Try a Little Tenderness

by Isaiah David Paul

  “It’s not love if you have to force it.” Amirah tried to lift her knee up so she could pry herself away from him.

  Turner was too strong.

  “You want to do it against the wall or on the desk?” Turner shoved all the neatly stacked papers and books off her desk. The ceramic apple that one of her students had made for her a few years ago broke in huge chunks.

  Turner scooped her up and carried her by the waist. He moved swiftly to force Amirah onto the makeshift bed.

  “I’ve wanted to make love to you since I saw you with that chump,” Turner whispered as he applied his weight on top of her. He kissed her on the neck and pressed down on her even as Amirah was punching at his back and trying to shove him off of her.

  Her efforts were in vain. Turner was just too strong. Fear of him harming someone else kept her from crying out for help.

  As Amirah felt Turner trying to force her skirt down, she prayed to God for help. She felt a tear and wondered how she was going to escape. Amirah couldn’t believe she was about to be raped in her own classroom.

  “Get off of me, please,” Amirah begged. She stopped fighting. She needed to find another tactic. “If you stop now, I’ll let you get what you want at my house.”

  Amirah was desperate. She didn’t want to be a victim of rape, and she didn’t want what she was saving for her man of God to go to a man she detested; but if it had to be done, Amirah at least wanted a say about when and where.

  Turner hummed. “You gonna hold out?” He moved his hips and grinded on her.

  Amirah could feel Turner pushing her panties to the side and trying to impale her. She was thankful he missed.

  “I won’t make you wait long,” Amirah promised as she gave one last effort at verbal persuasion. “Just let me get to the house. We’ll be alone, and no one will walk in on us.”

  She could feel Turner easing up—at least that’s what she hoped he was doing. Then she heard Turner yell, and he fell on top of her hard.

  “You’re not getting nothing!” she heard Mateo yell.

  Amirah looked to the side, and she could see Mateo swinging a chair across Turner’s backside again. When Turner fell, she saw him swaying the chair across his head. Blood splattered everywhere. Turner reached for his gun that had fallen out of his pants when he fell, but Mateo managed to kick it out of his hand. Cracking bones could be heard, but Mateo didn’t care. He could overlook a lot of things, but Amirah being hurt wasn’t one of them.

  Amirah was scared. She thought Mateo had killed him; she was also thankful that he had saved her life. She was a bag of mixed emotions. Her heart was beating so fast that she was certain she was having a heart attack.

  “He’s a dead man walking!” Mateo vowed as he moved Turner’s unconscious body off of Amirah. “Are you okay?” Mateo checked Amirah for any signs of injury.

  Mateo saw that Amirah was visibly shaking. He felt bad, because he didn’t mean to frighten her. His goal was to stop Turner’s assault.

  After a while, Amirah nodded her head.

  Mateo wanted to be relieved, but he wasn’t convinced that Amirah was okay. Still, he went along with it.

  “I wasn’t trying to kill him.” Mateo stepped over Turner to help Amirah off the desk. He looked behind Amirah to see that Turner was still laid out on the floor, unconscious. “I just wanted him to keep his hands off of you. Stop means stop.”

  Mateo prayed that Amirah didn’t see him as a monster. The blood leaking from Turner’s head, however, indicated otherwise. The fact that he had no remorse for what he did to Turner made him begin to feel that way too.

  “Thank you.” Amirah hugged Mateo.

  “Oh Lord!” Mrs. Ingle came and looked at the scene by Amirah’s desk. “Amirah, are you okay?”

  Amirah nodded her head. “I’m fine, Mrs. Ingle.” She looked at Mateo and smiled. “I’m glad my hero got here in time.”

  “We called 9-1-1,” Mrs. Ingle said. “We saw Mateo rush into action, and we knew something was wrong.”

  Mateo, Mrs. Ingle, and Amirah looked down at Turner’s body. He still hadn’t moved, even though he could be heard faintly breathing. Mrs. Ingle took off her jacket and placed it over Turner’s waist, concealing his nakedness.

  Mateo still felt the adrenaline rush from jumping into action. He remembered what had happened the last time he and Turner squared off and how things had been going well for him. As the sirens made their presence known, he knew his freedom would be short-lived. He knew where he was headed, but to save Amirah, he’d do it again.

  Amirah hated violence, especially seeing it up close and personal. Normally, she tried to encourage her students to seek a peaceful resolution—talk things out, seek mediation before conflicts escalated.

  Seeing Mateo and Turner gave her a flashback of what happened the last time their conflict got out of hand. Mateo shaking and twitching violently and his eyes rolling back was the exact reason why she avoided tension.

  Amirah watched as Turner was escorted to the back of the police squad car. He yelled a bunch of profanities and obscenities directed at law enforcement. She looked toward the sidewalk where Mateo was sitting with his hands behind his back. The cuffs looked tight, and his hands were red. She walked to him, wanting nothing more than to hold him in her arms. Amirah took a seat next to him.

  “You think I’m a failure because I hit him?” Mateo looked deep into her eyes. He wanted to see if she’d lie to him.

  “I don’t think you are a failure,” Amirah responded as she knelt down at his level.

  “Yeah, but when was the last time you ended up in handcuffs?” Mateo leaned forward and strained to lift his arms so that Amirah could see the cuffs.

  “I’m not going to pretend like I know what you are going through.” Amirah saw the officers coming their way and knew their time was over. She lifted her frame and stood off to the side. “I am committed to doing this thing with you, whenever that may be. I’m loyal. My mom raised me right.”

  Mateo smiled.

  Two of the police officers stood at Mateo’s sides and helped him to his feet.

  The female officer turned to face Mateo. “Mateo Valdez, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning, if you wish. If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Do you agree that you know and understand your rights as I have explained them to you?”

  As they walked him away to a separate vehicle, Mateo turned to face Amirah and blew her a kiss. She felt it. Though their lips didn’t touch this time, Mateo had a way of making Amirah feel as if she’d blossomed like a flower. Her flesh caused her to bite her lip. He mouthed the words, I love you.

  Amirah wanted him. No doubt about that.

  Mateo was folded and tucked like he was a T-shirt and placed into the car. Mateo pressed his face against the window separating him from the outside world.

  She blew him a kiss back. “I love you too,” she whispered.

  Amirah watched as Mateo eased off the window. The flashing lights came on, and that was when it hit her: Mateo was going to jail for saving her life. Amirah felt in her spirit that even though the situation didn’t look good at that moment, she was making the right decision to stand by her man. Mateo had put himself in harm’s way to make sure her virtue would remain intact. The least she could do was stand by him as Mateo went downtown and answered charges that could send him back to prison for a long time.

  Chapter Forty-one

  If He Did It Before

  Yeah, it was worth it, Mateo told himself as he got ready to go before the judge to enter his plea. The flashback of Turner on top of his woman, trying to push himself inside as if Amirah was his,
had set off a rage he didn’t know he had in him. While it was a good thing he didn’t have his Glock, the chair he picked up had served its purpose, and he didn’t regret one swing.

  Mateo knew he needed to atone and apologize to God for losing his cool and for striking Turner with a weapon. But God saw what was about to go down, Mateo figured. I was at the right place at the right time, and I was protecting my wife.

  My wife.

  The words made him smile as he walked into the courtroom. He looked at the judge. She was an older black woman who reminded him of his paternal grandmother. Her glasses looked like they would slide off the bridge of her nose if it weren’t for the glasses holders keeping them in place.

  He looked at the defendant’s side of the courtroom as he made his way down the aisle. Amirah sat right next to Julio, Luisa, and his mom, right behind where he and his lawyer would be sitting. Marvel, Sonic, and a few of his coworkers from Burgers & Fries were in the next row. Behind them in the next row were Hammer, Pastor Cummings, Rahliem, Donte Speaks, and The Revelation. A few members of his church and some of the other men and women Hammer was helping filled out the rest of his side of the courtroom, but it was the two men sitting in the far corner in the last row who caught his eye.

  He’d heard the legend of King and Othello, but he couldn’t believe they’d traveled all the way from Houston, Texas just to see him stand trial. King nodded his head toward him, and Mateo nodded his head back. Mateo remembered that King served as The Revelation’s bodyguard and personal assistant. He got to speak to the man when Donte and The Revelation appeared as guests on Amirah’s show. Mateo wanted to ask if all the rumors about him murdering rapists, child molesters, and abusers were true, and if so, how he’d gotten away with it for so long.

  Mateo almost felt sorry for what he was sure would be a long road to hell for Turner Mustafa Spartenburg. Rape was a sin, and Mateo knew King was notorious for murdering rapists and child molesters, and if the legend was true, Turner deserved what was coming to him for less than that. Mateo knew he hadn’t done anything sick or twisted to end up on their radar. Of course, King had given up that lifestyle to be The Revelation’s bodyguard and personal assistant, but in the back of Mateo’s mind, he wasn’t convinced that King kept his hands completely clean.

  Mateo got to his seat, and just when the judge was getting ready to bang her gavel, he turned around. He knew he had counted the faces of all the people who’d made it to support him. He was equally happy and shocked to see who was willing to stand by his side and who’d fallen off the wayside.

  The judge called the court to order, and even the formalities seemed long and drawn out. For Mateo, the back and forth between the judge, his prosecutor, and his lawyer bantering back and forth moved at the pace Venus and Serena went when they played against each other.

  “How do you plead?” The judge looked Mateo in the eye. It was almost as if she was scolding him for being in her presence.

  “Not guilty,” Mateo said.

  Mateo really didn’t want to drag this out in a trial, but there was no way he was willing to go to jail for saving someone’s life. His wife’s life. They weren’t married now, but Mateo felt in his spirit that the day would be coming and soon.

  Mateo looked back at Turner and had no regrets for picking up the chair and swinging it down Turner’s back like he was using it as a fly swatter, trying to kill the elusive fly. He did that.

  Mateo sat and listened to the police officers and some of Turner’s cronies turn his trial into a circus. Turner’s men painted Mateo as a violent offender who’d threatened them every chance he got. LeMarquise testified that Mateo had threatened him on a recent trip to his job at Burgers & Fries. Amazingly, LeMarquise was able to produce a restraining order that Mateo didn’t even know the man had taken out against him.

  Santos’s testimony took the cake. That man got on the stand and said that he had witnessed Mateo violently beating Turner a few weeks ago. Apparently, Santos had Julio’s fight with Turner confused with Turner attacking Mateo, but his recollection was damaging, because it corresponded with the testimony Turner’s doctors made about the injuries he’d sustained during his battle with Julio.

  Then Turner took the stand and acted a fool. Turner painted the picture that even though he had a good ten inches in height over Mateo, Mateo was the one who bullied him. Turner made it seem like Mateo coerced Sonic into selling all of the things Turner had given him during their relationship, and he alleged that Mateo was pocketing the profits. Turner made it seem like they had fights over women, and that Mateo used Julio to terrorize him. Only under cross examination did Turner admit that he “got the best of Mateo” one time, but he still insisted that Mateo and Julio roughed him up.

  When asked directly if he had tried to force Amirah to have sex with him, Turner flat out denied it. Let him tell it, Amirah led him on, and she was encouraging him to please her at the moment Mateo found the two of them on her desk. Turner implied that Mateo’s jealousy of him had to do with the fact that he was bigger than him in more ways than one.

  When Mateo’s public defender came on board, Rahliem, Donte, The Revelation, and Marvel testified to the model citizen Mateo strived to be and how active he was in the Street Disciples Ministry. Doug testified about his strong work ethic and being a reliable employee.

  Sonic contradicted everything Turner testified and even stated on multiple occasions that Turner had abused him during their situationship. Under cross examination, Sonic admitted to not going to the hospital every time Turner beat him. Sonic also confessed to admitting himself under an assumed name several times when he was treated. Sonic was also forced to admit that he used to enjoy the lavish lifestyle Turner provided when they were together. The most damaging information was the admission that Turner had saved Sonic from an abusive relationship from his parents when they found out he was gay.

  Hammer’s testimony unraveled the same. The prosecutor nailed him for allowing Mateo to have residency and employment after he engaged in a brawl on his facility. The prosecutor questioned Hammer’s judgment to knowingly let Mateo drive his personal car without a license. Hammer had to admit that he and Turner had gotten into a physical altercation on more than one occasion. That definitely did not look good.

  The most damaging was the testimony from Amirah. First, the prosecutor attacked her credibility. Clips from the circus show featuring Armaad and Thursday Honesty Denyla Jackson were replayed for the judge. Even though Amirah tried to explain why the show hadn’t gone as planned, she had to take responsibility for allowing the show to continue in the first place. That played into the prosecutor’s attack that she had led Turner on and provoked his lust-filled emotions.

  The prosecutor then asked questions about her dealings with Mateo, making it seem like Amirah would hook up with anyone who showed interest in her online. The prosecutor then dug up her past and some of the questionable boyfriends that she’d had, some of whom were locked up for violent crimes.

  The final straw was something Mateo hadn’t expected. He found out in front of his friends and family that before Amirah was saved, she had filmed a few sex flicks with Donte Longstocking. The prosecutor took great joy in highlighting how many films she’d done and some of the scandalous places where they’d filmed.

  What hurt the most was watching Amirah cry. She tried to explain that the films were of bad judgment, but the prosecutor wasn’t trying to hear that. Mateo wanted to bust the man in the face, but hitting him would only make it worse.

  The public defender had advised Mateo against testifying, and Mateo went along with it. If the prosecutor was able to dig up Amirah’s sex tapes and massacre Hammer’s and Sonic’s testimonies, who knew what the prosecutor had on him. Mateo wondered if the man knew he’d had a gun hidden under his bed, or worse, if the prosecutor would somehow produce the gun and turn the scenario into something completely different. Mateo didn’t want to take that risk.

  After a few days, the judge came back with h
er verdict.

  “Mateo Valdez, I find you not guilty for the felony assault with a deadly weapon. However, I do find you guilty of the Class A1 misdemeanor assault which, carries a maximum of two years, including time served,” the judge stated as she looked at some papers and shuffled them along her desk. “Case dismissed.”

  He’d gotten off easier than he thought, and he looked up and thanked God for it, but two years was still a long time to go without seeing Amirah or any of his family. He’d only served forty days, which meant he had six hundred and ninety days left.

  Mateo held his head up high as he walked back to his jail cell. He looked at his family and friends, and that was when he saw her. Amirah was subtle and plain in a black blouse and pantsuit. She stole a quick glance at him, and then she turned her head away, tears rolling down her face.

  Mateo nodded his head. He wanted to smile this time, but he couldn’t. He was glad that Amirah had come for him. The punishment he was about to endure would not be in vain. Knowing that gave Mateo something to look forward to. He prayed that he would get to see Amirah again. He didn’t expect her to come visit or to accept his collect calls. Truthfully, he couldn’t fix his lips to ask her to do these two years with him.

  Epilogue

  He Can Do It Again

  Two Years Later

  After being released from spending almost two years in Buncombe Correctional Center, a minimum security facility, Mateo got down on one knee and asked Amirah to be his bride. Amirah accepted his proposal after letters back and forth every week, numerous collect and prepaid calls, and the occasional visit. In Mateo’s eyes, Amirah was a true ride or die chick, and she did this bid with him without ever entertaining the mere thought of another man.

  Mateo’s sentence was longer than it could have been considering he had previous felonies on his record. North Carolina law could be brutal, especially when it came to habitual offenders; however, the stay at the state prison was short in the grand scheme of things. Mateo could’ve gotten seven years in addition to the two for his crime if the judge had decided to do so.