly the break of dawn and no one was out, which allowed Nico to make it to his house rather quickly.
When he realized Jasmine wasn’t home, he decided to have his driver drop him by Mia’s house. Without calling before showing up, Nico arrived and let himself in with his own key.
“Oh my God!” Mia screamed out when she awoke to feel Nico touching her.
Mia wasn’t expecting Nico, or anyone else for that matter, and since she had withdrawn that cash from the safety deposit box earlier that day, she was terrified that someone had broken into her house to rob her.
“Baby, it’s me,” Nico said.
“Ugggghhh! My God! You scared the shit outta me! Why didn’t you call before you came?” Mia sat up in the bed and turned on the lamp on her nightstand. She saw that Nico looked kind of ragged, and she then asked if everything was ok.
“Lo got killed.”
“What? Baby, oh no.”
“BJ is in ICU. Shit is so fuckin’ crazy right now, I don’t know.” Nico sat down on the bed and ran his hand down his face.
Mia, in her short lace nightie, positioned herself behind Nico on the bed and began to massage his shoulders. “What happened?”
“We was leaving Bebo’s funeral, over on Linden, and muthafuckas pulled up in a Hummer or some shit and just sprayed everybody. The shit was a zoo. Niggas was running, and bitches was screaming and shit. BJ and Lo got hit. Ambulances and five-o came, rushed them to the trauma unit and . . . ”
Nico stopped talking in the middle of what he was saying, and Mia knew not to push for more information. She just wrapped her arms around him and hugged him real tight and told him that she was so glad he was okay.
“It ain’t about me, though.”
“I know, baby, but if something had happened to you, I couldn’t live.”
