Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
I turned on my heels. The locks began to twist, but I couldn’t turn back now. I’d already started for my car.
Go back!
Annoyed with my inner voice, I turned again and made my way up the porch.
“Hyph.”
My heart hurt. I shoved past Flocco, unable to contain my emotions. I plummeted on the couch, but it wasn’t cushion I fell backward on. It was a body. A petite body. A naked body, draped with a blanket that only covered some of her bottom half.
With my head tilted, I stood up. I wasn’t sure what came over me or why, but my fist was around the curly ‘fro and my victim was on the floor in a flash.
“Who the fuck is this, Flocco?”
He rubbed sleep from his eyes. A sigh parted his lips.
“Nevaeh.”
It wasn’t until he said her name that it dawned on me. I hadn’t seen her face, but it all made sense. Less than twelve hours ago Flocco was near tears in my living room. Now, I was in his living room with a fist full of hair with his naked neighbor on the floor.
I wasn’t sure where the first blow landed, but I swiftly followed up with a second one. Mid-swing, I stopped myself. I placed both hands together and dropped my victim. Now in the prayer position, I chuckled.
“You know what, I’m too grown for this shit. I shouldn’t have come. I should’ve stayed my ass at home. You’re a free man with free will.”
I shoved past Flocco. He caught my collar and pulled me back into the house.
“Hyph, chill out.”
“Oh, I’m chill,” I laughed, feeling the weight of seven bags of bricks on my chest.
I exhaled.
“Can we talk?” He questioned, throwing me for a full loop.
“About what, Laurence? There was a naked woman on your couch.”
The pain was excruciating. I could feel the pricking of my eyes. The turning of my stomach. The cracking of my voice. The breaking of my heart.
I swiped the tears from my eyes before they could fall.
Get yourself together, bitch.
I shoved my feelings down my throat and turned to face Flocco’s company.
“I’m not staying, but neither are you, bitch. Get your shit and get out of this house. If I come back by and see you’re crossing that fucking gun line, I’m not going to be so nice. I’m whooping your ass from one end of Dooley to the next.”
She scrambled, collecting her things and pulling them onto her body simultaneously. Before I could count to ten, she was out of the front door.
I was right behind her. I lunged forward but was pushed backward. Flocco locked the bars and then closed his front door before locking it too.
“You not going nowhere until we talk, Hyphen.”
