Song of the Chapter:
Make This Song Cry - K Michelle
Warning: the chapter I'm about to send contains domestic abuse. Viewer discretion is advised.
Please excuse any mistakes.
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I arrived at home, and held Imani in my arms tightly as I opened the door. I closed the door quietly as I stepped inside the house. I immediately heard Diego's footsteps come towards me. His eyes went from rage to love as he looked at Imani. He took her away and began talking to her. As his voice faded away into the hall, I went into the kitchen to make her a bottle of milk. After pouring some water in the bottle and putting formula in it, I closed it tight and began to shake it. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist, which startled me. Diego. He buried his face in my neck and kissed it.
"I love you so much, baby." He continued kissing me as I ignored him and fixed Imani's bottle. He continued to try to butter me up, which started annoying me badly. "You really expect me to believe that after the shit you just pulled?" Noticing the bottles of beer and vodka on the table, I rolled my eyes at him. He's drunk.
I pushed him away and went towards Imani's room to give her, her bottle. As I picked her up and put her in my arms again, Diego came in and started yelling at me again. His bipolar ass.
"Why didn't you cook me dinner yet! My ass is hungry!" He started complaining like a little ass child.
His yelling made Imani start crying. I glared at him before putting her bottle down and giving her a pacifier. As I start rocking her, I said, "For one thing, you ain't finna be yelling at me in front of my child. You know she hates that. For another thing, you have hands, arms, legs, feet, and taste buds that God gave you. You can go make your own shit. My number one priority right now is Imani."
He walked out the room as I put Imani in her crib. I set her bottle next to her and turned on her TV. After putting Rugrats in the DVD player, I heard her small claps and adorable giggles. I went to her and tickled her making her giggle more. "I love you, Mani." I gave her a soft kiss on the forehead before going into the kitchen to make myself a glass of wine.
When I entered the kitchen, I see more beer bottles on the table than before. I roll my eyes again as I got the wine bottle from the wine cooler. As I was grabbing the wine glass, a pair of arms went around my waist again. This time I wasn't so surprised. I turned around and saw Diego in my face. "I'm sorry baby.." His breath reeked of alcohol, which caused me to scrunch my face up.
"No. Not this time." I push his hands off of my body and went back to making my glass of wine.
He grabbed my face and pulled my face towards his. He looked me in the eye and said, "I said I was sorry.", in a more aggressive tone. I just glared at him as I tried to take his hand off of my face. I was really debating on whether I should smack him in the face with this wine glass or not.
He only squeezed my face tighter. "Aren't you gonna forgive me?" He kissed my lips as I struggled to get out of his grip. I decided to knee him where the sun don't shine , but at the same time, he slapped me in my face. The slap caused me to drop my wine glass, so shards of glass went everywhere.
Just as I was about to get up and run, he pulled my back to the floor and grabbed my neck. His eyes were out for blood again. "You stupid bitch!" He tightened his grip, which made me gasp for air. "I got glass in my leg!" My eyes began to get watery as I tried to get out of his grip.
"I...can't b...breathe!" I managed to get out of his grip when he loosened it. I immediately crawled away from him as I grabbed my phone to call the police. Just when I was about to press call, Diego slapped the phone out of my hand.
"So you trynna have me gone?" He pulled me by my hair into the living room. He picked me up by the collar of my shirt and looked at me with disgust. "You want yo daughter to live her life without a father?" I shook my head no as I tried to hold in my tears.
"Well." He smirked at me as he dropped me onto the floor. "Start doing your duties as a wife then. I knew you shouldn't have got that job." He walked away and I heard a door slam.
My first instinct was to go check on Imani, so I got on my feet and went to her room. As soon as I opened the door, she looked over at me and started clapping as she smiled. I went over to her and picked her up, putting her in my lap as I sat down in the chair next to her crib. I pulled the recliner out and we watched Rugrats until we both fell asleep.
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I left all my hoes
Told 'em not to call and text me no more
Now you're so ungrateful
Do you know how hard it was for me to stay faithful?
Bae, I'mma make this song cry
Never let a nigga see me cry
I'mma make this song cry
'Fore I ever let 'em fuck up my eyes
I woke up to the sound of K Michelle's voice filling my ears. I quickly turned the alarm off before Imani woke up, but it was too late. Imani was grabbing on to my face while babbling about who knows what. "Good morning to you too, baby. Let's get ready for daycare."
I got up with her in my arms, immediately feeling soreness caused by the events of last night. I went on in the bathroom and turned on some warm water. Shortly after, I put the water in Imani's baby tub. I undressed Imani and put her in the baby tub. While she played in the water for a bit, I decided to text Remi.
Putting my phone down, I grabbed a wash cloth and put some Johnson soap on it. Then I gave Imani her bath. After getting her a bath, I lathered her in lotion and put on her pink onesie with a pink tutu. I put her hair in a ponytail. "Momma baby so pretty! Yes she is!" I tickled her as she giggled.
As I was putting her socks on, I heard Diego coming in and standing behind me. "Hey baby girl." He said to Imani as he tried to kiss her forehead. I stopped him.
"Did you clean yourself? Cause I just gave Imani a bath and I don't need her being stanky before I take her to daycare." I sat her up on the sink, holding her hands.
"Bi- Baby, I just want to say goodbye to Imani." He knew better than to curse in front of her. I'll be damned if he ever behaved like a hooligan around her. I'll beat his motha fuckin' ass, and I ain't playing about that either.
"You can spend time with her when you pick her up from daycare." I say as I walk to the living room and strap her in. I heard him groan as he came in behind me and smiled at our daughter.
"We made such a beautiful baby." Those words warmed up my heart. This is the Diego that needs to be around 24/7. Not the aggressive, abusive Diego. Things would be so much better if he were like this all the time.
"Yeah we did..." I smiled brightly as I put her carseat on my arm and walked to the door. "I'll be back as soon as I drop off Imani." He nodded and gave me a smile as I smiled back at him and put Imani in the backseat. I made sure her seat was secure before going to my seat and starting the car.
When we got there, I got her out of her seat and took her in. She started crying as she realized she wasn't going to see me for a few hours. But the crying ceased when Ms. Renee came and got her. She started clapping and giggling before she went to the back with the other babies.
As I was signing Imani in, Ms. Renee came back to the front and greeted me with her warm, welcoming smile. "Hey sugar, how ya doin'?" She embraced me and I returned the embrace with one of my own.
"I'm great. I missed you, Ms. Renee. But I have to go pay a few bills right now, so I'll talk to you later." I paid her for this month of daycare and went to pay the bills.
After taking care of that, I had finally made it home. I got out of the car, locked it, and was just bout to go in the house, but Diego walked out of it. "Hey baby." He looked to the ground and looked at me with an awkward smile. I already knew what he was going to ask and the answer was:
"No." He looked at me as if I were crazy before saying, "You don't even know what I was finna ask!" He was getting angry already, I could tell by the tone.
"Yes I do. You look at the ground, then at me. Then you give me an awkward smile. You're 'bout to ask me for some money for your little cocaine fantasies. I said no." I stepped pasted him and went inside the house. Then I went upstairs and got prepared to get my shower.
I heard his footsteps as I was getting ready. "But baby-"
I shook my head and lightly pushed him out the bathroom. "Nope. No. You said you were going to quit. For Imani and for me. And you were doing just fine. The hell made you decide to start doing it again?" I closed the door in his face and locked it.
"Aphrodite!" I heard him yell as I started up my shower. As I waited for the water to get hot, I put the dry off towel on a chair and the wash cloth in my hand. I grabbed my phone and turned on Broken Clocks by SZA. I then stepped in the shower and let the boiling water hit my bruised, cold skin.
Run fast from my day job
Runnin' fast from the way it was
Jump quick to a pay check
Runnin' back to the strip club
I'm never going back, never going back
No you can't make me
Never going back, never going back (nah)
They never take me (yeah)
I've paid enough of petty dues
I've had enough of shitty news
I've had a thing for dirty shoes since I was 10
Love dirty men alike
"Ooooh... better day the yesterday." I started singing along with the song as I lathered up my wash cloth with soap. I put the cloth on my body and began washing myself. After about 15 minutes of washing and singing, I finally got out of the shower. I dried myself off and then brushed my teeth. After about a minute and a half of that, I used some mouthwash and walked out the bathroom to go to the bedroom.
Diego was standing outside the door, which startled me a bit. "Boy, you was really standing out here for that long?" I brushed passed him and went in my bedroom. Then began to look for something to wear. "Baby please." I heard him beg as he followed me.
"Since you don't seem to understand me, lets see if you'll understand from NeNe Leakes." I did my best impression of her and said, "I said what I said." I bet one of his bitches got him back on crack.
He rolled his eyes and huffed. "Fine, I'll get the money my damn self." He then walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Finally. I put some deodorant and lotion on. Then I put on some undergarments before putting on my clothes. A blue off the shoulder crop top with a pair of white jeans. I paired the outfit with some tan wedges.
I then got some makeup and covered up the memories from last night. I had a bad feeling that something bad was about to happen here when I had to come home, so I decided to drop Imani off at Rosco and Jackie's when I came back. I grabbed my keys along with my purse and headed out the door.
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Boring 2nd Chapter 🤷🏾♀️ but it'll get more interesting, I promise. Just bare with me.
-UrbanRoseWater.