25. Desire
I wasn’tsure if I was more hurt or angry after Aziel spoke to me the way he did, but I felt both emotions strongly. I thought I knew all the essential information about his relationship with Iris and how he became a single father. However, after tonight, I’d concluded he hadn’t told the whole story.
Surprisingly, I slept like a baby. My body and mind were exhausted, and after a hot shower, I was asleep minutes after my head hit the pillow. I was surprised when I woke up alone, but Aziel’s absence jarred my memory.
I was pissed when I left him downstairs and locked him out of our bedroom. I intended only to keep it locked until after I showered because I didn’t want him creeping in there and trying to use his dick to apologize. However, the locked door didn’t cross my mind again once I was ready for bed.
If Aziel wanted access to our room, he could’ve found a way to let himself in, and because he didn’t, I knew he was still on bullshit. I’d let him stay in that mental space for as long as he chose.
It was approaching eight o’clock, so I took care of my basic hygiene, peeked in on a sleeping Azaria, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. The house was quiet, so I assumed everyone else was still asleep as well.
I made scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, and pancakes. The aroma of the food must have pulled everyone from their slumber because they appeared as soon as I placed everything on the kitchen table.
“Good morning! It smells good,” Mrs. Harris said.
“It sure does, and my stomach is growling,” her husband added.
“Thank you. Everything is ready and on the table. Y’all can dig in whenever you’re ready.”
“Mommy, I hungry,” Azaria announced, extending her arms to be picked up.
“I knew it wouldn’t be long before she called you Mommy. Hearing it warms my heart,” Mrs. Harris said.
“I love it,” I replied to her before addressing Azaria. “Okay, greedy, but can you say good morning first?” I teased as I held her in my arms.
“Good morning, Mommy. I want pancakes.”
She kissed my cheek and rested her head on my shoulder.
“Did you use the bathroom and wash your face and hands?”
“Yes, Gamma help me.”
I pressed my lips against her forehead before securing her in her booster seat. After making Azaria’s plate, I offered to do the same for her grandparents, but they declined.
Aziel leaned against the breakfast bar, quietly watching us move around the kitchen. Although he didn’t greet me, I assumed he greeted his parents before they came down. I proceeded as if he weren’t in the room, making myself a plate and sitting down with his parents.
“Did you sleep well?” I asked them.
“Like a baby,” Mr. Harris responded.
“Me, too, which is partly why I woke up so late. I’m usually up at six a.m,” Mrs. Harris said.
“You’re retired. Why do you get up so early?”
“I like my quiet time, I guess.”
“Are you trying to say I talk too much?” her husband questioned.
“Maybe.”
They were adorable and reminded me a lot of my parents. I smiled, watching them engage with each other, but when my eyes accidentally connected with Aziel, I rolled them and frowned. Mrs. Harris noticed my expression had changed and shook her head.
“Son, are you planning to eat, or are you going to stand there watching us until the food gets cold?” she asked.
“I was waiting to see if my wife would offer to fix my plate like she did yours.”
“She’s not,” I replied.
“Sounds like someone’s in the doghouse,” Mr. Harris teased.
“After breakfast, we’ll get ready to head home. You two have some things you need to discuss and need your privacy,” Mrs. Harris offered.
“That’s not necessary. Besides, I owe your husband some stuffed peppers.”
“If your son does what I know he’d better do, there will be other times,” Mrs. Harris told Mr. Harris.
Mrs. Harris didn’t hold her tongue and was all about business. I loved it. Eventually, Aziel made him a plate and sat next to me. Luckily, Azaria and I finished at the same time, and I didn’t have to sit next to him long.
An hour later, the elder Harrises were headed home. The tension in the house was thick, but I didn’t plan to address why. Aziel made himself clear, so there was nothing to discuss unless he’d changed his stance.
“Mommy, I can go to the park and see my friends?”
“The park? I don’t know, Ria.”
As far as I knew, Aziel didn’t want us to leave the house unless necessary.
“Please.”
“Maybe Daddy can take you.”
“Me, you, and Daddy, go to the park and see my friends.”
The last thing I wanted to do was share space with Aziel, but I would do it for Azaria.
“Ask Daddy if he wants to go.”
She cheered as she ran from the family room, down the hallway, and to Aziel’s office. A few minutes later, she returned to the family room with him in tow.
“Daddy say we go to the park. C’mon, Mommy.”
I looked at Aziel and his eyes were on me. The smirk he wore annoyed me more than the fact that I would soon have no choice but to talk to him. Thankfully, he didn’t force a conversation on the way to the park, but as soon as we arrived and Azaria was engrossed with the other little girls who were there, he wasted no time.
“Just because you’re not speaking to me doesn’t mean you open doors in my presence,” he said.
“My bad, it slipped my mind.”
“Nah, you’re being stubborn. We should talk.”
“You sure about that? You”re refusing to discuss the only thing I want to talk about.”
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“Are you?”
“I am, and I shouldn’t have talked to you like I did last night. There are some things about my situation with Iris that I didn’t share with you. Your thoughts and feelings are based on the information you know, which isn’t complete.”
“Instead of dismissing me, why didn’t you tell me what I need to know so I can have an informed opinion?”
“Because I wanted you to take my word for it. If I’m telling you everything ain’t what it seems, I shouldn’t have to prove it to you.”
“I can’t ask questions? You expect me to blindly believe you, no questions asked?”
“About some things, yes.”
I pondered his words, but they didn’t sit right in my spirit.
“Will me knowing the whole truth change my opinion of you?”
It took him five minutes to answer. While I waited and he contemplated, we watched Azaria play in the sand with two other little girls. She laughed and played without a care while her parents sat a few feet away arguing. I began to think he wouldn’t answer, but eventually he did.
“It may.”
“Negatively?”
“Yeah.”
I sighed. Did I want to know if it would negatively change my opinion of the man I’d fallen so deeply in love with? If I truly loved him as much as my heart led me to believe, could my opinion of him waiver?
“Enough to make me want to leave you?”
“Hopefully not,” he replied with a shrug as his phone rang. When he looked at the screen, he didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Wassup? At the park with my family. Give me ten minutes.” He ended the call. “That was Quinton. He has the info of the person who sent the last message. He’s gonna meet us at the house.”
Azaria wasn’t happy about leaving the park so soon and cried herself to sleep on the way home. When we arrived, Quinton had beat us there. Once inside, Aziel laid Azaria on the couch in the family room while Quinton and I waited in the kitchen.
“Are you hungry, Quinton? I have some leftover pot roast, mac?—”
“Say no more, beautiful. I’d love a plate if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Of course not.”
Aziel entered the kitchen as I was getting a plate from the cabinet.
“Aw, hell the fuck nah. You’re not about to feed this nigga until he tells us what we need to know.”
He took the plate from my hand, placed it on the counter, and ushered me to the table.
“I guess that’s a good compromise,” Quinton said, joining us at the table.
Like before, he took some papers from an envelope and gave them to Aziel.
“I don’t feel like looking through all of this. Whose number is it?”
“The number and Flikstagram account belong to Iris Montclair.”
“No shit!”
“What?”
“Yes, and just to be transparent, my guy could only connect it to her because she slipped up and sent a message from that account on her real phone last night. He worked backward, and it all came together.”
“Baby, can you make Quinton a to-go plate?”
“Umm, yes.”
“Thank you. We’ll be outside.”
They left me in the kitchen, and I remained seated for a minute, stunned at the information we’d just received. I couldn’t help but wonder if Iris’s threat was harmless or if she would actually attempt to harm me.