The second I unlocked it; Tasha pushed her way inside so fast she almost knocked me over. “Oh my God.” She gasped. Her whole face changed the minute she looked at mine. “Navy…” she hissed. Tasha turned slowly toward Rome standing behind me near the stairs. “You one bitch ass dude Rome.”
“Tasha,” I warned. The last thing I wanted was them into although they fought like cats and dogs. He could say what he wanted about Tasha, but he loved her like a sister.
“No, fuck that!” she snapped, pointing at him. “What the fuck wrong with you?!”
“Ain’t shit wrong with her,” Rome calmly said calmly like the whole situation was getting on his nerves more than anything. “She good.”
Tasha stared at him like she wanted to kill him. “She good?” she repeated. “What the fuck, are you stupid? Look at her face!”
Rome shrugged like it wasn’t nothing serious. “Me and my wife had an argument. Y’all females always dragging shit.” He leaned against the wall looking unbothered standing at six feet, one inch, with his tape perfectly lined and chestnut-colored eyes glaring right at me. The ice from his chain sparkled around his neck.
I closed my eyes briefly because there he was again minimizing. The acting like I was dramatic for being upset heslapped and grabbed me around like a damn rag doll had me baffled.
Tasha looked back at me, with disbelief written all over her face. “Navy, get your stuff.”
“Tash…”
“No! Fuck no! Get your stuff right now!” Tasha was a good five-five, the same height as me and feisty as hell.
I rubbed my forehead. “Please don’t start.”
“Start?” Tasha got loud. “Girl, look at your damn face!”
“I said I’m good.” I assured her.
“You are not good!”
Rome walked past us toward the kitchen like he was done with the conversation already. “I told you she fine.”
Tasha turned around so fast I thought she was really about to swing on him. “You need your ass beat.”
Rome laughed under his breath. “Yeah aight.”
“You think this funny?”
“Nah,” he replied while opening the fridge. “I think you doing too much, as usual. You need a man Tasha, or some dick, one or the other.”
The look Tasha gave him could’ve set the whole house on fire. I grabbed her arm gently before this turned into something worse. “Come here.” She let me pull her farther toward the living room, but the whole time she kept looking over my face like she was trying to assess how bad everything was.
“Navy,” she said quietly once we got a little distance, “please don’t tell me you staying here.”
I looked toward the kitchen where Rome stood pouring himself juice like this was another regular episode this morning. “You see what I’m dealing with,” I sighed.
“That’s exactly why you need to leave.”
“I know.” I replied looking over her. Her long boho knotless plaits were wrapped up in a sloppy bun, and she literally lookedlike she’d just run out of the house with sweats, house slippers, and a sweater.
“Then come on.” She pulled at my hand.
All I could do was tell the truth. “It’s not that simple.”
“Yes it is! Fine as you are, bitch you’ll have another man in no time.”
“No, it’s not.” My voice cracked from frustration. “Tasha, he took my money. My car is still blocked in, half my stuff still here, and I can’t just run out the door emotional without a plan.”
She raised a brow. “So what? You gone sit here and let him keep beating on you till you come up with one?”
The words stung because they sounded too close to what I had been thinking myself. “I said I’m figuring it out.”
