Til Death Do Us Part-A Domestic Violence Anthology

Only When You're Lonely by Fatima Munroe

Chapter One

"You looking for me? I'm right here," I heard a deep baritone voice behind me. Holding my hand to my face to shield my eyes from the Georgia sun beating down mercilessly, I turned to see the face of yet another one of the thirst traps that preyed upon unsuspecting dimes like myself.

To my delight, this man was nothing like what I was accustomed to running into in and around the city; if anything, this guy was F-I-N-E! His low fade connected to his sideburns perfectly; not that nappy, nasty beard that some women seemed to think was sexy (I didn't). Almond skin against his espresso-colored eyes framed by some of the longest lashes I'd seen on a man gave me pause. His thin moustache sat perched atop some of the juiciest lips, which he now had curled into an expectant smile in my direction. I wanted to know more about this chocolate Adonis, this Black Caesar, who made it a point to get my attention.

"Yea, I was looking for you. I thought you got lost," I cheesed as I walked over to where he stood. He stared at me playfully, watching my lips as I stood in his presence.

"How you doing today, beautiful? Where are you on your way to?"

"About to run in this store real quick and grab something for this little barbecue. What about you?"

"Got a few errands to run with the fam. Can we hook up later?"

"Hook up?" I frowned. "What you mean hook up? I don't even know your name."

He chuckled; in our haste, we both seemed to have left out that pertinent bit of information. "My name is Charles, but everybody calls me Juice. What about you?"

"Tamara. But my friends call me Summer."

"Summer? Why they call you Summer?"

"Why they call you Juice?" I retorted, raising an eyebrow at him for being nosy. Two could play that game.

He laughed at my feistiness while passing me his phone. "You right, mama. Give me your number so you can cuss me out some more during our date."

"What date?" I smiled as I took his phone and programmed my number in, hitting the call button so I had his.

"Yea, we're going to be great friends. You'll see. I'll call you later, aight?"

"Ok," I replied, looking forward to Juice's 'later'.

*

After I grabbed some garbage bags and a folding table for our party at Best Friend Park in Norcross, I called my sister, Tiera, while I headed down Buford Highway.

"Cutie's House of Beauty. Cutie speaking, how can I help you?"

"Hey sis, it's me. What you up to?"

"On my way to this little shindig of yours. Why couldn't we do this indoors? It's hotter than Satan's ponytail outside," she whined.

"Because I don't feel like sitting inside. You can always stay home," I griped as I passed Gwinnett's finest with my phone up against my ear. The police cruiser hopped right behind me, complete with sirens, like I just stole a TV from Walmart. "Girl, let me call you right back, ok?"

"Aight, sis. You better not be calling me from jail either," Tiera joked before hanging up. I checked my lip gloss in the rear-view mirror as the officer sauntered lazily toward my driver's side window.

"Yes, Officer..." I glanced quickly at his name tag, "Jackson. Is there a problem?"

He leaned in my window so our eyes met. "Yes, there is. I saw you on your phone back there and you blew through a red light. License and registration, please."

I handed him my information; if he needed my insurance too, he could scan my license plate. He took forever in his car, so I grabbed my phone and checked my tweets. Ten minutes later, I watched him walk back to my car and rolled the window down for him a second time.

"Here's your license back. I decided to be nice to you today and only give you a warning for breaking the law." He leaned further in my car, his face was almost inside the halter top I was wearing. "Oh, and here's my phone number if you have any questions about anything, ok?"

"Ok," I smiled politely as I moved my hand to start my car, but he stopped me.

"Anything, ok? Make sure you use that number within the next 24 hours or that warning will turn into a ticket, complete with fines, you feel me?"

I couldn't believe that I was being indecently propositioned by a police officer, yet that happened more often than not with me being the woman I was.

"Sure, Officer," I smiled politely. "I'll see to it that I do."

After he got back to his vehicle and drove off, I balled the warning and his phone number up and threw them both out the window. Officer Jackson could kick boulders up a mountain for all I cared. I hated police officers who abused their power. Hitting redial on my sister's number, I called her back and we continued our conversation like we never left off.

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