HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE (LGBTQ+)

22

"Oi, Persia, open up," Joe said, slamming his palm on her door.

    The sun was low in the sky, and his son was safe at the apartment with his neighbor. He wasn't gonna pass this chance up to grill his sister. Jayce's car wasn't there, but Joe knew Persia was, relying on the fact that he knew she loved to keep the windows wide open when she was home.

    The door creaked open, showing Persia looking at him through the glass door. Her hair was covering her face, and Joe's eyes grew wide as she didn't look up at him, keeping her head lowered.

    "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, his voice betraying his concern.

    "You weren't supposed to come here," she muttered, her voice muffled from the barrier between them. "Why did you come?"

    Joe's mouth dropped open, and he shook his head, regaining his composure. "Because you dropped a bomb on me, sis. Let me in, I want to talk."

    "No," Persia said stiffly. "You need to leave, okay? Just...talk to Asa." Her eyes lifted, looking at him from behind her hair, pleading silently.

    Joe ground his teeth in frustration. "I'm not going to talk to that psycho, not until she listens to me and gets the help she needs. I don't want a fucking - murderer - in my life, or in yours."

    "Don't you get it?" Persia said, her voice rising in volume, barely. "My husband is after her because she threatens his stupid manhood, and he wants to teach her some kind of lesson. But lessons don't work on Asa. She does what she wants, and if he attacks her..."

    There was a stretch of silence between the two of them as the truth sunk in. If he attacked her, aiming to beat her into submission, she might snap. She already hated Jayce with a passion. What if...what if she took it as a reason to go too far?

    "I get it," Joe said, straightening up. "But you already warned Asa, didn't you? What the hell could I do?"

    "Tell her to stay home - she might listen to you."

    Joe shook his head. "She doesn't listen to anybody, Persia."

    "Just...try. Once my husband stops his ridiculous rampage, we can all relax again. But until then, I want to keep him far away from her." Her voice grew thick with emotion. "He's my family. I don't want anything to happen to him."

    Joe caught a glimpse of Persia's face as she rubbed her eyes. There was a dark mark on her cheek, and what looked like a cut above her left eyebrow. "Persia...? Your face-"

    "Talk to her, Joe. Tell her not to go near my husband, and tell her that I don't want to see her face for a while, or I'll never speak to her again, or I'll get a restraining order, or something! Make it convincing." She shut the door in his face, and audibly locked the door.

    Shit.

    Asa was right.

    Persia's husband is an abusive piece of TRASH.

    "Dammit," Joe hissed, clenching his fists. The whole situation was a mess. All he wanted to do now was confront Jayce and kick the shit out of him. But he had more tact than that. He wasn't an animal. One thing at a time, right?

First, talk to Asa, then kick the shit out of Jayce.

    One thing at a time.

-

Izzy showed up early on Wednesday morning, her face grim and her eyes narrowed. I stared at her blankly as she slammed her car door and tromped inside my house, uninvited, of course, as she always was.