Chapter 21 #3
I dropped Tasha off with a promise to call later and watched until she disappeared through the front door of her building.
Only then did I let myself worry, about the way she had been dealing with her shit alone.
By the time I reached my apartment, the day had settled into evening.
The sky had turned a deep bluish gray, with the last strip of sunlight fading behind the buildings and it was my favorite time of the day.
I checked the parking lot before getting out, scanning for Rome’s car out of habit but saw nothing.
Once inside, I locked the door and carried the shopping bags to my bedroom.
The apartment felt so calm and clean, so I showered taking my time, letting hot water wash the massage oil from my skin.
Afterward, I rubbed vanilla body oil over my arms and legs, pulled on an oversized T-shirt, my pink robe, and fluffy bedroom shoes before wrapping my hair in a silk scarf.
I lit two candles in the living room, one on the kitchen counter and another on the small table near the couch and then turned off the overhead lights.
A warm amber glow took over the apartment. I poured a glass of water, and tucked myself underneath a throw blanket, before stretching out on the couch with no intention of doing anything more demanding than finding a movie I had already seen.
The first kick against the door made me sit right up and the second one rattled the damn frame. “Navyyyy!” His voice dragged across my name and another kick landed against the lower half of the door. “Open this damn door.”
I closed my eyes hearing Rome’s voice and anger consumed me before fear had the chance.
I threw the blanket aside and crossed the room, looking through the peephole.
Rome leaned against the opposite wall with his head bowed.
One hand hung loosely at his side while the other lifted toward my door and missed it completely and struck the frame.
His suit jacket was wrinkled, his dress shirt was untucked on one side, and his tie hung loose around his neck.
Even through the door, I could tell he was drunk enough to barely hold himself upright.
Rome didn’t get drunk. He drank socially, always controlled, always conscious of how he looked.
I had seen him stop after one glass because he hated feeling as though anything had power over him.
The man swaying outside my apartment looked like somebody wearing Rome’s face.
My first instinct was to call the police.
My hand went for my phone, with my thumb hovering over the screen.
Then Rome’s shoulder slid down the wall, and he caught himself at the last second.
My stomach turned in knots thinking about the fact that he had driven here like that.
Somehow, in that condition, he had gotten behind the wheel and made it to my apartment.
If I sent him away and he climbed back into his car, he could kill himself or somebody else before reaching the next light.
A door farther down the hallway cracked open.
I saw my neighbor’s face appear through the peephole’s warped view.
“Shit.” I mumbled.
I unlocked the door and yanked it open. Rome’s head lifted slowly and his eyes were bloodshot and unable to settle on one point.
“There she go,” he slurred, with a lazy grin spreading across his face. “My wife.”
“You stupid son of a bitch.” I grabbed his arm before he could stumble backward. The smell of liquor hit me hard enough to make me turn my face away.
“Damn, wifey.” He dragged the word out as I pulled him across the threshold. “Why you talking to me like that?”
“Get your stupid ass inside before somebody calls the police.” I fussed.
“You called me stupid?”
“Yes!” I groaned above a whisper.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I absolutely do.”
He tripped over the edge of the rug with his weight falling against me. I shoved both hands into his chest to keep us from going down together. “Stand up!”
“I am standing.”
“You’re leaning on my whole body.”
“Same thing.” He slurred. I kicked the door shut behind him and turned the lock. Rome swayed in the middle of the living room, blinking at the candles as though he had never seen fire before. “It smell good in here.”
I ignored him. “Take your jacket off.”
“You miss me?”
“Hell No!”
He tried to remove the jacket himself, but his arm got caught halfway out of the sleeve. He turned in a slow circle, fighting the fabric while I watched in disbelief. “Oh, my God. Stop moving.”
I snatched the jacket down his arms and tossed it over the back of a chair. Rome looked down at himself. “You undressing me already?”
“Lay down before I push you down.” I warned.
He smiled crookedly. “You always liked when I…”
“Rome.” I cut him off and he finally caught my tone.
The smile faded, and for one brief second, shame showed on his face before the alcohol swallowed it again.
He dropped onto the couch, with one leg hanging off the side.
I shoved his feet onto the cushions and pulled a pillow beneath his head. “You are not staying here.”
“Whatever.”
“I’m calling somebody to come get you.”
“Mhm.”
“Do you hear me?”
His eyes were already closed. Within seconds, his mouth fell slightly open, and one arm slid toward the floor.
I stood over him, furious. The candlelight flickered across his face, softening features I had spent years memorizing.
For one dangerous moment, he looked like the Rome I used to know.
The man who came home from work and loosened his tie at the kitchen counter.
The man who once carried me from the car because my shoes had blistered my feet.
The man who had slowly turned every good memory into evidence I could no longer trust.
His phone began vibrating inside the jacket. I pulled it from the pocket and saw Ashley’s name on the screen. I stared at it until the call stopped. A second later, she called again so this time I answered.
“Hello?”
There was a brief pause. “Who is this?”
“You called his phone.”
There was another pause, but shorter this time. “Navy?”
“Your baby daddy showed up at my house so drunk he can barely stand.”
Her breathing changed and I could tell. “Why is he at your house?”
“That is the question you need to ask him when he wakes up.”
“What did you do?”
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “What did I do? Ashley, I was in my house minding my business when he started kicking my door.”
“He doesn’t even drink like that.”
“Which should tell you what kind of condition he’s in and not you telling me something you think I don’t know about my own husband.”
“Put him on the phone.” She demanded.
“He’s unconscious.”
“Then wake him up.”
“I will not.” I giggled somewhat enjoying messing with her head.
“Navy!”
“And while you’re over there worrying about what I did, you need to keep this dog on a leash.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I hope you don’t think you won something besides a headache, because this is what your prize looks like.
Drunk, laid across my couch, while you call his phone asking me questions.
” I ended the call. The phone immediately started ringing again.
I silenced it and tossed it onto the chair with his jacket.
“Both of y’all can go to hell.” I said aloud.
I called Bill next, but he didn’t answer. I tried again and still nothing. I sent a message telling him Rome was drunk at my apartment and needed to be picked up immediately. I sent the address and then I placed my phone on the counter and stood there trying to decide what to do.
I didn’t trust Rome enough to leave him alone in my living room while I slept behind a closed bedroom door.
Drunk or not, unconscious or not, too much had happened between us for me to relax with him inside my home.
I grabbed the other throw blanket from the chair and settled onto the far end of the sectional, leaving as much space between us as possible.
Rome didn’t move but his phone continued lighting up across the room, Ashley’s name kept flashing again and again before the screen went dark.
I pulled the blanket around myself and stared at him.
Annoyance kept me awake at first and then exhaustion began tugging at my eyes.
The shopping, the massage, the emotions from Tasha’s news, all of it took over me at once.
I must have dozed off because the next sound I heard was my own phone vibrating against the coffee table.
My eyes opened slowly. The apartment remained dark except for the candles, but their flames were smaller now, with pools of melted wax gathered around the wicks.
Rome was still asleep as I reached for my phone and saw Lev’s name causing my heart to drop.
I glanced at Rome before answering quietly. “Hello?”
“I need to see you,” was all he said.
His voice was low and direct, with none of the sleepiness I felt. “Right now?”
“Yes.”
I sat up, tightening the blanket around me. “It’s not really a good time.”
“Why?”
I looked toward Rome. “Well, Rome showed up drunk. I’m waiting for somebody to call me back and come get him.”
Silence.
“Lev?”
“Open the back door.”
I frowned. “What?” He hung up and I stared at the screen. Then I looked toward the small back entrance beside the kitchen. “No. No, no, no.” I rambled underneath my breath.
I slipped from beneath the blanket and crossed the apartment carefully, keeping my steps light.
The candles cast long shadows across the walls as I passed the kitchen counter.
When I opened the back door, Lev stood on the other side.
He wore all black, with his broad frame filling the narrow doorway.
The hallway light behind him traced the edges of his shoulders and left most of his face in shadow.
My eyes got wide. “What are you doing here?”