Page 62 of Still Yours

“Are you serious right now? He hasn’t had a seizure since he was in the hospital months ago. I am about to fly home, but it might take me two days to get there. Please keep me updated and get Burner and his aunt there.”

She got off the phone and rushed to Storm to tell her that their trip had to be cut short. Luckily, they had already been there for almost two weeks. They had so much stuff to pack, and the airline couldn’t get them a flight until four in the morning. It took them an hour to pack, but they still had plenty of time, so they took the kids to the pool, then had an early dinner before lying down.

Storm and the babies went to bed after dinner, but Pretti couldn’t sleep. She stayed up calling Niki, Burner, and Silvia until it was time to leave for their Fiji Airways flight. She even stayed up on their two flights home that took a day and a half due to delays. All she could think about was Dexz’s health.

When they got to JFK, Storm volunteered to take the kids home with her since Burner was picking her up. Pretti decided to take an Uber so Burner could take the kids home and get them out of the cold.

When she got to the hospital, she went straight to the floor where Niki said he was admitted to. It was as though the doctors were waiting for her, because as soon as she asked for directions to his room, the physician overseeing him pulled her aside.

“Is everything okay with him?” she asked, worried.

“Yes and no. He had a total of four seizures, and it took a lot of meds to stabilize him. He’s resting now. The type of seizures he had were non-epileptic. He should recover as long as he doesn’t abuse his medication, especially his painkillers. Mixing all his meds caused him to seize, and he had an infection from one of his wounds. We thought it was sepsis, but it wasn’t.

We also had to pump his stomach. His toxicology showed he should be dead, and he said some alarming things I won’t repeat or report because I think he was going through psychosis. The good news is the seizures did not cause any new damage to his brain that the bullet had left there.

If he wants to thrive, I suggest Narcotics Anonymous, physical therapy, and holistic medicine that he can’t get addicted to. Mr. Kingsley has seen death too many times and isn’t healing properly because of his lifestyle and not taking care of himself. He needs help not only from medical staff but from family.”

The doctor was laying it on her, leaving her feeling overwhelmed with thoughts. Her fiancé was down bad, but she didn’t know he was near death. Had she known, she would’ve never gone on vacation, but he also insisted that she live her life.

She sighed, blinking back tears. “I will talk to him about everything. I am the only family he has, but thanks for the advice.”

“You’re welcome… His room is two doors down, but we have to wheel him to the psych ward soon. He didn’t want to do anything until you got here.”

“Psych Ward?” she mumbled, confused.

“Yes, to rule out psychosis.” He walked off.

Pretti walked into his room and felt like she had been down the path she was taking before. She made it to his bed and saw him sleeping, but he looked rough. Tears finally stained her face when she got a really good look at him. She ran her long acrylic nails through his growing hair that looked like he was growing short dreads at the top of his head. He had been talking about growing his hair out for locs to replace his waves, so she couldn’t wait to twist and fade his hair when he was feeling better.

Dexz opened his eyes, feeling her hands in his hair.

“Baby, what happened?” she whimpered as they gazed at each other.

“I did a lot of fucked up shit while you were gone,” he uttered, low and raspy.

“What did you do?”

“I took a lot of lives, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. In my eyes, the people I took out deserved it. That nigga Diego took my parents away from me like I wasn’t shit. Like a nigga didn’t deserve to be happy. Then he tried to take me away from mine, so I took his kids.”

Pretti quieted him with a finger over his lips. “You’re saying too much in this hospital, babe, but why were you taking so many pills? Were you trying to take your own life?”

“I swear I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I just wanted the pain and bad thoughts to stop, but that only made it worse. My body started craving it, so I was taking more than I should to ease what I was feeling.”

“I want you to relax and forget about everything you just told me, okay?” she continued to try and hush him, but he kept rambling like he didn’t hear her, bringing darkness over Pretti. She had never heard him speak negatively.

“I don’t feel a connection to my kids or life anymore. If I get too close to them, I know God will take them away from me. They don’t need to be around me. I won’t judge you if you walk away from me with the kids. I don’t deserve to be their father.” He gazed off into space. “I’m cursed,” he added last.

Pretti had never seen him so blank. “You’re not cursed, and you deserve to be a father to those babies at home waiting for you. They love you, and I would never, ever, keep you away from them. You’re going to heal and get back to your normal self. I’m going to help you, even if I have to slow down on work. But don’t ever feel like me and the babies don’t love you or want to be away from you.”

“Lay with me. It feels like I ain’t held you in forever.”

Pretti slipped out of her shoes and bomber jacket. She climbed into bed with him and lay on his chest. Hearing his heartbeat soothed her as he played in her hair, like he always did.

“You ever miss being a teenager?” he asked softly.

“Sometimes, just to go back to do fun stuff and just be free again. That’s why I started taking the kids with me to travel early. I don’t want them to ever miss out on their childhood.”

“I don’t want to feel isolated to the streets and a slave to money anymore, and I don’t want to live in my head no more. I appreciate you showing my kids the world and not letting what we’re going through affect them. I’ma use this second chance to break free and become a better man for my Beauti, Ethan, and you.”