My jaw had to hit the ground. I sat there dumbfounded. What kind of a sick mind would want to know this about his brother?
“You’re disgusting.” I said, unaware that my body was instinctively pulling back from Joshua.
“I’m disgusting? You were the one serving up the sloppy seconds, sweetheart. You are the only woman on the planet who knows what it is like to be with both of us. And I want to know the details. I want to know how he managed to satisfy someone like you.”
I couldn’t think of a thing to say. My whole mind had gone blank.
“I’ll tell you what, Natasha. Why not just start from the beginning. Tell me about the first time you let my brother take you. You were still sleeping with me, I presume. Tell me what it was that he said that got your panties off.”
The humiliation of Joshua’s line of questioning swept completely over me. My eyes began to fill with tears no matter how hard I bit my tongue, trying to stop them. What should I do? Was there anything that would buy me some time? Was there anything that would buy me a chance to get away, for my baby and me to get away?
“You’re sick, Joshua. Don’t you know that?” I said quietly. “You don’t have to be like this. Marty can help you. You aren’t all alone. Hell, I’ll help you but you’ve got to let me go. You’ve got to…”
“Ha! That is hilarious, Natasha! You’re a riot!” His eyes had gone black with rage. Behind them was a wild beast, a devil that fed off the fear and the desperation that I was emitting. This was the kind of evil that lurked in the jungle with a machete in its hand. This was the kind of evil that drifted from state to state. This was the kind of evil that slipped into open windows of middle class homes. Except this evil wore $1500 dollar suits and drove fancy sports cars. This kind of evil would never suffer for what he did to me or anyone else. Only someone from that same environment could do battle with this kind of demon. And just then I thought I heard sirens in the distance. How I prayed they were for me.
“Tell me, Nat, did he whisper sweet words in your ear as he slipped his hand under your shirt? Or did my brother talk dirty to get your engine purring? Was he quick or slow? Come on, Natasha. I need to know this.” He was beginning to sound desperate. He leaned down in my face. “You better start talking.” The slap upside my head made me fall forward. Then he grabbed my hair again and shook it hard.
“Talk, Natasha!” he screamed in my face. Nothing would come. Even if I wanted to tell him everything I couldn’t form a word. As if he didn’t believe the terror in my eyes Joshua stood up, pulled his hand back and punched me in the face.
It is true that stars circle your head when you get hit hard enough. I saw them. They were bright white stars and I was sure that my cheek and eye had swollen up to the size of a football within seconds.
The sirens were getting closer. Were they for me? I watched in the front room to see if the lights shined through and I don’t know for certain I saw anything but I wanted to make sure Joshua didn’t have a chance to get away.
“You’re crazy. You’re so crazy with jealousy over your brother it is laughable!” I said both hands circling my belly as I pushed myself back from him. He growled with fury.
In one sudden move I bolted for the other side of the kitchen only to have Joshua grab my arm and fling me back, slamming me into the door I had almost gotten out of.
“Who do you think you are talking to? You bitch! I’ll get you! I’ll get you good!” he yelled and paced back and forth. “Natasha! You’re going to pay for this!” he said it over and over again but I knew. The front door had opened up and Marty had walked in. It would be okay. Marty was there.
I looked at Diamond who was yawning.
“Are you kidding? It’s only about 10:00 in the morning and you’re yawning already?” I said, a yawn escaping me, too.
“You better get back to your own room. They’re going want to check on little junior there to make sure everything is going okay.”
“He’s okay. I can feel it.” I said smiling. “He already takes after his Auntie Diamond. Toughest thing on Earth.”
“You got that right.” I said, wrapping my hand around the pole of my moveable IV and began to head back to my room. Marty had arranged for us to have rooms next door to one another. We were both in for observation for another few days and to be quite honest it was like a spa more than a hospital. Except for the memory of what brought us there it really was a nice place to recuperate.
“Is Ray going to stop by tonight, again?” I asked, giving Diamond my best come hither look. She smiled and blushed a little.
“He’s old enough to be my father.”
“Since when has that become an issue?” I teased.
“Yeah, he did say he’d be by. We actually have a lot in common. Books. Movies.”
“Oh, sure. And the humping of the flesh?”
“I never heard that term so please never say it again.”
“A little boogety-giggety.”
“You’re scaring me.
“Never say never.”
“I don’t think it will go that way. I think we are just good buddies.”