God reached forward to touch her leg in some kind of comfort, but Chanel jerked frightfully from his touch and flinched away from him.
“I know that shit got you messed up,” he continued. “But you just need to be strong, a’ight?”
He finally stood up. Chanel couldn’t keep her eyes off of him. Her heart started to beat a mile a second.
“And believe me, I’m gonna help find whoever did this to you and I’m gonna murder these fools that raped you, okay? You got my word on that,” said God.
He turned and eventually left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Chanel alone in the dark. His sudden presence did something to Chanel. She erupted into tears. She couldn’t stop shaking. There was something about his presence that made her skin crawl and plunged her into deep fear.
It took her nearly an hour to stop shaking.
The following day, God was in the living room with Bacardi, and the two shared a blunt. They were engaged in conversation. Things were still tense in the apartment, and they figured smoking weed would relax them.
God took a long pull from the haze and then said, “Bacardi, you know I always will have love for you and your family. That shit that happened to Chanel, I’m already on it. I got my peoples out there lookin’ fo these niggas that did that shit, ya feel me?”
“Fuckin’ animals out there and I want these fuckin’ niggas dead,” Bacardi said with contempt.
“Don’t worry ’bout it. Whoever did that shit, they gonna get theirs, fo’ real. You know Chanel always been like a little sister to me.”
“I know, God.”
“That shit really fuckin’ hurt me,” he continued.
They passed the blunt back and forth and prolonged their conversation about how would they kill the two men responsible for raping Chanel. Bacardi came up with some sadistic ways that even made God cringe.
“Damn, you a foul and dangerous, bitch, Bacardi. Damn.”
“You fuck wit’ mines, then I fuck wit’ you, no fuckin’ mercy. I would cut these niggas’ dicks and balls clean the fuck off and make them fuckin’ eat that shit. I would watch them die fuckin’ slow.”
“Yeah, I feel you on that,” God agreed.
He was really selling it to her and to everyone else that he was the concerned surrogate older brother for Chanel and that he really wanted to go after the men responsible for her rape.
The next night, God entered Chanel’s room again to check on her. He was reaching for information, trying to see if she remembered anything about that night. He never removed his mask, they wore gloves, but he did leave with a few marks across his back after raping Chanel missionary. He knew it was a dumb move to untie her wrists so he could feel on her chest.
Once again, Chanel was lying in bed, not actually sleeping, but in a slight stupor. When she saw God come into the room again, she immediately cringed from the sight of him. He looked at her with concern, but there was a profound lie behind his eyes.
“Chanel, I just came in here to see if you were okay,” God said sympathetically.
“Just get out!” she exclaimed.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were good in here.”
“Get the fuck out!” she cried out.
“A’ight shorty, you ain’t gotta yell. I’ll leave. I care about you, Chanel, and I was just showing you some concern.”
Not wanting to upset her even more, he did what she asked and left the bedroom.
Chanel was visibly shaken-up and uncomfortable around him. Her tears started to run down her face like a river. He was purposely invading her personal space and stirring up fear inside of her. To her, God was her nightmare and his presence gave her the chills.
***
It had been weeks since God had spent the night with Charlie. After he slapped her, he would come and go, and he didn’t really pay Charlie that much attention. He’d sold off everything they gotten from Mateo’s place and it was a healthy profit. He gave Charlie her cut, and she felt like she was the breadwinner in the family again. She used her share to buy a used car to get around in. While Chanel was left devastated, frightened, and alone, Charlie felt no contrition for what she did to her little sister. But Bacardi hadn’t shifted her attention from Chanel. Nothing had changed inside the apartment except for Charlie’s wealth.
One evening, while God and Charlie were fucking in the bedroom, Charlie ran her hands down his back and she could feel scabs. When they were done, God stood up naked and when he turned his back to her, she could see the deep scratches that someone else left behind. They were now healing, but
they looked appalling, like Wolverine had attacked him.