Chapter 11
This was the very first time in her life that Teonny blacked out.
The pain in her chest was the only thing she could feel.
It was the only thing she could see.
It was the only thing she could taste.
It was the only thing she could smell.
It was the only thing she could hear.
How her five senses could experience the same feeling simultaneously and in different ways was beyond her.
All she knew was when she blinked again, her mother was on the ground at her feet, and Teonny somehow had a gun in her hand.
Lamar’s hands were up, and he stood off to the side.
Her guess was she somehow snatched the gun from him.
She looked down at her mom, who was now barely conscious.
Never in a million years did Teonny picture this scene. Her, with a gun in her hand, ready to kill someone she loved more than anything. Tears filled her eyes as her hands shook. Her hands never fuckin’ shook when she held a gun. At least not for the past five years. Maybe that was a sign.
She couldn’t believe she had allowed someone to fool her once again. After her ex-husband, she thought she knew how to spot a narcissist from a mile away, but she’d been wrong. So very fucking wrong. The shitty part was the second time around hurt one hundred times more.
“You ruined my life,” she whispered.
“I’m so—”
“Shut up!” she screeched. “You don’t get to speak . . . You don’t get to speak ever again.”
Now they were both crying, but Teonny couldn’t find it in her to care for this despicable person’s tears.
In her mind, it was an easy decision about what had to happen next.
She wouldn’t allow another person she loved deeply to live after hurting her so deeply.
It couldn’t happen. She was a changed woman from five years ago, and while her ex-husband didn’t die by her hand, she’d grown to wish he had. He deserved that much, at least.
Her finger gently squeezed the trigger, and she held her breath for the shot that would change her and her life forever . . . again.
But she eased back on the trigger as she sobbed.
She felt like she was at a crossroads. She wanted her mother dead.
There was no doubt about that, but after her first and only kill, she knew how shit like this could haunt her.
Teonny had no doubt that Tameka would make her life a living hell in death, just like she had all her life.
Flashes of her childhood and into adulthood played in her mind. Tameka had always been her best friend. Her only friend. It took this moment to realize that was by design. Tameka always drilled into Teonny that bitches weren’t shit and that she didn’t need any friends.
The little girl in Teonny cried as she thought about all the things she missed out on because she was too grown, trying to keep up with her mama while her mama was a grown ass woman trying to act like a damn teenager.
Teonny shook her head. “You took my baby from me.”
Tameka groaned as she tried to move. Teonny kicked her.
“Ah! T-Teo, no. It was an accident. J-Jerome was never supposed t-to kill them. Just rob them. You know I loved A-Angel.”
That didn’t even matter to her because the bitch stayed with Jerome after she knew he killed her baby. Teonny stomped on her mother’s ribs in anger. “Don’t you dare say her name!”
A flash of Angel’s smile and then the sound of her laugh echoed through her head.
Mommy.
The voice she hadn’t heard in weeks haunted her.
Teonny fell to her knees and grabbed her head between her hands as she tried to shake the images and voice away.
A strong hand on her back instantly soothed her. Prosper. She didn’t hesitate to lean into him as she cried.
“What do you want me to do, Peanut? How can I fix this?” he whispered.
Jerome was still in the background, causing a hell of a scene for a man chained to a cement pillar.
In frustration that he wouldn’t shut the fuck up, Teonny said, “Kill him!”
She felt like pulling her hair out. She was so overstimulated, and she just wanted a moment of silence.
A shot rang out, and when she pulled her head away from her hands, she saw that Lamar had shot and killed Jerome.
“B-baby?” Tameka whispered hoarsely. She tried to move her head in his direction, but she couldn’t. Tears streamed down her face, and that triggered Teonny. Tameka cried just like that for Angel when she died.
Teonny’s heart felt like it had been completely shattered. She buried her head in Prosper’s chest and whispered, “Lamar, kill her.”
She felt Prosper nod toward Lamar before her body was lifted from the ground. Teonny squeezed her eyes tightly and buried her head into Prosper’s neck as her legs wrapped around his waist. He walked her toward the exit.
A shot rang out just as she felt the cool air hit her face. She sobbed as a piece of her left this Earth.
Another shot rang out when Prosper placed her inside the car. She didn’t know Ghost, but she said a silent thank you to his spirit for telling her the truth, even though it was so ugly.
Teonny sobbed so hard she threw up when Prosper got inside the car. He only whispered loving words to her as he cleaned her up as best he could before he pulled away from the warehouse.
The ride back happened in a blur. She knew she didn’t fall asleep, but she also knew she didn’t remember getting from point A to B. She had stopped crying though.
After Prosper parked his car in the driveway of the safe house, he got out and helped her out of the car.
He picked her up again and said, “We’ll only stay here for one night.
I just want to get you cleaned up and into bed.
We need to pack our things, and then I’ll take you to my house tomorrow, okay, baby? ”
Teonny didn’t respond. She didn’t feel like she would ever speak again.
Prosper effortlessly carried her into the house. The first thing Teonny saw when they entered was one of Tameka’s hoodies hanging on the railing of the staircase. She clenched her eyes shut tightly as fresh tears built up.
Prosper carried her up the stairs and into their bedroom, then into the bathroom. She sat on the toilet and stared aimlessly at nothing while he drew her a bath. She smelled the bath salts and bubble bath, but her brain couldn’t compute anything other than the information she’d just learned.
She didn’t even blink when Prosper undressed them both and then submerged them into the Jacuzzi sized tub.
“I’m so sorry, Peanut. I promise I didn’t know all that—”
She shushed him. “I don’t want to talk.” Her voice sounded dead, like she had nothing left to live for.
“Let me just say this.” He gripped her cheeks and turned her head so she was forced to look at him.
She noticed he had tears in his eyes, and that struck her as odd.
Prosper didn’t seem like the type to cry.
“I love the fuck out of you, Teonny. You hear me? I know you’ve lost a lot in this life, but you gained me, and I’m going to be here to remind you every single day why I’m more than enough. ”
Teonny heard his words, but they couldn’t resonate. Not right now. She felt him though. She felt the love that poured from his soul, and she took it and matched it. Since she didn’t feel like she could speak her love to him, she could only pray he felt it.
When he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek and then her temple, she knew he could. She found that to be so beautiful. A tear slipped down her cheek as she thought about the only other person she had been able to communicate with heart to heart. Angel. Her Angel.
Teonny leaned into him and allowed Prosper to wash her up as she tried desperately to settle into her new reality.