I groaned.Camilla was always mucking things up. She had since the day I met her. The woman was smooth when she wanted something. For some reason, she fixated on me. I asked her about it once.
“You won’t cheat. I know this about you. I see you don’t have it in you to hurt a woman like that, or maybe at all,” Camilla had replied.
Only I had hurt a woman. Tegyn was hurting because even though I hadn’t started anything up with her until I was done with Camilla, Camilla hadn’t been done with me. Maybe she still wasn’t done with me. Maybe I should just stay far away like Tegyn wanted. I’d been selfish before and if I broke down her barriers and hurt her again, then I was a horrible human being.
Me: She’s part of what I wanted to talk about. Won’t you hear me out? Then you’ll at least have all the information to make your decision.
She didn’t respond.I waited for a good thirty seconds and there was no reply. This wasn’t like her. It worried me for some reason, so I did what any crazy, irrational, desperate man would do. The phone rang several times before she finally answered.
“Still hate taking ‘no’ for an answer, I see,” Tegyn murmured quietly.
“Still shutting me out every chance you get,” I joked. When she didn’t laugh, I sobered. “When I saw you today, it felt like the universe had finally conspired to drop something good in my lap.”
“Interesting,” she noted quietly. “I felt the opposite, like all the work I’d done to survive and rebuild after our break up had been stripped away.”
I covered my face with one hand. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way, Tegyn,” I whispered. “You seemed fine when you walked into class.”
“Well, I’d decided to make you regret what you no longer had,” she announced. I heard her blow out a breath and knew she was struggling with her emotions.
I let out a hollow laugh. “You think I don’t have regrets?” I grunted and shook my head. “You don’t know. Did you even check to see how long I waited outside your door the last time you closed it between us? I was there long enough for one of your neighbors to leave, go grocery shopping, return, and threaten to call the cops on me.”
“I had no idea,” Tegyn murmured.
“Well, now you do.” I huffed. “Losing you is my biggest regret. My son is everything to me, but there’s also a hollowness to it.”
I heard her inhale sharply. “You had a son.”
“Yeah, Keyon was with Tommy earlier,” I began.
“Wait. Not your wife?” She sounded confused.
“She was committed…” My voice trailed off. I had no idea how to explain this without explaining everything. “Meet me. Meet me for coffee or something so we can talk.”
“I can’t,” she whispered in what sounded like a pained voice.
“Why the hell not? There are things you need to know, need to understand…before you decide to write me off.” I swallowed hard. My chest hurt from worrying.
“I don’t go out in the dark anymore, D,” she announced by way of explanation.
“Then let me come to you,” I urged.
In the background, I heard the sound of shattering glass. Tegyn gasped. “I’ve got to go.”
The call ended and I about flipped the fuck out. She should’ve kept me on the phone. What the hell was going on? I had to know. Hopping off my bed, I yanked my door open and jogged down the stairs. I glanced to the living room and found Arionna and Necie curled up together on the couch.
I grabbed my jacket from the foyer closet. While it was reasonably mild during the day in February, it was ridiculously cold at night. I called over my shoulder, “I’ll be back later,” and was about to leave when I realized I had no idea where I was going. Then I remembered she was registered for my class. I could look at the online roster to find her address.
“Where you going?” Arionna called. “What’s wrong?”
“Friend in need,” I mumbled as I fumbled with my phone and started out the door.
“You stay away from her, DeSean. You don’t need that kind of trouble in your life.” My sister scowled at me, but didn’t move.
I laughed and gestured about the room. “Look around, Ari. I’ve already got plenty of trouble. At least this time, it might be of my choosing.”
Then I slammed the door behind me and rushed to my truck.