Broke Luxury (A Jacquees Short Story) #Wattys2016

(2) Scared/End of Discussion

Jacquees

I looked down at Malika, or pe', or my fragile little daughter. We called her pe' because she was so small like a pea still in its pod, we just changed the spellin'.

The purple and black bruises on her skin made my heart crumble in my chest and it felt like it would cave in at any second.

I scooped Malika up in my hands and she instantly kicked her feet because the bruises were everywhere. She started to cry, but I held her close to my body for a couple of seconds longer before placin' her back in the baby bed and puttin' her pacifier in her mouth.

I couldn't even hold my baby girl because her bruises were so tender and I felt myself gettin' angrier all over again. I felt my temperature slowly risin'. I had already beaten the motherfucker to unconsciousness, but that wasn't enough.

Malika is just a baby. Shes exactly 4 weeks and 6 days old. She's defenseless, harmless, oblivious ... how could you be so fucked up in the head that you could hurt someone like that?

"Quee, baby?" Sasha's soft voice filled my ears and I momentarily had a moment of peace, but it was quickly snatched away. "I made dinner."

I looked at her and then back to Malika who had drifted off to sleep. I couldn't do anything but sigh.

The dinner table was silent. Only the clankin' of the forks against the plates made noise. Malika's portable crib sat closely beside me. I couldn't let her out of my sight anymore. I was too scared.

Sasha

Jacquees had barely said 2 damn words since he beat the fuck out of Lance for hurting our baby girl.

I guess shit like that makes you go silent.

I can't lie when I say I'm scared. I'm scared to close my eyes without my baby and Jacquees in the bed next to me. What if I wake up and they're both gone and I'm alone?

I can't be alone again and I slowly feel like Jacquees is going to shut down on me and become some kind of over protective maniac and my daughter will never get to live her life.

I'm scared but my mom always told me not to let fear run your life and keep you from living. It will take time, but I'm willing to move forward in life and forget about this. I'm willing to grow and learn from this and be more careful.

I watched Jacquees finish his food and lift the crib off the floor. He carried the crib back upstairs and shut the door.

I sighed just as the doorbell rung. I picked up our empty plates and put them in the sink. I took the gun from the kitchen drawer and took the safety off before pointing it and snatching the door open.

"It's just me." Jade said holding her hands up and Kale and Cal stood behind her with an innocent look on their face. I let out a deep breath and put the gun away before pulling her into a hug. "I thought you might want to talk."

Jade is my twin sister and I'm older than her by 1 minute. Cal and Kale are our older twin brothers.

"Wait here Jade, guys follow me." I led them up the stairs. I didn't want them to accidentally scare Jacquees and end up getting shot.

"Baby, the twins are here." I said knocking and poking my head in the door. He held Malika in an Egyptian cotton throw, which was as soft as a cloud. He looked up at me and nodded. I told my brothers it was okay for them to go in. "Jade and I are gonna go for a walk."

"Shoot me a text every 5 minutes." Que mumbled and I sighed. We were both so paranoid, but I nodded anyway and jogged back down the steps.

Jade and I walked out the door and started around our big circle neighborhood.

"How is he holding up?" Jade asked.

"Horribly." I said dryly.

"And you?" She asked staring at me intently.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I feel like I need to be strong for him and Malika so I only break down when they're both sleeping peacefully. I'm getting over it."

"You wanna talk about it?" She asked quietly and I chuckled. Jade was always so persistent.

I hesitated. "No." I said simply and she nodded.

"You guys should do family therapy. It works."

I scoffed. "Hell no."

"Don't knock it until you try it."

"Quee would never do it and I don't want to do it either."

"You're going. Doesn't matter if it's years from now. You need help." Jade said sternly. She should have been born first.

"No I'm not Jade. End of discussion."

Keep reading to find out exactly what happened to Quee, Sasha, and little Malika/pe'!

- toodles, jp!