Chapter 2 #2
I typed my name in on social media and handed it back. He followed my page. I followed his back.
“Alright.”
“Now just sit pretty and chill, shawty.”
“Okay.” I gave him a look. “Why do you even care about my issues with my ex?” I asked.
“I can’t stand men that do that stupid shit to women. I watched my mom go through hell with bitch made ass niggas that act like that. Any opportunity I have to piss a weak ass nigga off, I’m taking.” He shrugged. “And if your ex steps to me, I’m going to flip him on his neck.”
I laughed in shock and my hands flew up to cover my mouth while I tried to stop myself. Kaleo grinned.
“Well thank you for helping me put my foot down and for intervening before I got roped in again.”
“No problem.” He smirked. “Come on. Let’s go in.”
“Okay.”
I looked down at my phone when it vibrated and declined Donald’s call, blocked his number and slid my phone in my pocket.
Kaleo slipped his hand into mine. He let me lead him to Allur, JV and their friends.
I dropped it as soon as they were in our sight.
I sat back where I’d been before and Kaleo did the rounds.
He hugged and dapped up everyone then walked over and sat on the couch across from me. I opened my book again.
“You’re not playing?” he asked after a moment.
“Nope. You’re not playing?”
“Nah. I’m just here to chill for real.” Kaleo leaned back and threw an arm behind the seat.
I nodded at that. “I felt that. Me too.”
Kaleo waved over one of the workers that was walking by and ordered a beer. Then, he checked his phone and grinned.
“What’s your ex’s name?”
“Donald?” I locked my phone and looked at him. “Why?”
“He just followed me.” Kaleo lifted his phone. “Smile.”
“What?” I scoffed.
Then, my mouth fell open when I heard the click of his phone’s camera.
I blinked at him. Kaleo didn’t say anything.
A moment later, I felt my phone vibrate and saw he’d tagged me in a post. It was a story post of me sitting across from him with a goofy smile on my face.
The caption only said: shawty. I glanced at him and back down.
I debated on sharing it to my page and ultimately decided it wasn’t that big of a deal so I did it.
I started to get followers immediately. I went to Kaleo’s page. He had over two million followers.
“Why do you have two million followers, Kaleo?” I asked.
He shrugged.
“I cut some celebrity hair sometimes and it gets me a lot of static. Then, JV posts stupid videos of me and tags them all the time. A few of them have gone viral so I’m sure at least a quarter of them are from all that.”
“You tagged me in that post and now they’re all trying to follow me.”
“Damn. For real?”
“Yeah. Should I lock my page?”
“If you don’t have a desire to do social media work it may be a good idea. The hype will die down in a little while. People have short attention spans.”
I rushed through my settings to make my page private and watched a few requests immediately pop up.
“This is insane, Kaleo.” I flipped my phone around so he could see all of the request coming through.
“Go ahead and mute your notifications at least for the night.”
“Alright.”
“Aye!’ JV yelled at us from where he was swapping out his golf clubs. “Y’all sure y’all don’t want to play?”
“I’m good.” Kaleo gave him a little wave.
“I’m okay too. Thank you.”
JV nodded once and walked over to the area to take his swing.
Kaleo tilted his head one way then the other, successfully cracking it.
“Can I ask you something without you tripping?” he asked.
I nodded immediately out of pure curiosity. “Sure.”
“Why’d your people name you Novi?”
“It’s short for November.” I giggled.
“November?”
“My mom’s name is April and she thought it would be cute to stick with the monthly names but she thought May and June were too common. I have a sister named December. So, we’re Novi and Dessi for short. They don’t get us the looks or judgement our actual names do.”
“November,” he repeated. “Alright. Cool.”
“Where’d your family get Kaleo from?”
“It’s a Hawaiian name meaning the voice, but my dad always tells me my mom harped and harped on the fact that it was a strong name usually associated with someone who has a commanding presence. It’s all about strength and power, or at least that was an intention.”
“Your mom is from Hawaii?”
“My grandpa, her dad was. He loved that she picked a name from Hawaii apparently.” I shrugged.”She named me in honor of her dad and my dad got to name my brother in honor of his family.”
“That’s cool.” I smiled. “And Kaleo is a beautiful name.”
“So is November.”
“Thank you.” I adjusted in my seat. “So, can I ask you something now?”
“Sure, shawty..”
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
I shrugged.
“I don’t know. I haven’t really looked.”
“You have to look?” I asked genuinely.
Kaleo chuckled quietly.
“What? You think I don’t have to?”
“I mean you’re a handsome man who owns his own business. I don’t feel like it’s a crazy jump to think you wouldn’t have a hard time dating.”
“It’s complicated when my brother is who he is. The social media fame doesn’t help and people thinking I have all kind of money stored away since I own a shop damn sure ain’t helping shit.”
“So, you have trust issues?”
“Some people would say that.” Kaleo took a sip from his beer bottle. “So, if you and dude had an amicable break up and just wanted different things, why are things as tense as they are?”
“It’s complicated.” I sighed. “We broke up because we wanted different things but neither of us really wanted to break up. We just understood that it was the most logical step and it’s just a weird situation.”
“Earlier you told me that your ex was the one that called it.”
“He was.”
“So, he broke up with you but now he’s stalking your socials and calling to check you about what you’re doing and posting?”
“Somthing like that.”
Kaleo scoffed, shook his head and took another drink from his beer bottle.
“I’m not a professional on relationships or no shit like that, but if you feel like your nonnegotiables aren’t being met and you know shit isn’t going to change, you made the right choice calling it.”
“Thanks.” I gave Kaleo a small smile.
“You’re welcome.”
We both looked toward Allur when we heard the loud sound of her hitting the ball harder than I’d seen the entire time I was here. I whistled when I saw it.
“You sure you don’t want to give it at try?” Kaleo offered.
“Nah. I’m good sitting here with my book.”
“Alright.” He took another drink. “What’s the book about?”
“Romance,” I said.
Kaleo nodded. “Is it good?”
“Very.”
“Then, shit. I’ll shut up and let you read then.”
“You’re good.” I assured him. “For real. Don’t worry about it?”
“Oh. For real? You like talking to me more than reading your very good book, Novi?” he teased. I averted my eyes and swallowed. Kaleo sat up and leaned forward. “You shy now, shawty?”
I looked at him and did my best to shake my head even while his eyes were baring into my soul and he had the most wicked smirk on his face.
“Are you flirting with me, Kaleo?” I tried to turn the pressure back on him.
“Nah. You ain’t see the people on my page? We’ve already been dating for a year and a have a baby on the way.”
I rolled my eyes but a stupid smile drifted over my face anyway.
“Boy or a girl?” I asked.
“Boy, one hundred percent.”
“Okay. Bet.”
Kaleo chuckled. I tried not to be self conscious about the way his eyes flicked over me.
I never got back to my book. Instead, we talked about our personal lives. He had a brother and sister both older. I told him I only had my sister who was younger. We ended up ordering food to share. Kaleo had a second beer before cutting himself off.
We joined the third round of playing the group did. Kaleo was one of the better players which I hadn’t expected. However, I was one of the worst, which was exactly what I’d expected.
After the fifth game, we decided to call it. So we cleaned up our area and all made the trek out to the parking lot together.
“Anybody want to head to the diner and get something to eat?” JV asked before we parted ways.
I resisted the urge I had to say no. I’d eaten in while they were playing and my social battery was waning quickly.
but I also knew Allur was madly in love with him and would love to spend more time together.
She was already letting me stay with her and trying to cheer me up.
The last thing I wanted to do was be an inconvenience.
“Aye,” Kaleo got my attention. “I can bring you home if you want to tap out?”
I looked at Allur. She looked from Kaleo to me and back. She smiled and wagged her eyebrows up and down.
I did my best to ignore her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I was calling it a night anyway. Come on.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Kaleo dapped up his friends and said his goodbyes while I stood awkwardly on the side. Then, he gestured for me to follow him and led me to his car.
The drive was mostly a quiet one. Kaleo played music and bobbed to it as he drove with one hand and I did my best not to just stare at him as he drove even though he was looking good as hell.
I exhaled once we were on the street that Allur lived on.
“Thank you for bringing me home,” I said.
“Nah. It ain’t a problem. If you need anything while you’re out here and life ain’t fucked up, I’ll try to make sure you’ve got it. We look out for Allur and we’re going to look out for you too.”
“And I appreciate that for real. Being-”
My sentence died on my lips and I blinked several times in shock while Kaleo pulled up in Allur’s driveway.
I looked from the silver truck parked in front of her spot to Kaleo and back. He repeated the gesture. His hand slipped between his seat and middle console and he pulled a gun free. He set it in his lap.
“You know whose truck that is?”
“Uhh.” My brain blanked and my throat dried as my ex boyfriend hopped out of his truck.
“Speak now before yo’ cousin has to spray brain splatter off her driveway.”
“It’s my ex?”
“The nigga that called you earlier?” Kaleo asked.
“Yeah. That one.”
I watched him stalk toward the car. I reached for the handle. Kaleo reached over and grabbed my upper leg. I looked over at him. He shook his head and locked the car doors.
“Stay put,” he said.
Donald glared at me through the window for a second. I looked from him to Kaleo. He knocked on the window.
“Aye! Get out the car, November!”
Kaleo manually unlocked his door and climbed out.
“Aye! Have you lost yo’ motha’fucking mind banging on my window and yelling at my girl?” He started to circle his car. “You finna get yo’ ass beat, my nigga.”
“Yo’ girl?” Donald repeated after Kaleo and snickered.
“You heard me.”
“Did your girl tell you that we were just fucking like a month ago?”
“I don’t give a fuck if y’all were fucking this morning to be real with you as long as you know when she’s in my fucking presence, she’s mine and I’m down to put you in the dirt behind it.”
“Man, Novi get out the fucking car!”
Donald pulled on the handle twice. Kaleo closed the space between them.
He hit Donald one hard time on the side of his head and sent him tumbling to the ground.
Donald fell on his knees and Kaleo put his foot to his chest and pushed him over and on his back.
Then, he pulled his gun and aimed it at him.
I threw open the car door and hopped out.
“Kaleo!” I shouted his name.
“I’m not about to shoot this simple ass nigga,” he assured me. “But I do want to make it clear this is the only freebie this motha’fucka is getting. The next time he play with me, I’m go blow his shit back.” Kaleo kicked him. “You hear me, bitch?”
Donald grabbed his stomach and groaned from where he was. He spit on the ground.
“November-”
Kaleo cut him off. “Don’t talk to her. You only address me now.”
He grabbed Donald by his arm, jerked him into a sitting position then crouched down to grab him up.
I don’t think I’d ever seen anything as attractive as Kaleo carrying Donald to his truck and throwing him into the driver’s seat.
I also didn’t think I’d been more turned off by anything Donald had ever done in the entire time I knew him.
“Don’t bring yo’ ass round here again, nigga.” Kaleo slapped Donald’s face lightly with the back of his hand, took a step back and tapped his gun on the top of the truck. “And watch my car when you back out.”
He slammed the truck’s door and gestured for me to lead him to the front door. After I got the door open, Kaleo took a step back out of the doorway and we both watched Donald back out. He rolled his truck window once he was on the road.
“Fuck you, Novi, you slut!” He screamed.
Kaleo pulled his gun and sent off a shot. I screamed and covered my mouth.
“Be cool, Novi. I’m not gon’ kill that nigga just yet. It was just a warning shot.”
I blinked at Kaleo and realized that the stuff at the barber shop hadn’t been a one off. This man was actually crazy.
“You’re actually crazy,” I blurted.
“If that’s how you want to take it.” He shrugged. “I don’t fuck with bitch made ass men who get aggressive with women and acting like he was going to yank you out of my fucking care in front of me made me owe him an ass whooping.”
“Well, I’m sorry I dragged you into this.” I sighed. “Seriously, Kaleo. I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t drag me into anything. I did what I wanted to do and I’d do it again. We’re good.” Kaleo looked in the direction Donald had driven off in. “Didn’t you say the whole break up shit was mutual?”
“Yep.”
“It’s obvious he didn’t really want to break up and he wanted you to be sitting around crying and shit behind him. Don’t give him the satisfaction, alright?”
“Yeah, alright.”
“I’m serious, November. You deserve better.”
“I know.” I nodded. “I’d never seen him like that before and trust me, I don’t want to see him that way again.”
“Good.” Kaleo exhaled and adjusted his hold on his gun.
“Have a good night, alright?” He didn’t wait for a response.
He started down the front steps. He paused at the bottom and looked back at me.
“And aye, if ole boy gives you anymore issues, I’’ve got a right hook that’ll lay him on his back every time. Just let me know.”
I chuckled at that. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good. Do that.”