“I stayed out all night and my dad is on his way here!”
“How the fuck that nigga know where I live?” Duke asked, standing up with no urgency.
“He doesn’t but my sister do, I texted her the address last night in the car.”
“Bro, I don’t like muthafuckas knowing where I lay my head.” He shot back right before a loud knock came from the other side of the door. Diamond felt like she was about to die, she jumped to her feet with her heart beating out her chest.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM.
That go around, it sounded like they were kicking the door down.
“Diamond Hayes, you better come out before I come in!” Her father’s voice was so loud and powerful, it felt like the windows in the house were shaking. Fear was written all over Diamond and that was very rare.
Diamond barely got her shoes on before the door exploded with another round of banging. Duke stretched, unfazed by the banging, but he walked to the door anyway, at his own pace. Duke opened the door and Rich stood there looking like Satan dressed in Nike. He locked eyes with Diamond, hers carried regret, his carried disappointment.
“Daddy…I’m…I’m sorry.”
For a second, she thought she saw Duke laughing, but he couldn’t be that stupid.
“Let’s go!” He demanded before his eyes fell on Duke, “Stay the fuck away from my daughter.”
“I will, but can Diamond stay away from me?”
Rich tilted his head briefly before delivering a blow to Duke’s stomach that caused him to buckle at the knees.
“You heard what the fuck I said. Get in the car,” he demanded as Diamond hurried out the door.
“I’m sorry, Sister,” Kayla said to Diamond as soon as she got in the car.
“It’s ok, this is all my fault.”
Diamond sat in the backseat silent, she was so disappointed in herself for disobeying her father. He was the one person she cared the most about hurting and she knew she did just that. He drove in silence and that scared her more than him yelling at her. She had no idea where his head was.
As soon as they pulled up to the house Kayla climbed out and Diamond tried to follow, but Rich told her to get in the front seat. Her heart was under the bottom of her shoes, sweat beadedup on her forehead, and her hands shook. She knew her father wasn’t going to put his hands on her but knowing that he was upset with her probably hurt worse, she was always perfect in his eyes.
She climbed in the front seat and placed her hands in her lap. Diamond couldn’t even look her father in the face, so she looked straight ahead. The crazy thing was, she didn’t do anything she wasn’t supposed to, she genuinely fell asleep. Duke didn’t even try to have sex with her and that made her like him even more, though she knew she could never see him again.
The silence was killing her, at that point she wished he would yell, yelling was easier.
“Why didn’t you come home?” he finally asked in a low tone.
Diamond swallowed hard, “I promise I fell asleep, Daddy.”
“That’s not enough for me, Diamond. Had you come home when you were supposed to, you would’ve been sleep in your room and I wouldn’t have been up about to paint the fucking city red.”
His voice wasn’t harsh, it was calm, too calm, it was almost like he wasn’t mad, but she knew better than that. Her chest caved in a little before she exhaled.
“I felt alive around him, I was enjoying being visible to someone outside of my family,” she replied, staring out the window.
There it was…the truth, the real. Rich leaned back in the driver seat before looking over at her.
“So it was a choice you made to stay out all night.”
“Daddy, I’m sorry,” was all she could say.
“Baby, I’m not mad at you. Disappointed, yes. I have no doubt in my mind that you didn’t carry yourself like the young woman you are. I was worried, anything could’ve happened. I’m not saying what you did is ok, but I understand. I was your age before, too.”
Diamond blinked hard, fighting tears that were on the verge of falling.
