Page 33 of Somebody Else Will

She nodded, and I pulled her close, doing my best to comfort her. Her mental was feeling the weight of everything, and I wished I could relieve her of those thoughts and feelings of guilt. Hopefully, with time, she would be able to let that go and see the big picture.

“I sort of… attacked her.”

We were in Jamia’s room, and Denishia had been dying to talk to her to see what happened. She was in recovery for an hour or so, then they placed her in a room. She’d just awakened about an hour ago. Nishia gave her time to get her bearings and let the anesthesia wear off.

“What do you mean, Jamia?”

She closed her eyes briefly, then said, “I don’t think she knew we were there. We’d just gotten there, so the lights were off. She threw the brick through the front window, and I ran after her. I grabbed that bitch by her hair and drug her ass back to the shop.”

She stopped for a moment and winced in pain. Denishia gently rubbed her hand. “Jamia, why would you chase that woman down? You should have just let her go. You put your life at risk for shit that could be repaired. Don’t ever do that again.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You finally gave me a key, and I didn’t want you to regret trusting me with it. I was beating that face in until she got ahold of a piece of glass. When she hit me in theside with it, that was it. I fell over, and she got on top of me and went to work on my fucking face.”

I could tell she was crying by the sound of her voice, although I couldn’t see her tears. It trembled, and it sounded like she was taking quick short breaths. I hated this. Jamia was a beautiful woman, and I assumed the attacker didn’t like that. Of all the places she could have cut her, she decided to slice her face up. The shit wasn’t adding up, and I didn’t feel like Will would stoop this got damn low.

If he did, that nigga was bitch made for real. I could tell he wasn’t about that life, although he tried to portray that he was. He was way shorter than me, maybe about five feet eight or so. He wore glasses and was slightly meaty. He wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t solid either. When I had to hem him up over a week ago, I could see the fear in his eyes. I just didn’t feel like he was responsible for this.

Denishia turned to me and said, “I need to go to the shop and survey the damage. Jerzey said she got the man from the barbershop down the way to board it up best he could, but?—”

I put my fingers to her lips. “I gotchu, baby.”

“Jerzey, are you gonna stay with Jamia until I get back? I need to go to the shop.”

“Yes. The detectives will probably be here in a little bit to ask questions. I’ll be able to tell them what I saw. This is the worst personal day I’ve taken in a while.”

Denishia rubbed her back. Jerzey usually only worked weekends, but it was divine intervention that she was there today. She was a phlebotomist and typically worked Monday through Thursday and half a day on Friday. She would spend the rest of her Friday and all day Saturday at the floral shop.

Grabbing my hand, Denishia led us out of the room. As we walked to my vehicle, Denishia said, “I’m so sorry that our beginning is filled with so much drama. You don’t deserve that.”

“Neither do you. I’m glad I’m here to help you through it. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. Believe it or not, I’m getting to know you even more. Your resilience in the face of adversity is admirable. The way you just handle things while dealing with what could be unbearable weight. However, I’m here. You don’t have to be strong all the time. I’m here for those moments when you need to be weak.”

She swiped a tear that had fallen down her cheek as she nodded. “Thank you, Ezekiel.”

She leaned into me and wrapped her arm around mine. Whether she realized it or not, this bullshit she was going through didn’t bother me in the least. For someone to be after her, it showed just how valuable she was. Niggas didn’t like to see you advance. There were some jealous people in this world, and it was sad. Jealousy could lead to all sorts of things… even the shit that happened today.

I kissed Denishia’s head and continued to my car, mentally preparing to help her put her shop and her mental back together.

When we gotto the shop, I slowly shook my head.Ignant ass ho.I couldn’t wait to look at the camera footage to see if I knew who she was. I really wanted to unblock Will and go the fuck off, but I decided to allow the police to do their jobs. That window she threw the brick through was the most beautiful part of the shop. It had flowers and my logo painted on it. It was special because my mama was the one to paint it.

After Ezekiel got out of the car, I took deep breaths, trying to steady my emotions. He said I didn’t have to be strong all the time, but I knew no other way to be. It was how my mama raised me to be. She told me not to depend on a man to do shit for me or make me feel validated. I needed to be able to do that shit for myself. I’d stuck to that mantra like gorilla glue.

Will didn’t make me feel confident in his ability to support me emotionally or any other way for that matter. Shit, I was supporting him financially for most of our relationship. Whywould he go to these lengths? He had to know this shit wasn’t going to convince me to go back to him, especially since I was no longer in love with him. His thinking had to be backward as hell.

Ezekiel helped me from my seat, and we walked to the entrance to unlock the door. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to mentally prepare for what I would see. My OCD was gonna kick in, and I was going to want to clean all that shit up. Before I could open the door, my phone chimed with text messages. I frowned slightly then pulled my phone from my pocket as Ezekiel caressed my back.

Hey, Denishia. I took pictures of all the damage. I’m sorry that shit happened at your place. Jerzey wanted to clean shit up, because she said she refused to have you go into that mess. You have enough on your plate, dealing with grief. So I took these pictures so you could show them to the insurance adjuster.

I released a sigh of relief and true gratitude. That message was from Daryl at the barbershop. He was always friendly, but I didn’t expect him to go above and beyond for me. Opening the door, I walked in, and the shop was completely clean, looking like it did the last time I was here.

“Oh wow. Who cleaned up?” Ezekiel asked.

“A guy I know that owns the barbershop down the street. I owe him big time. I don’t know how I would’ve reacted to seeing glass and blood everywhere. God bless him and Jerzey.” I turned to Ezekiel to see him looking around. Stepping toward him, I extended my phone. “He took these pictures. I really don’t want to look at them right now, but that was who texted me as we were about to come inside.”

He took the phone from me as it chimed again. I walked away to look around to make sure everything was cool and in its proper places. To know I had people looking out for me the way they did today was somewhat overwhelming. Even all theflowers were put in their proper places. I hated that we had to let customers down today. I was supposed to be delivering a couple of bouquets around noon.

It was already three o’clock, and I knew I would have to refund their money. When I felt a touch on my shoulder, I flinched. I’d retreated within my own thoughts and had completely forgotten Ezekiel was with me. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Umm… you got a new text.”

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