Chapter 10: Returning The Help

She wanted a long hot bath but was afraid that Troy might sneak out before she made sure that he had money and a full stomach. Because he had taken such good care of her she found that she now felt protective of him. She would have to settle for a quick shower.

Juicy stripped out of the ill-fitting clothes. She liked Troy but she did lock the bathroom door first. She then stepped in front of her mirror with her breath held. She didn't remember to breathe again until black spots flashed before her eyes.

Dear...Lord...She was covered from head to toe in purple and black bruises. Her face, that normally showed full and vibrant was swollen and cut in places. Her eyes were...

Juicy inhaled then and blinked rapidly. Purposefully she lifted her eyes to the ceiling and she ran her hands down her stomach and to the mound of short curls between her legs.

She held her breath again and tentatively began an exploration of her most intimate spots for any signs of force.

She ached so bad all over...but not there.

With a sigh of relief Juicy allowed her eyes to fall back to the reflection of herself in the mirror. She was holding her breath again as she tentatively touched the bandages covering her head. Slowly she unwrapped them. She knew exactly where they had drilled into her skull because it was one of the two places on her head that still throbbed dully; that and in back where she'd been struck.

As the bandages unwound, the sight of blood staining them made her feel weak in the knees. She decided to just get it done as quickly as possible. When the bandages were removed she was left with two huge cottons swabs stuck to her scalp. One was in back where she couldn't see, the other was just above her ear.

Juicy carefully removed the cotton from the drill hole in her head expecting a sharp pain. They had shaved away some of her beautiful dreds. Damn.

She couldn't see any drill hole...just a big blood clot. Juicy thought about pouring peroxide on the wound but the idea of it invading her brain was just too much so she settled for grabbing a fistful of clean cotton balls, which she pressed against her head. She didn't have bandages but she did have a clean doo rag. The cotton on the back of her scalp got replaced too, and then she secured the doo rag and covered the entire thing with a shower cap.

Juicy showered quickly then slipped into her bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body. She dressed quickly in a t-shirt and sweat pants. She put on her comfy fur slippers and went out to the living room, lips prepared to apologize for how long she had taken.

But Troy was in a deep sleep. He had curled up into a fetal position with his feet hanging off the end of the couch. He was even cradling one of the fur couch pillows...

Oh. He was so cute.

That thought made Juicy take a step back and walk out of the room. She had not just thought that, had she?

She walked into the kitchen and robotically began preparing a meal. Juicy had never thought any white man was cute. Ever. A man, to her, was black and hard...although white men sometimes paid more attention to her then black men did. Black men were so busy trying to get with the high yella girls that they couldn't always appreciate full lips, thick hips and thighs. She wondered if Troy was a white man that appreciated full hips and th-

What in the world was she thinking?! Juicy had never hated people over their colo--she didn't really care one way or the other. But after hearing it all of her life she had a tendency to gravitate away from whites.

She glanced over into the living room to see if the clanging of the pan had awakened Troy. It hadn't. He was out cold. Troy...she wasn't going to think of him as Mr. Cracker ever again.

Juicy had some frozen turkey burger patties so she tossed four of them onto her grill pan and sliced up some onions, tomatoes and lettuce. Then she opened a can of baked beans, which she doctored up with a bit of brown sugar, cinnamon, and bacon fat.

When the meal was prepared Juicy ate hungrily then carefully prepared Troy's plate and set it on the cocktail table besides the couch along with a soda pop. She retrieved the blanket from the bag of looted hospital supplies and put it at Troy's feet. Although the idea was in the back of her mind, she refused to linger and watch him sleep. Tomorrow he'd be gone...and that was that.

It was late when Juicy, fully clothed, climbed into her bed. This entire nightmare was beginning to seem like a distant memory. She was suddenly so tired. She was asleep before she could complete that thought.

Juicy's eyes popped open. Something was wrong. Troy was kneeling beside her bed bare inches from her face. Juicy jerked up to a sitting position and yelled. Troy's face had lost its color and a second later he reflexively yelled too.

"What the--? Troy what are you doing?" She had pulled her covers up to her neck and her eyes were wide as she stared at him.

"I—you were so quiet. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." She noticed that he was holding the little mirror from the bathroom in his hand.

She stared at it for a few moments. "You were holding a mirror up to my mouth?"

Troy blushed. "I—yeah..." Juicy couldn't help it, she laughed. She couldn't stop and before long her eyes were streaming tears.

Troy stood up. "I thought you'd be mad because I was in your bedroom."

Juicy tried her best to straighten up. "I'm glad that you cared enough to check on me."

He put the mirror on her neat dresser. "You weren't waking up on your own."

She glanced at the clock. It was just after two. She couldn't seem to get her bearings. Was it am? pm?