Chapter 17: AVERIE - A Street King's Widow
By Jenica J.
Today was exhausting, and I still had to make sure Kaiden made it to football practice. I was sitting at my desk charting one of my patients when someone walked up to the nurse’s station.
“Is there an Averie here?”
I walked from the glass and into the nurse’s station with the other nurse.
“Yeah,” I said.
“You got flowers.”
I grabbed them. “From who?”
Thinking about you.
~Q
I rolled my eyes.
“Who is Q?” one of my nurses asked.
“A problem.”
Everyone at the nurse’s station laughed. The nigga number was still folded up in that same purse I carried that night, and that was weeks ago. My mama had been on my ass about contacting him and getting my pussy stretched since it had been years. It sounded good but my focus was on work and my kids. A man was only an added headache. I placed the flowers in my office and closed the door since it was close to my lunchtime. I googled District 12’s phone number and dialed the number.
“District 12,” a woman answered the phone.
“Hey, is Q there?”
“Umm, hold on, let me see.”
“This Q,” he said into the phone.
“I thought I asked you to stop sending me gifts. It’s getting creepy. Now you’re sending things to my job.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because somebody needs to.”
I got quiet.
“I ain’t asking you on a date or nothing. Just treating you with beautiful flowers and bags.”
“You’re literally flirting your way into a date.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with it.”
“Okay, well stop sending things to my job. It’s bad enough you looked up my address.”
“I’ll stop when you smile. Have a good day, Averie,” he said, hanging up.
He got me because now I was smiling. Then it faded as soon as I got on social media and noticed someone posted a picture of Rah with the caption: Real King and Legend. I logged out before I got sucked into the comments. Social media had become the fastest way to ruin my mood. Everybody in the city had a picture and memory of Rah. I sat the phone face down on the desk and looked over at the flowers. They were beautiful. I hadn’t gotten flowers since I was with Rah over eight years ago.
Q had good taste. He could’ve sent some grocery store roses wrapped in plastic and made it easier for me to throw them away. Instead, the arrangement looked expensive and well thought out. I walked over and read the card again. There was a knock before my office door cracked open, and one of my nurses walked in.
“The flowers are beautiful, Averie.”
“They are, but the man who sent them is a little weird.”
“Averie, I’m trying to understand why a fine man sending you flowers is a problem. Is he married or something?”
I usually didn’t let my nurses in my business, but she was different than the other nurses. She did her work and minded her business. I never saw her gossip.
“No, he’s not married.”
“Got a girlfriend?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kids? Gay? Criminal record?”
“I don’t know.”
She stared at me. “Okay, what do you know?”
“He owns District 12.”
“Quincey?
“Oh gawd,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He’s a hoe, ain’t he?”
“I don’t know him personally, but everyone goes to District 12 and knows how sweet Quincey is. My sister had her thirtieth there and he came out to make sure everything was good.”
“Okay, that’s typical for him. He takes District 12 serious.”
“Maybe you should get to know him better so you can get to know who he is.”
“My standards are too high.”
“They should be, but you can at least find out if the man had anything else going for him.”
“I’m not interested,” I told her.
“Your smile earlier said otherwise.”
“Okay, bye. I’m sure there is someone that needs some help out there.”
After she left, I looked down at the picture of my kids beside my computer. Kaiden stood behind Khari with both hands on her shoulders while I grinned like somebody had just handed me a million dollars. My kids were my world. Seeing how young they were in that picture just let me know that life still goes on whether you’re prepared or not. I wasn’t Kyenna. I wasn’t married to Rah or had been in bed with him for years. Still, there was a part of me that had never completely released him. I dated a few guys after him, but it never got past the first date because I always compared them to him. Then he died and somehow, he became even harder to compete with. A dead man couldn’t disappoint me anymore. My phone vibrated.
Kaiden: Practice moved to 6
I checked the time and noticed I had a few more hours.
Me: Did you eat before practice
Kaiden: yes
Me: What?
Add a novel to your reading list.
Browse Lokepub and choose your next book.
Kaiden: food
Me: Keep playing with me and you’ll walk home from practice
Kaiden:
I was about to respond when the overhead speaker called for a rapid response on the third floor. Because I was a part of the trauma team, I threw my phone in my pocket and headed to the elevator. A patient had crashed after surgery, and it took us a while to get them back stable. Just moments ago, I was having a conversation with one of the nurses about Q, and the next I was gloved up with blood everywhere, trying to save someone’s life. It was the reason I picked nursing. It kept me focused on what mattered at the moment. I could have things going on, but the patient needed me for however long they needed me. I had just washed my hands when one of the receptionists called me over my walkie-talkie.
“Averie, somebody is asking for you down in the ER.”
“If it’s another delivery, send it back.”
She laughed. “It ain’t flowers.”
“Okay, who is it?”
“It’s a man.”
I stopped walking.
“A man?”
“Tall, dark, dressed nice and smells good,” she whispered.
I closed my eyes. I just knew this nigga didn’t bring his ass to my job. When I made it to the lobby, Q was standing near the windows with his hands in his pockets. He smiled when he saw me.
“Are you stalking me? I thought I made things clear.”
“Bad timing?”
“Q.”
He laughed and held his hands up. “I’m not here for you.”
“Then why did you ask for me?”
“One of my cooks cut his hand last night and needed surgery. I came to check on him and figured since I was already here, I’d say hello.”
That sounded reasonable, and now I was feeling stupid for assuming.
“Oh,” I said, feeling ashamed.
“Yeah. Oh!”
“Well, I hope he is okay.”
“He’ll be straight. Probably out of work for a minute but I’m going to still pay him until he comes back. Bills don’t stop because you get hurt.”
His response reminded me of how Rah would handle business.
“That’s nice of you.”
“Yeah, you gotta take care of your people.”
One of the clerks walked by and looked between us and smirked.
“You really don’t care that everybody sees us talking?” I asked.
“Why would I?”
“You own District 12, and I’m Rah’s baby mama. It don’t take much for people to turn that into something.”
His expression changed. “Do you always introduce yourself through Rah? Like is that your whole personality?”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“I didn’t introduce myself through anybody.”
“You just told me who you were by telling me whose baby mama you are.”
“Q, you know damn well that’s not what I meant.”
“I’m not disrespecting that man. I knew Rah.”
“What you mean you knew him?”
“Who didn’t know him? He would come to District 12 every now and then.”
“When was the last time he came through District 12?”
“He would come through with different people. Sometimes with his brother and sometimes with other people. Why are you interrogating me?”
“Can you tell me the last time you saw him there?”
“A couple of weeks before he got murdered.”
“Who was he with?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remember seeing him but don’t know with who.”
“Averie, I own a bar. I see hundreds of people a week. We standing here like you’re asking me did I kill your baby daddy? All I said was I knew him. What happened to that nigga had nothing to do with me. You make sure you have a good rest of your day.” He started walking off.
“Okay.”
“And Averie,” he stopped. “Don’t be suspicious of every person who says Rah’s name. That man touched a lot of lives.”