by J Peach
“Syn, don't worry about that nigga, man. Homie pride hurt, fuck him, yo. If the nigga smart, he'll push the fuck on, for real.” Parker shut off my cellphone and tossed it on the dresser. “Give yo girls and yo job the number to the iPhone. Use that as yo main line. I’ll handle this shit for you. I’ight?”
My head shook at him. I didn’t want him to handle anything for me. I just wasn’t going to respond to Leon and hopefully everything would die down. “Parker, don’t do anything, please. It’ll blow over soon, I’m sure of it. If it doesn’t, then you can step in. But until then, let it go.”
The dude I saw Parker kill popped into my head. I didn’t want Leon dead. I saw how Parker handled his business and I just didn’t think Leon deserved that. Like Parker said, his pride was just hurt. He’d get over it. When Parker didn’t respond, I glared at him. “Parker, promise me you’re not going to do or say anything to him.”
“Where yo girl at?” He asked instead.
“Parker, don’t change the subject.” My eyes squinted at him and my arms folded over my chest. I tried to show him I was serious.
He looked me over and then bit into his lower lip. “You know you sexy as hell, right?” He pushed me flat on the bed and leaned on top of me. “You still wanna do something real quick?”
I started laughing. “Get off of me. You play too much. Stop!” I stretched out the O in stop as he bit into my neck. “Missy supposed to fix my hair before I leave. Now move.” He started to lift up, but I pulled him back down to me. “How long do I have you for?” I knew him being in Gary with me was only for a short amount of time. I couldn’t keep fronting like I wasn’t enjoying his company, because I was.
“You got me for a minute. I moved somethings around so I could fuck with you. So you ain’t gotda worry about me leaving right now.” He got off of me and grabbed the duffle bag with his clothes in it.
I got up as well. “Parker, there’s some hangers in the back of the closet so you can hang your clothes in there.” I went to my dresser and opened the two top drawers. I took my socks out of one drawer and put them in the second with my panties and bras. “You can put your boxers and shit in here until I make more room.” I turned to face him only to find him already staring at me. “What?”
“You making room for me? Who the fuck are you?” He laughed. “I thought you ain’t wanna fuck with me? I thought this was only about fuckin’. My dick must be sick, I got yo ass cleaning out drawers. And I get some closet space?” Parker grabbed his soldier and looked down at it. “You my nigga.”
I broke out laughing at him as I made my way to the bathroom. “Shut yo stupid ass up. Ugh, you get on my damn nerves.” I opened the bathroom door only to see that Chris had Missy backed against the sink.
Missy must have heard the door open because she looked over at me. “Would you move? Damn, ol’ thirsty ass. I’m not interested. Sorry.” She pushed Chris away from her and bumped past him. “You ready for me to fix your hair. I need to be at the shop in about an hour, so we have to make this fast.” She pushed past me and walked into my room, grabbing her bag. Then she made her way to the living room.
“Okay. Then I won’t ask,” I mumbled to myself as I looked after her. Chris let out a low chuckle which brought my focus back to him. He gripped his bottom lip then smiled at me. He didn’t say a word as he walked out of the bathroom. “Okay…” What the hell were they doing? God, I hope Missy don’t start liking Chris, I thought to myself as I walked into the bathroom.
***
“I’ight, Farrah, I'll see you later, boo.” I waved to her as I was about to get in Parker’s car, but she stopped me.
She pointed to the car and smiled. “I see you, girl. I was wondering what was up with you today. You've been nothing but smiles since you got here,” Farrah laughed. “This whole lively demeanor is a nice look on you.” She smiled at me.
I started laughing as I rolled my eyes at her. It was weird, but I didn't know how to respond to her. “Whatever.” That was the first thing that came to mind. It sounded so stupid that I burst out laughing again. I couldn't explain it, but I was excited about being with Parker. I felt so naïve. Even so, I couldn’t get rid of the giddy feeling that had formed in the pit of my stomach.
“Bye, girl,” she waved to me before she walked off to her car.
I opened the back door to the car and sat my book bag on the floor. I was about to get in the front seat when someone stopped me. My eyes rolled hard as I heard Daffy’s irritating voice.
“I told yo ass I'd be seeing you. Talk yo shit now, you stupid ass ho,” Jennifer yelled at me in her high pitched, squeaky voice.
I turned around to see her and two other females walking toward me. Again, my eyes rolled at her. “Girl, you still mad I beat yo ass? How long ago was that?” I stared at her, not bothered.
“N’all, bitch, you ain't never whoop my ass. But I'm about to beat yo ass! Didn't I tell you to stay the fuck away from my man? But you still wanna fuck with him!” As she was saying that, she quickly ran up on me.
The bitch ran up like I was just going to stand there but she was dead ass wrong. When she charged at me, my leg kicked out and my foot hit her stomach hard. My fist followed that hit and I punched her twice in the face.
My fists didn't stop swinging.
Jennifer grabbed the front of my shirt and tried to pull me down as her free hand swung wildly. She hit me in the face, ear, and the top of my head. I gripped her loose braids and flipped her to the ground. I got on top of her and my fists started to pound into her face.
It wasn't long after that my head was roughly jerked to the side and a fist started hitting me in the face. Ol’ girl hit me in the eye hard.
My sight went bright for a moment as tears started to fall from that eye. After the third hard blow to my eye, I felt it quickly starting to swell. That bitch brought her friends so they could jump me. I knew that wasn't a fight I was going to win. So I focused solely on Jennifer who was clawing at my face and chest.
The girl that was hitting me jerked my head back as she tried to pull me off of Jennifer.
“Bitch, let her the fuck go!” She yelled as she continued to punch me.
I let Jennifer go and grabbed ol’ girl by her shirt. I tried to pull her to me.
“Nuh uh, bitch, don't go for my sister!” The other girl snapped before she jumped in. She pulled me to her and then kicked me in the face.
The hard blow caused me to fall over. Once I hit the ground, another foot hit the side of my face twice as someone continued to pull my hair.
The sound of police sirens could be heard from a distance.
Screeching tires came to a halt by us. “Yo, bring y'all ass on!” Immediately, I recognized the voice. Leon! “Hurry the fuck up!” He yelled at them as the police sirens got closer.
“Bitch, you better stay the fuck away from him!” Jennifer kicked me again before she spat a wad of spit on the side of my face.
My head throbbed in pain, my right eye was swollen shut. My body ached all over. I couldn't move.
I was pissed, but more so hurt that Leon would get his girl and her friends to jump me.
“Don't move, we called the police—” Someone was saying.
I cut them off as I rolled over and started to get sick. That was the last thing I remember doing before everything went black.
Chapter 27
Angel
I let out a groan as my hand went to my aching head. My entire face throbbed, it felt so swollen. The events that happened immediately filled my mind. I didn’t want to wake up. All I really wanted to do was cry. And that was something I hadn’t done in years.
Leon brought his girl and her friends to jump me. Just to know that was how he decided to handle things between us had me pissed. Especially when I didn’t want him hurt and after I told Parker to leave the situation and him alone. A sigh left my mouth and slowly I opened my eyes. I could barely see anything out of my right eye.
“Syn, who the fuck did this to
you?” Parker's fingers stroked my face gently, but his voice was hard and his face twisted into a mean scowl.
I looked away from him and took in my surroundings only to see that I was in the hospital. My eyes closed and I just lay there. From the pain in my face, I could only imagine how I looked. I didn't want him to see me beat up. A thought came to me and I looked back to him.
“How did you know I was here?” This would be the second time Parker had just shown up to a place where I was without me telling him my location.
I knew for a fact that no one had called him on my behalf.
“Don't worry about it. Who did this to you? It was that bitch ass nigga wasn't it? I'mma kill that mothafucka,” Parker snapped and let me go.
I grabbed his arm before he could walk away from me. “It wasn't him. He didn't touch me. It was some females,” I quickly explained to him. Even though Leon was a bitch ass nigga for bringing his bitch and her friends to jump me, I didn't think he should die behind what happened. I would deal with that bitch and her girls sooner or later.
If I thought Parker would just beat the hell out of Leon and be done with it, I would’ve let him go for his ass. But I saw Parker kill someone before and he did it with no emotion. It didn't bother him one bit.
I knew he would kill Leon joyously.
I knew if he did that, Jerron would get involved and I didn't want them to have problems. Maybe I could talk to Jerron about his brother before he got himself severely hurt. His eyes stared into mine as if he was trying to find a lie.
“Leon did not touch me, I promise.” If it wasn’t for the fact Leon and I were real cool at one point in time, I would not have been trying to protect him after that shit.
“Who is these bitches? And where can I find them?” Parker asked.
His question caught me off guard. My mouth opened and then closed. I didn’t know how to respond. And I honestly didn’t think I wanted to answer him.
Parker’s mouth opened, but the clearing of a throat shut him up. I looked around him to see a tall, black, police officer and a short white officer behind him. Another sigh left my mouth and I sat up in the bed. I was ready to go.
The black officer approached the bed. “Ms. Williams, I’m Officer Grey and this is my partner Officer Boyd. We would like to ask you a few questions regarding your attack.”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, turning my back to them. “I don’t know who attacked me. They jumped me from behind, so I didn’t see any faces. I couldn’t even begin to point you in a direction as to who wanted to hurt me.” I stood up and instantly became woozy. My head was pounding so badly. I leaned back on the bed and took a deep breath as if that would make the pain subside. It didn’t.
“You need to lie back down. You got a concussion, Syn. So chill out until the doctor comes and looks at you.” Parker tried to get me back in the bed, but I gave him a slight push.
“I’m okay, I don’t need a doctor. I just wanna go home.” I didn’t look at him as I spoke. My eyes stayed to the floor.
“Ms. Williams—” Officer Grey started to speak again, but I cut him off.
“I didn’t see anything. Like I said, I don’t even know who would want to do this to begin with. I don’t want it to be looked into. I just wanna go home and forget about all this,” I explained to them as I looked around the room. “Babe, I need to go back to the school to get my stuff.”
“I already got yo shit. So don’t worry about that. Let’s wait to see what the doctors have to—”
I cut Parker off. “We don’t have to wait for nobody. You already told me I have a concussion. Can you please just take me home?” I really just wanted to get out of there and go hide under my bed. I couldn’t believe how that shit went down.
Parker let out an irritated sound. “Yeah, let’s go.” He came to me and quickly swooped me up bridal style into his arms.
“Ms. Williams, if you think of anything and decide to press charges, please give us a call.” Officer Grey held out a card for me.
I took it and tucked my face into the side of Parkers neck. I didn’t want anyone else to see me. With the way my face felt, I didn’t even want to look at it.
All I knew was that Jennifer’s ass had better pray that I didn’t catch her slipping. I was gon’ get all them bitches. That was a promise.
***
The entire ride back to my place was quiet. I sat in the passenger seat with my face in my lap. I felt Parker's eyes on me, but I couldn't look at him. When we got into the house, I went straight to the bathroom and stared at myself. And for the first time in years I actually cried. My right eye was swollen big. My cheek had a cut on it, my bottom lip was busted and swollen. There was a bunch of nail marks all over my face, neck and chest. I looked worse then what I really thought.
And to think Leon had this done.
My hands wiped at my eyes, but that didn't stop the tears from falling. I didn't want Parker to hear me crying, so I turned on the shower, stripped out of my clothes and got under the spray. The pain of the hot water hitting my skin didn't compare to the pain I was feeling inside.
The cold air that fanned across my back let me know that Parker had opened the shower curtain. I didn't say anything to him even though I wanted to scream at him to get out.
His arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me into his chest. “You good, sweetheart. Don't let this bullshit fuck with you. I got you, promise that. Yah understand me?”
I didn’t know why, but what he said brought me some comfort. When I didn't say anything back to him, he turned me around so I was facing him.
He lifted my head back. “Yah understand me?” My head nodded as I stared up at him. Parker lightly kissed my lips. “I got you, i'ight?”
“Okay.” Even though at that moment I felt horrible, the giddy feeling he always seemed to cause inside of me returned. It tickled my insides and I felt slightly better. I was glad for Parker being there with me.
“Let me get you cleaned up,” Parker kissed me again, then grabbed my towel and began to wash me up.
I didn't say anything else to him. I just watched as he gently washed my body. He confused me so much. I didn't know how to take him. The way he seemed to care for me was so different from any one I had ever known. His actions, him period, made me confused about his true motives for me.
No one had ever treated me that way or had ever been so attentive toward me like he had. I just didn't understand why he was being like that. And my mind wouldn't let me think it was simply because he liked me. It had to be something else he wanted.
Once he finished washing me up, he rinsed me off. Parker then shut off the water, picked me up and took us out of the shower. We didn't have a dry towel, so we were both soaking wet.
Parker stepped on the tiled floor and took two steps before he slipped. “Oh shit!”
“Ahhhh!”
We both said in unison as we fell to the floor. I looked up at him as he stared down at me. We both just burst out laughing.
“Damn. You straight?” He asked between his chuckles.
My head nodded. “Yeah,” I started laughing again. “Oh, my God.”
We lay on the bathroom floor for a while just laughing with one another about us falling.
I really needed that laugh as it helped to push away the events from earlier that day.
Chapter 28
Angel
Three days had gone by since the fight and the swelling in my face had gone down a lot. Parker was pissed that I wouldn’t tell him who had jumped me or why. Regardless of that, he never left my side. He had been waiting on me throughout the day, hand and foot.
I was grateful for him being there with me, but I was becoming frustrated. Parker was making me mad and my face and head still ached painfully. Even though I stressed that to him, he refused to give me anything strong for the pain other than Aleve or Advil. But they just weren’t strong enough for me.
“Here,” Parker held out the two circular blue pills.
/> I looked at the Aleve and then back to him. I had taken so many pills throughout the years that two pills really didn’t do anything for me anymore.
“What’s that gonna do? It don’t take the pain away. Parker, give me two more,” I pleaded with him like I’d been doing for the past few days.
Parker shook his head and put the pill bottle in his pocket. “N’all, you don’t need shit stronger. These will kick in.” I wanted to punch him. They hadn’t kicked in yet and I didn’t want to wait for them to. “Baby girl, you can be mad all you want, but I ain’t giving you shit stronger. Hell n’all, not after you tripped out on my ass that one day,” he reminded me. “I don’t know if that’ll set you back to start popping pills or what. Regardless, I’m not gon’ take that chance. You been doing good staying off pills, I'm not risking a setback. Yah understand me?” His eyes stared into mine as he took my hand and put the pills inside it.
I didn’t think taking anything stronger would set me back to start popping pills again. Then again, I didn’t know what would happen. I couldn’t really be mad at him for trying to look out for me.
His reason as to why he wouldn’t give me anything stronger caused a smile to come to my face. I didn’t understand him at all. He was so new to me, I’d never known a hood that was so caring. I looked away from him to the pills in my hand and with a sigh I took them.
“You hungry?” He handed me a cup of water.
After I drank all of the water, I handed the empty glass back to him. “No, not right now.” I moved over in the bed and pulled the covers back for him. “Come here.” Once he got in the bed, I lay my head on his chest. “Thanks for looking after me. You didn’t have to stay here, but I’m glad you did.”
Parker grabbed my chin and tilted my head back so that I was looking up at him. “I wouldn’t leave you like this.” His lips pressed against mine. “You know what would make me feel good about this whole thing?” A thoughtful look came to his face.
