“I’m sorry!” she screamed.
“Bitch, get out!” Carter repeated. His voice roared throughout the suite, and he showed no mercy as he dragged Miamor across the hotel room floor, disregarding her already injured body.
“Carter, no! Please!” she yelled as she fought him. She was fighting to stay in his life. With all of the energy she had left, she was clinging to him because she knew that once she let go he would no longer be hers.
By the time he got her out of the suite, he was sweating and out of breath and she was curled up in the hallway. “What am I going to do?” she cried while looking up into his face.
He showed no emotion, no sympathy, no love as he turned on his heels and re-entered the room. He snatched her phone up then tossed it into the hallway beside her. “I don’t give a fuck what you do, Miamor,” he said, the tone of his voice revealing his disappointment. “I’m done. You have got five minutes to call a cab. If you’re not gone by then, I’m going to finish this, and unlike you, I will be able to pull the trigger,” he threatened. He took one last look at her and shook his head in disgust.
She could see the hatred in his eyes. There was nothing left to say. It was over, and he had tossed her out with nothing. He slammed the door in her face, closing the best chapter of her life.
Chapter Eighteen
Miamor had never felt so low as she sat in the hallway of the luxury hotel, pleading with Carter to forgive her. Her ego and principles were thrown out of the window. When it came to matters of the heart, she was willing to look foolish and willing to swallow her pride if it meant that Carter would be with her. She cried her heart out to him through the closed door, but it never opened. He had shut her out of his life, and she had to accept it. She was physically and emotionally spent as she stood to her feet. Using the wall to hold her up, she made her way to the elevator. Her hair was wild, her face stained with dried tears, and she wore nothing but a bathrobe as she made her way out of the hotel. Stares and whispers surrounded her as her bare feet carried her through the lobby.
“Excuse me, Miss,” the maître d’hôte of the establishment rushed over to her with two security guards in tow. “I received a call from the Presidential Suite. I’m going to have to escort you off of the premises.”
The security guards grabbed her arms and she snatched them away. “Don’t touch me!” she screamed, making an even bigger scene. She made it outside and walked as far as her feet would take her, but every step felt like a thousand. She was too fragile to make it on her own. She had exhausted all of her energy, and gave up as she fell to the ground to catch her breath, the hot pavement burning her skin. At this point, she felt hopeless. She had given up everything and had betrayed her girls trying to chase a dream. At least before she had them as her family. Now, all she had was herself.
Murder had sat in the car all night watching the hotel, waiting to see Miamor and Carter emerge. He was so close to her, and he wasn’t going anywhere until he brought her home, back to New York where she belonged. He cringed at the way Carter touched Miamor, and jealousy loomed over him like a dark cloud.
When he finally saw Miamor emerge from the hotel alone, struggling, and barefoot, he grabbed his gun and jumped out of the car and ran toward her. His baggy khaki shorts, white T-shirt and red fitted cap represented the complete opposite of what Carter’s poised demeanor did, but the two men had one thing in common. They both loved Miamor.
“Miamor!” he yelled, grabbing her attention.
Miamor didn’t even look in his direction. She heard a man screaming her name and instantly thought of Mecca. She looked around for something to defend herself with, but she could barely scrape herself off of the ground. She frantically tried to hide, but there was nowhere to go. Traumatized and too tired to put up a fight, she screamed when Murder finally reached her. It wasn’t until he picked her up off the ground did she realize that she wasn’t in danger.
“It’s okay, ma. Murder’s back. I’m gonna handle that nigga and anybody associated with him,” he sneered. “Word to my mutha', ma. I’ma cook that beef personally!
Miamor thought that her eyes were deceiving her. “Murder?” she called out as she touched his face. “It’s me, shorty. I got you.”
Relief washed over Miamor and she gave into her body’s urge to rest. She closed her eyes, knowing that she was in the arms of family, and that nothing would happen to her while he was around. It had been five long years since she had felt that safe. It seemed like a lifetime ago since she had felt the secure connection with Murder. But now that she had seen his face again, she realized he was still so prevalent in her life. Even with Carter, there was the constant threat of danger, but with Murder, there were no secrets. No lies dwelled between them. There was only trust.
Murder took Miamor back to the motel room where Robyn and Aries were waiting. It was a far cry from the Four Seasons, but it was how he got down. Murder was not into the glamorous life. He wasn’t a flashy type a nigga. He was a ‘hood nigga and a goon who had established his track record in the ‘hood from the sandbox up. He didn’t need all the extras. He actually found the entire Cartel establishment to be a joke. Those clown-ass niggas on that Hollywood Godfather shit, he thought as he put Miamor down and stared at her. That Rico Suave-ass nigga don’t know how to keep a bitch like Miamor. Shorty a gangsta, not some high society broad.
“What happened to she?” Aries asked as she and Robyn rushed to Miamor’s side and observed their dear friend.
“That bitch-ass nigga, Mecca happened to her,” Robyn stated as she shook her head and wiped away a tear. She and Miamor hadn’t always seen eye to eye. They butted heads more than a little bit, but that’s what family does. Miamor was her sister. They had been through the fire together, and to see her so beat up enraged her.
“That nigga, Carter let the shit happen to her. Mecca’s his brother. He wanted to be her man, so he should have been her man and made sure she wasn’t touched, nah mean?” Murder said. “He gonna feel it too.”
Miamor heard the voices around her and slowly opened her eyes.
“How are you feeling, mama?” Robyn asked.
Miamor smiled slightly and shook her head from side to side. “I lost him!” she whispered.
Aries and Robyn looked at one another, and then back down to Miamor. They couldn’t understand her love for Young Carter, and they were past the point of trying. They were just glad that they had gotten their friend out while she was still alive. They knew that Miamor no longer had the malice it took to kill, so they would handle it for her.
She doesn’t even have to know, Robyn thought. Once Carter and Mecca are out of the picture, she will be able to move on with her life. She’ll be back to her old self in no time.
“Chu have us, Mia,” Aries stated. “That’s all chu need.”
“I’m so sorry for turning my back on y’all. You guys are all I have,” Miamor said.
Robyn knew that Miamor wasn’t herself, because she had never apologized for anything. The new, emotional woman in front of her was not the same girl she had met years ago. She wasn’t the same chick who had cut off a nigga’s dick for money, or the same one who had taught her to shoot a gun properly. Miamor had changed. She was vulnerable. Love has really made her ass go soft, Robyn thought.
“It’s okay, honey. We’re sisters. We’re always here for you. Me and Aries are going to let you get some rest, but there’s somebody else here for you,” Robyn said as she stood. She grabbed Aries’ hand and they exited the room.
Miamor turned her head and smiled when she saw Murder posted by the door, with one foot resting against the wall. He scanned her from head to toe. Neither of them said a word, but they stared intently at each other. They were both surveying the changes they saw in one another.