The 'E' Commandments

Interlude: Lose It (Stress Relief)

Rattling on the hinges, the door handle is jiggling and scrapes from a key can be heard as Erik walked into his living room from the back of his apartment. Imani bursts through his apartment door, and looks up at him. Erik takes in the sight of her. Purse hanging haphazardly off her shoulder nearly touching the ground, chest heaving as she catches her breath, curls all over her head like she has been running her hands through it, and eyes full of contained emotion.

He walks up to her, taking her bag and brings her to the couch. "What's wrong babygirl?" She sits down and he takes the seat next to her.

"Nothing is working." She doesn't look at him as she continues. "Music, coloring, puzzles..." her voice fades.

Erik just lets her talk it out, silently observing Imani as she goes off on her tangent.

Not paying him any attention, Imani resumes speaking. "Emails. Idiots. Phone calls. Missing. Rushed. Errors. Flaky. Empty. No delivery."

She is speeding through her thoughts but none of it is making sense for Erik. He grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Stop it." Imani's eyes drift to his face. "Complete your sentences."

Jerking her head out of his grasp, she inhales deeply. "Too much happened today and now, I just..." The big bright brown eyes that Erik is used to seeing are full of anger.

"How do you feel, pretty girl?" He reaches for her and she pulls away abruptly. She can hear his growl in response but Erik does not move to touch her again.

"I'm sorry, E. I just don't want to be held or anything right now."

"Fine, then talk to me. You said nothing is working, what did you mean?"

"Everything that I normally do to calm down...none of it is working. My affirmations, too. I left work so that I wouldn't dwell on it but I keep running everything over in my head, and the more I do, the angrier I get." Imani stopped and dropped her head in her lap. "I hate feeling like this...work is where I need to feel in control and I am not able to do that right now." Standing up, she grabs her purse and heads to the door. "I don't even know why I came here. Sorry for barging in, E. I think I'm just gonna go home now.

"Sit down, Imani." She stops and looks over her shoulder at him. "Do I need to repeat myself?" Dragging her bag behind her, Imani sluggishly walks back to the couch and takes a seat away from Erik. "Now, you know why you came over here. So, tell me."

Barely audible over the TV playing in the background, Erik makes out, "Can you help me?" Grabbing the remote, Erik turns up the TV. Looking at Imani, he raises an eyebrow daring her to say something other than what he heard. Over Martin and Pam arguing, she repeats her request much louder, "Can you help me?"

Waving his hand, "Can who help you?"

"Are we really doing this right now?"

"Don't do that little one. You came to me, and not on some 'I'm your loving man shit,' so act like it and speak up." Placing his hand to his ear, he hears some shuffling before Imani responds.

"Daddy, can you help me?"

"Now, was that so hard?" She doesn't respond. "Imani, I asked you a question." He looks over and she is rubbing her neck with a dead stare towards his TV. He stands up and strolls over to her, pulling her up. "Come on, Daddy got you."

They walk back towards the bedroom. Imani is in front of him, eyes following her feet and nearly walking into the door. Erik pulls her back before she connects. Holding her waist, he stands her near the bed, "Strip." He walks over to his closet and unlocks his vault. Looking over, he sees Imani has not made one move. "I'm not tryna fuck you girl. But I damn sure am not helping you while you are fully clothed, so STRIP!"