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that night.”
    â€œAnd how does that make you feel?”
    â€œAngry. Anxious. Furious. Vengeful. Pissed the fuck off.”
    â€œYour language, Monica,” he reminds me gently.
    I check the eye roll I’m about to give his ass. “Sorry. Pissed off.”
    â€œAnd?”
    I lock my eyes with his. “Who says there is an ‘and,’ Dr. Locke?” “And?” he asked again as if he didn’t hear me the first time.
    â€œAfraid. Okay. I feel afraid at the thought of seeing him again,” I admit softly as I look down at my hands as I wring them together. I fight the urge to rub the long scar on my thigh. “But I can’t wait until this is all over because there is no way he can get away with what he did to me.”
    â€œSo you want him to pay?”
    I jerk my head up to pierce him with my eyes. “Damn right I want him to pay,” I answer in a cold voice. “Does that make me a bad person?”
    â€œNo, it shows that you’re human.”
    I blink away tears that fill my eyes. “And does it show that I’m human because I want a bat and five minutes alone with that motherfuck—”
    That makes him scribble away like crazy.

    I never got to see Rah. When I got to court the prosecutor tells me that Rah accepted a plea bargain. Two years for aggravated assault. What the fuck? No trial. Weak ass sentence. Just a bunch of bullshit. I had to fight not to laugh in the prosecutor’s face when he gave me the line about this ultimately being a victory. It wasn’t his leg that was snapped in two like a dried chicken bone. Two lousy years while I will never be able to dance the way I used to.
    Trying to literally shake it off, I left the courthouse and walked out into the winter winds that are cold and making my cheeks feel like I was pimp-slapped. I dig my hands down deeper into the pockets of my Ralph Lauren wool coat as I make my way down the steps.
    â€œAlizé.”
    I turn to find Dom walking down the steps behind me. I see the hesitation in her face. She doesn’t know how to take me. That’s a good thing. This bitch used to be my friend and instead of having my back she stuck a knife in it. It still hurt. My dumb ass thought none of us would ever do anything to hurt each other. Friendship is important to me, but at some point you have to kick a bad friend to the curb just like you would a bad boyfriend.
    She reaches in her Gucci tote for a soft pack of cigarettes. I recognize the bag from when Dom bought it two years ago. Obviously getting off the pole is messing with her money because the Dom standing before me ain’t the hood fabulous bitch she used to be. I never did understand her six-figure wardrobe with a fifty-dollar-a-month rent in the projects.
    â€œI was here to testify against Rah,” she says, looking everywhere but at me.
    I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t know if I will ever have anything to say to her.
    At my silence, Dom finally locks her eyes with mine and I’m surprised to see she’s angry. And that pisses me off. Suddenly I gots plenty to say.
    â€œYou know, the more you care about somebody the more power you give them to hurt you. I never let my guard down with any dudes ’cause I didn’t want to be hurt. But with my friends? I take that shit serious. You, Mo, and Cristal were more than sisters to me.” That door inside of me with Dom’s name all over it flew wide open as I step nose to nose to her. “How could you fuck Rah? How the hell you gone fuck my man and then dime me out like a no-good snitch bitch?”
    See all my education and Cristal-type talking goes out the window. When I’m mad it’s straight hood all the time, every time.
    Dom turns her head to release a stream of smoke.
    I walk away from her but only get a few steps before I turn back and walk right back into her face. “It ain’t about him. Matter of fact . . . fuck him.