1. Alisha #3
I don’t know how long I was laying there before I finally dozed off.
It wasn’t even real sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, my mind went right back to me and Deuce standing in that kitchen.
The sound of the front door opening woke me up.
I looked over at the clock, and it said 11:48.
I laid there for a second listening, his keys hitting the table and a cabinet opened. Then I heard a bottle hit the counter.
I frowned, that wasn’t normal. Usually, Deuce would’ve came straight to the room, kissed me and checked on Brittany. Then probably got on my nerves asking what I cooked, tonight nothing. I slid out the bed and walked down the hall.
When I looked in the kitchen, he was standing at the island pouring himself some Don Julio. His back was toward me. Suit jacket hanging over the chair. “Deuce.”
He looked over his shoulder. “Oh… you up?”
“I am now.” I walked over and leaned against the island. “You just getting in?”
“Yeah, damn!” He snapped.
“I thought that meeting was over hours ago?”
He grabbed his glass. “Shit took longer than I thought.”
“Mhm.” I let that sit there for a second. “You ain’t answer none of my calls.”
“I was tied up.”
“So tied up you couldn’t shoot me a quick text?”
He took a sip before looking at me. “My bad.”
That was it, just my bad. I laughed to myself. “Nigga, that’s all you got?”
He looked at me with the smallest grin. “What you want me to say?”
“I don’t know…maybe the truth.”
His smile disappeared. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“Are you?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
He looked away first. “You know what…” I said.
“What?”
“I see why folks always say pay attention.”
He frowned. “What that mean?”
“It mean people start telling on themselves way before they get caught.”
He let out a little chuckle and shook his head. “You in your head again and on bullshit.”
“Nah, I’ve been watching.”
He took another sip. “So, watch then.” His voice stayed calm. Like he already knew I couldn’t prove a damn thing. That irritated me more than if he’d raised his voice. Because one thing about a nigga that’s comfortable lying, he gone make you feel crazy for asking questions.
I looked at him. “You ain’t got nothing else to say?”
He picked his glass up and took another sip before setting it back down. “I already told you what it was.”
I let out a little laugh. “No, you told me what you wanted me to hear.”
He rubbed his beard slowly, then looked at me. “Li…”
“Nah.” I held my hand up. “Don’t ‘Li’ me.”
“You keep asking me the same question.” He replied.
“’Cause you keep giving me the same damn answer.”
He smirked to himself. “You doing too much.”
“No, I ain't doing enough.”
That wiped the smirk clean off his face. “What that’s supposed to mean?”
“It means you on some bullshit, you ain’t checked in. You come strolling in here damn near midnight and every time I ask you about it…” I looked at him. “You hide behind that damn word.”
He already knew which one.
“Business,” I said.
He smacked his lips. “I ain’t hiding behind shit.”
“No? Then tell me what was so important.”
He looked down at his glass and rolled it between his fingers.
“I told you I had something to handle.”
“Doing what though?”
He didn’t answer, he just took another drink. That’s the Deuce I wasn’t used to. My husband always had something to say. So, when he started getting quiet, that spoke louder than anything coming out of his mouth.
“You know what?” I said.
“What?” He asked.
“I did know my husband.”
He looked up.
“But right now, I don’t know who the hell I’m looking at.”
For a second, he didn’t say nothing. He just stood there rubbing the back of his neck. Then he let out a slow breath. “I got it handled. I’m going to do better.”
I nodded. “I figured that’s what you was gone say.”
He looked at me. “You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you hiding something.”
His fingers stopped moving around that glass. “I ain’t hiding shit.”
“Okay.”
That one little word made him look at me different.
“Okay?’” he repeated.
“Yep.” I replied.
“You just gone say, okay?”
“What else you want me to say?” I asked. “You already made it clear you gone tell me what you want me to know. So, until you ready to tell me what’s going on...” I pushed away from the counter. “I ain’t got nothing else to ask.”
“Li…”
I stopped walking. I ain’t turn around though. “When you get tired of feeding me that business shit…You know where to find me.” This time I walked away first and for the first time I left his ass standing there thinking instead of me.
I closed the bedroom door behind me and climbed back into bed.
Sleep? Yeah right. I laid there staring up at the ceiling, listening.
A cabinet opened and the ice maker dropped a few ice cubes.
Deuce’s footsteps moved through the kitchen then everything got still.
I rolled over and pulled the covers up. If I gotta beg a man to tell me the truth, he can keep it.
I wasn’t doing that with Deuce, not with nobody.