Page 29 of War
“Darren Matthews,” Tyrell smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. I got a picture and autograph with him.”
“No, it’s fine,” Eli briefly forgot there were other people who liked Darren. “I’ll be down in a few.”
Anger coursed through Eli’s body and he took a sip of water to quiet it. He didn’t know what Darren’s intention was but it was safe to say, he wasn’t there to put in an order.
Eli quickly glanced at himself in the mirror and raised an eyebrow. He already knew what the confrontation looked like. Malibu Ken, complete with football uniform and helmet, was going to talk to the roughneck from around the way. It was a scenario played out in many fictional dramas and it was always the Malibu Ken types that ended up getting their asses handed to them.
As Eli walked down the stairs, he wondered how many charges he was going to face for kicking Darren’s simple ass. “You have a lot of nerve coming here, my man.” Eli stated. “Quite ballsy.”
“I was hoping we could settle our differences like two grown men,” Darren suggested, “unless that’s an issue for you.”
Eli tightened his lips into a grin. Darren slick-called him immature. Clever. “Do you want tea?” He offered.
“Sure, I’ll have a cup.” Darren sat down at a nearby table and Eli prepared the tea for them. Once it was done, he sat across from Darren and carefully watched the older man quietly enjoy his peppermint tea. Eli smiled as he thought about how trusting Darren was. Eli could’ve easily spiked the man’s tea with arsenic and well, no more Super Bowl rings for him.
“I know you didn’t come here to talk tea so you might as well just tell me what’s on your mind.” Eli stated.
Darren eyeballed the man across from him. He must’ve just came back from a celebration. He wore black slacks, a white dress shirt with rolled-up sleeves that exposed his tattoos. His platinum wedding ring was prominently on display and Darren wondered how much Eli showed it off before his affair.
“Faith,” Darren stated and Eli remained unbothered. “She’s hurting a good friend of mine and I was hoping you could talk to her about it.”
“A good friend of yours?” Eli repeated and didn’t question who it was. “And this friend thinks what?”
“Faith is coming in the way of you two having reasonable discussions,” Darren stated. “She wants to make sure there are no interruptions.”
“There haven’t been on this end.” Eli replied. “This is a conversation, however, that should be handled between attorneys.”
“I know that but I figured we can talk man-to-man about a reasonable conclusion to end all of this?” Darren gesticulated.
Eli finally figured out what he didn’t like about Darren. He was smug. He had an air about him that geninuely brought the asshole out. No, it wasn’t confidence. It was arrogance from a spoiled kid who’d everything given to him on a silver platter from his education to his football training to the numerous Super Bowl championships he’d stolen and flaunted in everyone’s faces.
Eli briefly wondered if he would be celebrated like a national hero once he put the paws on Darren. “Any talks regarding custody will be handled through my lawyer. I’m sure yourfriendis well aware of that.”
“She is, but…”
“Then this conversation is over,” Eli stated.“And since we’re on the topics of getting into business that’s not yours, do me a favor and leave my wife alone.”
Darren took another sip of tea and chuckled. “I’m not the one you should be having that conversation with.”
“Oh, Faye knows exactly how I feel. I told her if you’re the one she wants, she should go after it and I won’t stop her.” Eli stated to Darren’s amused look. “Yeah, I said that.”
A small silence passed between the men. “Doesn’t it bother you, Eli? Before me, you were the only man Faith was ever with. She had nothing and no one to compare anything to. Now each time you make love to her, in the back of her mind, she’s comparing us and wondering which one stacks up.” Darren slowly sipped his tea. “That would bother me.”
“Actually, it doesn’t,” Eli leaned forward and Darren raised a surprised eyebrow. “You see, Faye had her fun with you but she came back home. She came back to Daddy. So it doesn’t matter if she compares the two of us forever. Whatever you did during that weekend clearly wasn’t enough to satisfy her for the rest of her life.”
“She still contacts me, Eli.” Darren taunted.
“No, shedidcontact you but you know why she stopped, don’t you?” Eli smiled. “She saw the game you were running on her and she quickly realized you were a nice fantasy but absolutely nothing like the reality she has every single day.” He softly chuckled.“Oh, you’ve seen her naked but can you tell me her dreams? Can you tell me a story about her that doesn’t involve you? Can you tell me her fears, her hopes, her aspirations? No, you can’t. You want to know why? Because you don’t care.
“You may have been infatuated with my wife at first, I’ll give you that much. But after a while, it became a game to you. She played a role that you made you dick-hard to direct. What we both know and Faith is slow to catch on is she’s another chick to you. She’s Harlem girl. What about the one in Miami? What about the one in San Francisco? Oh yeah, you want to be Faye’s white knight and take her away from her big, bad husband but my man, you’re no better. You’re actually worse.
“I swear you white guys slay me with your bullshit sometimes. You get a show like Scandal on TV and now every motherfucker thinks he can be president and bang a black chick on the side because that's what's trendy. Let me ask you, Darren…did you actually want my wife or did you want to channel your inner Thomas Jefferson fantasies with a modern day Sally Hemings?"
Darren stood up and Eli calmly sipped his tea as he watched the man stand over him.
“I wish you would,” Eli softly replied. “Boy, if you don’t sit your ass down somewhere.”
He watched Darren button up his blazer and calmly left Madre’s. Eli continued to sip his tea as he watched Darren speed out of the parking lot. Eli set his tea cup down and quietly counted to ten. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
Maybe his hands will stop shaking by the time he went home.
