I could tell by his demeanor that he was angry and ready for war. The last thing I wanted was for him to get hurt or locked up. Justice assured me that Dreaux was okay, but his words offered no comfort. He came into the room around five in the morning and went straight to the shower. I trusted Dreaux, so I didn’t think he was doing anything sneaky, but I still had questions. He climbed into bed and pulled me into his chest. I thought he would address our little conflict at the hospital, but he passed out as if nothing had happened.
“What’s on your mind, lil mama. I keep waking up because your ass is huffing and puffing. What’s up?”
“Where did you go last night?” There was no point in beating around the bush. I needed answers.
“The less you know, the better,” he mumbled. His eyes were still shut, and his arms were wrapped around me. I shifted mybody so I could look at him. He needed to see how fucked up he had me.
“You’re gonna need to come up with a better answer because that bullshit is not flying with me.”
He peeked with one of his eyes, staring at me as if I had lost my mind.
“Don’t start, Peace. It’s too early for this shit.”
“I don’t give a fuck how early it is. You need to answer my questions, and you need to answer them now,” I demanded.
Dreaux sat up in the bed with his back against the headboard. I waited patiently for him to explain what was going on. I watched as he grabbed a blunt from the nightstand and lit it. My anger rose as he took his time smoking. After he exhaled the smoke for the third time, I got ready to cuss him out, but he finally started to speak.
“Remember the woman who showed up at the office acting crazy?” I nodded briefly, recalling that nut job who was looking for me.
“We were business partners, and the lines were blurred. I tried to end things, but she became obsessive. She’s a very dangerous person, and I’ve made an enemy of her.”
“Is she the one who set fire to your house?”
Dreaux scratched the side of his beard, letting me know he was frustrated.
“Yes, and she killed the people I had watching the house. She doesn’t like the fact that I’m trying to end our business and personal relationship, and she won’t go away quietly.”
“I’m gonna assume the business you’re referring to isn’t legal. Am I right?” Dreaux stared straight ahead before he focused his attention on me.
“I have my hands in a lot of different ventures, both legal and illegal,” he admitted.
“You’re basically telling me you made a deal with the devil and now she wants to collect. Is that why she was so upset when she came to the office? She knew about me?”
“Yes. I tried to break things off with you because I wasn’t sure how far she would go to mark what she felt was her territory. It worked for a while, then I couldn’t stay away from you.”
The revelation left me floored as I began to put the pieces together. When Dreaux had people following me everywhere, I thought he was trying to assert his dominance over me. He claimed it was for my protection, but he never explained what I needed protecting from.
“Why would you keep me in the dark? You could have saved us a lot of drama and bullshit if you had told me what was going on. Hell, you left me unprotected because I had no idea there was any real danger.” The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.
When I attempted to get up from the bed, Dreaux grabbed me and placed me in his lap. I fought against him, but there was no use. My strength was no match for his.
“I fucked up. I was trying to figure it out on my own, and I was in over my head. I should have told you what was going on, but since you didn’t know about the other part of my life, I thought it was best to keep you in the dark. I underestimated how far she was willing to go.”
“Do you love her?” For some reason, the question lingered in my mind. There must have been some reason she refused to let go. At least that’s what I told myself. I couldn’t understand why any woman would want to be with a man who didn’t share her feelings.
“No, I don’t. It was never anything more than sex and money for me. She had the connections I needed to elevate my career, so I thought it was a good idea. I messed up when I added sex to the equation.”
Hearing my man talk about having sex with someone else bothered me more than I cared to admit. I understood Dreaux had a past, but now his past was overlapping with our current.
“What now? If she is capable of setting your house on fire with your family in it, then it sounds like she is too far gone.”
Dreaux hesitated before answering, causing me to face him.
“I don’t want you to worry about anything other than taking care of Promise. All you need to know is that I’ve got it under control.”
I wanted to believe him, but a part of me still felt like he was keeping things from me.
Eventually, we both fell back asleep and didn’t wake up until Promise barged into the room, demanding her daddy cook her breakfast. We were still at Justice’s house, but she didn’t care one bit.
