Chapter 11 #4
Justin had no idea how much she needed the hug he offered.
She fell into his arms, and before she knew it, she was crying.
Forgiveness and human compassion were missing in her life.
She had been denied that lately, and she was thirsty for it.
Justin was forgiving what the average person could not, and she respected him for that.
Charlie wasn’t perfect. She had made many mistakes in her life.
She had moved poorly with Demi at the beginning of their relationship, and because of that, she had become the source of Lauren’s pain.
She didn’t want to be. She hated that Lauren looked at her with contempt.
She had tried to seek atonement. She wanted to be Lauren’s ally, not her enemy.
Charlie was a young woman who didn’t know love from a lot of people, and if she was truly honest with herself, she would admit that she admired Lauren.
She was everything Charlie wished she could be.
Successful, independent, driven, focused, and incredibly smart, but most of all, she was a natural nurturer.
She could tell that Lauren provided love and a foundation for the people she was responsible for.
She saw that in DJ, and she saw it in Demi.
To this day, even after conflict and divorce, Demi held great pride in Lauren loving him once.
Charlie didn’t want to be enemies with Lauren.
She wanted to be family. She wanted to be a part of a situation so healthy that maybe one day they could even consider themselves friends.
That’s what co-parents should be, but with the death of DJ, she had been shut out of that equation forever, and it bothered her.
Lauren was a huge part of Demi’s world. To be shut off from that made Charlie feel like she didn’t truly know Demi.
He was being put in a position where he could only share himself in seclusion, but the world didn’t work that way.
She wanted all of him, and that included accepting a past that involved an ex-wife and a child.
Why couldn’t Lauren just forgive her? Lauren had forgiven Demi, but Charlie was still being crucified.
It didn’t seem fair, but life was life. It wasn’t always easy.
“Don’t cry,” Justin soothed, rubbing her back. Charlie held onto her friend for dear life, and it felt so safe to be covered, even momentarily. When she opened her eyes, her entire body turned to stone.
She pushed away from Justin as her gaze landed on Demi.
She could see the flames emanating from his body and almost read the look of devastation on his face as he witnessed this intimate moment.
She had never seen this look of disappointment in Demi before.
It was like someone had deflated him and enraged him all at the same time.
The weight of his current predicament stuck to him.
Physically, she could see the toll DJ’s death had taken on him.
She could see him assigning meaning to her being in Justin’s arms. He was misunderstanding, and she knew it.
“Demi,” she whispered. Justin turned and tensed at the sight of Demi. “Ayo, get security in here. Escort that nigga out the building.”
At first, Demi’s gaze had only been trained on Charlie. When Justin spoke, Demi lost his cool.
“My nigga, what?” He was crossing the room, and Charlie felt like she was stuck on a railroad track as a train was barreling in her direction.
Charlie met him halfway, placing a hand to Demi’s chest. “Demi, stop. Baby, it’s not what you think. It’s not what it looks like,” she pleaded.
Demi couldn’t even hear her. He saw her mouth moving. He felt her hands, but he was zoned out. He put his hands under her underarms and picked her up, moving her aside like he was rearranging a piece of furniture that was in his way.
“Demi, no!” she shouted as she pulled on his shirt, trying to stop a second altercation between the two. Justin didn’t move. He stood there cockily as security intervened.
“Don’t get mad because she keeps coming back. Check your bitch! That pussy fire, though, my nigga. I understand!”
“Wait, what?” Charlie shouted as Justin switched up, distorting the truth and turning into someone she didn’t recognize before her very eyes. “Justin!”
Justin chuckled from behind the protection of the club’s bouncers.
Demi scoffed and bit on his bottom lip like he was out for blood. He nodded his head. “You got it. Remember where you at, though. There’s a whole city outside these walls, and I’m heavy out here. Remember that.”
“She keeps coming to me! I ain’t your issue!” Justin shouted. “Get that nigga up out of here.”
“Baby, let’s just go, please,” Charlie begged. “Demi, please, before they call the police.”
Demi nodded and snatched away from her before storming out the club. He pushed the door open so violently that it dented when it hit the brick wall outside.
Charlie chased after him. She hadn’t expected for him to check her locations and find her. She hadn’t even expected him to think to come home. On the one night when she had found a piece of solace, he had popped up, and it was a disaster.
“Demi!”
He turned around abruptly and faced her. He was so angry that he looked ten feet tall as he hovered over her.
“You fucking that nigga?” he asked. “After all this time, this nigga still in the picture?”
“No! Demi, no!” she cried.
“I’m out here putting dirt over my son, and you sneaking off to clubs with your side nigga?” Demi accused.
Charlie could see him building a case against her in his head. He could be crazy that way. He turned molehills into mountains when he had time to overthink. His eyes were clouding, and her heart was breaking because she knew this assumption was tearing his heart in half.
“Demi, please,” she pleaded. “I haven’t seen you. I don’t want to fight!”
“Nah, you just want to be hugged up with niggas and give my pussy away, then cry when you get caught,” he accused.
“I will kill that nigga!” he barked. He put his hands on both sides of her face, and she held onto his hands as she cried.
He squeezed her face slightly, and grit his teeth as he showed restraint, pulling her forehead to his.
It wasn’t until then that she smelled the cognac on his breath.
He was drunk, and this was bad. It was really bad.
“With my bare fucking hands!” The scary part was, she knew he would.
She knew he was probably making plans for Justin right now that were deadly. He released her and stormed to his car.
“Demi!”
“Stay the fuck away from me, Bird!” he warned.
And she did. She planted her feet right in the middle of the parking lot as red and blue lights pulled onto the scene.
She was certain that Justin had called the cops.
He knew better than to walk out of that building because Demi had already planned to catch him outside.
The officers didn’t even ask questions. They got out of their vehicle, guns drawn.
“Sir, close the door and put your hands above your head!”
“Wait! He didn’t do anything! Officers! Please, just let me explain!” Charlie asked as she rushed over to the scene.
The officer who wasn’t trained on Demi brought his aim to Charlie, and she froze, raising her hands.
“This is a misunderstanding! He hasn’t done anything!
” Charlie just wanted to get to him. She was panicking.
For a week, all she had wanted to do was see him, to touch him, to hug him.
She just wanted to breathe a little bit of Demi’s air, to spend a little of the nigga’s time.
Finally, he was within reach, and he was about to be carted off to jail.
“Bird, go home!” Demi barked. It was the way he said it that broke her heart.
She would be walking away from this night, while he would not have the choice.
They both knew it. “My man, she’s pregnant.
Put your fucking gun down!” Demi’s temper was barely controllable as the officer forced his hands behind his back and cuffed him.
“No, you don’t have to put those on him! He didn’t do anything!” Charlie cried, nose running from the freezing cold.
Justin waltzed out into the night, and the look of satisfaction on his face infuriated Charlie.
“Justin, please! This is too far!”
“Thanks, officers. We hate to call you out in this weather, but we want everybody to make it home safe. You know it’s been a few shootings in the area. We just want tonight to end with everybody alive,” Justin said. “I’m pretty sure he’s armed.”
Demi scoffed as the officer began to pat him down. Sure enough, they pulled a 9mm Ruger off his waistline.
“It’s registered. Paperwork is in the dash, and I got a license to carry,” Demi said sternly as he stared Justin down.
Demi was always strapped, but he was no dummy; it was registered.
“Pussy,” he said with a deadly smirk. “I’ma see you, my nigga.
Don’t even worry about it. These cuffs gon’ come off, then what you gon’ do? ”
“Demi, stop!” Charlie pleaded. She knew he was in another zone. Not even the cops could filter the threats coming out of Demi’s mouth, and she knew more than anyone that he meant every word.
“We’re going to take you down to the station while we figure all this out,” the officer informed. “You might want to listen to your wife and stop talking before you get yourself in more trouble.”
Demi’s sneer was locked on Justin as Charlie broke past the second officer.
“Officer, please. He lost his son a week ago. The funeral was today. Please, just let me take him home.”
“If all of that is true, ma’am, then he’ll be fine. We’re taking him downtown. You can follow us if you’d like,” the cop responded. Even in handcuffs, Demi wasn’t easily rattled. He stood, head up, biting the inside of his jaw in irritation while thoughts of murder filled his mind.
“Go home, Bird. Just wait for me there,” Demi instructed.
She nodded, stomach in knots and heart racing as she watched them put him in the back of a squad car and carry him off into the night.
The look of vindication wearing Justin infuriated her.
“When he gets out and I can’t stop him from coming to see you, remember you could have stopped it,” Charlie warned. “Making him think this is something it’s not is lame as fuck.”
Charlie never saw the slap coming. Justin hit her so hard that her lip split and the impact sent her to the ground.
To add insult to energy, he hawked up as much bile he could muster and spit on her before stepping over her like trash and leaving her in stun.
Charlie was shaking as she crawled to her feet.
Her blood stained the snow, and her legs trembled as she rushed to her car.
When she pulled down her visor, she saw the damage. His ring had cut her nose, and her lip was bleeding from the inside.
“Bitch-ass nigga,” she shouted angrily. She had never pegged Justin as the type to hit women.
His aggression had blindsided her. She didn’t know how she even made it home, but as soon as she walked through the door, she peeled herself out of her clothes and hopped in the shower.
The moment his spit touched her, she was taken back in time to all the abuse she had endured at the hands of men.
She felt low and dirty as she let the water run so hot it turned her skin red.
By the time she felt clean, the water ran cold.
Charlie stood in the mirror, wrapped in nothing but a housecoat, and she didn’t recognize herself.
Her scars would heal. The swelling would go away, but this past week had created emotional wounds that she didn’t know how to heal.
She reached for her phone. Demi hadn’t called. She wondered if she should dress and go get him, but he had given her clear instructions. She was home. He had said to wait. So, she did. It was all she had been doing for days, and she wondered if she was waiting for nothing.