GOON CANDY | CH. 3

GOON CANDY

A Shamar Phillips Story

Chapter Three

"THE OTHER WOMAN"

        No call. No show. Something Goon never did.

        Even if he wasn’t going to make it home after being out all night, he always called to say where he was and when he would be back.

        Talia had called him a dozen times, texted him too, but none of those calls or texts were answered. She was shitting bricks thinking he might’ve been arrested, or maybe he was lying in a puddle of his own blood because he trusted Kane too much.

        Her mind was all over the place. From scenarios of how he was tired of playing house with her and decided to run off with the next bitch, to she was on his last nerve, and he just didn’t know how to tell her to go home for a while.

        She thought what they had was a good thing.

        He didn’t seem to dislike spending time with her, and every time she did try to go home to give him a break, he always made her stay.

        She couldn’t understand why he would just up and disappear on her if he wasn’t dead or in jail. It wasn’t until he came strolling in after six in the morning that her mind finally got some relief.

        “Oh, this nigga got me fucked up.”

        She charged for the door the minute she heard his key enter the lock.

    “Where the fuck you been!?” She yanked the door open before he could finish unlocking it. “What happened to you promising to let me know you made it? Or to you coming home at all? Did you forget you had a bitch waiting around for you, or do you just not give a fuck?”

        Goon didn’t say a word. He brushed past her and started removing the bloody clothes that clung to his body. He was still in shock from seeing Candy the way she was, so he didn’t have the energy to argue with Talia about why he didn’t come home that night.

        “I thought something happened to you! I called the hospitals. I called the jails. I was getting ready to call the mothafucking morgue in a minute. Damn! I know we ain’t together-together, but the least you can do is let a bitch know what’s up.”

        She was so busy raging that she didn’t notice all the blood on his hands or the drained look on his face. When he went into the kitchen and got a garbage bag and started bagging his bloody clothes, that’s when she stopped yelling at him to pay attention.

        “Nolan…” She slowly walked up behind him. “Is that… blood?”

        Afraid to make any sudden moves, she gently touched his arm to turn him around. When she saw that his stomach, chest, arms, and hands were covered in blood and his clothes were dyed red, she jumped back and covered her mouth to keep from screaming.

        “Nolan, what the fuck?” Tears stung her eyes, and her voice cracked. “Did you kill somebody?”

        He cut his eyes at her as he walked past to head for the shower, and although his naked body was extremely enticing, Talia was scared to death of him. She wanted to grab what she could and jet out the door, but ironically, she felt a softness in his silence that pleaded for her to stay.

        “Nolan, I’m talking to you. What happened? Tell me what’s wrong.”

        She followed him into the bathroom, making sure to keep her words and tone gentle. But he still didn’t reply. He was out of it; zombiefied, lost in his own thoughts. Talia had no idea what was wrong or how to get it out of him. He wouldn’t talk to her; he barely even looked at her. He simply stepped into the shower, stood under the fountain of rain, and let out the most painful cry she had ever heard.

        She left the bathroom to give him some privacy, but she was right there waiting for him when he was through. Without getting dressed, he crawled into bed with her and lay on her chest as tears slipped from his eyes. As badly as she wanted to ask him again what was wrong, she kept quiet and let him release what he needed to.

        He cried for hours until he finally fell into a deep sleep. That’s when she eased out of bed to clean up his mess and do some thinking on what she wanted her life to look like.

        Although she knew what kind of nigga Goon was and what the street life entailed, she had never seen so much blood or had been in the presence of someone she knew for sure had killed someone.

        Her assumptions about Goon were just that: assumptions. She didn’t have any proof that he had killed before. Even though she felt like he had, he kept her shielded from that part of his life.

        “I ain’t heard shit about nobody dying last night. You know if they did, it would be the talk of the town. Especially if Goon had something to do with it.”

        Talia called her number one source for information about the streets. If the news didn’t know shit, best believe Tiff did. Her baby daddy was a hustler on the South Side, and he didn’t miss a beat when it came to what popped off under the radar.

        “Yeah. I guess you right,” Talia said, trying to stay positive. “I don’t know, though… he came home at six o’clock this morning all bloody and crying. He ain’t said shit since he been here, and he cried for two hours until he fell asleep. He was acting all weird and shit, like somebody died.”

        “Well, ain’t nobody die last night. But…”

        “But what?” Talia frowned, nervous about what Tiff would say.

        Tiff was hesitant. She didn’t want to be the one to say too much or cause problems in her girls' relationship, but after all the hell she had gone through in her own relationship, she vowed to always give her girls a heads-up.

        “I mean… You know I love Goon for you, and I think what y’all got is a real good thing. But Rocky said they had to rush some chick to the hospital last night. He wouldn’t tell me who it was, but if you say Goon been crying, I can only assume it’s who I think it is.”

        Talia’s heart skipped a beat.

        That anxious feeling she felt before Goon left the house actually meant something. It wasn’t nerves or her being overprotective. Her gut tried to warn her that her worst nightmare was on its way home.

        “Nah,” she said unsurely. “It had to be somebody else. Why wouldn't he tell me she was back? And what’s wrong with her if she is?”

        “I don’t know. Rocky wouldn't give me too much. He say I talk too much and he ain’t tryna fuck up what he got going on with Goon. He making too much money now. His mama the head doctor at Kingsbridge, though. So if it is Candy and something happened to her, you can bet your bottom dollar that’s where he took her.”

        Talia knew who Vanness was and where she worked. She just never thought to check there first.

        She hung up the phone and rushed to get dressed—threw on a pair of sweatpants, an oversized sweatshirt, a pair of white forces, and rushed out the door. She didn’t know what she was going to do if she got all the way to Kingsbridge and saw that Candy had returned home, but she knew she had to see for herself if it was true.

        Her heart pounded in her chest the entire way there, and she nearly blew through every red light that tried to stop her. But there was no stopping her.

        Even though she swore to herself that she would leave Goon alone without a fight if Candy ever came back, she felt herself having a change of heart the closer she got to her destination.

        Her car barely geared in park before her feet were on the hospital pavement. She rushed inside, nearly knocking a woman down as she entered. There were so many people, so many faces, intercoms, and chimes from elevators going off at the same time.

        Pair the busyness and the noise with the loud thudding of her heart, Talia felt like she was in the fucking Twilight Zone. She wanted to scream Candy’s name and have her appear from wherever she was. And she almost did. But just before her wave of terror was ripe enough to rip through the air, Vanness recognized her and rushed over to make sure she was alright.

        “Talia? What you doing here, baby girl? Is everything alright?”

        A stream of cold tears grazed both of Talia’s cheeks. The warmth in Vanness’s concern reminded her of her own mother’s and made her wish she were still alive.

        Standing there, shivering with fear that Goon was on his way out the door too, she couldn't form a word. She was speechless. All she could do was cry.

        “What is it, honey?” Vanness pulled her in for a hug. “Are you and Nolan fighting about what happened last night? Here, come to my office so we can talk in private.”

        She took Talia to the top floor and guided her into her office. By the time they got there, the tears had dried up, but her fear still stood.

        She liked Dr. Carter—looked up to her in ways the woman never even knew. She especially loved how she had raised her son to be such a kind and loving man. What she didn’t like, however, was being left in the dark when it came to her feelings. So, instead of beating around the bush about what she wanted to know, she came straight out and asked her.

        “Was it Candy?”

        Vanness was caught off guard. She thought Goon might’ve told Talia what happened and that she was upset about it. They had gotten into arguments before, and Talia had gone to see her to get some clarity. But when it came to Candy, that was something they never spoke about.

        “What did my son tell you?”

        Vanness exhaled deeply and took a seat at her desk. She hated getting involved in Goon’s affairs, but one thing she always was was truthful.

        “He wouldn’t tell me anything,” Talia said. “Whatever happened last night has him so fu—messed up that he can’t speak. All he could do was cry. I didn’t come here to make you betray him or anything by telling me what’s going on. I just wanna know what’s what so I know what to do for my own heart.”

        “I don’t wanna cause any problems for you two,” Vanness sighed. “I love my son, and I know he cares about you. But I’ll be honest, Candy did turn up last night. She’s badly hurt, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen from here. But I do know my son has never stopped loving her.”

        Talia heard all she needed to hear.

        She knew that a fight for Goon’s heart was something she probably wouldn’t win. Not against the woman he loved.

        Whether she wanted to stick around and find out was something she had to think about. And whether she wanted to tell him the secret she had been hiding from him for three weeks was another.

        Her heart was cracking at the seams. Goon was the man she loved, and he was in love with someone else. That was a hard pill for Talia to swallow. No matter how badly hurt Candy was.