2. Klever “KD” Davis
KLEVER “KD” DAVIS
For an hour, I watched Sage’s location at the police precinct in her area, debating about whether or not to call her.
What if something was wrong with JJ? What if something had happened to her?
I didn’t even want to think like that, but what the hell was she doing at the police station at this time of night? See, I knew I shouldn’t have left her.
When my phone rang, I damn near dropped it on the floor. Seeing Sage’s number on the screen almost gave me a heart attack. Once I realized that I didn’t actually get caught in the act of stalking, I cleared my throat and leaned back against the headboard, trying to relax before I answered.
“Hey, what’s up?”
There was only silence coming from the other end. For a second, I considered that she might have pocket dialed me. That didn’t stop me from listening in.
“KD.” Her voice was small, but the urgency behind it had me on my feet before she could elaborate.
“What’s wrong, Sage?” I asked, trying not to sound as panicked as I was.
“I need you,” she whimpered.
That was all it took. Without hesitation, I was headed to rip apart whoever made her sound like that.
I grabbed my gun off the nightstand on my way out because if I couldn’t dry her tears, these bullets would.
I didn’t even think as I jumped in my car and tore out of the driveway of the property I’d recently bought in the city.
I’d been using it for a vacation rental unless I needed to pop in to check on my people, which happened to be about once a month.
Sage and her son were the only people I knew in Jade Harbor, but that didn’t matter.
“I’m in freaking jail,” Sage revealed, reminding me that she was still on the phone.
I didn’t even think about the fact that she never told me where she was, because I already knew. Well, I knew she was at the police station. Hearing her say that she was the one in jail hit a little different. My initial thought was who did this to her, not what did she do. That wasn’t important.
“I’m on my way,” I assured her.
“KD.” She called my name cautiously.
“Yeah?”
“Please don’t call Supreme or my dad.”
“Sage, you know I can’t keep shit from Supreme.”
“Please, K. I can’t deal with the lecture from either of them right now. Just please come get me.”
“You know I got you,” I repeated.
“Thank you.”
“Sit tight, sweetheart. I’m coming.”
I let her end the call first as I raced through the deserted streets to the location that had been pinging with her picture for the last hour. Sage had no business in jail. I didn’t give a damn what they thought she’d done.
It took twenty-five minutes too long for me to get to her.
My mind raced with the possibilities of what led to her being behind bars in the first place.
Just a few hours ago, we were sitting at her son’s basketball game, and now she was locked up.
Where in the world were JJ and his daddy?
She mentioned that Jaylen’s flight had been delayed.
Either he hadn’t made it in yet or he was locked up too. I just hoped little man was OK.
When I made it to the station, I parked in the first spot I came to and jumped out of the car.
I rushed up to the door and pushed it open.
Once I was inside, I headed to the desk, ready to demand that they let Sage go.
I actually had to calm myself down because somebody had me fucked up. My baby didn’t deserve—
“How can I help you, sir?” the lady behind the desk asked, stopping me from spiraling out of my mind.
Two whole hours later, I looked up and spotted Sage walking out of the building hugging herself like she was cold.
I slid out of the driver’s seat and walked over to meet her.
The closer that I got, the more I could see how rough she looked.
Sage was beautiful on a bad day, but she didn’t look like her usual radiant self.
Her hair was a mess, she was dressed in pajamas, and her eyes were red and puffy.
It didn’t matter how much she tried to hold herself together; she knew she couldn’t get much of anything past me.
When our eyes connected, she dropped her eyes to the ground.
“What the hell, Sage? Breaking and entering and vandalism? What the hell were you thinking?”
“K, please, not right now,” she said, shaking her head without looking up at me.
“It’s three o’clock in the morning, and I just bailed you out of fucking jail. I’m pretty sure that warrants some kind of explanation.”
She sighed as she finally looked up at me. “Not right now.”
“Is JJ still at his friend’s house?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Yes.”
“Good,” I said, leading the way to my car.
I opened the passenger door and stood aside to wait for her to get in.
When she was in the car, I closed the door and walked around.
Once I was inside, I pulled out of the parking lot, driving toward my rental property.
I didn’t know if she wanted to be alone right now, but I wasn’t leaving her like this.
“It was Jaylen obviously,” she mumbled, looking out the window as she spoke.
His name made my spine stiffen, but I tried not to go straight into defense mode. Well, it was too late for that, but for the sake of Sage, I kept my voice even.
“What did he do?”
“Hmph, where do I start?”
“Start wherever you need to,” I suggested.
“He’s been super flaky lately, absent from home more. He’s checked out, even when he’s there. I’ve tried to give him time to tell me what was going on with him. It’s been months, maybe longer. Tonight, I found out exactly what it was.”
When she stopped talking, I gave her room to process her thoughts. I glanced over at her in time to see her swiping away tears. Silently, I prayed that those were the last tears I ever had to witness from her.
“I called him all day today, thinking something bad might have happened when he never showed up after his flight landed. I’m so tired of making excuses for him.
I do it so much that now JJ beats me to the punch.
Jaylen hasn’t shown his face at even one of our son’s games all season long.
I’ve been calling, texting, and leaving voice messages for him all day long.
“A few hours ago, his assistant decides to send me a text message telling me that I need to move on because they’re starting a family. That bony, little heifer is having his baby,” she said. The way her voice broke almost made me wreck my car. That fuck boy didn’t deserve her tears. He never had.
Waving her hand as if it would delete what she’d just said, she shook her head. “No, I’m not going to speak ill on that lady just because she took my man. She was never my friend. She wasn’t the one who lived with me for years and refused to man up and tell me he was fucking someone else.”
“I’m still missing something here. How did you end up in jail, Sage?”
“Well, when she kept sending pictures of him in her bed asleep and showing me their house, I was devastated. There she was, playing on my phone and showing off their house when I’d just discovered a fucking foreclosure notice on our door.
I cried myself to sleep wondering what the hell is going on.
The whole time, he’s over there sleeping soundly next to another freaking woman.
I was livid, K. I knew what I was doing was crazy, but I didn’t care.
“I saw the street name on one of the pictures she so graciously sent me. So, I went right over there and wrecked shop. No, I’m not proud of what I did, but he had it coming.
I fucked up his whole memorabilia room. Bitch-ass nigga had me thinking he put his stuff in storage to renovate his man cave.
Whole time he’s moving it into his new home.
Like just tell the freaking truth for once!
He owes me that much, KD. You know he does.
My only regret is I didn’t beat his ass while I was at it. ”
He owed her more than that, but it went without saying.
It crushed me that Jaylen’s soft ass wasn’t man enough to tell her that he was leaving her.
I wasn’t even going to get into how I felt about his other woman sending her pictures of them.
The whole scenario was just weird as hell.
More than anything, I wanted to stomp a hole in Jaylen’s head once and for all.
All Sage had to do was say the word. Hearing her cry because of him again made me sick to my stomach.
“Wait, did you say you found a foreclosure notice on your door?”
She scoffed. “Yeah, I guess he decided that he wasn’t paying bills at two places.”
“Muthafucka,” I mumbled.
“Thank you for not calling Bash and Supreme. I can’t take hearing them tell me how they knew this would happen.”
“You know I got you.”
She sighed. “Thank you anyway.”
She shifted in her seat, turning her face out the window. I hated to see her so down, but thankfully, the tears had stopped.
“Do you need me?” I asked.
“You already bailed me out of jail. You’ve done more than enough,” she said, looking over at me.
“You know what I mean, Princess,” I reiterated.
Her breathing hitched as she turned her attention back to the passing scenery. “K, we said—”
“You said!” I interrupted her, speaking a little louder than intended.
“Where are you taking me anyway?”
“You’re going with me.”
“I told you we can’t do that.”
“Can’t what? You think I’m taking you back to a house that a man clearly doesn’t want you in? Don’t even piss me off by saying you will pay the bill to keep it, because I will burn that fucking house down before I let you go back there. Don’t make me call Bash.”
She rolled her eyes but finally showed the hint of a smile.
“You must think I can’t beat your ass anymore now that you’re all grown up, boy?” she quizzed.
“You’ve done enough tussling for the night, don’t you think?” I asked, lifting my brows.
“I didn’t tussle.”
“Oh, excuse me, vandalism.”
“For real, though. Thank you, Klever. I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow, but right now, I just want to sleep my life away. I was drunk before I got arrested. That seemed to blow my high.”
“You were drinking and driving, Princess?”
“Obviously, I was irrational.”
“You know I don’t like that shit.”
“I wasn’t thinking about anything but wringing Jaylen’s neck.”
“Your safety is way more important than trying to make that punk pay.”
“I know.” She pouted.
“Where’s your car?”
“Still at the scene of the crime.”
“I’ll have it towed home. First, I’m going to take you home long enough to pack a bag, then you’re coming with me.”
“K, I can take care of myself.”
“Oh, should I take you back and let you figure out how to bail yourself out of jail?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I mean I will figure it out from here. I don’t want to drag you into my shit.”
“You can’t drag me into your shit. I’m always in your shit, Sage. You know that,” I reminded her.
“Thank you . . . again.”