Page 52 of Krash & Bern

I lifted her up, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her weight against me. I carried her down the hall to her room and set her on the bed.

“I can get my own pajamas, Keyshawn.”

I shook my head. “Who said we were putting on clothes?”

She giggled. “Naked cuddles are better.”

“Glad you know.”

Once I’d stripped us both of our clothes, we climbed under the blanket and found a comfortable cuddle position. She snuggled up to my chest while I held her with my left hand and scrolled on my phone with the right.

“Thank you for not leaving me after finding out I was weak…” she mumbled in a soft tone.

Her words gutted me. “Bern, baby, you are not weak. Being a victim of abuse doesn’t make you weak. You found the strength to leave when you could. I could never fault you for another man’s issues.”

I put my phone down and held her face in my right hand. I used my thumb to caress her cheek.

“I love you. No matter what you’ve gone through, you’ll always be worthy of my love and protection.”

Tears formed in her eyes, and I swiped them away quickly.

“I love you, Krash.”

“I love you more, Bernie.”

Within a few minutes, Bernice had dozed off and welcomed sleep. My mind had too much on it to settle enough for me to sleep. How long had Bernice endured the abuse before she finally ran away? She’d told me enough, but the questions still plagued my mind. What were the odds he’d try and come back when I wasn’t around? What were the odds he’d go to the media and try to spin the narratives?

As the questions continued to haunt me, my phone buzzed on the bed. It was an incoming call from Blake. I swiped the screen and turned my head away from Bern to avoid waking her.

“What’s good?” I said in a low tone.

“Yo! Me and Neh just got back to our side of town. We made sure ol’ dude knew what would come his way if he went to the cops or the media.”

“Cool. I appreciate y’all coming and handling that for me. I’ll send something for the trouble. I don’t want to be negative, but I wanted to kill that nigga.”

“Any man in your situation would have blacked out the same way. You have to let God work his magic, though. Don’t put your freedom on the line for a nigga like that. Long as you got Bernice, we gon’ handle the rest.”

“I appreciate you, for real.”

“Always. You our dawg. We’ve been through too much shit together to let you throw your life away for a low life ass nigga.”

Blake, Nehemiah, Gary, and Deionte were my brothers. I was grateful to have them by my side. In today’s society, it was hard to find a group of dudes who had the same morals as you. Too many times, niggas kept theirbrothersaround, even when them mothafuckas were rapists, pedophiles, thieves, and crooks. To have a group of solid individuals was a blessing in itself.

“It’s been a day. I’m gon’ hit y’all up later this week. I’m going to be with Bern the next couple of days, to make sure she’s straight.”

“Sounds good.”

The call ended, and I put the device on ‘do not disturb.’ Then I turned back to Bern and kissed her forehead. The soft breaths she took lulled me to sleep.

With everything out in the open in our relationship, we would be able to embrace the second chance with our foot on the gas.

As my eyes fluttered open, the drama from yesterday played through my mind like a social media reel on two times playback speed. Flashes of Rodney lunging at me and wrapping his hands around my throat made me whimper. The feel of Keyshawn’s body against mine calmed me down, but the emotional damage had been done. I silently sobbed for a few minutes. My body shook from the intensity of the cry.

“Shh,” Krash whispered as his grip around my body tightened. His body pressure increased as he basically held me in a tight bear hug.

We lay in the embrace until the wave of emotions flowed through me. I wiped my tear-stained face and turned to look at him.

“Morning,” I whispered in a groggy voice.

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