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“I don’t believe you. Take off that shirt and them damn pants, and do it fast!” she said.
“Come on, Auntie, I didn’t have anybody in here! You can even go and ask the neighbors,” I said, and she swung the belt so hard, hitting me right in my face with the metal part of it. I touched my face and I noticed that my hands were drenched in blood.
“I’m not going to ask you again!” she barked.
While crying, I removed my shirt and took off my pants too. I still had bruises on my body from the last beating that I had taken from her. She walked over to me and struck me once with the belt, instantly making my body fall to the floor. After that blow was another one, which almost felt like it knocked the damn wind out of my body. My cries fell on deaf ears as she continued to whip me with the belt and it teared into my skin, leaving bruises along the way.
“You think I’m fuckin’ stupid! I know damn well that you had someone up in my damn house. Ain’t nobody gon’ just clean up the whole house just because! Do I look fuckin’ stupid to you?” she asked me, hitting me with the belt again. I was a small girl, so every time that belt came in contact with my skin, it felt as if she were killing my ass.
“No ma’am,” I said, crying.
“Now get your lying ass up out of my face before I beat your ass again!” she said.
I quickly stood up and grabbed my clothes with me. When I walked past Porsha’s room, she was standing there with the phone glued to her ear, cracking up.
“That’s what your fast ass get!” she said and then disappeared back into her room.
I couldn’t for the life of me understand why they would think that I had someone up in here while they were away. I was asked the question the other day, what does love mean to you, Antonia? Love means to me, going out of my way and doing things for people so that they won’t have to go and do it themselves. Love is when your family comes home after enjoying themselves on a trip to Orlando, that you didn’t get invited to, and you make sure that the house is spotless when they arrive. That same love is when they turn around and beat you like a slave. That’s what love means to me and I was experiencing it every damn day
I went into the bathroom and noticed that I had a big gash under my eye, where my aunt had struck me with the belt. Not only that, but I had bruises all on my legs and stomach. I turned around and I had a blackish, purplish bruise from the other morning when she had hit me with the belt. I tried my best to clean up the bruise under my eye, and when I was done, only thing that was left was a swollen eye and a few specs of dried up blood. I didn’t want to keep irritating it because the shit hurt so badly. I looked in the cabinet and I pulled out a bandage. I was just going to have to be Left Eye tonight at work. I wasn’t going to take a shower because it would burn the bruises, so I just went to my room and threw on my work clothes.
When I walked out of the room, my aunt was sitting down on the couch, smoking a cigarette and watching TV, like she hadn’t just beat my ass a few minutes ago.
“I’m going to work,” I said.
“If you tell them white people down at the job that I beat your ass, I promise it’s going to be worse the next time!” she threatened and I nodded my head.
I already knew the drill, so I didn’t see why she had to continue to recite it to me.
Chapter 8: Jahiem
I was in the city with a few of my niggas that I knew from around the way, gambling, talking shit, and just chilling. I had moved out of the hood when I became the owner of my tattoo shop but I
couldn’t seem to stay my ass away from it. I was a product of my environment, and I loved the shit that took place over here in the hood. Hell, half of my niggas still stayed over here, so I had no problem with making that drive.
“Let’s go, nigga. I’m trying to get that Rolex you got on,” my nigga, Red, said, referring to my watch.
Red’s ass made just as much money as I did, but he wasn’t making his money legally. He was out here living dirty, doing what he had to do, but I’ll admit that the nigga was indeed eating.
I had known this nigga since we were in fuckin’ grade school, and we had been close ever since. Hell, his old girl and mine were best friends too. We called him Red because he was an ole bright ass nigga and his ass was a fuckin’ dog, I mean worse than me. We could be somewhere in a club, just chilling and this nigga probably done fucked at least 70% of the bitches in attendance, while I probably fucked about only 40%. I wasn’t bragging on my dick or nothing like that, but it was the damn truth.
It was my turn to shoot the dice next when I saw Antonia coming down the stairs of her building. Something was off because number one she was walking with a damn limp, plus she had a bandage over her left eye. I completely lost my focus and just dropped the dice on the floor.
“I’ll get up with you niggas later. I need to handle something right quick,” I said.
They talked shit as I quickly jogged over to catch up with Antonia.
“What’s good, lil’ mama? Where you been hiding at?” I asked her. I hadn’t seen her since the night we had dinner together, and it wasn’t like she had a phone so I could contact her or something.
When she looked at me, I noticed that her eyes were bloodshot red. She smiled at me and I could tell that it was forced. I was trying to mind my business because I could tell that she didn’t want me all up in her personal life, but damn, it was hard to just turn a blind eye when she was silently crying out for help.
“I’m okay. I’m on my way to work though, and the bus is about to come in about another five minutes or so,” she said, trying to walk away, but I stopped her.
“Come on. You don’t have to take the bus today, I’ll take you,” I told her and she shook her head no.
Little did she know, this shit wasn’t up for debate. I grabbed her hand and pulled her along and we walked to my car. I unlocked my car door and went over and opened the door for her. I watched as she climbed in the seat like she was in pain or something, and when she sat down, she winced and I took her in. I didn’t know what she was going through, but damn, I just felt so damn bad for her. I closed her door and then went over and got in on my side. As I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, I remembered her being scared the last time by how fast that I was driving, so I chose not to drive as fast this time.
“You good?” I asked her as she looked out the window.
