Teri Woods - True To The Game III

“Hey, you okay? You always seem like you’re miles away,” said Amelia as she bent and kissed Quadir on the side of his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here? Aren’t you suppose to be at the hospital?”

“Would you believe I have the afternoon off? I know, go figure. There was a mixup with the schedules. So I have an entire day to play house with you,” she said, unable to control her smile as she sat on his lap, straddling him like a pony.

“Wow,” said Quadir, never once taking his mind off Gena’s situation. He pulled Amelia closer to him and kissed her lips.

“Oh, and did you hear what happened?”

“No, what?”

“Haven’t you heard the news?”

“Yeah?”

“I overheard my colleagues talking about an elderly woman who had been beaten and raped. She underwent surgery and was placed in ICU. They asked me to look at her chart and check on her. Which I did. I looked in on her, and it turned out the elderly woman is Gena’s grandmother.”

“Really?” Quadir gave her his full attention. He had had absolutely no idea that the family on the news was Gena’s.

Amelia shrugged. “She suffered some pretty traumatic injuries. She’s having a lot of complications.”

“What type of injuries?”

Amelia shook her head and looked down. “She was raped, Quadir, brutally raped and brutally beaten. She has all kinds of injuries, from internal bleeding to a concussion.”

“I didn’t hear all that on the news. She was raped?”

“Yes, and beaten.”

“Damn, I can’t believe it,” he said as he began to pace up and down the lanai.

“I thought you heard the news.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t paying attention, you know?”

How can you pay attention to anything when all you do is daydream about Gena and your hidden treasure?

“Do the police know anything? Did they get the bastard who did it?”

Amelia shook her head. “No suspects, from what I hear.”

“Raped. That’s crazy, right?”

“Sick, really sick,” Amelia agreed.

Quadir shook his head. “She’s an old woman. Who in the fuck would do that to an old woman?”

“A sick and crazy man,” Amelia whispered. “There was also the grandson, Gary Scott. He’s the one that tried to protect her, but the rapist shot him in the stomach. So I checked in on him also.”

“How’s he doing?”

“He’ll live, but he’s going to need multiple surgeries. He was shot in the stomach, you know, his lower intestine is useless for now. He’ll probably wear a bag for the rest of his life unless surgery can correct it.”

“A shit bag?”

“Um, yeah, if that’s what you want to call it. Then there’s another granddaughter, Bria Scott, who was assaulted by this same guy. The police brought the girl into the ER. I saw her, but I didn’t treat her.”

“Well, what happened?”

“Apparently this rapist guy felt her up and kissed her on the mouth after shooting her date, who was also brought into the ER, but died on the operating table. I think his name was Kevin Coffield. Police had the medics swab the girlfriend’s tongue for DNA at the crime scene. I guess they checked it against the DNA taken from the grandmother and got a match.”

“Damn, that’s crazy,” said Quadir, thinking things over. “No wonder I can’t find Gena. I bet she’s scared to death.”

“Yeah, she probably thinks it’s you coming after your money. I’m sure she’s avoiding you like the plague.”

“Why would you say something like that?” Quadir asked, taking offense.

“Gosh, I’m just saying, she was here, realized you were alive, and not only have you moved on, but you want your money back. She leaves, out the window, and never returns. She’s not come back and she’s not made any contact. She knows she has your money; she knows that you want it, I’m sure. Meanwhile, someone attacks her grandmother and her cousins, allegedly looking for her. In her mind, who else would be looking for her, except you, for your money? Which technically is correct because that’s exactly what you do every day with your life.”

“So, it’s not random?” asked Quadir, completely ignoring her sarcasm.

Amelia shook her head. “Some fucking animal is fucking with them.” Amelia nodded solemnly. “And he’s after Gena.”

“Maybe he’s not after Gena, maybe you just think that,” said Quadir, really hoping Amelia didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Well, after I heard my colleagues talking about the family of patients they had treated, I spoke to a friend of mine who is a detective at the Thirty-first Precinct. She told me that in both incidents, the rapist was looking for Gena.”

“Somebody’s after Gena? What the fuck for?”

Amelia lifted an eyebrow as if stating the obvious. Quadir nodded, once his mind caught up.

“They want my money!”

“Bingo!”

“Jesus, that fucking money! Talk about more money more problems. Somebody’s after my money!”

“Your money and God only knows what else,” Amelia said as she rubbed Quadir’s arm. “She’s in danger,” said Amelia as she rose and lifted her shirt over the top of her head to reveal a stunning two-piece.

“And the police are probably trailing her ass four cars deep trying to catch this guy.”

“They don’t know where she is, Qua. She’s disappeared, gone underground.”

Quadir leaned back on the sofa. His mind was trying to process all of the information.

“The police can’t find her, but I bet if there’s one person who could find her, it’s you,” Amelia said softly before kissing his cheek, then jumping into the swimming pool for a couple of laps.

I can’t believe someone hurt her grandmother. That’s some sick shit. Not only was her grandmother attacked, but her cousin, Gary, had also been shot, not to mention the attack on Bria’s boyfriend, and the police said they were all related. They didn’t release the motive and claimed they had no clues as to who the assailant was. Quadir remembered that the reporter also indicated that the family had refused to cooperate with the police, giving them very little information to go on. There was a lot going on, too much going on. I wonder if Gah Git is going to be okay. Quadir knew how much Gena loved her grandmother. Gah Git was all that Gena had for most of her life. Their recent conversation had been a good one at first; he had learned so much about what she felt, about what she went through. She still loved him and that gave him an added comfort despite the fact that they weren’t together.

“Why are you still sitting here? It’s getting dark, you know.” Amelia emerged from the pool. She tied a towel around her narrow waist and ventured toward him. Quadir watched her the entire way.

Amelia’s body was banging. She had the perfect frame, the perfect ass, the perfect size breasts and perfectly sized legs, but her feet were the most beautiful feet Quadir had ever seen in his life. Amelia was toned and firm, the product of a dedicated diet-and-exercise routine. Not to mention she was beautiful, even more so than Gena, and Gena had been his dream. Amelia had the most beautiful face he had ever seen, along with a head full of brains. She was a winner in anybody’s book, a twenty, on a scale of one to ten. And yet, he found himself torn between his feelings for her and his feelings for Gena.

“What’s the matter?” Amelia asked, sliding onto the lounge chair with him.

Quadir shook his head. “You know what’s the matter.”

“Money, police, Gena, crazy rapists on the loose. What else?”

What else is there? he couldn’t help thinking but didn’t say a word.

Amelia rose from the chaise. “My offer still stands, Qua. You can forget about the money. We can take my money, and I’ll move with you wherever you want me to. You can go back to school, you can open a business, you can do whatever the fuck you want to.”