DEADLY DECISIONS III: The End (13 page)

“Understood,” Li’l Boo replied. “Your secrets are always safe with me, Li’l Mama. Ride or die, remember that.”

“My nigga,” Keisha told Li’l Boo before disconnecting the call.

Li’l Boo walked back over to finish his therapy session. Although jealousy of the child that Keisha had with Cameron began to conflict with his ego, Li’l Boo decided to put those feelings aside and be the support that Keisha needed. In the process, he planned to show Keisha that they were meant to be together once and for all.
After his therapy session, at a slow pace, Li’l Boo headed up the stairs to change his colostomy bag and shower. The doctor told him it would be removed in a few more weeks and he couldn’t wait.

Cedars Sinai Medical Center was a hospital known for providing the highest quality care in Los Angeles. Cameron and his wife Monique stood distantly from each other in the hallway, waiting to hear back from the surgeon that performed emergency brain surgery on Cameron Junior. Keisha and an entourage of bodyguards suddenly followed her onto the floor, immediately drawing Monique’s and Cameron’s attention.

She isn’t supposed to be here or back in our lives! Why isn’t this bitch dead yet?
Monique cried inside, seeing hope reappear back into her husband’s eyes at the mere sight of Keisha.

Keisha was dressed in her traveling clothes, consisting of a pair of jean, Jordans, a hoodie, and a black beanie pulled over her head down to her eyebrows. At first Cameron didn’t recognize Keisha from her thin body frame and unusually slender face, but her voice was a dead giveaway.

Keisha stopped at the nursing station to inquire about her son. “Who do I speak to about my son, Cameron West Jr.? I was told he was air-lifted here from Saint Francis Medical yesterday.”

“Kesh!” Cameron called out to Keisha.

For a moment, the two stared at each other, identifying the similar uncertainty that they both held in their eyes.
Is he gon’ make it, Cam?
Cameron read the obvious question in Keisha’s eyes.

Keisha stepped in front of her entourage of hired hitmen as bodyguards, which Big Pope Dog had her link up with after she boarded the jet. “How is Cameron Jr.? Is he going to make it, Cam?”

Cameron grabbed Keisha and the two shared a hug. He felt an extreme amount of guilt and responsibility for their son’s current state because Keisha trusted that he’d protect him, and it was eating him up. Keisha held Cameron tight and laid her head on his chest.

“I had him transferred here so that he would get the best care possible,” Cameron said, referring the hospitals reputation. “He’s stable. We’re just waiting on some other test results to come back from the lab.”

“Can I see him?” Keisha began to feel hope the moment Cameron said their son was stable.

Monique stood from the wall, astonished at the spark that the two lit in each other’s eyes.
He still loves her. He will never love me like he loves her, no matter how good of a woman I am to him.
Monique moved slowly toward them in painful deep thought. “One would think that you two were married and that I was just some side chick the way you guys are gazing at each other,” Monique stopped beside them and then spoke. “Cameron, I’m going to have Dime drop me off at my parent’s house with
our
son, Cameron.” Monique emphasis of the word “our” grabbed Keisha’s attention. “Keep me posted on Tiger’s condition.” She waited for a response from Cameron before walking over to the lobby to ask Dime for a ride.

Keisha removed herself from Cameron’s chest and proceeded to excuse herself so that the couple could have their parting words, but Monique stopped her. “I hope that you’re only here for your son and not for my husband, Keisha.”

No the fuck this undercover, wanna-be-me-ass bitch didn’t just fix her muthafucking mouth to address me about her husband at a time like this!
The dislike that Keisha began to feel towards Monique caused her left nostril to flare. The two women stood face to face, looking each other in the eyes. “This isn’t the time to be fighting over niggas when my son is lying in this hospital fighting for his life, Mrs. West,” Keisha announced through gritted teeth.

Cameron pulled Monique to the side by the arms like a child. It was already bad enough that he hadn’t been speaking to Monique, and the last thing he needed was drama between her and Keisha in the hospital while his son was being cared for. He decided to put a halt to the situation before anything transpired.

“I’ma have Dime scoop you up and take you to your parent’s house. You haven’t seen our son since this incident, and besides that, I’m not tryna have no drama between you and Keisha up here.”

Anger cracked all over Monique’s face. “You wanna send me home now that his mommy is here, but I’ve been the one raising Tiger, not her, Cam,” she spoke through gritted teeth. “I have the right to be here too.”

“Nique, it’s best that you leave. I don’t need all this extra shit right now. My mind is already heavy enough.” He began to usher her into the waiting area as he called Dime.

Monique was hurt. Things had gotten so bad between her and Cameron that in the midst of arguing the previous night at his mother’s house, he had slammed her up against the wall by her neck. He was convinced that Monique was lying about her involvement with Li’l Boo, and he was even angrier at her for making the rash decision to leave his mother’s house the night of the shooting, resulting in his son being shot. He blamed her for it all.

“This shit is all on your head, Nique!”
Monique recalled Cameron yelling at her. He was at his wit’s end with Monique and he had been telling her time and time again to go to her parent’s house with their son, but she wouldn’t leave his side.

As Cameron spoke to Dime on the phone, tears began to slowly cascade down her face. Monique was emotionally beat. Cameron blamed her for his son being shot, when ultimately it was in connection to Keisha. Monique was only the driver. Cameron presumed her to be a scandalous trick, but yet his eyes lit up at the sight of a woman that had betrayed his trust and heart time and time again. Monique felt defeated and she was merely hanging on to her marriage by a thin rope. It seemed like no matter how much love and devotion she poured into their relationship, none of it stood for anything or mattered - not even her acceptance and love for his illegitimate child.

When Cameron got off his phone and told her to wait in the main waiting room on the first floor for Dime, Monique threw her hands up. “I give up, Cameron.” Her voice cracked. “My heart can’t take it anymore.” Monique walked away, deep inside hoping that Cameron would come after her and tell her how much she meant to him.

But he never did. Instead, he walked back to Keisha without looking back at her. It was then that her heart broke and shattered into a million pieces, and vengeful thoughts began to plague her mind.
I would have been better off fucking Li’l Boo to give Cameron a reason to treat me this way!
Monique ached inside.
But Dime might be the best resolution to get even with his ass! I see the way he looks at me when he thinks I’m not looking. Maybe then, Cameron will give a fuck.
She was tired of being that perfect girl, because being her only came with deceit and heartbreak. The only good thing she had ever received from love was her son, and she refused to suffer anymore.
Yeah, I’m fucking Dime tonight and I’m sucking his dick too!
Monique stepped into the elevator. Her mind was made up.

After Cameron advised the nurses where the surgeon could locate them, he led Keisha to a private family room on the floor so that they could talk.

Inside the room, Cameron noticed the effects of Keisha’s lifestyle wearing on her physical appearance. She was thinner than he’d ever seen her, and she had puffy eyes with dark rings around them. Seeing her in such state made Cameron want to love her back to health. He sat and listened to Keisha pour her heart out.

“This shit wasn’t supposed to happen, Cam!” Keisha cried without tears. She was hurting deeply, yet she was all cried out. “If I had even the smallest intuition or thought that leaving our son with you would bring such harm, I would have taken him with me, on God.” The tremendous guilt bled through Keisha’s eyes. All of her innocent intentions always turned out to be so deadly. “What have I done other than try to be successful, a good mother, and a loyal gangstress to deserve all of the fucked up shit that keeps happening to those closest to me? He can’t die, Cameron; he has to make it.” Keisha wanted to scream, “God, why?”, but instead, Keisha raged by pounding on the room walls several times, resulting in her team of hitters crashing forcefully through the door with pistols drawn.

“What the fuck?” Cameron barked. He had never stared down the barrel of so many guns at one time and he was exasperated to the highest degree. Cameron went for his pistol, but Keisha’s head guard told him not to make one move.

“Put the burners away, we good in here.” Keisha stepped in between her team of hitmen and Cameron, who had disobeyed her head guard’s warning and had pulled out his pistol. When they exited the room, Keisha apologized to Cameron for the mishaps. He was still fuming and she wanted him to know that it wasn’t personal.

“Niggas want off with my head. They’re only doing their job to protect me, Cam.”

Cameron put his pistol back at his waist and grabbed and hugged Keisha. “I hate this shit and what you’re going through, girl, on everything. I never stopped loving you, Keisha…never!” he expressed wholeheartedly.

Keisha didn’t feel a thing. She pulled back from Cameron. Him holding her only reminded her of how many times he let go of her when she needed him the most. She still loved and cared for him as her son’s father, but was no longer in love with him. She looked at him, emotionless. “I need to see my son, Cam, really bad.”

Damn, you not even gonna say I love you back?
Cameron scratched his head, puzzled, but nodded his head yes. Keisha’s eyes looked at him differently and he could feel that she no longer felt the same for him. “I can do that, but your entourage has to stay here,” he announced.

Keisha agreed.

Before opening the door, Cameron warned Keisha of their son’s physical appearance. Monique had to be taken out of Cameron Junior’s room each time she went inside, unable to bear his condition, and he wanted Keisha to be prepared. “The baby’s head is bandaged up from the surgery and he has a couple IV’s attached to him for fluids and other daily supplements. He’s sedated, but he’s stable.”

“Cam, I don’t care what he looks like. I just want to be with my son,” Keisha replied, full of sorrow.

When Cameron opened the door, Keisha’s team of bodyguards and hitmen stepped to the side to allow them to exit the room. Cameron frowned, feeling some type of way from them drawing down on him.
These little fake-ass C.I.A. gangsters!

Keisha told her team to lay low and that she’d be back.

“But we were instructed to cover you and not let you out of our sight,” the head hitman said.

“I got her covered right now, homie.” Cameron revealed his .44 Magnum.

“Just keep your eyes open and cover the floor. Hit me on my mobile if anything looks suspicious. I’ll answer,” Keisha said before Cameron led her to their son’s hospital room.

“Here’s the room.” Cameron stopped in from of the door and then gently grabbed Keisha’s hand before walking inside. Cameron Jr. was lying inside of an incubator hooked up to IV’s, and his head was heavily bandaged. Only a third of his swollen, bruised little face could be seen. 

Keisha clutched tightly to Cameron,
Ah baby, my baby laid up in a fucking hospital after having a bullet removed from his head. I can’t believe it! No baby deserves this. I’m so sorry, son! God, please save him.
Keisha knees buckled. She held her face and cried silently. She had planned to be strong, but the moment broke her down.

Cameron lifted Keisha’s frail body back up to her feet and then looked her in her contrite eyes, sharing his strength with her. “I just wanna know, why our son, Cam?” she uttered, trying to pull herself together.

“It happened to our son, Kesh, because we’re strong enough to bear it.” Cameron shared his grandmother’s words of comfort with Keisha in an attempt to lift her.
“Find that ounce of strength inside and hold on to it, baby. Everything is going to be alright,” he said to her.

The empowerment from Cameron’s words provided Keisha the strength she needed to keep steady on her feet. “I wanna touch him.” Keisha looked at his little body, realizing that he had gotten darker then she thought he’d get.

A nurse entered the room and washed her hands in preparation to change the baby and take his vitals as Cameron explained to Keisha that they had to wear a hospital gown and gloves to prevent gems and infection. When the nurse grabbed a Pamper from under the
incubator, Keisha asked if she could change him. She was eager to touch, hold, or do anything she could for him.

“Sure you can,” the nurse replied. “Wash your hands before you gown up and put some gloves on. Daddy here knows the procedure.” She smiled at Cameron. “You must be the auntie?” the nurse assumed, having recalled meeting the newborn’s mother already.

Keisha stopped on her way to the sink, screwed her face up, and spat, “No, I’m the mother!” Keisha rolled her eyes at Cameron. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought… I must have misunderstood,” the nurse said apologetically.

Cameron interjected to clear things up. “The woman you’ve been seeing here is his stepmother. This is his biological mother Keisha,” he clarified.

“Oh, I see.” The nurse smiled, immediately noticing a deeper connection between Cameron and Keisha. 

As Cameron and Keisha washed their hands and gowned up, the nurse took the baby’s vitals. She noticed the baby’s heart rate had dropped. “After you’re finish changing the baby, I’m going to call the doctor in.”