Chapter 16
Demi was a shell of a man. He was trying. He wanted to be present and to focus on his son as DJ talked excitedly about switching positions next football season, but he couldn’t. He was full of half-hearted replies as he tried to encourage his son.
“You see that play, Dad?” DJ asked. His little league championship tape played in the background.
“If you gon’ run the field both ways, you gon’ have to train, my boi,” Demi stated. “You get lazy on defense, and you gon’ mess around and get hurt.”
“Coach Ny said he’ll let me come to middle school conditioning. If I train with them all summer, I’ll be set for fall. Can I, Dad? Please?”
DJ was riding a wave after being nominated for little league player of the year.
“Coach Ny, huh?” Demi asked, glancing up at Lauren.
“Has nothing to do with me. That’s between DJ and Coach Ny. That offer was on the table way before whatever you thinking happened, happened,” Lauren said.
“Yeah, a’ight,” Demi said.
Demi kicked back on the couch. He didn’t realize how much the absence of this threesome had affected him.
It felt completely normal to be here with Lauren and DJ.
He had come home to them for many years.
His woe was welcome within these walls. It was safe here.
Neither Lauren nor DJ judged him for his emotions.
They didn’t use his weaknesses against him, and Lauren had cause.
It only showed the measurement of her character.
Lauren walked into the room and grabbed the remote control, pausing the TV. “Bud, it’s time to shower and get ready for bed.”
“Dang, Ma, but Dad’s here. It’s the weekend! Can I just stay up and hang out?”
“Don’t dang Ma my wi…” Demi stopped himself. He would always come to Lauren’s defense when they were together, making sure DJ kept it respectful with his mother. “Do what your mama said, boi.”
“Yess, sirrr,” DJ said, sulking as he stomped past Demi. Demi pulled his hand as he passed and he tackled DJ to the couch, play wrestling with his son, delivering light taps as he hopped up on his feet. “Let’s go, put them dukes up.”
Lauren laughed as she pulled out her phone. “I couldn’t make this up,” she said as DJ went beast on Demi, yelling like a banshee and laughing as he delivered a blow to Demi’s midsection. He wasn’t strong enough to hurt Demi yet, but Demi was good at faking it to make DJ feel strong.
“Aghhh,” Demi groaned, putting a little sauce on it as he bent over and held his “injury.”
“You cap, Dad, I ain’t even hit you that hard,” DJ said.
Demi stood suddenly and flipped DJ over his shoulder before body slamming him into the couch.
“You cheated!” DJ said.
“Play weak, be strong. You know the rules,” Demi schooled. “Now, head to bed.”
Lauren put her phone away and shook her head. Demi had been detached from a lot over the years, but never their son. DJ was the one connection he truly allowed. When Lauren heard DJ’s footsteps go all the way upstairs, she spoke.
“You’ve been here for a few days, Demi. I don’t mind having you. He’ll, you bought me the house, so who am I to put you out, but we both know this isn’t where you want to be, boy. Just go home.”
“I ain’t sure where that is,” he admitted. “What if I made a mistake, Lo?”
“Boy, goodbye,” Lauren said, snatching up her couch pillows to fluff them after the way DJ and Demi had smushed them all day.
“You’re in your feelings a little bit because you realize I’m moving on, and you’re used to having ownership of me, Demi.
You just don’t want someone else to have something that you feel like belongs to you. You’re like a dog with a bone.”
“Nah, Lo, it ain’t about that,” Demi said. “I’m just saying. What if I put my money on the wrong horse.”
“Oh, negro, if we talking winners, I’ma always leave with the trophy.
You absolutely bet on the wrong horse, if that’s what we’re talking about, but look at you.
You’ve literally been miserable for two days.
You trying to play tough, but I know you.
Whatever drove you to this house has nothing to do with regret and everything to do with you not having the upper hand with that girl. ”
“It’s deeper than the upper hand, Lo. Charlie’s pregnant, and instead of planning a future with a nigga, she decided something different.”
“Different?” Lauren thought she knew what he meant, but she didn’t want to assume.
“She told the doctors to schedule an abortion. Didn’t blink. Didn’t stop to think about the shit. I don’t even think the shit hurt. It was like she was talking about throwing away a piece of trash.”
“Oh,” Lauren responded. It was the only word she could find.
“So, again. Did I make a mistake? I risked it all for what? Casual sex and some love songs?”
“I might not be the right person to discuss this with, Demi. I don’t even like yo’ bitch, so my advice regarding this might not be the most impartial.”
“So it’s as fucked up as it sounds?” Demi asked.
“I don’t know, Demi. I know you love this girl. I know you do because of what you gave up to be with her, but maybe you’re only considering love. A baby changes things in a relationship.”
“DJ made us better,” Demi stated. He was so forlorn, just agonizing and torn up at the thought of Charlie’s procedure. He had wanted to hold her hand through it but he couldn’t be there for the annihilation of another child. Same woman, same song. Pregant-ALT-DELETE.
“Because I wanted kids, Demi. I wanted kids with you. Maybe she doesn’t.
Maybe she’s scared. She’s damn near a teenager, maybe her ass don’t want the responsibility.
I don’t know, but if you love her, you got to respect her choice.
You don’ already gave up your life for her, and there ain’t no backtracking, so you might as well make it right.
Otherwise, all this pain you’ve caused me will be for nothing. When is the procedure scheduled?”
“It was yesterday,” Demi said. “That’s what I’m saying. She pulled the motherfucking trigger so quick, Lo. In a split second, I found out I was having another kid and then losing one.”
“Demi, please tell me you didn’t make that girl go through that alone,” Lauren said.
“She made the decision alone. I wasn’t staying around for that.
I ain’t with that shit. I’ll never be with that shit.
” Demi’s vehemence was felt. She could see it.
He couldn’t hide it. Red eyes, tension bricking his shoulders, causing him to exist with frustrated fists, a stiffened back…
Demi was disturbed in a way that only a lover could evoke.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this,” Lauren said. “You can stay here until you get your head together if you want.”
“You’re a great woman, Lo,” Demi complimented. “The fucking pastor is lucky.”
Lauren laughed. “You not gon’ let up on that, huh?”
“Fuck no,” Demi said, giving a half-hearted smile. “How the fuck you go from a gangsta to a pastor?”
“Ha ha,” Lauren responded dryly. “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night, Demi.”
“Yeah a’ight, Lo. Night.”
Charlie had never gone to Lauren’s Instagram.
Not once had she worried about subliminals or shade.
Demi protected her from things like that.
She never had to think twice about it until today.
She scrolled through Lauren’s page, and her heart ached as she realized that Demi had gone running right back to his wife.
Pictures of the three of them dressed up and smiling stared back at her.
A video of Demi taking out the trash that she knew he wouldn’t dare touch under any other circumstances.
Their housekeeper took out their trash, and here his ass was hauling garbage out for Lauren.
A late-night wine and vibe session was another post. Lauren, with her feet propped up on the coffee table while she sipped out a Versace wine glass and a football game played in the background.
She spun the camera to DJ and Demi, who were attentively tuned in to the game.
Family time. Lauren was broadcasting family moments and despite the ring on Charlie’s finger, despite the divorce papers, despite the big-ass house Demi had purchased her and the baby growing in her stomach, she had been reduced right back to the other woman.
Demi had gone home, and Charlie’s body felt the throbbing betrayal in her bones.
It was his level of comfort that offended her most. He and Lauren had a shorthand when interacting with one another that only years in symmetry could bring about.
She had been torturing herself. Her sheets had been drowning her, weighing her down like an anchor to her ankle in a sea of white silk.
All the while, he was playing house. Charlie was on her way to Lauren’s house before she could even use her better judgment.
She knew she had no right to pull up to his ex-wife’s home.
She and Lauren had never even formally met, and she knew this wasn’t the way they should finally meet face to face, but she was beyond logic.
Reason took a backseat to heartbreak. She had fifty-three minutes to change her mind, but she still found herself pulling up to Lauren’s home.
The sight of his car parked in the driveway was gasoline to her fire.
How could he come here? She had always heard that the energy she put out would be returned to her. It was just the way of the world, and sure enough, the hurt she had contributed to this very home had come right back on her.
How could he not come here? This was the family she had stolen him from. Pure adrenaline pushed her forward, and she exited the car. Her finger lingered on the doorbell before ringing it.