“YB, please think about it. You go down to Philly and there’s no telling what might happen to you down there. You know the cops might be looking for us. You know Harlem and his peoples are gonna be lookin’ for us and no telling who else. We’re safe up here, baby. We got a new life together, you and me.” Chaos felt tears building in her eyes.
“You got a life up here, Chaos, not me!” YB spat back.
“So you’re sayin’ I’m not important enough for you to try and change? I’m not important to you to want somethin’ better for yourself? You wanna leave me? I love you, baby, and I want this for us. I want us to have somethin’ positive in our life for once ’cause all my fuckin’ life, I always lived the negative. I always heard the worse like how much of a slut my mother was and how I would turn out to be just like her. Nobody ever had somethin’ good to say about me or my family. I was treated like shit since I was born. I was born in an abandoned building around rats and my mother almost left me to die. I heard the stories about my mother from so many people that knew her and they looked down at me like I was a fuckin’ abomination.
“And here you are quitting on me just like she did. She left me and never came back for me. I wanted and needed you to be different, because being wit’ you gave me hope for myself. You were the only one that cared about me in Philly. You was there for me when I needed help and now you’re ready to walk out on me for this drug shit!” Chaos spewed her feelings while tears streamed down her face.
YB looked at her knowing the hurt she endured during her life. But he still loved her. “I’m not leaving you, Chaos. I just gotta handle my business,” he said to her calmly.
“Who’s to say that you’re business ain’t gonna get you killed in them streets, especially in fuckin’ Philly? We have enemies YB; do you understand that? Niggas that would blow your head off when they see you, no fuckin’ questions asked. I need you here wit’ me, baby. Please.”
Chaos wrapped her arms around YB again. She loved his closeness and she felt his heart beating against her ear. His embrace gave her comfort.
“Remember what I told you back in Philly, when we were talkin’ at the bar? I’m ready to be all the woman I can for you, baby, in spite of my past. I’m gonna continue to be real wit’ you. You’re all I have right now, and I need you to be here for us,” Chaos said.
YB held her in his arm tightly and then picked up on what Chaos said. “Us? What you sayin’, Chaos?”
Chaos took a deep breath and then stated, “I’m pregnant.”
“You serious? How far?”
“Six weeks and the doctors confirmed it this afternoon. We’re gonna have a baby, YB.”
YB smiled a little as he continued to hold Chaos. “I’m gonna be a father, huh,” he said in an excited tone.
“We’re gonna have a family together,” Chaos said.
YB closed his eyes and thought about it.
Chaos pulled away from YB again and led him to the couch.
“Let’s talk, baby. We need to do this together, you and me. I will not abandon my child like my mother did. And I will not lose you to these streets. I will fight for you and my child, baby. You understand me? I will fight for us to have a better life for our baby, somethin’ that you and me never had coming up,” Chaos stated sternly.
They both sat on the couch and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Chaos told YB how she felt and YB listened intently. He knew that he had to do something with his life, but he was missing his peoples in Philly dearly. However, things had changed now that he had a baby on the way. It was dawning a new day for him.
31
It was 6:15am on a breezy fall day when Crown finally awoke from his coma, almost four months after he’d been shot. The doctors rushed to aid him in his sudden recovery. They said it was a miracle that he was still alive. He suffered three gunshot wounds to his chest which missed his major arteries and almost crippled him. Crown could barely move, but he was conscious of what was going on around him. His breathing was sparse and his condition was still critical, but he was finally awake.
Weeks passed, and Crown’s condition continued to improve rapidly, which impressed the doctors. They did numerous tests on him. Being in a coma for four months didn’t make him forget about the betrayal that happened. He was aware that Chaos and YB had set him up. He often wondered what had happened to the rest of his chicks and his peoples. He wanted answers and he wanted them fast.
Harlem soon learned of Crown coming out of his coma and was back in Philly days later. He wore a white lab coat to conceal his gun, wire-rimmed glasses, and a false I.D. No one challenged him as he looked for Crown’s room. He found the room, walked in, and gently closed the door behind him. Crown was asleep. Harlem pulled the long, white curtain around his bed, giving them some privacy from the other patient in the room, who was also asleep. He stared down at Crown’s sleeping body.
Harlem cleared his throat. Crown shifted and then opened his eyes to see this tall, harrowing figure in a lab coat, looming over him.
When Crown saw that it was Harlem he became alert. He propped himself up against the headboard and said, “What took you so fuckin’ long to come?”
“I was out of town, just recently got the news,” Harlem replied.
“I’m in bad shape, my nigga. It’s gonna take me some time to recover from my injuries. But I didn’t forget,” Crown stated.
“Just give me names,” Harlem said in a low, eerie manner.
“My cousin’s dead, along wit’ Sweet. But that bitch Chaos set me up. They left me for dead, so I think it’s time we return the favor,” Crown said in a low whisper.
“Like I said, just give me names to go on,” Harlem repeated.
“Muthafucka, YB! I want you to put to death everything that muthafucka loves: his cousin, Magic, and if his mother is still alive, kill that bitch. And then I want you to find them for me, Harlem. I want them gutted like fish. I want them to suffer and burn for this shit.”