You Belong to Me (9 page)

“Flash back to your days as an EMT, babe, and just take a look at it. Pipe’s been through worse. It might not be as bad as it seems.”

Jasmine took in a deep breath. “Fine, drop your pants,” she ordered Pipe.

Pipe looked at Nuke. “I got a little hard when she said that.”

Jasmine wrinkled up her nose as she handed him one of the towels she was holding. “You can cover with this.”

“She’s mine,” Nuke replied with a straight face.

Pipe nodded as he struggled to get out of his pants. “I’m just saying, you know…She had that tone in her voice.”

“Fuck!” Jasmine said as she reached out and inspected the deep wound on his thigh. “You should go to the ER. I can’t fix this, babe,” she said, turning to Nuke. “I can’t! He needs sutures.”

Pipe shook his head. “I can’t go to the ER.”

“It’s not a gunshot wound. You could make anything up to tell them. How did you do this?”

“We was with this goat and this chick from Burma or Myanmar or whatever it is now. Anyway…”

“No, wait, I don’t want to know.” She threw her hands up in the air.

“You training her, huh?” Pipe laughed.

“She’s smart,” Nuke said as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels from the cabinet. He took a swig,
then handed it to Pipe. “And we’ve had a long talk about some things.”

“Lucky for you, an artery wasn’t hit!” Jasmine exclaimed as she attempted to get a better look at the open wound. “Nuke, do you have a sewing kit?”

“Yeah, right, next to my knitting needles,” Nuke said, and he and Toby both laughed.

Rolling her eyes, Jasmine said, “What about fishing wire and a hook?”

“No, sorry.”

“Okay, what about superglue and a heavy duty staple gun? And the antibiotic ointment I gave you.”

“That I got.” Nuke turned and headed off down the hallway.

“Hold this here and apply pressure,” Jasmine directed Pipe as she walked into the kitchen. She washed the blood from her hands. Never had she wished more for a pair of latex gloves. She grabbed some plastic wrap and several kitchen towels, wet and dry. She picked up a kitchen chair and headed back into the living room, placing the chair in front of Pipe just as Nuke was returning with the items she asked for. “Do you have rubbing alcohol?”

“Nope, use the Jack.”

“Remind me that I’m going to need an emergency bag every time I come over here. Would it be possible for one of you to go to the store and buy some gauze and an Ace wrap?”

“I can run down to Walgreens,” Toby said, already heading for the door.

“Thank you!” Jasmine called out to him as he exited. She moved the towel and shook her head again as she sat back down.

Pipe reached for the Jack Daniels, took a large swig and then handed it to Jasmine. He noticed that she had some bruising on her wrist and a mark on her neck. He looked at Nuke, then he pointed to Jasmine; he made a fist.

“Not that kind of rough, dude,” Nuke answered.

Pipe nodded with understanding.

Jasmine glanced up at Nuke with a confused look. Then she focused back on Pipe again.

She poured the whiskey onto his wound. He let out a low guttural moan and reached for the bottle again. Nuke pulled the ottoman over and sat next to Jasmine.

“Let me ask you two something. Do you two ever role-play racial scenes, you know what I mean? Do you pretend to be a slave owner and she’s a slave?”

“Bro, I will seriously knock you the fuck out,” Nuke said as the edge of impatience crept into his voice. He poked Pipe’s injury. For the first time, Pipe screamed out loud.

“Nuke, stop!” Jasmine pushed his hand away.

“Fuck! Sorry! Damn, I’m just asking,” Pipe whined. “You’re a violent man. He’s violent, sweetheart; be careful.”

“So says the man with the obvious knife wound,” Jasmine replied.

Pipe chuckled.

“She’s not your sweetheart!” Nuke sent him a scalding look. “No, we haven’t done anything like that. Though he does want me to get a property tattoo. That could imply all kinds of things,” Jasmine said as she opened the superglue. Her comment stopped the brotherly argument for the moment.

“Yeah, that’ll be hot on you,” Pipe said, nodding.

“That’s not why I wanted you to have the tat,” Nuke said.

“I know that. I’m just saying that it could be interpreted many ways because of us being an interracial couple,” Jasmine said.

“He’s being overly sensitive,” Pipe laughed.

“Pipe, shut up! Fuck!” Nuke rolled his eyes. “I should put you outside to bleed to death.”

“You two fight like brothers,” Jasmine said with a smile.

“Alright, let me ask you this, are you completely black or are you mixed with something?” Pipe asked. “You got nice hair. It’s thick but not coarse.” He squinted as he looked at her more closely. “Your skin is a good color. Not too dark, not that weird high yellow where you look almost Mexican and people aren’t sure what you are. Know what I mean?”

Jasmine shook her head. “I’m not biracial.” She was tempted herself to poke Pipe in his open wound and laugh at him at the same time.

“Pipe, you’re fucking embarrassing yourself,” Nuke commented.

“You got to have something non-black in you somewhere, other than Nuke,” Pipe laughed from his belly. “What about Indian?” Pipe continued to talk as he drank the Jack Daniels between painful chuckles.

“Blackfoot, I think. I’m not sure. My parents died when I was twelve. I got moved around a lot. Lost most of my family photos and things. I have distant relatives, but it didn’t work out, living with them.”

“Foster care?” Pipe asked.

“Yeah.”

“That sucks. You seemed like you turned out all right. Went to college, you’re a nurse.”

Jasmine looked up at him and said, “I’m tougher than I look,” before continuing to clean his wound.

“Remember our conversation earlier, babe?” Nuke asked as he touched her shoulder. “I forgot to tell you that some of the members of the club are just idiots; hence, you have Pipe. He’s just offensive to everyone.”

“How am I being offensive? Asking her about her background? I’m Australian and Irish; think about that for a second. Don’t get more fucked up than that.”

Jasmine let out a shy laugh. “I’m not offended, it’s cool,” she said and winked at Nuke. “This is going to hurt like hell. Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you grab his thigh, babe, and squeeze the wound together as tight as you can?”

Nuke frowned but nodded and followed her instructions.

Jasmine gripped the superglue. “I hope this works. If it doesn’t, you’ll have go to the ER whether you want to or not.”

“No hospital,” Pipe said and took another long drink of the whiskey. It drizzled down the side of his lip. Pipe’s smile faded as Nuke squeezed the laceration together. Jasmine began to seal the wound together with the glue. “You really, really, really needed to go to the ER,” she said and looked up at Pipe.

“Yeah. I should have done a lot of things differently,” Pipe said, taking two more swallows of the Jack Daniels. “Sometimes when you start fucking up, it’s a downward spiral out of control. You got to crash and burn, then rise from the ashes like a phoenix.”

“You sound like Nuke.”

“I’ve hung around him for a long time.”

After several minutes, the bleeding slowed down to a seep. It was enough progress that she stopped applying the glue. She reached over for the staple gun. “Ready?”

“She use that on you yet?” Pipe asked Nuke with a crooked smile.

“That’s not how things work around here,” Nuke said, taking the whiskey and swallowing some down. Then he handed it back to Pipe.

“Don’t let Nuke fool you; he’s into pain. How else could he tattoo his own face?” Pipe said, snorting.

Jasmine then reached for the bottle and took a drink before giving it back to Pipe. “Alright, hold on, I’ll make this quick!” Jasmine didn’t give Pipe time to respond before she began stapling his thigh back together.

He screamed, which he followed by drinking the rest of the bottle of whiskey.

She finished stapling just as Toby walked back into the trailer.

“Got it.” He put the bag down next to Jasmine. “That’s looking good.” Toby nodded his approval.

“Hurts like fuck,” Pipe groaned. “But she stopped the bleeding. She’s a good find, Nuke.”

Jasmine cleaned the area again and applied the antibiotic ointment, then the 4x4 gauze pads. She wrapped his thigh in plastic wrap with the Ace bandage.

“Why the clear wrap?” Toby asked.

“It’ll stick to the ointment and make a seal and keep it more protected. You’re really going to have to keep an eye on this. You have a serious wound. Keep it clean and don’t mess with it. I’ll get you some antibiotics to take tomorrow. I’ll give them to Nuke. Are you allergic to anything?”

“No, I’m good. My body can tolerate a lot.”

“Stay off of it as much as you can.” Jasmine began cleaning up the bloody towels. “You should lay back and rest.” She walked on shaky legs back into the kitchen, throwing the towels into the trash.

She held onto the edge of the kitchen sink. Every nerve in her body was shaking. Out of her comfort zone, that’s what she had wanted. Apparently, she should have been more specific with her wish.

Nuke walked up behind her and caressed her shoulder. “Looks like you just met part of the family, baby, and hell didn’t freeze over. You feel more secure now?”

“You were worried about us? We’re warm and cuddly!” Pipe added as he stretched out on the sofa.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Jasmine said as she wrapped her arm around Nuke’s waist.

Brian, One month later

Jasmine groaned as she peeped out of her window. He was not going to go away. She let out long breath as she opened her front door. “Hey, Brian,” she said, her tone dry.

“Hey, I’ve called you a million times. What you been up to?”

“Not much.” She stood at the entrance of her house, not letting him inside.

“I tried to contact you. Do you have me blocked?”

“Yeah, you are. It’s nothing personal. We just need to make a clean break of things.”

“Can I come in? I want to talk with you.”

She half-heartedly let him inside. “Okay, but my boyfriend is coming over soon. You can’t be here when he gets here.”

Brian was so different from Nuke. He was African-American, tattoo-free, never been in trouble a day in his life. He stood five-foot-ten. Brian wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t muscular either. He was clean-shaven and swore he’d never had a drop of alcohol in his life, which she firmly believed. His parents had been married for forty-two years and were upstanding citizens of the community. All her friends thought Brian was a good catch. For someone else, he might have been; that person just wasn’t her. The truth was, he was as exciting as watching paint dry. “So, what’s up?” she asked him.

“I heard some disturbing news, and I’m hoping that it isn’t true.”

“What news is that?”

“That you’re seeing some white dude who’s a biker?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Is it serious?” Brian asked.

“Yes, it’s going good with him.”

“When I heard about you and him from Raven, I didn’t want to believe that it was true.”

“He’s an amazing guy, Brian. I hope you find someone too that can complete you. I honestly mean that.”

“Is he why you blocked me?”

“It’s for the best if we don’t have any further contact. You and I both should move on with our lives.”

“Jasmine, those guys are bad news. Don’t you watch the news? The club president of that other gang, he and some guy were riddled with bullets in the middle of the day. How do you know your new boo didn’t do it? Is this really the kind of man you want to be involved with?”

“He’s not that kind of person!” The conversation had just begun, but she’d already heard enough. “It’s a club by the way, not a gang.”

“I’m sure he’s a great guy,” Brian said sarcastically.

She crossed her arms in a defiant stance. “Brian, I’m a grown-ass woman, and I can date who I want. We,” she said, motioning with her hands, “are not a couple. You can date who you want, and so can I. My life is no longer your concern.”

He shook his head. “Is he the reason you called off the wedding? Were you already with him?”

“What? No, I wasn’t seeing him when I was with you.”

“Cindy hooked you up with him, didn’t she?”

“She introduced us, but it wasn’t a hook-up. It just turned out that way.”

He reached out to touch her, and she took a step back. “You really need to go before Nuke gets here.”

“Nuke? You’re seriously in a relationship with a man called Nuke?”

“It’s his road name.”

“Road name?” Brian said mockingly. “White dude got you on lockdown? Got you blocking people! Are you afraid of him seeing me here? Is he abusive to you? I bet he is or he will be!”

“You’re the one who needs to be worried about him finding you here, not the other way around.”

Brian shook his head with disappointment. “You know they’re all racist, don’t you?”

“I’m over this shit!
You and Cindy. All of you need to stay the hell out of my personal life.” She walked over to the door and opened it. “You need to leave.”

“You’re sleeping with a dude that may as well have KKK tattooed on his forehead. What the hell is wrong with you? You don’t think he has another motive for sticking his dick in you? He’s using you for something. You a nurse, is he asking you for drugs? Does he want you to steal prescription pads or something? If he isn’t now, he will be; you bet on that!”

“How do you know what his club allows and don’t allow?”

“Google. I suggest you do your research.” Brian walked toward the door. “Bad things are going to happen to you while you’re with him. You know it, too; you just don’t want to admit it.”

She’d only seen Brian angry once, and even then, it was more of a controlled disappointment than anger. They had discussions, not arguments. This time was no different.

“You’re nothing to him but some nigger bitch for him to use.”

She lost it. She punched him so hard that her hand instantly throbbed, and she knew that she had broken her pinky finger. That didn’t stop her from shoving him through the screen door. It broke, coming off of its hinges as he hit the ground. She slammed the inner door as he was scrambling to his feet.

“He’s using you!” she heard Brian yell as he headed toward his car. “You’re smarter than this. Get out before it’s too late!”

She was beyond angry. She was sick and tired of hearing everyone hate on her relationship. She sat down on the sofa just as her phone buzzed. She picked it up; it was Nuke. That was when the tears began to flow down her cheeks. She defiantly wiped them away as she clicked on his message.