Page 16 of Nothing Even Matters
We Need a Resolution
Faith woke up from her sex-induced slumber in Eli’s bedroom. After their tryst in the living room, they moved to the bedroom where they made love until the wee hours of morning.
It was like they never missed a beat with each other. As Faith desired, Eli tasted her and gave her no less than two orgasms while he did it. When he was on top, he took out every aggression of the past two years on her. He was so aggressive, yet gentle as if he knew how delicate she was.
Afterward, they laid together in silence without saying too much. They both knew what it was and it wasn’t just sex. But talking about something mundane like sports and weather seemed inappropriate.
Now it was Christmas morning and Faith had spent the night with her ex-husband. The two of them barely slept as they spent majority of the night making love. Faith knew firsthand, sex didn’t make a relationship no matter how good it was. Questions were unresolved but at least they were willing to work things out now she was staying in Harlem.
She heard the soft strumming of a guitar and put on a robe. She followed the noise to upstairs where Eli was playing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in one of the guest rooms.
She walked to him and sat beside him as he continued to strum. She loved seeing how meticulous he was with fingers. The same fingers that pleasured her to no end all night, as he kneaded into her flesh, massaged her breasts, and played with her pink pearl.
Faith listened for a little while as she tried to figure out the song. She soon realized it was Amy Winehouse’s “Wake Up Alone.” Eli was so talented in so many areas, yet he never bragged or boasted about it. It was almost as if he was ashamed sometimes that he was gifted.
Faith normally would’ve asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee and would’ve gotten started on it already. She’d been inside Eli’s apartment only a handful of times and honestly didn’t know where anything was.
Instead, Faith asked him a question that had been on her heart for the past several hours. It was another elephant in the room they needed to get rid of.
“Did you really lose twenty million dollars?”
Eli immediately stopped strumming and slowly blinked in his dimly lit bedroom. The wood crackled from the fireplace and Faith rested her head on his shoulder.
The thought of losing that amount of money and the reason behind it caused tension to rise within him. He let out a small breath and turned to look at the New York skyline instead. “Yes.”
“I thought nothing happened after I put out the statement?” She asked. “I thought that solved everything.”
Faith put out a statement a week later. Had she done it a day later, the damage would’ve been minimal. A week later and lots of time for domestic violence victims to call for a boycott of the show and business, while Eli’s IG comments were in shambles, was just too late.
That was two years ago, and he’d just barely recovered from it. “I don’t want to talk about this,” he replied.
Faith glanced up at her ex and saw his eyes stare straight ahead. She felt the underlying tension beneath his skin and she could tell he was pissed. “I would never intentionally try to hurt you, Eli.”
“I said I don’t want to talk about this,” he got up and put the guitar away. He walked out of the room.
They were a step closer to reconciling until Faith and her mouth was took them ten steps back. She followed Eli to the living room. She found him staring out the window, with an arm resting on the clear glass.
She was hesitant in approaching him, wondering what would be the appropriate choice of words. If Faith had to be honest with herself, she wouldn’t speak to the person who lost twenty million of her money. “Not talking about this isn’t going to make it go away, Eli.” She approached him. “If we’re thinking about reconciling, this needs to be addressed.”
“Faith, you could’ve put out a statement anytime after the allegations came out and you chose not. Since you didn’t want to clear it up, I had no choice but to go the legal route. I lost my cool for one fleeting moment in a private moment between us and I almost lost everything. Faith, even your own father questioned the timing of those allegations coming out.
“I know why you did it,” Eli began, “you were afraid I was going to tell everyone the reason we were separating was because I questioned the paternity of E.J. I wasn’t going to say anything, Faye. I wanted our separation to be quiet and private. I wanted to avoid the media, the blogs, everything. You didn’t. Instead, you wanted to hurt me before I could do any damage to you. Congratulations, you were successful.
“The only way I could ensure the privacy of my family and keep our business intact was to make sure any communication we had went legal. The rumors about me and my family stopped almost instantly. There was never a question of who said what or who was doing what. Our business became bigger, the public was more forgiving than we’d expected, and our wealth grew exponentially. We earned that twenty million back and more.
“I didn’t want to shut you out and I didn’t spend the last two years of my life gloating about it. I hated not talking about you. I hated having to turn down Nate’s requests to have us together because I wasn’t sure if I could handle an afternoon of attitude from you. I just said, ‘fuck it’ and kept it moving.
Eli finally turned to her. He wrapped his arms around Faith and pulled her close to him. “It took me a long time to forgive myself for the affair and everything it caused. And it’s going to take me some time to forgive you for everything as well. But I’m willing to try if you are.”
Faith blinked back tears and they softly fell down her cheeks. “I would like that,” her voice was barely above a whisper.
Eli thumbed away her tears. “We need to get ready to go. My family is expecting us both over in a few hours.”
Faith felt nervous. While she was on good terms with most of the family now, there was still a bit of underlying tension between the Sheppards and the D’Amatos. “I’m not sure if I should come over. I think my presence might cause problems.”
“It won’t,” Eli reassured. “Trust me, it won’t.”
Love swelled inside Faith and she revealed a soft smile. “You’re confident about that.”
