"I'll kill him!" Berkfield shouted. "In the family house, with me here, I will massacre him! Let me up, goddammit, now!"
Damali dashed between the two warring brothers, her posture centered low, knees bent, as she hopped in a circle to follow their moves. She eye-spotted Jose and Bobby for assistance. She didn't want anybody hurt, and that was likely if they collided again.
"Everybody chill. One family. One - "
"No!" Dan spat, "Fuck it. No such thing! She lied to me!"
Damali's attention swung between both younger Guardians as Krissy cried harder. Not sure what to do, she tried to keep them talking. Dan had totally surprised her. The newbie was faster, stronger, and had more heart than she'd given him credit for, and to see him out there all jacked around was breaking her heart.
She glanced at Krissy's disheveled condition and then at J.L.'s. Oh, shit. This man was definitely working before Dan's red alert, and the girl's father was in it now? J.L. was not about to calm down. All right, new plan. She gave Jose the subtle nod and he was on Dan in seconds with Bobby helping to pin him to the exterior shed wall.
"Dan, listen for two seconds. Okay?" She pivoted her attention to J.L. who looked like he was about to break Dan's neck. "J.L., you can kill him if you two mix it up. He's no black belt, brother. You have got to calm down!"
"I will kill this motherfucker where he stands now, D - let him go! He's been getting on my nerves since Philly, aw'right!" J.L. spat and rolled his shoulders. "This is bullshit!"
Guttural roars and a daughter's repeated name amid curses were coming from Berkfield twenty feet away as he wrestled on the dusty ground with Rider and Shabazz and tried to get to J.L.
"There's nothing to listen to, D," Dan hollered, new tears filling his eyes as his focus went to Krissy. "Tell him!"
"You need to stop playing games, Kris," Bobby shouted. "I told you to just be honest with my boy! Why'd you put him in a position like this, huh?"
"I was not playing games," she screamed, going to Damali and crying harder. "I changed my mind, all right! Is that what you wanna hear? I never slept with Dan!"
"So the kisses never mattered? Is that what you're saying? All those nights we talked, and I held you while you cried about being scared didn't mean shit to you, Kris? Is that it?" Veins were standing in Dan's neck as he hollered, "Answer me!"
Pure shock had loosened Jose and Bobby's hold on Dan, and in a hurt fury he tore his body away from the rusty aluminum shed exterior to walk in a hot circle, raking his hair with dirty fingers. "I cannot believe you." He made a lunge, but Jose and Bobby had him.
"Aw, Lawd, Dan, don't get into..." Damali sighed as Krissy covered her face and wailed. The girl's business was all over the yard; her father was about to have a stroke.
"I'll kill 'em both," Berkfield shouted, sending up plumes of dust as he struggled. "Rider, lemme up! Shabazz, get the f**k off me! They were both on my baby? Oh, shit, where's Mike's cannon!"
Damali couldn't hold Krissy and body block J.L. at the same time. But even with the girl near her, she could feel humiliation rising off Krissy's skin in a thick, pain-filled emulsion. Dan looked like he'd been slapped - better description, gut-punched, but the young fool's pride was putting him at risk for getting his ass beat. Stand down, Damali whispered in her mind. Please, Daniel, oh, man...
"Okay, everybody just stop!" Damali finally shouted, so confused and upset she didn't know what to do. She pointed at Dan. "She made a choice. How she came to that is between you two. Discuss it later - but one thing is for sure, she shouldn't have to do it out here like this."
Dan shrugged out of Bobby and Jose's hold and stormed away in the opposite direction from the house toward Carlos's unfinished property.
"Do I still need to body-block you, J.L.? You got your head together, man?" Damali asked, hands on hips.
J.L. raked his sweaty hair and grudgingly nodded. He walked in a distracted circle for a moment, and then looked up for the first time at Berkfield. Rage slowly ebbed and awareness set in as Rider kicked the gun farther away while Shabazz held Berkfield down in a shoulder lock. A visible Oh shit flickered in J.L.'s eyes. Terror replaced awareness as he tried to summon speech.
"Yeah," Damali said. "Go get your car keys, take a nice, long half-hour ride in the country. Call home on cell before you put your keys in the door, and let Shabazz and Rider have a conversation with a man who is losing his mind, first." She nodded to Bobby. "Go take a walk with Dan at Carlos's and make sure he doesn't do anything rash, and that he's home by the time we have to leave for our flight." She shot a glance at Jose, her nerves too frayed to put things in politically correct terms. "Go find 'Nita's ass and take Krissy over to my house so she can have a good cry and get washed up; give her some of my clean clothes, and let her talk to somebody female - off-site, nowhere near her mom or pop. I'll be in this yard until Berkfield calms down."
When she received grudging nods, Damali sighed, finally hugged Krissy, and whispered in her ear. "It ain't your fault, been there. Just be cool. We'll talk later, but... oh, chile, we'll talk later."
Krissy's head was bobbing up and down on Damali's shoulder as new tears began to fall, when Berkfield began yelling again. It took everything within Damali not to go over and slap him. But at the same time, she could dig it. Then again, after seeing what this did to the family, her own past transgressions began to rip a hole in her soul. All she could do was hand Krissy off to the most rational, kindest, most compassionate one on the team, Jose.
"Go 'head, now, hon," Damali said, as she'd heard Marlene tell her so many times before. "I'll talk to your dad. He's not himself, but he loves you." She sighed as Berkfield started a new wave of hollering.
"Krissy, I forbid you to leave this house, young lady! Where the hell are you going! Jose, your ass is mine if you take my daughter off this lot! Bring her back here!"
Damali ran her hands over her face as her gaze locked with Rider's and Shabazz's. Rider nodded. It was a gesture mixed with a silent been there on your behalf, kiddo, and yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll talk
him off the ledge. Shabazz's eyes were cool as he strained to hold Berkfield and echoed the same silent response. Damali began walking, but something was mentally messing with her so bad that she stopped, turned, and stared out into the dense brush beyond the shed. When Kamal walked out of the thicket and rounded the shed, Damali covered her heart with her hand.
"I heard gunfire report," he said as Shabazz stood slowly and released Berkfield. "Felt you all hyped from five miles away. Ain't been able to lock with Mar. You cool? She cool? Talk to me."
Berkfield was on his feet, but seemed torn and no longer in angry pursuit of Krissy. Rider glanced at the shotgun on the ground and got between it and Shabazz.