Page 44 of Truce Of The Matter

I don’t move from the chair. I stay planted, looking out the large window. Even though she was raised in the house with me, it didn’t ease my heartbreak. My baby wasn’t mine and I couldn’t be her mother. That shit hurt like hell and no matter how I pleaded to tell her, my mother was against it. I was constantly reminded of how it would ruin the lives and reputations of not just Daija but two families. I listened to her and I know now that I shouldn’t have. So, for the next hour, I sit, staring at nothing in particular and swallowing tons of regret and more of my tears. I don’t move until I hear my dad’s voice in the hall.

“Daija! Truce! What’s going on?” he calls out but I don’t respond. Daija’s room door opens and he walks in. “There’s burnt food in the kitchen; what hap—” His words stop mid-sentence when I turn my head to see him. His eyes soften and his shoulders slump as he approaches me gingerly. From my tears, my frown, and what I can only imagine as sad eyes, he guesses what’s wrong. “You told her?” he asks as he drapes his arm across me.

I nod then say, “She hates me.”

“No, she doesn’t. Daija loves you and so do I, sweetie.” His next words surprise me but also cause me to break all the way down. Thankfully, he wraps both of his arms around me and holds me as he says them. “I’m so sorry. Your mother and I were wrong. Dead wrong.”

Chapter 14

“Bruh, pay attention. You up,” Dax says, sounding annoyed.

“My bad,” I say before positioning my cue on the table. After I call and make my shot, I turn and look at him. “My mind’s all over the damn place. I might as well hand you this bill; you won.”

“Nah. Don’t try that shit. Nigga, you losing fair and square,” he boasts before calling and making his shot. He makes the next four, winning the game. He snatches the two hundred-dollar bills from under our phones on the corner of the pool table. He turns to the two men standing by the dart boards. “Our next hour is yours. We out,” he tells them.

Although we paid for two hours, he can see my head ain’t in the game. ’Cause it ain’t. I finally heard back from my sister, Lyra, and she’s fixing Aryel’s braids for the tournament tomorrow. I dropped her off then asked Dax to meet me up here at Local Cue. I thought a drink, some pool, or maybe darts with my brother would ease my mind. Between this Aria shit and these past two days with Truce, I’m stressed.

After placing our pool sticks back on the rack, we grab our drinks and trek to our table in the lounge area here on the VIPside. As soon as we are seated, our server walks over with two drinks: another Hennessy Paradis on the rocks for me and Black Barrel neat for Dax.

Reading both of our puzzled facial expressions, she quickly says, “From the two ladies over there.”

She nods to her left and I turn to see two sistas smiling. The one with long braids mistakes my look for something else and eases out of their booth, heading toward us. Dax raises his eyebrows and I just shake my head because she’s wasting her time.

“There’s nothing better than two sexy ass Black men,” she says, smiling from ear to ear.

Dax raises his glass to his mouth then eyes me. He’s leaving me to let ol’ girl down. So I grab the two drinks she sent over then raise them up toward her. Her eyebrows pinch together and she tilts her head, looking perplexed.

“Thanks but we’re good. You should enjoy your drinks,” I say as politely as I can.

She doesn’t make any movement to retrieve the glasses. Instead, she looks to Dax. This nigga still has his glass to his face but I can see the dumbass, smug look on his face. Then she looks at the glasses and back down to me as if she can’t believe what’s happening.

“Those are for you. A simple, nice introduction,” she finally says, still smiling. “Me and my coworker stopped by for a quick drink, saw two very attractive Black men, and decided to introduce ourselves. I’m Mia, by the way.”

“Sorry but neither one of us is interested in an introduction. Again, thanks, but take your drinks back,” I tell her.

This time her smile drops and turns into a scowl. “Wow! It’s a damn drink,” she says, voice lower and less friendly. Her hand raises and her pointer finger shoots up. This chick is mad. While waving her finger, she snaps, “On second thought, you aren’t ashandsome as I thought.” Dax chuckles while I shake my head. That pisses her off more and her finger drops then she snatches the glasses, spilling some of the Henn. “Fuck both of you,” she yells before storming off.

Dax bursts out laughing as soon as she’s out of our area. “What the fuck! She was pissed, bruh,” he says.

“For no reason and I was polite as hell too. I was just trying to let her save face. Shit, you’re engaged and there’s only one woman on my mind. Neither one of them even compares to Truce,” I tell him before taking another sip of my drink.

“Man…women,” he says before finishing his drink. He motions for our server then looks at me. His expression turns more serious. “But what’s up with you? You been spaced since we got here,” he says.

“Aria, for one,” I admit.

“What now?”

“She claims she’s coming here for Aryel’s spring break. She’s getting married.”

“Good,” he interjects before sipping from his glass.

“Facts. Although I really couldn’t care less about that. It’s her coming here.” My next words cause me to laugh a little as I even say them. “She wants me to pay for her and the nigga. That shit is already a fucking red flag. I paid for her last trips here just ’cause momma thought I should do whatever needed for Aryel but I ain’t doing that shit now. Real talk, I don’t want her to see Aryel at all and I think Aryel feels the same way. She basically told me that she does. I can’t keep letting Aria let down and hurt my baby.”

“And you shouldn’t. Baby girl has everything she needs. You make sure of that,notAria,” he stresses. “Aria decided to leave; let her live in that fucked up choice.”

“I know. Trust me. It’s just that sometimes, I worry she’s going to miss out on having her mother,” I admit.

This shit isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’ve been torn over this for a minute. I know deep down that Aria isn’t a good mother. Hell, I’m not even sure why she even tries. She left her baby, her own fucking child, and this half-ass shit she does now ain’t working. But I kept thinking if I cut her completely out of Aryel’s life, my baby girl may resent me later for keeping her mom from her. That was until she told me that she didn’t want to see her mother. That fucked me up, bad, and I’m now regretting each time I allowed Aria to disappoint my daughter.

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