Falling For Rome

by Edwina Fort

  Wrapping my arm around her neck I pulled her close. “No, with yo’ wild a**.”

  She hugged me back tightly and it felt good. I think Minha Anjo was developing some feelings for me.

  **********

  Nakhti

  I sat at a table in the fancy Downtown Chicago night club having a celebratory dinner with the reigning champ, Hitter, and one of their good friend’s, Kaleb…who I was pretty sure was some kind of mob boss, judging by the three men who’d accompanied him; they stood off to the side chatting it up with Milo and Hannibal.

  One of his bodyguards, whose name so happened to be Tiny was bigger than that monster Rome knocked out earlier. Speaking of that monster, Kaleb and Hitter was having a damn good time filling Rome in on how I’d lost it on the side of the ring while he was fighting the bastard.

  “But what took the cake was when she threw her little leg over the ropes, ready to come in the ring and knock ol’ boy out for you.” Kaleb told him around his laughter. “I ain’t never seen Hitta move as fast as he did, plucking her off those ropes.” By this point, he was laughing so good we could barely understand him.

  “Hitta was pulling and she was clinging to the ropes. She even wrapped her arms around them while trying to kick back at him. But wait—” He said trying to catch his breath. “When he did manage to get her untangled from the ropes, she went wild on him. Man…I was like, damn, has Hard Hitta finally met his match?” There were tears coming from his eyes as he laughed, pounding on the table.

  He pointed at me. “My wife Monica would love you. Seriously!”

  “I’m glad you find that funny. I think she threatened to cut my balls off.” Hitter grumbled before taking a sip of his drink.

  I threatened to do more than that.

  Okay, so let me give y’all the run down on what really happened. Apparently Hitter and Rome had something of a hustle going on.

  Rome, who had been trained personally by Hitter was his champion that folks paid a lot of money to come watch knock people out. Before they’d perfected their hustle, Rome would do the Mike Tyson and the fight would be over shortly after it started.

  Obviously folks felt cheated at paying so much money for a fight that was over in seconds. So, they’d come up with an idea to drag the fights out a bit, thus maximizing on their profits.

  Now I didn’t know that. The only thing I knew was that man Saw Buck was a bad man. Every one of my spidey senses was ringing when he and Rome had their confrontation by the front door. I know evil when I see it…And the one they call Saw is pure evil.

  So when his fighter started cheating in the ring and Rome looked as if he was struggling with the giant of a man, I’d lost it…

  And yeah, I tried to get in the ring to help him down the bastard. However, when Hitter wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me from the ropes, I’d assume he was in on it, and he and Saw was trying to do Rome in…

  So yeah, I really lost it.

  Now you guys remember me telling y’all that Hitter is the kind of guy that one would need a gun to down. The thing was, I didn’t have a gun, lucky for him. All I had was my words…

  I threatened to come back and slit his throat. I told him I’d have a bullet in his head before he knew what hit him…and yeah, I’d threatened to cut off his balls.

  But all of it had been in Portuguese, because my emotions at that point were raging out of control. Not to mention at the same time, I was trying to buck out his arms that felt like iron around my waist. He carried me to a back room and put me in there, ordering three of his men to make sure I stayed put.

  Ha! That was classic…

  Hitter was built like a mountain…a mountain of muscle, his men were not. I had them all sleeping peacefully in a matter of minutes and was back running towards the ring to help Romeo, who I’d thought at the time was being set up.

  Needless to say, it was not a set up. As I was running toward the ring, he hit the giant with an upper cut that took him off his feet. I knew instantly he was out. When his body hit the floor, time seemed to slow down as it bounced like three times.

  I was so amazed. I let out a happy screech and slid underneath the ropes and into Rome’s waiting arms. My adrenaline was flowing deliciously through my veins as I grabbed his face and kissed those perfect lips.

  When it was all said and done and all the cheering was over, Hitter had looked at me with a surprised look on his face, I guess in all the excitement, he’d forgotten he locked me in a room with those poor saps.

  The look on his face spoke volumes. His first thought was that his men had disobeyed him and let me out. When he asked how I’d gotten past his men, a look of pride came on Rome’s face as he chuckled holding me close.

  “Brotha, you better go and check on yo’ boys, make sure them mutha f***as still breathing.”

  Hitter’s stunned gaze fell on me and I shrugged. “I was gentle.”

  He let out a curse before he jumped out the ring and ran to go and check on his men. Rome and I had a good laugh about it on the way to Exquisite, which I found out is the club of another one of their friends, who hosted a celebratory party for Rome after all his fights.

  “Yo, that uppercut you did. That was a different technique. Where you learn that?” Hitter asked Rome after Kaleb’s laughter died down.

  Rome picked up his drink and took a sip. It was clear he didn’t want to answer that question. But now that Hitter mentioned it, I’ve seen that uppercut before. Right upon impact, a twist of the wrist is applied, thus shifting the momentum, making it easier for one’s opponent to fly backward.

  Not only have I seen that uppercut before, I’ve tried and failed to duplicate it.

  You guys are not going to believe this…But that was Jo’s uppercut. The same one Rob said the Sarge had used on Rome.

  “Ummm…” Rome cleared his throat. There was no way this peacock was going to admit that he’d learned it from the man who’d laid him low with the same blow.

  “Just something I picked up in passing.” He shrugged.

  And that was it, I burst with laughter. He knew it too…he knew why I was laughing. With a slightly embarrassed look, he took another sip of his drink.

  Rather than sit there and laugh in his face, I excused myself to go to the washroom. Oh my goodness! Wait till I tell Jo…This is gold!

  By the time I had made it to the little girl’s room I’d laughed so good my mascara had smeared a bit. It was while I was fixing it in the mirror that a loud group of females walked in. I scooted over a bit to give them space.

  “Jackie, what’s wrong with you, girl?” One of the girls asked another young lady that was standing washing her hands in the sink next to me.

  She stood and faced me, making me pause in wiping my face.

  “I had to watch this ho throw herself at my man all night!” As she spoke, she pointed at me, bringing her finger really close to my face.

  “I think you made a mist—” I began to tell her, but she came at me and I reacted automatically, snatching the arm she’d swung, pulling it down and her with it. Then I followed with a blow to the back of her shoulder, dislocating it.

  I could have broken it…but come on guys, she didn’t know any better.

  When she howled in pain two more of her friends charged me swinging wildly. I kicked the first one sending her crashing back into the stall. Before lifting the girl’s head I still held and slamming it on the sink…she dropped. Then I used the momentum of the third charger to slam her head first into the wall. The fourth friend stood there looking at her downed comrades with wide, shocked eyes.

  I turned stepping over the unconscious woman by the sink to continue to fix my mascara.

  “Run along, sugar bug, your friends are going to need medical attention.”

  When I walked past her, she tripped over her feet trying to get away from me. I just held back my head and laughed.

  Great, now I’m going to have to fix my mascara agai
n.

  When I made it back to the table the guys were discussing Saw Buck and how angry he was when Rome knocked his fighter out. They all feared he was going to do something in retaliation.

  However, our food had made it and I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. For the last few days Romeo has been torturing me. His fancy chef came by and cooked for us and I didn’t know who I wanted to strangle more, him or Rome.

  I’ve eaten more vegetables since I’ve known him than I’ve eaten in my entire life and it was killing me, but not tonight. Rome was in such a good mood he didn’t blink an eye when I ordered a burger.

  Tonight, y’all…I was having a burger.

  The first bite was heaven.

  “That bastard offed Treyone’s little brother.” Kaleb said as he dipped his fries in ketchup. “I heard the kid was only like fourteen. Saw said he stole a bag of weed from him.” He shook his head.

  “That shawty’s life gone over a bag of weed.”

  “Hey, man, I never got a chance to reach out to you after your little brother—” Rome began, but he didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. Kaleb nodded his head cutting him off.

  “Don’t worry about it, ahk it’s cool. It ain’t been easy, but my wife and daughter really helping me get through.”

  Rome and Hitter both nodded their heads, the mood at the table becoming very somber. I wondered what happened to his little brother to make them all suddenly seem so sad…

  However, neither of us got to ponder on it much longer, because just then several bouncers ran through the club towards the women’s washroom. Everybody had stopped eating to look towards that direction trying to see what was going on.

  Not me…I kept on eating because I knew what was going on, and there was no telling if Rome would snap out of his victory high and realize I was stuffing down a half pound of juicy charcoal grilled beef with yummy melted cheese, extra mayo and ketchup.

  I moaned when I took my next bite. Plus, who knew when I would get a chance to eat this good again?

  “What the hell?” Rome hissed when the bouncers came back out of the restroom carrying the unconscious women on stretchers.

  The three men at the table slowly turned to look at me, their faces all resembling Hitter’s in the ring earlier.

  “What?” I said around a mouth full of juicy, yummy, goodness. “I was gentle.”

  Chapter 13

  Every Superhero Needs A Weapon

  ‘Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.’

  --Hebrews 13:2

  Nahkti

  “Sometimes it gets so overwhelming until I just stop and think, what am I doing? I can’t do this. The problem is too big. The black community is so damaged, and no sane man would try to fix it on the level in which I’ve done. So then I think…F*** Rome, you’re f***ing nuts to try to attempt what you’re attempting.”

  I reached up and rubbed the frown away from his brow with one hand, my other lay on his chest and my chin rested against it. I’ve been here for a little over a month and in that time, I’ve found the secret to getting Rome to sleep at night.

  At the end of the day, after making love, he needed to be able to vent. He needed someone to listen as he sorted out all the things that were swimming around in that brilliant brain of his. If not, he’ll be up all night on his computer.

  “Sometimes I feel like giving up. We are suffering from 400 years of damage. What the hell, Nak? Why in the f*** did I think I could even begin to fix it?” He chuckled without any humor. “On the grand scale of things, I haven’t even made a dent.”

  “But that’s not true,” I told him. “You’ve made more than a dent. When you’re with those kids, they get a look in their eyes that many of us didn’t have growing up. Belief…”

  I lifted my head a bit so that I could look him directly in the eyes. “Don’t you see…You have helped to start a ball rolling that nobody can stop. Maybe you won’t be the one to lead them out, but you have sparked the fire in the one. Who knows what young mind you are molding? Who knows what you’ve given birth to…?”

  He grunted… I leaned down and gently kissed his lips.

  “Even now, there is some child lying in their bed with dreams of continuing where you left off. You created a legacy…you should be proud.”

  “Proud of what? I’m a damn criminal.”

  “You’re a hero.”

  He began to shift restlessly underneath me. He hated when I called him that.

  “Come on, Nak…I told you about that.” He muttered, sounding like a big kid.

  I gently rubbed my finger across those beautiful lips that had just kissed my body so tenderly.

  “You know…you don’t have to feel guilty.”

  He stiffened underneath me. “What you talking about?”

  I moved to the side as he sat up, throwing his legs over the side, giving me his back. Chewing on my bottom lip, I thought that maybe I should have kept that to myself. Sometimes men didn’t like admitting to their weaknesses.

  I sat up on my knees behind him, the loft was dark, but he’d left the drapes open, so the street lights cast a warm glow inside. I could hear Rob out front talking mad crap to somebody. But that was nothing new…that’s what he did best.

  “I think you feel guilty because you’re smarter than everybody else around you.” I spoke quietly to his muscled back. I was already out here now, might as well see it through.

  “I believe it is why you over extend yourself, even to the point of exhaustion.”

  Slowly I moved closer to him, lifting my hands to his big shoulders where I began to rub the stiffness out.

  “And that’s alright, because although you don’t see it, that’s your real gift. The Creator made you for the people. You’re doing exactly what you are supposed to do…and that makes you a hero.”

  “Nak—” He began, but I gently put my hand around his mouth.

  “It’s alright to be hero, Romeo…You don’t have to feel guilty because the Most High has blessed you with a beautiful brain. You read the Bible; you know he did the same for King Solomon.”

  He chuckled. “I am no King Solomon, baby.”

  “Yeah, but you’re probably a descendant of his. And how do you know what God did with King Solomon he hasn’t done with you?”

  “Well…because I don’t do the right thing all the time. I’m not perfect.”

  I shrugged. “Neither was King Solomon. I’m not claiming to be learned in the Scriptures, but even I know that the great king messed up pretty bad a few times. Because, baby…Like you, he was only human. Granted, like you, he was a very smart human, but still…human.”

  I increased the pressure on his shoulders, forcing the tension out. “You don’t have to feel guilty for being smart, Mue Rei. And you don’t have to work yourself into the grave. What the Most High has begun through you, no man can stop. You are helping to awaken brains that have been asleep for a very long time and that baby, makes you a hero.”

  He reached behind him wrapping one arm around my waist…I giggled when he suddenly lifted me so that I was straddling his lap.

  At first he didn’t speak, he just looked up at me with eyes that saw way too much. I bit my lip, trying not squirm under his stare. It was something different about this night.

  “I love you.”

  I sucked in my breath, completely taken aback by his words. “What?”

  He grinned at the squeak in my voice. “You heard me.”

  Yeah, I did. But I think I was going to have a heart attack.

  Love?

  Did I love Rome?

  Was I brave enough to admit that to myself?

  “Do you love me?”

  God, how did I know he was going to ask that?

  I chewed on my bottom lip, terrified. I can’t open myself up like this. It was dangerous. The last time I opened myself up for love, I’d received nothing but hat
e and pain. It damned near killed me.

  And it was somebody whose love should have come easily. My mother…

  She hated me. She took my love and shoved it back in my face. I swore I would never love again.

  “Nak?”

  “I can’t…”

  “Why?” He whispered. I tried to get off his lap, but he just tightened his arms around my waist.

  “Talk to me, baby.”

  Tears came to my eyes. “Rome, my mom…she—” I cleared my throat when it felt too thick for me to talk. “She messed me up, you know?”

  He reached up and wiped away my tears with his finger. “I know…but she’s dead now. And can’t hurt you anymore.”

  For a moment, I’d forgotten I told him my mother was dead.

  “Where is that brave girl who jumped out of an airplane without a parachute?”

  “Terrified of love apparently.” I whispered.

  Thankfully, he let the love topic drop that night. But because we are talking about Rome, you know I’d only presented a challenge by me not saying the words back to him.

  Nossa!

  The man wasn’t lying. Challenges are like catnip to him. A week later, he had those words out of me.

  I’ll tell you how he did it.

  So, I pretty much spent most of my days talking to Happy when she came by to clean and Rob, whenever he made his way upstairs to visit me and sneak me a piece of candy or a cup of Kool-Aid. Rome was busy all the time, the only time I had him to myself was at night.

  When he came in, we sat down to eat whatever vegetarian meal his fancy chef put together for us.

  Oh…and FYI…even that was growing on me. I know longer needed my food drenched in hot sauce and salt to eat it. Vegetarian food wasn’t that bad once you got over the fact that it will never be as good as meat, although I still very much treasured the treats that Rob snuck my way.

  Anyway, where was I? Yeah… Rome. He was always on the move, and the phone of his…rang constantly.