Page 29 of Make Me Forget

When I walked in that room with my uncle and cousin behind me, that nigga looked like he pissed on himself. “Who the fuck you disrespecting?” I asked.

I grabbed Cassie’s hand and pulled her behind me. I glanced around to see her shit thrown all over the place. Torn clothes were all over the floor. “This some real bitch shit. You tore her clothes? Nigga, is you a female or what?”

Uncle Storm walked to the bathroom and then came back out and said, “All her makeup is floating in water, man.”

I stepped closer to fuck him up, but Jacob stepped ahead of me and knocked his ass out. “You got shit to do, cuz. If he files charges, I’ll take that shit. That million-dollar purse belongs to a Henderson. You feel me?”

I bit my lip to hold in my emotion and nodded. I slapped his hand then turned to Cassie as she stared at Childish Gambino’s lil brother with a scowl on her face. “Baby, don’t worry about this shit. I got’chu. We can go shopping whenever you want to.”

She seemed to have zoned out, because she never responded to me. When she kicked that nigga in his nuts, I flinched. I stared at her as she looked at him. I eased up to her and said, “Baby, come on. He ain’t worth it.”

She finally looked at me, and the hurt I saw in her eyes nearly paralyzed me. I pulled her in my arms and kissed her head. She just seemed like she was in a daze. The way she fucked that nigga up, she probably could have handled his ass by herself. That kick to his balls woke him up like an electric shock. He was turned on his side, coughing. The minute he tried to get up, Jacob punched his ass again, knocking him out all over again.

I wanted to laugh at how easily that nigga fell victim to the Henderson Hammer, but I didn’t want it to seem like I was making light of what Cassie was feeling. Uncle Storm shook his head. “I guess we gon’ be calling Sidney Taylor and Shyrón Berotte again. Y’all niggas rowdy as fuck.”

Jacob looked at him, as did I, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. We’d heard the stories about how he brought a gun to school and how he and Uncle Marcus fucked up Reggie’s bitch ass before my dad eventually killed him. We walked out of her bedroom, and she told the movers to clean the house out. She had three bedrooms that were fully furnished. I didn’t know what she was gon’ do with all this shit, but she said she wasn’t leaving it for him to enjoy.

The only room she didn’t touch was their bedroom where he was still on the floor, out cold. She said she didn’t need to maintain memories of their time together, and I cosigned that shit wholeheartedly. We started helping the movers pack shit so we could get the hell out of there. We didn’t need his ass to wake up and call the police. Uncle Storm chose to stay in the bedroom with him in case he woke up.

That nigga wasn’t gonna knock him out, but I could imagine he would pull that gun and threaten his ass. I slowly shook my head at the thought. Mesani’s bowels would probably evacuate for real if he woke up to a gun in his face.

Jacob and I carried the easy shit out, like the couches, tables, and big appliances and let the movers take beds down and carry the bedroom furniture to the truck. Cassie carried boxes out, but when she came back inside, I saw her staring at something. I walked over to her to see she had framed the picture of herself in the hospital.

She looked dead in the picture, and it gave me a sinking feeling just staring at it. She looked over at me and said, “Whenever I’m going through something, I look at this picture. I overcame this. If I can overcome this, I can overcome anything. Thank you for reminding me of that during one of my weakest moments.”

“That’s what I’m here for, baby.”

I kissed her head as she picked the picture up and held it to her chest. She closed her eyes like she was praying. I didn’t interrupt whatever she was doing when the movers approached. Everything had been loaded, and things were still quiet in the bedroom. I gave the movers a head nod and handed them the keys to the storage unit we’d gotten before we showed up here, along with the paperwork so they would know where to go.

I slid my arms around Cassie as Jacob nodded and headed outside to the truck after texting Uncle Storm. When he came out of the bedroom, I had to interrupt Cassie. “It’s time to go, baby.”

She opened her eyes and nodded. Looking around the house, she took a deep breath and walked out. Once we were all outside, she locked the door, and we headed back to Nome.

CHAPTER 10

CASSIE

“So, you have to be able to create projects they can understand. This assignment is for kindergarteners. Some of these ideas are a little too advanced.” I chuckled as did they. “Now, let’s look at the snowman suggestion from Missy. It’s perfect. Only a little glue involved. The kids can make their snowmen however they choose to. So let that be your guide for your future lesson plans.”

I looked around the class to find they were very attentive to me. They usually were, and that was what gave me joy. It let me know that I had a gift to capture people’s attention when they were learning. God had given me the ability to explain things in a way that the smallest child could understand.

I went to my desk as they examined Missy’s lesson plans. This week had been hell on wheels emotionally. Mesani had called Kendrall on Wednesday saying that Jacob needed to count his days. Kendrall knew better than to make threats over the phone, thankfully. However, I was sure once he could track Mesani down, he would be telling him a piece of his mind… or worse.

I was just so fucking drained. I looked at my picture almost every day. Kendrall had allowed me to make one of the bedrooms a place of solitude for me. I put the picture in there and added a couch, recliner, and coffee table to the room. I also took my desk in there. I spent a lot of time in his arms as well.

Kendrall had taken me shopping Tuesday when I got off work. I was happy that he’d done so, but I insisted on ordering most of my clothes from SHEIN. I was not about to spend a ton of money in the department stores around here. He shook his head and said I was being cheap, but I didn’t care. I only purchased under garments, makeup, and shoes at the stores.

I couldn’t believe Mesani would fuck up my stuff like that. He was a bitch for real for that. I was glad Jacob had come along with Uncle Storm to help out, because the last thing I wanted was Kendrall to get disqualified from the competition for this foolishness. Mesani would have called the cops on him, for sure.

As the class of young women tackled their assignment, there was a knock on my door. I frowned slightly, because I rarely had visitors to my classroom. The door was unlocked, so when the dean of the college of education walked in, my eyebrows lifted. However, when two cops walked in behind her, I knew exactly what this was. Mesani had filed charges. It was the weekend, and I could possibly spend it in jail.

I stood from my seat as Mrs. Fuller said, “Miss Daniels, they need to speak with you. I’ll take over your class from here.”

I nodded and walked over to the officers. While I thought they would just escort me out, since I was going willingly, that muthafucka turned me around and said, “Put your hands behind your back.”

He cuffed me in front of my class while the other officer read my rights. I was so fucking embarrassed. They would be walking me around the university in handcuffs. While everything in me wanted to lower my head and cry, I held my head high like that shit didn’t bother me in the least. They could kiss my entire ass. They could have easily parked in front of the building I was in, but they literally paraded me for everyone to see until we got to the main entrance.

By the time we got there, I saw Kendrall parking. He was supposed to be meeting me for lunch. We’d agreed that we would do this every Friday, since I didn’t have class for my PhD. He quickly ran to me. I said, “You know what this is. Please go to my classroom and get my things.”

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