The Johnson Sisters by Tresser Henderson

proceeded to read, “‘He wouldn’t be dumb enough to do that.’” She looked up at me, happy at my humiliation right now.
    I was mad at myself at this point. Why did I say that? I could have said he hit me and he would be gone and I would be back in bed getting some sleep. As usual, my mouth worked faster than my brain. Now Tobias was the one who had rights over property that was mine. I was pissed.
    â€œIf there’s another problem, please feel free to call us,” Officer Taylor said to Tobias like she was on his side. I didn’t bother to say anything else. I did get one last glance at Officer Winn as he proceeded to leave my stoop.
    â€œThank you, Officers,” Tobias said in his chipper voice.
    This just made me cringe with resentment.
    â€œYou all have a good night,” Officer Taylor said, and I slammed the door in her face.
    â€œPhoenix, you can get arrested,” Tobias said.
    â€œWhy, for closing my own door? She lucky I didn’t do more,” I bellowed. “I can’t believe you lied like that,” I said through clenched teeth.
    â€œHoney, I didn’t lie. Everything I said was the truth.”
    â€œI’m going to get you out of here if it’s the last thing I do,” I said, stomping up my stairs and slamming my bedroom door closed, locking it.

Chapter 10
    Shauna
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    Serena ended up staying up with me until she thought it was okay for me to fall asleep. I slept in the third bedroom they had. When I woke up, the first person I thought about was Cal and what he did to me. My second thought was how my head was killing me. I had a hangover without the drunkenness. I knew this pain came from Cal slamming my head into the floor. For a minute, I didn’t want to move for fear the pain would increase. I lay there looking up at the speckled ceiling, wishing things were different. I never thought I would have anything like this happen to me.
    I managed to sit up, making sure to move slowly, and was happy the pain didn’t escalate. I was more sore than I thought. I threw my feet over the side of the bed and sat there for a bit. I still had on the T-shirt and panties I ran over here in. I looked at the side table next to the bed to see my sister put a change of clothes there for me to put on. I picked it up to see she put a pair of gray jogging pants and fitted white V-neck tee with a pair of socks and underwear. I ran my hand through my tangled hair, wincing a bit, and when I brought my hands back down, I saw clumps of my hair came out in my hand. Tears threatened to escape as I recapped the night and wondered how in the hell this had happened.
    Here I was thinking I had to worry about my sister calling our cousins, and I never considered what Tyree would do once he found out. I knew I should have kept what happened to me to myself. Cal beating me was the least of my worries. Now that Tyree knew too, it was enough to stress me the hell out.
    All because of the simple act of Tyree going to the restroom in the middle of the night, and that’s when he realized Serena wasn’t in the bed with him. He thought she was with Nevaeh but quickly found out she was with me, since the spare bedroom was right beside my niece’s room. When Tyree saw me, he knew something was up. As much as I didn’t want to tell him, I had to. Seeing him standing before me caused me to burst into tears again. Needless to say, Tyree was heated by what happened, and he immediately began calling his boys, letting them know to serve Cal with a pretty ass-whooping if they saw him.
    I could stop Serena, but Tyree was another story. He was the brother I never had, and he acted the role of one, too. Tyree let me know way back he didn’t like Cal. He only dealt with him because he loved me, so for this to happen, he was ready to stomp a hole in him.
    Really Cal was hated by many men in the street. He always thought he was big and bad all the damn time, running his