I turned away and pressed my palms flat against the edge of the pool table. I knew Nique. When she drew a line in the sand, she usually fortified it with concrete. I also knew the kind of pain she hid behind that wall better than most people ever would.
My thumb hovered over her contact. I wanted to call her. I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to face that woman alone. I knew I was probably the last person she wanted to hear from though, so I put the phone back down.
“Just uninvite Stella,” I said. To me it was a no brainer. You don’t trade a diamond for a piece of glass.
“It’s not that simple Dex,” London huffed, dropping into one of the leather chairs and burying her face in her hands. “Nel needs this and whether Nique likes it or not she needs it too. Tulum could be a fresh start for all of them.”
“I hear that,” I said, “but a destination wedding isn’t the place to force a family reunion. If they are ever going to reconcile, they need real therapy, not a resort.”
Eli squeezed London’s shoulder and looked over at me with a slow nod.
“Dex is right Lon,” he said. “You can’t expect Nique to just be okay with that woman showing up after all these years. That’s a lot to ask.”
“I know!” London cried. “The plane leaves in four days. If I call Stella now Nel and my father are both going to lose their minds. I’m stuck.”
Nobody had a good answer for that, so we let it sit.
There was a time when I would have been the first person Nique called about something like this. I would have been the one she vented to until she ran out of breath. Now I was just another name she was probably ignoring, while she leaned on whoever was in her corner these days. I had traded being her person for poor decisions, and now when the world was closing in on her I didn’t even have the standing to check on her.
I hated that more than anything.
“She’s coming,” I muttered, though it sounded more like I was trying to convince myself.
“Dex, she sounded serious,” London said quietly.
“Trust me. She’s not going to let that woman win by staying home. She’s just mad right now.”
London didn’t look convinced, but she nodded, kissed the top of Heavyn’s head, and carried her upstairs to bed.
Eli looked over at me once they were gone. “You gonna call her?”
“Nique hasn’t answered a call from me in years,” I admitted.
He shrugged. “Maybe this time she will.”
I stared at the dark screen in my hand. I could call. I could show up. I could do a lot of things. None of them felt like something I had earned the right to do. Nique didn’t need me swooping in like some last-minute savior when I had been the villain in her story for years.
Mexico was supposed to be my shot at fixing what I broke. If she didn’t get on that plane, I wouldn’t just lose the opportunity. I’d have to sit with the fact that I built this distance myself, brick by brick, and then didn’t have the nerve to cross it when it mattered.
I slid the phone back into my pocket and took my shot. Eli didn’t say anything else and I appreciated that. Some losses you just had to stand in for a minute before you figured out your next move. I wasn’t ready to call this one a loss yet.
Chapter seven
Rough Seas
The drive across town did nothing to simmer the fire in my chest. I drove way above the speed limit, calling Kel over and over. Each time it went to voicemail, my anger multiplied. What the hell could she be doing with her ex that was more important than answering my calls?
When Kel and I first started talking, we had already laid everything out about our past relationships. Back then, I was freshly hurt from finding out Amina was pregnant, and Kel had been single for a year, healing after Trisha dumped her to go chase opportunities in Atlanta doing hair.
Obviously, that didn’t work out too well, because she was back in Mobile, working out of a private suite on Airport Boulevard. Kel had come to me and asked if I cared if Trisha braided her hair. I was skeptical at first, but Kel made me feel safe enough to trust that no sneaky shit was going on. Plus, Trisha was the coldest in the city when it came to stitch braids, so it made sense why Kel wanted to start going back to her.
I always gave people the benefit of the doubt until they crossed me.
I pulled up to Azalea City Suites and immediately spotted Kel’s Land Rover. The parking lot was mostly empty, only a few other cars scattered around. The main door was already open. Inside, there were dozens of suites—stylists, estheticians, lash techs, nail techs. Unfortunately there was no directory.So I went door to door, reading signs.
Most of the businesses were closed. After checking the first floor, I rode the elevator up to the second. I was halfway down the hall, scanning another door, when I heard laughter.
One of them was Kel.