Taeja

24. Chapter 24

24

“Couldn’t your brother come inside and help?” Kacian asked. “You know Andrew can’t do all this heavy lifting.”

“That damn boy doesn’t care about anyone but himself,” Andrew grumbled.

“ Dad .” As Andrew mumbled something too low to decipher, Damon glared, then looked at his mother. “You’re going to let him speak about Zain like that?”

Kacian sighed. “You’re saying that like I haven’t told him countless times to be nice to Zain. I’m tired, Damon.”

Damon scoffed. “Right.”

“Don’t do that, Damon,” Kacian scolded. “I quit my out-of-the-state job to be here and try making things right.”

“How did that work out?”

“You’re being disrespectful.”

“I’m not disrespecting you. I asked a question.”

Kacian straightened her shoulders, then turned away from Damon. She picked up pieces of cardboard on the floor. “We are a family. Andrew loves Zain. He’s just hard on him because of what I did.”

Damon scoffed and looked at Andrew, whose lips were pursed as he stared at the space above the fireplace. “I’ll ask Zain to help only if you can be respectful.”

Andrew scoffed. “What I say to him shouldn’t concern you. He’s your half-brother.”

“He’s my brother,” Damon stated through clenched teeth. Anger bubbled inside him, forcing him to remember that Andrew was his father. A father whom he loved and respected despite how Andrew made him angry sometimes.

Damon wouldn’t lie and say his mother never tried to mend the bad blood between Zain and Andrew, because she did. She tried family counseling. Threatened Andrew with divorce. And sometimes she wouldn’t speak to Andrew for days. She even went as far as regularly packing a bag and whisking them away to her parents, leaving Andrew to wallow in misery.

For the most part, Kacian’s effort worked. Andrew would behave for a while, then they’d find themselves back at Square One.

“Andrew, please,” Kacian begged. “We need Zain to help with the TV. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Andrew sighed. “Fine.”

Kacian turned to Damon with a small smile. “Go get him, please.”

Wordlessly, Damon went outside. Zain sat atop the bonnet, flexing his fingers. He looked in Damon’s direction.

“I need your help,” Damon said.

Zain smirked. “You always do.”

Damon scoffed as they walked back to the house. “I didn’t know they bought this big of a TV. They must be planning on opening a mini theater.”

“You know your father is half blind.”

“True. His glasses look like a microscope,” Damon joked, and Zain chuckled as they entered the living room. Damon scanned the room, thankful that Andrew wasn’t present.

“Zain!” Kacian exclaimed.

“Hey, Mom,” Zain smiled and walked over to hug her.

Pulling away after a moment, Kacian frowned. “I’ve been calling you for days now, and you’ve been ignoring my calls.”

Zain shrugged as he walked away to help Damon. “I was busy.”

“Doing what? I know that being a personal trainer doesn’t take up that much of your time. You even skipped our mother-son date.”

Damon raised a brow. “You still do that with him?” he asked. He knew Kacian had been treating Zain to those special dates since she returned home.

Glancing at Damon, Zain smirked. “You jealous?”

“No. I’m a busy man. I don’t want to go on your stupid mother-son dates.”

“He’s jealous, Mom.”

Kacian laughed as she sat on the sofa before the TV. “Of course, he is. Damon isn’t good at sports like you.”

Damon scoffed. “Golf is hardly a sport.”

Kacian rolled her eyes. “Hush it, Damon. And it looks lean, bring it over to the right a bit. Now up some more. Right there! Perfect.”

Dusting his hands, Damon glanced at Kacian. “You’re not going to tell us thanks?”

“I carried you for seven and a half months. Did you tell me thanks?”

“Here she goes again,” Zain laughed.

Damon rolled his eyes. “You should thank me for not breaking two of your ribs like him over there.”

Kacian shrugged. “Zain’s my baby.”

“ I’m the baby!” Damon pointed at his chest, and Kacian waved him off.

“He’s jealous,” Zain repeated.

“I agree.” Kacian smiled and grabbed the remote. “Now both of you get out of the way so I can find my sitcom.”

Damon laughed as he sat beside his mother. “Do you need me to find the news channels?”

“No. The news doesn’t keep me entertained,” she said as Zain sat on her other side. She glanced at him as he propped his feet up on the table, her brows creasing. “Are you tired?”

“No, Mom,” Zain answered.

“I’m tired,” Damon said, kicking his feet up on the table and yawning.

Kacian slapped his shin with the remote. “Take your dirty shoes off my table.”

Damon hissed, yanking his foot back. Rubbing the throb, he glared as Zain covered a laugh with a cough. “You’re driving.”

“Where are you going at this time of the night?” Kacian pried as she shifted her focus to the TV. “Going to look for Taeja?”

“No. She lives with us now. ”

Kacian smiled. “I’m getting grandbabies soon?!”

“No,” Damon said with Zain almost simultaneously.

Kacian’s joy dwindled. “I’m fifty-years-old and neither of you have given me a grandchild. Are you going to wait until I can’t remember my name? Or does she want to wait until marriage?”

Damon cleared his throat as he stopped rubbing his shin. “We haven’t talked to her about kids yet.”

Kacian sighed, gently taking Damon’s face between her aged hands. “You haven’t told her yet, have you?”

Grief’s cold fingers tightened around Damon’s heart, pulling his face away from Kacian’s comforting touch. He managed not to think about it for the past few hours, but the memories resurfaced. “No.”

“You need to tell her about Eloise.”

He sighed and focused on a family picture resting on the mantle. Zain’s eyes were staring through him, but he brushed it away as he spoke. “I will, but it’s hard for me to talk about El.”

“I know you loved El, but she’d want you to move on and be happy. It’s not fair for you to string along Taeja.”

“I’m not stringing her along. Taeja knows I love her.”

Kacian froze. As she recovered, her tone became lighter. “That’s great, Damon. If she loves you too, I’m sure she won’t have any hard feelings about El. And if she does, she isn’t the one for you. For either of you.”

A strange feeling settled in his chest. It wasn’t jealousy. It wasn’t anger.

It was sadness.

Taeja brought him joy in ways he thought he couldn’t feel again. She truly cared for him and if he didn’t know before, earlier today proved it.

The thought of her not being ‘the one’ and finding someone else… it genuinely made him sad.

“She’s the one,” he stated. “It’s just that… Taeja loves love. I know we haven’t talked to her about certain things yet, and we should because she’s putting in the effort to be a good girlfriend to us. But what if she doesn’t look at me the same when I tell her I was married? You should’ve seen her face when I told her I love her.” He smiled at the memory. “Her eyes were so bright, and she had this big, beautiful smile that lit up her face. She said I’m her first for a lot of things, and I feel like it’ll hurt her to know that she isn’t the first one that I—”

“I understand.” Kacian placed her hand atop his thigh, squeezing it. “But you should tell her that, not me. The only thing I can tell you is what I said earlier: El would want you to be happy. It’s been years. She wouldn’t want you living this way. You can’t block your future by living in the past.”

Her last words grabbed his attention. ”You think Taeja’s our future?”

Kacian nodded. “I haven’t heard you talk about anyone like this since El. You didn’t even talk like this about El. And for you—” She looked at Zain. “Anyone who has tolerated you for this long has to be the one for you.”

Zain looked from Damon to scoff at Kacian. “I’m hard to deal with?”

“Sometimes,” Kacian said. “I’m your mother. I’m always right.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Damon said, standing. “Tell Dad goodnight. We’re leaving.”

“Where are you going this late?” Kacian glanced at the clock. “It’s nine p.m. Didn’t you say Taeja lives with you now? I know I raised you better than to—”

Damon chuckled. “Relax, it’s just for the weekend. We dropped her off at her friend’s place before we came here.”

“Oh… well, I’ll follow you to the door,” Kacian said, and Zain offered her a hand to help her stand. “Thank you, my baby.”

“ Thank you, my baby,” Damon mocked.

Kacian chuckled as they walked toward the front door. “Is it Tsion again?”

Damon nodded. “We’re going to show our support for him.”

Kacian sighed as she leaned on the threshold, giving her sons a strict warning, “Please be careful. I don’t want either of you getting your reputations ruined if you get caught up in Tsion’s mess.”

“We won’t,” he promised. “Goodnight. We’ll let you know when we get there.”

Kacian nodded, hugged them, and gave them a quick kiss on the cheek. “Please drive safe. Remember what I said, Damon. And for you…”

“I won’t skip our date,” Zain promised, making Kacian smile.

Damon walked away, settling himself in the passenger’s seat while Zain got behind the wheel. Zain reversed out of the driveway. Silence filled the car .

Damon broke it. “Just say what you want to say.”

“I told you so? ‘Cause I did,” Zain said.

Damon sighed. “You don’t get it.”

“I do. This is just like my Adelaide situation, and I’m gonna sort it out. You need to get your shit together.”

“Maybe this weekend will help, then I can tell her when we’re back.”

“Sounds good.”

“How do you think she’ll take it?”

Zain chuckled. “You’re making it seem like you did something outrageous.”

“I’m not joking, Zain.”

“Okay, fine… How she’ll take it? I don’t know. You never know with her.”

“True,” Damon chuckled. As it died off, his jaw clenched. “If she doesn’t want to be my girlfriend anymore, I don’t want you to leave her. Taeja deserves to be happy, and you do, too.”

Parking in a driveway, Zain turned the car off before facing Damon. “Shut the fuck up. You’re being stupid.”

“I’m not being stupid. I don’t want to ruin a good thing for you if she can’t look at me the same.”

“Just like I’d never make you ruin a good thing for me,” Zain argued. “Taeja loves you, and she’d be offended that you think she’d feel threatened by a person not in your life anymore. Get outta your head and let’s go tell Adelaide to fuck off.”

Damon’s mouth dropped as he watched Zain exit the car. Sometimes, how his brother spoke to people shocked him. Zain slipped in and out of his army training so easily, like he never left.

Inhaling a deep breath, Damon exited the car. At the door, Zain’s finger rested heavily on the doorbell, its continuous ring resonating through the still night.

“I think she heard you the first five seconds,” Damon said.

“Then why isn’t she here already?”

Damon shrugged. “I told her we were coming over—” He paused as the door opened, revealing Adelaide. Damon’s mouth dropped, his eyes widening.

Adelaide struck a pose in extremely revealing lingerie, paired with white mesh stockings and a bunny ear headband.

Damon quickly looked at Zain, who glared at Adelaide.

“Is this how you greet guests?” Zain asked, scowling.

Adelaide blinked rapidly before standing straight. “I-I-well, Damon said you guys were coming over, so I thought—”

“You thought wrong,” Zain said, holding out his hand. “Give me my key.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Step aside.”

“Or what?” Adelaide challenged. “Are you going to put your hands on me again?”

Damon swallowed the foul taste that rushed into his mouth. As Zain seethed, Damon wasn’t sure if he could de-escalate this situation if it turned bad. “Let’s not go there,” Damon said calmly. “Adelaide, give us the key, and we’ll go.”

“Why?” she asked, glancing at Damon before focusing on Zain. “You gave it to me. It’s mine. I just wish when I visit, I wouldn’t have to see things I’m not supposed to see.”

Zain clenched his hands into fists. “I’m not doing this with you tonight, I swear. Move.” He stepped forward.

Adelaide took an unsteady step backward, holding her arm out. “If you come any further, I’ll scream.”

Zain stared at her for a few seconds, which felt like an eternity. Then, he took a deliberate step forward.

And another.

And another.

Until he was inside the house.

Adelaide screamed so loudly, Damon thought she was a banshee. Zain’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“Stay over there. I’m not doing this with you again,” Damon hissed at Zain before grabbing Adelaide and slapping his hand over her mouth. Adelaide thrashed around, but he held her captive. “Adelaide, stop,” he urged, and she sank her teeth into his palm, making him hiss.

“You should’ve let her scream so I could rip her fucking tongue out,” Zain muttered. “Annoying as fuck.” Zain turned away. He looked at the bunch of keys hanging on the wall beside the door, found the one he was looking for, and took his key off the bunch. He turned around and said to Damon, “Let’s go.”

Damon released Adelaide, flashing his hand to rid the pain.

All this time, and she still used too many teeth.

Adelaide sobbed, “Why are you doing this to me, Zain? I’m tired of telling you I’m sorry! I love you.”

“I don’t love you,” Zain said.

Damon chuckled. “Ouch.”

Adelaide snapped her head around, giving Damon the most scorching glare he ever got. “This is your fault!” she exclaimed. “I never should have said yes to being with you, too. You ruined our relationship!”

Damon’s grin faded.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually listening to what she’s saying?” Zain asked, but Damon couldn’t answer. Zain took long steps toward Adelaide. “Look at me.”

She lifted her head, tears running down her puffy cheeks. “I love you, Zain…”

“I know,” he said, his voice softening. “But you’re not good for me, and I’m not good for you. You make me a violent person, and you deserve better.”

“I don’t want better. I want you,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry for pushing you away when you got discharged. I was being selfish when you needed me, but I can be a good girlfriend now.” She reached out to touch him, and Zain grabbed her hand.

“I don’t want you to show me,” Zain said. “You need to move on, Adelaide. Let me go.”

She shook her head, yanking her hand out of his hold and covering her eyes. Sobs shook her body.

Damon knew he should’ve felt pity, or something else, for playing a part in why she felt this way, but he didn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to feel anything for this woman.

“I don’t want to let you go,” Adelaide cried. “I want you.”

“I don’t want you. I keep telling you that, and you’re not listening. ”

She moved her hands from her face to glare at Zain with that same boiling anger she showed Damon. “Because I don’t want to hear that!”

Zain’s face blanked, and he stepped backward. “I tried,” he said, the deep bass returning to his tone. He walked toward the door while saying over his shoulder, “C’mon, Damon.”

Damon nodded, following behind Zain, and feeling Adelaide’s glare burn a hole in his back.

They arrived in the city a few hours ago; it was well past one a.m. now. Zain was somewhere in the rental, and Damon was on the balcony. It was very windy tonight. The air carried the saltiness of the nearby beach with it.

Considering all that happened hours ago, he enjoyed the serene atmosphere. It’d feel much better if Taeja were here. He got so used to pulling her close to him and feeling her cold feet on his skin that he was unsure how he’d sleep tonight.

It should be a crime to sleep without his love in his arms.

He sighed, looking down at the phone in his hand. “I miss you.”

Taeja slurred, “As you should! Mi nice like riceee—”

The phone got snatched out of Taeja’s hand. “Sorry about her,” said Liyah. “We were doing shots, and she had one too many.”

“I’m not drunk!” yelled Taeja in the background. “I just feel so good ‘cause I love everyone! Do you love me, Aaliyah?”

Aaliyah rolled her eyes, but a smile was on her face. “Yes, Tae. I love you.”

“So why won’t you marry me instead?” Taeja sobbed.

Damon chuckled as he watched Liyah shake her head. “Take care of our girl.”

“Of course, I’ll take care of our girl,” Liyah said, and Damon’s brow raised. “Oh! You mean you and the madman.”

“ Zain .”

“That’s what I said. Aye gyal, come off my counter and mind yu pop it dung! Bye, Damon. Taeja’s a handful when she’s drunk, and I’m this close to tying her to the bed—” The call abruptly ended .

Wishing he could’ve been there to see it, Damon smiled. He imagined taking many embarrassing pictures of her in her drunken state. She’d be so mad when he showed her them. Then, she’d laugh and everything would be okay.

A knock pulled him from his thoughts, wiping the cheesy smile off his face. Sliding his phone into his pockets, he walked inside the house and answered the door. The guest stepped inside.

Damon looked up and down the empty hallway before closing the door. “No company tonight?” he asked, watching the man walk further into the rental.

“Mi nuh like one bagga man a falla mi.” Tsion dropped himself on the sofa, releasing a long sigh as he lay his head back.

“Do you want something to drink?”

Tsion shook his head. “Me a stay weh from liquor right now. It’s what got me here in the first place.”

“You’re going to be okay, Tsion. If you need me to find dirt on—”

“No,” Tsion rushed out. “It good. Mi got this. Where’s Zain? Need him fi come fist it out wid mi cause you good fi nun.”

Damon laughed. “If we’ll grab some food after, I don’t mind.”

“Yu wanga gut ino, dawg.”

Damon laughed dryly. “If I were fat, I’d give you some of my weight. You’re skinny like a twig,” he joked, and Tsion sighed.

“Mi know mi mawga already, but tha thing yaa stress mi out.”

The last few words struck Damon the hardest. “Understandable…”

“Ago start stay to miself. Swear—” Tsion paused, looking at Zain, who entered the living room. “Then cuh ya. Afta mi think yu in deso wid such girl.”

Zain’s brows furrowed. “Who?”

“Fever Grass.”

“Her name’s Taeja,” Damon said.

“Mi think Fever Grass fit her better. Cause the way how tha man ya did ina mi neck boh getting it for him, mi swear a life or death situation,” Tsion laughed.

Damon chuckled, moving toward the door that led to the backyard. “Let’s do this before they realize you ditched them.”

With a heavy sigh, Tsion stood, following the twins out the door.