Page 96 of Stay Dangerous

Fredo scored tickets to a concert in Victory City. Of course, now I knew it was a set up, but back then, it was lit. We hadn’t done anything, just us, in a while. And it was a Torreign concert. He was a rapper, but surprisingly, had a diehard female base, so I knew it would be females there, and I could get Snow off my mind.

We were all set to go. I’d stayed over Kisha’s that Friday, and had clothes there, so I didn’t even have to go home.

But Fredo did. And that’s when shit started going haywire.

We got there early that Saturday morning, and Sean was there, sleeping on the couch. Said Ty-Ty told him to stay put. Same with Reem; he and his mama been holed up at Granny’s house. But no one can find Ty-Ty.

Then Turk called Fredo, frantic. Autumn was gone.

Narrowly, we were able to slip out before that bitch nigga Kilo gave the order to lock down the Birch. It took us entirely too long to figure out Snow was missing, too, but it was easy enough to break into her MyRoom, and see the last place they were, was at the Birch.

Nearly twenty-hour hours later, here we were, fucked up, but alive. That was more that I could say for half the Birch Babies.

But through it all, we still never found Snow. Kilo claimed she set Autumn up, but I refused to believe it. She loved her sistermore than she loved herself. She wouldn’t leave her to rot. She wouldn’t give her away to be used and abused by them niggas.

My chest felt like it was being shredded every time I breathed, so I only took shallow breaths. We were in San Joaquin, and the hospital was the next exit.

But my eyes were feeling so heavy. And with every bump in the road, Turk cried out. And the smell of all our blood mixing was making me nauseous on top of everything else.

I was really finna die. I wasn’t even eighteen yet.

“Rick!”

My eyes stretched and I swerved away from the car at the last second, correcting myself just enough. But I blew through the light, going on two wheels as I turned right and then left, into the emergency bay of the hospital.

I ain’t even bother to turn the car off. I just put it in park in front of the sliding doors and got out.

Fredo and Autumn were already helping Turk out when I rounded the front. My energy was leaking out of me by the gallon. As soon as I crossed the threshold, I dropped to the floor.

I got us there. That was all that mattered.

The sun was going down when I finally opened my eyes. Fredo sat in front of the window, staring me down like he was daring me to die on him.

He smirked when my eyes focused on him. I looked around as I tried to sit up, taking in how nice the private room was.

“Of course, Pops knows the chief of medicine here. Big ass hulking nigga, who I don’t buy for a minute he’s just a doctor, but at least the pigs won’t be taking us in.”

“Of course,” I coughed, making Fredo hand me a cup of water with a straw.

“You needed two blood transfusions, but you should be good since you’ve been knocked out. Turk’s arm is fucked all the way up. They saying he gonna be in a cast for months, but they’re clean breaks, and he only needs casts, no rods and shit.”

“That’s good.” My throat was sore as fuck, and I felt like I could sleep for thirty more days.

“I don’t have a concussion either. Which I knew, but, it’s cool to get a second opinion.”

“What about mentally? You gotta know–”

“Not now.” His lips quirked, but I knew better. Nothing was funny. Shit wasn’t finna be funny for a while.

I swallowed, not wanting to ask about Autumn. She bossed up when it was time to, she came in clutch. Once again, she saved our lives.

But before all of that, I saw the look in her eyes. The same look Ma would have, like she was dead inside.

“They ain’t rape her.”

His voice was so small, I barely heard it over my ragged breaths. But I heard it. And I let myself melt into the uncomfortable hospital bed.

“She, uh, made me stay in the room. She ain’t wanna be alone.” He scratched his scalp and wiped his nose. “Her hymen’s intact. Just bruising everywhere. Handprints. Some bald spots from where her braids were ripped out. She fought back, so they collected DNA from under her fingernails and shit. Took pictures, in case she wanted to press charges. She flinched every time they touched her, but then when they were done, I held her until she went to sleep from whatever they gave her.”