“Hold up. Ma, you knew about this?” Shane interrupted.
“Shane. You need to stay out of this. You don’t have a clue what’s been going—”
“Well, why don’t we fill him in? I mean, it’s been a long time coming, we might as well put it all out on the table. Let’s start with the fact that I’ve had four abortions since I was eleven. The reason why Tiko left Momma was that she caught him fuckin’ on me. I got pregnant by him, Rick, and Allen, the truck driver, and she forced me to get an abortion every time. Then here comes Nathan, and he was just like the rest.
“The difference with him was that she chose to look the other way because she didn’t want to lose another boyfriend. Oh, let’s talk about the fact that she’s been taking money from Keynauri in order to take care of Lyric, but using the money to pay for new clothes, trips, and those tangled-ass wigs. Our daddy showed me proof of him paying child support every month, so her ass doesn’t even need the extra money. Hell, we can discuss how our dear mother has been pimping her niece out and taking money from Nate in exchange for her looking the other way.
“I was with him the day you were blowing up his phone and texting him about how tired you were of having to share himwith your fast-ass daughter and desperate niece. He went into the gas station, and I saw you crashing out in his messages asking what we had that you didn’t. You are sad and pathetic.” Shaylyn revealed.
“And what does that make you? You can try to play the victim all you want, but you’ve been skipping school and fuckin’ my man. You can’t be a victim and a hoe at the same time!”
Spit came flying out of Trina’s mouth, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You’re absolutely right. I was lost and thought he cared about me until I had to lie on that cold table and have another baby sucked out of me. It reminded me that once again, my momma failed to protect me. I guess I’m more like you than I thought, because I can’t even tell the difference between love and trauma. The shit is all the same to me!”
“Where that nigga at? Call his bitch ass up right now and tell him to come over!” Shane fussed as he paced back and forth.
“No, bubs. You spent a whole year in juvie because of Momma’s bullshit. This isn’t your battle to fight,” Shaylyn pleaded.
“Do you think I give a fuck about that shit? You’re my fuckin’ sister, and you’ve got me fucked up if you think I’m about to let a mothafucka get away with taking advantage of you. I’m fucked up right now, man. I can’t believe you kept all of this shit away from me!” Tears slid down his face, but he wiped them away.
“That’s enough. Shane, you need to stay out of this. I’m not going to put money on your books or come visit you because you can’t stay out of trouble. At the end of the day, your sister is no victim, and y’all are not gonna sit here and try to paint Nathan as some monster. Every man gets tempted by temptation, and it’s not his fault these bitches seduced him. Trust me, he gets plenty of grown woman pussy, so I know for a fact y’all pressed him,and that’s exactly why y’all have to get the fuck out of my house.” Trina sneered.
“I don’t want to live in this mothafucka anyway. I already called my daddy, and he’s coming to pick me up when he gets off work. You’ll never see me again,” Shaylyn declared.
My head was spinning from everything going on around me. I was used to living in dysfunction, but this was too much for me. My anxiety spiked, and my stomach twisted in a matter of seconds. I raced toward the bathroom, praying I made it in time.
My knees hit the floor with a thud as I emptied all of the contents inside of my stomach. I hated throwing up, and the burn in my throat reminded me why. Tears sprang from my eyes as I continued to vomit. My stomach began to cramp up as I prayed for it all to be over. I peed on myself a little, which only made me feel more disgusting.
“Bitch, I know you’re lying! Are you pregnant?” Trina screamed as she stood in the doorway of the bathroom. She charged toward me, and I was in no position to defend myself. She lifted up my T-shirt, exposing my tiny baby bump. I flinched, anticipating what she would do next.
“You bitches have really lost your minds. I gave you a place to live when your own momma wanted nothing to do with you. I let you eat up all my groceries and run up my water and electric bills, and this is what you do? Huh? You fuck my man in my house and then have the nerve to get pregnant!” She punched me all over my body as I crouched into the fetal position.
“I’m so sick of this shit! I should have left your no-good ass in foster care and let those mothafuckas have their way with you. You didn’t deserve a good home. You deserved to be chained and locked away. I told my sister you and that sorry ass brother of yours was nothing but curses! Demons!”
Trina continued to scream and punch me. I heard the sound of yelling outside of the bathroom, but I couldn’t focus on what was going on when I was getting my ass beat.
“Bitch, get the fuck off of her!” A deep voice roared as the door was kicked back. I recognized it right away, but I thought I might have been dreaming for a moment.
“Step away from her, or I’ma have your brains splattered all over these ugly ass walls. You must have thought we were playin’ the last time we came to this bitch. We warned you what would happen if even a hair on her head was out of place, but you must have thought a nigga was joking. I don’t put my hands on women, but I’ll beat the fuck out of a grimy bitch,” East roared, standing in the bathroom with a gun pointed toward Aunt Trina.
I sat on the floor with my back against the wall. All I wanted was for this day to end because it had to be a nightmare. There was no way this was real.
“Everybody wants to defend them and take their side as if they’re so innocent. Did you know your precious Lyric is pregnant? Huh? I thought she was fucking you, but she’s been throwing her dirty pussy at my nigga. She ain’t as innocent as you think she is. She’s nothing but worthless trash, and she needs to get the fuck out of my house. Since you want to play Captain Save a Hoe so bad, take her with you and stay the fuck away from my house.”
My head kept spinning as Aunt Trina and East argued. At some point, Shaylyn and Trina started fighting in the hallway, and picture frames were knocked from the wall. I tried to stand up, but my vision became blurry, and everything faded to black.
“You look to be about eleven weeks pregnant. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend an abortion for someone this late in their pregnancy, but given your age, I will sign off on the paperwork if that’s what you want. The final decision is yours, but I want you to know you have options. I’m gonna have your discharge papers processed, but I’ll give you my information if you need those papers.” Dr. Hanson gave me a sympathetic look before walking out of the room. The news wasn’t shocking to me because I suspected it, but it still had me shook. I was pregnant by my aunt’s boyfriend, with no job or even a place to live.
A year ago, the most stressful thing in my life was deciding what outfit to wear, and now I was sitting in a cold room with abortion and adoption papers in my hand. East stood by my bedside, but he hadn’t said anything since the doctor gave me the results. He asked the doctor a few questions about concussions, but he hadn’t said a single word to me. I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind, and it made me uncomfortable.
“Thank you for coming. I’m sure you probably have other places to go, and I don’t want to—”
“Don’t piss me off. It’s taking everything inside of me not to commit a murder, and you want to play games,” East grumbled.
I opened my mouth, then closed it. His tone was calm, but I could tell he was irritated. What I wasn’t sure about was whether I was the cause.
“I’m not trying to irritate you. I was only saying—”
