I could tell by the angry look on his face that he didn’t like my answer. I also knew that there was more that he wanted to say, but being as though I wasn’t in a good head space right now, he just nodded, choosing not to say anything.
“What?” I asked him.
“I don’t like that shit, Dionne. You basically were going to let that nigga get away with violating you?” he asked me.
“I don’t want what he did to me to be put on front street. I don’t want people knowing that, Tavion. I just don’t. This issomething that I don’t expect you to understand,” I said, and he nodded his head, dropping it.
He did lean over, and he kissed me a couple of times on my forehead, and after that, he leaned back into the chair, and he didn’t say anything at all.
I eventually grew restless. I fought it for as long as I could because I had this feeling in my gut that Tank was going to leave out the second that I fell asleep, so that he could handle it. I didn’t want him to handle it, and possibly go out, and get in trouble, which is why I fought falling asleep for so long.
I eventually didn’t have any fight left in me, so I dosed off with so much heaviness on my heart.
Chapter 2
Tavion ‘Tank’ Briggs
Blood on My Hands
After fighting that shit for as long as she could, Dionne eventually took her ass to sleep. It’s been twenty minutes since she’s fallen asleep, and I was waiting until I felt she was in a deep enough sleep for me to pick her up, carry her to the back, put her in bed, so that I could dip.
When I finally felt like she was in that place, where I could pick her up, without her waking up, I went ahead, and removed the throw blanket from her body, tossing it on the other side of the couch, and I used both arms to carry her to the back, walking with her slowly.
I made it to her bedroom, where I pulled the comforter back, and the second I leaned in to put her in bed, that’s when her eyes popped open, she looked around, as if she’d just saw a ghost, and once it probably hit her that I was going to leave, she clung to my body, not letting me put her down in the bed.
“You going to leave?” her voice was raspy as she asked it.
“Ima come right back, baby. Let me go to the crib right quick to get some clothes. I don’t have shit over here,” I lied to her, knowing that I wasn’t about to go home.
“No, you’re not. Tank, your lying to me. You have stuff over here. Some of your briefs, and wife beaters are over here. You’regoing to leave and try to handle it. I don’t want you to. I don’t want other people to know about what happened,” she pleaded with me, her eyes getting watery as she spoke to me.
I sighed, and then I dropped her down on the bed. I could see it in how low her eyes were that she was tired out of her mind and fighting her sleep.
She was resting on her side, with her head on the pillow, and the second she blinked, a tear had fallen from her eyes. I stepped closer to the bed, reached my hand down, and I wiped the tear from her eye.
“Ima come right back. Okay?” was all that I had for her because even though she didn’t agree with it, I was going to leave anyways. All she did was nod her head.
Before walking away from her, I kissed her a couple of times on her lips, and I walked away, leaving her in bed.
I closed her bedroom door behind myself, and I went back out to the living room area. I fixed up the decorative pillows that was on the couch, and I folded the throw blanket up, that had been wrapped around her body. After that, I went over to the entertainment center that Dionne had, and my eyes scanned, going for a specific picture. It was a picture that held her, Free, Tommie, and Nivea. They were all young on this picture. Dionne was twelve years old on this specific picture because I remember her telling me when I’d seen the picture for the first time.
I pulled my phone out, snapped a picture of just Dionne, and once I had it, I placed my phone back in my pocket, and I walked over to the front door, where I’d left my sneakers. I slipped them on, and I walked out the door, locking it behind myself.
It was a quick walk getting over to the elevator. I pressed the button for the doors to open, and once they did, I went all the way for the back, putting my hands in my pockets, and lowering my head. I couldn’t get those three words from out of my head from Dionne.
‘He raped me’ was playing repeatedly in my head, and the more I heard it, the angrier that I would become. In that moment, when she revealed that shit to me, I couldn’t lash out and react to it the way that I wanted to because I had to be there for my girl and make sure that she was okay. Now, I could lash out, and that’s what I was headed to do.
The elevator doors eventually opened, and I walked out. I went out of the side door, making it to the parking garage, where I walked over to my car, quickly got in, and I started it up.
I was going to head to my grandma’s crib. Rico had an away game tonight in Tallahassee, and my grandma was hosting a get together at her crib, so they could all watch Rico play.
The game was over, Rico balled his ass off on that field tonight, so I knew with that, that family, and friends were more than likely still over there, celebrating. I know for a fact that my dad was still over there. He was always pulling up to functions that had free food, and drinks.
As I was heading in the direction of my grandma’s house, my phone started ringing. I looked at the contact name on my car’s screen, and it was my mom calling me. I went ahead, and accepted her call, as I was sitting at a red light.
“What’s up, ma?” I answered. I heard her sigh heavy.
“I’m just calling to check on Dionne. How is she doing?” she wanted to know.
