Jasmine was ready. She waited for Nico to incriminate himself as the BlackBerry did its job, recording his every word.
Eighteen
Nico’s phone began to vibrate. He looked at it and saw that it was Mia, so he hit his ignore button and sent her to voice mail.
“Come on, sit down. Sit, Nico,” Jasmine said with sassy bravado, tapping the cushion with her hand.
Nico kicked the arm of the chair and knocked it over in the process.
WHACK!
He smacked Jasmine across the left side of her face. The openhanded bitch-slap was so hard that Jasmine saw stars. She had to catch her balance after almost falling out of the chair.
Although Jasmine was woozy, she was a fighter. She stood and tried to throw a punch, but Nico caught her hand and then took hold of her wrist and twisted it and bent it backwards and took her down to the ground.
“Ahhhh! That’s my sore hand!” she screamed, writhing in pain on the ground.
Nico ignored her screams and applied more pressure to her bent wrist.
Jasmine tried to get to her feet, but Nico let her wrist go, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed the back of her head to the carpeted floor. Jasmine couldn’t breathe, and she scratched at Nico’s strong muscular right arm, trying to free herself from his grip.
“Now we gonna do shit my way! You understand me, bitch?” Nico squeezed harder on Jasmine’s neck.
Jasmine felt like she was about to pass out, so she stopped resisting, and tried to nod.
Nico finally loosened his grip from her neck, and Jasmine gasped for air, coughing and grabbing her throat.
“Now tell me what the fuck you doing out here and how the fuck did you know where I was staying at? And don’t bullshit me!”
Jasmine was still coughing, trying to get air in her lungs. She knew she had to think quickly, because Nico wasn’t playing games.
“Nico, what you think I’m doing out here? I’m out here because I love you and I wanted to be with you.”
“How-the-fuck did-you-know I-was-out-here, and-how-the-fuck did-you-know where-I-was-staying-at?” Nico asked with a rhythmic cadence to his words.
Jasmine immediately started to cry, hoping her tears would divert Nico’s attention.
“Baby, I’m out here because I was scared, and you make me feel safe. Do you know what it’s like for me to almost get killed by Bebo and then not want to go home at night because I’m thinking he might come back and make sure he kills me? And all I want is to know you’ll protect me, and it’s like all you’re doing is running from me! I’m scared, baby! That’s all! I’m scared.” Jasmine started to weep.
Fortunately for Jasmine, some of her words resonated with Nico’s macho character.
“I took care of that situation! I told you I would handle it,
and I handled it. Now what the fuck you not gonna do is stand there and make me keep asking you the same shit.”
“You handled what? See, this is what I can’t take. I’m supposedly your girl, but you don’t tell me shit. I don’t know where you are at times, and it’s just like uggggghhhhh.”
Nico was quiet.
“So what did you handle?” Jasmine was trying her best to get Nico to talk.
“You know what the streets is talking about. I did that shit, it’s done, it’s over with. You can sleep at night now.”
Jasmine shook her head.
“Answer me, Jasmine.”
Jasmine knew what Nico was referring to, and thankfully she thought quickly.