Page 5 of Blind Spot
“Nah. She’s def’ feeling a brother. I told her a while ago that we could never be like that. Charly’s too good for niggas like me.”
“Don’t you think you could protect her even more if she were your woman?”
“Nah. Because I don’t want to drag her down.”
“If you really were feeling her then?—”
“I said no!” Heads turned in my direction, and I inhaled deeply, held it, and then exhaled slowly. “Yeah, I got feelings for her. I love that girl,” I whispered.
“I know that shit. You always have. Everyone knows that shit except for her, apparently.”
“But I can’t destroy her like that, Bro. She’s my everything. If she’s trying to hold me down, she can’t focus on being the best person she can be. She’s so damn smart and successful, and she has the world at her feet. Why the fuck I wanna ruin that with the shit I be into?”
“Stop selling dope, nigga, and use that brain for something useful,” Ramon warned. “Then you can claim her.”
“With this shit on my record, that’s not about to happen. When I get out, ain’t nobody gon’ fuck with me the long way. I’ll be lucky if I can get a job cleaning toilets. So hell the fuck yeah, when I get out, I’m doing the same shit until I can finish stacking and build my own business and race my cars.”
“You should be following in Joaquin’s footsteps.”
“It’s too late for that now, ain’t it?”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
“She needs someone with a career who can take care of her and give her the life that she deserves. She needs a cornball muthafucka who ain’t gon’ get in trouble or bring it to her doorstep. Someone who can give her the white picket fence and two or three kids. That someone ain’t me. I wish like hell it was, but I ain’t built like that.”
Ramon shook his head, and I turned away and walked back to Charly. I wrapped her in my embrace, and she started crying all over again. She sniffled, and her little body shook. I kissedthe top of her head and stated, “Be good, Charly girl. I love you, okay?”
She bobbed her head. “I love you more.”
“It’s only two years. Hold it down for a G. I love you, girl.”
I leaned down to kiss her forehead and then her nose. She pushed up on her toes and kissed my lips.
“Charly,” I growled and gripped her hips. I jerked her back because I didn’t want her to feel my erection or my heart thudding wildly in my chest.
“I love you, Dom.”
“You know what this is. Come on, baby girl. Don’t make shit harder than it’s gotta be.”
“I’ll come and visit you every weekend.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “No. You go on with your life. I don’t want any visitors or letters.”
“Dom!” she cried out.
I started walking backward, and she rushed me and clutched my shirt. “Please don’t push me out.” She cried.
I grabbed her hands, and she didn’t know that my heart was breaking, too, but it was the only thing that I could do. I pulled her hands off me and lightly shoved her away. Ramon stood behind her and gripped her shoulders when she stumbled backward.
“Please!” she cried out.
I shook my head. My brother glared at me, and I bobbed my head at him. He thumped his chest and declared, “Be easy. See you on the other side, Bro.”
I nodded, looked at my baby girl with tears in her eyes, and turned my back on her. I made that walk to the other side of the door with her screaming, “Dom, don’t leave me! Please, Dom! I love you, Dom!”
That shit almost caused me to stumble in my steps. Almost. I had to remain strong for her and for me. Walking away fromher was the hardest thing that I ever had to do, but what I didn’t know then was that when I would return home two years later, I would regret every decision I made until that point.
Chapter 3
