Page 27 of Love At Close Range

“I know it,” Mama replied. “You sure you’re okay out there?”

“Yeah, Mama, I’m straight,” I assured her. “The job might take me a little longer than I expected, so I just wanted to let you know I may be out here a few extra days. Nothing for you to worry about, though.”

“As long as you’re being careful,” Mama responded, and I already knew she wasn’t going to press me for details.

“Always,” I assured her. “I’ll check in later and let you know what’s going on.”

“Alright, baby. I love you,” Mama replied.

“I love you too, Mama,” I responded before hanging up and setting the phone back on the desk.

I opened the laptop again and went back to Rhyse’s picture. If that was my son, he had almost eight years of his life behind him already, and I wasn’t in one fucking memory. Not because I didn’t want to be there, but because I didn’t even know there was somewhere I was supposed to be. I still needed Reiana to confirm it before I let myself go too far with what I thought I knew, but once she did, she was going to have to explain everything. There was no version of this where I found out I had a son and simply accepted that I missed almost eight years without knowing why.

I looked at Rhyse’s picture one last time before closing the laptop completely. If that little boy was mine, whatever happened eight years ago had taken more from me than I ever knew.

And I was about to find out exactly how the fuck that happened.

11

Reiana

By the time Rhyse and I made it over to Mona’s, he barely acknowledged me before disappearing toward the back of the house to find Quaylon. Quentin was somewhere outside doing whatever the hell Quentin did when he had free time, so that left me and Mona in the kitchen with a bottle of wine and the food she had ordered before I got there.

I grabbed one of the containers and opened it before looking over at her. “You could’ve at least waited until I got here before you started eating,” I complained as I noticed half of the spinach dip was already gone.

“Nobody told you to take all damn day. Bitches be hungry,” she shrugged.

“Hell, I’m bitches and I’m hungry, hoe.” I frowned.

“Mhm,” she hummed as she poured more wine into my glass. “Now sit down and tell me what the hell been going on because Tay called me yesterday talking in circles.”

I laughed because I already knew Taryn had called Mona so they could compare notes and try to figure my life out like I couldn’t do the shit myself. I took my plate and sat across from Mona while she did the same.

“Taryn runs her mouth too fucking much,” I said as I picked up one of the wings.

“She didn’t tell me everything,” Mona replied as she dipped a wing into some ranch dressing. “She just said Dorian still acting weird and you were getting tired of his shit. He still giving you that bullshit ass excuse about business?”

“Every fucking time, and I’m not about to let him keep playing I my fucking face. One nigga doing it was enough.” Every time I suspected Dorian of doing some dumb shit, Lennox’s bitch ass always seemed to creep into my thoughts whether I wanted him to or not.

“That would piss me off,” Mona responded as she shook her head. “Especially when you’re asking him straight up.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” I agreed as I picked up my glass. “I’on even need to know every detail about whatever he’s doing. I just know when somebody is lying to me, and Dorian has been lying his stupid ass off.”

The more I talked about it, the more irritated I got all over again. I wasn’t interested in following him around or trying to catch him doing something. If I had to work that hard to trust a man, there was already a problem.

Mona took a sip of her wine before setting the glass down. “So why are you still with him?”

I looked down at my plate before answering. “I’on know. I guess I’m trying not to make some impulsive decision when I still don’t know what the hell he’s hiding.”

“You’on need to know what he’s hiding to know you’on trust him,” Mona pointed out as she leaned back in her chair. “Those are two different things.”

“I know,” I admitted as I reached for my drink again. “And that’s what’s bothering me.”

For two years, Dorian’s and my relationship had been easy. I never felt some overwhelming need to build my whole life around him, but I enjoyed being with him. That was enough until lately. Now, every strange call and vague answer made me look at him differently.

“And then this nigga brought up marriage when he took me and Rhyes to breakfast,” I added as I put my glass down.

“Marriage?” Mona repeated.