4. Sage
Sage
I heard a knock at the door. Adjusting in my bed, I snuggled against the blanket. Seconds later, another knock, this one more forceful.
“Lanique,” I called out, not wanting to leave my comfy place.
When I didn’t get a response, I called Cauvey’s name, only to receive the same silence.
Where were they?
I sat up after another knock confirmed whoever was on the other side of the door wasn’t leaving.
Tossing the blanket off me with an attitude, I walked with a swiftness that put me at the front door within seconds.
I had a lot to say. And whoever was on the other side was going to hear it all since they wanted to create beats on the fucking door.
But when I snatched it open, everything I was going to say became an afterthought. Seeing Keyoni, I froze momentarily.
“Why are you knocking like you’re the damn police?”
“Because I am.” He smiled, looking me over. “Why you look like you just got out the bed?”
“Because I did.” I leaned against the doorframe. “What do you want?”
“ You .”
“Hunh?”
Keyoni laughed, showing off teeth too straight to have occurred naturally. “Jami wants you. She thinks Big Girl’s about to have her puppies.”
I pushed off the wall. “And she sent you to come get me?” It was my turn to look him over, noticing he had all the equipment to make me follow directions: handcuffs, a taser, a gun, and a big ass bulge in the front of his pants.
I looked away, feeling guilty about the thoughts running through my head, because the latter was what I couldn’t stop focusing on.
“I volunteered,” he admitted. “It gave me a reason to come up here and see you.”
I eyed him skeptically. “Are you flirting with me, Officer Green?”
“I don’t flirt.”
“And what do you call what you’re doing?”
“Enjoying some small talk with the good doctor.”
“Bullshit.” He was laughing when I stepped back, granting access to the apartment.
Keyoni looked surprised. “You inviting me in?”
I wasn’t trying to be rude, but after he said what he said I wondered if I was being too forward. Nothing was going to happen though, so…
“Yeah. Come on.” He wasted no time stepping inside. Closing the door, I realized he didn’t have his sidekick. “Where’s Kaiser?”
“With Keturah.”
“Is that your daughter?” I asked on the way to my room.
“Yeah,” I heard behind me. “My one and only.”
“One and done?”
“I didn’t say that.” Keyoni didn’t follow me inside. Instead, he stopped in the doorway. “She’s my one for now.” Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he shrugged. “Who knows what the future holds?”
“Not kids,” I said with confidence. When our gazes met, I couldn’t read his face and wondered if I offended him. “For me at least.”
“What’s wrong with kids?”
“They cost money.” I ventured into the closet, slowly grabbing everything I needed to get dressed. When I exited, Keyoni was still standing in the doorway, looking as if he were indecisive of what to do next. “You don’t have to just stand there,” I told him. “You can come in.”
“It looks so different in here.”
My eyes cut over to him. “You’ve been in here before?”
He nodded. “Yeah. There was a bust a couple months ago. A few of the apartments were hit.” Eyeing him skeptically, he continued. “Nothing was found though.”
“What were y’all looking for?”
His answer stayed generic. “Anything illegal.”
“Illegal as in…”
Instead of taking the bait, he took the conversation on a U-turn. “I can’t tell you all that.” He tapped his badge. “Official police business.”
I twisted my lips at his response. “ You brought it up.”
His tongue slid across his bottom lip as his hand swiped across his neck. “I guess I did, hunh?”
“Sure did,” I said with much attitude. “And since your job duties include maintaining public safety, I have a right to be informed of any potential danger in this building?—”
“You ain’t from around here, are you?”
“Excuse me?” I let the hands crossed over my breasts fall. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Nothing.” Smirking, he pushed off the doorframe. “It just proves you’re na?ve. It’s cute though.” Backing up, he glanced toward a closed door. “Mind if I use the bathroom?”
“Go ahead,” I told him, taking the opportunity to change my clothes.
Once he was done, I was almost done too, except for socks and shoes which wouldn’t take much time at all. Keyoni went back to posting up in the doorway until I waved him in and pointed for him to sit.
“On the bed?” he asked.
“Where else?”
Shaking his head, he took a seat. I plopped down not too far away, lifting a foot onto the bed to slide a sock on.
“Are you ready to talk now?” I asked, wanting him to expound on the dangers of the building. Although I wasn’t overly judgy of people I didn’t know, I was starting to think about the questionable people I’d encountered. “Like really talk?”
I glanced at his phone before answering. “No. But Jami is.” He tapped the screen. “She’s asking what’s taking so long.”
I stopped stalling and put on my shoes. We took the stairs since Jami’s apartment was one floor down, all the way at the end, right next to the staircase.
Keyoni opened the door and walked in with me, trailing behind.
As soon as I heard Big Girl’s cry, I sprang toward the back room, instantly reverting to doctor mode.
A quick exam revealed a puppy stuck in the birth canal.
I intervened in an attempt to save the puppy’s life, but it died minutes later despite my aggressive resuscitation efforts.
I was so frustrated by the situation that I didn’t even check to see what it was.
Big Girl had three more puppies without complications.
I stood off to the side, letting things happen naturally, not feeling like I was much help in my somber mood.
In my feelings, I didn’t notice Keyoni had walked over. I turned his way when he nudged me with his elbow.
“Snap out of it,” he requested. “Shit happens. It ain’t your fault.”
“Yeah, well?—”
“Nope. I don’t want to hear it.” He turned to his gorgeous daughter hovering over the whelping box with a grin on her face. “Three out of four ain’t bad.”
“It ain’t good either.”
“It is from my vantage point.” His voice turned serious. “Who knows? If you weren’t here, it might’ve been over for all of ’em.” I took a few seconds to let his words marinate. When I did, I looked at the situation differently. “Thank you…for putting a smile on my baby’s face.”
Keturah hadn’t stopped smiling since puppy number two entered the world.
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes I do. And considering the fact that I bought you food, I think I deserve the same courtesy?”
“Food?” I felt my eyes get big. “Where?”
I forgot I was hungry.
“In the kitchen.”
Jami was in full conversation with Kyree when we bypassed her for the kitchen.
It felt weird being so comfortable with her daughter’s father in her apartment, but she didn’t seem to mind.
She glanced our way a few times while Big Girl was in labor, but ironically I never picked up on any weird vibes.
And thank God for that because there was something about Keyoni Green.
KEYONI
I stepped outside for some fresh air. Although late, I was still going home to sleep in my bed. To my surprise, Keturah said she was going too. She asked for a minute to bond with her “grand-puppies”.
I laughed when she said that shit, because a thirteen-year-old who wanted to be a “grand” anything was wild to me.
Kaiser relieved himself by a tree. When he ventured off too far, I called his name, straining my neck to see him after he left my view.
It wasn’t like Kaiser to not listen, so it was a problem when I had to raise my voice to call him again.
He reappeared with the swiftness I demanded.
I watched him, eyes glued and arms crossed.
In doing so, I let my guard down long enough for someone to walk up behind me unnoticed.
A finger boldly tapped my shoulder. I flinched slightly.
Kyree found the shit funny, laughing hysterically as I gave him my back once again.
“What do you want?” I asked with a straight face.
“How you a cop and you scary?”
I scoffed. He may have caught me slipping, but scary wasn’t in my blood.
“We’ll see who’s scary,” I challenged. “How ’bout I call in a favor and get a search warrant for that cozy apartment you’re sleeping in?
Matter of fact, I’ll even throw in some probable cause to check everybody in the building repping DP. Y’all all can get searched.”
“Why you gonna do all that?” He stepped to the side. “I thought we had an understanding.”
“We did…until you called me scary.”
Kyree had mastered his confused face. “Who? Not me. I didn’t say that crazy shit. You the least scary nigga I know?—”
“What do you want?” I asked, cutting him off.
“I was checking on you.” He glanced around again. “Had to make sure our most valuable player was okay. Why you out here?”
I turned away from his silly grin.
“I’m unwinding,” I said simply. “It’s been a long day.”
“Well…your ‘unwinding’ looks suspicious.”
Yeah, right.
“I’m good. You can go back where you came from.” Shifting my gaze to the front of the building, I saw Jami emerge. She stopped after a few steps and surveyed the scene for something, or someone. “She looking for you or me?”
“Probably me.” We were in an area without much lighting. We could see her just fine, but apparently she couldn’t see us as she turned and reentered the building. “She wants me to give her a ride.”
Jami enjoyed being chauffeured too much to ever learn how to drive.
“Where?”
“Out your way.” He watched a resident descend the front steps to a car parked on the street. “Shit, you wanna take her?”
“Nope.”
He sighed. “I guess I’ll wait until Cauvey gets back…see if he’ll ride with me…”