Never Left Me (Completed)

Thirty-Two

"I'm straight." She looks at his hands as their placed on both of his knees noticing his knuckles are bruised.

A flashback of him punching Caprice glimmers through her mind. Most of that night was a blur. She had pieces that were told from the point-of-view of her brothers, Pandora, and Chandrika. At one point she must've blacked out because she didn't remember kicking the back window out of the Uber. They tried to call wanting to be paid for it, but her and Chandrika made their case that he should've just unlocked the door and it was unlawful restraint. ChaCha did take blame for putting the child lock on, but they still decided to drop the damage fee.

"Are you good? I see you're not in jail," she gives the smart remark.

"Well, Caprice didn't press charges. My probation officer heard about the fight, but they can't do anything unless charges are pressed."

"How are you so sure he won't? Police can still investigate and the state presses charges. He doesn't have to do it himself."

"He's a rapper. He's not even cooperating with the police or his crew. No one from that night is. It would hurt his reputation if he does."

"Reputation," she scoffs rubbing her forehead. He doesn't have much of that. "This is exactly why I said leave it alone. If you fuck up your probation and get in trouble, I have to wear that on my conscious. That's a guilt I don't want. I don't need you risking your freedom. Any of you, which includes my brothers."

"It's all good." In Gee's mind it would've been worth it. How could he not be a man if he didn't go to war and avenge her pain? Despite him feeling like he had no regrets he does take accountability.. "I apologize for going against my word. But-"

"There shouldn't be a but. I asked you to respect my wishes and you didn't. You made my sexual assault all about you. You, my brother, all of you."

"Maybe I'm not understanding how protecting you translates to making it about myself.."

"That man didn't come up to you first to start a problem. You came up to him being confrontational. You threw the first punch and pretty much all the punches. You provoked the entire situation. What you should've done is come get me and say let's get out of here since I have a restraining order on him."

"Okay, you're right. I could've handled things differently. I let my anger get the best of me, especially after the last conversation I had with him. I can admit most of my anger came from him disrespecting me prior to that."

"What're you talking about?"

"He called me mad about business then the conversation turned personal. He said some things and I did to. Some of those might've been threats. So, when I saw him I wanted to act on those threats," Gee explains.

Gen breathily laughs not surprised. "Men are so predictable. Like I said, it came from a selfish place. You all think a woman's sexual purity is directly connected to you. Whether it's a romantic relationship or the protective older brother and father. Cortlen didn't even know what was going on and he's breaking bottles acting a fool. It's all a patriarchal reinforcement of men deeming women's worth based on their sexual purity. You tie it to your manhood because you don't want people to look at you the way they may look at me... Weak and broken," she rants.

"That's not why-" he stops to looks at her narrowing his eyes. He rubs over his facial hair admitting, "Maybe you're right. That's what I know. Someone disrespects a woman in my life, my answer is retribution."

"Revenge only worsens the situation..." That can be said about a lot of predicaments in Gee's life. "I'm trying to convict this man and send him to jail, so he can't hurt anyone else. There's no personal gain for him being hurt."