Page 72 of Mister President

“I tried to walk away, baby. Felicity has the video. She can send it, and you can see for yourself.”

“Aight, tell her to send it.”

While she typed on her phone, I guided her to the Jeep. By the time we’d made it inside, Felicity had sent the video.

Three women by the bar stared at Amanda. As they walked by, Tamar put Amanda between her and Felicity. That caused the women to laugh and say Amanda was weak.

With a chuckle, Amanda stopped in front of them. “Separating me from you is for your benefit. Trust me.”

“Girl, bye,” one of the women said with a wave of her hand. “Ain’t nobody scared of you.”

“You should be,” Felicity said.

“I’m sure she knows how to fight,” another woman said, stepping in front of Amanda. “She would need to, the way she goes around fucking women’s men.”

There was a difference between someone who could fight and someone who was a fighter. Amanda was a fighter. For that reason, she never hit anyone first. She didn’t even like to fight. That was why I was so surprised by the turn of events.

“Look, if this is about some nigga that cheated on you years ago, I don’t care about that shit,” Amanda said, trying to walk away.

“Of course you don’t care. You sleep with any woman’s man, break up their home, and go on about your business, don’t you? You ain’t worth shit, bitch. All you’re good for is stripping and fucking. That’s all you’re known for too,” the third woman said.

Amanda released a long exhale. Her expression was calm. “I’m trying to be understanding,” she said quietly. “If I helped your man cheat on you, I do apologize. I’m a different woman now. Whatever happened had to have happened over five years ago, so please, heal and move on. I’m not about to stand here and argue with you about some man I probably wouldn’t even recognize if he walked down the street.”

All hell broke loose when Amanda turned around and they started walking away.

“Bitch, you ruined my family!” the third woman yelled, grabbing Amanda’s hair.

Like lightning, Amanda turned, grabbed the woman’s arm, and used it to yank her under her arm. She had her gripped in a headlock and delivered blow after blow until the bartender came and tried to pull Amanda away. At that point, it was useless. When she started, there was no stopping her until she was ready. As soon as the bartender grabbed her, she turned around and hit him with a three piece that sent him into the bar.

“Damn!” I yelled before snorting out a laugh from my surprise.

The only thing that stopped her from going back after the girl was Felicity and Tamar grabbing her. That only made things worse because the girl’s friends called themselves jumping in. Tamar and Felicity sent fast punches their way. Shortly after that, the video stopped. I handed her the phone and noticed she had tears in her eyes as her leg shook.

“How do you feel?” I asked, not bothering to cut the car on yet.

The abrupt sob that left her caught me off guard. I pulled her onto my lap and held her while she got out her tears. When they turned into snivels, I wiped her face.

“Talk to me, Mandy. You beat her ass. Why you crying?”

Sniffling, she tucked her head so much her chin almost touched her chest.

“I’m tired of stuff like that happening,” she grumbled. “It feels like regardless of the progress I’ve made over the years, people still judge me because of my past. Men still see me as an object—just a body. Women see me as a whore or homewrecker. Someone who doesn’t have anything to offer.” I caught a tear that slipped down her cheek. “I know people’s opinion of me doesn’t matter, but it still sucks. Like…I don’t want to be somewhere with EJ and something like that happens, you know? I don’t want one of his friend’s moms to see me and say something negative about me that he gets bullied about in school.

“And now with me trying to start my business and do something positive for women, I feel like shit like that is going to overshadow it. I don’t regret what I’ve done because it was all a part of me becoming who I am, but damn. There’s just so many things I would do differently if I could go back. How will people take me seriously when I have to own up to stuff like that?”

That was heavy. I didn’t want to oversimplify how she felt by rushing a response. So for a while, I remained silent and stroked her arms and back. When I felt led to speak, I did.

“You did everything right in that moment, bae.” I lifted her head by her chin so she could look into my eyes. “You tried to walk away, you apologized, you took accountability for your actions, and you tried to defuse the situation. You are notresponsible for the actions of others, nor are you responsible for how they react to what you say or do.”

I paused and gave her a moment to receive that. “We all have things in our past that we would change if we could, but every piece of the puzzle was needed to create this version of you today. There might come a day when our son has questions about our past, and we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I want you to take pride in how you’ve changed and how far you’ve come.

“People are going to take you and your business seriously because you’re being authentic. You’re not hiding your past; you’re turning it into something motivational that will help other women respect themselves, increase their confidence, and feel beautiful. Even if people judge you, their perception of you doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to allow anyone to make you feel bad about some shit that you’ve made peace with.

“You’ve buried that version of yourself. Don’t dig her back up. I’m so proud of you, and I know this is literally just the beginning for you. The sky won’t even be the limit for the good you’re going to do in the world. People are going to talk, and they’re going to hate, but as long as they don’t put their hands on you, respond just like you did today. And if they do put they hands on you, you show them why you ain’t to be fucked with. I don’t usually condone women fighting, but she deserved that shit.”

She smiled as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Thank you, baby. I needed to hear that. The whole time I sat in there with Captain Brooks, I was overthinking myself into sadness. Usually, I wouldn’t have cared about her saying what she said, but fighting because of it? I think that’s what triggered me.”

“I think the people God chooses to make the biggest impacts and reach the highest peaks have the lowest starts. Take pride inwho you are, what you have to give, and what’s about to come. You did the right thing, bae.”

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