Fault

Chapter 48

"Hey there, babe!" Jeremy said as if everything were normal.

"What are you doing here?" I reached out to grab my baby.

"HE'S FINE! DON'T TOUCH HIM!" He snapped. My heart began to race, not knowing how far he would take things with my child. I prayed so hard that he wouldn't do anything to harm him, but if he tried...one of us would have to leave in a body bag.

"Jeremy, I was just about to give him a bath and feed him. I'll give him right back after I'm done," I lied. He accepted.

"You can feed him, but you don't have time to give him a bath because we're about to go."

"Go? I can't go anywhere...I'm watching my cousins tonight," I said walking over to turn the stove off. I wanted so badly to throw that hot food in his face and run, but I wasn't willing to compromise the safety of Jamal in the process.

"Listen, I know we both did and said some things that we weren't proud of today, but I'm here now so we can start over. The only way to do that is to get away from everyone and rebuild from there."

"LEAH...ABIANA...JAMESON!" I shouted, ignoring Jeremy in the process. "COME EAT!"

They all came running into the kitchen, oblivious to what was transpiring around them.

"I need to speak with you in the room, Shauna!" He asserted.

"Well, I need to fix their plates right now soo..."

"Ay, Leah do you mind fixing their plates instead? I just wanna talk to your cousin about something important," he said with a smile, while discreetly pinching the s**t out of my side. I tried so hard not to wince in pain. No doubt there was gonna be a bruise later.

"Yeah, thanks," I said, copying his smile, handing off the plate in my hand. "...and here, take Jamal for a minute too. I'll be right back."

Jamal started to fuss after seeing me walk away, but furthering the distance between Jeremy and my child was all I cared about.

The moment we got into the room, he closed the door then grabbed me by the back of my neck.

"Oww! Let me go!" I cried.

"No, here's what's about to happen, since you wanna be difficult! You're gonna hurry up and pack all your s**t...EVERYTHING! Then we're going to put it in my car and move away somewhere, do you understand? I told you I'm not living without you!" He threw me onto the bed, then opened the room door to peek outside.

"I told you I can't leave right now, Jeremy. Tionna would be pissed if I left the house and the kids unattended," I pleaded.

"You think I give a f**k! Leah is old enough to watch everybody..."

"Obviously, she doesn't trust her enough to do it, that's why she asked me to st..." I began to say before he slapped me to silence.

"All I hear is a lot of talking, but what I don't see is a lot of packing!"

Appealing to his request, I began shoving items frantically into my school bag, and any other bag I could find within arms reach. Despite my obedience and the tears streaming down my face, he began picking up shoes and any other object within his grasp to throw at me and demanded them to be placed in the bag as well. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Just a minute!" He yelled in the direction of the door.
"Fix your f***in face!"

After looking presentable enough to his liking, he opened the door.

Abiana and Jameson walked in the room and looked around. Probably wondering what the hell had happened in there.

"Y'all been in here for a while now...the door isn't supposed to be closed." Leah joked with the baby on her hip. Clearly, she didn't detect the weight of the situation or she wouldn't have been laughing. "Is everything okay? We heard a lot of bumping."

Wanting so badly to scream, "NO, EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY. SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG! CALL THE POLICE! LEAVE! SAVE YOURSELVES." Instead, when I felt Leah and Jameson were looking in my direction, I mouthed the words, "call the police," when Jeremy wasn't looking.

"Call who?" Jameson said aloud. I was so pissed. Jeremy turned to look at me. I looked the other way.

"WHAT?" He said walking over to me in an intimidating fashion.

"What are you talking about Jameson?" Leah chimed in, nudging him a few times. "She didn't say anything! You're acting slow."

"Yes, she did! I saw it," he said, not backing down.

"God bless his ignorant little heart," I thought while palming my face and shaking my head.

On the flip side, for a second, Leah's reaction gave me a glimmer of hope and made me feel as though she possibly understood my message.

"Let's just leave them alone," she said, hastily shooing the other two away and closing the door.

At that point, we were disappointingly alone again, and that small speck of hope I once had was now lost. It didn't take long to realize Jeremy wasn't letting go of my attempt to tip the kids off because the moment the door was closed, he locked it and unleashed his wrath. Whether or not the police were actually on their way, I had no idea...