“Stop fucking moving, Monroe.” He grabbed my hair.
“Please no, Kashus, stop!” I sobbed hysterically.
“Shut the fuck up!” Kashus came close to my face, taking my swollen jaw into his hands. “Bitch, were you crying when you let that nigga fuck, huh?”
“Nah, nigga, I ain’t never seen a tear fall from her pretty ass face.” London’s voice echoed from the doorway as a bullet went through Kashus’s head. His lifeless body fell on top of me.
“Ah!” My scream filled the room.
“I got you, Chocolate. I got you.” London rushed toward me. He kicked Kashus’s dead body off me and fished his pockets, coming up with the key. The moment he uncuffed me, he scooped me up in his arms bridal style. He paid extra attention to my face.
“That bitch nigga hit you?” he questioned. I nodded. My face hurt too bad to form words.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” He kissed my wounded face. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
“She aight?” Meechie burst through the other door of the bunker. He kicked Kashus as he stepped over his lifeless body. “I’ll call the cleaners to come handle that. Don’t worry,” he said as he neared me. I could tell he was examining my face.
“She bleeding real bad. She may need stitches. I can clean her up, but I need to get her to the hospital, so I can operate.” London was now holding a towel or something to my face.
“Let’s go. I’ll drive,” Meechie replied. That was the last thing I heard as everything around me faded to black.
“Are you going to tell her as soon as she wakes up?” I could hear voices speaking around me. I listened in, trying to make out who was talking. I had been going in and out of consciousness for a while, but I didn’t know what was happening. Everything felt like a dream.
“I don’t know. That’s a lot on her.” That was London. He sounded far away but still close enough for me to hear him.
“Regardless of how he raised her, she is gonna want to know. The longer you keep it from her, the harder it’ll be.” That was Aunt Vanessa. What were they talking about? I tried to open my eyes but quickly shut them as pain shot through my head.
“How am I supposed to tell her this shit, Aunt V. A baby? And then her pops.” London’s voice cracked. My eyes fluttered open and then closed again. Had something happened to Tessa and the baby? I tried again to open my eyes. This time, London and Aunt Vanessa came into view. We were in a hospital room. They were standing at the other end of the room, whispering about telling me something.
“Tell me what?” I spoke. My slurred voice and aching face shocked me. That was not how I was expecting to sound. London and Aunt Vanessa rushed from where they stood in the room. Their faces lit up like they hadn’t seen me in a while.
“Why y’all looking at me like that?” I questioned.
“Do you remember anything that happened, Chocolate?” London touched my arm, causing me to look down at the cast on my left hand. Images of Kashus ripping my engagement ring from my finger flooded my memory and everything came rushing back to me all at once. Kashus had repeatedly struck me in the face with his gun. He was attempting to force crack down my nose when London killed him. His lifeless body invaded my memory.
“Kashus… h-he… y-you,” I stuttered, trying to find the words. London gently touched his hand to my face.
“Relax, Chocolate. You have a few stitches in your face. Don’t overdo it.”
I thought about the amount of blood that had leaked from my face. I knew the blows I’d taken had done some significant damage.
“Can I see it?” I whispered. Aunt Vanessa reached into her purse and held up a mirror. My face was severely swollen on one side and a large stitched up wound ran down the right side of my face. I cringed at the sight of myself. I didn’t know if I would ever look the same again. Tears rimmed my eyes. I was happy that London had killed the bastard, but the damage was already done.
“I stitched you up myself.” London touched along the side of the wound. I could tell it pained him to see me like this. “It’s going to heal perfectly. You’ll only have a tiny little scar.” He held up his fingers putting a one-inch space between his thumb and pointer fingers. I nodded. Knowing that London had operated on me himself sent a warm tingly feeling through my body, and it caused me to stare at him.
“I’m going to go let the doctors know the anesthesia wore off,” Aunt Vanessa said as she exited the room, leaving London and me alone. He gazed at me for a second, and I could tell something was bothering him.
“What is it you need to tell me?” I asked again.
London climbed into the bed with me with a somber expression on his face as he cuddled close to me. This was new but I welcomed his body blanketing mine. It was exactly what I needed right now.
“I really don’t know how to say this shit… but an early pregnancy was detected when they took your blood.”
My jaw dropped as far as it could. A pregnancy? Was that possible? I was on birth control.
“I can’t be pregnant, I’m on birth control.” I was in shock.
“Was pregnant. The stress of the incident is the likely cause.”