Chapter 17
Dominic
Ihad been driving around for over an hour, and I was tired. But I was still too wound up to head home. It was no surprise when I ended up at my parents’ house. I pulled into the circular driveway and sat there for a beat.
Pulling out a blunt, I lit it up and smoked it for a while. When I looked at the time, I noticed almost twenty minutes had passed. I was lit as fuck but more relaxed than I had been when I left the races.
My heart hurt at what Charly was suggesting.
She had always been a good girl, and I knew she was too good for me.
But hearing her say that she wasn’t good enough for me, or not the best thing for me, fucked with my head royally.
If she thought that she wasn’t the best, then I had no idea what she did think was best for me.
No one got me the way that she did. No one had patience and continual forgiveness for my fuckups like she did. And no one made me feel as loved, as wanted, and as desired as Charly did.
I climbed out of the car and headed inside. My father met me in the foyer, to my surprise. His arms were folded across his midsection, and he wore a pair of black satin pajama pants and his cigar jacket. This nigga was straight hood, but some things in life he did not deny himself.
“I was wondering how long it would take before you made it through the doors.”
“You watched me on camera?”
“What do you think? Come on back to my office with me.”
My parents had a security system that alerted them whenever anyone entered onto their property. It was necessary with the shit my father was into, so I couldn’t blame them. The entire time I had been smoking, I knew he was probably watching me on camera, just as I knew that my mother wasn’t.
She was away at my aunt Sofia’s house this weekend, having a girls’ weekend with her sisters.
That was probably why I knew that it was okay for me to come here tonight.
I had been avoiding my parents like the plague, mostly because I didn’t want to hear my mother’s worries about Charly and me; rather than that, I didn’t want to hear my father’s mouth about us.
I sat down on the couch opposite his desk and watched as he lit his already prepared cigar.
“The hell were you thinking, boy?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I hated when he called me boy, and he knew that shit. Still, I had come to him; it hadn’t been the other way around.
“Shouldn’t the question be what the hell was he thinking? Ramon had no right to be with her in the first place, Dad.”
“But he was. You shouldn’t go behind your brother. That’s messy.”
I sneered. “My brother shouldn’t be preying on my friend. That’s messy.”
“Either way, he did it. Once he went there, why would you want to? I didn’t raise you boys to fall out over no pus—”
“Don’t even say it,” I sneered with my fists clenched on my legs.
My father scoffed, but then he replied, “You’re right. Charly ain’t that. She’s like the daughter I never had, but still, y’all ain’t got no right to do what the fuck y’all doing. Tearing this girl up between the two of y’all.”
“He shouldn’t have preyed on her when she was at her weakest point.”
“I keep hearing you use the term prey. You wanna tell me what the fuck you tryna say about your brother?”
He emphasized the word brother as if I had forgotten our relationship.
“I’m saying that Ramon knew that she was struggling with missing me, her father’s new relationship, and losing her mother. That was the worst time for her. He took advantage of her at her weakest point.”
“He didn’t take advantage of her, Dominic. Don’t make it sound like Charlyse was a victim. I think even she would be offended if she heard you say that. She’s never been a victim. She’s a strong girl.”
“Everyone has their moments, Dad. She had a moment, and Ramon saw it, and he took advantage of it. All I asked him to do while I was gone was protect her. That’s all he had to do.”
My father shrugged, set his cigar down, and got up and walked to his bar. “That’s what he did. He did it the only way that he knew how, by making her his. But either way, he protected her.”
“He didn’t protect her, Dad. He victimized her.”
“Charly’s been coming around all this time. We’ve seen her. She didn’t look anything like a victim to me. This is another example of what you’ve always done, Son. You make questionable decisions and then blame someone else for them. You’re better than the decisions that you make.”
“Are you saying that I’m better than Charly?”
“No. You know that’s not what I’m saying. I’m simply saying that to get with her after she’s been with your brother is messy as fuck.”
A knock sounded at my father’s office door. “Come in.”
The door swung open, and Ramon stood there smiling at my father until he spotted me. His smile quickly turned into a mug that matched mine.
“The prodigal son finally returns home,” he stated with a sneer.
“Fuck you, nigga. I didn’t come to see you.”
“Gutter mouth. You don’t care about anyone except for yourself.”
“Funny, I guess we’re alike that way,” I grumbled.
“I’m nothing like you,” he replied.
“You got that shit right. You’re a bitch-made nigga who can’t deal with the shit life throws your way, so you take it out on a woman instead. Wonder how the fuck you would feel if a nigga treated your mama or grandma the way you treat women.”
He rushed me and clocked me in the side of the head. I came back with two to the jaw and one in the gut before we went down to the floor.
I heard my father hollering at us, but it was a few seconds before we were pulled apart.
At the same moment, I realized that my big brother, Joaquin, was also in the room.
I knew he had returned home, but I had yet to stop by and see him.
He was the one who had pulled me back, while my dad had pulled Ramon back.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two? I should beat both of your asses for pulling this shit in front of me, and in my home at that. Both your sorry asses had better be glad your mother isn’t here.
I’d fuck y’all up for behaving this way in front of her,” Daddy snarled.
“And you? What the fuck is wrong with you? You act like your brother doesn’t have the right to be upset about this bullshit.
His woman runs away from home to his brother, and you welcome her into your bed. Kinda shit is that?”
“Fuck this. I’m so tired of being the so-called black sheep in this family!
It wasn’t good enough that I took Ramon’s charge so that he wouldn’t get kicked out of school and lose his scholarship and internship, but I’m also supposed to give the woman I love to his ass, too, when he knew how I felt?
Fuck that shit! Fuck him! Fuck alla y’all! ”
“Dominic! What are you talking about?” A cold chill crept over me at the sound of my mother’s cool voice behind me. We all turned at the sound of her in the doorway.
“Gabriela, what are you doing here, baby?” Daddy asked, rushing to her side.
“Carmen wasn’t feeling well, so she went home to be with her husband, and I decided to come home, too, since it was just Sofia and me.”
“Is she okay?” my father asked about my mother’s sister.
“She just found out she’s pregnant. I don’t want to talk about that right now. What the hell is going on here, and what are you talking about, Dom? I heard you say that you took a charge for Ramon so that he wouldn’t get kicked out of school and lose his scholarship and internship.”
I turned my gaze back to my brother, who glared at me. The defiance on his face was almost like he dared me to say anything. I was tired of holding his secret, and I honestly didn’t care anymore.
“Dominic, you heard your mother. What are you talking about?”
“The night that I went to jail for the gun and the weed, I took that gun from Ramon. He left the house angry because Jordyn had some other nigga at her house. He used to beat that girl’s ass all the time, Daddy.
Same way he did with every female he got involved with.
You covered him on the others, and I covered him with Jordyn.
Turns out that we should’ve let him face the music.
Maybe then he wouldn’t have had the chance to put his hands on Charly.
Jordyn’s new man dared him to bring his ass over there and put his hands on her.
He told Ramon he’d fuck him up the way he’d been fucking her up.
Ramon rushed over there with a gun after I begged him not to.
“She had already called the cops and told them that he was coming. We arrived first, and Ramon and that nigga started fighting. I tried breaking them up. When the cops arrived, they searched everyone. I’d taken the gun from Ramon to keep him from shooting that dude, but he’d taken it back.
While the cops were knocking at the door, Jordyn went to answer it, and I took the gun from him.
“They searched me and not only did I have the gun on me but also Ramon’s weed.
I never spoke out against him. I took that to the chin.
I sat down for two years looking out for my brother.
The only thing I ever asked him to do was protect my girl for me.
I couldn’t be here to give Charly the protection that she needed, and I asked him to have my back.
Not only did he not do that, he got with her to spite me. ”
“Ramon, where did you get a gun from?” Mamá asked.
“Daddy,” Ramon answered. “I took it while he was out.”
“My old nine?” Daddy asked.
Ramon and I both nodded.
“I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why it went missing. I knew I hadn’t misplaced it. I thought someone had stolen it.”
“You didn’t think that it was the gun that Dom had when he got charged?” my mother asked.
“No. Dom had his own guns, and he was particular about those,” Daddy replied. “I still don’t understand what all this has to do with Charly.”
“Ramon point-blank asked me if I loved that girl before I went away. I told him exactly how I felt about her, and how I loved her, but didn’t want to drag her into my shit.
So when he got with her, yeah, he knew what he was doing.
When he put his hands on her throughout their relationship, he not only said fuck her, but he said fuck me too.
But that’s your golden boy. That’s the one y’all always hold up to me to measure myself against. The one y’all praise.
Mamá, he’s been hitting women for years,” I declared as I pushed my way out of the room.
“Dominic! Wait up, yo!” I heard Joaquin running after me.
I didn’t stop until I got to my car. He caught up with me and grabbed me by the shoulder before I climbed inside.
“Man, I’m sorry. That’s a lot of weight to carry around for the last few years. I had no idea.”
“I know. I tried to protect him too.”
“You didn’t have to carry that shit by yourself, man. You could’ve come and talked to me.”
I shrugged. “I thought I had it.”
“Not when he’s using that against you. That’s my brother, too, but that’s fucked up. Ramon was wrong for what he’s done.”
“And all this time he’s been going around like I’m the one who’s tripping, and everyone buys into that shit.”
“Well, you know I don’t. I grew up with both your bad asses.”
We laughed for a few seconds.
“I’m just tired, Quin.”
“I know you are. Go home. Chill out. Take a few days for yourself before you talk to anyone again, me included. You need time to clear your head.”
“Yeah, a’ight.”
He clapped me on the shoulder and headed back inside the house, while I hopped in my car and pulled off. I was finally ready to go home and rest my head.