11. Lyrius
“Who the hell—” The pounding at my front door pulled me out of my sleep so hard my heart immediately jumped into my throat.
For a second, I lay there confused, staring at the ceiling, thinking maybe the knocking was at a neighbor’s door.
Then another round of heavy knocking echoed through my apartment.
I pushed my naked body up out of the bed and grabbed my robe off the chair.
I tied it around my waist while making my way toward the front door.
“Whoever this is better have a good reason to be at my damn door.” I made my way through the apartment.
It was still dark outside of the faint early morning light pushing through the blinds.
It couldn’t have been later than six. I glanced toward Dae-Dae’s room.
His lights were still off, and his room was still quiet.
Another round of knocks sounded. My irritation crawled up my spine as I reached the door.
The moment I looked through the peephole, I froze.
KO. What the hell was he doing outside my door with two huge duffel bags? I thought he’d gone back to Azalea.
“KO?” I snatched the door open before I could think too hard about it. His eyes moved over me quickly before landing back on my face. “What are you doing here?”
“My son lives here,” he said simply. “So for now, I do too.”
I eyed him. His words hit me square in the chest, but before I could even process them, he stepped into my space.
“You’re gonna move.”
“KO, you can’t—”
“Move, Lyrius.”
I didn’t even fight. I just stepped aside and watched him walk into my apartment, carrying two huge duffel bags. My eyes grew big. Was he seriously trying to move in here?
“KO, you can’t just move in!” I whisper-yelled, shutting the door behind him. “What the hell?”
“You couldn’t have believed I was going to be okay with being a part-time father.” He dropped them near the couch, and my mouth fell open.
“No, but . . .”
“I got a son in this apartment. We’ve got to figure out schedules, custody, school, and all kinds of shit, but I’m not about to sit up in Azalea without my son until we get it figured out.”
I stared at him and at his bags. This man had even brought his damn turtle. He was dead serious.
“You can’t just move into my apartment!” I repeated. “You’re not on the lease. We’re not even in a relationship.”
“Would you rather me drag y’all back to Azalea? Or you want me to drag you into court first?”
“No!”
“Alright then.”
“This is crazy.” I stared at him in disbelief. This man was blackmailing me. I got not wanting to miss another second of his son’s life but moving in with me? There had to be another way.
“What’s crazy is finding out I got a whole five-year-old son and not getting to see him on a daily.” His voice stayed calm, but the edge underneath it was loud as hell.
“KO—”
“It’s already done, Lyrius. I’m staying here until we figure this shit out.”
I stared at him, completely lost for words, and before I could even figure out what to say next, I heard little feet slapping against the hallway floor.
“Mommy, who is at the—” Dae-Dae froze, then his entire face lit up. “Daddy! You here!”
KO looked up just in time for Dae-Dae to launch himself at him. The sound that came out of my son when KO caught him almost broke me.
“You stayed the night!” Dae-Dae yelled.
“Yeah,” KO lied. I guess he figured Dae-Dae didn’t need all the logistics. “I’m gonna stay here for a minute. You cool with that?”
“You’re going to live with Mama and me?” Dae-Dae looked between both of us, excited as hell. “Like a real family?”
That last part made my chest hurt. A real family.
“Looks like it.”
“You got stuff!” Dae-Dae gasped dramatically, noticing the large duffel bags sitting on the floor. I pressed my fingers against my forehead. “You have a turtle?”
“Yeah.” KO glanced down at the tank like he’d forgotten it was even there. “His name is Ali.” Dae-Dae dropped to the floor in front of the tank so fast it almost gave me whiplash.
“Like Muhammad Ali?” he yelled.
“Yeah.”
“Oh my God!” Dae-Dae pressed both hands against the glass.
“Can Ali stay in my room? Daddy, can Ali sleep in my bed? Are you sleeping in my room with Ali? Does Ali like dinosaurs? Does he eat pancakes? Do turtles bite? Can we buy him a turtle friend?” The questions started flying so fast, KO actually looked overwhelmed for the first time since he’d shown up at my door.
“Dae-Dae, give KO a minute—”
“Nah, it’s cool.” KO waved me off.
“Daddy, does Ali know karate?”
“Nah. He just mind his business.” KO snorted, and Dae-Dae laughed like that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard in his life.
“Daddy, come on!” He grabbed KO’s hand and started pulling him toward the hallway. “Come put Ali in my room!”
“Me and Ali finna go get settled.” KO looked over at me nonchalantly, already letting Dae-Dae drag him away.
“Try not to stress yourself out while we’re gone.
” They disappeared down the hallway with that damn turtle and left me standing there in complete silence.
I turned slowly in a circle in the middle of my living room.
This man had really moved into my apartment.
“What the hell?” I whispered to myself. This was unreal. Before I could even process another thought, Dae-Dae came running back out of the hallway.
“Mommy!” he yelled excitedly. “Daddy said we getting pancakes!”
“Pancakes?” I blinked. “Dae-Dae, it’s barely six in the morning.”
“So?” KO’s deep voice came from the hallway. “Breakfast spots open early.”
I looked up just as he came walking back out, completely comfortable in my space.
“KO—”
“Get dressed, Lyrius.” The audacity in his voice pissed me off and turned me on at the same time.
“I don’t even know if I wanna go—”
“Please, Mommy!” Dae-Dae begged. “Please! Me and Ali wanna get pancakes!”
I stared at my child, then at the man standing behind him, looking entirely too fine and entirely too comfortable for somebody who’d forced their way into my home.
Then my eyes traveled back to my child. He was practically vibrating with excitement.
I couldn’t be the one to kill that. He was finally getting to have his parents in the same space.
“I guess we getting pancakes.” I let out a long breath, and Dae-Dae threw both hands in the air, smiling.
“Best day ever!”
The little breakfast spot KO drove us to was just a few minutes away from my apartment.
I’d passed it a ton of times, but I never had time to stop and check it out, because it was always a long wait.
Apparently, the trick was getting here before everybody else woke up.
We’d arrived at the restaurant and were immediately seated in a booth by the window.
Of course, Dakoda chose to sit beside KO while I sat quietly across from them, watching the two of them together and trying not to spiral.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how this was all going to work out.
I’d spent the last five years of my life learning to live without KO.
And now he was sitting casually in front of me, coloring on the kids’ menu with our son and helping him do a breakfast word search while we waited for our food.
“Where the W at?” KO asked, and Dakoda leaned forward, his eyes searching the paper until he was confident he’d found it.
“Right there!” he yelled, pointing to the letter M.
“That’s an M.” KO took his hand and touched the W. “The W is just a M turned upside down.”
Dakoda nodded and immediately started scanning the page, pointing to all the Ws.
“Did I get them all?” he asked happily, and KO nodded.
“Yeah, little man,” KO replied, and I just looked on, admiring how good he already was with Dae-Dae. It had me thinking about the happily ever after KO and I used to talk about before everything fell apart.
“Can I draw a picture of Ali now? So he can be at breakfast with us?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Dakoda flipped the menu over and started sketching a picture of the turtle.
“More coffee?” the server asked as she approached our table, and I nodded as she topped off my coffee before walking away again. I stared at KO. This was my chance to have that talk that we both knew we needed to have.
“You still ain’t explained how long you plan on staying in my apartment,” I spoke in a muffled voice so Dakoda hopefully couldn’t hear. KO looked up at me and then back down at Dakoda.
“I did explain it.”
“No, you bulldozed your way into my house.”
“That’s what you say.”
“That’s what I know.” I narrowed my eyes.
“Maybe I can get you a deal on a room down at my job.” I offered a more common sense solution. “It’s only fifteen minutes away from my house. You’ll still be close enough to see him in the mornings.”
“Lyrius, I don’t need a hotel discount. I can afford a room,” he said. “I’m not looking for somewhere to stay. I already decided where I’m staying.”
I stared at him in disbelief while he grabbed a crayon and helped our child color in the damn turtle like he was done with the conversation.
“KO—”
“Lyrius.” He finally looked up at me just as the waitress came and set down our food. “Eat your breakfast.” I blew out a deep breath of frustration. The calmness in his voice irritated me more than if he had argued back.
“Y’all fighting?” Dakoda looked between us.
“No,” KO said immediately.
“No,” I said at the same time.
“Yeah, we’re a real family now.” Dakoda grinned, and KO did too.
If my phone hadn’t started ringing on the table, I would have laughed too.
Instead, I grabbed my phone, glanced at the screen, and instantly sighed.
It was work, and if they were calling, it meant they needed me.
I hesitated for a minute, contemplating whether I should answer it.
“You gon’ get that?” KO asked casually while I cut up Dakoda’s pancakes.
“I kinda have to, I guess.” I picked up the phone and answered quickly before the call disturbed the entire restaurant.
“Hello?”
“Lyrius, thank God you answered,” Denise, the assistant general manager of Shoreline Grand Hotel, let out immediately. “Where are you?”
“At breakfast.”
“Well, I need you here.”
I frowned instantly. “I’m off until Monday.”
“I know, but half the staff called out after the storm, and we got water damage on the third floor.” I could already hear chaos in the background behind her. “Housekeeping is drowning. The front desk is backed up. I need my manager.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “Denise, I don’t have childcare right now.”
“Bring him.”
“What?”
“Bring Dakoda. We’ll put cartoons on in the office or something. I don’t care.” She sounded exhausted. “I just need you here.”
My stomach tightened immediately, and I turned slightly and looked back toward the table. Dakoda was talking KO’s head off while KO sat there, actually listening to him like every word mattered.
“You hear me?” Denise asked.
“Yeah, I hear you. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have Dakoda up there.” I rubbed my forehead. “I would still need to figure out how to even get there. My car is underwater.”
“I can keep him.” My eyes lifted fully to KO. He hadn’t even looked up from Dakoda. “I got him,” he added simply. “And I’ll take care of the car situation too.”
I hesitated for a second. Every part of me wanted to overthink it, wanted to panic.
I wanted to remember this man had only been back in our lives for a day.
But it was something about how he said I got him, and I’ll take care of it that had my knees feeling a little weak.
I looked over at Dakoda. He was smiling with syrup all over his face, and somehow .
. . I knew he’d be okay with his father.
“Okay,” I said slowly into the phone. “I can be there in an hour.”
“Thank you!” Denise practically moaned in relief before hanging up, and I searched around the restaurant for our server so I could get a to-go box.
“Was that your work?” Dakoda asked immediately. “Mommy, you gotta go to work?” He asked it casually, like he was already used to me leaving, used to me choosing work because I didn’t have any other option.
“Yeah, baby.”
“Aww, man.” His shoulders slumped. “We can’t eat our pancakes.” I could hear the excitement leave his body and be replaced by disappointment.
“Nah, we gon’ eat first,” KO spoke up. “Then we’ll take mom to work and have some guy time.” He looked directly at me. “Whatever mess that is there will be there whether you arrive in ten minutes or after eating breakfast with your son.”
I blew out a deep breath. Nobody had ever given me permission to put myself before the job.
“Yay!” Dakoda nodded seriously, like that was the correct answer.
“Okay.” I stared down at my pancakes for a second before finally taking a bite.
Having another person to share the load with was going to take a little getting used to, but maybe having KO staying with us wasn’t as scary as I thought.
Maybe the scary part was how quickly my heart started believing we really could be a family.