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“Oh no she’s not staying at her place tonight. I’ll go get her myself and bring her back here,” Jarrod said as his father informed him that Marvel was back in town. “That man won't lay a finger on her as long as I’m still living.”
“Calm down, Son. Toya has already called the police and she lives in a secure community.”
“I know all that, Dad. But I also know how terrified she has been these last few months. That man stole her peace of mind. She’s just now starting to come back to herself, and there is no way I’m going to just sit back and watch her fall apart again.” Jarrod took his keys off the counter and headed for the backyard. Princess had gotten so big that Yvonne wouldn’t allow her in the house. “Thanks for inviting me to dinner, but I’ve got to go.”
Yvonne and Thomas looked at each other, their eyes communicating something that the two of them now understood clearly. Thomas walked out the front door and waited while Jarrod put the dog in the back seat of the car. The dogs head was touching the roof of the car. “You’re going to need something bigger to transport Princess in.”
“Yeah, I know. Her growth exploded in the last month.” Jarrod got behind the wheel of the car.
Thomas stepped back, but before his son pulled off, he said, “You really love her, don’t you?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Jarrod shook his head in frustration. No matter how old they got, their parents still saw them as teenagers and wouldn’t understand that the mistakes of the past had nothing to do with what was going on now.
“I get it, Son. I get it. Just remember, these Milner women might be stubborn, but they have good hearts. Don’t let her get away this time.”
Backing out of the driveway, Jarrod said, “I won’t. And I won’t let Marvel get to her either as God is my witness.”
“We’ll be praying for you.” Thomas went back in the house and he and Yvonne touched and agreed on the safety of both their children as they prayed.
~~~
Marvel pulled up to the guard shack with a Pizza Hut hat on and the pizza warmer bag in the back seat. When the guard greeted him, Marvel rolled down his window and said, “I have a pizza delivery for 1922 Ferguson Street.”
“Wrong block. There’s no Ferguson in this community.” He shewed him away with the back of his hand. “Back up and turn around.”
“Yo-Yo, my man. I think I just got the street name wrong. My boss told me that the pizza has to be delivered to Moss Creek, this is the Moss, right?”
“Yeah, this is the Moss, but our residents call down to inform me whenever they order out. And I don’t have Pizza Hut on my call list.”
“Let me check my delivery list.” Marvel looked around in the front seat, then jabbed his forehead with his index finger. “I can’t believe I did that. I put the delivery list in my trunk.” He opened the door, and before the guard could say anything, he popped the trunk. “Let me show you the address, then you can tell me where to go.”
“Get back in your car,” the guard yelled at him.
“Come on, man, I’m going to lose my job if I don’t deliver these pizzas.” Instead of getting a delivery list out of his trunk, he lifted a sawed-off shotgun, cocked it and then pointed it at the guard’s head. “Open the gate.”
The guard’s hands went up. “Man, what's going on? I know you don't need to deliver pizzas this bad.”
Marvel walked over to the guard and asked, “Do you want to live or die tonight?”
“I got kids, man. I want to live.”
“Open the gate. And I guarantee you, I won’t ask again.”
The guard hit a button, and the gate slide open. Marvel then whacked the guard in the head with the shotgun. He then shoved the guard in the back of his car and pulled the rope out of his pizza warmer bag and tied the guy up.
Marvel got back in the car and drove into one of the safest communities in Detroit like he owned the place and was riding through to check on the upkeep of his property.
~~~
Toya and Gina had changed into their pajamas and were lounging in the family room watching a movie and chilling out.
Gina took a deep breath. “I think I have actually calmed down. Thanks for helping me to see things differently today.”
“What are friends for.”
“Hey, remember when had that pajama party at your house and the boys stood outside the house throwing rocks at your bedroom window?”
Toya laughed. “It was Jarrod and his goofy friends. I remember one of them had a serious crush on you, so Jarrod was trying to play matchmaker.”
“Sureeee, if you say so... he was trying to play matchmaker. But I think he was just itching for another chance to be close to you.”
“He had a funny way of showing it if that was his plan.” Toya rolled her eyes at the thought.
“That’s why he beat up that guy who started gyrating and made a few off-color remarks about what you could do for him.”
Snapping her finger, Toya said, “I remember that. It was Hank Gilbert, and do you know that pervert actually became a preacher.”
“Jesus probably got a hold of him right after Jarrod put that beat down on him,” Gina and Toya laughed.
But then Toya said, “Actually it was my dad. Remember he chased the guys off, but I wondered how come it took him an extra few minutes to get outside with all the noise the fight was causing. Turns out, Dad heard what Hank said to me, and he let Jarrod get in a few punches before breaking it up. But later, Dad told me that he felt bad that he hadn’t prayed for Hank. So, that’s what he started doing, and then he eventually became his mentor.”
“Your dad was an awesome man,” Gina told her.
“Yes, he was.” Toya smiled at the memories. “From that day forward, Jarrod could do no wrong in his eyes. Whenever Jarrod would come for a visit, Dad would always tell me, ‘that boy is going to be something in this world.’”
“You think he was trying to send you subliminal messages about Jarrod?”
“If that’s what he was doing, I wish he would have come right out and said, ‘this is the guy for you’ because I just don’t know what to do with that man.”
“Well, you better figure it out, because he is coming for you. I’m just proud of him for finally opening up and telling you how he feels.”
Toya thought about that for a moment. “I wish he had done it sooner; things are just too complicated now.”
“Girl, love is love, and ain’t nothing complicated about that.”
“Actually, some love is just lust and should never ever happen in the first place.”
“Do you think that Jarrod is only feeling lust for you?”
Toya shook her head. “We’ve known each other too long for that. Look, just ignore me. I’m too confused right now to know what to do about anything.”
Gina turned off the television and stood. “I’m drained. It’s bedtime for me.”
“Sounds like a plan. If we’re going to make the first service at church tomorrow, I think we’d better get some sleep.”
~~~
The tracker Marvel put on Toya’s car had malfunctioned, it directed him to Toya’s subdivision with no problem. But once he drove through the gates, the signal went haywire, causing him to drive around in circles. Marvel pulled over to the side of the street, reached in the back and shook the guard until he woke up.
The man was stretched out in the back of the car with his arms and feet tied yet Marvel still put the barrel of the gun in his face. “Where does Toya Milner live?”
“Who?”
“Don’t play games with me, not if you want to make it home to see them kids of yours.”
The guard huffed. “Do you think I’m dumb enough to believe that you’re going to let me live.” The guard spit at him. “Find her yourself.”
Marvel would have loved nothing more than to put a bullet in this man’s head. But the sound of the shotgun would alert the neighbors, and he still remembered how a noisy neighbor had stopped him from finishing off Toya the last time. So, he put the gun down and punched him so hard it knocked him out.
Marvel woke him up again. “How many times do you think that pee brain of yours can take being knocked out?” Marvel lifted his fist again.
“Wait... wait... wait.”
But Marvel hit him anyway, then asked, “What’s the address?”
His nose was bleeding, and his jaw was beginning to swell. “Toya is a nice lady. Why do you want to bother her?”
“Last chance.” Marvel pulled a pair of bolt cutters out of the glove compartment and started towards the guard with them.
“Around the corner, man. She leaves on the next street over.” The guard cried as he gave up the information. He really liked Toya and hated that this man would be anywhere near her.