Chapter 7 Bolt
If you had told me last year that I would fall in love with my best friend’s sister, I would have told you to shut the hell up.
I hadn’t seen P’Nee since she was thirteen years old.
She was literally out of sight, out of mind.
The second that I saw her in that principal’s office, it was like I had to see what was up with her. My heart thanked me for what I did.
It had been a little rough since that shit popped off with Anna.
I remembered the day she was called into that meeting with the board at her school.
She called me afterward, from her office, in hysterics.
I had no idea what happened, but what I did know was that I was on my way to the school with a switch just in case I needed to light some shit up.
I was far from a thug nigga, but I was a real man who protected his queen.
It would be foolish for a person to provoke me to come off my leash.
That would be the equivalent to submitting a life insurance claim.
When I got to the school, my heart broke for my woman.
I might have shed a few tears with her. Nee loved what she did for two reasons: It was her passion, and it kept her connected to her mother.
Her passion for education came from her mother.
I loved when we were at her house and she pulled out her scrapbooks.
The pure joy that beamed from her when she talked about her mother lit up rooms.
For the two months that she was on her administrative leave, I was stuck to her like super glue. The first few days, I could tell that she was about to sink into a depression. From that point, I was on her ass in whatever way needed, to help her feel better.
It was crazy that Anna’s ass popped up here on some kumbaya shit.
That bitch caused a bunch of chaos but wanted to be forgiven so easily.
If I banned you from my restaurants, why would you think it was alright to come to a cookout damn near sponsored by my restaurant.
I couldn’t even say that her elevator didn’t go all the way up to the top floor.
You had to have an elevator for it to go anywhere.
Everyone knew that my grandma didn’t give a damn about what she said or where she said it.
If you talked shit about it, she would let you know about the life she lived that afforded her the right to say whatever she wanted.
When she went in on Anna, everyone fell out laughing.
Grandma told that girl that she hoped she got everything she needed and it still not be enough. What kind of thing was that to say?
Oh, and by the end of her rant, she told me that I owed her eight hundred dollars for her whore usage.
I waved her off, but it was hard to wave off the Cash App request she sent me.
I didn’t know Catherine Deers had a Cash App account.
I also didn’t like that her fucking cash tag was CougarDeers69. The hell was my grandma on?
“Yo, what’s up with her?” Joshua asked after Nee jumped up from the table.
I didn’t have a solid answer to his question. “I’m not sure. She’s been acting weird ever since Pop Jordan and Jacob got here. I asked her, but she said that she didn’t want to . . . Oh shit!”
We all jumped up from our seats to run to P’Nee, with me leading the way.
Her ass was tearing Jacob’s ass up. She was yelling shit, but I was focused on pulling her up off him before he swung back.
“You muthafuckin’ pedophile. I fuckin’ hate you!
” she yelled as she punched him in his face.
Her kick to his dick made all the men cringe.
“Nee! Nee! What the fuck?” I pulled her off him and put her in a bear hug. My mouth went to her ear. “Calm down, baby. Calm down.”
Her breathing was erratic. Some other men helped Jacob who was popping shit about her being crazy. P’Nee’s head snapped around frantically. She was looking for someone or something. “Christy!” I let her go when she pulled from me, but I was on her ass in case she decided to attack again.
The girl that she rushed toward had tears streaking her face. P’Nee’s arms engulfed her. “Are you okay? Did he touch you, Christy?” What the fuck does she mean did he touch her?
Christy cried into P’Nee’s chest. “No, not today.”
My head bucked back a little. Not today? I slowly approached. “Hey, Christy. What do you mean by not today? How does he touch you?”
Her eyes fell on me for a beat before she glanced up at P’Nee. With a soft half smile, P’Nee said, “It’s alright, Christy. He did it to me when I was thirteen. You can tell us.”
My mind was all over the place. This was a lot of information to grasp, and I hadn’t gotten any significant information yet.
Tears continued to fall from Christy’s eyes as her words came out like word vomit.
I stood frozen as this little girl told us that Jacob messed with her mother.
On the nights that he spent the night at their house, he came into her room and violated her.
“Wow, I guess he’s graduated to all out rape. I hope he dies. Sick bastard,” P’Nee quipped.
I took a step closer. “He did that shit to you too? That’s why you stopped visiting, Nee?”
She gave me a simple head nod. My eyes scanned the yard.
Jacob was now toward the front of the yard sitting in a seat with what looked like a towel on his lip.
Pop Jordan sat next to him, and Joshua stood close by.
Joshua’s eyes continued to cut between me and his uncle.
He was confused. but now that I wasn’t, it was time for me to get off the leash.
I felt my feet move in their direction. When I got closer, I caught Jacob’s attention. “Yo, Bolt! What the fuck is wrong with your bit—”
My fist interrupted his sentence. I showed no mercy as I dented his face. “Nigga, you got my girl and Christy fucked up!”
I heard my mama and grandma screaming. I felt hands on me, trying to pull me off Jacob’s bitch ass.
This nigga was out here doing the unthinkable to females but going to call my woman crazy.
I wasn’t sure how long it was before Joshua, Pop Jordan, and two other niggas pulled me off him.
There was no need to calm Jacob down because his ass was snoozing on the grass.
“Bolt, calm your ass down! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Pop Jordan asked after he pushed me hard in my chest. His jaw was tight.
When I pushed his ass back, he stumbled a little bit.
“Nigga, ask what’s wrong with that bitch!
” Like a train, a thought entered my mind.
I remembered how weird he was in the kitchen when they just arrived and Nee didn’t want to be near Jacob’s pedophile ass.
“Wait, you knew that nigga touched your daughter?”
Joshua’s face contorted. “What the fuck you on, bro? Pops, what the fuck is going on?”
Pop Jordan stood there in a daze. That was all the answers I needed, but I still wanted him to verbally answer the damn question. He snapped out of his frozen state after Joshua restated his question. “Nah, nah! I don’t know what the fuck is going on.”
A sharp, cold laugh sounded from behind me before P’Nee stepped forward.
“Jordan, you don’t know what the fuck is going on?
Are you sure about that, or is this just a dream?
That’s what you asked me when I told you that your brother came into my room and violated me.
You wanted me to make sure that I wasn’t having a bad dream when that man put his fingers inside of me against my will. ”
“What the fuck!” Joshua’s tone was hard, and his voice was loud. “Pops, did she tell you that shit?” His gaze landed on his sister. “Is that why you stopped coming here during the summers?”
When P’Nee nodded, Joshua started pacing. That was never a good sign. “Nah, there ain’t no way a nigga touched my baby sister and he’s still out here breathing freshly polluted air. That can’t be what this is.”
Jacob started to groan on the ground in pain, and he rolled. I started to go over to put him back to sleep, but there was no need. Joshua walked over and smoothly kicked him in his face. A foot to the face was one of the greatest sleeping pills.
“Now it makes sense.” My grandma’s voice broke through.
She stood next to P’Nee with her arm wrapped around her.
“Nobody understood why Margie flipped the hell out all those years ago and lit you and that boy over there asses up. Now it makes sense. You were over there trying to protect your nasty ass brother, Jordan. Shit, Margie better than me because I woulda put that lead in ya head.”
Pop Jordan looked guilty as fuck. By this time, the DJ had stopped deejaying.
All the attention was on us. He kept looking around like there was a way out of this shit.
There was no way out. “It only happened once. I talked to him, and he swore he was drunk. He said that he would never do it again.”
What the hell? Did he really say that ignorant shit? Before I could confirm in my own mind that he did in fact say it, I was pushed out of the way. In the blink of an eye, Joshua and his father were in a hardcore fist fight.
Someone moved in to break them up. “Don’t fuckin’ touch them. Let them niggas fight that shit out. Better fists than bullets.”
Pop Jordan deserved this beat down that Joshua was giving him.
For years, Joshua asked his dad what was up with P’Nee not coming for the summer anymore.
Pop Jordan lied every time. When Margie shot him and his brother, he lied once again.
Yeah, my bro deserved to be the one to deliver this beat down.
I moved to P’Nee who was still wrapped in my grandma’s arms. When I got close, she passed her to me. The second that my baby was in my arms, she broke down. I repeatedly kissed her temple. “Tell me what you want me to do. Just tell me what you need, baby, and I’ll do it.”
She sniffed a few times before she lifted her head to gaze into my eyes. “I want to go home. Can you take me home?”