Made To Be Together

Crazy.

Tae

“Tae, what I tell you about playing with me?” His voice boomed, making me jump.

I could barely answer him because I was shaking so badly.

“Kevin, I swear that’s all I did was give him a dance. He’s lying about everything else!” I pleaded.

My boyfriend of 5 years, Kevin, stood over top of me breathing heavily. He had already punched me, knocking me to the ground. I was so scared he would do it again.

“La’Shonte, please stop lying to me. I don’t feel like doing this shit with you tonight,” He said. “Now did you give him head?”

Me and Kevin both worked at a strip club named Magic City. He worked as a bouncer while I danced.

If I ever have to take one of my customers into one of the back rooms for a private dance, Kevin will pull them up afterwards and ask them was that all we did. Apparently, one of the customers I had tonight lied to him and told him that I sucked him off while we were back there. Kevin believed him and as usual, I was taking heat. It wouldn’t matter what I said, he wouldn’t believe me.

“Kevin, I didn’t do anything like that, I swear!” I pleaded, trying to crawl away.

I couldn’t get far. Kevin snatched me back by my hair and slammed my head on the ground, instantly giving me a headache.

“Lying bitch!” He exclaimed.

I tried to shield my face from most of the blows but all he did was move my hands away and bang me again.

“Kevin please! I didn’t do anything!” I pleaded, trying to shield my body from the hits, but they were coming too fast for me to block.

Finally, he got tired and left me in the middle of the floor. I watched him go over and sit down on the couch, waiting until it was safe for me to move. He could have easily just hopped back up and started beating on me again.

After a while, I heard him cut on the television so I got up as quickly as I could and hobbled to the bathroom.

I was afraid to look in the mirror because I knew what I would see would make me hurt far worse than I already was. Despite that, I made myself look anyway. I instantly started to cry.

Both of my cheeks were swollen, my bottom lip was busted, and I was leaking blood from my nose. I couldn’t even stand to keep looking at myself in the mirror.

I grabbed the alcohol from the cabinet along with the cotton pads and started to clean my wounds with it. It was burning like hell but I didn’t want anything to get infected.

“Tae, get out here.” I heard Kevin call from the living room.

“Lord… Please let me live to see tomorrow.” I prayed to myself before hobbling into the living room.

I stood at the foot of the couch and looked at the floor, waiting for him to say something.

“Sit down, baby.” He said softly, waving for me to come sit next to him. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared to sit next to him; I didn’t know what to do. “Come on, Tae. I’m not gonna do nothing to you.”

I slowly slid down on the couch next to him, placing my hands in my lap.

“Why you make me do this shit to you, La’Shonte? You know how I feel about you, and you just make me feel like a fool out in the street. Why you do that shit, girl?” He questioned.

I just shook my head, deciding that there was no point in my arguing with him. He didn’t believe shit that came out of my mouth anyway.

“I mean, don’t you want us to work baby? Don’t you wanna be with me?” He asked.

Again I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore. Kevin used to be so nice and sweet when we first got together. He used to spend time with me, take me out on dates, the whole 9. Then his Father died 2 years ago and it tore him apart. Him and his father were very close throughout his entire life.

His mother used to cheat on his father, and after his death it came out about what she was doing. Kevin hated her for it. I think that’s the reason he turned into this controlling person that hovered over me instead of loving my like he used to.

“La’Shonte, you hear me?” He said, snapping my out of my thoughts. “Look at me.”

I sighed before looking up at him with tears in my eyes.

“Baby, none of this shit would be happening to you if you didn’t act like a tramp around other niggas. I thought you loved me?” He said, shaking his head.

All I could do was sit there. What was I supposed to say? Kevin took another nigga’s word over mine, so I knew nothing that I could say now would change anything. He refused to believe me, so my best bet was just to stay silent.

“You love me, right?” He asked. I looked at the ground, thinking about my answer. I loved the person that he used to be. I loved the person that took me out and called me beautiful all the time. The person that called just to see how my day was going, and not to see if he could hear another nigga’s voice in the background. The person that just whooped my ass was not a person that I loved. I hated him.

“Yeah, I love you.” I said. I had no other choice than to lie to him, or world war 3 would have broken out.

“Okay then! Stop doing what the fuck you doing, then. I don’t wanna have to keep doing this shit Tae, but I promise I will. I love you too much to just let you walk away from me.” He said, staring me right in the face. His voice was so dark when he said it, it sent a chill down my spine. “You mine, remember that shit.”

I looked at the ground and wondered how the hell I got stuck with a nigga like this. Why was this happening to me?