“What’s up? I heard you wanted to talk to me about something. Talk.” His demeanor was laced with a mixture of rudeness and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“Yeah, actually, I do. When I first met you, I told myself you must have been some knight in shining armor sent to me when I needed a friend. For a moment, you almost fooled me into believing you were someone I could count on, but I guess the joke was on me,” I vented, eyes locked on his as we stood in front of each other.
“I spent this whole week wondering if I had done something wrong or if maybe you were in danger and you’ve been in this suite living your best fucking life. You’re a real piece of work, but I should have known better.”
Dreaux flexed his jaw, and I noticed the little vein pulsate in the middle of his forehead. I didn’t give a damn about him being upset because my feelings were hurt.
“Are you done?” he shot back in a smug and nonchalant tone. His unbothered demeanor gutted me because I thought he cared about me. It fueled my anger even more because he really fooled me.
“No, I’m not done. You’ve made it clear that you don’t give a fuck about me, and I’m cool with that. Trust me, I’m used to the shit. What angers me more than anything is that you involvedmy child in the games you were playing. After everything I’ve been through, I stopped trusting people. You made me feel safe, though. I thought you really cared about Promise and me, and I allowed you to play a role in my child’s life. She’s already lost enough, and now you’re another person who has walked out of her life. You’re a bitch for that, and I won’t ever forgive you. Don’t even bother coming around her when you decide to stop hiding. She doesn’t need you, and neither do I.” My voice started to crack at the end, and I felt foolish for even allowing myself to get so attached.
“This is exactly why I’ve never had a bitch. I can’t stand the melodramatics. You’re sitting here with an attitude because you made a dumb ass assumption. All you had to do was ask me what was going on, but instead, you’ve made up this stupid ass scenario in your head and decided to run with it. I hate that stupid shit,” he ranted while walking away from me.
His bluntness took me by surprise, but I was in too deep to turn back. I followed behind him as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. My eyes lingered on his abs as he drank the water, then dropped down to the V-cut leading down to his lower half.
“You want to talk about me being dramatic. You got up and disappeared without telling your own sisters where you were. I’ve been calling your phone for days and trying to check on you. If you wanted to be left alone, you could have told me what was going on so I wouldn’t worry. I came up with my own interpretations because you failed to communicate with me! This isn’t on me, it’s on you.”
“You’re acting as if I left you for dead. I sent money to make sure you and my princess were taken care of. Hell, I even sent money to those ungrateful mothafuckas in my house to make sure they were straight. I didn’t leave y’all in a fucked up position. All I needed was a minute to get my mind right. Theproblem is that no one is used to me being unavailable to them, so it feels like abandonment. Y’all don’t actually give a fuck about whether I’m okay or not.”
“That’s not true. I was worried about you.”
“Yeah? Is that why you came in here spewing that bullshit instead of asking how I was doing?”
I opened my mouth and closed it right back because he was right. The moment I saw that he was safe and uninjured, I started thinking about my own feelings. It was selfish of me, and I recognized how it must have made him feel.
“I apologize. When you first went missing, I convinced myself you must have been dead or badly injured, so when I realized you were okay, my feelings took over. I overreacted, but it’s only because I care. I’m here if you want to talk.” I assured him, fiddling with my fingers.
“I’m cool. Ain’t shit to talk about.” He walked away again, and I found myself following behind him like a lost puppy. When we entered the bedroom, I wasn’t shocked to see the bed already made. Dreaux was very organized and meticulous. It was one of those things I found fascinating about him. Dreaux reached for the blunt on the nightstand, and I noticed the empty liquor bottles in the trash bag next to it.
“I thought you said that you don’t drink.” My head tilted towards the bag and then back to him.
“What can I say? Shit happens,” he replied with a shrug.
“Are you always this closed off and mean?”
“What do you want from me, Peace? You want me to open up to you and tell you my secrets? Huh? If that’s what you’re waiting on, you might as well leave now. I’m not that type of nigga, and I never will be.”
“I thought we were friends and friends confide in one another.”
“You want to be my friend?” Dreaux quizzed. The intensity of his gaze caused butterflies in my stomach.
“Well, I-I thought we already were friends. Did I miss something?”
Dreaux chuckled while lighting his blunt and then putting it to his lips. The act was so simple, yet so sexy. Honestly, I found most of the things he did sexy. He walked over to the balcony and then slid the door back. I stood there, looking crazy, unsure whether I should follow him. I came this far, so I decided to see it through. There were two lounge chairs on the balcony, so I took a seat next to him.
Silence loomed over us while he smoked. He offered me the blunt, but I declined and opted to watch him instead. After a few minutes, he placed what was left of the blunt on an ashtray on the little table between us.
“It’s time for you to leave.”
I heard him, but I chose not to respond. If he wanted me out, he would have to make me leave. I had come too far to let him put me out without telling me what was really going on.
“I know you heard me.” This time, he sat up in his seat and turned to face me.
“Yeah, I did.” I shrugged, then lay back in my chair.
“I mean it. I came here to get away from my problems, not to lie around with them.”
“Ouch. If you weren’t already such an asshole, that might have really hurt my feelings. Can I ask you a question, though? What problems do I cause you? I never asked you to insert yourself into my life, and as far as you helping me, I can pay?—”
