“Don’t worry about that. You don’t have the right to ask me any questions. I’m asking the questions now. What the fuck is this?”
He was waving a piece of paper in her face and he was so angry the veins were popping out on the side of his head. He started pacing around the living room.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
Neal took the piece of paper and shoved it in her face and held it there.
“Neal! Stop it!”
Damita tried pulling the piece of paper away from her face, but Neal just kept shoving it at her.
“I will stop when you tell me what this is?”
Damita finally grabbed the piece of paper and read it. It was a cancelled check from her bank, made out to ParkMed NYC. Her face dropped.
“Judging from your expression, I assume this is not a mix-up. Since you have your own gynecologist, I can also assume that you didn’t go there for a checkup.”
“Let me explain.”
“What is there to explain? You were either there for some sort of STD treatment or for an abortion. Judging from the hefty price tag, I’m going to assume it was for the latter.”
Her expression suddenly shifted from fear and confusion to anger. Damita remembered not only her conversation with Carmella but also the fact that the only reason she had gotten pregnant in the first place was because he had sabotaged her birth control.
She tossed the cancelled check angrily to the floor. “You know, you’ve got some nerve. I don’t have to explain anything to you! I saw you replacing my pills! And Tina! How could you? You’ve been fucking my colleague!”
Neal waved his hand dismissively. “Tina is nothing. What did you expect me to do? You stopped sleeping with me. As usual, your job was more important than your marriage. I have needs and Tina took care of those needs when you wouldn’t.”
One look at Damita’s face demonstrated that she was hurt by the betrayal. “You couldn’t have picked someone other than a woman I work with every day?”
“That’s all you’re concerned about isn’t it; your sparkling reputation? What about what you did? You killed my baby and you didn’t even give me a chance to have a say in the matter.”
“You didn’t deserve a say.”
Damita could see Neal gritting his teeth and knew those final words were a mistake. She backed up, but not in enough time to prevent the inevitable. He hit her hard enough to knock her out of her shoes. She quickly recovered and attempted to fight back.
“Oh, so you think because you might have broken the glass ceiling, that you’re one of the boys now? Bitch! You want to act like a man. I’m going to treat you like a man.”
He punched Damita in the face, the stomach, even the side of her head; and anywhere else his fists connected. Each time Damita tried to get off the floor and at least protect herself, he knocked her back down again. He pummeled her again and again, so much so that she couldn’t even run.
Damita knew what would happen once Neal was too exhausted to beat her anymore. He would go back to his lines of coke and then she would really be in trouble. As soon as he walked away, she grabbed her pocketbook and briefcase from the sofa and ran out the front door.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
After escaping from her apartment, Damita flagged down a taxi and went straight to Carmella’s apartment. She didn’t have the energy to talk and Carmella knew her friend well enough and long enough to know exactly what she needed.
“I’ll make up the futon,” was all Carmella said.
Damita was the first up in the morning. She tried to be quiet, so as not to wake Carmella. Within a few minutes Carmella was awake as well.
“You want coffee?” Carmella asked.
“Yeah. I could use some coffee.”
Damita and Carmella sat at the dining room table off from the living room.
“Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” Carmella asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll be okay.”
“When you got here last night, or should I say this morning, I considered calling the police whether you liked it or not. That motherfucker has gone too far. You can’t let him get away with this.”
“It’s not about revenge, Carmella. I want to get through all of this as unscathed as possible.”
Carmella motioned to Damita’s face. “Is this what you call unscathed?”
“You’re a beautiful, well-educated, professional woman and a good person. You don’t deserve this. Damita, you need to know that this is not your life. This doesn’t have to be your life. I was shocked when you decided to stay with him the first time he hit you, but now, it’s too much. You have to leave. I spoke to Derrick and Neal didn’t have a damn thing to do with Brandon’s death. It was some crackhead looking for a quick fix. Neal told you all that shit to scare you. He’s a coward. You put him in a room with a man and he would curl up like the pussy he is. Men like him only hit women.”