Lion's Pride

Chapter 18 (Part 3)

D . a . n . i . e . l . l . e

FOR A WHILE, I JUST LET HIM GET HIS small cries out. Jah'eim has never been the type to let a woman see his softer side but, for some reason he found he could be his true self around Danielle. No matter the circumstances. She had a kind heart, understanding mind and a great spirit that he found himself attracted to. Jah'eim couldn't recall meeting a woman such as herself. I look out the front door towards the rain as it falls across the threshold. His back is to my front as my arms wrap close around his torso. I wanted to provide him with comfort and safety, something I knew he had rarely been exposed to these past couple weeks.

As Jah'eim sniffled and manuvered around in my embrace, I lightly sway him back and forth. I could smell the faint scent of his cologne as it wafted into my nose. The musky smell of it mixed with alcohol became my new obsession. I take a risk and nuzzle my chin inside of his neck. I hadn't held anyone, let alone a man, this close since Kane and I were together. Our troubles that we faced back then were greater than the relationship problems we dealt with. I start to slowly remember the day... We both had just recently lost our jobs, the bills had begun to pile high on the small apartment we shared and there had barely been any food to support ourselves. Nostalgia hits me like a speeding train, my mind wallowing in the memory.

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Flashback

"How was work babe?" I ask of Keenon as he walked through the front door. The blue construction outfit he wore clung to his frame as the top buttons of the overalls hang open. He looked dirty and tired. All Keenon wished to do at the moment was eat dinner, take a nice long hot shower, and make love with his soon to be wife. He could go for writing up another song but he just didn't have much energy to do so after the fateful day he had just had. I stand in front of him as he takes of his black Timberland work boots at the front door, revealing the grey Champion socks I bought him with the few dollars I had leftover from my last check the week prior.

"It was okay, I guess." Keenon found his way around the apartment, head nearly slung into his chest and eyes red from tiredness. He loved to smoke weed of course but not as often as he wanted to due to money being so tight. He never wanted to overstep his boundaries by asking his woman for money to purchase something as petty as weed. So, he kept his cravings to himself.

"You look so tired... what happened out there today?" I continue to try and make small talk with him as I follow behind his lead, watching as he enters the cleaned kitchen. It was fairly small but contained enough room for me and Keenon to be inside of it at the same time. It wasn't the nicest looking either, but gets the job done when need be.

"The guys and I helped paint this house for a man who lived up on 25th Street." Kane grabs a plate from the drying rack for our dishes and proceeds to walk over to the gas stove where a variety of delicious food awaited him. He knew Danielle could cook up a storm if you let her, that's one of the reasons why he loved her so deeply. She was the perfect epitome of a woman he needed to have.

"Ugh," I scoff. "Them rich ass bastards..."

When Keenon and I had first gotten our apartment here on the rough side of town, things weren't the greatest. I instantly realized that we had in fact moved into a 'lower income' area. We were quickly surrounded by sneaky people, dirty streets, and the sound of gun fire around 2 to 3 times per month. You couldn't walk anywhere in the area without seeing road kill, possibly a dead body, or maybe even just the simple things like chip bags and liqour bottles all over. The building we decided on sat just at the corner of a dark alley, a place I vowed I would never go. Drunks, druggies, and prostitutes frequented that area and as long as they did, I had no place in that alley.