As she made the arrangements, Danielle sat back in the chair and waited. She took in the short, round woman’s simple attire, white slacks and a red button-down blouse. She had been certain that working as a school nurse was easier than her job as an LPN, working in the labor and delivery unit at the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics. Now, seeing Nurse Carter with a bunch of loud, horny-ass teenagers on a daily basis, she wasn’t so sure.
Danielle allowed her eyes to travel around the room. A thousand emotions were running through her mind, but compassion for her daughter was not one of them. Columbia was a small city and the black community even smaller. The last thing she needed was for everybody to know her daughter was ho’ing on campus. She would never hear the end of it.
As soon as the nurse completed the call, Danielle rose from the chair and swung her purse strap over her shoulder. “Thanks for understanding.”
She nodded. “Good luck. I’ve already signed her out for the rest of the day.”
Danielle stepped out in the waiting room to find Portia still lying across the couch looking pitiful as shit. “Let’s go.”
Her daughter rose slowly and kept her head down. The nurse stepped over and gave her a big hug. “Everything is going to be okay; don’t you worry.”
Portia simply nodded.
Lips pursed, Danielle waited impatiently for Portia to grab her things, then turned and headed out to the car. Portia followed several feet behind. As soon as they were both seated, Danielle stared pointedly at her daughter and said, “What the hell was you thinkin’ sneaking on campus?”
Portia dried her face with a tissue and answered while still casting her eyes downward, “I don’t know.”
“What you mean, you don’t know? I thought you were at a track meet.”
She started crying. “I lied because I-I knew if I asked you could I go see Ramsey y-you were gonna say no,” she answered between sobs.
“And why do ya think I would say that?” When she didn’t respond, Danielle felt like screaming. Instead she took a long breath, then continued. “Because shit like this happens. A sixteen-year-old girl has no doggone business in some college dorm room. Them horny mothafuckas ain’t tryin’ to do nothing but get in yo’ draws.”
“Ramsey wouldn’t do that.” Portia looked straight at her and countered defensively.
“Uh-huh,” Danielle said, eyes narrowed and not at all convinced. “What did he say when you told him what his roommate did?”
Portia lowered her gaze to her lap again and seemed to shrink on the seat “He didn’t believe me.” She started crying, but Danielle refused to be swayed by tears.
She exhaled her annoyance. “He and his roommate probably planned the whole damn thang.” Seconds away from screaming, she reached down and put the key in the ignition. She had yet to meet this Ramsey because her daughter refused to invite him over. All she knew was that they met at the mall, and when her daughter wasn’t on the school bus—if she bothered to compare notes with Carmen’s mother, she would know how often this college student named Ramsey was dropping her off on the corner. Demanding that she stop seeing him was a big waste of time. Fighting her was a losing battle, because the more privileges she took away, the more rebellious she became.
She shook her head. “I don’t know why you put me through this shit every week. I’m not gonna tell you this again. Leave them mothafuckas alone!” She started the Durango, then peeled out of the parking spot. Realizing she was on school grounds, she quickly put her foot on the brake and slowed down. Relax, girl. The last thing she needed was a speeding ticket on top of everything else. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves but after last night, what had already started out as a bad day had suddenly gotten much worse.
They rode in the SUV, not saying a word to each other. Portia stared out the window the entire ride and that was fine with Danielle. She was so fed up with her daughter that she didn’t know what to do.
“Ya better not be lying.”
“I’m not,” Portia said between sobs.
Danielle wanted so badly to feel sorry for her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Part of her felt that she had brought this shit on herself. If she had kept her hot ass at her grandmother’s, none of this would have happened.
They arrived at the emergency room, and as soon as Danielle told the receptionist their reason for coming, they were ushered off to a private room. She took a seat in a hard chair in the corner. Portia was told to climb onto the examination table. A nurse came in and asked several embarrassing questions, then left to call the campus police. She informed them a few minutes later that they would be sending an officer over shortly. As soon as the nurse left, the rape crisis advocate arrived.
“Hello, I’m Allegra,” said the young, willowy blonde. She looked like a recent college graduate.
Danielle introduced herself and Portia.
Allegra gave Portia a sympathetic smile as she squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, sweetie, none of this is your fault. He took advantage of you. You are doing the right thing reporting this because if you let him get away with it, then he will do it to someone else.”
Danielle listened and as she watched the tears fall from her daughter’s eyes again, all she felt was pity. All her lecturing had been a waste of time. It took a man snatching some booty for Portia to realize the road she was heading down was the wrong path. Maybe something good would come out of this embarrassing experience.
She started to feel her heart soften and began to think that maybe for once her daughter was telling the truth. Last year there had been a story in the paper about a girl who had been sexually assaulted by her stepfather. When she finally found the guts to tell her mother, her mother called her a slut and kicked her daughter out of the house. Three days later, the girl had hung herself. As much as her daughter drove her crazy, if anything happened to Portia because she refused to believe her, Danielle would never forgive herself. Regardless of her daughter’s history of “crying wolf,” it was her job as her mother to stand by her side.
Taking a deep breath, she rose and moved over and stood by her daughter. When Portia glanced up at her with swollen eyes, she reached out and smoothed back a wisp of hair that had escaped her shoulder-length ponytail.
“Princess, the counselor is right,” she said softly, using her nickname. “Just tell the police everything that happened, and we’ll make sure he gets everything that he deserves.” Portia appeared stunned by her mother’s sudden change of heart. She nodded as Danielle handed her a box of tissues, then returned to her seat.
There was a knock at the door and after being granted permission to enter, two campus police officers stepped into the small examination room.
Oh, hell nah! Danielle groaned inwardly when she spotted Calvin Cambridge. Her temple immediately began to pound in concert with her racing heart. Could this day possibly get any worse? He glanced in her direction and appeared not to recognize her. She released a sigh of relief. Maybe he wouldn’t remember her after all.
“Are you Ms. Patterson?”
Danielle shifted her eyes to the short brunette standing beside him and nodded, not bothering to tell her she hadn’t been Patterson in years.
“If you don’t mind, we are going to ask your daughter a few questions.”
She nodded and listened as Calvin questioned Portia about the previous evening. As she listened, she found herself watching and remembering.
Calvin was tall enough to be a professional basketball player and he definitely worked out. After twelve years, he still looked good as hell. He had a handsome, mocha-brown face with deep, dark eyes. He wore his head shaved and she couldn’t imagine anything being sexier. Calvin was the type of brother she had always dreamed of having but never seemed to find.
She snapped out of her trance when she heard him ask, “What is your relationship to Ramsey?”
After a moment, Portia answered, “We just friends.”
Danielle frowned and stared at her dau
ghter.
Calvin noticed her hesitation. “You sure the two of you are just friends?” he asked.
Dropping her eyes to the floor, she nodded. “Yeah, we just friends.”
The look Calvin gave said he was having a hard time believing her, which Danielle couldn’t fault since she knew otherwise. Only minutes ago, she had decided to give her daughter her support—now she was starting to have doubts again. However, instead of stepping in, she decided to remain quiet and see how the situation played out.
“Okay, so let me make sure I got this right,” Calvin began as he glanced down at the notes he had scribbled on his notepad. “Ramsey picked you up after school and took you to his room. While he left to take an exam, his roommate Travis returned and took advantage of you.”
Portia nodded. “I was lying across the bed watching TV in Ramsey’s room when he showed up.”
Danielle wanted so badly to yell, “What the fuck were you doin’ in some nigga’s bedroom!” but forced herself to remain quiet.
“Did Travis hit you?” Calvin inquired.
“Nope.”
“Did you try to scream or get away?”
She shook her head.
“Did he threaten to hurt you if you refused?”
Portia tugged in several short breaths and held her tears in check. “No. He stepped in the room, locked the door, and sat next to me on the bed. He then moved on top of me and pulled my jeans down.”
“How’d he managed to get your jeans down?”
When the two officers turned their heads and looked at her, Danielle realized she had asked the question out loud.
Portia glanced at her mother through lowered lashes and answered as if the question was obvious. “He pulled them down my hips.”
Calvin narrowed his gaze skeptically. Danielle gave an even more confused look. Her daughter didn’t wear jeans, she wore coochie cutters. As tight as they were, she couldn’t see how anyone could pull them off without a little help. Besides, the minute he started pulling them down she could have kicked him in the face. Danielle inhaled deeply. It was easier to say what you coulda woulda done when it isn’t you. No matter how hard a time she had with this situation, she needed to support her daughter, regardless of what she might be thinking.
Calvin continued his questions. “At what point did he stop?”
Portia cleared her throat. “When the condom broke.”
His brow rose. “He used a condom?”
She nodded.
Danielle noticed the two officers look at each other but didn’t bother to comment. Calvin reached for his pen and started writing again.
“Where did he get the condom?” he asked.
“From Ramsey’s top drawer.”
Danielle shifted on her seat. When he had stopped to get a condom, that’s when she would have kicked him in his nuts. She was becoming more baffled by the minute.
“Is there anything else you might have forgotten to tell me?” Calvin asked.
Portia glanced up, then back down at the floor and shook her head.
“How many times did ya tell him no?” Danielle asked since neither of the bubble-headed officers had. Regardless of what happened, she knew no meant no.
Portia sighed with relief. “Mama, I kept telling him the whole time.”
Danielle crossed her arms and looked at Calvin with a look of challenge in her eyes. “That’s all I need to know. It sounds to me like the two of y’all need to get on your job.”
Calvin took a deep breath, then closed the notepad and nodded at Danielle. “We’re going to go back to campus, pull the boys in, and start an investigation. As soon as the nurse finishes the examination, we’ll be back for the kit and her clothes.”
Portia’s eyes grew large as she looked to her mother for help.
Danielle cleared her throat. “Those aren’t the clothes she had on last night.”
“They’re not?”
Danielle exhaled deeply. “No, she has showered and changed since then,” she said, realizing that Portia may have already destroyed all of the evidence.
Calvin looked like he was starting to get frustrated and Danielle couldn’t blame him. She was getting equally irritated.
He shook his head. “We really need to get those clothes. There might be evidence directly on them, linking Travis to your daughter.”
Danielle massaged her temple. “They’re at my mom’s. I can bring them to ya later.”
“How about when you’re done here, you give me a call and I’ll come out to the house and collect them myself?” Calvin suggested.
She gave a weary nod. It was going to be a long day.
The officers excused themselves and Danielle was left alone with her daughter and the advocate. She glanced over at Portia, who was wearing that same blank expression. Danielle wished she could make herself go hug her child, but part of her would not do it because now that the officers were done questioning her, she was even more doubtful than before.
The nurse arrived and explained the procedure. She was going to take samples of hair from both her head and pubic area, then do a Pap smear along with collecting other DNA samples, such as saliva and tissue. The entire process was going to take two hours. Danielle groaned inwardly, then told herself she was being selfish.
The nurse glanced over in her direction. “Mom, you can be present during the entire process.”
Portia gave her mother a humiliated look. Danielle shook her head. “No, I’ll save her the embarrassment. I’ll wait here.”
“I’ll go in with you if you like,” Allegra offered.
Portia smiled, pleased at her offer.
The nurse also smiled. “Good—then let’s get started.” She escorted Portia out of the room. Danielle decided to go outside and get some air while she waited.
Her phone vibrated. It was Ron calling from her house. He had obviously waited until she had gone to work before he bothered to bring his tired ass home.
“What?”
“Nucca, what da fuck you do to my clothes?” he barked into the phone.
“What does it look like? I burned them.”
He sighed with disgust. “Yo’ ass is crazy.”
“No, yo’ mothafuckin’ ass is crazy, thinkin’ you could stay out all night. You got life twisted,” she said loudly with a sharp edge to her voice.
“I worked a double.”
She wasn’t buying his lame excuse. “Double my ass. You should have called.”
“Yo, straight up, I forgot.”
She snorted a laugh. “You must be on some dumb shit. I ain’t that crackhead you used to fuck with.”
“Man, I’m not fin to argue wit’ you. I just wanna know why you burn my shit?”
“’Cause I’m tired of playing games!” she screamed. “Look, I got other problems and I ain’t got time to listen to no more excuses. Pack your shit and move back home with ya mammy.”
“Damn, boo, why you gotta be like that?” he asked innocently.
“’Cause I’m tired of your triflin’ ass.” Danielle ended the call, then turned the ringer off just in case he decided to call back and went inside the hospital again. She didn’t have time to play games with him. She had already been doing that for the last two years. Although she knew he wouldn’t take her seriously and his shit would still be scattered all over her room when she got home. And because she loved his fine ass, she knew she wasn’t even going to push the issue.
Danielle walked back into the emergency room and fumbled through her purse for a bottle of ibuprofen and a dollar so she could get a soda from the vending machine.
She and Ron had met one evening at the grocery store, of all places. Shop & Save had been running a sale on ground chuck and there wasn’t any left in the bin. She rang the bell for the meat department and Ron came out. He was fine as all get-out. Tall, dark, sexy, and dripping with charisma, she was instantly attracted. After he brought out a family-pack of meat, he asked for her number with a sexy, white-tooth smile. That night he call
ed, and by Friday, they had gone out on their first date. It didn’t bother Danielle that she was twelve years his senior. She had dated men younger than that before. Cornrows braided straight back, jeans hanging off their butts, long, white t-shirts, and Timberland boots—there wasn’t anything sexier. She didn’t know why. Maybe she watched too many music videos growing up, but a man her age couldn’t do shit for her. She couldn’t stand a nice, clean-cut brotha. Whoever had said nice guys finished last wasn’t lying. She needed a challenge and an educated, refined brotha wasn’t it.
It wasn’t that she liked young dudes, she just had a thing for thugs and preferably one with a job. As an LPN, she could have dated and probably married a doctor by now. But she knew that would’ve led to a life of boredom, like her best friend Renee had, and she loved living on the edge.
People thought it strange, her choice in men, especially since she grew up middle-class with both her parents, two sisters, and a brother. Renee grew up in the ghetto, and she spent most of her time in the summer hanging with her. She didn’t know why, but hanging in the ’hood excited her, made her heart pump wildly. Her own life has always been so sheltered and boring. She loved the excitement you could always find in the projects. There was never a dull moment. She wanted drama. Her mother used to do everything in her power to try to keep her from hanging in the projects, but she always found a way to sneak out.
Although she might be a little naive at times, Danielle was far from stupid. Men took advantage of her and confused her kindness as weakness, but she eventually figured the shit out and kicked their asses to the curb. Now it was time for Ron to go.
What she liked about Ron was that he was easy to talk to. She had discovered he was the kind of guy who loved to tell jokes. He would do anything to make her smile. One minute he was acting all tough and shit, and the next he was so kind and gentle. However, with Ron came plenty of drama—unfortunately, more than she bargained for: losing jobs, baby mama drama, and his ghetto-ass, mooching family. But even with all of the problems with their relationship, it wasn’t often that she came across a brotha with a ten-and-a-half-inch dick and a tongue to match, which was why she’d kept him as long as she had. But lately, with him staying out so much, and the hang-up calls in the middle of the night, she was beginning to believe that good sex wasn’t everything. At one point, the thought of some other woman riding her man’s dick had scared her, but now she didn’t care as much.
Trouble Loves Company Page 4