“Kera! Can you come here for a minute?” their Aunt Janine called from the kitchen.
She sighed. “Hold on, Farrah.”
“No, it’s cool. I can walk by myself.”
I didn’t look forward to it—Aunt Janine had a neighbor who liked me and didn’t want to take no for an answer. Kera sucked her teeth.
“What if Carl is on the porch? You know you can’t stand?—”
“I’ll walk her.”
What the hell?Mekhi’s offer shocked me enough to have me pivot to look at him. Kera shot him an unsure glance before she looked at me.
“I’ll be fine—” I began.
“You could just wait!” Kera said at the same time.
“Se’Kera! Bring your butt on!”
Kera sighed heavily. “Coming, TeTe!”
She stomped toward the kitchen, muttering under her breath. I bet she’d get all that shit out her system before she walked in that kitchen, though. Aunt Janine didn’t play them games. I hurried out the front door, while Mekhi was distracted by Aunt Janine’s yelling. I looked up as I hit the bottom step and fought the urge to groan. There, coming up the stone walkway, was Carl. A familiar lecherous grin curved his thin lips. When I said he made me sick, it wasn’t just a saying. I literally felt my stomach turn, nausea sickening me.
Carl wasn’t just some annoyance. There were rumors about him, reasons we saw the police come to question him first when there was any kind of assault in town. I swore evil seeped from his pores, elevating him from aggravating to dangerous. Like some cartoon stereotype, he licked his lips as he rubbed his hands together. I shivered, a frisson of fear tripping down my spine. Even with people in screaming distance, Carl was a menace.
“Hey, baby girl, I was coming to borrow a lil sugar, but shit… I done found something sweeter,” he said, striking a pose like he believed there was some way in hell I’d find him or his words appealing. “How you doing, pretty?”
“Fine,” I responded tightly. “Can you let me by, please? Kinda in a hurry.”
His smile widened, disregarding my request. “Aww, baby. You ain’t got a minute for me? I swear it’s worth yo’ time,” he coaxed.
He reached out, maybe to touch my hand. I didn’t know, but I instinctively flinched. He never got the opportunity as he was suddenly lifted and slung down the walkway.My mouth rounded into an “O,” shocked by the brutality of the act… and the fact that it thrilled me.
“Ain’t a damn thing she said hard to understand, nigga,” Mekhi said quietly, walking toward where he had thrown the large man. “So, why the fuck you pretending not to hear?”
Carl’s response was unintelligible, no doubt garbled by the sudden pressure of Mekhi’s foot on his throat.
“Let me give you a bit of advice, pussy.” Mekhi’s voice was conversational, belying the threat in his words. “If you ever in your life attempt to reach out and touch this one, it will be your last ‘reach out and touch.’ You gon’ meet the untimely demise you should’ve already been intimately acquainted with. Can you understand that?”
Tears were running down Carl’s face as he squirmed, his hands on each end of Mekhi’s shoe. He was trying so hard to escape death by Jordan, trying but failing.
“Mekhi, please! Please, you gon’ kill him. Please let him up,” I begged suddenly, scared by the darkness in his eyes.
I wasn’t pleading for Carl.
With one last look, Mekhi lifted his foot only to bring it down hard on Carl’s head.
“Remember what I said about this one, bitch.”
Carl nodded hastily, as he struggled to sit up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” His voice was muffled by the hand cupping his bleeding nose and mouth.
I watched as he hurriedly limped toward his house before turning back to Mekhi.
“What is he talking about? What didn’t he know?” I demanded
“Yeah, Mekhi! What didn’t we know?” Seth crowed.
I didn’t realize we had an audience. Seth laughed his ass off on the porch, while Kera looked at us thoughtfully. Mekhi gazed at me for a long moment, then started walking toward my car. “Bring your ass on, Farrah. I ain’t got all day.”
