Page 69 of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Chapter Twenty

When Lorraine’s black Jeep came up the driveway, Feyi was making toast in the breakfast nook. She heard the crunch of gravel under the tires and went to look out of the window, cursing softly when she saw who it was. Lorraine hadn’t been up to the house since the news broke—she hadn’t come up that horrible day with Nasir, she wouldn’t answer Alim’s calls, nothing. If she was here, it couldn’t be for anything good. Feyi dropped her plate and left the nook, alarm beating wings in her back.

“Alim!” she called.

He was already coming down the curved staircase, pulling a shirt on and buttoning it, his face drawn and anxious. “I saw her car,” he said, as Feyi met him on the stairs. “Can you—”

“I’ll go upstairs,” she said quickly, “don’t worry.”

Alim let out a breath, standing close to her as he finished the last button. “I’m sorry. I just—”

“Don’t be.” Feyi kissed his cheek. “It’s better if I’m out of the way.”

He tucked a braid behind her ear and gave her a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Go, go.” She shooed him off and took the remaining stairs two at a time, going into the first room, the one she still thought of as hers even though she spent most nights in Alim’s bed now. All her things were still here, restored after Nasir had thrown them about. Feyi locked the door, a pang of sadness clicking along with it. Was this really what it had come down to? Being so afraid she was barricading herself in this guest room? Did she really think Lorraine was going to attack her the way Nasir had?

Alim wouldn’t allow it.

Feyi had to believe that Alim wouldn’t allow it.

She unlocked the door, then backed away from it and sat on the bed. There was something shameful about hiding like this, like crawling into a closet or under a bed. It wasn’t like she wanted to be there for whatever conversation Lorraine and Alim were having, but there was a difference between being out of the way and hiding like this, which, she realized, was something she was choosing. Alim hadn’t asked her to go lock herself in her room and pretend like she wasn’t in the house, Feyi was the one pressing herself into this corner.

“Stop acting like a small girl,” she said, forcing herself to her feet and out of the room. The house was quiet, other than the sound of wind and trees and birds. Feyi walked back to the top of the staircase and stood listening for a minute. She could hear faint ghosts of sound coming from the library, and she knew she should stay upstairs like she’d told Alim she would, but she also knew the conversation in there was about her. With Nasir, it had been straightforward, he’d told her what he thought of her directly, to her face. Lorraine wouldn’t, and Alim probably wouldn’t tell her the worst of what his daughter had said.

Feyi walked down the stairs as quietly as she could, keeping close to the wall and barely breathing. There was a large Wangechi Mutu piece on the wall next to the library, and she made sure not to touch it as she inched closer to the door. They hadn’t closed it properly behind them, and so their voices slipped through, Alim’s low and patient, Lorraine’s heated and spiked.

“Yuh have any idea what yuh doing to Nasir?” she was saying. “Forget about me, but God, man, think about him, just for a moment! That’s if you can even stop thinking about her.”

“Lorraine, you are my children,” Alim replied. “I think about you both constantly.”

She scoffed. “How yuh could even fix yuh mouth to say that? Yuh stole his girl!”

“I didn’t steal anyone, Lorraine. Feyi and I, we … we found each other. I’m trying to explain this to your brother, and I know it’s difficult—”

“Explain? What’s there to explain? Yuh let a damn groupie into our house—”

“Lorraine, that’s—”

“Nah, Daddy, Nasir tell me the whole story already. From the moment she find out who yuh are, that yuh rich, yuh famous, yuh on TV. Come nah, man. Yuh don’t think she put two and two together? Once she see this house? Please. Yuh not that fucking stupid.”

Alim’s voice took on an edge. “Watch your language.”

“Or what? You’ll kick me out the house like yuh did to Nasir? I not scared of you like that. I don’t give a fuck how much bass yuh does put in yuh voice.”

“I didn’t kick Nasir out of the house!” Alim raised his voice slightly and Feyi could hear the hurt under his words. “I would never ask either of you to leave.”

Lorraine scoffed. “Daddy, come on. He ask her to leave, and yuh tell him this your house? It come down to yuh son and this girl and yuh choose her? Wow. She pussy must be fire, bwoy.”

Even from outside the room, Feyi felt Alim’s rage, heard him hiss a sharp intake of air. There was a terrifying moment of silence before Lorraine spoke again, her voice betraying only the tiniest sliver of fear.

“I wish yuh could see how yuh looked at me just now, Daddy.” She let out a small scared laugh that sounded like she was about to cry. “She really does have her hooks in yuh, oui?”

“Lorraine.” Alim’s voice was raw, scraped down. “Please. I’m not trying to hurt you.”

His daughter laughed again, and this time it ended in a sob. “It too late for that, Daddy.”

“Baby, please. I need you to try and listen to me.”