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“She has rib damage, and when her eyes open, you’ll notice that they both are swollen. They gave her pain medication, which is what put her to sleep. Miami, I like you. I really like you, but at the same time, I love my granddaughter to death. This has been my baby since she came on this Earth. I know why they did this to her. I may be old, but I’m no fool. I want to see Shae happy. I actually like her with you, but I will not lose my baby to this shit, you hear me?” she asked, and her voice cracked when she said it. Even a tear fell from her eyes that she didn’t even bother to wipe. “You better finish it before it’s too late. I just lost my great grandbaby. I won’t lose Shae too,” and with that, Shae’s grandmother walked away.
She had every reason to be mad. Hell, she could even be mad at me if she wanted to. Out of respect for Shae, I didn’t say shit. Shae’s father gave me a head nod, and then he walked out of the room. Mahogany placed her hand on my shoulder for a few seconds and then left when Jabari called her. Now, it just left Shae and me in the cold hospital room.
I took a seat on the side of the bed that they had her lying in, and I picked up her hand then kissed the back of it. Her body didn’t even stir, so I was sure that whatever they’d given to her had to have been strong. She was knocked out. I sat there for maybe two hours, just trying to picture the details of how her night could have possibly gone. I thought about how scared she had to have been. I knew Dino, and I knew how big that silly looking, ugly ass nigga was. No woman would want to wake up and see that type of nigga looking down at them.
I hadn’t asked the question yet because, truthfully, I was scared to know the answer. I mean, no one had said anything, but still, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I knew he’d touched her, but I wanted to know if he had touched her, touched her, if you know what I mean. When Shae and I finally decided that we wanted to give this relationship thing a try, I already knew what time it was. I knew there would be people who didn’t want us together, but never in a million years did I think that some shit like this would happen.
When she woke up, I would let her know upfront how much her life was getting ready to change. First things first, she was selling that fuckin’ house and moving in with me. Now that I knew how fuckin’ grimy niggas could be, I wanted my shorty at my home laying her head down with me for the rest of her life. I was putting security on her ass too. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something else happened to Shae, all because of her involvement with me.
Thirdly, I needed to talk to Trip over the phone and have that nigga add me to his visitation list because I had to look that man in his eyes and let him know that I would not play behind my girl. All that shot calling that he liked to do behind those walls was going to get those niggas killed. On everything I love, I wanted him to send a nigga to my doorstep. The way I was feeling right now, I could kill me a few niggas!
Jashae Johnson
A week had passed since the attack. Crazy how that was able to put me back into the dark place that I thought I’d escaped. Dino coming into my home and putting his hands on me was just a reminder that my son was no longer here because Vonte used to be my biggest protector. Vonte would be the one to walk the halls of our home at night just to make sure that everything was in place. Although my baby was just a kid, I always felt so protected with him at home with me. He was also the one who would make sure that the alarm was set at night because there were times that I would become so distracted that I would forget to set it. That’s what happened that night.
I was on the phone with Mahogany running my mouth, and I forgot to put the alarm on in the house. I couldn’t get that night out of my mind. It’s crazy because months ago when I lost Vonte, I was ready to die. God had put me in a situation where I’d come close to death, and it took that happening to me for me to realize that I wasn’t ready to leave this earth yet. That’s why the power of the tongue was so important and why we had to watch what came out of our mouths. Dino had to have been three times my body weight, but I fought like hell. I just remember him being on top of me, punching me and slapping me anywhere that his blows would land. Every time that I was able to get a lick in, he would get so angry and damn near try to kill my ass.
Luckily, I stayed in an area with good neighbors and security. My next door neighbor called the police after she saw someone coming inside my house who she’d never seen before. Mind you, when she gave her statement, she didn’t even tell the police that she saw Dino picking with the lock. She was just so nosey, and she’d never seen Dino before, which is why she called. I owed that lady my life because had the police never barged inside, I know for a fact that Dino would have killed me in that room.
Although it’s been a week since it happened, the pain in my body still felt like it happened yesterday. The swelling in my face hadn’t gone down much, but it didn’t look as bad as it did the night I was brought into the hospital. The swelling around my eyes was still there, and my lip was still healing. The pain in my ribs was something that I couldn’t even explain. It was so bad that I was walking with a limp. That came from Dino kicking me in my ribs after I’d kneed him in his dick again.
I hated Trip after this. In the past, there was really nothing that he could do to get me to hate him, but after this, I swear I wished nothing good on him. For him to send Dino’s ass to my house showed me that he could give two fucks about me or my wellbeing. On top of that, I was angry at myself. I felt stupid, betrayed, and numb to all this bullshit. This was a man who I held down for over ten years. I deprived myself of time, conversation, and sex from other men, all for a nigga who was so undeserving of any of that.
For ten years, almost every fuckin’ Saturday, I was back and forth to see him in Orlando, just so I could show his ass that I cared. I don’t care how mad Trip was with me, I will never be able to wrap my head around the fact that he could be so hateful. As much as I wanted to change my phone number, Miami told me to hold off on it because he wanted Trip to call again, so he could talk to him. So far, I hadn’t heard from him, and
I was happy about that. On the other hand, I wanted him to call, just to let him know that he’d lost me for good. I wanted him to know that he was going to rot in that fuckin’ prison, and he would never in his fuckin’ life have to worry about me answering another phone call, putting another dime on his books, making that ride to see him, none of that!
I had a good heart, so in the past, if Trip would fuck up, I would always forgive him because I didn’t want him to have to do that time alone. I knew that his mama didn’t make it her business to go and check up on him like I did. Because I didn’t want to just leave him high and dry, I would still forgive him, even though a lot of the shit he’s done over the years weren’t things that I needed to forgive him for. That and the fact that we had Vonte then, and I didn’t want my son to see his parents beefing with each other.
Vonte was no longer here, and I had to tell myself that I didn’t owe Trip shit! Not even my fuckin’ loyalty. He wasn’t even loyal to me because had he been, Dino would have never found his way to my damn house. Trip had to tell Dino my address. It showed when I would send him letters in the past or when he would send me letters. Dino wouldn’t know where to find me without the help of Trip.
I was angry at the world. I felt like no one could relate to what I was going through. No one could feel the type of pain that I was feeling. I was grateful for everybody that I had in my life who was trying to be there for me, but nothing that they could say or do would take away what happened to me. It’s been a whole fuckin’ week since the day that I came home from the hospital, and I won’t even use the bathroom without Miami standing outside the door, making sure no one is there to harm me. Just last night, I had Miami walk the halls of his house twice, just to make sure that we were fine.
I loved Miami so much, but I was scared of what came with being with him. At the same time, I didn’t want to end something that was pretty much just getting started. Here it was, twelve in the afternoon, and Miami all but dragged me with him to the gym so I could sit in the stands and watch him as he boxed. We were going to Vegas in a few weeks for the fight that he had coming up. Although physically, I was there, mentally, I was somewhere else. I couldn’t even tell you how good of a job Miami was doing or if he needed improvement because I wasn’t paying attention.
“Ima be here for about another hour. You want me to call Manny to take you to the house, or you going to wait?” Miami came over to the bleachers where I was sitting and asked.
Hearing his voice snapped me out of the daze that I was in. The mention of Manny had me rolling my eyes. Manny was the security that he had hired. I get it, it was just a precaution, but on the other hand, it showed me the lengths that we had to take just for the two of us to be together. I shouldn’t have to have fuckin’ security to be with someone I loved. It wasn’t Miami that I was mad at, but lately, I felt like he was the one that I was taking my frustrations out on.
I looked at him through the oversized Gucci frames that I had on, and I took a while to answer him. All he wore was a pair of gym shorts, and there was so much sweat on his body that it looked like someone had thrown a whole bunch of baby oil on him. I got a chance to look at the tattoos that filled his body, which started from his neck and stopped just above the trail of hair that went down to his pubic area. Miami was every woman’s fantasy, and I think he knew that too.
“You said that almost two hours ago. I don’t get why you couldn’t just drop me off at my grandma’s house or even my daddy’s. I don’t want to be around no damn Manny. I don’t even know him! You gave me the option to have him take me home when you knew that I would decline it. I don’t want to be around him, and I don’t want to be in the house by myself,” I snapped, rolling my eyes hard as hell at him.
“You don’t know him, but I do! I looked that nigga in his eyes and told him that I would kill him if something were to happen to you while you’re in his presence. Fix your attitude, shorty. You directing that shit at the wrong nigga. I haven’t been doing shit but trying to help put you back together after this fucked up shit that happened to you. If you want to release some tension, get in the ring with me. I been dealing with your fucked up ass attitude for the past week now, shorty, and because I know that you have a lot to be mad at, I let you have it, but at the same time, check that shit before I check it for you,” he said while using the face towel to wipe his face. His sweat was getting all in his eyes.
I didn’t even bother responding to him. I just looked away.
“One more hour and we can go. We can do whatever the fuck you want to do with your spoiled ass!” he said, then leaned in and kissed my lips. Two seconds later, he walked away.
My eyes stayed on his muscular, glistening back until my phone buzzed twice with a notification from Mahogany. She was sending me a link from Channel 7 news. The heading for the article was, Teenager and her Unborn Child Die In A Severe Car Crash. I shook my head because that just left another mother to experience having to bury their child. I clicked on the link, and I began to read. Literally, on the third sentence, the name Taylor Owens came into view, and my hand went over my mouth. At the bottom was her senior picture, and I was in shock. Before I could even grasp all of this, my phone rang. It was Mahogany.
“Did you read it?” she asked.
“Yes. Oh, my God. That’s crazy,” I called out.
“She had been on life support for over a week. Her parents took her off last night, and she died early this morning. She was dead ass wrong for what she did, but that girl was only eighteen. Just turned eighteen the same day as Vonte. I feel like if I wasn’t pregnant, I would have said something like this was her karma, but babbyyy, these hormones have turned me into a sentimental, crybaby ass angel. Jabari is sick of me. Last night, he asked if the doctor could induce me right now. Mind you, I’m only ten weeks,” Mahogany said, and that got me to laugh.
I had noticed the change in her since the words, “I’m pregnant,” left her damn mouth. I was happy for my best friend, though. It made me proud when she decided that she would keep the baby.
