Chapter 8
Incestuous Sex, Lies, and a Journal Hidden Under the Mattress.
"I made it look like a gang hit. I made sure my brothers never raped her again. The police were happy to collect their bodies and erase a dozen unsolved crimes with the death of them. As if wiping out my past, by wiping out them, with no one else to hold me back, I was reborn by the death of them. They were no good," he said to her with a face full of sorrow.
"You don't have to tell me anymore, Malcolm, if by making me explicit in your crime makes you uncomfortable. I understand," said June rubbing his big knee. "What you say to me, I'd never tell anyone. You can trust me with your secret."
"Thank you, June," he said looking at her as if he wanted to get it all off his chest. If June had suspected he had never told anyone what he had done, she'd be right. He looked at her as if trying to read her before continuing. "The much maligned stereotypical, inner-city black male, when there are more good, young, black men and women than bad, they hung their bad actions on everyone else. In and out of jail, gangbangers into drugs, robberies, assaults, beatings, carjacking, and rapes, you name it, they did it. All three of my brothers had rap sheets longer than my arm. Even though I still had a foot in the gutter, somehow I was able to pull myself out of the sewer and they weren't. Yet, with me being their brother and their deep pocket, I was always there helping them, bailing them out, paying for lawyers, giving them jobs, and buying them cars," said Malcolm looking away from June to look at the floor of the car.
"You're a good man, Malcolm," said June.
"As if they were angry that I made something of myself, it didn't matter all that I did for them, they wanted more. They weren't happy unless I was doing a poorly as they were. I tried to get them to return to school to learn a trade but they wouldn't go. They said they could sometimes make more money on the streets in a day than I could make in a year."
"You tried being a good brother by setting an example and by showing them a different way that they refused take," said June. "None of what happened was your fault, Malcolm. You shouldn't feel guilty about doing what you did in protection of your sister. For all you know, having already crossed that incestuous line and getting away with it by sexually assaulting her once, now an easy victim with their invisible tramp stamp they put on her, they may have sexually assaulted her again and again."
"The last straw was when they tried to involve me in one of their dirty schemes. They threatened to blackmail me and extort money from me for a mistake I made with my sister a very long time ago, if I didn't go along with them. Stupidly, when I had been drinking heavily one day, I entrusted my brothers with my incestuous secret," said Malcolm looking at June with shame. "Had I done what they wanted me to do, I would have lost all that I worked years to build. I would have lost my company and my reputation in the community. Worse than that, I may have gone to jail."
"Just be thankful that you turned them down," said June.
"I cut them off for good and had nothing more to do with them for almost a year. I didn't answer my phone when they called or open my door when they came knocking. They knew how to get to me by using and abusing my sister," said Malcolm looking at June and pausing before continuing. "They knew I'd come running when she called."
"So what happened with Lucille? Tell me. You can trust me not to tell anyone," said June looking at Malcolm with a face full of as much curiosity as she had understanding. "How could they sexually attack their own sister?"
"Lucille was the baby of the family and, fun and funny, she liked everyone and everyone liked her. Except for my three, bad seed brothers, we all helped one another and looked out for one another. A close knit family growing up, we always had one another's backs. Then, as we matured, our family dimension changed. Now only out for themselves, my three brothers were jealous of my success."
"That happens in the best of families, Malcolm," said June.
"Yeah, well, I didn't have the best of families. I had the worst of families," he said with coldness. "After my brother Louis was shot and killed in a drug deal gone bad and my brothers, Marcus and Anthony, absconded with the money and the drugs, they needed a place to hide. It wasn't the police they were hiding from, it was their own gang members."
"Geez, Malcolm, it's good that you stayed clear of that, otherwise the gang would be looking for you," said June.
"Being the gregarious and affable person she is, my sister took their heat. Agreeing to put herself in danger to help them, Lucille put them up in her apartment after my sister Camille refused to help. They stayed with Lucille for a few weeks before their incestuous lust for her grew completely out of control," said Malcolm with sadness. "It wasn't from my brothers' gang that Lucille needed protection from, it was her own brothers."
"I'm so sorry, Malcolm," said June.
"With my brothers staying at her place, a small, one bedroom apartment, and with them drinking and doing drugs, it wasn't long before they started spying on her dressing and undressing. Except for the front and back doors, with her not having locks on any of her doors, not even the bathroom door, they continually peeped on her. Then, taking it a step further, she told me they were always brazenly walking in on her, standing there, and watching her as she was dressing and undressing. She told me that they were always walking around her naked and flashing her their dicks."
"Eww, gross," said June. "I can't believe they did that to her, the poor woman."
"Lucille told me that what started out as an innocent hug and kiss turned into groping and forced French kissing. She resisted their sexual advances but, growing bolder with their lust, they continued to escalate. With them touching her where no brother should ever touch his sister, when they tried kissing her and putting her hand on their cocks, she had enough of hiding them. When she asked them to leave was when they raped her," said Malcolm holding his hand in his head. "They raped my baby sister."
"That's unbelievable. That's so shameful. That's despicable," said June. "How could they do that to their own sister?"