elevator, I knew what room Faheem was in because there were several policemen stationed out front. The sound of our shoes hitting the shiny hospital floors echoed as we walked faster. I felt my daughter squeeze my hand as I led the way down the hall that smelled of disinfectant, medicine, and death.
“Daddy!” Kaeerah let go of my hand and rushed to her dad’s bedside.
I could tell that Faheem was drugged up. “There she is! What’s up, Eerah?” He mumbled his pet name for her.
My heart sank when I saw that he was handcuffed to the bed and a police officer was on duty looking out the window. “Are you able to sit up?” I rushed over and propped his pillow up behind his head and raised the top part of the bed slightly.
“Daddy, what happened to your leg? Is it broken? My friend Camille had a cast on her leg when she broke hers. Why are you locked up to the bed?”
“Yeah, it’s broke, baby.”
“How did you break it?”
“Got into a scuffle.”
“That’s why you are locked to the bed?”
“Kaeerah, you can ask Daddy more questions later. Let Mommy talk to him. Go have a seat over there,” I said.
“Aww, man,” she whined as she headed to the chair in the corner.
“Excuse me?” I snapped my neck and turned my head towards her.
“Nothing, Mom.”
I turned back to Faheem and kissed him on the lips. “What happened, baby? Why are you still handcuffed?”
He gave me the short version of what happened and mentioned all of the key players. Then he said, “Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. But my son, Jaz . . . they didn’t have to kill my son.”
I hugged him, because I did not know what to say. Words were not going to bring back Lil’ Faheem. Something in me clicked. I was sick of this bitch Oni and her family. What if that would have been my baby? Now this ho had hurt him to the core. And that was enough to make me want to kill the bitch.
I looked over at the officer who had his back to us, and I whispered in Faheem’s ear, “Let me take care of this. You have all of this heat on you. Let me handle this.” I knew the one thing that would make him feel better.
“What did you just say?”
“Let me do this.”
“Do what?”
I didn’t speak. Even though he was groggy, I knew that he thought it was funny that I would even say some shit like this. But I was for real. “No. Oh, hell, no. Jaz, don’t even think about it. You might as well get that shit out of your mind right now. You don’t even know these niggas.”
“What do you mean, don’t even think about it? You laying up in a hospital bed with one good leg, the other one in a cast. You can’t walk, and you are chained to the bed. The police are all over you; they will be watching the house and watching you. Face it, Faheem, you are hot right now. You already told me all I needed to know. Let me do this.”
“Jaz, I’m not playing with you. You’re not a fuckin’ gangsta. Just because you did a few weeks in jail don’t mean shit. Have you lost your fuckin’ mind?”
“That’s your problem, Faheem. You always underestimate me. But after this, you’re gonna respect me. I’ma leave you alone to think about it.” We continued to argue back and forth in whispers. Shit, there was nothing he could do to me right now but talk and shoot verbal threats. He damn sure couldn’t chase me. “Let’s go, Kaeerah. We’ll come back in the morning to see Daddy.”
“Jaz, don’t make me—”
“Make you do what, Faheem? You’re laid up with a cast on your leg. What you gonna do? Run over her and stop me?”
The nigga Steele needed to be dealt with. Oni was another story. I was not about to let what happened to Trae and Tasha happen to Faheem and me. No bitch was going to destroy my family. I was nipping the shit in the bud. Something I should have done a while ago. If I’d gotten rid of her when I first thought about it, Faheem would still have his son. The more I thought about taking her out, the more excited I became. I grabbed our daughter’s hand, and headed for the door. He slammed his fist down on the bed as