Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Jruelle O’Neil.
“Where you gotta go today?” Brock asked when we pulled in front of my job.
“I don’t know yet, Derrick.” I rolled my eyes.
“Let me know as soon as you find out.”
Derrick Brockman was the worst decision that I’d ever made in my life.
He was so sweet and kind when I met him and even in the first few months of us dating, but that quickly changed after being with him for a year.
His true, controlling and verbally abusive nature reared its ugly head, and I’d been living in a nightmare since.
I had to give him a full itinerary of my day each time he dropped me off at work.
He wanted addresses and more for every home I had to visit like he wasn’t going to know because he had at least two men sitting at my job daily.
It didn’t matter that it was a direct violation of the code of ethics for the Department of Child and Family Services, he still wanted to know.
He claimed that it was for my safety due to him being in the streets and people constantly coming for him and the people he loved, but I knew better. He wanted to keep constant tabs on me.
We were literally inseparable to the point that I was barely able to go to Sunday dinner at my parents without him.
My family warned me that something was off about Derrick in the beginning, my dad hated how he constantly wanted to be up under me, but I didn’t see what they did.
At first I thought he just wanted to feel included in the family, but once reality hit me, I understood whole heartedly what they meant.
He needed to be in the know about everything that I had going on.
I grabbed my purse and bag from the floor in front of me and got ready to climb out of the car, but Derrick grabbed my arm to stop me.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you were looking at ol’ boy today.” He glared at me.
My brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Jru, you know what I’m talking about.” He chuckled. “Don’t be the reason that bum ass nigga ends up in the hospital or the morgue.”
I scoffed and snatched away from him then successfully climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind me.
Derrick and I both knew that Adonis wasn’t a bum and that he would never put him in the hospital or morgue.
Derrick liked to act like a tough guy, but we all knew that he overcompensated for his cowardice by keeping a barrage of niggas around him to do all of his dirty work.
Regardless, they couldn’t do anything with Adonis, and that was a well-known fact.
Adonis was and had always been a sweetheart.
When I didn’t have friends in high school due to being the new girl, he accepted me with open arms. It was weird to find out that he and Derrick were close friends because Derrick never had anything nice to say about him in private.
He was always clowning him behind his back about his misfortunes and the fact that his mother was in an abusive relationship.
It was disgusting and should have been enough to make me run in the other direction when he started to pursue me, but Derrick had the gift of gab.
He was a very charming man knowing exactly what to say and do to get what he wanted.
By the time I realized who he really was, it was too late.
As I walked in the building, he let the window down and yelled, “don’t forget, Jruelle, nobody is ever going to love you the way that I do! Especially with your situation!”
I winced from hearing his words but continued my stride into work.
He knew how sensitive I was about my diagnosis, and he brought it up constantly despite of how hurt I was behind it.
I wanted nothing more than to get married and start a family one day, but I’d been diagnosed with Endometriosis when I was just nineteen years old, so the chances of that happening for me were slim to none.
With anyone other than Derrick anyway.
He was the only guy that I ever disclosed that part of my life too and he didn’t look at me like I’d told him I was ailing and contagious.
As I got older, I realized a lot of people were ignorant and lacked knowledge about my condition.
Niggas loved sex and for someone dealing with what I was, it was far and few between.
Derrick knew and understood what I was going through, but that didn’t stop him from cheating.
He had no qualms about me knowing either.
He always said that as much as he loved me, he was still a man with needs and because I couldn’t always fulfill them, he stepped out.
He promised that they’d never mean anything more than a nut here and there, and stupidly, I believed him because he was still here taking care of me after eight years.
As soon as I got inside, I went to the breakroom to put my lunch away.
I brought my own food from home because I didn’t like being hounded by Derrick’s men if I went out for food.
The time I spent at work was the only time I had to myself and the only peace that I experienced, so I took full advantage of it.
After putting my things away, my phone rang. I started to ignore it because I felt like it was nobody other than Derrick, but when I looked, I saw that it was my sister, so I quickly answered.
“Hey sis.”
“Did I catch you without your guard dog?” she asked and I laughed.
“Yes, crazy, I just walked into work.”
“Great. I hate talking to you when he’s hovering.”
“I know,” I sighed. My family hated him and had no problem letting me or him know it. “Where are you?”
“Just got to the school, girl, and I am not ready.” She groaned. “I always take summer break for granted.”
I laughed because she said the same thing every year when it was time to go back to school.
Gerica taught creative writing and entrepreneurship at a private school.
Atlyn Prep had K-12, but she only taught the high school students.
She complained about teaching but she loved children.
I shared the same love, which made it hurt that much more knowing I probably would never have any of my own.
That, and the fact that I grew up in foster care, were the main reasons that I became a social worker.
Geri and I lost our mother to drug addiction when I was two and she was five.
We didn’t have any other family willing to claim either of us when our mother passed, so we went into the custody of the state and bounced around from home to home until I got to the sixth grade and met my science teacher, Jacob O’Neil.
He was a nice, caring, and compassionate man.
His wife, who we’d seen at school several times, felt like she waited too late to actually have children, but they wanted kids bad.
Mr. O’Neil found out that I was living in a group home with my sister after we talked one day, had a talk with his wife, and the rest was history.
They adopted Geri and I by the end of the school year and had been our parents since.
It was the best thing that ever happened to us because before them we were going from home to home and had given up hope that we’d ever have a real family other than each other.
It was the first time that we’d experienced real, genuine love.
Our experiences at the group and foster homes were horrible and I made a vow that when we made it out I’d do everything I could to save other children from experiencing that kind of hurt and neglect.
“Guess who I saw this morning though, sis.” Geri said, jarring me from my thoughts.
“Who?”
“Your boo, Adonis.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “His little brother goes here.”
I’d seen little Apollo’s uniform when he was in the store earlier but didn’t pay attention to the logo on his shirt because Derrick was too busy rushing me out so he could go bother Adonis.
“He’s not my boo, Gerica.”
“He was,” she replied, amused. “You can tell that friendship lie to someone else. You loved that boy back then no matter how much you try to lie about it.”
“I did not.” I rolled my eyes as I entered my cubicle. “We were really just good friends.”
“If you say so.” She chuckled. “Time has done him well because he looks good too.”
She wasn’t lying. I had to force myself not to stare when I saw him at the store. He’d always been attractive, even when he didn’t have much, but grown man Adonis was truly a sight for sore eyes. He was dressed nicely and smelled lovely.
His muscular athletic frame was littered in tattoos, and I noticed that he’d finally let his beard start to grow in.
He hated it in school, always cutting it off, but it connected with the mustache now and looked good on him.
I’d heard that he was cutting hair out of his house and could see he'd gotten good at it because both his and his brother’s hair was cut to perfection with a sea of waves circling their heads.
“I know you think so too, you don’t have to agree out loud.”
“Geri, don’t you have to go to work?”
“I do, but I had to let you know the one you stupidly allowed to get away was here and he said he’s single.”
“I know you didn’t ask him that shit, bitch.” I hissed lowly.
“I sure did,” she proudly responded. “That’s need to know information for when you drop that fuck ass nigga you’re dealing with.”
“I cannot stand you, Gerica.” I shook my head. “I hope you know that.”
“You’ll thank me one day.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath, bitch. Goodbye.” I hung up the phone in her face. She was always doing something to embarrass me.
I got started on my work load after putting my phone on DND. Derrick bothered me my entire work shift, so I always put my focus on and used a heavy workload as an excuse not to talk to him while I was there.
I kept myself busy up until my lunch break. After locking my computer up, I grabbed my purse and phone then made my way to the breakroom where I warmed my leftovers from the night before then found a spot by the window to sit alone and eat while scrolling on my phone.
As I did, a few of my coworkers came inside, one being Bonita, whom I couldn’t stand, so I rolled my eyes but stayed focused on my phone.
“So, what are you doing tonight?” a girl named Amy asked Bonita. “You said it’s your anniversary, right?”
“Yes, girl, two years.” She beamed. “I just know my man is going to go all out.”
“I already know girl. That man spoils you.” Amy hyped her up.
“That’s what sexing your man right gets you.” Bonita said as she smirked with her eyes trained on me. “Right, Jruelle?”
My eyes narrowed as I glared at her. She was trying to be funny.
I’d heard rumors of Derrick messing with her, but when I brought it to him, he always denied it.
Sadly, I’d accepted his infidelities, but I drew the line at people that worked with me.
It was bad enough that he stepped out on me, I didn’t want to look in the face of a woman he was sleeping with daily.
“Bonita, don’t say shit to me.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not in the mood.”
“If my nigga was fucking everything moving, I wouldn’t be in the mood either,” she chuckled. “Well, he was until meeting me.”
“Excuse me?” I glared at her.
“Girl, don’t play dumb.” She waved me off. “It is not news that your man can’t keep it in his pants because little Ms. Perfect can’t perform in the bedroom and her womb is rotten.”
“Look, bitch,” I snapped shooting up from my seat, but her friend hurried between us.
“Y’all, stop.” She held her hands out but looked at Bonita. “You’re pregnant, so you shouldn’t.”
“Pregnant?” I whispered. “Y-you’re pregnant?”
“Sure am.” She smiled, rubbing her nonexistent belly. “I know it might come as a surprise to you, but I can carry a child.”
“Bitch…” I gritted, lunging for her ass again, but she hurried out of the break room while laughing. I was furious. She didn’t say that she was pregnant by Derrick, but she damn sure insinuated it.
Snatching my phone up from the table I previously occupied, I quickly dialed Derrick up.
“What’s up, baby?”
“Are you screwing, Bonita?” I snapped. Fuck all the formalities.
“Jru…” he sighed heavily.
“Do not Jru me, Derrick.” I spat. “Are you sleeping with that bitch?!”
“How many times do I have to tell you no?” he countered. “It doesn’t matter how many times and ways you ask, the answer is still the same.”
“Then why is she insinuating that you are?”
“Because Jruelle, she knows that she can say whatever about me to get under your skin.”
“No, that’s not what gets under my skin.” I growled. “You’ve been a lying, cheating ass nigga, but now you’re pillow talking with them about my inadequacies?” I whimpered. He knew how much that bothered me. “How could you?”
“I didn’t,” he lied. He was always very quick to mutter a lie, but slow to tell the damn truth. “I wouldn’t do no shit like that, Jru.”
“How does she know then?” I quizzed. “And why is she saying that she’s pregnant by you?”
Even though she didn’t confirm it, I knew how to read between the lines.
“I don’t know, baby. If the bitch said that, she’s lying, okay? I don’t have her pregnant.”
“Derrick, if I find out you’re lying, it’s over for us.” I confessed. I put up with a lot of shit, but I would never forgive him for that.
“You ain’t going nowhere,” he replied.
“Why because nobody will want me due to my condition?” I snapped lowly, throwing his words back at him. “I’m telling you now, that won’t be enough to make me stay with you.”
“Jruelle, that’s enough of that, aight? I get you’re mad about the bitch running her mouth but shut all that shit up. You not leaving me and you know it.”
Before I could respond and let him know that I could show him better than I could tell him, he’d disconnected the call.
I didn’t even bother calling back. He wasn’t going to tell the truth either way, nor was he going to believe me when I told him that I was leaving if I confirmed that he slept with Bonita and got her pregnant too.
I was truly going to have to just show him that I wasn’t playing with him this time.