Forgotten Love and Goodbyes – Ch. 6

"Akisha, Akisha wake up," said a voice as someone gently tapped her on the cheek.

Akisha let out a soft moan as she slowly opened her eyes Leon's face came into view. "Leon, is that you?"

"Yeah baby it's me, are you okay?" he said as he slowly helped her up.

"Yeah I'm okay, my face and head hurt like hell," she said as she rubbed her now bruised cheek.

"Here sit down," said Leon as he led her to the table and helped her sit down in a chair. He went to the freezer and got out an icepack. "So what happened, who did this to you?" he asked as he wrapped it into a towel.

"It was Rico," she replied, wincing from the pain in her cheek and head.

"Rico why was he here?" he said as he gently put the ice pack on her cheek and Akisha took a hold of it.

"He was waiting for me he wanted to know where I was."

"How'd he get in here anyway?" asked Leon pulling up a chair beside her. He gently held her hand with the icepack in his.

"He got in with my spare key I showed him where it was." She saw the look of anger on his face. "Look don't worry, it's not like he ever came around when I wasn't here."

"So why'd he hit you, was it because of me?"

"Yeah, I told him that you and I were getting back together and he got upset. He was angry that I was accepting your reason for being away and letting you back into my life. He said that you didn't deserve to have me back in your life and was gonna make sure that you didn't win the race, so you wouldn't be allowed back on the team."

"Why that son of a… I'm gonna kill him myself," said Leon as he got up and headed for the cupboard.

"Leon no, don't it's what he wants, he wants you to be angry and act revengeful. He knows that he can use that against you to get me back." She watched him take out the bottle of aspirin and a glass from the cupboard. He began to fill the glass with water and then headed back to the table and sat down. He reached over and removed the icepack from Akisha's cheek. It was still bruised so he put it back on.

"It looks pretty bad, I don't think you should race tonight, is he going to race too?"

"Yes he is."

"Then leave him to me, I'll make sure he understands," he said as he took out two aspirin and gave them to her with the glass of water.

"Leon please don't do anything dangerous, I couldn't live with the fact that I could lose you forever," she pleaded, knowing what was going through his mind, "just let it go, I'm fine it's nothing serious."

"Of course it's serious, he hit you. Sure it may have been a slap on the cheek, but next time it could be something worse."

"It's even more dangerous for you to go after him, especially in the mood he's in right now. Plus he figures you'll be looking for him, so he'll probably be packing a weapon of some kind."

"Don't worry, he won't be able to hurt me, plus I'm not the only one he's gonna have to contend with."

"You're right he's gonna have Benny to deal with, Benny hates violence, especially when someone from the team is involved."

"Exactly and when it comes to harming women that really gets him steamed; he's seen first hand with the way his father treated him and his mother. He made a promise that no women would get hurt with him around."

"It's the reason why he's so protective of Mija, Cho and me he's always watching us when guys are around, he's also careful the guys on the team so that nothing happens to us with them. Well that's not so true now, once he knows what happened with Rico and me. When Benny hears about it, he'll for sure kick Rico off the team."

"He surely will. Look I'm gonna go get ready and talk to Benny, don't worry I'll make sure he knows the truth."

"Okay but be careful."

"Don't worry I will. I want you to go and get some rest, you're gonna need it."

"Okay I will," she smiled as Leon kissed her on the cheek and headed out. When he was gone, she went upstairs and to lie down.

When she got upstairs she went to the bathroom to take a look at her cheek. She turned the light on and looked in the mirror, her left cheek was a deep purple. She touched it and immediately broke down in tears. She leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor she bent her legs up and held them, and laid her head down and cried. The events of her and Rico downstairs were still fresh in her mind. She wondered how Leon knew about them fighting, he must've woken up and heard them screaming. He must've seen Rico drive off in a hurry and went to see if she was okay. She got up and opened the medicine cabinet. She took out a tube of healing cream and began spreading it over the bruise. She just finished putting the cream away when the phone rang. She ran across the hall to her room and picked up the phone beside her phone, "Hello?"

"Hey chiqua it's me," said a low gruff voice.

"Hey Benny what's up?" she said as she sat down on the bed.

"I just finished talking with Leon he told me what happened between you and Rico. I'm calling to see if you're okay, he said something about a bruise on your face."

"Yeah it's just a small one on my left cheek."

"That's not how he described it he said it's almost the size of your whole cheek."

"Well I guess you could say that."

"Tell me what happened, tell me everything." Akisha went through the entire story, not leaving out any details. As she recalled everything, she saw each image in her mind. She could also sense that Benny didn't like what he was hearing. "It sounds to me that it really surprised you when he hit you?"

"I was so surprised so much that I fainted when he did it. He must've gone out in a hurry when he saw me hit the floor unconscious. He was scared that he really hurt me. Leon came by sometime afterwards to check up on me."

"Well I'm letting you know that I'm not going to tolerate it, when he did to you was wrong and he knows it."

"Are you going to…"

"You bet I am he knows the rules when it comes to violence and women. He's most definitely outta her, even if that means we lose his bro as well."

"I understand, I'm still going to race though. I'm fine don't worry."

"No I don't want you too, especially after something like this. Your mind is too fragile right now and it will affect with the way you race. I just want you to watch tonight with me by your side. Marcus and Mija will be there watching too, Tai and his sis are going to race."

"What about Mario and Rico?"

"Mostly likely they won't be racing I'm planning to tell them my decision as soon as they get there. I want to let you know that whether he wins or loses, Leon is back with us."

"You're allowing back on the team?" tears of joy began streaming down her face.

"You betcha, though I'm still upset for him leaving me before an important race that almost cost me my life. I'm glad that he was there to look after you when Rico left. It shows me that he still care about you and would do anything to protect you."

"Thanks Benny, I'm glad to hear that. I know it was tough for him to even come back here, knowing how much we'd all be upset with him. He still stuck around and proved how much he really wanted us to forgive him."

"Yeah he really showed that. Well I better let you go and get a bit of rest. I'll see ya tonight chiqua."

"Bye Benny," said a smiling Akisha as she hung up the phone. She set it down on her nightstand and flopped down on the bed. Picking up a large brown teddy that she had gotten from Leon for Christmas from the floor, she held it close to her and fell asleep. She was soon fast asleep in a matter of minutes.

To Be Continued