Chapter 26 #3
East peered at Joi. The scowl on his face was deep and his body was tense. The killer in him was taking over. “Nah…” he began, shaking his head before he dropped his eyes from hers and filled his pocket with his phones. “I don’t need you pulling up with me. I’m good. Just stay here.”
“No.” Joi’s voice elevated a few octaves, which had East peering at her again.
“You might not need me, but I need you, and right now, I can feel your energy. It’s dark.
I may not know everything about you, but I know you love your mother and your sister and anyone that upsets them upsets you. I need you, so I’m going.”
The stare down the two shared was intense. It was as if the tension in the room could easily suffocate them both but eventually East broke and chuckled arrogantly under his breath.
“Aight, get dressed and hurry up. I’ll be downstairs.
” He left Joi in his room, needing a minute to process his thoughts.
Joi was standing by him without having a clue what she was about to walk into.
That had his mind reeling. No one else had stood for or by him but mostly because he hadn’t allowed them to get close enough to do so.
Joi was a lot for him to take sometimes.
So much so that he often found himself on the fence about what he was doing, but one thing was for certain.
Each time he considered the idea of not doing whatever it was they had, he quickly voided the idea.
Pulling into his mother’s driveway only made matters worse for East. Her front door was wide open and the car he knew belonged to Melton was parked with the trunk and rear doors opened.
When East climbed out of his truck, Joi followed and neither said a word.
She was on his heels as he entered his mother’s house and stumbled back when her body slammed into East’s because he stopped when a stocky man with a balding head and scowl on his face collided with East. The trash bag full of clothes he had been carrying crashed to the floor just before East grabbed him by the oversized T-shirt he wore. “What the fuck did you do to her?”
“Nothing, man. I didn’t do a damn thing. I’ve been here all these years trying to make it work but she’s crazy and I can’t take it anymore. You know it just as much as I do. Can you blame me?”
Joi’s hands flew over her mouth at the same time the man covered his jaw, caressing the spot where East’s fist landed. She also noticed that despite his stocky stature and balding head, he was an attractive man. However, the fear in his eyes took away from his features.
“You already called my mother a bitch and now you’re calling her crazy. Unless you want your mama planning a funeral, you better shut the fuck up and start explaining. Where is she?”
Throwing his hands up defensively, Melton began rambling.
He didn’t know much about East other than he loved his mother.
The few run-ins the two men had made it clear to Melton that he didn’t want problems with East, ever.
“Ay, I’m sorry. I apologize for saying that shit, but we been going through it.
” East didn’t give a fuck what he called himself going through.
What he wasn’t about to do was disrespect his mother.
“Eastland, let him go.” Joi turned her head to find a female face with traces of East on it. They had similarities but Joi assumed East’s features were handed down by his father.
“Nah, fuck that, Ma. Not until I know what this muthafucker did. Where’s Kelsey? She good?” East didn’t bother looking at his mother. He kept his eyes on Melton, glaring while daring him to give East a reason to end his existence.
“She’s asleep and he didn’t do anything. It was me, just let him go, please, baby.”
Maintaining the hold he had on Melton, East finally looked over at his mother. He saw the stress in her face but physically she looked okay.
“Go with her and check on Kelsey.” Joi nodded and didn’t question his request, but his mother did.
“She’s fine. I’m more concerned about the two of you.” Priscilla knew her son and what he was capable of. She didn’t want harm to come to Melton. He hadn’t done anything to deserve her son’s wrath.
“Ma, go. I’m not gon’ do shit to him but make sure he’s out. He might not have put his hands on you, but he said some disrespectful shit. For that, he has to go.”
“Eastland—”
“Ma!” Taking a minute to calm his tone, East turned and delivered his final words. “Go check on Kelsey.”
Joi watched his mother while she watched her son before giving up and leaving the room. Joi followed her, leaving space. She was in unfamiliar territory and didn’t want to overstep. She had no idea what was going on and only wanted to help however she could.
After climbing the stairs and a short walk down the hall, they both stopped outside of a room and Joi waited while East’s mother opened the door, stepping inside.
Joi was right behind her with eyes that danced about the large room.
It was dark, but the pale pink glow of a lamp shade next to the bed allowed Joi enough of a visual to clearly tell it was a little girl’s room.
There were toys and frilly touches everywhere, from the curtains that covered the window to the bedding that hid the small body whose head was the only thing visible in the full-sized bed.
“I’m not crazy.” His mother spoke with her eyes glued to her baby girl. “I don’t know what he’s told you about me but I’m not crazy.”
“Nothing. He hasn’t said anything about you, well… not like what you’re thinking,” Joi reassured her quickly, feeling the need to give her some sort of comfort.
Priscilla chuckled lightly, shaking her head. “He didn’t tell me anything about you. You’re here so that means you’re somebody. I just don’t know about you.”
Joi felt her chest tighten. He had never so much as offered the option for her to meet his mother or sister. Maybe things weren’t as good as she assumed. “We’re just friends.”
Priscilla smiled softly and this time she actually took Joi in.
She was pretty, but she expected that. “You’re more than friends, sweetheart.
You’re here at my house and in my daughter’s room.
East is not the type to expose people to the darkest parts of his life.
I’m that darkness and he brought you here.
You’re important to him. Don’t confuse his actions or lack of words to mean you’re not. ”
Joi blushed, unable to find comfort in what she was hearing. “I’m not, I mean I know he cares.”
Again, his mother chuckled. “And apparently, so do you. I can see it all over you. I lost that a long time ago. That ability to love, to truly feel happy,. She shook her head, shutting her eyes briefly. “Stay with my son and you will never experience that void. Despite what he comes from, he’s a good man. He will never take you through the things I’ve been through.
” She laughed sarcastically, shaking her head again.
“I can’t even love my kids the way I need to because I can’t love myself. He broke me and I let him.”
“I’m sorry I don’t understand.” Joi was lost; she had no idea what to say.
Priscilla looked Joi right in her eyes, having no idea why she was about to bare her soul to a complete stranger.
It didn’t make sense, but she had to say the things she had never admitted to anyone ever.
Not even to herself. After years of talking about her past, not even the people who counseled and medicated her had heard her admit what she was about to admit to Joi.
She had confided in them about the abuse but never how her son was conceived.
“Do you know how hard it is to love the best part of you and hate it at the same time?”
Joi stared blankly but didn’t speak, so Priscilla continued.
“Eastland’s father raped me. I was nineteen years old, and when I found out I was pregnant, I told my parents and begged them to let me get an abortion.
They refused. My father is a minister and my mother chooses not to have a voice.
They made me marry him. Our families knew each other and they all made excuses for him and made me marry him.
” Sucking in a deep breath, she shut her eyes.
When she opened them again, tears escaped.
“I’m damaged because I married the man who raped me.
For thirteen years I relived that experience until I finally lost it.
East had to witness his mother lose her mind and shut down and he’s seen it multiple times since then.
To this day, East doesn’t know why. He’s just there to do what he needs to do.
I can’t tell him why. I can’t tell him that the reason is because his father was a monster.
My son was born in darkness and that’s my fault.
Not only did he rape me, but I married him. ”
“What the fuck did you just say?”
The deep, angry voice echoing from the hallway caused Joi and Priscilla’s heads to snap quickly in that direction.
East stood in the doorway, fists clenched and eyes dark, waiting for confirmation that he was wrong about what he heard.
But the second his mother dropped her head, he knew and all he could do was turn and walk away.