Chapter 29 Toni Roc #2
We left with a few purses and hit a jewelry store next where I ended up buyin’ two bracelets and a necklace that caught my eye, and for a lil’ while I felt lighter than I had in days. It wasn’t about the money, but about feelin’ normal again. But that shit ain’t last long.
We had just stepped out of another store when I heard it. “Excuse me… are you Toni Mensah?”
The tone told me everything before I even turned around.
I faced her and saw the phone up first. The camera was already recordin’. She had a fake ass concerned look on her face like she was doin’ journalism instead of harassin’ a pregnant woman in a mall.
“Who the fuck askin’?” I asked flat.
She stepped closer, bold as hell, and raised the phone higher so it was right in my face.
“I just wanna know how it feels to be married to a rapist,” she said loud enough that people nearby slowed down. “And you’re pregnant by him too, right? Don’t you think that’s disgusting?”
My stomach flipped and for a second I couldn’t even process how comfortable she was sayin’ that shit to me in public.
Sha’Nelle stepped in front of me immediately. “Bitch, if you don’t move that fuckin’ phone,” she snapped. “I’mma show you somethin’ hoe!”
“I’m just askin’ a question,” the bitch said, like she was innocent.
“You better take yo’ ass on somewhere before I drag you through this mall, bitch!” Sha’Nelle yelled, pointin’ her finger at the stupid ass woman’s face.
People was already pullin’ out they own phones, hungry for a scene. Security had started walkin’ over, and the woman finally lowered her camera when she realized she wasn’t about to get the reaction she wanted.
Sha’Nelle grabbed my hand and pulled me away before I could even say somethin’ else, and by the time we reached the parkin’ lot my whole body felt like it was hummin’ with anger.
“That raggedy bitch,” I muttered as I got into the passenger seat.
Sha’Nelle started the car. “Muthafuckas is crazy, for real.”
I stared out the window while we pulled out, but my chest felt tight and my stomach was doin’ flips that had nothin’ to do with my baby. This wasn’t internet comments no more. This was real life.
About ten minutes into the drive, I noticed a gray car in the rearview mirror. At first, I ignored it, but when we made two turns and it made the same two turns, my heart started beatin’ faster.
“Sha’Nelle,” I said.
“What?”
“That gray car been behind us since we left the mall.”
She looked in the mirror and slowed down just a lil’. Then, the gray car slowed down too. That’s when my stomach dropped.
I grabbed my phone and called Kay’Lo, and he answered immediately. “Yeah, baby.”
“I think somebody followin’ us,” I said, and I hated how my voice trembled.
There was a split second of silence and then I heard movement on his end. It sounded like drawers openin’.
“Where you at?” he asked, and his voice had already changed.
“Down the street from the house.”
“You close?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep drivin’. I’m on my way outside.”
Sha’Nelle turned onto our street and the damn gray car turned too like they ain’t even care if it was obvious. My heart was beatin’ so hard I felt it in my ears.
“We at the gate,” I whispered.
The gate was already slidin’ open when we pulled up.
Sha’Nelle drove in and stopped. The gray car rolled in behind us like whoever was behind the damn wheel had lost they fuckin’ mind.
Before I could even unbuckle my seatbelt, Kay’Lo came stormin’ toward us, shirtless, and barefoot with a gun in his hand and murder all over his face. He ain’t even look at me or ask if I was okay. He walked straight to the car and ripped the driver door open so hard it bounced back.
Kay’Lo’s fist connected with the nigga’s face so hard it sounded like a bat hittin’ concrete, and before the dude could even register what was happenin’, Kay’Lo had his hand fisted in his hair and was draggin’ him out the seat like he was pullin’ trash from a can.
The man’s feet barely touched the ground before Kay’Lo slammed him against the side of the car, puttin’ a dent in it from the impact while his fist kept flyin’, punch after punch.
“You lost, nigga?” he growled, hittin’ him again. “Or you just lost yo’ fuckin’ mind?”
The dude tried to cover his face, but Kay’Lo wasn’t lettin’ up, his knuckles crackin’ against his cheekbone and jaw while he drove him backward toward the trunk.
The same bitch from the mall scrambled out the passenger side screamin’ like she hadn’t just followed us to our damn house, but Kay’Lo ain’t even glance at her. He grabbed the man by his head and slammed it down against the tires once, twice, and the sound made my stomach twist.
Sha’Nelle was already in the lady’s face, cussin’ her clean the fuck out while she tried to dial in her phone with shaky fingers.
Kay’Lo still wouldn’t let up on that nigga.
He hit him again and the dude’s knees buckled, blood spillin’ from his mouth and nose while Kay’Lo yanked him upright by the front of his shirt.
“You followin’ my wife?” he shouted, his voice so rough, it scared me. “You followin’ her home?”
The man tried to speak but his words came out thick and wet.
Kay’Lo hit him again.
Then he gripped his gun tighter and pressed it straight into dude’s mouth so hard he gagged and the back of his head hit the car again.
“Open yo’ bitch ass mouth, nigga!” Kay’Lo ordered.
The dude’s lips trembled around the barrel.
“I swear to God,” Kay’Lo muttered, leanin’ in close, “I will blow yo’ fuckin’ brains out right here in my driveway, bitch. You thought that shit was sweet? You thought you was gon’ follow my wife home and wasn’t gon’ have to see me?”
His hand tightened in the dude’s hair while the gun stayed buried between his teeth.
The nigga couldn’t even talk. All he could do was whimper.
His bitch was cryin’ now, beggin’ Kay’Lo to let them go, ‘cause he was holdin’ both of ‘em at gun point now, and Sha’Nelle was in her face tellin’ her she should’ve stayed her stupid ass at the mall instead of tryna be bold.
I ran up and grabbed Kay’Lo’s arm, my heart slammin’ against my ribs.
“Baby,” I said, my voice shakin’. “Please.”
He was so far gone, he ain’t even look at me. His chest was risin’ heavy and his jaw was tight, with his eyes locked on the dude under him like he was fightin’ the urge to end it right here.
Sirens started wailin’ in the distance, growin’ louder, but Kay’Lo didn’t flinch. He held the gun there another second, long enough for the dude to feel how close death had just been, and then he yanked it out slow and shoved him back against the hood like he was disgusted.
“You ever play with my shit again,” he said while pointin’ at me. “I will murder you… in front of the police nigga.”
The dude slid down the side of the car, bloody and shakin’. And I stood there with my hand still on my stomach, realizin’ that this wasn’t internet shit anymore. This shit was for real, and my husband had just shown them exactly what real looked like.
Kay’Lo finally stepped back slow, still starin’ at the dude on the ground like he wished the cops was a few minutes later.
As the sirens filled the driveway and officers started spillin’ through the gate, I stood there with my hand on my stomach, pressin’ to see if My’Love would become active for mommy.
Just when I think shit can’t get worse, it always finds a way to prove me wrong.
LATER THAT NIGHT…
After the shit that went down at the mall and outside of our mansion, I couldn’t even sit still in my own skin.
Hours had passed since the police finally pulled off our property, but my nerves was still shot and my mind wouldn’t calm down no matter how hard I tried to breathe through it.
For a second it really looked like Kay’Lo was about to get taken to jail, and I had to stand there pregnant as hell and explain to the fuckin’ officers that we had been followed from the mall all the way to our house.
I told them I was about to be in my third trimester soon and that some stranger had approached me earlier that day, stuck a phone in my face, and then had the damn nerve to trail us home like we was some type of content for her page.
I made sure they understood that it wasn’t just about some fight in the driveway, but about a pregnant woman bein’ followed and put in danger, and I let them see the fear that was still sittin’ on me even though I was tryna hold my shit together.
The nigga ended up leavin’ in handcuffs anyway, and from the way his face looked I knew he was gon’ need more than a ride to the station. A part of me almost felt numb watchin’ it happen ‘cause everything moved so fast that I ain’t even get the chance to process it until after they was gone.
Now I was sittin’ out back by the pool, starin’ at the water while the palm trees swayed. Normally, I would’ve found this shit peaceful, but tonight it just made me think about how fragile everything felt.
I kept replayin’ the mall in my head, and the way that stupid ass hoe walked up to me bold as hell with her phone already recordin’, like I wasn’t a real person.
Or like I wasn’t carryin’ a baby inside me.
The way she looked at me when she said Kay’Lo was a rapist, made my stomach twist all over again.
It scared me how easy it was for her to approach me, for them to follow us and how easy it could’ve been for that situation to turn into somethin’ worse.
I rested my hand over my stomach and pressed down gentle, waitin’ for a kick that would remind me everything was still okay.
The thought of somethin’ happenin’ to my baby ‘cause of somebody else’s obsession made my chest feel tight, and I realized that the anger sittin’ inside me wasn’t just about disrespect anymore. It was about survival.
The back door slid open behind me and I ain’t even have to turn around to know it was Kay’Lo.
I heard him clear his throat. He was lickin’ a blunt, slow and focused like he always did when his mind was workin’.