4. Klever
KLEVER
“Sage!”
I gave her a full thirty minutes before I got out of the car.
I didn’t even want to try to imagine what she was dealing with internally.
My only mission was to make it better. That was always my mission when it came to Sage.
I moved down the hall until I heard the sound of sniffling.
My heart sank because I knew she didn’t want me to see her crying.
My heart broke because I knew, yet again, I was about to witness her crying over another man.
“Sage! I called her name again once I spotted her sitting on the side of her bed with her face in her hands. “Let’s go, baby doll.”
She jumped when my hand landed on her shoulder. Blinking rapidly, she reached up and swept the tears out of her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I sat down for a minute and got lost in my thoughts.”
“Where’s your bag?” I asked, looking around the room. There was a bottle of scotch and sleeping pills on the nightstand next to her, but I didn’t see a bag.
“I’m sorry, K. I didn’t pack it yet. I just—” She cut herself off, wiping her eyes again.
“Just point me in the right direction. I got it.”
Without a word, she pointed toward an open walk-in closet.
I kissed the top of her head before crossing the room to the closet.
I spotted several designer duffel bags and grabbed the first one I came to, along with a couple of sundresses from the closet.
I didn’t bother her again as I moved over to a dresser and opened the top drawer.
My instincts seemed to be correct when I discovered that it was her underwear drawer.
I pulled out a couple of sets of panties and bras, making sure that they matched.
Not that it was important, but I remembered hearing a woman say that she felt more confident when she wore matching lingerie.
If it were up to me, Sage wouldn’t need any of that shit, dresses included.
Just for the hell of it, I got a couple of T-shirts and a pair of shorts. Honestly, I didn’t want to bring anything that another man had bought for her. Since it wasn’t even five in the morning, there were no stores open. I figured she would need something.
With that in mind, I headed to the bathroom and grabbed her soap. As I headed back to the room, I noticed a satin bonnet and headscarf on the counter. She was wearing braids, so I knew she would want to keep them fresh. After tossing them in the bag, I walked back out to the bedroom.
“You didn’t have to do that, K.”
“You don’t have to keep saying that. Everything I do for you is by choice.”
“Thank you,” she said with sad eyes that further broke my heart.
“Was there anything in particular you wanted to get?”
“The hell out of here.”
Her soft chuckle thawed a little of the ice in my heart.
She picked up a sheet of paper from the bed as she stood.
My eyes zeroed in on the red letters at the top of the page, and I could have been set on fire.
Before I knew it, I’d snatched the form out of her hand.
She didn’t need that kind of stress right now.
“Fuck me, K. Right here in this bed,” she said, pulling my hand to stop me.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I need you.”
“I know, baby doll, but not like that.”
“You asked me if I needed you. You don’t get to tell me how I need you to show up for me.”
“In this case, I do. You’re hurting right now, so I know you may not be thinking straight.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my thinking. You’re just being a little bitch. You can’t keep punishing me for doing what I felt was right, Klever. If you’re going to punish me, I need you to do it in your special way. Because I don’t want to be in my mind right now.”
“Punish you?” I chuckled. “I just bailed you out of jail, baby girl. You’re punishing yourself at this point.”
“Whatever. I can see how much you hate me in your eyes. You can barely look at me. I know you’re still mad about me going back to Jaylen.”
“Why wouldn’t I be mad about that shit, Sage?
Come on now! Be honest with yourself. You should be pissed too.
I don’t have to hate you, baby. I don’t have to punish you.
You’ve been punishing yourself for years by putting up with him after all this time when you know how I feel about you.
When you know you deserve so much better.
You had no fucking business letting him have you for so long. ”
“Oh, so there it is. Now I’m damaged, huh? Go ahead and say it, KD. After you watched another man mistreat me for years, you know I’m too fucked up to fix.”
I didn’t know why, but I laughed. That was really all I could do at this point.
“You think I’m mad about you choosing him!
I’m mad with myself for still loving you after all these years.
I’m mad with me for buying a house thirty minutes away, just hoping and praying that this day would come.
You think I’m mad? I’m fucking livid. I’m pissed that I have sat around watching my fucking wife play house with another man.
I suggest you watch what the fuck you say right now because I got out of my bed to come rescue you after he fucked you over again. ”
Her eyes misted with tears as she plopped back down on the bed. “Just go. I told you I would figure it out. I’ve been enough of a burden on you as it is. Just let me go, Klever. I keep telling you that you can’t save me.”
I wasn’t about to stand around debating with Sage when she had already proven to be irrational by vandalizing Jaylen and his new woman’s home.
I was still working out how to keep Supreme and Bash from finding out.
At least they were in the blind for now.
It was pointless to keep going back and forth with her, so after securing her bag on my shoulder, I turned around and scooped her up.
“KD, put me the fuck down,” she fussed as I threw her over my shoulder.
I was done talking, so I didn’t bother responding. Once I made it to my car, I hit the button to pop my trunk and tossed her bag inside.
“You’re ridiculous,” she said, rolling her eyes once I dropped her in the passenger seat.
“I love you too, pretty girl,” I said, leaning in and grabbing her chin.
My heart pounded when she shuddered under my touch. Her lips fell to mine, giving me the cue to gently brush her full lips with a kiss. I kissed her softly and pulled back to look into her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m just so fucking mad. Not with you. I don’t mean to take it out on you. Believe it or not, I know you’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”
“Good.” I winked before closing the door and walking around to the driver’s side.
“Thank you for always showing up for me, even when I don’t deserve it.”
“Stop telling me what you deserve. Don’t gauge your self-worth based on someone else’s inability to see it.
Your self-worth needs to come from within, not from him, not even from me, and you know I think the world of you, even when you’re showing your whole entire ass, which I will be addressing later. ”
“K, I said I was sorry.”
“There is nothing wrong with my ears. You heard what the fuck I said too.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered breathily.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her clench her thighs together. I knew she needed special treatment, but right now, I needed to use a gentle hand with her.
“Seriously, Sage, you need to know that you deserve better outside of me telling you.”
She nodded. “I hear you.”
By the time we made it to my place, Sage was knocked out.
I could tell she was exhausted when I picked her up from the station.
I didn’t even want to wake her up, but I had the feeling that she wanted to take a shower.
I parked and got out of the car, then got her bag out of the trunk before walking around and opening her door.
Her eyes opened as soon as the door was open. She looked around before her eyes landed on my extended hand. Placing her hand in mine, she allowed me to help her up and out of the car. I let us in the house and ushered her to the bedroom at the end of the hall.
“There’s a bathroom in here where you can shower and do whatever you need to do.”
“OK.”
I kissed her hand before finally letting it go.
She turned and walked deeper into the room.
I followed her inside, dropping her bag at the foot of the bed.
My eyes were on her ass as she headed to the bathroom.
My dick bricked up just imagining how soft her ass was in those leggings.
I shook my head, hoping to clear my mind of the filthy things I wanted to do to her.
“Make yourself at home, but before you do anything else, get you some rest. I’m about to try to do the same.”
“You’re not staying?”
“I think you need a little space, baby doll. I’ll be here, just not in here.”
“But I thought you were going to stay with me. I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“You’re not alone, Sage. You’re never alone as long as I’m on top of the dirt.”
She sighed. “Thank you, but you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?” I replied.
“Well, can you at least lay with me?”
“I can’t do that right now. Take a nap, and we’ll talk when you get up.”
“OK.” She pouted.
She knew that would work on me. Thankfully, I had enough anger brewing beneath the surface to keep me moving in the other direction. I needed a nap just as bad as she did.
I was one of those people who no matter what time I went to bed, I was up by eight o’clock. If I slept past nine, I felt like I had wasted half the day. With that being said, after getting two hours of sleep, I was up making breakfast.
After the night and morning she had, I knew Sage could use some kind of reprieve.
It was too late to order meat for my baby’s breakfast, so the best thing I had was a sautéed vegetable omelet, salsa, and fresh orange juice mimosas.
If the bottle next to her bed was any indication, she was probably hungover, so I also had a couple of pills to solve that issue.