Shy and timid, Onika lives in a dilapidated Detroit neighborhood with her abusive uncle. She is hopelessly in love with Marshall Mathers, a troubled young man that lives next door to her in their rough hood.
Marshall is rude, agressive and uncouth...
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On the morning of the day of my uncle's court hearing, I woke up with a huge lump in my throat and a feeling of uneasiness settling all through my bones.
I'm scared, and I keep repeating Marshall's words to me from before about how that man could never hurt me again like a mantra.
But it's hard to really believe that, to be honest, because uncle Rashaad has been abusing me my whole life for all I could remember. All of the beatings he used to give me that's eventually culminated in him completely losing his mind and attempting to commit the ultimate crime against me, all of that has left scars on me that even if I act like it doesn't bother me anymore, would never actually heal fully. And I don't know if it makes me forever a victim, or if it makes me sound weak that I'm still terrified of this man to my core, but it is what it is. I can't help how I feel, and I just hope that he goes away for what he did to me for a very long time. Otherwise, I don't think I could ever feel truly safe.
All those thoughts race through my mind as I'm rolling over in the bed and looking at Marshall's side of the bed, but he isn't in there with me.
The sheets on his side still feeling somewhat warm though, and his pillow still has like this slight indentation in it from that boy's peanut shape head. Which means that he must've gotten up not so long ago. I wish he had woken me up though as well, or maybe stayed with me until I woke up. Because I honestly could really use his comfort right now.
I don't want to face this day.
Call me a coward for this, but I really don't feel prepared for this at all. A part of me wants to not even show up for court, but I know that I have to. If I want to help put my uncle away that is.
With a resigned sigh, I climb out of the bed, still clad in one of Marshall's t-shirts which I've become so accustomed of sleeping in, and I drag my way towards the bathroom, where I can already here a faint sound of water running from behind the door where mu boyfriend is obviously taking a shower.
I push the door and it opens, seeing that Marshall never locks it when he showers, so I enter the bathroom and open the water in the faucet, which is honestly making me want to pee like crazy, but I'm not about to do that with my man in the shower, so I just wash my hands instead, then grab my toothbrush, wet it ans squeeze toothpaste on it, beginning to brush my teeth.
The shower curtain moves and Marshall's blond head peaks from behind it, his bleached hair all slick and stuck to his head as soapy water drips down his face.
"Oh shit, Onika, you up. I was tryna let you sleep in, girl. Ya know, cause you have a long day ahead of you," he grumbles, wiping some of the water out of his squinting blue blues somewhat aggressively with his fingers.
"You should've wake me though, Marshall," I reply back, then continue to brush my teeth.
"My bad, yo," he replies and then disappears back behind the curtain.
I sigh and spit the toothpaste in the sink, then brush again and rinse with cold water a few times.
By the time I'm done, I pull my boyfriend's t-shirt from over my head and hang it on a rack in the bathroom. Then I'm pulling the shower curtain back and step in behind him. Watching my man rinse the rest of the soap off of his head and body with his back turned to me.
I then step closet to him and wrap my arms around his back, causing his body to tense for just a second before he turns towards me and smirks.
"See, you shouldn't do shit like that, Nicki. Sneaking up on a motherfucker like that, I was damn near ready to swing on your ass," he jokes, but then his voice quickly trails off when he notices the expression on my face.
"Shit. You good, baby? Nah, sorry, dumb question, cause I know you ain't. But you know what I mean."
"I'm not okay, Marshall. Not at all, so just hold me, okay," I ask him softly, stepping even closer to him and wrapping my arms around my neck, instantly noting how my whole body is shaking with nerves over what I will have to endure lately. And that's exactly why I wish so badly thay he would've woken me up earlier to be honest, like... I just needed him to hold me and reassure me just like this.
"Uh, no doubt baby, it's gonna be okay though," Marshall wraps his arms around my waist, bringing me into his body, hot water descending all over us, making my curly hair drop all the way down my back.
Marshall holds me against his warm body, and I just bury my face in his chest.
"You know it's gon be okay, right," he chuckles nervously over my head as he plants a soft kiss on top of it. "That motherfucker couldn't do shit to ya. Shit, I hear that he's still in the wheelchair," Marshall then adds, sounding somewhat proud of himself and his handywork.
"Can we please not talk about my uncle right now though," I ask him.
"Sure thing, Nicki. It's whatever you want."
And I still feel so on edge, like there's this bad omen sort of feeling settling all through my nerves, and I don't even quite know why, but I'm just a mess right now.
Marshall holds me close to his body and I bury my face in his chest, suddenly starting to plant small kisses against it, I look up at him. I run one of my hands down the back of his head and neck.
"Onika, don't," Marshall says softly, bu I stand on my tippy toes and press my lips softly to his.
Causing him to cup my face in his hands as he kisses me back. He lightly pushes me against the shower wall as we continue to make out, and I can feel him growing against the inside of my thigh as his hands run further down my body. His fingers gripping at my waist, and his lips slowly trailing at the side of my jaw and kissing down my throat where he sucks gently as I continue to run my fingers through the back of his short hair.
"Nicki, you sure you wanna be doing this right now? Considering the whole... ya know, fuck thing with your piece of shit uncle," he starts to day to me.
"Haven't I told you already to NOT mention that man to me just now?" I then ask him back, looking up at him, staring directly into his grey-blue eyes.
"I just.. I just want you to comfort me right now, Marshall. And to make me feel better,"I then whisper to him, slowly one of my hands down his cheek.
"Just please be there for me right now."
I kiss him.
His lips instantly melting to mines so slowly as he pushes me up further against the shower wall. He picks me up easily, and I let myself get lost in that moment and allow my legs to wrap around his waist.
I just want it to be me and him for right now.
Stuck in our small little safety bubble.
Until the reality hits.
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Idk if this chapter is even relevant to the whole story, tbh. If it's not. Pls feel free to let me know in the comments, and I'll just take it down before I publish the next one which is going to be dedicated to Onika's uncle's trial, which I'm planning to hopefully make very crazy and dramatic.
