Imaani
"I LIKED THE FOOD William, thank you so much for this. It was a lot more fun than I expected" I smiled at him as we walked slowly down the road from the restaurant where we ate
"I told you I have good taste when it comes to the best food" he exclaimed before coming to a halt in front of the ice cream truck he was talking about
I watched as William and the owner of the truck conversed like old pals and they were "Hi, I'm Imaani, nice to meet you. I heard a lot of great things on our way here about your ice cream"
"I expect nothing less from my most loyal customer" the ice cream truck owner whose name I've come to know as Greg, says
"Well, I'm glad to know he has a life outside of work" I laugh and William threw me a playful glare.
"Hey, some of us just love our job too much," he said and I laughed.
"So what flavours will the beautiful lady be having?" Greg asked
"How about you surprise me"
He glanced at William before preparing my ice cream "Good choice" he told me and presented me with a slightly big cup containing my three-flavoured ice cream.
I smiled widely as soon as the delicacy hit my hand. I took a big bite and revelled in the taste.
"This is so good Greg, thank you"
After William and I had finished our ice creams we talked while walking back to his car.
"There was a time I used to want siblings but after hearing your stories I'm kinda glad I'm an only child" I joke and we both start laughing
"It's not all that bad, there were fun times together when I wasn't being a jerk to them"
William is the only boy with three sisters.
"Yeah right, those poor girls. If I was one of em I'd have sold you a long time ago. QYour sisters are nice for real"
He gasps with his hand on his chest and feigns being hurt "Remind me never to get on your bad side please" he laughed with me
"Oh, you would have. If you had continued to call me Maani, what the fuck is that?" I asked between laughs as we both came to a halt beside the car
"Hey, don't judge my tactics, at the end of the day, it did get me this date" he gave me a knowing look and opened my door for me
"Thank you" I waited as he went around to his side and got in the car
"I never got to thank you, for letting me take you out"
"You can thank me by doing half of my work for me" I chuckled jokingly
"Done. But you can also let me thank you by going out with me again, but this time let me make you dinner"
"A man that cooks?" I smiled
"A man that can do a lot of things" he smirked. He turns on the car to begin our journey back to my place
William parks his car in front of my place and comes around to get the door for me as he did earlier
"Thank you, Mr Hague, you're such a gentleman" I curtsied a little and laughed as he took my hand to his mouth and kiss the back.
He walked me to my doorstep and I could see a shadow cast by the lamp in my living room.
Sarah must be in.
"I had a really good time tonight, Imaani. Thank you"
"You're welcome, I just had to, you know, I understand how you must feel without no friends" I watched as William's face contorted into laughter at my sarcasm
"Yeah, it's so sad sometimes. Thank you for being kind to me" he sniffled and wiped nonexistent tears away
"You're welcome buddy" I walked down the stairs and placed a pat on his back as we laughed together
"It's cold out, don't want you catching a cold. I'll see you on Monday"
"Goodnight, Hague"
"Goodnight," he said and he made his way back to his car before driving off.
I unlocked the door and made my way in " Sarah I hope you've had dinner I don't think I have any- OH MY FUCKING GOD!" I let out a shrill at the sight in front of me
I was breathing heavily my eyes wide from shock. It took a minute or two for me to register the sight of a bloodied Jax lying on my carpet.
"Hello, love. For a minute I thought you were never gonna come in" he uttered weakly
He's hurt
I get out of the daze and bend down beside him, I had no idea what I was doing right now.
You don't want to be the black woman whose white boss died in her house.
Think girl!
I took a deep breath "Is this yours?" I was referring to the blood
"Mostly" he laughed and took a big gulp from the bottle of whiskey that was beside him.
"It's not funny! you're here in my house after how many days of not seeing you and the first time you appear, you're covered in blood"
"It is love, I'm the one with a bullet lodged somewhere in me and I might probably die. But you're here, and you're looking a lot more scared than I am.""
"Fuck you, gimme that" I groan, and I grab the bottle of whiskey from him before taking a really big swig
His eyes droop "Gorgeous girl. I've missed you Imaani" he ran his fingers on my face slowly
I slapped his cheek "Hell no, stay with me Jax I need you to guide me through this okay? Okay, raise your brows if you understood me... good"
I run to my bathroom and grab my first aid box and any other thing I thought might help. I rushed back to him and knelt beside him, tore his shirt open from the middle with scissors.
It registered that he won't be of much help this way, even though he was awake he was slow and he had lost a lot of blood. To top it off, he was drunk.
I searched around for his phone and luckily for me it doesn't have a password. I search for Micheal's number and call him
I didn't even care if this was a bad situation but I needed as much help as I could get
"Hey, I'm kinda bu-"
"Micheal this is Imaani, Jax is at my place and he was shot," I say hastily
"What the fuck! What happened!?"
"How the fuck am I supposed to know that? I glance down at Jax and notice his eyes were closing, I slapped his cheek again to wake him up "Here drink this" I gave him the entire whiskey bottle probably not a good idea but I was out of options and I needed him awake "he needs you Micheal where are you?"
"Fucking hell I told him to stay...I'm not in town right now Imaani. You've got to take that bullet out"
"What! Do I look like a nurse or doctor to you?"
"Imaani, calm down just breathe and listen to me I'll walk you through the process, I'm sure he's lost a lot of blood and is still losing some right?"
"Yeah" I let out raspily, I'm trying so hard not to cry or puke right now....or even do both!
"Good now I want you to clean the area around the wound with something clean and disinfect it, do you have alcohol around you somewhere"
My eyes go to the bottle of whiskey in Jax's hands "Yeah yeah, I should pour it on the wound?"
"Yes... You've done that? Good girl. Now, this part is a bit tough I need you to feel around for the bullet can you do that for me?"
What's it with these men and praising?
"Yeah I can, and already I washed my hands before this by the way, with soap, that good?"
He chuckled lowly "Yes Imaani, it is"
I listen to Micheal on the other side of the phone as he directed me on everything I should do while I also updated him on how Jax was.
I told him things like the colour of his blood while the bullet was in and if the bullet was deep inside.
Never again. That was all I could think of while going through the whole process. Why couldn't he just go to a fucking hospital or call I dunno anyone apart from coming to Imaani's house!
If he survives this Lord, I promise to try not to kill him myself.
Because what the actual fuck!
"Okay, Micheal I think that's it, what else?"
"Good I need you to take the bullet Imaani, rinse it and see if any part of it is chipped"
"Why?" I asked confused
"Because if it's chipped it means part of it is stuck in Jax and that's not good, he will need to go to a hospital immediately"
What the actual fuck! "But I just stitched him up, you didn't think to tell me that before you made me sew my boss's side up... literally"
"Technically, I'm your boss. And yes you stitched him up which probably saved him, secondly even if I told you about parts of the bullet getting stuck inside him. Like you said you're not a nurse or doctor to go digging around his side for shrapnel"
He's got a point.
"Whatever, hold on lemme get my lamp and tweezers" I shot a glance towards Jax and noticed him moving a little more than before and then I made my way to my room.
"For what? You've got a bulb what do you need tweezers for?"
"To inspect the bullet closer dumbass and I need the tweezers so I can hold it under the light. Like you said I need to make sure it's not chipped, even a little. Got it?" I said. I got what I came for and made my way back to Jax who was now able to sit up straight.
Might as well call me doctor Imaani now.
"What are you doing?" Jax asked his voice sounding hoarse as he talked
I handed him a glass of water and heard him murmur a thank you before drinking it and asking for another
"Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?" Micheal asks
"Mike?" Jax looks around with squinted eyes trying to adjust to the light
"Here," I hand him the phone and continued to inspect the bullet.
So far so good it looked intact.
"Hello?"
"Hey, How are you feeling?"
"I feel like hell" he groaned out and tried to adjust his sitting position.
I leaned over and helped him fix a pillow behind him for support. My hand brushed his and I could feel his breath on my neck.
I ignored the tingly sensation in my stomach and started to clean up
"Uhm Micheal, the bullet looks good so far, but I'll still drive him to the hospital tomorrow just in case"
Micheal chuckled "Goodluck with that, I've got to go but thank you for everything Imaani, I owe you"
"No, thank you. I couldn't have pulled it off without your help. Have a nice night, Micheal take care." I sigh with relief
"You too" I ended the call.
I went back to the living room where Jax was and my eyes immediately went to my carpet, I could cry right now.
But I got bigger fish to fry.
How the fuck am I going to get this huge man to my bedroom without breaking a limb
"Hey, Jax look at me... good I need you to help me okay we're going to take a quick journey to my bedroom okay? You need to rest"
"If I go with you, will you let me taste you?" I've missed you so much, pretty girl" He slurred
Seriously?
"Yeah sure, whatever you want" I rushed and he got to his feet, slowly but he got up.
"Promise?" He groaned out
I hummed out my reply. I raised his hand and placed my shoulder under his arm and walked. More like dragging him slowly to my bedroom.
I placed him carefully with his back on the bed as I took my scissors and cut slowly around the messy shirt to remove it before making my way to the bathroom and coming out with a wet washcloth to clean up any excess blood from his chest.
I cleaned him slowly and tried my best not to get distracted by his intricately built chest and stomach.
This was the first time I was paying attention to his tattoos up close compared to the last time.
I ran my finger slowly across the naked woman on his left bicep, it was a small tattoo but also very vivid.
She was on her knees with her head bowed down and her palms facing down on her thigh.
It was just a tattoo but I could tell the image it was gotten from would look gorgeous.
Part of me also knew that particular tattoo didn't look like a random image it felt and looked real like it was done while looking at an image.
Who knew working in a tattoo shop for almost a year would pay off?
I tried to discern the rest of the words after the letter V and I felt him shiver beneath my touch.
I withdrew my hand from his body and reeled myself back to the matter at hand.
Like figuring out how to get blood out of my favourite Italian carpet.
I walked into the bathroom and squeezed the washcloth before hanging it to dry. I made sure to leave the bathroom door ajar so the room could be dimly lit.
I quietly made my way out of the room to the parlour trying my possible best not to make a single noise and wake him up. As I made my way out I could swear I heard him murmur some words.
I had no idea what it was so I left the room.
"Don't worry I'd taste you tomorrow" those were the drunken words Jax murmured
But I didn't know that.
I walked past a mirror and realised that I had not even changed out of my outfit from the date and now the dress and my body were covered in blood.
After twenty more minutes of cleaning and not even getting halfway through all the bits of blood that had unknowingly stained most of the places that I had touched, I was too tired to take a shower and clean myself of the blood on me.
I could not keep cleaning. I fell onto the couch with a thud and a loud yawn, unable to control the tiredness coursing through my body as I let sleep just take its course.
My thoughts travelled and imagined different scenarios to explain how Jax got shot.
That was all I could try to think of before I quit and gave in to sleep.
Tomorrow I'd figure it all out