Chapter 2 #2
“NAVY!” Tasha’s voice yelled. I sat up too fast, still half asleep, and my head became foggy while the pounding kept coming from downstairs. Feeling damn near like vertigo. “Navy! Open this damn door!”
The room was still dark except for the TV glow bouncing off the walls. At some point during the night Rome had climbed into bed beside me, and now he shifted next to me with an irritated groan before rubbing his face. “The fuck is she doing here?” he muttered.
Before I could answer, there was another and then the bell. “NAVY!”
I reached for my phone on the nightstand and immediately saw the missed calls.
Tasha had called me so many times the notifications damn near filled the whole screen.
My stomach turned in knots because I already knew how she got when she was worried, and after the way I hung up on her last night, there was no way she was just about to sit at home peacefully.
“I gotta open the door,” I said, pulling the covers back.
Rome grabbed my waist before I could get up. “No.”
I looked down at his hand on me, then at him. “Rome, move.”
“You not opening that door looking like that.”
The bruise on my face damn sure throbbed and then another loud bang hit the front door. “Navy, I swear to God if you don’t open this fucking door!”
“Tasha!” I called out even though she couldn’t hear me from upstairs.
Rome fully sat up now, shirtless, with his tattoos covered across his chest with irritation all over his fine ass face. “Why she making a scene outside my house this early in the morning?”
“Your house?” I snapped. “Please stop saying that shit.”
“I’m serious.”
“And I’m serious too. Let me go downstairs.”
He still didn’t move his hand. Outside, Tasha started beating on the door again. “Rome! I know your ass in there too!”
Rome sucked his teeth hard. “See? This exactly why I don’t like your loud ass friends all in our business.”
“My loud ass friend worried about me because you put your hands on me!” I couldn’t even believe he was coming like that because he had known Tasha just as long as me and she’s the one who hooked us up in school. We all started off as close friends.
“Navy…”
I shook my head. “No, don’t Navy me this morning.”
The banging stopped for a second, and then I heard Tasha’s voice again, louder this time. “If y’all don’t open this damn door, I’m calling the police!”
Rome’s whole expression changed because the last people he needed snooping around were the police since he was on papers. “Oh, she got me fucked up.”
He finally let my waist go and swung his legs off the bed before standing up.
I watched him pull on a pair of sweatpants over his waist as his long, thick dick hung between his legs.
The whole time he was muttering under his breath, and honestly, if the situation wasn’t mine, it probably would’ve been funny watching him annoyed this early in the morning.
Another knock came, this time faster. “Tasha, stop!” I yelled toward the hallway.
“Then open the damn door!”
Rome looked over at me while running his hand down his beard. “You better tell her calm the fuck down before she create a problem she don’t want.”
I laughed sarcastically while climbing out the bed. “Oh, now you worried about problems?”
“Navy, chill the fuck out man.”
“What? You should’ve thought about all this before last night.”
The room got quiet for a second after that because we both knew I was right. Rome looked away first, grabbing his shirt off the floor before throwing it on. “Just go open the door.”
I snatched my bonnet off the bed and pulled it down over my hair before heading for the bedroom door.
My body still felt sore, especially my back, and every step downstairs reminded me of it.
The house was quiet except for Tasha’s muffled cursing outside and Rome walking behind me like he didn’t trust what I might say once that door opened.
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 he slapped 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 looked like 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.”
Tasha stared at me hard, and for a second neither one of us said nothing. We had been friends too long for everything between us to need words anyway. She knew when I was scared, angry, embarrassed, or trying to hold myself together by a thread even if I never admitted it out loud.
“I’m serious,” she said quietly. “You can stay with me.”
“I know, stop telling me that.” I frowned.
“You don’t deserve this.”
My eyes started watering again, but I blinked it away fast because I was not about to cry in this living room with Rome ten feet away acting like none of this mattered. “I know,” I repeated softer this time.
From the kitchen, Rome sucked his teeth. “Y’all done?”
Tasha shot him another nasty look. “Nobody talking to you.”
“I’m just saying. You in my house yelling early as hell like we on a damn reality show, go home.”
“Cause you beat on women!” She snapped.
Rome leaned against the counter completely unfazed biting into an apple with his gold teeth shining. “Ain’t nobody beat on her.”
Tasha laughed in disbelief. “You know what? I really can’t stand men like you.”
“And I can’t stand loud ass females who don’t know how to mind they business.” He winked. “We even.”
“This is my business!” she snapped. “That’s my best friend!”
I stepped between them before this turned into a whole screaming match. “Tash,” I said. “It’s cool.”
She looked at me and I looked back at her.
Right there in that moment, without saying it out loud, I tried to tell her with my eyes what I couldn’t say in front of him.
I’m good girl, not good-good but calm down.
Please stop pushing right now, I got this.
Tasha stared at me for another second, reading everything all over my face the way only somebody who really knew me could.
Her expression relaxed just a little, but I could still see the anger in her eyes.
“You sure?” she asked searching my eyes. “It is not okay to let a motherfucker pound on you.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Girl, this is not ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’,” I told her.
We were little girls sitting in the living room watching that movie with my grandma years ago and now here she was quoting it.
I once again assured her I was good, because I needed her to leave before Rome’s mood changed again.
Behind us, Rome walked into the living room smelling like weed and cologne while acting like he hadn’t terrorized me less than twelve hours ago.
“I told you she fine,” he said again. “Y’all making this bigger than what it is.”
Tasha looked him dead in his face. “One day somebody gone kill you behind playing with women like this.”