Chapter 2
Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott
“Rome, let me go,” I said again, trying to pull free. Had he been a female, I knew I could’ve easily broken away and rocked her shit, but the strength of a man was something different.
Rome’s hands got tighter around my wrists, hard enough to make me wince in pain, and the second he saw it, that evil, ugly ass look flashed across his face.
This man had the nerve to look irritated like I was the one getting on his damn nerves, like my reaction wasn’t warranted and I was truly in the wrong instead of the fact that he was hurting not only my body, but my heart too.
“You got all this mouth tonight,” he hissed, pulling me closer instead. “All this energy cause some bitch called yo’ phone.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Cause some bitch called my…” I paused and just glared at him through my red eyes, “are you hearing yourself right now? You got me fucked up.”
“You acting like you caught me with a whole second wife Nay.”
“Motherfucker! You got a baby on the way!”
He tilted his head to the side but refused to let me go. “And what that got to do with me and you?”
I blinked at him because there was no way this man was standing in our garage asking me what another woman carrying his child had to do with our marriage. “You know what,” I said quietly, shaking my head. “You really a sick ass person.”
Rome clenched his jaws. “What you not gone do is disrespect me.”
“Disrespect you?” I yelled in disbelief. “Rome, you stole my money!”
“You talking about that weak ass little savings account?”
I worked for every dollar in that account.
I knew what it felt like dragging myself through nursing school while working doubles and crying in hospital bathrooms from exhaustion.
Rome always acted like money just magically appeared because he moved around with cash in his pockets and designer clothes on his back.
“That weak ass little savings account was mine!” I snapped. “Not yours.”
“We married. The fuck you talking about?”
“No, you use marriage when it benefits you. That’s what you do.”
Rome let my wrists go so suddenly I almost stumbled backward, but before I could even move away, he grabbed the back of my neck hard enough to make me gasp for air. “I’m getting real tired of your fucking attitude,” he said through gritted teeth.
Fear and anger hit me at the same time, but I still pushed him in his chest. “Get off me!”
The slap across my face came so fast it turned my head before my brain even caught up.
For a second, all I heard was ringing, followed by heat and then rage.
“You’re such a bitch!” I screamed, throwing whatever I could grab at him.
My keys hit the floor somewhere near the Benz while Rome grabbed my wrists again before I could swing on him for real.
“Navy, stop fucking playing with me!” He warned.
“Fuck you!” I yelled, struggling to break free. “Fuck you and that dirty ass bitch too! And that bastard ass baby. I hope the head comes out whop-sided like your mama’s.”
That did it, I saw the switch in his eyes.
One second he looked mad and the next second he looked gone.
Rome pushed me backward hard enough for my lower back to slam against the Benz, causing pain to shoot through me instantly.
Before I could straighten up, his hand was wrapped around my throat, and it wasn’t tight enough to choke me unconscious, but enough to let me know exactly how much stronger he was than me.
I didn’t understand how a man so fine could be so evil.
“You think I’m one of these lame ass dudes in the streets?” he snapped. “You think you gone disrespect me in my face and walk out? I’m the Boss behind all this shit Nay. Honor your fucking husband.”
The tears burned my eyes more from humiliation than pain. “I hate you,” I choked.
He tightened his grip again. “No you don’t.”
“I do.”
“Stop fucking lying.” He said all confident before he placed a wet kiss on my mouth. I abruptly jerked my head back.
The garage suddenly felt too small as my phone started vibrating on the ground, and both our eyes dropped toward the sound. Tasha’s name popped up across the screen before it disappeared again, then she called right back.
Rome looked at the phone, then at me. “You got everybody in our business now?”
I didn’t answer him because I knew if I opened my mouth, I was either going to scream or cry, and I refused to do either one in front of him.
Rome finally let me go pushing me so hard it sent me stumbling sideways.
I caught myself against the hood of the Benz and caught my breath.
My damn cheek burned, and my throat hurt.
I already knew tomorrow there would probably be fingerprints somewhere on my skin again.
My phone kept vibrating because Tasha refused to stop calling.
Rome looked down at it with annoyance before picking it up off the floor.
“Don’t answer my phone!” I snapped.
He ignored me and declined the call instead before tossing the phone onto the passenger seat. “You not leaving tonight,” he said like it was nothing.
“Yes the fuck I am.” I groaned.
He shrugged. “No, you not.”
“You can’t keep me here!”
Rome laughed, but there wasn’t shit funny about it. “Navy, look around. Your money gone, your car blocked in, and it’s damn near midnight. Where exactly you think you about to go?”
I hated that he was right and that was the worst part.
I hated that no matter how much I wanted to run out that garage, I didn’t have nowhere to go tonight without money and without him finding me eventually anyway.
My eyes started burning harder, and I looked away before he could fully see it.
Rome noticed anyway like he obviously noticed everything else.
“That’s what I thought,” he muttered.
I wanted to spit on him. Instead, I grabbed my bag off the floor and walked past him toward the door leading back into the house.
“Navy.” He called.
I kept walking.
“Navy, I’m talking to you.”
“I don’t give a fuck.” I spat.
When I made it into the kitchen, the hot, angry tears finally ran down my face.
I wiped them away quickly because crying after arguing with Rome always made me feel weak even when he was dead wrong.
My chest hurt from holding everything in, and all I could think while climbing the stairs was that I was going to kill this man one day if I stayed here long enough.
Not literally, or at least I didn’t think literally, but I understood now how women snapped.
I understood how somebody could wake up one day tired enough to poison a drink, stab somebody in their sleep, or hell, even set a whole damn house on fire.
Rome had a way of pushing people to limits they didn’t recognize in themselves.
By the time I made it back to the bedroom, my breathing was shaky all over again.
I snatched my clothes out the duffel and headed straight for the bathroom, slamming the door behind me harder than necessary on purpose before turning the shower on full blast. I stepped under the water without even waiting for it to fully heat up.
The cold water hit me first and then the warm water followed.
It only took a few seconds before everything I had been holding in came pouring out.
I stood there crying so hard my chest started hurting, as I pressed my hands against the tile while water ran down my face and mixed with my tears. My cheek still stung from where he slapped me, and every time I thought about my money being gone, I got mad all over again.
“That bitch ass motherfucker,” I whispered to myself, crying harder. “That…bitch…ass motherfucker!”
I already knew Tasha was still blowing my phone up, but I couldn’t answer right now though.
I couldn’t let her hear me sounding like this because then she was really going to panic, and I still didn’t even know what I was going to do next.
All I knew was I meant what I said. I was leaving him one way or the other even if it wasn’t today.
I didn’t care about none of this shit. I was getting away from him if it killed me.
I stayed in the shower until the water started getting cold again, mostly because I didn’t feel like facing him yet but eventually I turned it off, wrapped myself in a towel, and wiped my face before looking in the mirror.
My eyes were swollen already and just like I thought, my cheek was red as hell. Around my throat the faint marks were starting to show up. I stared at myself for a long time before laughing under my breath, but there wasn’t a damn thing funny. “You look crazy,” I said to myself.
I didn’t mean in an ugly way, I meant crazy for staying.
I changed into one of my oversized shirts and opened the bathroom door slowly.
Of course, the master suite smelled like weed.
Rome’s ass was stretched out across the chair near the window like nothing had happened, with one arm resting against the side while smoke circles filled the air from the joint sitting between his fingers.
The TV was on low, with the Dolphin’s game while he looked way too relaxed for somebody who had just put his hands on his wife.
I rolled my eyes and walked right past him without saying anything. “Navy.”
I ignored him and climbed into bed, immediately turning my back toward him. For a minute neither one of us spoke and then I heard him sigh behind me.
“Come on, man,” he muttered. “You know I hate when shit get like that.”
I stared straight ahead at the wall in silence while anger burned all in my chest all over again.
I don’t even remember falling asleep, one minute I was laying there staring at the wall listening to Rome trying to talk like we had just gotten into some regular little argument instead of him putting his hands on me again, and the next thing I knew, loud banging had me jumping awake so hard my heart started immediately racing.
Shit, I thought somebody had called the laws.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!