All Chapters of Damaged: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The next morning, I woke to a cold and lonely atmosphere. My baby girl is still not back. I drag myself out of bed and shower. When I came out of the bathroom, I noticed a Manila envelope on her bedside table, with her name Loyalty A. Hart printed on it. I opened the envelope to find medical documents, a referral to an OBGYN, and three sonogram images. I’m not really sure what I’m looking at in them, and I’m sure she would tell me if she were here… But she’s not! I stuff everything back into the envelope and toss the envelope on top of the dresser before continuing to get dressed. Everyone avoided eye contact with me this morning since they all heard our explosive argument last night. It's one of the downsides of living with so many people. But since there are whole rooms that serve as a buffer between me and the rest of the crew, no one really knows why I'm fighting with Loyalty right now. “Don’t worry”, says Brenda. “She’ll be back! She loves you”! I don’t say anything because, at

It’s just another night at the nightclub, fucking Monday nights in the Summer are the worst! Tonight I have Courtney instead of Melanie upstairs in my apartment with Stephany, since I know Simon is conducting some business here this evening. I want things to go smoothly and, ever since she’s turned twenty-one, sometimes she’s a little too careless at the bar because she is so easily distracted by the male patrons! I saw Simon waving, so I knew his meeting was about to begin and I turned my focus to maintaining the crowd around him. That’s when three dumb fucks start a fight, right in front of the bar, breaking five glasses as they crash to the ground together. I grab the card off the bartop that belongs to one of them and hand it to Melanie. “Charge this for a case of new glasses”, I tell her before tapping Bo’s shoulder. He lifts me effortlessly onto the bar where I stomp my foot and kick the broken glass to the ground before yelling, “hey break it up asshats”! The guys are stunned

I woke up in a much better mood, in the arms of my best friend Charlene. Plus, it’s my favorite club-themed night, karaoke! Tonight, Courtney is at the bar while Melanie sits upstairs with Stephany. The sign-up sheet goes out to the staff first, and the first few acts are always us. Alina, a new bar girl, signs up to be the first act. Lord forgive me, but I hope she never does again… I’m not a fan of Melissa Etheridge, to begin with, but my ears are bleeding by the time she’s done. Jonny thankfully takes the stage next, always singing some boy band pop song that makes Charlene tease me about how he is trying to send me a message! Tonight it’s David Archuleta’s song ‘Crush’. “My gawd girl”, she says. “You need to jump his bones already and put that poor man out of his misery”! “Jesus Char, it’s just a song”, I tell her as I bury my face in my hand with embarrassment. “Besides, what goes in and out of my vagina is not up for discussion”. There is a loud cough from

I rise early to find Jonny asleep on my couch, and Stephany is asleep on his chest. Fucking guy stayed all night to comfort my daughter! I sit across from him and stare at them until Jonny finally wakes up. “Mi Amor”, (my love) he says when he sees me sitting there. “What’s wrong, Amory”? “I’m tired of hiding”, I tell him. “This was never me”, I say as I point at my hair. “I did this to hide the fact that Gabby’s hair color was from her father and not me! I need to be me again”! “Okay”, he says as he cradles Stephany so he can sit up. “What’s your next move”? “I get my look back and then I get comfortable being on my bike again”, I tell him. “You’re seriously going to go through with racing him?”, he asks. “I don’t have a choice! If I don’t, he’ll be here every day, he’s relentless. What happens when Gabby has to go to the doctor and we need to take her outside? Or when she starts school, and I have to wait for the bus with her? If I don’t shake him now

I wake up to Jonny already here, he has Stephany dressed and ready to go. “Say morning Mama”, he says to my daughter as she straddles his lap and he raspberries into her neck, making her giggle. It says a lot about a man who is willing to take care of a little girl. It says even more, when it’s someone else’s little girl he’s willing to take care of! I headed back to my room to get ready for the day and as I walked back out of the bedroom, the front door opened in front of me, and in walked Spin. “For fuck’s sake, Spin”, I snapped at him. “Knock”! “My wife and daughter live here, why should I?”, he responds without apology. “Mama”, Stephany squealed as we reached the living room. “Ready to go Gabby?” I said. “Airplane YaYa”, she tells Jonny. “Airplane?!”, he says, playing along. “My princess wants to fly”?! “Fly YaYa, make Gabby fly”, she tells him. He gets up from the sofa with her and flies her around the room before crash landing in my arms