Prosper carried her up the stairs and into their bedroom, then into the bathroom. She sat on the toilet and staredaimlessly at nothing while he drew her a bath. She smelled the bath salts and bubble bath, but her brain couldn’t compute anything other than the information she’d just learned.
She didn’t even blink when Prosper undressed them both and then submerged them into the Jacuzzi sized tub.
“I’m so sorry, Peanut. I promise I didn’t know all that?—”
She shushed him. “I don’t want to talk.” Her voice sounded dead, like she had nothing left to live for.
“Let me just say this.” He gripped her cheeks and turned her head so she was forced to look at him. She noticed he had tears in his eyes, and that struck her as odd. Prosper didn’t seem like the type to cry. “I love the fuck out of you, Teonny. You hear me? I know you’ve lost a lot in this life, but you gained me, and I’m going to be here to remind you every single day why I’m more than enough.”
Teonny heard his words, but they couldn’t resonate. Not right now. She felt him though. She felt the love that poured from his soul, and she took it and matched it. Since she didn’t feel like she could speak her love to him, she could only pray he felt it.
When he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek and then her temple, she knew he could. She found that to be so beautiful. A tear slipped down her cheek as she thought about the only other person she had been able to communicate with heart to heart.Angel.Her Angel.
Teonny leaned into him and allowed Prosper to wash her up as she tried desperately to settle into her new reality.
Sleeping next to Teonny had to be a good and a bad thing. A blessing and a damn curse.
Prosper got the best sleep when laid up next to her. He’d never felt so rested in his life. The bad part was that he slept hard as hell. He’d never been like that before. He was most comfortable when he slept lightly, so he could be aware of a surprise attack. All that went out the window when he slept next to Teonny’s fine ass.
Now, here he was, looking around the safe house frantically for her while rapidly coming to the conclusion that her ass had left.
“Shit!”
It wasn’t that there was a threat anymore. He had called Lamar the night before to confirm that shit was handled. Worry filled him because he knew Teonny wasn’t in her right mind at the moment. He stayed up with her well into the wee hours ofthe morning. She didn’t cry much after they left the warehouse, but her spirit wasn’t all the way there either.
Teonny not being at the safe house worried him because he felt her pain. He knew what that kind of hurt could do to a person.
“Why you doin’ this to me, Peanut?” Prosper uttered as he headed for the front door.
It didn’t matter to him that he only had basketball shorts and house shoes on. He felt in his gut that he needed to find Teonny quickly.
The only place he could think to look was her home she shared with her mom and Jerome. He turned the thirty-minute drive into fifteen. His heart calmed slightly when he noticed Teonny’s car in the driveway. He had made sure to get her car to the safe house weeks ago so she never felt like she was trapped, though he was thankful she had never made a move to leave until now. He was even more glad he was able to find her since she wanted to be a big girl and leave the safe house.
After he hopped out of the car, he took long strides toward the front door and rang the doorbell. Prosper’s patience ran thin as he waited for Teonny to answer. When she didn’t, he rang the doorbell again before he formed a fist and banged on the door.
“Peanut, it’s me!” After a couple of minutes, there was still no answer, so he tried the doorknob. It turned. He felt weird about letting himself in, but something told him the intrusion was necessary. “Peanut!” His deep voice boomed as he took a few steps into the home.
The smell of gasoline put him on high alert. His face frowned up as he called for her again, now rushing through the first floor of the house to see if he could find her. He did. She was in the living room tossing gasoline from a large canister around the room, with tears streaming down her face and muttering to herself.
“Took my fuckin’ daughter away from me,” she mumbled.
Prosper ran over to her and wrapped her up in a bear hug. She had been so out of it that she jumped. Apparently, she hadn’t heard him ringing the doorbell or calling out for her.
“Peanut, chill,” he said as she thrashed around in his arms. “It’s me, baby. It’s me.”
“Patrick,” she whispered before she went completely limp in his arms.
The sob that tore out of her shredded his heart to pieces. She sagged against him. He gently lowered them to the floor and allowed her to cry. While he rocked back and forth, she continued to mutter about her daughter and her mother, occasionally throwing Jerome’s name around. He couldn’t make sense of her words, but he got the gist. He understood completely where her pain came from. How could a person not? Her mother had committed the ultimate betrayal, and unfortunately, it was the thing to make Teonny snap.
“Let it out, baby. I got you,” Prosper assured as he continued to rock her.
“She took my baby from me.” Teonny wailed as she dug her head into his chest.
“I know, baby. I know. I’m so sorry.”
Teonny pulled away from him and hopped up. She grabbed the canister of gasoline again. “I have to burn it down. This house has to go.”
Prosper stood and held his hands up in mock surrender. He hoped it was a calming gesture to her so he could speak his piece. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, baby. I’ll help you sell the house. You don’t have to ever come back here again, but burning it ain’t gonna do anything. It won’t help the situation.”
