Chapter 13
Rell
For the last two months, Rell and Layla had been going on dates almost twice a week. He had texted all his hoes and let them know they weren't needed. He then blocked them and deleted their contacts.
As of late, Rell's mother had been entering his dreams. As he wrestled throughout the night his mother's words of guidance and advice flourished his mind.
There was an internal battle Rell was keeping to himself. He longed to make things official with Layla. But, he didn't want to rush things,scaring Layla off nor did he want to waste any time.
As the internal battle continued inside Rell, Chanel's new boo, Romeo was facing one of his own—prostate cancer. Rell liked having Romeo around. They had already form a brotherly bond. What Rell greatly appreciated from Romeo was his ability to comfort Chanel in her time of need. Romeo and Chanel leaned on each other during their cancer battle to reminded themselves that they were not alone.
Chanel's condition continued to worsen, so the doctors assigned her to bed almost a month ago. Romeo had been laying in bed with her all day after her intense chemo session. She hadn't been feeling good and she couldn't hold anything down. She began vomiting however when he saw blood, he immediately yelled for Rell.
Rell was half awake when he heard Romeo yell his name. He hurried to Chanel's suite to see what was happening.
Chanel was hunched over her bed spewing blood as Romeo held her hair. "She just started vomiting blood."
"I'll call 911 and her doctors. Try to clean her up."
Rell feared the worst. He didn't want to think negatively but deep down inside he wasn't ready to lose his best friend.
Within five minutes the ambulance had arrived. They transferred Chanel to a stretcher and wheeled her out. Both Rell and Romeo tried to hop in but they were stopped. "Only one person can ride along," the EMT said.
"Go ahead," Rell told Romeo. "I have to go get Maddison anyways. Just text me what hospital."
Rell hopped into his car and sped off. Maddison was with Kam's mother and Kali. They were once again having a girls day at a nearby park.
"It's Chanel," he told Kam's mother. "Can you call them and let them know what's up?"
Once he gotten Maddison situated, he buckled her up. Before he drove off, he had gotten a message from Romeo saying that they had just arrived to Reagan's medical center.
Rell immediately thought on Layla because that's where she worked. He pulled off then he called her through the car.Suddenly, Rell felt a hard impact from the back. When he slammed on the brakes and looked in his side mirrors he saw a large SUV with AK-47s pointing right at his Bentley truck.
Remembering that Maddison was in the back, Rell gassed out however the car began to follow him shooting. Rell was unsure on what to do because his mind was already racing from Chanel's incident.
Maddison's cries brought him back to reality. He made a sharp left turn, resulting in him meeting up with another black SUV with pointed guns.
"Maddi baby, I need you to hide from the big bad guys okay."
Rell floored it and grabbed his gun from the glove compartment. He began shooting back at the second black SUV's wheels. He blew out two wheels causing the SUV to flip.
Rell took the opportunity to speed off however the first SUV was right back at his tail shooting again. Rell felt a piercing in his stomach and looked down. He was shot. He continued to drive wanting to at least get his daughter to safety. More bullets shot through the car, by now Maddison had unbuckled herself and climbed out of her car seat and was down below hiding like she was taught. She knew to only unbuckle herself if Rell or Chanel told her too.
When Rell looked back, Maddison was covering herself with the black bulletproof cover that he kept in his car incase of a situation like this. Being in the drug game was no joke. He had never been targeted before but he knew one day he would be. He had seen the cover on an advertisement for students which he felt was bullshit but he felt it would be a good use in a car instead.
Another bullet ripped through his shoulder, then once again in his abdomen. "Hold on baby," he yelled to Maddison. She was still crying out loud.
Rell felt himself becoming weak. He continue driving but was rear ended, once again. The black SUV continued to hit Rell from the back trying to run him off the road.
Rell's vision became blurred and he began to go in and out consciousness. Just as Rell blacked out, the SUV behind him rammed him one last time causing the car to flip over and over and over.
Layla
"I'm going on break," Layla said at the nurses station. She walked outside the ER where she was stationed and sat on the bench.
As much as she loved her job, they were very strict about having phones on the work floor. She saw a few messages from friends and a missed call and voicemail from Rell from a minute ago.
She smiled. Holding the phone up to her ear, Layla's heart stopped when she heard Maddison's cries, Rell shouting and gunshots sounding off in the background.
"Oh my gosh," she cried out. The voicemail lasted seven minutes. She couldn't listen anymore. She dialed his number over and over. On her eighth attempt, the phone picked up.
"Hello, Rell, Baby," she yelled. " please tell me you're okay."
"Baby," Rell groaned into the phone. "Help."
She could barely hear him. "Okay baby, hold on."
Layla ran inside to her charge nurse, Lauren. "It's my boyfriend. He's been in an accident I don't know where. He's on the phone right."
"Let me Call dispatch find out what we can do," Lauren said.
Layla stayed on the phone with Rell praying that him and Maddison were okay. "Babe hold on okay please."
He grunted letting her know he was listening. She noticed he would lose consciousness for a few seconds then wake up again.
When Layla heard sirens through the phone, she silently thanked god. "Rell they're coming to help you. I'm here waiting for you."
Once she had gotten confirmation that both Rell and Maddison was safely in the ambulance she had called Jace and Kam to inform them about Rell. She tried to call Chanel first but she was then informed by Kam that she was admitted here already.
Layla pulled Lauren to the side. "A friend of mine, Chanel was admitted about thirty minutes ago. Can you let me know where?"
"Ummm I think she's in room 144."
Layla hurried to the room. When she knocked she heard a man voice yell. "Come in."
Layla entered and saw Chanel laying in bed hooked up on an IV. "Oh gosh, what happened?"
"Bad chemo session," she said weakly.
Layla was battling internally on whether to tell her about Rell and Maddison. But she knew she had to.
"Layla this is my boo, Romeo, Romeo this is my boo Layla," Chanel said smiling.
Layla laughed. She loved Chanel's personality and how she didn't leave her illness dampen her day.
"There was an accident," Layla told Chanel.
Chanel sat up immediately.
"With Rell and Maddison. I'm not sure what happen but they are on there way now. I just wanted to let you know and keep you up to speed. Kam and Jace are also on their way. Once I know anything I'll come back to you. If you guys need anything just ask for me."
Chanel nodded quickly. "Please Layla take care of them for me."
"Always," Layla said as she held Chanel's hand. She did a quick prayer then left the room.
She went back to the entrance of the ER waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
Not even a minute had passed and the ambulance pulled up. An EMT brought Maddison out first and Layla rushed over. "Maddison," she yelled.
Maddison stopped crying and looked back seeing Layla. "Lala."
Despite things being unofficial between Layla and Rell, he had formally introduce Layla to Chanel and Maddison. They went out together a few times so Maddison was very familiar with Layla.
"Is she okay," she asked the EMT.
"Yea, vitals are stable just a few bumps and bruises. But I already cleaned her up."
"What about Rell is he okay?"
"I don't know we lost him twice on the way here," EMT said sadly.