Page 43 of Blind Spot
“The same way you should’ve fucked up Ramon?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t tell me that you didn’t know he was putting his hands on her.”
“What? Hell no! I mean, come on. You think I would’ve let some shit like that fly? Did you know?” he asked, turning the tables back on me.
I sighed heavily because if anyone should have known, I should have known.
“I suspected it, but I wasn’t sure. I asked Charly about it in the past, and she said no. She told me that she wouldn’t stay with a dude who was kicking her ass, but obviously, she lied to me.”
“What happened?”
I told him the entire story of everything that went down from my first suspicion to the final confirmation and the fallout since.
“That’s fucked up, and he does deserve to have his ass kicked, but that’s your brother at the end of the day, Dom. You can’t fall out with him over a girl.”
“And I wouldn’t, but this is Charly we’re talking about. She’s been like a sister to all of us, forever.”
“I hope like fuck not. ’Cause if so, y’all ass on some incestuous shit.”
“You know what I’m saying, man. Besides, it’s not like I just caught feelings for her out of the blue. I’ve loved that girl for as long as I can remember.”
“Glad you finally manned up and admitted that shit. It would’ve been nice if you’d admitted that long before now. If you had, all this could’ve been avoided.”
“I couldn’t drag her down that road.”
“I hear you, baby bro, but all I’m gonna say about that is bullshit.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve always loved that girl, and we saw it. I don’t know any two friends of the opposite sex who are straight and walk around naked around each other the way you two do, or how you sit in bed and chill together, and all the other couple shit you do. I think you didn’t reciprocate her feelings because your ass was scared of getting hurt. You were scared you weren’t good enough for her.”
“I wasn’t.”
“What changed?”
I sighed again. “Tired of running from my feelings. Tired of hurting her and seeing other niggas hurt her.”
“Mm.”
“What?”
“It’s never too late, but I really wish you’d have figured this out a long time ago. I mean, like I said, everyone knew you loved her as much as she loved you. Just like everyone knew that she didn’t belong with Ramon. The minute we all saw that shit, everyone was fucked up over it. Ma even asked what the hell he thought he was doing, and Daddy asked if he had lost his mind. We all wanted to tell you, but every letter was returned, and you wouldn’t accept visitors.”
“It made it easier for me to do my time,” I explained.
“Yeah, well, now you’ve got a mess to straighten out. Either way, I’ll be in town soon, so make sure you get it together. I don’t want my Thanksgiving fucked up over you two knuckleheads,” he stated wryly.
I laughed as I heard the front door open. “It won’t be. Listen, I gotta go. I’ll see you soon.”
“Same. Love you, man.”
“Love you too.”
I ended the call, grabbed the basket and the flowers from my bed, and rushed to the front of the house.
“Dom. What’s going on?” she asked, looking from the basket and flowers to me as she toed her shoes off.
