––––––––
Aleesha’s heart felt like it was beating at 1000 beats per minute. Her adrenaline was pumping throughout her whole body and she didn’t know what to do. How can he be here? she thought to herself as she silently began to panic.
“ALEESHA!”
He yelled her name so loud that the baritone of his voice vibrated against the doors and walls. She hurriedly tossed her bag of sex toys into the closet, threw on some shorts and a tank top she found lying on the floor, and ran out of the room.
Aleesha rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks. “Najair! Wait!” she yelled. She had never called Savage by his real name before but she hoped it would help lighten him up.
Savage gave her a lethal stare as he began to walk toward her. “What the fuck is this Aleesha!” he yelled.
Aleesha could see his whole body swell up as the veins in his neck and forehead began to bulge out. She had never in her life seen him this angry before and she was terrified. “Babe, it’s not what it looks like,” she said as they came face to face. She began trembling as she backed herself against the wall, staring wide-eyed up into his golden brown eyes the whole while.
“What you mean it’s not what it look like? It look like yo ex is in our bed fuckin’ yo best friend! Why the fuck is he in my house Aleesha!” Savage yelled. The way his dreads hung in his face made him appear even more frightening to Aleesha and she couldn’t say anything, but in doing so it made him even angrier.
BAM!
“Aah, Savage!” Aleesha yelped out in a fearful scream as she flinched.
“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled. He had hit the wall just a few inches from her head, making a hole.
As soon as Cali and Lala heard the hit they scrambled around the room picking up their clothes and throwing them on.
BAM!
Savage hit the wall again, making another hole as he continued to yell at her. “Why the fuck is that nigga in my house!”
“It’s not what it looks like!” Aleesha cried out. Streams of tears were pouring down her face.
“It’s not what it looks like?” he angrily questioned, repeating her.
BAM! He hit the wall again.
“Man, I fuckin’ love you! And I gotta come home to this shit!” he screamed as he grabbed her around the neck and lifted her a foot off the ground. They were now looking eye to eye. “Everybody better be out of my fuckin’ house by the time I get back, including’ YOU!”
“Ay cuh, get yo hands off of her!” Cali’s deep voice thundered as he tried to walk toward them. Lala ran out of the room to hold him back and tried pushing him away but he held his ground.
Savage released his hold from Aleesha’s neck and she fell to the floor. She began gasping for air as she cried while rubbing her neck.
“I know this nigga didn’t just say somethin’,” Savage said more to himself than anyone in particular. “What you say nigga?”
Aleesha shot to her knees and grabbed his arm just as he was turning around. “Savage, stop!” she yelled. She looked past him at Cali and Lala. “Cali, shut up. Lala, please take him out of here.”
Savage turned around and faced Cali. “Nah, Lala ain’t gotta take him nowhere. He a man just like I am and if the nigga wanna approach me let ‘em.”
“Cuh, it’s never nothin’. You already know my get down,” Cali fearlessly stated.
Savage tried walking toward him but Aleesha pulled his arm to hold him back. “Cali, shut the fuck up!” she screamed. “Lala, please,” she begged, “take him out of here.”
Lala began pushing Cali toward the front door and he reluctantly began walking away.
“Nah, that nigga think he hard. Come back so I can punch yo ass out like I did before!” Savage yelled after him.
“Savage, shut up! Just let them leave, please,” Aleesha begged.
“So now you takin up for the nigga!” he yelled as he turned around to face her.
“NO!” she yelled as she sat down on her legs, not being able to look up at him.
His head tilted and his eyebrows furrowed inwards. “What the fuck Aleesha?” he asked in a more calm voice.
“Savage, it wasn’t what it looked like,” she cried out as she stared down at the floor.
“Then what the fuck was it?” Savage yelled. He was trying to calm down but Aleesha wasn’t making it any better. All he needed was a simple answer but she just sat there crying. “Man, I ain’t got time for this shit. I swear to God, if it wasn’t for my kids bein’ in the car wit’ me I would have had my burner on me and I would have killed that nigga right where he was. And then what!” he yelled. She still didn’t answer and he felt like he was about to lose it so he calmed himself down. “Like I said, you better be out of my fuckin’ house by the time I get back,” he demanded before he turned around and stomped out the house.
Aleesha sat on the ground as she cried. She could hear Savage get into a car and the engine rev up followed by the tires peeling away. She didn’t know how she was going to explain this situation. How could I have been stupid enough to let everything get this far? she thought to herself.
Aleesha finally stopped crying and got enough strength to pick herself up. She wanted to wait around until Savage came back but she feared what would happen if she did, so she decided to go to the one other place she felt comfortable. She searched around for her keys, unplugged her cell phone from her radio in her room, grabbed her purse, put some shoes on and was out the door.
It was pitch black outside, and the only light came from the various street lights that lined the block. The air was cool and crisp and there was a slight breeze but it didn’t effect Aleesha, even though she barely had any clothes on. She got in her 2016 Audi Q5, turned on her radio and was on her way to Bloomington.
Before she could even make it out of the neighborhood, “Walked Outta Heaven” by Jagged Edge came on and Aleesha broke down crying again. She couldn’t listen to the song without thinking about Savage so she turned the radio off and tried to call him instead. She spent the whole car ride trying to reach him, but no luck. She already knew he wasn’t going to answer and she didn’t know what she would tell him even if he did, but she didn’t not want to try.
Twenty minutes later, Aleesha arrived at her friend Sensi’s place. They had met a few months back at a strip club on one of the many occasions that Aleesha, Cali and Lala hung out. Aleesha saw the living room lights on through the curtain so she knew Sensi was still awake. As soon as she knocked on the door, Sensi opened it.
“Hey mamí, what are you doing here?” Sensi asked in her thick Puerto Rican accent.
“Sensi, he’s going to leave me,” Aleesha said before she broke down crying.
Sensi grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. “Wait, who? What happened?” she asked with sincerity.
“My ... husband. He ... came ... home ... and ...” Aleesha gasped while sputtering her sentence. She couldn’t even get the rest of it out because she was crying so hard.
“It’s going to be okay Leelee, I’m sure it’s not that bad. Come on.” Sensi led Aleesha into the house. She guided her to the couch and sat down with her. “Stop crying and tell me what happened.”
“I ... can’t,” Aleesha mumbled, crying into her hands.
Sensi felt bad for Aleesha and really wanted to know what happened, but one thing she knew was that she couldn’t rush her. She knew Aleesha would tell her when the time was right. “You want something to drink?” she asked, trying to be sympathetic.
Aleesha shook her head no.
“You want to smoke?” Sensi asked. She knew if nothing else could get Aleesha out of a funk, a blunt would. “I got a halfie ready to be lit.”
Aleesha shrugged as she took her hands away from her face and put them on her legs. “Okay.”
Sensi grabbed the blunt from out the ashtray on her side table and lit it.
“Damn, that’s a ... big ass ... half a blunt,” Aleesha said, her crying beginning to decrease.
“It was an extendo,” Sensi said, winking at her.
“You so stupid ...What you ...roll up?” Aleesha asked in between sniffles.
“Goldberry Kush.”
“Oh ... okay.”
They smoked the blunt and sat there in silence until Sensi couldn’t take the quiet anymore. She hated seeing Aleesha staring off and looking as depressed as she did. Luckily her crying had stopped.
“Mamí,” Sensi said, putting the blunt out in the ashtray. She turned her full body’s attention to Aleesha. “What’s wrong?”
“I got myself into some shit and I don’t know how to get out of it,” Aleesha smugly stated as her gaze stayed affixed on the floor.
“Shit like what?” Sensi asked with concern.
“Nothing. I just make dumb ass decisions.”
“Decisions about what?”
“Things that I do while my husband is away,” Aleesha said as she finally looked up at her. “Look, I don’t feel like talking about this.”
“Okay. Well when am I going to meet him?”
“Who, my husband?” Aleesha asked with raised eyebrows.
“Yes.”
Aleesha closed her eyes as she let out an exasperated sigh before looking at Sensi again. “Why do you always ask me that?”
“I don’t see why you’re keeping me from him.”
“I’m not, it’s just no point in you meeting him.”
Sensi folded her arms across her chest and pouted. “Everyone else has.”
“So. You’re not everyone else.” Aleesha let out a long sigh. “I don’t feel like talking any more. I just want to lay down.”
“Okay,” Sensi said disappointingly as she shook her head and unfolded her arms. “Go lay in the room. I’m finishing up some work but I’ll be in there to check on you in a little.” She bent over as she reached out and grabbed a notepad and pen from off of her coffee table and began to write.
“Okay.” Aleesha got up off the couch and began to walk toward the bedroom but she stopped and turned around. “Thank you, Sensi.”
Sensi looked up at her with a smile. “You know I got you, mamí.”
Aleesha turned back around and walked to the room. Once inside, she stripped naked and crawled under the covers. She couldn’t help but to cry as she thought about her husband and the hurt she saw in his eyes, and eventually cried herself to sleep.