AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come out and look me in the face like a man!”
The door opened, and he stood there with his hands hanging limply at his sides.
“I wanted to tell you, Adrienne, but I didn’t kno
w how.”
“How are we supposed to pay the rent?” she whispered.
“The landlord will just have to wait. We’ll double up next month,” he said.
Adrienne sank down on the foot of the bed and put her head in her hands for a moment. She felt an overwhelming sense of disgust, which made her mouth twist and her nose turn up as though she smelled something bad. The bedroom suddenly felt like a prison, and the setting seemed to belong in some macabre cartoon.
He sat beside her and began talking earnestly. “Please try to forgive me, Adrienne.” He gave her a tremulous smile.
Adrienne didn’t smile back.
“Adrienne, I’ll make all this up to you. I swear.”
“Leave me alone, Mel. To tell you the truth, I’m beginning to think getting back together was a mistake.”
Mel froze. “Please don’t leave me, Adrienne.”
She looked at him scornfully. “If anyone walks out that door, Mel, it will be you. And the locks will be changed before you hit the corner.”
Mel knew that it was his fault they were short on the rent, but now she was taking it too far. He stood up. “Change the locks? What makes you think I’m gonna let you put me out of my own house? Are you outa your muthafuckin’ mind?” His chest was heaving as he waited for an answer.
Adrienne’s mouth quivered, and her eyes narrowed. “You act like you don’t want to be here anyway! All you do is drink at that damn bar. I’m sick of it.”
Mel tried to backtrack. “It isn’t like that.”
“You’ve sunk as low as a man can get, Mel Jordan. And do you know why?” Mel didn’t answer, his fury rising.
“Because you spend so much time with lowlifes, that’s why!” yelled Adrienne.
“Things will get better,” Mel said weakly. “Remember how it used to be between us?”
Adrienne actually had the nerve to rise from the foot of the bed, place her hands on her hips, and push her face so close to his, their noses were almost touching. “Yes, I do, but you know what, Mel? I’m getting real tired of remembering those days every time you fuck up. And you’ve been fucking up a whole lot lately.”
How could he let a woman step to him in such a manner and curse him to his face, and still call himself a man?
The blood in his veins felt hot. Beads of sweat appeared in his mustache. Adrienne’s mouth was moving, but he could not hear what she was saying. When he spoke, his voice sounded as if it were coming out of a wind tunnel located far away. “Back up, Adrienne, and the next time you jump up at me, you better be able to whip my ass.”
Adrienne had the good sense to walk away. She was almost out of the bedroom when she turned around to have the last word. “I’m not paying one penny more than my share of the rent, so I guess you’re gonna be driving the fuck out of that bus.”
She went into the bathroom and slammed the door so hard that several of the stick-on mirrors in the hallway fell and shattered on the floor.
Mel’s craving for cocaine had never been stronger.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Adrienne sat cross-legged on the floor of Charlene’s living room. Charlene used a pick to untangle Adrienne’s wet hair as she listened to the tale of the missing rent money.
“How dare he just give away our money?” Adrienne fumed.
“If Dan was down and out, what would you do?”
“I’d help him, of course.”
