by Nikki Brown
“No! After he did what he did to me, I turned him in, and he got arrested. I was the only one that knew where his money was, and I cleaned his safe. We needed money to get away so that’s what I did.” She prayed that AD didn’t think differently of her after her revelation. When he squeezed her thigh, she stared into his eyes and he gave her the reassurance she needed.
“When he got out, he sent word with some family that he was looking for me and he wanted his money. So I started getting money together from work. I almost had enough to pay him back. I just want him out of my life.”
“That you won’t have to worry about anymore. That nigga won’t be in anyone’s life anymore,” AD’s tone was cold and calculated.
“I just want my baby.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.
“I want her home too,” AD said as he whipped into the parking lot of Onyx.
Before he could park, Icelynn was out of the car and headed inside. She had taken a few weeks off to prepare for her graduation that was a couple weeks away. She bypassed security and headed straight back to the locker room. She could hear arguing going on, but she wasn’t interested in any of that; all she wanted was to get her hands-on Dimples to find out where her daughter was.
“If you don’t move out my fucking way Magic, I got shit to do,” Dimples’ voice carried through the door way.
“I’m just trying to figure out why you taking shit out of other people’s locker. Why you going through our shit, if you leaving then do that but don’t touch our shit!” Magic protested. She didn’t see Dimples stealing anything, but Icelynn was her girl so she did as she was asked.
“Bitch, I don’t want nothing that you got but if your fat ass don’t move from in front of this door, I’ma beat ya ass.” That made Magic laugh but before she could say anything else Icelynn pushed through the door.
The look on her face, was enough to make Dimples try and push her way out the door but the minute she was in reach of Icelynn, she was being pulled in her direction. Icelynn grabbed her by the hair and slung her back against the table and joined her with a fist to the face.
“Where the fuck is my daughter bitch?” She hit her again, and again. “Where…is…my…. Fucking daughter!” Icelynn didn’t even remember falling to the floor but there she was on top of Dimples hitting her repeatedly in the face. Grabbing her by her hair, she pulled her to her face. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.” Icelynn cocked back and hit her dead in the mouth. Blood spewed from her mouth, the sight of it excited Icelynn. She had never really been a violent person, despite what she’s been through, but when it came to her child, she became a different person and if she had to take a life, she told herself that she would. “Where is she?” she screamed down in Dimples’ face.
AD walked over and pulled Icelynn off. She fought against his hold; she was pissed. The anger that she felt was unmeasurable and nothing could satisfy her but her daughter back in her arms.
“Chill baby,” AD said in her ear. She was still swinging and trying to get away from AD but the minute his warm breath hit her skin, she calmed instantly. Looking him in the eyes with a tear stained face. “It’s okay.” He touched her lips with his.
AD was burning up on the inside, he wanted to be irrational. It would make him feel so much better to place his nine at Dimples’ head and blow it clear off. He could get away with it because of where they were but he also knew that it would interfere with them getting Isis back.
“Please!” Dimples begged. “I didn’t know he was going to do that. He told me to give him information about you and he paid me. Little stuff like your address and—”
“Bitch you told him where I lived?” Icelynn jumped at her. AD had to catch her in mid-air and pull her back. He never realized how strong she was nor how mad she could get. He had to admit that it was turning him on.
“Get the fuck up, bitch!” He snatched Dimples up by her hair, she screamed out in pain drawing a little crowd. He brought her face to his and stared into her eye, Icelynn had the other eye swollen so she could only see out of one. “You know how I get down,” AD said through gritted teeth. His patience and the whole trying to be calm thing was slowly going out the window. He was trying to control himself but that was one thing he wasn’t good at.
“Please baby!” Dimples cried. She should have never brought her ass here but a few of the girls owed her money and she knew that she would need it to get out of town. Salem was waiting for her at her apartment, and they were heading to Chicago the minute she got back. She was kicking herself for not having him come with her.
“Bitch!” Hearing her call AD baby infuriated Icelynn and she tried to get at her again, but she felt someone else holding her. “Get your fucking hands off me.” She turned around and saw a medium brown skinned dude that she remembers being at the farm house the day they had the cookout.
“AD nigga you good? Want me to clear the room.” AD never took his eyes off of Dimples.
“Yeah nigga but get ya hands off my shorty.” He threw over his shoulder and Icelynn snatched away from him. “Get everybody out of here.”
Spiff pulled his gun out and started moving the strippers and party goers that had made their way to the back. The owner gave Spiff a look and he shrugged his shoulders and told him to get the fuck out. Everyone cleared the room except for Magic who gave him a hard time but eventually left.
“Where is he?” Icelynn said now in tears. Her emotions were all over the place. She was bouncing in between furious and distraught, then they both mixed together and brought on a tinge of rage. She just wanted her daughter.
“Fuck this!” AD took the safety off his gun and put it in her mouth. Her eyes stretched as big as saucers. She shook her head and tried to move back. Tears filled her cheeks as she began to sob. “Oh, you ready to talk?” she nodded. AD slid the gun out of her mouth and waited for her to speak.
“They’re at my apartment.”
“Bitch!” Icelynn broke past AD and proceeded to beat the hell out of Dimples. She released every fear, every tear she dropped and every time her heart dropped at the thought of her not seeing Isis again or what he was doing to her.
“Baby!” AD pulled her off for a final time. “I need you to have a level head. We need her to get Isis back.” That was the only reason that AD was as calm as he was, if you could even call what he was calm, but he knew that he could be ten times worse if the situation were different. “Let’s go!” He picked Dimples up by the shirt and drug her out the door with Spiff and Icelynn in tow.
***
“Shut the fuck up!” Salem voiced as Isis sat in the corner whimpering. She was nursing a busted lip that Salem gave her for crying out for her mother and AD. “You better be glad you ain’t but seven, otherwise I’d have your ass out on the stroll.” He chuckled evilly at his own joke.
“AD I need you.” She wrapped her hands around her knees and squeezed them tightly. She softly rocked back and forth as she thought about the man that inserted himself into her and her mother’s lives for the better. “Please save me.” She laid her head on her lap.
“You can pray all you want. By the time God hears you, we’ll be across the state lines on the way to Chicago.” Again, he laughed making Isis cry a little louder than she originally was. She didn’t want to leave her mom and AD, and she especially didn’t want to be anywhere near her father.
“I hate you!” Isis yelled and Salem slapped her across the face with his hand. “I hope AD kills you!” she cried. She didn’t understand the words that were coming out of her mouth, she just knew that she wanted this man that was in her space gone. She prayed that they never had to see him again. The things she watched him do to her mother were sick and she hated that she still had nightmares about it.
“You little bitch, I’ve turned bitches younger than you before. Keep talking and I’ll be getting you ready for the track.”
Salem was a monster; he didn’t know anything
about the word love. He had never felt it from anyone and the closest thing that he had to experiencing it was with Icelynn until she got pregnant with Isis. He told her to get rid of it and when she didn’t, he became resentful. He didn’t want kids because he knew that he was too selfish to care for them.
He wanted to live life with Icelynn and his hoes, but she didn’t understand that. When she left and went to stay with her mom, he was hurt that she chose the baby in her stomach over what he was trying to build with her. He took it as a betrayal.
Finessing her heart and selling her dreams got him where he needed to be in his life and then he began to destroy hers. The only reason that he didn’t put her on the track was because she was a virgin when he met her, and she was his favorite pussy to slide into. So he was selfish when it came to her.
The only time he let another man touch her was when she came in between his money. Candi was one of his best hoes and Icelynn messed her face up and she wasn’t able to go and make any money. He had her lined up for a party that was guaranteed to bring in at least ten g’s. When he sent the other girls, they canceled the party because Candi wasn’t there.
So, Salem did what he had to do and since she loved Isis more than she loved him he made her watch. He didn’t care about Isis, the only reason she was breathing was because of Icelynn. He knew that would be the only way to get her back to Chicago.
“Please God just let AD come and get me!” she cried to herself.
Tired of hearing her say AD’s name, Salem walked over and jacked her up by her night gown causing it to rise above her Shopkins underwear. He threw her on the bed and looked down at her. Kids weren’t his preference; teenage girls were but he had had his share of prepubescent girls. He didn’t care if this was his daughter or not, pussy was all cut the same.
He pushed her gown up and Isis began to kick and swing with all her little might. One of her little feet caught him in the balls and he bent over. The kick was only strong enough to stun him for a second but not enough to stop him. She tried her best to get across the bed so she could run, but he caught her leg right as she was almost at the end.
“AHHHHHH!” she screamed and began to kick as hard as she could just like her mother taught her. Connecting with his nose causing blood to immediately drop from it and his eyes to water giving her the chance to wiggle out of his grip.
“Fuck! You little bitch!” he growled as she jumped off the bed.
Isis took off running towards the door and she ran right into something solid, screaming she shut her eyes and balled up on the floor. The sight alone had AD ready to murder Salem.
Scooping Isis up, he put her on his shoulder, as if you would a baby. Once she felt his arm wrapped around her, she knew that the stranger was none other than her AD. Her little body shook in his hold and every whimper drove AD more and more over the edge.
“It’s okay baby girl,” he said as he held her with one hand and pointed his gun in Salem’s direction. “I dare you to move,” AD’s tone was calm, he didn’t want to frighten Isis any more than she already was.
“Damn I guess the bitch wasn’t as solid as I thought.” Salem laughed tucking his hands in his pocket. His eyes scanned the room trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation, but his chances were looking very slim right now.
“Baby girl, you trust me?” Isis whimpered and nodded her head that was buried in the crook of AD’s neck. “Okay I need you to go outside with mommy and I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Nooo! AD, no please.” She began to shake like a little leaf and that angered him. He leaned down a little to lower her to the ground, but she tightened her grip on his neck.
“Baby girl I need you to trust me.” AD rubbed her back to reassure her.
Salem took this as a chance to try and get away. The minute he turned to jet back in the room where his gun was, AD fired a shot that tore through his shoulder.
“AHHHH!” Isis screamed and finally jumped out of his arms and ran to the door. AD walked to where Salem was and took his boot and shoved it in the wound that he had just created.
“Shit!” Salem hissed as he tried to move AD’s foot with his free hand. “Fuck you and that little bitch. You better be glad you walked in when you did because I was gonna sample that pretty little pussy.” He laughed and AD blacked out.
A sharp pain tore through his heart as he thought of Isis going through the shit that he had went through when he was younger. It was like he couldn’t breathe as he hit Salem over and over again, his chest got so tight that he had to pause and grab it.
He felt like he was having a panic attack, but that didn’t stop him from the damage that he planned to do to him.
“Fucking pervert, she’s just a fucking kid!” he yelled out as the butt of his gun connected with Salem’s eye. The sound of the bones in his face cracking with every hit satisfied AD to an extent.
“AD nigga we gotta go, blast that fool and come on!” Spiff said out of breath. He had just got a call from Cassidy looking for AD letting him know that their mother was in the hospital’s burn unit. “It’s ya moms, she’s in the hospital man and it don’t look good.”
AD stopped mid swing, Salem was barely hanging on but hearing that Siya was in the hospital settled his rage and brought on a bout of fear. His energy quickly shifted as he turned towards his friend.
“Nigga you hear what the fuck I said?” Spiff glared at AD who was standing there looking at him with a shocked expression. He didn’t have time for his boy to freeze, he needed to get to his family. “I got this, you get to the hospital and call me when you find out what’s going on.”
“Nah take him to the farmhouse.”
“No can do, it’s police and firetrucks everywhere. Someone set the house on fire with your mother in it. That’s about all I know nigga.”
“Uggghhhhh!” Salem began to wither around on the floor in pain. AD’s teeth gritted as he turned to go back to him. Every time he heard his voice, even if it was a moan, he thought about the way Isis was shivering in his arms.
“Nigga fuck that, yo family needs you. You can handle that shit later. I’ll get him and her to my warehouse. Clean-up is outside waiting; I’ll tell that nigga that it’s been a change of plans. Might have to throw him a few more dollars but it is what it is,” Spiff said sending a message to the crew that was outside. “Adoreé get the fuck out and go!” Spiff pointed to the door and AD turned and rushed out the door and into the car.
Icelynn was in the backseat with Isis, she was crying so hard that tears pulled in the rim of AD’s eyes. His heart broke for her because he knew what something like that does to a kid. He didn’t know if he did anything to her, but he knew that he could have possibly came close and even that could damage a child.
“He’ll never hurt you again.” AD looked in the rearview mirror and right into the eyes of Isis who was happy that the one man that she knew she could count on, saved her from the monster that helped create her. She nodded her head because she believed him.
AD’s eyes shifted to Icelynn’s whose were filled with tears. She mouthed the words thank you and he nodded his head. He didn’t need a thank you, all he needed was for them to be safe and in his arms.
The look in his eyes worried Icelynn, it was like he was trying to tell her something without saying it out loud. She really didn’t put anything past Salem, so she leaned down and kissed the hand print mark on her cheek and got choked up all over again.
“Isis I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth. Even if it’s hard to say. Okay baby?” Isis sniffed back the tears that were falling speedily.
“Okay mommy.” The innocence in her voice made AD tighten his grip on the steering wheel, he didn’t know if he could take the answer that was about to come out of her mouth. If she said anything other than no then he didn’t know what he would do.
“Did Salem touch you?” Her question was vague, and Isis didn’t know how to answer it. He touched her when he slapped her across
the face and threw her on the bed but that was it. She didn’t want to lie to her mom, but she didn’t want to make it seem like he did anything else to her. So she thought about the words that she wanted to say.
“He hit me in the face and grabbed me by my night gown and threw me on the bed.” She swallowed hard; AD’s heart fell to his stomach as he dreaded what else was about to come out of her mouth. “He said that he was gonna steal me and take me to Chicago and put me on a track.” She looked up in her mother’s eyes. “What’s a track?”
“Nothing that you will ever have to worry about.” She grabbed her daughter and squeezed for what felt like the hundredth time. They were safe and she had AD to thank for that. “Did you call and see what was going on with Siya? I heard Spiff on the phone, and he sounded like it was urgent.”
For a brief moment AD’s mind had blocked out what Spiff told him. He was too focused on making sure that Isis was okay. He patted his pocket to grab his phone and he realized that it was off.
“My phone is dead. Fuck!”
“What’s wrong with Mawmaw?” Isis perked up; she had grown close to Siya in the short time they had known each other. She’s only had one grandma and that was grandma Isabell. When she met Siya, she instantly took to her. Isis would be sad if something were to happen to her.
“I’m sure it’s gonna be okay baby,” Icelynn’s voice was soothing and even though she was talking to Isis, he needed to hear that too.
Breaking Point
“How in the fuck this bitch keep getting close to my mother?” Cassidy seethed after hearing what the doctor said. He couldn’t contain his anger. First at the restaurant and now Siya lay in the hospital fighting for her life.
