The Brothers

XXXVI: Get Through It

Once they get Odell to Cam's truck, Cam takes off for the hospital, also calling Kai and the girls to let them know what's going on. Odell groans in pain on the way there. "Hurry."

"I'm goin as fast as I can." Cam says.

"Where's Luke?" He asks quietly.

"He's....he's dead Dell."

"What?" He asks in disbelief.

"Yeah...me and Colin found him tonight." A few tears escape from Cam's eye, and tears made their way out of Odell's as well.

"Where's Akasha?" Odell asks.

"Over at Aaliyah's. All of them are over there, but Kash said they'd meet us at the hospital." They finally make it to the hospital and Cam pulls up to the ER. "I'm gonna go get a wheelchair and a nurse, stay here." He says getting out.

"Where else could I possibly go." Odell says in pain. He sits there and waits, while flashbacks play in his mind.

"Yo can I get some help!" Cam says walking inside. A nurse walks over to him. "My brother's outside in the car. He's hurt. Bad."

"Okay." The nurse says and grabs a wheel chair. They both walk to the passenger side of the car.

"Dell. Come on." Cam says grabbing Odell's arm and putting it around his neck. Odell groans. "My bad man. These doctors gone fix you up though."

They wheel him inside and take him straight to the back. After being examined, he had to go straight into surgery. While in the OR waiting room, he can hear Aaliyah, Kash and Kai's voices from down the hall.

"Cam!" Kash says.

"Hey y'all." He says hugging the three of them.

"Where's CJ?" Cam asks.

"With my mom." Kai says.

"How long till he's out of surgery?" Kash asks.

"I don't know. They didn't tell me."

"Where's Colin? Why is he not here?" Aaliyah asks.

"He had to take care of something before he came."

"What's more important than being here for Odell, Cam?"

"Aaliyah, trust me. He had to do this. I can vouch for him." She nods. About 15 minutes later, Colin walks in the waiting room.

"How is he?" He asks.

"He's still in surgery." Colin nods then looks at Aaliyah.

"Come take a walk with me." He says. She hesitates at first, but she needs to know what happened. They take a walk outside and end up in her car because it's so cold out.

"You gonna tell me what happened?"

"It was Cain. He took Odell, and he killed Luke. We killed them...him and Tommy."

"Tommy? Thought he was loyal to you."

"I thought he was too. Mothafucka was nothin but a snake."

"So what now?"

"I'm out....I'm out. I lost my brother over this shit. Worse part about it is, we were on bad terms...and that's something I'm gonna have to live with...all of this shit. I don't even know how I'm gonna tell his folks that he's gone." She puts her hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I'm not asking you to take me back, but I am asking for your forgiveness. I really am sorry and I never meant to hurt you."

"Shhhh. I forgive you."

He nods. "I didn't see Jr in the waiting room, where is he?"

"With Kai's mom." Aaliyah grabs his hand. "We're gonna get through this."

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Odell finally gets out of surgery and is in the recovery room for about and hour then he gets taken to a room. Once he's wheeled in there, Kash is the first in to see him.

"Hey baby." She says in tears.

"Hey...don't cry."

"I'm just so happy you're okay." She says hugging him. She plants a kiss on his lips.

"Thanks to Cam and Colin. They're the reason I'm alive right now. I love you. I love you so much Kash."

"I love you!"

After they have their moment alone, everyone else comes in the room. Cam and Colin stand by his bed, one on each side.

"Thank y'all."

"It's no problem. I'm the reason you were even put in that situation, and for that, I apologize. I promised that I'd keep y'all out of harms way, and I broke that promise."

"You good. You've done a good job of keeping that promise."

"Until now."

"I'm alive aren't I. It could have been worse."

"What about Luke...that's on me."

"Ay, you had no idea Cain would flip on you." Cam says.

"Still tearing me up inside."

"Hey, we gone get through this. Together." Cam says.

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The following week, Luke's body had been sent back to Houston, where they could have a proper service with his family present. Colin was the one to inform Luke's parents on what happened. He didn't go into too much detail about him knowing Cain and all that, but he did let them know that some sort of justice was served.

CJ took it just as hard as the guys did. In the process of growing closer with colin, he had also grown closer with his uncles. It took many nights to comfort him, but when the funeral rolled around, his sadness came back, along with everyone else's.

The guys spent a few days in Houston after the funeral to spend time with their families, and Odell's mom finally got to meet the woman that has stole her son'a heart...and Ms. Heather loves her.

On their last night in Houston, they all go out for dinner. Colin and Aaliyah didn't want to leave CJ with Colin's mom, so he came along.

Odell figured this would be the perfect time to pop the question. He hadn't told Cam or Colin that he was doing it tonight, so it's a big surprise to everyone.

"Before we all leave...there's something that I wanna do." He gets out of his chair and walks to Kash. He slowly gets down on one knee. Aaliyah and Kai are already about to start crying.

"Akasha Giselle Williams. You are seriously my everything. I wake up with a smile on my face everyday because I know that you're right here beside me. I still get mad that it took me this damn long to realize that I needed to grow up and get serious, but I'm so glad that I did. Would you do me the honor of marrying me, and becoming my wife?"

Kash quickly gathers herself to say yes. After sliding the ring on her finger, Odell stands to his feet, and helps her out of her chair to give her a hug. "I love you." He says.

"I love you more.