17. Reiana
Reiana
My hand stayed on the doorknob after I looked through the peephole and saw Dorian standing on the other side.
Out of everybody who could have knocked on my door tonight, he was probably the last person I wanted to deal with, especially after everything that had already happened.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Lennox standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
Dorian barely greeted me before his eyes shifted toward the driveway.
“Whose truck is that outside?” he asked as he looked past me like he was already trying to figure out who was in my house.
When I didn’t immediately answer, his eyes came back to me and his forehead creased. “Reiana, whose truck is that?”
“Damn, hello to you too,” I replied.
Dorian ignored the comment and stepped forward as he entered the house and looked toward the kitchen. I followed his line of sight and saw Lennox standing in plain sight while Rhyse remained near the island… watching everything.
Dorian’s whole expression changed when he saw them together. His eyes moved from Lennox to Rhyse before turning back toward me. “What the fuck is going on?” he demanded as he pointed toward the kitchen. “And who the fuck is that nigga?”
Before I could answer him, Lennox looked toward Rhyse and nodded toward the stairs. His voice stayed calm when he told him, “Go to your room for me. I’ll come get you when we’re done out here.”
Rhyse slid off the stool but didn’t move right away. His eyes stayed on Lennox when he asked, “You leaving?”
Lennox shook his head and kept his attention on him instead of Dorian. “Nah, son. I’m not leaving. Go ahead, and I’ll come find you in a little while,” he assured him.
His head snapped toward Lennox before he looked at me again. “Son?” he repeated.
Rhyse looked toward me like he wanted to ask what Dorian’s problem was, but I pointed toward his room before he could get involved. “Go ahead, Boosie. I’ll come check on you in a little while,” I said.
He hesitated another second before walking up the stairs. I waited until I heard his bedroom door close before looking back toward Dorian. He was still staring at Lennox, but there was something different in his expression now. He wasn’t just irritated anymore. He was trying to put pieces together.
“What the fuck does he mean, son?” Dorian asked as he looked at me. “What is going on, Reiana?”
“We can talk about it without all the yelling,” I told him, keeping my own voice low so Rhyse couldn’t hear. “But you need to calm down first.”
Instead of listening to me, Dorian’s attention shifted completely to Lennox. His eyes traveled over him slowly before settling back on his face. “Who the fuck are you?”
Lennox pushed away from the island and stood straight. His face went blank as he looked Dorian over.
“Nigga, who the fuck are you?” Lennox spat.
“Nigga, you’re the one standing in my woman’s house. You need to be the muthafucka introducing himself,” Dorian countered with a grimace.
Lennox stared at him for a second before looking over at me. The shift in his expression made my stomach tighten before he even opened his mouth. “Man, Ree, this the nigga you had around my son?”
Dorian’s face changed immediately. “Your son?” he questioned as he looked from Lennox to me. “What the fuck does he mean his son?”
“Lennox is Rhyse’s father.” I exhaled.
Dorian stared at me like he hadn’t heard me correctly before his eyes went back to Lennox. “This nigga is Rhyse’s daddy?”
“Yes,” I answered firmly.
“So this who you’ve been dealing with?” Lennox asked me. “This the nigga you felt comfortable having around my son?”
“Lennox, don’t do that,” I warned. “You don’t get to come in here today and start questioning every decision I made,” I stated firmly.
“Looking at this nigga, I need to be questioning all your fucking decisions,” he snarled.
“You’on know shit about me,” Dorian seethed.
“And you clearly don’t know shit about me, so watch how you talking to me, nigga,” Lennox warned.
Dorian stepped closer. “Nah, you the one who needs to watch how they’re talking. You standing here questioning me like I did something wrong by being around a child whose daddy wasn’t nowhere to be found in the first fucking place. Nigga, you should be thanking me.”
“Dorian,” I warned sharply.
“Nah, Ree,” he started without taking his eyes off Lennox. “You said he’s Rhyse’s father, but I ain’t never seen his ass before today.”
“I told you to watch what the fuck comes out your mouth, nigga,” Lennox warned.
“Or what?” Dorian scoffed.
Lennox stopped directly in front of him. “Or I’m gonna make you regret ever fucking breathing.”
“You threatening me because I’ve been more of a daddy in two years than you’ve been his whole life?” Dorian questioned.
Before I knew it, Lennox hit him before I either of us could see it coming.
His fist caught Dorian across the mouth and sent him stumbling sideways into the island.
The container sitting near the edge crashed to the floor as Dorian caught himself against the counter.
He came right back swinging, but Lennox slipped the punch and grabbed the front of his shirt before driving him backward hard enough to rattle everything sitting on the counter.
“Enough!” I screamed as I forced myself between them. “Both of y’all back the fuck up!”
Dorian wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and tried to move around me, but I shoved my hand against his chest. Lennox stood on the other side of me looking entirely too calm.
“You got one more time to speak on me and my son,” Lennox warned as he stared past me at Dorian. “One.”
“Or what? You gone kill me?” Dorian laughed as he wiped the blood from his mouth.
“If that’s what it takes,” Lennox responded with no hesitation.
Dorian stared at him for a second before a humorless laugh left him. “Nigga, you’re crazy as fuck if you think I’m scared of you.”
Lennox’s expression didn’t change. “I ain’t ask you to be scared.”
“Then stop all that fucking talking and do something,” Dorian challenged as he tried to step around me again.
I shoved both hands against his chest and forced him back. “No! Both of y’all are done. I’m not asking again.” I turned enough to look at Lennox over my shoulder. “And you back the fuck up too. I’on give a damn what he said. You are not about to fight this man in my house with Rhyse upstairs.”
Lennox’s eyes stayed on Dorian for another second before he finally took a step back. “Then get him the fuck outta here.”
“Put me out, nigga,” Dorian spat.
Lennox took a few steps forward before I stopped him. “Shit that can be arranged,” he responded cooly.
“Listen, both of y’all need to shut the fuck up!” I snapped before turning to Dorian. “You need to leave,” I stated firmly.
“You putting me out because this nigga decides he wants to be a daddy now?” He frowned.
Lennox moved around me so fast that I got damn dizzy. Before I could intervene again, he had punched Dorian in the face again.
“I told you to watch your fucking mouth!” Lennox growled as he hit him again.
“Damn it! Stop it Lennox before our son sees this,” I pleaded. That seemed to calm him down some and I was glad.
Dorian stood from the floor and wiped his mouth yet again. This time he move to head out of the kitchen, but he turned to me before he left.
“So, you gone choose this nigga over us, Ree?” He asked and I just stared at him. “That’s what we’re doing now?”
Sighing I turned to Dorian. “Lennox has nothing to do with me not wanting you here or telling you to leave. I already had that made up in my mind because of your actions. I can’t do this with you anymore, and if we’re being honest…
I checked out of the relationship a long time ago.
” Dorian looked at me like I was the lowest piece of scum on the face of the Earth.
“Goodbye, Dorian,” I spoke before motioning for him to leave.
He looked between Lennox and me before finally retreating. When he was gone I saw Lennox headed back into the kitchen and started picking up the shit he knocked over while he was tossing Dorian around like a Raggedy Ann doll.
“I got that, and you can leave,” I said, taking the container from his hand.
“Leave?” He asked with a frown. “Ree, please don’t piss me off.” He grilled me.
“Piss you off?” I pointed my finger at him. “I’m not the one who turned my gah damn kitchen into a wrestling match!” I seethed.
“That wasn’t shit. He better be glad I’ain do what I intended to do,” Lennox countered. “But I’m not leaving… not right now. My son is home now and I wanna spend some time with him before I go,” he stated.
When he asked that, my demeanor softened some. I wouldn’t deny him access to Rhyse, especially after what he came in and told me when he first got here.
“That’s fine,” I agreed after a moment.
Lennox pushed away from the island and nodded. “Thank you.”
I led him up the stairs and stopped in front of Rhyse’s bedroom before knocking. When I opened the door, Rhyse was sitting in the middle of his bed with his game controller in his hand, but judging by the way he looked at us, he hadn’t been paying much attention to whatever was on the television.
“You good?” I asked as I stepped inside and he nodded. “Lennox wants to hang out with you for a while before he goes home. You okay with that?”
“Yeah, that’s cool,” he responded.
“Don’t keep him up all night,” I said to Lennox.
“We’re good,” he replied as he stepped into the room with Rhyse.
I watched them for a few seconds before I left them alone and went to my room so I could decompress from the night. The minute I got to my room, I called Mona and added Taryn to the call because there was no way I was explaining this night twice.
“Okay, what happened?” Taryn asked as soon as she got on the phone.
“Yeah, your baby daddy still over there?” Mona asked.
“Her baby daddy? Lennox? Bitch, you fucking your baby daddy already?” She fired off question after question.