Chapter 2 #2
“No. I’m tired of this. You and your staff are responsible for Nayelli when she’s here.
She’s supposed to be safe, and she’s not.
My daughter doesn’t bother a soul. It’s crazy to me that she’s on the receiving end of this constant bullshit, all over a little boy that she isn’t remotely interested in.
What are y’all doing? Where are the teachers when this is going on?
Let me tell you this. If there is one more incident, I’m waiting outside the school for the parents, and somebody is getting their ass beat! ”
He sighed. “Ms. Malone, I understand your frustration. Really, I do. We’re trying our best to regulate this.”
“If this is your best, you’re doing a piss poor job. I said what I said.”
Without another word, I left the office with him trying to speak to my back. Leaving the school, I headed back to my car. As I was backing out of the parking space, I damn near crashed into an SUV pulling out of the drop-off line.
“Son of a bitch! You saw me backing out!”
They came to a screeching halt, and the door flew open. Usually, I tried to avoid confrontation, but I had time today. Unhooking my seat belt, I opened my door and got out of my car. Just as I rounded the back, the other driver got out, stopping me in my tracks.
No, . . . it couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t be.
Staring at me was the man I’d fallen head over heels with in my college years, .
. . Kerrion Dillinger. He still looked the same.
Those same handsome features that attracted me to him all those years ago were still present.
He stood at six feet, two inches. His caramel-colored skin was blemish free aside from the multitude of tattoos covering it.
Those broad shoulders and muscular arms used to hold me so tightly while I stared into those familiar brown eyes. They were the same eyes staring back at me as if he’d seen a ghost. I remembered the first day I met him.
It was freshman orientation.
I nervously looked around the auditorium at the multitude of faces of fresh eighteen-year-olds.
The room was buzzing with excitement. This was most of our first time away from our parents for an extended period.
We didn’t know anybody, and college was about to be a whole new experience. A whole new life.
“You just gonna stand here blocking the walkway?” a deep voice asked me.
That was when I turned around and came face-to-face with the most handsome guy I’d ever seen. He smelled wonderful, and his smile was beautiful. At eighteen, he carried himself with the maturity of someone several years his senior.
“Sorry,” I said, stepping aside.
“You lost or you belong here?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t belong here.”
He chuckled. “Okay, smarty pants. You taking a seat or what?”
I didn’t answer him, just claimed an empty seat in the row I was next to. Much to my surprise, he took the seat next to me. I looked over at him with a frown.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“I can’t sit next to you?”
“Why is everything out of your mouth a question?”
“Why do you have so much attitude?”
“I don’t have an attitude at all.”
“Could have fooled me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just sit there and don’t say anything to me.”
He chuckled but kept quiet. That was until the program started. Every so often, he would lean over and whisper a comment about something. It was hard to keep a straight face because it was usually something funny. By the time the program was over, I was laughing right along with him.
We stayed back as people filed out of the auditorium, not wanting to get lost in the swarm. He slouched down in his seat and peered over at me.
“I can’t sit next to you again,” he said, grinning. “You will get me in some shit.”
I scoffed. “How? You were the one cracking joke after joke.”
“Yeah, but you have that loud ass laugh. You almost got us put out. You saw the way that lady looked back at us. Reminded me of my mama. I almost had a flashback of my childhood.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
He smiled as he extended his hand to me. “Kerrion Dillinger.”
I returned the smile as I slipped my palm into his hand. “Neha Malone.”
That was the start of it all. For a whole year, he was mine.
That day was the birth of a love I never knew existed.
He walked me to the café where we had lunch together.
We explored campus and hung out in the quad, watching our peers.
By the time I made it back to my dorm, I was smitten.
He walked me to and from class when our schedules permitted.
We attended campus events together, . . . everything.
When he asked me to be his, I never considered saying no.
We were young, and college was a new experience, but I knew I loved him.
I knew he loved me because he showed it in every way.
Then came his anger. I saw a side of him that I didn’t know was possible.
The sweet, loving, and caring guy I’d gotten to know had a dark side to him.
While it was never directed at me, it terrified me.
I’d seen him get into fights with people in the club for looking at me wrong.
If someone touched me inappropriately, he flew completely off the handle.
I’d never seen someone do so much damage with their hands alone.
He told me his nickname was “Steel” like fists of steel or stealing off on someone who upset you.
I took it as he was a fighter, but it wasn’t until I saw him in action that I fully understood.
The last fight I saw him in shook me to my core.
There was so much blood, . . . so much disarray and destruction around.
My eyes were wide with horror watching him beat a guy to a pulp.
He knocked out seven of his teeth, dislocated his jaw, and fractured the left side of his face.
In my mind, all I could think about was what he would do to me if I really pissed him off.
For weeks, I tried to avoid him, but I couldn’t.
We ran in the same circles around campus.
He was still waiting to walk me to and from class.
There was no escaping him, . . . that was until I transferred to a school back home without so much as a goodbye.
Staring at him now reminded me of the anger I knew dwelled inside of him. He had so many reasons to be angry with me, . . . so many reasons.
“Neha?” he said, barely above a whisper.
Upon hearing my name, I jumped back into my car and locked the doors. Putting the car in reverse, I backed out and sped around him. I half expected him to follow me, but he just stood there, looking after my car. Panic filled me.
I knew I would run into him eventually. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.