Page 87 of A Scoring Chance
“It’s your turn.” Darius bumps my shoulder, bringing my focus back to our game.
I drop a red draw two on the pile, smiling brightly. “Draw two.”
“Are you sure you want to start this? You already have a pretty big handful of cards to get rid of.” Quinton motions his chin toward my handful of cards, completely unaware of the six draw-two cards I’m holding in my hand. It seems someone has been trying to stack the deck in their favor. Too bad things are leaning in mine.
“I’m sure.”
Quinton eyes me skeptically, drawing two cards and allowing his cousin to have a turn. I have a feeling I know exactly who the cheater is in this group, but I won’t rat him out. The best way to get someone to stop cheating is to beat them at their own game.
Tyrese concentrates hard on the cards in his hand, no doubt finally catching on to Quinton’s plan. Just as he’s about to lay down a card, I hear Trina’s voice as she walks by to grab a cup from the table to the right of me. “I don’t know what she is playing at.”
Thea comes strolling behind her daughter, her eyes narrowed in my direction as if she is assessing me. She’s dressed a little more sensible in a forest green pantsuit, cinched in at the waist with a belt in the same color. Instead of high heels, she has on some wedge-looking beige sandals, and her hair is pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
I smile brightly back at her before turning my attention back to the game. The one thing I’ve learned about bullies is to never give them the satisfaction of knowing they’ve gotten under my skin. Thea’s and Trina’s words don’t bother me at all, but I’d be lying if I didn’t get a small amount of satisfaction each time they realize this, as well.
“Me either,” Thea responds, clucking her tongue before continuing. “What did she think? All she has to do is bring a man with money home to meet the family, and everyone would forget what she did?”
What she did?This is the first time Thea has said anything about Ramona, unlike her daughter, using every chance she can get to talk badly about her cousin. Alise alluded to the fact that they blamed Ramona for something that wasn’t her fault, but what the hell could she have done to be on the receiving end of so much hatred from her aunt and cousin?
“I wonder if she even told him she killed her own father and sister,” Trina whispers, her eyes locked on me, trying to gauge my reaction.
Killed?My hand tightens around the cards in my hand, but I don’t make any other move, not wanting to let them know I heard them. I don’t doubt those two are having this conversation near me on purpose, wanting to make sure I hear whatever horrible thing they think she’s been hiding from me, but I won’t fall for it. Alise warned me they blamed her for something that she didn’t do, and I know in my heart she’s right. Beauty wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone someone she loved as much as her father and sister.
I don’t know much about Ramona’s family besides it consists of Ms. King and Darius. She considers Alise and her mother family, just like mine, but other than that, I know nothing about them. Neither one of us bothered to ask questions about our fathers not being around, mostly because I didn’t want to share what happened. Not yet. Not when everything is so new between us. I know I have to tell her. I can’t keep it a secret forever, but I’m not ready for her to see me differently. I don't want to see the look of horror in her eyes when she finally knows how selfish I am. How my need to celebrate my birthday in a cool fashion caused every member of my family such heartache.
“Don’t listen to them, D.” Quinton slides closer to his cousin, wrapping his arms around his shoulder.
“Momma says those two are miserable bitches that love nothing more than to bring everyone down to their level,” Tyrese says as he slides towards Darius’s other side.
The three boys are huddled together, the game completely forgotten as they try to comfort Darius. I’d love nothing more than to drop these cards to the ground and pull him into my arms, protecting him from their words, but I know this is on me.
My fault. My fault. My fault.
The skin on my wrist burns as I pinch the flesh tightly between my fingers, the pain coursing through me like retribution for my selfish actions. How once again my desires have brought pain to someone else I care about.
My fault. My fault. My fault.
How different would this have gone if I hadn't been here? Thea and her daughter are horrible, but would they be attacking so fiercely? No, I doubt that. All of their comments inflict the maximum amount of discourse they can. To drive a wedge between Ramona and me, and they don’t give a flying fuck who can hear them. Darius and the boys don’t need to hear this, but I’m powerless to do anything but sit there and listen to their words. My mind focuses on the pain as I pinch the skin on my wrist, twisting it at a 90-degree angle each time.
“I doubt it. Look at the way he and Darius have been carrying on all day. No one would pay that much attention to a twelve-year-old boy unless he was trying to make a good impression.”
A part of me wants to allow the numbness to take over, but a larger part of me knows I deserve this. The pain and regret for forcing Beauty to invite me. She didn’t want me to come, probably for this very reason, but my selfish ass wanted to be there for her. To know every part of her life, but all I did was make things worse for her, and now on top of that, I’m ruining Darius’s birthday.
Why the fuck am I so selfish? I deserve the pain. I deserve to be in pain for wanting something more than I deserve.
My nails dig deeper into my skin, needing to make sure I pay for what I’m doing to this family right now. I should get up and leave, never to return here again. To give them time to heal the wounds I’ve caused, but I can’t. My body stays rooted in place.
“She has to do something to keep a man like him interested. What better way than to use your dead sister’s son to keep hisattention?” Thea whispers loudly, causing Darius to wince in his cousin's arms.
I blink back tears as I try to calm the anger raging inside me, threatening to explode. I want to rage against these women for everything they’ve said. I want to tell them they don’t know a fucking thing about Ramona or Darius, but I do nothing but continue pinching at the raw skin of my wrist.
Quinton scoots away from Darius, motioning for me to lean toward him. His eyes flick from side to side, searching for something before he speaks. “This isn’t anything out of the ordinary for them. They are actually behaving better than usual, waiting until she isn’t around before talking crap about her.”
“Ramona is his aunt, not his mom, but you probably knew that already.” Tyrese’s eyes narrow at his aunt and cousin, pure hatred for the two shining brightly in them.
“You thought she was my mom, didn’t you?” Darius says softly, his eyes filled with unshed tears as he looks at me. “You aren’t the only one, on account that we look alike, but do the math. Auntie just turned twenty-four last month, and I’m twelve. She’d have been eleven when I was born.”
You’re so fucking stupid. You can’t even ask a woman a simple question. You claim to be falling in love with her, but you didn’t think to ask her age or know that he was her nephew?
