her life, the better. “I think Mariella feels more comfortable with you now. Can you check her out a little just to be sure she doesn’t have… you know?”
“I’ll try, but I don’t think she’ll let me touch her. I wouldn’t want to force myself…”
“I can keep her steady. We’ll start with her mouth.”
“The mouth, huh? Have you ever seen anything there? You know what they look like.”
Caught hesitating, Moni shrugged. She offered him a seductive smile that she hoped would make him forget the question. Sure enough, Aaron grinned as dumbly as a rabbit trapped in a box and munching on the bait.
Moni sat besides Mariella and started stroking the girl’s hair as she colored. Her eyes locked on those brownish pink lips. She wondered whether those delicate petals hid a horde of purple welts full of life-sucking bacteria. They would have left their toxic residue on every utensil and dish in Moni’s house. Every time Moni opened her mouth or breathed in the air inside her own house, the tiny assassins invaded her body. Mariella didn’t appear sick. Moni didn’t feel bad either, but the very thought of their existence made her blood curdle inside her veins.
The moment Aaron took a step toward the couch with the black bag at his side, Mariella froze. She dropped her crayon, clasped her palm atop Moni’s hand and cowered against her protector. Nothing got past this girl.
“Oh Mariella. I told you Aaron won’t hurt you. He’s just gonna give you a quick check up.”
“Only if you’re okay with it,” Aaron assured her.
“Oh course, she…”
Feeling Mariella’s frightened touch, Moni realized that she couldn’t speak for the girl. Just because Mariella didn’t talk, that didn’t mean Moni could make her decisions for her. The tiny trembling fingers digging into her hand told her all that mattered. Mariella felt healthy and strong. She didn’t need instruments probing her body. She hated needles. Moni couldn’t let anyone do it-even Aaron.
He paced closer. Moni stood up and shielded the girl. “Change of plans.”
“Oh? You seemed so sure a second ago.”
“Mariella isn’t ready for more tests. What she had last week after we picked her up was enough.”
“I’m not arguing.” Aaron dropped his bag and kicked it underneath the table. “We’ll play doctor another time. But right now, how about we play ‘order that pizza’?”
“Now you’re talking.” Moni grinned and set a fresh sheet of paper on the table for Mariella, who finally relaxed her grip so the blood could rush back into Moni’s arm. “Hey, baby, why don’t you draw me a nice picture of all the toppings you…”
Her words were cut off by a loud bang and crash from in front of her house. Mariella scampered behind the couch as fast as a mouse shooting back into its hole. Moni leapt up and marched past the befuddled Aaron toward the front window. She brushed back the curtains. The side mirror on Aaron’s sedan had been bashed and left hanging like a mangled limb. Darren had paid them a little visit.
“That’s my fucking car!” Aaron hollered. “My dad will be so pissed.”
Moni didn’t care how much Aaron mooched off his parents at that moment because she knew the man who smacked that mirror off Aaron’s car wouldn’t hesitate in separating parts from real bodies. The door shook under his pounding.
“Open this door Moni!”
Her father had screamed the same message at her when she held tight to the handle on the other side of her closet door. He had always overpowered her flimsy arms and barged inside with his breath aflame.
Darren’s boot slammed into the door. Moni felt the vibration of the blow in the floor and jolted back.
“I got ways of com’n in here. Remember, this is where I live! This is my house!”
Moni’s hand hovered over the gun hanging on her waistband. It stood ready for a moment like this. She didn’t touch it. Darren had smacked her around, but he’d never go gangster on her.
“Moni, who the hell is that?” Aaron asked.
“Just some guy,” she mumbled.
“Some guy’s gonna make us call the police. No offense and all, but I think you could use some backup on this one.”
“Don’t. I got this.”
He didn’t deserve jail time. He wasn’t like her father. She had thought Darren would protect her from her father. He’d never mess with a 6-foot, 4-inch mass of black muscle adorned with thick chains, gold teeth and tribal tattoos all up and down his arms.
“I know you got some little faggot in there wit’ you!” he shouted through the door. “You really want me to break this window don’t you? Or how about I come ‘round back and stomp in your screen?”
Moni glanced behind her. If Darren came through the rear, he’d see Mariella hiding behind the couch. That asshole had ruined enough girls’ lives.
“You wanna see me?” Moni asked. “Here I am.”
Her hand froze over her gun. Darren wouldn’t go that far unless she drew first. She unlocked the deadbolt. He immediately yanked open the door, but the chain stopped it from opening more than five inches. Darren nearly dislodged the chain from the wall. Moni saw cracks form in the wood around it.
His nostrils flared as he poked his face through as far as he could. Those lips that had once kissed her so passionately all over her body and made her squeal with delight now snarled like a panther with gold-capped fangs.
“You can’t kick me out,” Darren said. “I paid for this crib.”
“You leant me a couple hundred bucks once. That doesn’t mean you own the place.”
“I own what I say I own and we’re not done until I say we’re done. I don’t remember breaking up with you, bitch.”
“Yeah, what you call what you were doing with that ho? That’s a relationship killer right there. There is no coming back home from that shit.”
“Men got urges. Sometimes that’s what happens when the woman is working late when her ass should be home. You can’t blame me for that.”
“Fine. I don’t blame you… Now get away from my house.”
Moni pushed the door shut, but Darren wrapped his bear paw of a hand around the door. She couldn’t press it closed. She squinted her eyes and shoved it harder. Her effort stymied, Moni opened her eyes and saw the silver nozzle of Darren’s gun in her face. She instantly realized how foolish she was to trust that she wouldn’t need to draw her gun.
“Ain’t you gonna invite me in so I can meet your guest?”
Chapter 15
Moni did what her ex-boyfriend said. She dropped her gun on the floor and unlocked the chain so he could come inside. Aaron had never been held at gunpoint. The worst weapon he’d seen used on the beachside was a skateboard swung around. His blood ran cold when the hulking black man burst in the house and swept the aim of his gun between him and Moni.
After telling himself a thousand times that this wasn’t happening and holding his ass from shitting his pants, Aaron got the notion that Mr. Muscles wasn’t playing games. This guy intended on hurting somebody-maybe killing them.
“What’s up?” the man barked as he pointed the gun at Aaron’s forehead.
His mumbling reply didn’t form a coherent response.
“You think you can mack on my girl? Yeah, this is what happens.”
He brought the barrel within inches of his face. Aaron squeezed his eyes closed.
“Stop it, Darren!” Moni shouted. “This is between you and me. It has nothing to do with him.”
The man turned the gun from Aaron and casually aimed it at her ribs. “Oh, so when you bring some punk home to lay that pipe in you it means nothing, but when I stray for just one night it’s all over. Is that how it works with you? That’s a double standard, if you ask me.”
“You don’t know shit about what I’m doing. I haven’t done anything with Aaron. He’s here as a friend.”
The diss of being called a friend didn’t hurt Aaron as bad as how Darren responded when he heard his
