17. Keyshawn
Clad in my gray joggers, white T-shirt, and Retro Jordan 11s, I hopped out the whip and made my way through the parking garage to the front entrance to Bernice’s penthouse. I took the elevator up to her floor and stopped in my tracks at the scene before me. Her front door was ajar, and I could hear shuffling within the home. The smile fell from my lips as I darted in. The scene playing out in front of me mortified me.
There was a nigga with his hands around Bernice’s throat. Tears pooled from her eyes as she clawed at his hands. Anger and confusion swam together as my vision turned red.
I snatched him away from Bernice and tossed him into the wall. The pictures on the wall fell as he looked up at me. Before he could respond, I allowed my hands to do all the talking necessary. Punch after punch rained down on this nigga. I didn’t know who he was or why he was here, but I wasn’t about to let shit slide.
“Get off me!” he cried out as he continued to cover his face and body.
“Did you get off of Bern when she clawed at your fucking hands?” I asked between punches.
Blood.
The stench of blood infiltrated my senses. A beast took over my body. I no longer had control of my movements. I couldn’t stop until he was dead. He had to die because any nigga who even thought about putting their hands on my lady didn’t care about their life.
“K-Krash…”
My movements halted at the soft, strained tone in her voice. My head snapped over to see Bernice coughing and reaching out to me. My body moved swiftly to get to her.I pulled her into my arms and examined her. She coughed and cried into my shirt. The white shirt was stained with blood and tears.
“K-Keyshawn…”
“It’s okay, Bern. I’m here. I’m not leaving your side.”
I pulled out my phone and called the crew. When everyone was on the call, I let out a deep breath. “I need y’all to pull up with a car to pick this nigga up.” I panned the camera over to the swole ass nigga who I’d just had to put my hands on.
“Nigga! What the hell happened?” Blake asked.
I sighed. My hands rubbed Bernice’s back as she whimpered. “I walked in and found him choking my lady. He’s unconscious, but I can see his chest moving, so he’s not dead. I wanted him dead… I’m going to take care of Bern. If one of y’all can bring her some soup, ginger ale, tea, and lemon to soothe her throat, I’d be very appreciative.”
“We got you, bro. You know the police are going to get involved if he presses charges,” Gary warned.
“I don’t give a fuck. I did what I needed to do to protect Bernice in her home. I’ll deal with whatever consequences are necessary.”
“Me and Nehemiah can be at your spot in fifteen,” Blake explained. “We’ll take the nigga to the ER to make sure he’s all right. We’ll give him a talk as well.”
“I’ll get you and the lady what y’all need,” Gary added.
“I’ll see what I can do to keep this out the media. I’ll also need to get with Bernice, when she’s up to it, to disclose her security feed to help build a case against him, if necessary,” Deionte finished.
“I appreciate y’all more than anything.”
The call ended, and I picked up Bernice and carried her to the couch. I made sure the nigga was still in my line of sight as I rocked her in my arms.
“I’m not leaving your side, baby.” I pressed a kiss to her temple as she fell asleep. The weight of the traumatic experience was too exhausting for her.
She slept through Blake and Nehemiah coming and collecting the nigga. He’d stayed unconscious through the whole exchange. Then, when he was no longer at the home, I cleaned up the kitchen and put the meal into Tupperware containers. I set myself some aside in a bowl. When Gary arrived, I made Bernice some soup and tea—I added a squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of honey to help soothe her aching throat.
We sat on the couch and ate our food silently. I didn’t want to overstep, but I wanted to know who he was and why he was in her home.
“Krash…”
I looked up to see Bernice with teary eyes. “You don’t have to tell me anything right now, Bern.”
She shook her head. “I was going to tell you everything tonight at dinner.” She spoke softly as not to aggravate her sore throat. The bruises on her neck were hard to miss, which only fueled my anger. I should have killed him when I had the chance.
“You knew him?” I asked.
She nodded slightly. “He’s my ex…”
My heart fell to my ass at the reveal. My Bern had given part of herself to that abusive asshole.
“I met him while I was in Massachusetts. He was sweet and kind in the beginning. He made sure I was straight and never alone. I wanted to see the best in everyone, but when I finally gave him the chance to be my man… he did a one-eighty into the wrong direction. He became possessive, insecure, jealous, and abusive. It started verbally and then continued to get worse. It started with a few fat comments here and there. Then, it became physical. I should have left him, I know… I should have been strong enough to stand up for myself, but I endured the abuse because he made me feel like I had no one.”
Tears poured from her face as she rocked from side to side. Her gaze was far away as she stirred her tea. My fingers were balled tightly into fists that hurt the palms of my hands. My knuckles were damn near white from the strength of my grip. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do.
Guilt washed over me. It felt like I was to blame. My heart ached.
“Bern…”
“Don’t blame yourself, Key. It’s not your fault.”
“It is. If I would have been there…”
Guilt washed over me. My insecurities and demons ruined my relationship with Bernie. The result of our breakup put her on that nigga’s radar.
“Keyshawn, look at me.”
My eyes shifted up to her. “It was my choice to believe the facade he put on. It was my choice to make excuses until it got too bad. You were my first love, and I wanted to find that love in someone else, so I ignored red flags and gave him power over me.”
“I’m so sorry, Bernie.”
She shook her head. “There is no need for you to apologize to me. Rodney took a lot of me, but you restored parts of me I’d thought I’d lost forever.”
I set my bowl on the table and pulled her onto my lap. I caressed her bruised skin and pressed our foreheads together. We sat like this for a long time. Neither of us said a word as we allowed our bodies to convey what our words couldn’t.
She shifted and cleared her throat. “How’d you like your dinner? I’m sorry things got ruined. Literally, I wanted to cook, drink, and let you in on what I’d endured while I was out of state. Things didn’t go as planned.”
“We gon’ keep this out the media for sure. We can’t have BerJam, Security catching flack.”
She frowned. “Dude… I thought it was you, so I unlocked the door and pulled the food out of the oven. I expected to be greeted by my man, and instead, one of the devil’s demons were in my front room.”
“Look, we won’t let this shit happen again.”
“How do you plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again?” she asked.
“This the only abusive ex, right?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“All right. Blake and Nehemiah took the nigga to the emergency room. I’m sure once they’re done talking to him, he’ll never lift a hand to any woman again.”
Abusive men were the scum of the Earth. The craziest part was most abusive men would never step to a man the way they would a woman. I didn’t play that abuse shit, so if I ever crossed paths with the nigga again, I wouldn’t hesitate to donate to the GoFundMe his mother would have to create to pay for his funeral costs.
“It’s been a long day. I really just want to go to sleep.”
“Come on. I did a small tour while I cleaned up the kitchen. We can strip and go to bed.”
“I don’t have a huge mansion like you, but I’ll give you a better tour in the morning. Please take me to bed and hold me close.”
“I got you, baby.”
I lifted her up, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her weight against me. I carried her down the hall to her room and set her on the bed.
“I can get my own pajamas, Keyshawn.”
I shook my head. “Who said we were putting on clothes?”
She giggled. “Naked cuddles are better.”
“Glad you know.”
Once I’d stripped us both of our clothes, we climbed under the blanket and found a comfortable cuddle position. She snuggled up to my chest while I held her with my left hand and scrolled on my phone with the right.
“Thank you for not leaving me after finding out I was weak…” she mumbled in a soft tone.
Her words gutted me. “Bern, baby, you are not weak. Being a victim of abuse doesn’t make you weak. You found the strength to leave when you could. I could never fault you for another man’s issues.”
I put my phone down and held her face in my right hand. I used my thumb to caress her cheek.
“I love you. No matter what you’ve gone through, you’ll always be worthy of my love and protection.”
Tears formed in her eyes, and I swiped them away quickly.
“I love you, Krash.”
“I love you more, Bernie.”
Within a few minutes, Bernice had dozed off and welcomed sleep. My mind had too much on it to settle enough for me to sleep. How long had Bernice endured the abuse before she finally ran away? She’d told me enough, but the questions still plagued my mind. What were the odds he’d try and come back when I wasn’t around? What were the odds he’d go to the media and try to spin the narratives?
As the questions continued to haunt me, my phone buzzed on the bed. It was an incoming call from Blake. I swiped the screen and turned my head away from Bern to avoid waking her.
“What’s good?” I said in a low tone.
“Yo! Me and Neh just got back to our side of town. We made sure ol’ dude knew what would come his way if he went to the cops or the media.”
“Cool. I appreciate y’all coming and handling that for me. I’ll send something for the trouble. I don’t want to be negative, but I wanted to kill that nigga.”
“Any man in your situation would have blacked out the same way. You have to let God work his magic, though. Don’t put your freedom on the line for a nigga like that. Long as you got Bernice, we gon’ handle the rest.”
“I appreciate you, for real.”
“Always. You our dawg. We’ve been through too much shit together to let you throw your life away for a low life ass nigga.”
Blake, Nehemiah, Gary, and Deionte were my brothers. I was grateful to have them by my side. In today’s society, it was hard to find a group of dudes who had the same morals as you. Too many times, niggas kept their brothers around, even when them mothafuckas were rapists, pedophiles, thieves, and crooks. To have a group of solid individuals was a blessing in itself.
“It’s been a day. I’m gon’ hit y’all up later this week. I’m going to be with Bern the next couple of days, to make sure she’s straight.”
“Sounds good.”
The call ended, and I put the device on ‘do not disturb.’ Then I turned back to Bern and kissed her forehead. The soft breaths she took lulled me to sleep.
With everything out in the open in our relationship, we would be able to embrace the second chance with our foot on the gas.