After successfully grabbing her phone from the nightstand, Keller ran into the bathroom just in time, before her bedroom door came crashing down. Once she was inside, she hurriedly flung her body on the floor in front of the locked door and prayed that her weight was enough to keep it from being kicked in. Keller’s heart plummeted to her stomach when she heard the doorknob being twisted.
“Open this door before I kick this bitch down!” Leo yelled as he continued to tug on the handle.
“Leave me alone!” Keller cried through the blood-filled split on her lip.
She hadn’t been home for a good five minutes before Leo went into one of his tantrums and backhanded her, busting her lip. They’d been getting along great for weeks, but all of that was for nothing now. He was back to his old ways and she was fed up with it. Being a nail tech and make-up artist sometimes had Keller working longer hours than usual. It always depended on how many clients she had booked in a day. That particular day proved to be a busy one, since they had a concert in town. Most of Keller’s customers made appointments, but she wasn’t opposed to taking walk-ins. If they didn’t mind waiting until she took care of her appointments, they got serviced just the same. She’d made a good name for herself around New Orleans and she didn’t want to lose business by turning people away.
Unfortunately, Leo, her boyfriend of five years, didn’t understand that. He wanted her to be home at a certain time, but she didn’t have a set schedule. He’d called her at least ten times in less than two hours, but her workload didn’t allow her to answer for him. He was enraged when she walked through the door and tried to offer up an explanation.
“Bitch, open this door! You must be trying to hide and call your other nigga!” Leo yelled in a fit of rage.
Every time Keller didn’t answer the phone or was late coming
home, he always accused her of cheating. Although he’d done his fair share of dirt, Keller had never cheated on him once. Leo was rumored to have made a baby on her and all, but she still remained faithful. After dialing a number on her phone, Keller waited for someone to pick up.
“Hey girl,” Leo’s mother, Patrice, answered.
“You need to come and get your son before I send his ass to jail,” Keller cried on the other end.
“Send his ass then. I’m so sick of that boy and his bullshit. What did he do this time?” Patrice asked her.
“He hit me. I was at work and didn’t answer when he called, and now he’s mad,” Keller answered.
“So, you calling my mama on me now? The fuck you think Pat gon’ do?” Leo yelled, loud enough for his mother to hear.
“He’s so damn stupid, but that’s your fault Keller. That’s my son and I love him, but I told you to leave his ass a long time ago. You keep letting him charm his way back into your life, but Leo ain’t gon’ change. He’s just like his daddy and can’t keep his hands to himself. I told you what I went through and you’re going through the same shit. Leave his ass alone and don’t take him back. You got too much going for yourself to put up with that. I told you that a man who doesn’t respect his own mama will never respect you,” Patrice argued.
“I know, Pat, but can you at least come here to calm him down until I leave?” Keller begged. She hated that she and Leo shared a car. Now, she would have to find a ride to get away.
“I see you still ain’t tired yet, huh? You just said that you were going to call the police. I know you’re not because you don’t want him to go to jail. That’s how I know you’re gonna take him back.”
“I just want to get my stuff and get out of here with no problems,” Keller replied.
She couldn’t deny that there was some truth to what her mother-in-law was saying, but she wasn’t trying to hear that at the
moment. She just needed to escape Leo’s wrath and give him some time to cool off.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not getting out of my bed this time of the night to deal with that. It’s almost midnight. Call the police and let them haul his abusive ass right to jail,” Patrice replied.
Keller never called her own mama because she knew that Monique didn’t play that. She would show up to their door and whip Leo’s ass like he was her own child. She’d beat down a few bitches in her lifetime, so that was nothing new. Patrice and Monique grew up right next door to each other in the St. Bernard housing projects, which was how their kids met each other. Leo and Keller were young kids, so their little childhood crush was cute back in the day. They used to hold hands while walking to school and stay out on the porch talking all night. That was before Leo started hanging with the wrong crowd. He and Keller drifted apart because he couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble. It wasn’t until they got older that they reconnected and got into a serious relationship. Keller had gone to school and was doing well for herself by then. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Leo. He was still the same person that he was when they were younger. Nothing had changed, but his age. He still sold drugs and hung with the same bums that he ran with when they lived in the projects. Patrice was tired of bailing him out of jail, so she let him go his own way. She had three other kids that she had to worry about.
“Baby, I’m sorry. Just open the door so we can talk,” Leo pleaded. He’d changed up his attitude just that fast, but Keller was used to that.
“Why? So, you can hit me again?” Keller screamed.
“Don’t fall for that bullshit girl. I guess he’ll be saying that you can hit him back next,” Patrice said, knowing her son all too well.
“I apologize for that, but I was upset. If it’ll make you feel better, you can hit me back,” Leo said, making his mother’s prediction come true.
“I knew it!” Patrice yelled triumphantly. Leo was definitely his father’s child.
“Is Leandra there?” Keller asked, referring to Leo’s sister.
“No, I’m here alone. Call Monique and let her come over there and beat his ass,” Patrice yawned into the receiver.
“Okay, Pat. I know you’re tired, so I’ll talk to you later,” Keller said before they disconnected.
She heard what her mother-in-law had said, but there was no way in hell that she was calling her mother. Monique was a petite woman with a pretty face, but she was a force to be reckoned with. Growing up with mostly brothers had her tough as iron. She was as feminine as they came until it was time to fight. The beast came out of her quickly, especially behind her only two daughters or only grandchild. If she thought that Leo had laid a finger on one of her babies, she would be at their door with her gun out in minutes. Keller and her sister, Kia, grew up without a father, but that didn’t mean a thing. Monique had their backs and her brothers had hers.
“Man, open the fucking door!” Leo boomed, letting his abusive side resurface.
“You better get your bipolar ass away from this door. I’m about to call Mo and tell her to come and get me,” Keller said, referring to her mother by her nickname.
“That’s how you gon’ do me, Keller. Why you gotta call Mo? We can work this shit out on our own. Why you gotta try to get me killed?” he asked, sounding hurt.
He hated when Keller threatened to call her mama or her sister’s boyfriend on him. He wasn’t a scary nigga, but some battles just weren’t worth fighting. He’d seen Mo go toe to toe with grown men and walk away without a scratch. She was so tiny and quiet that most people often underestimated her. She didn’t go looking for trouble, but she handled it when it came to her. He would definitely be pushing up daisies if she found out that he’d hit her daughter.
“We don’t have nothing to work out. I’m done for good this time,” Keller said, trying to convince herself as well as him.
“So, you don’t love me no more Keller?” Leo asked pitifully.
“You damn sure don’t love me. If you did, you wouldn’t keep putting your hands on me. You better leave before Mo gets here. I just sent her a text to pick me up,” Keller lied.
“I love you, baby. Call me when you get to Mo’s house, so we can talk,” Leo begged right before he grabbed his keys and left. He was sure that Keller had never told her mother about their fights before because Mo had never confronted him. He still didn’t want to take that chance so he left, just in case she made good on one of her threats. As soon as Keller heard the front door close, she dialed her sister, Kia’s, number. She hated to call so late and wake her niece up, but she needed a ride and she hated cabs. She only prayed that her sister’s boyfriend, Jaden, wasn’t home.