Watch Me Take Your Girl (3 page)

Before he knew what happened, Tyson
had cranked his arm back and punched Dilvan in the jaw with one fist and the nose with the other. He hit him so hard, he knocked him off balance, causing Dilvan to fall back onto the tiled floor. Then Tyson leaped on top of him like a ferocious lion, punching him in the face, serving him blow after blow before Heshan and Prasad were able to pull him off of their brother.

Huffing and puffing, his adrenaline pumping,
Tyson roared, “What’s wrong Dilvan?” watching Dilvan wipe his bloody nose. “You like to beat up on women, but you can’t go toe-to-toe with a man, huh?”

“Calm down, Tyson,” Heshan said, trying to stand between Tyson and Dilvan.

“Tell your ignorant brother to calm down! Don’t tell me to calm down with this fool jumping up in my face like he ‘bout it!”

Dilvan stood up, trying to catch his balance and said, “You better be glad Heshan is holding you back.”

Tyson flashed an eerie smirk. “No,
you
better be glad Heshan is holding me back!”

“Let him go, Heshan,” Dilvan
instructed his brother, staggering towards Tyson yet again.

Adrenaline pumping, Tyson pushed Heshan away from him and reaching for Dilvan, he yelled,
“Get at me!”

“Tyson!” Heshan said, struggling to keep Tyson calm and away from Dilvan.
If he got his hands on Dilvan again, he’d probably knock the wind out of him this time. “Tyson, calm down, man.”

“Tell your brother to calm down before I snap his neck!”

“Yeah, everybody knows you’re good at that, murderer,” Dilvan taunted, still dabbing blood from his nose.

“Dilvan, stop, bro!
” Prasad said. “Just quit it, man.”

“Why’s
everyone telling me to stop?” Dilvan questioned. “You need to be trying to tame that lunatic.”

“
You beat up on women and
I’m
the lunatic...” Tyson responded.

“Dilvan, w
hy don’t you go get some paper towels and stop your nose from bleeding,” Prasad suggested. “If Mother finds out what’s going on in this kitchen, she’ll have a heart attack.”

“
Everything will be just fine as long as she tells her good-for-nothing son to stay out of here,” Tyson said angrily. “He ain’t
been
coming around here. Why the sudden interest now?”

“Man, shut up!
” Dilvan blurted out, sounding juvenile. “You steal my woman and now you’re mad at me.”

“
For something to be stolen, it has to be owned first. You never had Gabrielle to start with. She came to live with me because you were
beating
on her. Let’s get that straight. Secondly, I gave her an out. I told her to go back to you if that’s what she wanted, and guess what, pretty boy? She still didn’t go back to you because now, she knows what it’s like to be with a
real
man.”

“
Whatever.”

“You didn’t know how to treat her. All you did was abuse her. Now, watch me take your girl from you, Dilvan.
”

“Nah...watch me take
my
girl away this weekend, just us, so we can talk about
our
relationship.”

Tyson frowned. “Gabrielle ain’t going no
where with you.”

“You’ll see.”

“All I know is, if I
ever
see you touch her, hear you
threaten
her or have someone else tell me that they saw you do something to hurt her, I will beat the life out of you.”

“Yeah, that’s right up your alley
. I wonder if Gabrielle knows that...” Dilvan said, blotting his bloody nose and heading for the back exit.

“That’s right pretty boy. Run!
” Tyson told him. “Go take some more pictures in your panties.”

“Screw you, Tyson,” Dilvan said before exiting.

“Dang, Tyson,” Heshan said. “What was that?”

“He had it coming...woman beater.” Tyson threw the dough he was kneading in the trash. “Tell your Mom I’ll make the pastries at my place and bring them by here. That’s what I should’ve done in the first place.”

Tyson picked up one of the Tupperware containers and headed back to his Range Rover. He quickly came back in to get the other containers and after loading them in his jeep, he sped off.

Chapter 4

Gabrielle was a
nervous wreck when she pulled up in the driveway at her Father’s home, which would be her home for the short term, until she came up with a plan on what she wanted to do and where she wanted to live on a more permanent basis. The home was elegant compared to the houses she and her sisters used to live in back in the day. It was a nice, one-story brick house with black shutters around the windows and an elegant, glass storm door that displayed a secure, black-painted entry door. It wasn’t fancy like anything she’d experienced at the home of the Alexanders, but it was rich with love and the feeling of home – the feeling of knowing that everyone in the house had her back, loved her and had no ulterior motives.

She sighed heavily and checked her hair in the rearview mirror.
She was nervous, but she couldn’t wait to see her sisters and her Father. What she wasn’t ready for was questions about Dilvan?

Before she could get of the car, Carmen and Destiny came running out the front door, opening her car door, hugging their big sister before she could unbuckle her seatbelt.

“Oh my goodness,” Gabrielle said. “Y’all look so much taller. Let me get out of this car so I can see you.”

Gabrielle unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car
, but before she could get a good look at them, her sisters smothered her with another hug and the love made tears fall from Gabrielle’s eyes. There was nothing like family, people who loved you just because...

She
didn’t know just how much she missed that unconditional love until this moment.

“Why are y
ou crying, Gabby?” Carmen asked, sad-faced.

“I just missed you guys
so much.”

“We missed you
, too,” Destiny replied.

Gabrielle noticed that her sisters were
almost her height. They were always petite, both looked to be size eight or so, and they had their hair done in loose braids.

“There’s my baby,” her Father said,
stepping out onto the porch.

Gabrielle ran up to him, wrapped her arms tight around her Father and cried tears of happiness.

“You look good, sweetheart.”

“Thanks,
Dad.”

“And where is that husband of yours
? I told you to bring him when you came for a visit.”

“Actually, Dad, I
need to talk to you about that once I get in and get settled.”

“Okay. Let me get your bags, sweetheart. Go on in and check out the house. Carmen, show Gabrielle around.

“Okay, Dad,” Carmen and Destiny said in unison.

When Gabrielle stepped in the living room, she noticed a
matching couch and love seat there, with a wooden coffee table about the same length of the couch.

Continuing on to a hallway where the bedrooms were located, Destiny said, “Hey Gabby, this
is my room, but I’m going to share rooms with Carmen so you can sleep here.”

“Thanks,
Destiny. I appreciate that.” Gabrielle walked further into the room, noticing the full-size bed centered with the only window in the room. There were pink curtains, a pink dresser, pink pillows – Destiny’s favorite color was obviously pink. She had a good amount of locker stickers on her headboard, ones that read ‘LOL’ and ‘BFFs’, some yellow smiley faces and peace signs. On the wall, there was a poster of Bruno Mars.

Gabrielle
set her purse on the bed.

“Gabby, come see my room,” Carmen said.

“Okay.”

Gabrielle took a few steps down the hallway to
Carmen’s room, noticing a purple color scheme, full-size bed and even more posters of rappers and singers.

“Nice, Carmen. I know you’re excited
about graduating this year.”

“Yes!”

“And she already got a prom dress,” Destiny said. “Show her, Carmen.”

Carmen skipped over to the closet and pulled out a black, backless gown with crystal bevels beaded
into it. It was simply gorgeous and Gabrielle knew it would look flawless on her sister.

“That’s beautiful, Carmen.”

“Thanks,” Carmen said.

“Gabby, did you go to your prom?” Destiny asked.

“No...I didn’t have a date, so I didn’t go...not saying that you can’t go alone, because if I could do it all over again, I think I would go alone. Carmen, do you have a date?”

Gabrielle watched Carmen
blush.

“Yes, she got a boyfriend,” Destiny
blurted out.

“Destiny...” Carmen said, shamefaced.

“I got all your suitcases, Gabrielle,” their Father said, peeping in the room.

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.”

Gabrielle looked at Carmen and said, “I’m going to talk to Dad for a moment, but we’re going to talk about this boyfriend situation later.”

Her sisters giggled when she walked away.

Gabrielle found her Father sitting on the couch in the living room. She noticed his complexion was darker and he had a good amount of gray hair, like President Obama. Getting comfortable on the chair opposite of him, she rubbed her hands together, nervous about telling him what had been going on in her life – about the mess that it was.

“So you said you wanted to talk to me about Dilvan?”

“Um...yes...I don’t quite know how to say this.”

“Well, just say it.
You got me in suspense.”

“Okay, well, uh...
Dad, Dilvan and I broke up.”

He frowned
, a look of disappointment and loss taking over his face. “What?”

“I know this comes as a shock to you, and—”

“But...but...why? I thought everything was fine.”

Gabrielle shook her head. “No. Everything was not fine. It was awful.” Tears fell from her eyes. “He treated me so bad, Dad.
For six months, he...he tortured me.” Gabrielle cried more, covering her face with her hands.

“Talk to me, honey. What happened?”

“He hurt me. He called me names. He forced himself on me. He wouldn’t even allow me to call you. Once Padma found out what was going on, she moved me out of his house.”

Her Father stood up and paced the floor. “I don’t believe this. Padma said she would look after you.”

“And she did, Dad.”

“Then why’d she let
it go on for six months?”

“Because she didn’t know. I was
too ashamed to tell her. I didn’t want anyone to know and Dilvan threatened me not to tell anyone.”

Henry
rubbed his hand across his head. “Oh...I do not believe this.”

“Dad, it’s all right now. I just wanted to let you know what happened.”

Ignoring her, he said, “And this went on for six months.”

“Yes, before Padma moved me in with Tyson, her nephew.”

“Why would she do that? Why didn’t she just let you stay with her? Better yet, why didn’t she just call me? I would’ve came and picked you up from there, after I wringed Dilvan’s neck.”

“Dad...”

“What? He hurt my baby and just gets away with it? He needs to be locked up!”

“Dad, I’m not with
Dilvan anymore, okay.”

“But you married that man.”

“Well, actually, we weren’t officially married.”

“What do you mean you weren’t
officially
married?”

“
Some paperwork wasn’t done and even though we had a private wedding ceremony, the marriage wasn’t filed correctly with the state and therefore, we weren’t really married.”

“I should’ve never let you go without meeting Dilvan first. I
had so much faith in Padma and thought you would be in good hands with her.”

“Dad, please don’t misunderstand. Padma is
not, and has never been the problem. It was only Dilvan.”

“
And who is this Tyson character? You had to put up with him, too?”

Gabrielle shook her head. “Tyson was good to me
. He rescued me, cooked for me and helped me any way he saw fit.”

“And now you’re back
home?”

“Yes. I’m back.”

“For good?”

“I’m not sure yet. That’s part of my process. I don’t know what I want. I need to figure that out.”

Her Father shook his head, then sat down again. “I should’ve never done this. It’s all my fault, Gabrielle.”

“No it’s not, Dad.”

“It is. I was so desperate for money that I found that arranged marriage site and contacted Padma.”

“
I agreed, remember.”

“Yeah, but—”

“And you didn’t know Dilvan was going to turn out to be a jerk. But enough said, because it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve learned a lesson about myself and about men. I know what I want and what I don’t want. I’m moving forward with my life and I can’t do that if I keep looking behind, right?”

Her Father sighed heavily.
“Right. I still would love to get my hands on Dilvan. I’ll show him a thing or two.”

“I know you would, but that’s not needed.
I’m fine now.” Gabrielle stood, walked over to her Father and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m home.” Gabrielle smiled. “I’m home.”