5. Big Bad Mess #4
All the air in my lungs huffed out and before I could catch my breath, Rose was on me screaming.
I tried to grab her hands but she was straddling me as I screamed.
She started pulling my hair. I started to throw punches back amidst the blocks.
It was something I would laugh at many years later but in the moment, I felt like I was fighting for my life.
“MARK! MARK DO SOMETHING!” I screamed.
I hadn’t seen that Mark had run inside to grab his gun. Rose kept tearing into me, landing punches in my chest but still failing to hit my face. I began kicking her legs and trying to push her off me but she was surprisingly strong for her frame. I knew Mark came back when I heard a gunshot.
POW!
The sound of the gun startled me and for a moment I worried that he’d shot her. But he hadn’t. Mark fired his gun in the air and Rose stopped punching me. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her pupils dilated from the adrenaline rushing through her veins.
“GET OUT OF HERE,” Mark roared.
Rose got up off my chest and I tried to sit up. I was covered in scratches all over my arm. My hair was messed up and I had a bleeding cut on my chest from where her nails dug into me. Rose stood in the backyard, looking at Mark with anger.
She said nothing and turned around, hightailing it down the street at top speed.
By now, there were plenty of nosy neighbors hanging on the street.
At this point, they didn’t mind if they were seen.
They couldn’t miss a scene this good. Mark turned the safety on his gun and dropped it to the ground.
He rushed towards me and picked me up. I clung to him, thinking that I really could walk on my own, but allowing him to pull me close. If his kids were up, he must have warned them to stay inside. I couldn’t imagine them sleeping through the ruckus.
My body hurt. I lay my full weight into Mark’s arms and he carried me easily into the house.
Mark sat me down on the couch and ran into his bathroom to get his first aid kit.
I wondered if we should call the police but I didn’t bother ask, assuming Mark knew how to handle his business.
He returned with cotton balls, hydrogen peroxide and a host of other sundries to help handle my wounds.
“If you need to go to the hospital I’m gonna lose my fuckin’ mind,” Mark grunted.
“I’m okay,” I nodded.
Mark shook his head, “Nothing about this bullshit is okay. You were attacked.”
“Ow!” I yelled.
Mark wiped the cotton ball across the cuts on my chest.
“Sorry babe,” He mumbled.
“It really stings.”
“We need to get the wound clean,” He said.
I’d never seen Mark really go into “doctor mode” but he looked sexy doing it.
He cleaned and dressed my wounds and found that none of them were deep enough to require hospitalization or stitches.
When I was all bandaged up, I felt like I’d just caught my breath from the fight.
I sat up and tried to reassure Mark that I was fine.
“What about the kids? Where are they?”
Mark shook his head, “They’re used to their mother’s tirades. I told them to stay upstairs.”
“Then you’d better check on them. I should leave soon.”
“Are you sure?” Mark asked.
I nodded.
“I’ve caused enough trouble for you.”
I started to stand up but Mark lunged for my hand. I flinched, still carrying residual anxiety from the earlier events.
“You haven’t caused any trouble,” Mark assured me, giving my hand a squeeze, “If anything, I’ve brought trouble to you. You don’t have to leave.”
“I do have to leave,” I asserted.
Mark helped me to my feet, “And then what?”
I shrugged, “Rose has your kids Mark. I think the answer is clear.”
“I don’t want us to end things again.”
I understood what he meant perfectly. I had no desire to end things either. But it wasn’t just our safety at stake. Rose was still the mother of his children and she was making it quite clear there wasn’t room for two people in Mark’s life.
“I don’t want to end things either,” I assured him, “But we need to do something.”
Mark sighed, “We’ll cool off for a while then. And then maybe we can start dating when everything’s settled down.”
“Dating?”
Mark nodded, “Yes. Dating. Proper dating. Nobody else.”
“Wow,” I mumbled.
I had no clue what to say. This was the last place I expected to be with Mark.
But here I was. The worst part was even after we’d come that far, we still had to be in this situation thanks to Rose.
Just when we wanted our relationship to have a clear monogamous definition, demons from Mark’s past came between us.
I was just thankful there were no demons from my own past.
I left Mark’s and arrived home, paranoid that I’d been followed.
It was all in my head. I gave my weekly phone call to Anna-Mae and then spoke to my younger sisters.
I spared them the details of the day that had passed.
Nothing could bring the hood out of Anna-Mae like hearing I’d been trifled with.
So I made small talk and let the evening pass me by, wondering if I’d ever really get a chance to be with Mark, the father of my child.