Married to a Balla (11 page)

Not taking his threats lightly, Asia reached for her purse on his desk then quickly pulled her 9mm out. “What did you just say?” she questioned.

“I said I’m going to kill your ass,” Keon replied. He was obviously not affected by the sight of the gun.

“Not if I kill your ass first,” Asia said before pulling the trigger.

Noticing a small hole in his forehead, Asia watched his body jerk and the blood run out the side of his mouth. Seconds later, he stopped moving all together. Grabbing her towel from the night before, Asia franticly tried to wipe down everything she’d touched. Realizing her fingerprints were probably on everything in the condo, she quickly put back on her clothes then grabbed all her belongings before making a swift exit out of the door.

Walking nervously to her car, Asia constantly looked around to see if anyone was watching her before jumping inside and pulling off. Glancing around the parking lot one last time, when she finally made it to the street, Asia hit the accelerator and headed to her job with plans to get all the money and get the hell out of dodge. She always wanted to visit the windy city.

“Chicago, here I come!”

Chapter 12

A week passed since Skye had arrived at the shelter, and she still hadn’t been able to reach Asia. Completely surprised that she’d changed her number, Skye then tried to reach Asia at her job, but was shocked to find out that she’d quit.

“Where the hell could that bitch be with my money? If I wasn’t so scared to go back to Florida, I would go looking for her ass,” Skye said to herself.

Her body began to shiver and her temper rose at the thought of Asia double crossing her. It was beyond foul and something Skye thought Asia would never do. “How the fuck am I gonna make it with three kids and no money?” Skye carried on. “I’m ready to get the hell out this shelter.”

Shaking her head in disbelief, Skye looked at the clock on the dusty nightstand and realized that it was time for her counseling session with Justice. As an occupant in the shelter the only requirement that had to be met was meeting with him twice a week. However, in the few days she’d been there Skye also started exercising daily. Anything was better than sitting around thinking about Asia all day. She still stayed to herself and didn’t mingle with the other ladies in the house. The last thing she needed right now was another shiesty bitch coming into her life. Besides, it was obvious that the other women didn’t care too much for her. They’d made that known from the constant evil stares they gave her whenever Skye walked into a room. Luckily she didn’t care. As long as her sons were fitting in and nobody fucked with them everything was cool.

The only person Skye seemed to have a connection with was Justice. Unlike Sandino, Skye liked the fact that he was easy to talk to, and an even better listener. He’d also had a session with the boys, which seemed to help with Jordan, but Kareem had yet to open up. Although he was finally getting along with Joey and Manny, Kareem hadn’t shown any signs of trusting another man.

Skye grabbed Payton and headed toward Justice’s office for
her session.
However, before she could bend the corner, she noticed the big girl peeking out her room.

“Can you come here for a second? I need to talk to you real quick,” the girl said.

Skye stopped and looked around, wondering if the girl was talking to her.

“I need to warn you about that bitch,” the girl said waving her hand so Skye could come to her room.

Skye was hesitant about talking to her and damn sure wasn’t going inside her room, especially since the big girl hadn’t said two words to Skye since she’d arrived.

“I’m not gonna bite,” the girl replied.

Skye walked in the direction of her room to see what she wanted. She stood at the door noticing all her belongings packed up and ready to go.

“What’s your name again?” the girl asked.

“Janelle.”

“Right…okay Janelle well I’m Toya.”

They briefly shook hands.

“Listen honey, I been watching you, and you look like you smart, but I have to warn you about that bitch Mercedes. She’s not to be trusted. She’s missing a few screws inside that head of hers if you know what I mean. She’s jealous of every woman who comes into the shelter that looks better than her. She needs to be in a crazy house not working here. Just watch your back when it comes to her ass!”

A few seconds later, Mercedes came walking past them and instead of speaking, she rolled her eyes instead.

“See what I mean,” Toya replied.

“Yeah…thanks,” Skye said before walking away.

She’d actually noticed how strange Mercedes had been acting lately, which made Skye wonder if it really did have something to do with the comfortable relationship between her and Justice. She got the impression that Mercedes might’ve had a thing for him, but didn’t feel comfortable enough getting into either of their business. Little did Mercedes know, Skye couldn’t allow herself to get involved with another man right now. She just really enjoyed his company nonetheless. In the meantime Mercedes would just have to accept the newfound friendship

Minutes later, Skye knocked on the door to Justice’s office.

“Come in!” he yelled.

When Skye turned the knob and walked inside, Justice was sitting behind the desk looking fine as ever.

“Hey Janelle, how are you? Are you feeling better since we met the other day?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling a little better.”

He looked at Payton as she turned to him and smiled at the sound of his voice. “So, have you thought about what we discussed?”
“Yes, I did some thinking and I’m ready to open up and discuss the abuse.”

“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear. You can start whenever you’re ready.”

Skye took a deep breath. “My husband who I would rather not disclose his name has been abusing me for years. I put up with it and made excuses because I didn’t want to give up the lifestyle my kids and I were accustomed to. I also didn’t want to break up my family. But after the beatings got out of hand, I did attempt to leave on a few occasions, but always went back after he promised to get help and do better.”

“That’s what most men say,” Justice informed.

“After he hit me even though we had a house full of people this last time, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to leave; I didn’t want my boy’s growing up thinking it was okay to beat women. I’ve already seen abusive behavior in my son Kareem.” Skye was still too embarrassed to talk about the rape. “It’s amazing what can happen when you give a man control over your life.”

“It was good that you got out Janelle,” Justice replied in a soft tone.

“I should’ve left a long time ago.”

“Did you ever try and call the police after one of the incidents?”

“Are you crazy? He would’ve killed me for sure if I’d done that.” Skye looked down then ran her hand through Payton’s soft, curly hair. “Things got ten times worse when I got pregnant with my daughter. He didn’t want me to have her.”

“Did he beat you while you were pregnant?”

Suddenly a tear raced down Skye’s cheek. “For the first three months. He was so pissed off that I decided to keep the baby,” she said after wiping her face. “Can you believe he even insisted on naming her when she was born? How crazy is that?”

Justice looked at Skye. “Janelle I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to open up more, just know that you can trust me.” When Skye nodded her head, Justice gave her a sincere look. “Can I ask you a really personal question?”

“I guess.”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-four…why?” Skye inquired.

“Because you don’t look a day over twenty-five.” Justice also wanted to tell Skye how beautiful she was, but decided against it.

“Thanks.” It was hard for Skye to accept the compliment since she’d managed to let Sandino lower her self esteem.

“Janelle, you’re safe here. It’s time for you to start over and look out for yourself. You’re a great mother. Most women aren’t strong enough to leave, but you put your kids first and that says a lot about you.”

“I can’t thank you enough for all your help, Justice. I’m so glad to be free and have control of my own life.”

Skye felt the tears building up once again. Soon they were flowing down her face. At that moment, Justice went against the rules by walking over to Skye and giving her a hug. He couldn’t deny her beauty or his attraction to her as she cried on his shoulder. Both of them were so embraced in the hug, they didn’t notice Mercedes standing in the door way.

“What the hell are you doing, Justice?” Mercedes questioned with a cigarette in her hand.

Justice looked up. “What have I told you about smoking inside the house? There’s a designated area outside for that.”

Mercedes took a short puff. “The hell with that, I’ve been having a stressful day. But don’t try and change the subject. What are you doing?”

“This is none of your concern, Mercedes. Mind your business and close the door behind you,” Justice responded.

“What do you mean it’s none of my concern? That shit is against the rules. Are you willing to jeopardize all that we’ve built here for her?” Mercedes replied.

Skye wiped her tears away as Justice walked toward the door. “
We’ve
built? Are you serious? Go put that damn cigarette out,” he said, before closing the door. After walking back to his desk and sitting down, Justice continued. “Sorry about that Janelle. Mercedes can be so unprofessional at times. Anyway, our Domestic Violence Program will help you move, find a place to live, a job and get on your feet.”

Skye looked at Justice knowing he was right; she had to get a job and support her family. She couldn’t stay at the shelter forever, especially since she couldn’t keep Kareem and Jordan out of school much longer.

Once their session was over Skye went back to her room and put Payton to sleep. Afterwards she laid across the bed thinking about the hug she shared with Justice. She couldn’t seem to get it out of her mind, his arms felt so good, so safe…so right.

Instantly, her vision on their embrace was quickly erased when her sons came running in the room telling her to come look at the T.V. Skye had no idea why they were so emotional and pulling her down the hall in such a hurry.

When they reached the family room and saw Sandino’s picture posted next to the Channel 5 news anchor, her eyes widened.

“Sandino Washington, a Defensive Tackle for the Miami Dolphins was arrested last night on a gun possession and aggravated assault charges after a shooting that occurred in a South Beach night club, and has resulted in one injury. Stay tuned for more details.”

As soon as the news went off, Skye and the boys realized that they couldn’t react or show any emotions while other people were around. They listened as one of the women made a comment about how she couldn’t understand why pro ball players and celebrities made all the money and still got arrested for doing stupid shit.

Moments later, Skye, Kareem and Jordan headed outside and walked toward the front yard. In complete shock, the boys stood speechless.

“Can’t we go home now?’ Kareem asked.

“No, we can never go back home Kareem,” Skye answered.

Kareem shrugged his shoulders. “Why not, he’s locked up and can’t hit you anymore.”

“Because he might post bail and get right back out. I can’t take that chance.”

Clearly upset, Kareem stormed back inside. Jordan on the other hand could care less.

“I never want to see him again anyway. I hope they throw away the key,” Jordan said. He kissed his mother on the cheek before walking back inside as well.

Skye knew Sandino’s high price lawyer would probably get him off, but she couldn’t help but smirk when thoughts of him being behind bars invaded her thoughts.
Maybe this is a sign that things might just go my way after all.

As Skye continued to walk around outside, little did she know Mercedes had entered her room without permission. Mercedes puffed on her cigarette as she walked over to Payton asleep on the bed and stood over her. She brushed her hands threw Payton’s hair.

“What a cute baby. Too bad she belongs to that bitch,” Mercedes said, blowing smoke. She removed the blanket. “Wonder how upset that bitch would be if I...”

Looking back to see if anyone was coming, Mercedes tapped the cigarette causing hot ashes to fall on Payton’s bare leg. Before she could start wailing, Mercedes quickly covered her mouth.

“Ssshhhh be quiet. It couldn’t have hurt that bad.”

No sooner than Mercedes removed her hand, Skye walked back into the room. When she saw Mercedes leaning over her baby with the cigarette, she went crazy.

“Why the hell are you in my room?” Skye asked. When she noticed ashes on Payton’s leg, she was infuriated. “Did you pluck fucking ashes on my baby? Bitch, are you crazy? Did you try to burn her?” She quickly picked Payton up.

“Ain’t nobody touch your precious baby. The ashes must’ve fallen by accident. She was crying, so I came to help your ass out. Who leaves a baby unattended?” Mercedes turned around and walked toward the door.

After laying Payton back down on the bed, Skye walked up behind Mercedes and pushed her on the floor. “Don’t you ever put your fucking hands on any of my kids!”

“Bitch, you’re gonna regret putting your damn hands on me,” Mercedes said jumping up. She dove on Skye and they locked onto one another like two pit bulls.

Mercedes swung hitting Skye in the face several times. Skye then jumped on top of her and put her in the choke hold. With visions of Sandino beating her all over again, she completely lost it. She started choking Mercedes until Justice ran into the room.

“What the hell is going on, break it up ladies!” he demanded.

He attempted to pull them apart, but Skye grabbed a chunk of Mercedes hair and tried to rip her scalp out.

“Tell this bitch to let go of my hair Justice!” Mercedes pleaded.

“Janelle please, there’s a no fighting policy at the shelter,” Justice responded.