Page 11 of Blind Spot
“I know that. He’s like a brother to me.”
“No!” he roared. “He loves you the way that a man loves a woman.”
“No, he does not. He loves me the same way that he loves you, Ramon.”
He shook his head. “He loves you like my dad loves my mom. He’s in love with you. Always has been.”
My stomach tightened because what the hell was he talking about? Another thing I noticed was that he’d said that Dom loved me the way that their father loved their mother, not the way thatheloved me. I had always suspected that Ramon didn’t really love me. He treated me like a prize that he had won, something to be shown off and boasted about. At least that was how he treated me in public. In private, he ignored me, and if he didn’t ignore me, he ridiculed me. Then there were other times, like these, when he was drunk and became mean and abusive.
I shook my head. “You’re mistaken. He doesn’t. Dominic doesn’t know how to love a woman that way. You’ve seen him. He’s got women all around him all the time. He can’t settle down,” I declared as I bent and picked the figurines up from the floor. The majority of them were broken, and I would have to clean them up with a broom and dustpan.
“Because he loves you. He knows no woman could take your place.”
I stood and stared at him. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. You’ve been drinking too much, Ramon.”
He rushed me without me being prepared. Usually, when he was drunk and put his hands on me, I was ready, and I would fight him off. We had torn this house up on a few occasions over the last year, fighting. It hadn’t always been this way. In the beginning, he had been compassionate, kind, and endearing. After the first six months, that changed. He became proud and boastful about me. I could tolerate that. But three months before Dominic was released from jail, our arguments became volatile.
He yoked me up one day, and I swung on him. He immediately released me and started crying and apologizing. Ramon told me that it was the stress of the tax season and an audit he was working on that had him acting out of character. Foolish me. I accepted his excuse, his hugs, and his material gifts. One month later, another argument broke out because I mentioned the first incident.
He remarked, “Girl, I ain’t did shit to you yet. Keep talking with that fly ass mouth.” I told him that he wasn’t my daddy, and he wouldn’t do shit. He smacked me in the mouth, and I punched him in the jaw. From there, we tussled, and I gave as good as I got. But my strength as a woman could never be a match for a man’s.
I should have gotten out then because all we became was a series of arguments and pushing and shoving one another. He hadn’t hit me since that day, but I felt like it was only a matter of time.
Ramon grabbed me and lifted me over his shoulder. He started spanking my ass as he marched down the hall toward our bedroom.
“Put me down! Quit hitting me, Ramon!” I screamed.
He kept spanking me until he threw me on the bed. I bounced off and ran to the other side of the bed to pack my bags.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded as I threw some things in my overnight bag.
“Away from your crazy ass. This behavior is why you shouldn’t be drinking!”
“Why? It helped me see what’s really going on around here. You’ve probably been fucking him since he got out of prison.”
Tears streamed down my face as I looked up at him. “Why are you so jealous of him, Ramon? You put your brother down every chance you get, and all he does is lift you up.”
He jumped across the bed, grabbed me by my neck, and slammed me against the wall. “You think I’m jealous of him? He ain’t shit, Charly! And he ain’t ever gonna be shit! When are you going to get that through your thick head? Even he knows that. It’s why he doesn’t want to be with you!” He yelled in my face as spit speckled my face.
“He’s a good friend and a good brother. Why can’t you see that you’re the one destroying your relationship with him?” I sobbed.
He backhanded me so hard that I saw stars. “You lying, cheating, two-faced whore!” I was so done. There was nothing he could say that would ever change my mind about us after this.
When he reached up to hit me again, I shoved at him enough to push away from the wall. I headbutted him until he staggered backward. I turned and grabbed the rest of my things, but before I could leave the room, Ramon grabbed me by my hair and dragged me across the floor.
I kicked and screamed as I tried to free his hands from my hair, but he wouldn’t let go. He dragged me to the front door. I managed to get to my feet just before he shoved me out the door. I ran back into the house to grab my keys, and he punched me so hard that I fell onto the floor.
“I hate you!” I screamed as I curled into a ball. Pain radiated through my face and head. When he reached down to grab me, I kicked my leg up and aimed it straight for his groin. Summoning every ounce of strength that I could, I thrust my leg out hard and kicked him in his balls.
He crumpled to the floor and groaned for several seconds. I slowly pushed myself up and kicked him repeatedly in the back. “Fuck you, Ramon. You had a good woman, but you’ve lost her. All because of your insecurities and jealousy!”
He continued groaning, and I staggered to where my keys and purse were. Grabbing them, I turned around just in time tosee him getting off the floor. I ran back to grab my bag and then headed for the door again. He jumped in front of the door before I could get out.
“You’re willing to fuck over me for him? He’s gonna drag you down the same hole he climbs out of. I can promise you now, he ain’t up to shit. He’s lying up with some whore, and look at you rushing out to be the next whore in his bed.”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! As long as I’m no longer your fool anymore, that’s all that matters!” I shouted, punching him in the chest with each sentence.
He lifted me and threw me out of the house, onto the ground. I lay in a ball, crying as he slammed the door on me. I heard the lock click, and I rolled onto my back and stared up at the starless sky.
