"What did I say about getting blood on my carpet?" You mumbled, dabbing the cut on Latrelle's cheek with a soft tissue.
"Not to," He replied.
You shake your head, tossing the bloody tissue into the trash can. He was bruised up bad this time. Cuts on his face, a black eye, he was even limping.
The blood that dripped from his nose onto your white carpet seemed less of a problem compared to him.
"I'll clean it for you." He squints his eyes shut as you clean one of the bigger cuts on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, you need to rest."
You glance at the time. You had woken up an hour ago to the sound of someone knocking at your door. Of course it was Latrelle, beat up. You knew he had been messing with Cesar again.
You wondered why it was so hard for Latrelle to leave Cesar alone. Cesar rarely messed with him. It was always Latrelle actively making things tense for everyone.
He made it hard to be in a relationship with him, while also respecting Cesar and his friends. You toss Latrelle a blanket and a pillow from your bed, before climbing in.
"You can sleep on the couch. Then leave in the morning."
"Babe, you really gonna treat me that way?"
"Yes, I am because you had the nerve to wake me up at 3am to bandage you up because you were starting some stupid bullshit with Cesar."
He rolled his eyes and tried to get in the bed with you. "You know it's the life I live. I have to keep them on their toes or they'll get comfy. You can't change me baby"
This pissed you off. You pushed him off of the bed. "No because I know the life you live. I'm not trying to change you, it's just when you're messing with him that's when I get mad. Do you know how hard it is to watch you run and start a fight with Cesar and have to baby you back to health, only to look Monse in the eye the next morning to say hello. It's really fucking hard."
He throws his hands up, "Whatever you're bugging. You always take things too far. I wasn't even really messing with him. It was only him and his girl. He was on me for no reason so I had to say something. It wasn't my fault he was acting all tough like he was gon do something."
Your eyes widen and you sit up. "Monse was there?" You ask.
"If that's her name then yeah."
"You fought him while Monse was there!" You yell, throwing a pillow at his face.
The pillow hits Latrelle hard. He throws it out your bedroom door, turning to look at you, his mouth turning into a scowl.
You return the face, "You're lucky he didn't have a gun, Latrelle! You know he gets protective when he's with his friends. You know this!"
"You need to calm down. Why are you getting so emotional?"
"Why am I getting emotional? I'm getting emotional because one day you might not knock on my door. You might be bleeding out in the street, because of your dumb decisions. I would never forgive myself if you..."
You felt tears start to roll down your cheek, but you don't stop yelling even though your voice is breaking with sobs.
"Please break up with me if you are going to keep doing this. Please. I can't keep helping you like this. I can't keep defending you. Don't you love me? Why can't we go to the park or on dates like we used to? Why will you ignore my texts for days but feel fine with coming to my door bloody. You said you love me so why don't you act like it?"
