Page 3 of Do You Right

One second, I was getting pummeled by the rain, and the next, I was lifted in the air and placed inside the safety of a warm car. The driver joined me a few seconds later, and with a sniffle, I turned toward him. “Sir, if you’re going to kill me, just get it over with. I don’t even have the patience for suspense right now. Just hurry up and put me out of my misery. I won’t fight you.”

His head jerked back before he glared at me. “Girl, I’m not trying to kill you. What are you talking about? It’s raining hard as fuck out there. I’m about to take you to my crib and call the team doctor over to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh.” I sniffled softly, kind of disappointed that he wasn’t going to off me. “Where’s my book bag?”

Without a word, he hopped out and returned with it soaked so badly I knew everything inside was wet too. I placed it on the floor between my feet to keep it from leaking everywhere. Tears continued to slide down my cheeks as I turned my attention to the blurry windows. I felt completely numb for the quick ride to wherever this stranger lived. When I refused to answer him about whether I could walk or not, he chose to carry me in his arms for the second time.

We were both a soaking mess, so he set me on the stool in his lemon-scented kitchen. “I’m going to find you some dry clothes to put on and call the doctor over.” He stepped back but paused to say, “Please, stop crying. It’s scaring me.”

His words only made me cry harder, even though I nodded my head and began to wipe away my tears. Instead of crying aloud, I just silently sat in that stranger’s home staring at the marble countertop with gold trimming. Despite my depression, I could still admit it was very classy.

I glanced up when I heard soft foot falls from nearby. A second later, a man appeared in the doorway, and my heart stopped when I finally took a good look at him. It was the man from this morning. The one who’d rushed away for practice or something. The one I planned to dream about before his two-timing girlfriend ruined my day.

The only difference in his appearance was his freshly blow-dried hair was wild and untamed. I was a little baffled at how long his hair was. He was neck and neck with mine when it wasn’t coiled tighter than a baby’s fist. He had changed his wet clothes into shorts and a wife beater while he was gone. He held a similar outfit in his hand that extended to me.

My eyes went from his large, tattooed hand up to the hardened and swollen muscle of his biceps. I snatched the clothes from him, partly because I felt like he was to blame for the fight that I’d gotten in earlier. If he’d never cut off my path, then maybe I wouldn’t have seen what I wasn’t supposed to, and my violin wouldn’t have been broken.

“This is for you to put on. The doctor should be here by the time you finish changing.” His voice was soft and gentle, even though I could sense the tension wisping up like smoke between us. “There’s towels in the bathroom that you can use to dry yourself off.”

“Okay,” I whispered. I hissed when I slid from the stool. He jerked forward to help me, but I held up a hand to stop him. “I’m good. Where’s the bathroom?”

“First door on the right when you bend this corner.”

Following his instructions, I went into the bathroom and locked myself inside. I felt along the wall for the light until I found the switch. Looking at myself in the mirror, I sighed because my defeat was seen in the bags under my eyes. The puffiness or red hue couldn’t be missed, and honestly, I looked exactly how I felt. De-fucking-feated.

I sniffled while quietly undressing myself and handling what I needed to. By the time I came out of the bathroom, I had my clothes in a plastic bag I’d found under the sink, and the doctor had arrived. I turned the corner to find them whispering silently back and forth. I sucked in a sharp breath when ole boy looked at me. I saw a flash of recognition in his eyes, but he didn’t address it.

“Um, the doctor is here . . .”

I kept quiet because I obviously saw him standing there with a sly smirk. Since I didn’t reply, the doctor decided to fill the awkwardness. “Come sit over here so I can give you an exam.”

I didn’t put up a fight, because he was already here. I plopped down on the stool with my bag of clothes in my lap. Every question the doctor asked me resulted in a head nod or a shake. He kept turning to look at his friend who could only shrug because it wasn’t like he knew me either.

“Well, it seems like you’re okay, but I’ll prescribe you some pain medicine in case you wake up stiff or sore tomorrow.”

With a simple nod, he stepped away from me and turned to the other guy. “Walk me out?”

“Of course,” he replied before turning to me. “Be right back.”

I sighed in relief when they finally left me alone. A part of me was wondering how many pills he planned to give me. If it was enough to overdose on, then this wouldn’t be a total waste. I stood with my bag as I waited for the man to come back because I needed my book bag from his car.

When he appeared in the doorway a minute later, he had a pill bottle in his hand. He handed it toward me, but when I reached for it, he wrapped his hand around mine. “I’m really sorry about hitting you with my car. It was raining so hard. I swear you came out of nowhere. What will it cost me for you to keep this quiet?”

His eyes held a softness in their depths that made him easy to trust. I wanted to look away, but his thick eyelashes and low eyes refused to return my ability to breathe to me. And his skin was soft and warm, unlike my soul that was hardened and frozen rock solid.

“KC! I know you saw me calling your fucking phone,” a woman yelled from nearby.

He hadn’t released my hand before she appeared in the doorway. “What the fuck?” she cursed, seeing us standing nearly chest to chest. He dropped my hand and took a step back at the same time. When she saw that it was me standing there, she tried to rush me, but the man who I now knew was KC stepped in front of her. “Bitch, what are you doing here?” she asked while trying her best to get to me.

“Ty, chill the fuck out.” KC tried to reason with her, but she wasn’t calming down.

Still not over what happened earlier, I decided the best thing for me to do now was get away from him. I was being brought into drama that had nothing to do with me. I finally understood how easy it was to become an innocent bystander, because I was living the reality of what wrong place, wrong time truly meant.

“What the fuck is all this noise?” the man who’d broken my violin asked when he appeared in the doorway. He froze with a scowl when he saw me standing there. If looks could kill, he’d have slit my throat without ever lifting a finger.

Ty turned to him with her stiletto nail pointed in my direction. “Ask your friend what this bitch is doing here. No way you left me in the club to come home to a bitch living on the streets.”

“Listen, I’m leaving. I don’t want anything to do with whatever the fuck y’all have going on.” Turning to KC, I told him, “We’re good. I won’t try to press charges against you or anything like that. Please, just let me leave.”