The Conflicted

16.

Abel

I reached over to her, grabbed her face gently, and pulled her in for a sweet and soft kiss. In the midst of out passionate and heated kiss, the front door opened.

"Yo Abel we-" Lamar stopped abruptly as he spotted the kiss.

I pulled away from Nonie, gently, and looked at Lamar. He had an unreadable expression that I couldn't figure out.

"She's up." He said ambivalently.

The rest of the guys piled in behind him and they all dropped their bags of food onto the table before running over to Nonie and giving her a hug.

"Yo you had us all scared Nonie." Lamar said, hugging her tightly.

I felt some sort of way. It wasn't the fact that he hugged her, it was the way he hugged her. The body language just seemed off to me. I brushed the thought from my mind and engaged back into the moment.

"We missed you." Hawk and Hyghly both said before engulfing her into a hug as well.

"I'm so glad you're awake. You hungry?" Cash asked and they all laughed.

"Yo ass would ask that." Hawk said and Cash looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.

"We don't know when the last time she ate." He stated.

Before Hawk could say anything else, Nonie interjected.

"Yes Cash, I'm very hungry, thank you for taking my empty stomach into consideration." She said weakly, but sweetly.

"So Nonie, we've all been waiting to hear what happened." Hawk said bluntly.

Lamar nudged him in his chest. Hard.

"Ow, man." He said.

"Shut the fuck up Hawk." He said cynically.

"Man that shit fucking hurt." Hawk said as he caressed his chest to ease the pain.

Nonie giggled.

"It's okay. Son-of-a-bitch got what he deserved." She said right before Cash handed her, her food.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"That man worked at the hospital I was in. He tried everything he could just to fuck, but I continuously turned him down and a psychopath doesn't like rejection."

"He said that he had been following me ever sense I left the hospital. I came home after being out with a friend and Lamar, you weren't home so I texted you and then I went to bed."

"It was around two in the morning when I heard my door being opened and I figured it was you, just checking on me. I didn't think much about it until I heard footsteps approach me."

"He pulled the blanket off of me, traced a finger across my bare leg, and then got onto the bed and hovered over me."

"He pulled my shorts off completely and I should've stopped it the minute it all started to happen, but I was scared. I was frozen and my body wouldn't move."

"Finally, I had the courage to look at who it was and it was him. I punched him square in the nose and he fell from the bed. I remember running out of the room and screaming for your help Lamar." At this point she was hysterical.

I quickly got closer to her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so proud of you for being so strong, for not giving up." I said and kissed her forehead. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it before wiping the tears away.

"Anyway, he claimed that I teased him while I was in the hospital, like I wanted it."

"He said, 'I saw the way you were looking at me and you just acted like you were too good for me, so we'll see who's too good for who.' I told him that if he touched me, I'd kill him."

"He tackled me into the glass table and my backside was completely covered in glass, it was in my hands, I finally grabbed a knife, but when I walked closer towards him he had a pocket knife and it lodged itself in my stomach."

"I weakly managed to sit on top of him and went to stab him, but he used his other arm and grabbed my wrist and said, 'You're too weak.' And that was all I needed to hear to give myself strength. I kneed him in his groin and stabbed him in his stomach."

"Then again, again, and again. By the time I was done, I was too weak to get to my phone which was on my nightstand and I prayed that one of you would find me in time. And that's what happened." She said.

We were all shocked. Silence lingered and none of us knew what to even say.

"That was the second time he attempted to rape me." She added barely above a whisper.

I clenched my fists together.

"I'm glad you killed that motherfucker before I could get ahold of him. I would've done more than just kill him, he wouldn't of got the easy way out of that shit." I spat belligerently.

"Abel, it's over now." She said, placing a hand on my shoulder and I instantly relaxed.

"What do you mean second attempt Nonie? Why didn't you tell me or anyone else about it the first time?" Lamar asked, sounding a bit upset.

She looked at him and went to speak, but bit her tongue.

"Spit it out Nonie, you can tell me." He reassured her.

"The first time he tried to do it was when you met Gerald. Gerald gave me the flowers and I went back to my room to go put them in some water and that's when the first attempt happened. I'm sorry Lamar." She said apologetically.

"Yo are you serious Nonie? I was there and you lied to me? I could've done something to prevent this shit from happening if you would've just told me!" He said raising his voice.

"Ayo Mar, calm the fuck down, she was probably scared or shook up about it. You can't expect everyone to be perfect and on top of things." I said objectively.

He looked at Nonie and disregarded what I said.

"Just so you know, you broke my heart for keeping that from me." He said before getting up and disappearing into his room.

The room filled with silence all over again. Cash, Hawk, Hyghly, Nonie, and I all looked at each other confused. Nonie shuffled on the couch and tried to get up, but I stopped her.

"What are you doing?" I asked her cautiously and repositioned her pillow for her.

"I'm going to ask Lamar what his problem is." She said irritated.

"No, you're going to sit here, rest, and I'll go talk to him." I said before looking at the guys.

"Yall watch her while I take care of this." I said before walking towards Lamar's room.

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