Page 17 of They Call Me Dom

“I’m okay,” Diana replied.

I looked at her parents. Mr. Moore completely ignored me, and that was cool with me. I preferred he didn’t say shit anyway.

“Hello, Dr. Cones,” Mrs. Moore greeted me.

“What happened to Diana?” I inquired.

Mildred walked in as soon as the question left my mouth. I thoroughly cleaned and dried my hands as I listened to Mrs. Moore’s explanation. Mildred rolled her eyes.

“We took her to the park, and she fell off the monkey bars. It’s one of her favorite activities, but she can get carried away with it,” Mrs. Moore responded with an uneasy chuckle.

I looked at Mildred briefly, and she rolled her eyes to the ceiling again as I continued my examination of Diana.

“Is that what happened, Diana?”

I lifted her shirt partially and noted all the fresh and old bruises on her body. This was the last time I’d go off a parent’s word when it came to a kid having back-to-back incidents like this. I wasn’t a detective or FBI profiler, but I was a damn good doctor. My eye was trained to notice physical and sometimes emotional abuse placed on a child. I thought she was just a growing kid, but now it appeared there was something bad going on. Her father was the type of man that made good fathers look bad.

“Why the fuck you ask her that? Didn’t you just hear what my wife said? And why you checkin’ her body instead of lookin’ at her collarbone?”

I released a deep sigh and turned to him.

“First, take some of that bass out yo’ voice. I may be a doctor, but I’m a man at the end of the day. Secondly, I believed every bullshit ass story y’all have fed me about Diana, but it stops today. You all have no idea how severely uncoordinated this child would have to be by the way she constantly falls and hurts herself. That means every few steps she takes, she falls. There are also welts on her skin that are permanent. I looked at the x-rays of her collarbone. Yes, it looks as if she could’ve fallen fromthe monkey bars, but the bruises around her fracture don’t add up,” I stated with my voice elevated.

Her dad walked closer to me. “What the fuck you tryin’ say? That we abuse our daughter?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Our social worker, Dresser, and the police are currently on the way. Diana will undergo a full exam by me and will be interviewed by Dresser. If her stories don’t align with you all’s, she will be removed from your home today.”

Mrs. Moore gasped. “Dr. Cones, please don’t. I love her. I’d never hurt her.”

“Muthafucka!” Mr. Moore yelled then leaped at me. He knocked Mrs. Moore’s shades off, and Mildred gasped loudly.

I caught his goofy ass by the throat and hemmed him against the wall. Mr. Moore attempted to get me off him, but I was too strong for his weak ass.

“I’m not a woman or a little girl. You don’t put fear in my heart, you weak ass bitch. Hit me how you been hittin’ Diana. I dare you. I’ll toss yo’ punk ass out that fucking window!” I spat.

“Police! It’s okay, doctor. We’ll take it from here,” an officer voiced behind me.

I held on to Mr. Moore a few seconds longer before I released him. He staggered over to the countertop in the room. I turned to see uniformed officers had arrived, and Dresser was behind them. Poor little Diana’s eyes were low as tears trailed down her face. I hated that she had to see me in the same light as her father, but hopefully, she saw I’d only tried to protect her. I looked at Mrs. Moore, and her right eye was swollen shut. It was plumper than a ripe strawberry during strawberry season. It was black, purple, and slightly blue. There was also a thick white crust around her eye, and I suspected it was infected. She looked down in embarrassment and probably guilt.

“Officers and Dresser, I suspect my patient, Diana Moore, is being abused by her father, Mr. Moore.” I pointed to him. “Diana needs to be interviewed separately from her parents, and from the looks of her mother’s eye, she needs to be interviewed then examined as well.”

“We’re on it,” the first officer stated.

He directed his partner to stay in the room with Mr. Moore, while he interviewed Mrs. Moore. Dresser helped Diana down and guided her to her office. I exited the room, hating that Diana would have to leave that house. If Mrs. Moore told the truth, then maybe Mr. Moore would be locked up, and her and Diana could live in peace without him. Hopefully, God’s will be done. I took an hour to regain my composure. Mr. Moore had me hot. I was not a hood nigga like him, but I wasn’t no ho either. I grew up with three brothers. I had no choice but to be tough. My brothers expected nothing less.

Time went by, and I completed Diana’s exam. My speculations were right. Her dad hit her repeatedly just like her mom. Their testimonies were the same. He was a loser and a drunk. Mr. Moore was arrested, and by God’s grace, Mrs. Moore was allowed to keep Diana. She feared him too much to leave, but she claimed now that he was gone, there was enough time to get Diana away from here. There was family down South they could stay with. Before they left, I treated Mrs. Moore’s eye. It was infected and super weak after so much abuse. I hoped she’d be able to see once it healed. If not, she’d lose it after so much trauma. They had a long road of recovery ahead of them, but I knew they could do it.

6

Laila “Lai”

April 2025

I had never rushed home so fast in my life. It was Friday night, and I’d looked forward to this day more than any other day in a long time. Sur was finally on board with our arrangement. I was beyond ecstatic. Now that him and Dom were locked in, I scheduled a dinner tonight at our house. This night was carved out for all three of us to air out any questions, concerns, or goals for our affair. Tonight was also for all three of us to set some rules. My only rule was that Dom had sex with us only because I didn’t want any STDs, and I knew Sur didn’t want any either. Safe sex was a must as well, unless Sur felt differently about it. I kind of assumed he probably wanted to use condoms, but who knew? Dom had awakened something in him that I hadn’t witnessed since the beginning of our relationship and marriage. Sur seemed happier, freer, and that made me smile. He’d forgotten that spontaneous side of him ever since my affair with Mariya, and I prayed for a solution. Dom was my physical gift to Sur for the pain I caused him, or at least that was what I told myself.

I wanted Dom to fulfill Sur’s needs like Mariya had done for me. It helped to deal with the guilt of being an adulterer. However, from their phone calls and farmer’s market dates, there was more going on. For some odd reason, it didn’t bother me. I guess it was because she and I spent the same amount of time together. We video chatted and texted. Plus, I visited her job every other night. Dom had grown on me so much that I craved to be around her as much as I possibly could. I contained myself as long as I could around her, and it was time for me to taste her. That was why I hoped like hell that after dinner we were all able to have sex because I was long overdue for some of her good stuff. If Sur wasn’t down, then I wouldn’t rush him, but I planned to be trapped by Dom’s thick thighs. That night at the bar, I’d gotten a brief glimpse of how wet she could get, but I knew I could make her wetter.

I stepped out of my shower and wrapped a towel around my body. A gleeful feeling filled my body as I swiped my moisturizer from the vanity in our room. I plopped down on our bed and moisturized my body. Just the thought of the three of us tangled in our sheets created chills along my skin and made my heartbeat pick up. My excitement did cartwheels in my stomach. That was how ecstatic I was to have Dom in our house for the night. I wanted everything to be perfect for her. Once I finished moisturizing, I slipped into my clothes for the evening. I wanted to look as sexy as I could for both Sur and Dom. I fluffed out my curly fro then sprayed a little oil in it. Next, I finger coiled the curls that needed a little sprucing. Lastly, I added a little makeup and gloss to my lips then sprayed on my date night perfume.

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