Page 69 of Divine Sense
Tackling him to the ground, I pinned him down and tried to keep him in place. I didn’t want to hurt him, I only wanted to stop him from hurting her again. I heard the cries of some of the guests as he overpowered me, ripped me off of him and landed a punch square on my jaw. He hit me several more times as I struggled to gain higher ground and brought my hands to my face to try and defend myself. Trying to get him to the ground again, I grabbed his jacket and swung him off of me, slamming him to the floor. He continued to hit me anywhere he could and was shouting words at me no one should ever shout in a crowded room. Hands grabbed my shoulders, pulling me off of him and dragging me to my feet. Once I was standing, William sprang up and sucker punched me in the jaw again for good measure before a man from the room came up from behind him and held him back.
“Our family has been here for nearly four centuries and have held the prestige we have since then. I will not let someone like you come into this house and ruin the good name we have built for ourselves,” he snarled, trying to break free from the two men who were holding him back from me.
“And my people have been here for just as long. I would encourage you to consider why that is,” I spat back. I looked to where Magnolia was standing next to her mother in total shock from what had just happened. I tried to wrestle free from the stranger who was holding my arms behind my back. A few of the men who worked for me were trying to step in and take control of the situation when three police officers came running into the room.
“Officers, please, arrest this man, he just attacked me in my home,” William demanded of them, shaking free from the men who had been holding him back. Susan quickly joined his side and started to fuss over him. The officers marched over to me and grabbed me by the arms.
“Wait, hold on a minute,” Parker, one of my men, tried to interrupt and stop the cop from wrapping the metal cuffs around my wrists.
“Sir, I need you to take a step back,” the policeman warned.
“Parker, don’t.” I shook my head at him and made eye contact with all the guys I knew and trusted who were watching their boss get arrested. I knew that if they interfered it would just make things worse.
“Wait, stop,” Magnolia’s voice broke and she took a few hurried steps towards me. “Stop, he didn’t do anything wrong, he was just trying to protect me.” Her hands were on my jacket as she frantically looked at both her parents. “Stop this,please.”They just stood there, stone cold and silent.
“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” the officer rattled off my Miranda Rights as he tugged my wrists tightly behind me, leading me out of the crowded room.
“Daddy, Daddy, stop this. Please!” I looked over my shoulder towards Magnolia and felt a crushing weight in my chest as I watched the tears stream down her face. As I was escorted out of their home, I licked the corner of my mouth and tasted the copper tang of blood as it dripped down my busted lip. I looked toward William who was standing next to his wife who was still fussing over him, trying to straighten his tie as he stared me down from the corner of the room. His professionally pressed shirt now ruffled and missing a few buttons.
“It’s okay, flower. I’ll be fine,” I assured her over my shoulder as the officer behind me forcefully pushed me towards the two hundred year old front door.
“Daddy, please!” she begged again, screaming at her father and pounding on his chest with her fist. “You don’t need to do this. Tell them the truth, tell them what happened!”
William said nothing and stood with a hard expression, unwavering in his disdain for me. I wanted to call him a coward. I wanted to tell the officers they should be arresting him, seeing as how he was the one who hit me. But I knew it would do no good. No one would believe me against him, they never do in these types of situations. So I kept my mouth shut and said nothing as the officers escorted me down the cracked front porch steps towards the cruiser.
As they opened the backdoor of the car, Magnolia came from behind and slammed the door shut. Her raven black hair flying around me as she threw her arms around my neck. Feeling her pressed against me brought me the briefest moment of peace as I breathed in her scent before a third officer grabbed her to pull her off of me.
“Don’t touch her!” I yelled without thinking, lunging towards the man who had a tight grip on her arm.Bad move brother, bad, bad move.The two officers behind me slammed me into the cruiser and I felt a distinct crunch in my ribs.
“Kolbi!” she shouted at me a few feet away from the cruiser, the officer held her back as the other two shoved me into the back seat.
“I’ll be fine. I love you, flower.” She started to sob and I saw her fall to her knees as the cruiser sped down the long gravel driveway towards the main road.
I sat in silence in the back of the police cruiser and replayed the last eight months in my mind. My mama always taught me to mind my manners and be a good boy so that Iwouldn’tend up in the very situation I was in. And I had listened.
I had listened up until the point where I couldn’t listen anymore.
Because my girl needed me and I had promised I would do anything for her.
And I wasn’t going to break that promise.
My ass was startingto throb from sitting on the wooden bench for nearly three hours. The men who arrested me took me to the local police department, booked me, and told me to wait until they came and got me. I’d asked if I could make a phone call and only got a grunt as a response. I was sitting with my head in my hands, elbows propping me up on my knees, when someone finally came back to get me.
“You’re free to leave,” an officer said, turning a key in the door and swinging the barred gate open for me to exit. I stood from the bench and hesitated for a moment before exiting. “Well, are you going or what?” he barked, flicking his thumb over his shoulder.
I exited the cell and started to walk to the front of the station as the officer who had released me followed me out. Once I reached the front, three bodies stood from the waiting room seats and looked at me with relief. Malcolm, Conrad, and Hank stood just on the other side of a clear paned door and watched as I was handed my personal items and buzzed out.
“Kolbi, what the hell happened man?” Hank asked first, reaching for my hand and giving it a pump.
“Yeah dude, out of all of us, I never expected it to be you who got arrested first,” Malcolm half laughed, trying to relieve some of the tension with a joke.
“Malcolm, not now,” Conrad chastised.
I was about to ask them if we could get the hell out of there when the door to the station flung open.
“Kolbi,” I heard her gasp and turned towards her just in time to catch her. I winced as her body slammed into mine andwondered if I had a broken rib or two. Her dark curls fell down her back as I held her close and breathed her in.
“Oh my god, flower, what are you—” I started to ask her how she knew where to find me. She pulled away and met my glance.
