“Are you fucking crazy!” I screamed, attempting to remove a crying Symphonee from his arms. I almost had her, but Nathan caught me off guard when he kicked me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I dropped to the ground, kneeling in pain as I screamed for help once again. In that moment, I mustered up every ounce of strength in my body to get back up and go after him.
My vision was blinded by tears, but I was determined. For a moment, I thought he was going to get away, but then I heard the sound of another voice in the distance. A tall man grabbed Nathan from behind and pushed him against a nearby car.
My heart was overwhelmed with emotions as I limped my way over to them. If I had a gun, I would have shot Nathan right where he stood for even thinking he could play with me.
“Do you want me to call the police?” the stranger asked as Noodle leaped into my arms. He kept Nathan in his grasp while I tried to get my thoughts together. After what happened to my brother, I no longer trusted police to do their jobs, and I knew East would more than likely want to handle things on his own once I told him what happened. The thought of what he was capable of stressed me out.
“I’m gonna call her father first and then discuss it with him. This man isn’t exactly a stranger,” I explained without givinghim too much information. After all, I didn’t know him from a can of paint.
“Bitch, you’ve got a lot of nerve claiming that young hoodlum as the father when we both know whose sperm produced that little girl. She looks like some of my other kids, and we both know that tight little pussy wasn’t fuckin’ on anyone but me.”
His words made me sick to my stomach, and Noodle was his only saving grace for me not jumping on his ass.
“What we did was not fucking. It was rape, and my daughter doesn’t belong to your dirty ass. DNA doesn’t mean shit to me. I said it right the first time,” I spat.
“You’ve got me fucked up. You and your clan of thugs. If you didn’t want me to have access to my child, you should have got an abortion, but you’ve got a lot of nerve giving birth to my child and not informing me.”
The more Nathan talked, the more I saw how delusional he was. The man acted as if we were in some type of relationship, and I betrayed him. I stood there, looking at him as if he had two heads.
“You are a nut case. I don’t owe you a fucking thing. At the end of the day, I was assaulted. Whatever decisions I chose to make after the fact were my business and my business only. You’re lucky that you aren’t rotting in a prison cell because it’s where you belong, you fucking pervert.”
“I see you want to sit here and play victim, but you and I both know the truth. There was a reason you never told your aunt about what happened until Shay blew up the spot, and it’s because you wanted it just as much as I did. The only reason you decided to cry rape was to save face and keep a roof over your head.”
“The words of a true psychopath. I was sixteen, you sick bitch! I wasn’t even old enough to consent to anything, and you took advantage of my situation. I’m not even going to sit hereand debate with you. I’m about to call her daddy, and if I were you, I would leave because if you’re still here when he comes, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen to you. Stay the fuck away from us.”
“I don’t care about your threats. I have just as many rights to her as you do, and if you want to push the issue, I have no problem reaching out to the proper channels to get full custody of her. It’s clear that you are unfit, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard for me to convince a judge that my wife and I are a better fit to raise that little bastard,” Nathan threatened.
“Bitch!” I wanted to lunge at him, but my child was already crying and upset.
“Aye, mothafucka. I don’t know what the fuck you have going on, but it’s time for you to leave. She might not want to call the cops, but I have no problem calling the authorities, and you and I both know they’re gonna lock your disgusting ass up. No judge in their right mind would ever give someone like you custody. Now get the fuck out of here. I’ve got my gun locked and loaded, and I don’t mind taking the risk, you sick bitch!” The stranger punched him, then pushed him down on the ground.
My head was spinning as I stood back, attempting to calm myself down. I hadn’t laid eyes on Nathan in so long, I must have convinced myself he no longer existed. At least in my world, he didn’t. He got up from the ground and made his way to his car, but I didn’t fully breathe until he made his way out of the parking lot and his car peeled off into the distance.
“Are you okay? I guess that’s a dumb question, but I don’t know the right thing to say in a situation like this.”
His voice reminded me that I wasn’t alone. I glanced up to look at the man who rescued my baby and was slightly taken aback. I stared into his deep, ocean-blue eyes, trying to figure out if I knew him from somewhere.
“Umm, I don’t know. Thank you so much for what you did. It all happened so fast, and I thought for a split second he was gonna get away,” I replied, still trying to catch my breath.
“Show me where you’re parked.”
I nodded and led him to my truck. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized I’d abandoned all of my things in the store. When we made it to my vehicle, I tried to get my thoughts in order because I knew I would have to tell East what happened. Normally, I would have called my brother, but I still hadn’t even told him the identity of Noodle’s father.
Keynauri had been pressing me about it since he got home, but I avoided the topic at all costs. Some may think it was immature of me, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the fallout. The last time I called my brother when someone was hurting me, he ended up in prison. There was no doubt in my mind that he would try to hurt Nathan, or worse. My mind couldn’t even fathom the thought of my brother getting into trouble again for trying to defend me. I hadn’t even recovered from the last time.
“What do you need from me? I know your mind is all over the place, but I don’t think you should let this go. The grocery store has camera footage. You can easily get charges pressed against him and send him to prison,” the man advised with genuine concern in his eyes.
“I know. I just want to talk to my family about it first. I haven’t had the best experience with police in the past, and I don’t want to get them involved until I talk to them. I—”
“Lola, wake up. You’re having another nightmare.”
I jumped out of my sleep at the sound of East’s voice. When I fully opened my eyes, I realized I was still in bed with him. He stared at me with pity in his eyes, and I cringed. It was the one thing I hated about being a product of so much trauma. Everyone gave those looks of sympathy, but to me, I felt like they were secretly judging me.
“I’m up.”
“This is your third nightmare since I’ve been here. Are you sure you’re okay?”
My face twisted into a frown because I didn’t like his tone. “What are you trying to say?” Angrily, I sat up in my bed and glared at him.
