Chapter 12
Dyani
I knocked on the little door in front of me and patiently waited for Arris to answer.
“Yo,” he called out. “What’s up?” I knocked again but didn’t answer. “Come in?”
I pushed the door open and peeked into the room.
A huge smile crossed Arris’s face. He was obviously in the middle of tattooing.
A woman lay on the bench in front of him, her shirt around her neck so her entire bare back showed.
She had a gorgeous dragon on her shoulder blade trailing to the center of her back.
Arris looked sexy as hell, even while dressed down in a white sweatshirt and black sweatpants. He had slides on his feet and no jewelry I could see, not that he needed it when he looked the way he did.
“What’s up, baby?”
“Just bringing you lunch.” I held the little bag up in front of me.
The two of us talked about getting lunch today but Arris had been forced to cancel when he’d taken a walk-in without knowing how intricate the tattoo would be.
I wasn’t upset about it. I was actually happy. It meant I could bring him lunch in the shop and not have to worry about seeing any of Darryl’s friends or Darryl himself out in the wild.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
I walked further into the room and gave a small smile to his client as she turned her head to look at me. I set the bag on his back counter. He tilted his head back and I kissed him quickly. He smelled so damn good it damn near made my mouth water and a brief flare of jealousy reared its ugly head.
I looked back at the tattoo he was working on. The tattoo and his client were both beautiful and for a second I thought about the fact that Arris had been staring at her half naked body for at least two hours while looking and smelling as good as he did.
I leaned down and kissed him again.
“Have a good session.”
“I’ve got like thirty minutes left if you want to wait for me to finish,” he offered.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m just doing the last of the shading.”
“Okay. I’ll wait in the waiting room.”
“Alright. I’ll be out there in a lil bit.”
I cast a last quick look at him then left the two of them alone.
I sat in the waiting room and messed around on my phone. I had messages from both Jayme and my brother so I got back to them then just scrolled random socials.
Jayme wanted to get our nails and feet done.
Darryl was just checking in and seeing what I was up to.
He’d drunkenly shown up to my apartment after the apparent party D-Ville had thrown.
He’d gone on a little tangent about how he was proud of me and was hoping he could spend much more time with me now that I lived so close.
His drunken stupor was how I found out he, Arris, and some of their friends had gotten into a huge fight.
I was still texting back and forth with both of them when Arris came from the back. He gestured toward the front desk and said something to his client but his eyes settled on me. He nudged his head toward the back room. I hopped up immediately.
I followed him into the room he’d been tattooing in and stood in the doorway while he disinfected everything. When he finished, I took a seat in one of the two vacant chairs in the room.
Arris peeked at the food I’d brought him and went to quick work unpacking it.
“What’s up, baby?” He took a bite of the food.
“Just wanted to see you.”
“You missed me, huh?” he teased.
I giggled and rolled my eyes. Arris lifted an eyebrow. I nodded slowly.
A grin took over Arris’s face and he leaned in so we could kiss.
He told me about the next tattoo he had scheduled and the funny comment Blake made about something Jayme had done.
I looked down midsentence when my phone started ringing. My heart jumped and I looked around automatically even though Arris and I were in a closed room. I plucked my phone up and put it to my ear.
“Hey. What’s up?” I cleared my throat.
“Nothing. What’s up with you?” my brother asked.
“Nothing much.”
“You want—”
Arris’s sentence was cut short when I kicked the chair he was on. His head tilted partially sideways and he cut his eyes at me.
“I was just calling to see what was up with you and make sure you were all good.” Darryl exhaled. “I meant what I said about missing you.”
“I miss you too.”
“Even though I’m busy and shit, I love you, and if you need anything, I’m just a call away, alright?”
“Yeah, alright.”
“Let’s plan some shit for us to get together later this week or next though, for real.”
“I would love that,” I confessed. “I’ll send you some ideas.”
“Alright. Good. I’ll call you later or tomorrow.”
“Okay. Be careful out there.”
“You already know.”
I smiled briefly but the expression fell when my eyes landed on Arris who just looked at me with a blank stare.
I hung up, exhaled, and collapsed backward in my seat. Arris shook his head but didn’t say anything. He just took a bite of his food.
“What?” I asked.
“Did you just try to tell me to shut up because you got a call, Dyani?” he asked.
“It was Darryl.”
“Alright,” he chuckled, “And you don’t think that’s crazy, baby?”
“No. I think telling him is something that’s going to take a little time and I don’t want to just throw it on him,” I said.
“Alright, well look, while you’re worried about being real with Darryl, do that shit with me too.”
I blinked at him
“What?”
“You didn’t want to come see me here. You wanted to duck Darryl and anybody who may know him without standing on it and telling me that you weren’t fucking with us going out.” He shrugged. “Just be real with me, Dyani.”
“Okay. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am worried about DP running to Darryl before I can talk to him myself.”
“Alright. Well, look, whenever you decide you want to tell him, let me know. But in the meantime, you probably shouldn’t be sitting in here with the door closed and shit and no tattoo to show for it. The people I work with know Darryl too, so…” He shifted in his seat.
“You don’t feel like you’re being dramatic right now, Arris?”
“I feel like I’m too fucking old to be ducking and dodging another grown ass man and I’m not sure how to read you or navigate this shit.”
“Well I’ve never exactly been in a throuple to know how to navigate shit either,” I sniped.
“You, me, and Jayme ain’t the problem and you know it.
We can’t even figure out if shit is a fit or not because of these weird ass rules you have that only sometimes apply.
You’re cool with pet names and shit when you feel like it.
You don’t want to be seen eating out with me but you’re at my job and in my front seat all the time.
Like, I can’t keep up with when it’s okay for me to act like I want to be with you. ”
“So, what? You want to focus on Jayme and let this whole three-way relationship thing go?”
“That was one hell of a leap, Dyani.” Arris exhaled. “I didn’t say that shit. Hear what’s coming out of my mouth and not your thoughts, baby. I’m trying to tell you how I feel. That’s it.”
“Okay, Arris.”
“Alright.” He held his hands up in surrender. “Cool.” He hopped up, walked over, and kissed the side of my head. “Thanks for coming through. I’m going to prep for that next appointment though.”
“Okay.”
I climbed up and spun around to further argue my case, but Arris was already at the door, yanking it open. I didn’t utter a word. I just made a beeline out.
Arris walked beside me to my car without uttering a word to me, pulled my door open, kissed the side of my head again, and shut the door. Then he spun around and headed back into the shop while I watched.
It annoyed me that even though he was apparently upset with me and our situation, he still made sure I was okay. I should have appreciated it but something about it just made me want to argue with him.
I hated how calm he almost always seemed to be.
I sat in my car for a while before I pulled my phone out and called Jayme. She was the person who knew Arris the best and she had feelings for him just like I did. I trusted her to give me real good advice.
“Hello?”
“Hey. Are you busy?”
“Not really. What’s up?”
“Can we get together? I need some advice and I just want to see your beautiful face too.”
“Yeah, sure. My sister is taking Blake to a birthday party with her son so I’m free in about thirty minutes.”
“Okay. That works.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
“Uhmmm… Did you ever get your nails done?”
“Nope. You want to just meet up at the shop?”
“Yep. I’ll head there now. Do you want a drink or something if I stop?”
“I’ll take a root beer.”
“Okay. See you soon.”
“See you soon,” she repeated.
I hung up the call, threw my car in reverse, and headed out. I stopped at a little shop and grabbed us both drinks then went straight to the nail shop. I parked near the middle of the parking lot so I could find Jayme when she showed up and played around on my phone while I waited for her arrival.
When she got to the shop, she parked two cars over and I hopped out happily. We hugged as soon as we got close enough and I handed over her drink while we walked toward the entrance. We were greeted immediately and Jayme told them we wanted pedicures and manicures.
They sat us side by side and I waited a little while before I turned to look at Jayme and mentally prepared myself to ask for her advice.
“Jayme,” I said quietly.
“Hm?”
“Can I ask you something?” I asked. “It’s about Arris.”
She locked her phone and lifted an eyebrow.
“About Arris?” she repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Uh, okay.” She shifted in her seat to face me better. “What’s going on?”
“Okay.” I exhaled. “So, I went to see Arris today at the shop. Everything was going great. I took food to him. We were talking and laughing and it was great.”
“And then?”
“And then Darryl called.”
“Okay?”
“And I may have shushed Arris.”
“Okay?”
“He got upset and went on this little rant about how he didn’t understand how I wanted to keep things lowkey but was at his job and stuff like that and I don’t know.
I just feel like it went left so damn fast I couldn’t even stop it, and by the time I was ready for my brain to work again, he pretty much kicked me out but not really. ”
“Arris kicked you out?” she repeated.
“Well, he told me he was going to get ready for his next appointment, pretty much putting me out, but then he did all the usual stuff. He walked me to my car and kissed the side of my head and stuff, but I don’t know. I just can tell he’s mad at me.”
“So, what kind of advice do you need?”
“What do I do?”
“What do you want out of what you do?”
“I want Arris to not be mad at me and I don’t know.
” I shrugged. “I want him to understand that I like him and you. A lot. I just know it’s going to be some dumb shit with my brother and I’m not ready to deal with that, especially when I can’t count on this whole thing working out long term,” I admitted.
“And I think that’s the problem for Arris.
He’s always confident and cocky. He probably doesn’t see a future where this doesn’t work out.
He jumps into everything with both feet so it’s probably hitting his pride that you aren’t sure and aren’t all in, but he’s not going to take that out on you, Dyani.
He’s just going to sulk for a little bit and bounce back.
You don’t have to do or say anything, and if you don’t want to tell Darryl, don’t.
But it is kind of hard to have a good relationship when you’re hiding it.
There’s a lot of things off the table; so how do you know if it will or won’t last for a while if you’re not trying? ”
“Who said I’m not trying?”
Jayme shrugged. “I think this whole thing freaks you out and that’s valid.
I think Arris can see things working out long term so he’s throwing himself in full force and already treating this relationship like it’s established.
That’s also valid. Neither of you are wrong.
Y’all just need to find a middle ground. ”
“And if we don’t?”
“You’re going to have to tell Darryl about this or Arris is going to have to back off,” Jayme locked eyes with me. “So now the question is, which option scares you more?”
I nodded but didn’t respond because I honestly wasn’t sure how. I loved my brother and knew he only wanted what was best for me, but every day was starting to feel like what was best for me was being with Arris and Jayme.
Unfortunately, I knew for a fact that Darryl wouldn’t take our relationship well. I also knew if he flew off the handle with me, Arris was going to flip him on his mothafuckin’ neck.