More ice, more rubbing his chest, and more praying and begging to God.
His eyes sprang open and he popped up. “Fuck my inhaler at?” he asked.
“Oh my God! Thank you, Jesus!” Bianca said with a sigh of relief and immediately looked around until her eyes caught sight of his inhaler. She grabbed it and handed it to him.
He took it from her hand and was sluggish for a few seconds as he used his inhaler. She sat down on the floor beside him then closed her eyes, counting his blessing for him.
“Where the hell my money at?” he abruptly asked.
“Nigga . . . ” She turned her nose up at him. “I just saved your fucking life, and not to mention your punk ass gave me the scare of my fucking life, and all you can ask me about is your money?” She shook her head and then bopped him upside the head “And cover that shit up.” She pointed to his long, medium-sized penis. It wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t nothing to play with either.
He laughed at her. “Man, go grab my robe for me. I’m still the patient.” She got up and went to his bathroom to get his robe. He called out to her, “And grab yourself a cooler or a beer out of the fridge. Shit, yo ass need it.”
Bianca threw him the robe as she dropped some towels on the floor to get the melted ice up. She handed him the Corona so he could open it up for her. “I don’t even drink this shit, but you got me drinking it though.” She rolled her eyes at him.
Viper passed the opened bottle back to her and scooted closer. He put his arm around her, looked her in the eyes, and said to her, “You are truly my li’l sister, you know that?” Then he kissed her on the cheek.
She was quiet for a second. “Sweet, but I decline.”
“How do you decline?” he asked.
“Because I never had a brother before, and all my life I wished I had one to protect me.”
“Well, you got one now.”
“See, my expectations of my big brother are tall, and if you high and using all the time, then how you going to protect me? And if you die, then what?” She shook her head. “I honestly can’t take no more heartaches and pains. You would think after everything I’ve been through in my life that I would be immune to it, but not quite.” She zoned off and looked into space, trying not to think of the things that had hurt her. She almost didn’t want to risk her heart and suffer any more losses. She’d already lost too much.
“Look, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be here for you.”
“Man, why you gotta do that shit?” She pointed to the needle on the floor, shaking her head in distaste. As much as she’d been through, she was not an addict.
“Just my demons, that’s all,” he said.
“What demons could you possibly have that would drive you to this? I mean, you have a really nice place, which symbolizes you do okay for yourself, and you had thirty-five hundred dollars at your disposal to come and get me out on bail. Doesn’t seem like you hurting for it, because you didn’t call me one time to pay you.”
“Yeah, I do have a good life. I can’t complain. But it’s not this life; it’s my past life that’s so filled with demons.”
“Okay, so if I’m going to be your sister, it’s a no-judgment zone. After all, I do some real crazy shit, and I don’t want you judging me either. So, with that being said, you gotta confide in me,” she said.
“These demons are heavy.”
“Trust me, I’m sure they’re not as heavy as mine. Why you think I came here? To run away from mine.”
The truth of the matter was that now, reflecting on everything that had happened with Peanut, she knew that if she had stayed and faced the music and had gotten a good lawyer, she could probably beat the murder charges on her baby. The real thing that she didn’t want to face was finally having to face her abuse. It was just too painful to try to tackle such a traumatic experience that she had held in and had harbored deep in the pit of her stomach and in the back of her mind for so long. It was so much easier to avoid and act as if it didn’t happen than to face it. It was just easier for her to leave. Bianca knew in her heart of hearts that she would eventually prevail, but the pain . . . well, that was another story.
She wasn’t ready to deal with her hurt now, still, but she knew one day in the near future, she would be.
“What demons could drive you to this? We are siblings now. We must learn to trust each other,” she said.
Viper thought deep and hard. “Yo, this shit is so fucked up. I never told nobody this shit. Nobody!” he said as he stared off.
Bianca just sat and waited patiently.
“Look, it’s like this.... A’ight . . . ” He tried to fix his words and search for the right ones to convey. “I’m just going to keep it real with you. No judging.”
“No judging.” She reached for his hand to give him comfort.
“Look, it’s like this. I used to get a whole lot of money. I mean money, money—like kingpin-status money. No bullshit.”
“I believe that.”
“So when a nigga getting stupid, ridiculous money, it gives him all kinds of options in every which a way—like countless options, countless bitches, just whatever a nigga want. Just options! Whatever a nigga want, think he want, or don’t want.”
“Right,” she agreed.
“So, I had this amazingly beautiful woman, who I loved with all of my heart. I swear I got up every day and hustled
