~Rome~
Mani's father decided to ride with her to the hospital in the ambulance. I had to make good on a promise so I wasn't even trippin' on in that. Brittany was going to be charged with several offenses, including assault and kidnapping. B on the other was escorted to my playground. My father-in-law gave me the greatest gift he ever could and that was B. Jail was too easy for someone like him. With his street connections alone he would do his time with ease.
B was suspended from the hooks that were attached to the ceiling. The sound of his body leaking blood echoed through the warehouse. He was unconscious, He tapped out as soon as his fifth fingernail was torn off. I guess the pain was that unbearable. The warehouse echoed with the sound of Dre fumbling with a big bucket of scalding hot water. Hurry yo ass up, I said, getting a little agitated. He sighed "This bucket is heavy as fuck, and I'm moving as fast as I can; I'm not going to burn myself fucking round with you". It seemed like he had a point after noticing the smoke emerging from the water. I took hold of the bucket from the opposite end and the two of us threw the water all over his body. Blisters appeared on his flesh, and his screams filled the room. His chest heaved in and out as he breathed deeply. His eyes were so swollen and puffy that he could hardly open them. Whatever it was he did to Mani. I would make sure to do it ten times over.
I felt vindicated to look at him because it was far worse than what he'd done to her. He whispered, barely audible, "Please, Rome, just kill me." Not him begging to die when I'm just getting started. "Hand me the pliers," I said to Dre. I couldn't contain the biggest smile as he handed them to me and I turned to face Brandon. Let's continue. He screamed in agony as I ripped off the fingernail on his thumb. Just fucking kill me, bitch ass nigga, he shouted. I looked at Dre and he looked at me and we busted out laughing. Shut yo bitch ass up and tell me where the fuck my money at. I tried pulling his index finger out. His fist was clenched as tightly as humanly possible, so I struggled a bit.
I don't have yo money Rome.
Wrong answer.
Using pliers, I removed the next fingernail and then the next one. Even after he ran out of fingernails, he continued to lie about my money. I turned to face Dre and said, "Grab the saw." Now that his fingernails are gone, let's move on to the hands.
B begged, "Please no," coughing up blood. The fact that he was concerned about his hand when it was guaranteed that he wouldn't make it out here alive really tripped my head out. Last time, where's my money?
"That money gone, it's already spent," he said. I clenched my jaw, I was fucking pissed. The fuck you mean it's gone. "I shouldn't have taken it," he said. "I should have taken it he repeated it and kept repeating it. "You're right you shouldn't have," Dre barked. As B's hand hit the floor, the most excruciating scream I ever heard filled the room. Dre was better than me cause I immediately got nauseous. My brother had a far stronger stomach than I did, as much as I hated to admit it. "Let's do the other hand," Dre said as he hopped around hysterically and laughed. I shouldn't have taken it, Brandon was still muttering through his cries. I looked at Dre and said I think you broke him.
Nah, he isn't broken yet.
Before I could respond, my phone rang. It was Mani's father. I answered by sliding my thumb across the screen, then I put the phone to my ear. Before I could even say something, he said,". Come to the hospital, I need to get your statement and we need to get our story straight. I don't need internal affairs running around my office because if I go down ima taking everybody with me. Before I could respond, his bitch ass hung up. He's lucky he's Mani's dad that's all I could think.
"Let me go take care of this business with the in-law," I told Dre. He asked, What do you want to do about him? Just put that lame out of his misery, I really don't give a fuck. Don't have too much fun though I commented with a stern look on my face. I'm not, he reassured me but I hoped so. Working in this field has the potential to be mentally taxing, and given Dre's personality, that combination is not a good match. I jogged out of the building and hopped in my all-black Denali SUV. The interior was wrapped in plastic making cleaning blood easy. When I got to the hospital, Mani's dad was calling my phone again. I just let it ring I wasn't tolerating his disrespectful ass. I entered and put my signature in the visitor's book. As I was signing, he texted me to let me know they were in room 504.
Mani was sitting tilted in bed with her legs propped up on a pillow when I entered the room. I walked up to her bed and her battered face made me angry again. It took everything in me not to call Dre and tell him to keep B bitch ass hanging up. I knelt down and started planting kisses all over her face. I would kiss each and every bruise on her body if it were just the two of us in this room. Ccsss She flinched. "My bad I ain't mean to hurt you," I said.
We all looked in that direction as we heard the creak of the hospital door. Her physician entered. She said good evening as she passed us on her way to Mani. Most of the people in the room spoke back.
How are you, Mrs. Johnson? Are you in any pain? Mani began to list all the things that were causing her pain. All the doctor could do was nod and listen to her. She then asked, "How would you rate your pain on a scale of one to ten?" Mani said an eight without thinking. After reviewing her chart, the doctor shook her head. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I can only offer you a certain pain medication because you are pregnant, she stated. Pregnant? Me and my father-in-law said in unison. The doctor casts a pitying glance in Mani's way. She could see by our response that Mani didn't get the chance to tell us herself. "I will be back to check on you a little bit later," she said. I will make a note indicating to the nurse which painkillers I will allow. The room fell silent as she left through the door.
"Everybody get out," I demanded. Lynn and my father-in-law start talking shit but I wasn't trying her none of that. Mani's mother was a breath of fresh air though at least she understood if no one else did. With one hand, Manis's mother pushed my father-in-law out the door, and with the other, she pulled Lynn out. As they all left the room, she added, "Y'all let's give them some space and let them talk." I moved a chair up to Mani's bed and took a seat. I wanted to be eye to eye. Right now, her sentiments and how she felt meant more to me than mine, even though everything in me wanted to explode. Let me just ask you this I said finally breaking the silence. Is the baby mine?
She just looked at me and didn't say anything. Answer me Mani, were you that gullible enough to let B fuck you raw. She didn't answer, I was getting pissed off because I hate being ignored. You don't have nothing to say to me Mani, it's like that I asked waiting for an answer. She just didn't respond as she turned over on her side, laid down, and faced away from me. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt because she had experienced something as traumatic as that, but I was unable to. I got up and left the room because I needed to smoke. If it turned out that she was pregnant for B, I had no idea what the fuck to do. I can say with certainty that I lacked the strength to care for another man's child, especially B.
~Mani~
I'm 60% better today after spending two exhausting weeks in the hospital. It was finally my day to go home. I wasn't really thrilled to see Rome when he came to pick me up. When he learned I was expecting, that was the last time I saw him in person. After that, he never visited me. All he did was call every day to see how I was doing and to make sure I was still straight. I understood where he was coming from but at the same time, I didn't. I had just experienced an awful situation and the paternity of my child just wasn't something I was ready to discuss. He walked into the room and asked if was I ready and I could honestly say I was. I was sick of the hospital food, and so was the baby. It wasn't nasty now that I think about it but It wasn't good either. "Yea, I'm ready," I replied. He grabbed my bags and we headed out. It was an unbearably terrible drive. I remained silent, and so did he. I was officially tired. Not in the sense of sleepy but in the sense of fed up. Marriage was at the top of my list of things I was tired of. I was no longer in need of Rome's or any man's acceptance. Men had become overrated. My soul was broken and after this whole debacle, there was no man that I would trust ever again.
Home sweet home, I thought when we pulled into the driveway. Memories of all the terrible things I had gone through here came flooding back. I was hesitant to go in. My nerves were somewhat alleviated by the deep breath I took. When I turned to look, Rome was getting all my things from the car. It dawned on me then that I had forgotten about Prince. During the two weeks I was there, my mother and even Rome's mom brought Prince to visit me. My spirits were down, and not even Prince could lift them. I was starting to feel like a horrible mother all over again. I wanted to ask where he was, but my pettiness got in the way. I was just going to call my mother and see if he was over there with her. Rome placed all my things in my room and left. I took my phone out of my pocket and collapsed onto my bed, which I had missed so much. The phone rang, and after waiting for my mom to pick it up, she did. "Ma prince over there," I asked her. She responded, no he is not. He must be with Rome's mother I thought. I told her okay and I would call her back.
I just laid there and thought long and hard about what I wanted my kids and my future to look like. It shockingly didn't include Rome. Let's just say I wanted to be free. I got up and went to get my iPad off the nightstand. I had been searching for three-bedroom properties in the country. I was tired of the city life and needed a change. One of the best things about my line of work is that it can easily transition to a remote position. I chose three locations, but nine times out of ten, I'll go with the one that was the farthest from Rome. Lynn calling my phone released me from my mental anguish. Lately, she has been the only person I wanted to bother with besides Prince.
Hello
"Mani, I got some good news for you," she said.
"I'm listening, I replied good news was something I really needed.
All right, so I know you've been talking about wanting to move. I told you about my cousin, who works as a realtor. She found the perfect house for you. The only downside to it is. Is not as far away as you had hoped but It's a 3-hour drive. Mani, she continued I don't think it's good for y'all to move so far away that if something happens I can't get to you. Just look up the address I text you and let me know. My cousin pointed out that because it's such an good offer, it will be gone quickly. So our wait time is limited. Okay, I reply lemme look at it and think about it and I'm going to call you back. After she said, "Okay," we hung up. I immediately started typing the address she had texted me into my computer's search engine. This three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house surprised me. It included a large backyard with an integrated swimming pool. I could only roll my eyes, wondering what had led Lynn to believe that I could afford this. Rent had to be at least four bands a month. Sure, I made good money, but not that good.
I heard the front door shut. Rome was back home. I knew it was Prince right away from the tiny, adorable knocks on my door. I couldn't get up fast enough. After I swung the door open, he said, "Ma-ma." I scooped him up and proceeded to kiss every inch of his face. He said, "Stop," but I paid him no attention at all. Once I finished I put him on the ground and he jetted in Rome's direction. I cried pretending to be as upset as possible and added, "You don't love momma no more." He sprinted back to me, raising his arms high. He began to remove the make-believe tears from my face as though they were real. Rome interrupted our mother-son time by clearing his throat. I'm not trying to push anything on you, Mani, but I think we should talk. "Talk about what," I said. You honestly don't think we have anything to talk about, Mani? I knew what he wanted to talk about but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Of course, the baby that's inside of me is his but knowing Rome he won't believe me anyway so why even bother? I couldn't deal with any more drama. Should I be trusted, No, but he wasn't loyal to me either. I would rather have him think what he wants and go from there. "Fuck it," he said knocking me out of my thoughts. "I'm done trying," he said while leaving out the door. Prince ran to the door and started crying for Rome. I took hold of him and began to rock him back and forth in an attempt to help him relax. As much as I hated to say it, I enjoyed the bond that he and Rome now had. Rome has come a long way.
A few weeks had passed and everything was in order. I paid the first and last months' rent as well as the deposit on the house that Lynn recommended to me. My credit wasn't quite where it needed to be to purchase a home, but after talking with our lawyers, the owner and I came to a decision that would allow me to pay to own. It wasn't ideal but I would rather do that than just be paying rent. I looked around my room and reminisced. I hated this house but this room and my bed I didn't. My and Rome's intimate encounters played in my head and that was the only thing I would miss from his ass. Prince's and my things had already been packed. I was just waiting for Rome to leave. Even though he put me through a lot, I was still grateful, so this morning I made him a massive breakfast—something I hadn't done in weeks. He showed me what red flags to run from, I giggled at the obvious shade I was throwing but more importantly, because of him, I was able to experience love. He gave me Prince, and I was grateful for that. I wouldn't have gone through everything that I did—both the good and the bad—had I never gone to that bar. I met Lynn as a result of taking this route, and she is the greatest friend I could have. So I didn't hate Rome, I loved him too much and that's why it was best for me to love him from a distance.
The only thing about this move I hated was separating Prince from his father. I considered co-parenting, but I was certain that it would never work. Rome would just implode in my life and I would be miserable. No contact was the best thing for me right now. I heard the keys jiggling from inside my room. Rome was about to leave. He knocked on the door and called my name. Yes, I answered from inside cause I damn sure wasn't opening the door. If he stepped in here he would know instantly that something was off. I just wanted to tell you thank you for the food, I missed it. "Your welcome," I said and then it went silent. After hearing the door close, I waited for at least five minutes to be sure he had truly left. I slightly cracked the door open, and sure enough, he was gone. I got to work packing all of our stuff into the car as fast as I could. Prince, thank heavens, was asleep. Once everything was loaded, I placed Prince in his car seat. He went back to sleep right away because we were up a little late last night. After finally being done packing everything. I texted Lynn to let her know I was leaving and would give her a call when I got there. I insisted on going alone, even though she wanted to come. She understood that I wanted to spend those three hours alone with my thoughts, and for that I was thankful. I took a final glance around the room to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Nope, everything looks good then I realized something as I was leaving the room. I walked back over to my nightstand pulled out a large vanilla envelope and sat it on the end of the bed. My anxiety was growing, and I was beginning to second-guess my decision. I shoved those thoughts from my mind and said, "Mani, you got this. Let's go." I exited the house that I used to call home and got into my car. I was feeling every emotion imaginable, but I couldn't let it bother me because I was now heading toward the place where my new life would begin.
Thoughts??!!