Side Swiped

Chapter 30: Stripes of Manhood

I don’t know how she was friends with Luther, she was a few years older than me- 7 at most, and even though she was recently in a new relationship she was 'The Scumbag's' number one customer. She came (no pun intended) more than any of his other friends.

"I do love that, but not more than you love my d*ck," I retorted. "That's why you visit me so much."

Things were getting worse with Luther, my mother's scum of the earth boyfriend and I was on the brink.

I sighed at the thought of it.

"He still treating you bad?" She said as she pulled up her pants. Nikki was always in some sort of animal print, but she wore it well.

"The more people come to see me, the worse he gets," I told her.

"I told you to stop acting like you enjoy it so much." She reached for her oversized bag. "Now turn around let me see it."

"I'm fine Nicole," I waved her away dismissively. "I'm used to it now. It actually tickles sometimes," I chuckled humorlessly.

The truth was that I was far from fine.

"Shut up and let me see it," she said sternly.

"Ooo, you know I like them feisty," I joked and slapped her butt. Joking and pretending like I was unaffected by Luther was my only way of keeping the situation lighthearted, but as I turned over and she lifted the hem of my shirt I realized that maybe the situation was worse than I thought because she gasped dramatically.

"What was it this time?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I got the combo. Between the bat and the fist of fury."

She started tracing her hands over the bruises that covered my back. He was smart enough to keep the beatings to parts of my body that my mother couldn't see. But sometimes when he was in a really bad mood, the bruises would get a little higher.

He explained that to mom, by saying that my appearance came from me being a troublesome student and even getting into streeth fights and she believed him because she was always at work and never at home. She would give me sound advice, but she didn't really care. She chalked it up to a 'phase' I was going through.

"Do you want me to stop coming to see you?"

"No!" I replied to quickly, before clearing my throat and answering a few octaves lower. "No. Don't stop coming to see me. You're one of my only friends."

Her voice was so sincere it took me back a little. It made me think that she was seriously considering it.

"Besides what difference would that make?"

"That son of a b*tch is going to kill you one day."

"I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of beating me to that," I looked over my shoulder to smirk at her but she didn't seem amused. Instead she looked deeply thoughtful.

"Unless you're going to preserve your d*ck for me then I don't see how that's a funny joke. What happened?" She began rubbing some crap on my back that would probably make the bruising hurt a little less. That was nice, but what I needed was something to make breathing easier.

"Last night, before one of his friends descended the stairs, he was trying his hardest to convince her that she wanted to f*ck him. But as you know, word has slowly been spreading that I'm good and naturally the sharks came swimming. She was one of those sharks and she insisted that she wanted me. He got upset. They ended up arguing because he tried to charge her 5 times the going rate and she left. That's when he did this to me."