She could practically feel the strike to her heart. The poor man had witnessed friends dying in war. She sat back on her heels and looked at him.
“I’m sorry you went through that. You’re right about me not knowing how it is to be in war, but you’re wrong about what I’ve witnessed and experienced. I lived on the city streets of Detroit, honey. I was homeless, dodging everything from drugs, gangs, prostitution, and even a few stray bullets during drive-bys and gang wars. I’ve seen my share of kids left dead on the streets, young girls raped and left to die as they shot up with heroin and crack. I’ve seen a lot of heavy shit in my life, Bryant, but I have yet to give up. I never sold my body to get food when I was starving and didn’t eat for over a week. I didn’t join a gang or engage in their protection so I could live that kind of life. You know what? I don’t need to explain anything to you. But know this,” she stated as she stood up and pointed down at him, “I’ve had no one to love me, care for me, or even bother to give a shit about me. I am alone in this godforsaken world, Bryant! You’ve got a whole family and town filled with people who care. Do the world a favor and suck up your pride and get your life back. Now that I would be impressed with.”
Lena walked away and began to do her chores as the tears reached her eyes and she fought to keep them at bay.
Chapter 8
“What the fuck are you doing, Triumph? We can’t just leave her here.” Troy stated as they looked at Ariel laid sprawled naked on the bed. She was bleeding from her stomach. Triumph had stabbed her.
“She should have fucking told me where Lena went. I told her that time was running out and tell me where the bitch went,” he yelled.
“Why do you give a shit? Lena thought she was better than everyone else because she was working instead of whoring that model body out.”
“She was mine, Troy. She was going to be my bitch, my piece of ass. She was perfect and just twenty-one.”
“You’re living in a fantasy, Triumph,” Troy stated, and an instant later Triumph had him by the throat and wedged up against the wall.
“Why is that, Troy? You think she was too good for me?”
“She thought she was.”
“I’ve been searching everywhere for her. She’s disappeared, is hiding out somewhere. I want to know where she is. I want her, and if I can’t have her, then no one else will.”
Triumph released Troy, and Troy fell to the ground.
“Clean up this fucking mess, and get rid of the bitch. She’s no good to us anymore. Then go meet Smiles down by the pickup spot. I’ve got some heavy hitters coming in by noon tomorrow. I don’t need the dead body of some white trash whore fucking things up.”
“No problem. I’ll handle it,” Troy said as he got up off the floor and called in some others to help get rid of the body.
* * * *
It was becoming a regular routine. Lena would work at Bryant’s all day, and they would pussyfoot around their attraction while he sat and watched her. He didn’t say much since their argument the other day in the living room, but at least he was looking at the papers with exercises on them. He was at battle with himself, and there wasn’t much more she could do to push him.
As she cooked up some salmon with teriyaki sauce and made Bryant’s plate up for whenever he would feel like eating dinner, she heard a truck pull up outside. She washed down the counter as she heard the knock at the front door.
Lena looked at Bryant and raised her eyebrows at him.
He stared at her and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He wasn’t going to answer it.
Lena began to walk out of the kitchen.
“Whoever it is tell them to get the fuck out of here. I don’t want any visitors. It’s bad enough I have to deal with you.”
She ignored his comment and headed toward the front door.
As she opened it, she saw Frank and Abigail.
“Hi,” Lena said then motioned for them to come inside.
“Oh, is it all right with Bryant?’ Abigail asked, and she looked so timid and afraid. Lena wondered if Bryant had treated his mother the same way he treated everyone else. She was a good woman with a big heart. Her husbands were exceptional men and wanted to do whatever they could for their sons.
“Lena, I told you no visitors.”
Frank and Abigail hesitated a moment.
“Nonsense. They’re not here to see you, soldier boy, they’re here to see me.” Lena took Abigail’s hand and walked her through the living room and into the kitchen.
“The place looks amazing, Lena,” Abigail commented, ignoring Bryant’s snarls and dirty looks.