CHAPTER NINETEEN
KAI
Kai recognized Curtis James by the back of his head.
Gray at the temples. Close cut. Navy jacket Nola had complained made him look like a deacon even when he wasn’t going to church.
Kai was leaving a meeting at a restaurant in Cherry Hill with an insurance adjuster when he saw Curtis at a table near the bar.
The woman across from him was not Denise.
Kai kept walking.
Not his marriage.
Not his business.
Then the woman leaned across the table and kissed Curtis on the mouth.
That made it harder to pretend he had misunderstood.
She was younger. Early thirties. Thick, not big. Fitted cream dress. Long straight hair. Expensive bag placed where people could see the logo. She had one hand on Curtis’s wrist and was laughing at something he said.
Curtis looked younger around her.
Not actually younger.
Trying to.
Kai hated that he noticed that.
He walked out.
Got to his truck.
Stopped.
Nola had spent the previous night arguing with him about whether she should tell her parents Dre was being threatened.
He had told her withholding information because she thought she knew what they could handle was still a decision made for them.
Now here he was with information that would blow up her family.
Fuck.
He called Dez.
“You busy?”
“Depends.”
“I just saw Nola’s father with another woman.”
Silence.
Then, “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“You tell Nola?”
“No.”
“You going to?”
Kai looked through the windshield.
“Don’t know.”
Dez was quiet.
“That’s fucked up,” he finally said.
“Helpful.”
“I’m saying there ain’t a clean option. You tell her, you blow up the family off something her mama should hear from her husband. You don’t tell her, you know her daddy cheating.”
“I know.”
“What you asking me?”
Kai rubbed his beard.
“I don’t know.”
“Damn. You really in love.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Dez laughed once. “There he is.”
Kai hung up.
Then he waited.
Curtis came out alone twelve minutes later.
The woman left through the side exit and got into a white Range Rover.
Kai watched Curtis walk toward a black Lexus.
“Mr. James.”
Curtis turned.
His face changed immediately when he saw Kai.
“Kai.”
“We need to talk.”
Curtis looked toward the restaurant.
That told Kai enough.
“Not here.”
They crossed to a quieter section of the lot.
Curtis spoke first.
“You saw me.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not what—”
Kai stared.
Curtis stopped.
“Don’t insult me.”
Curtis exhaled.
“How long you know Nola?”
“Long enough.”
“Then stay out of my marriage.”
“I planned to.”
Curtis frowned.
“Until you kissed her in public.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“It made it not deniable.”
Curtis looked away.
“Her name is Paris.”
Kai did not care.
“Tell your wife.”
Curtis laughed without humor. “You think marriage that simple?”
“No. I think lying is simple.”
That hit.
Curtis’s face hardened.
“You got a lot of opinions for a man who ain’t married.”
“I got one opinion. Denise deserves to know what she’s married to right now.”
“I love my wife.”
“Then act like it.”
Curtis stepped closer.
Kai didn’t move.
“Watch yourself.”
“I’m watching you.”
For a second, Curtis looked like he might swing.
Kai hoped he didn’t.
Not because Kai was afraid of him.
Because hitting Nola’s father in a Cherry Hill parking lot would be an annoying conversation.
Curtis backed off first.
“Paris ain’t some little gold-digger.”
Kai had not called her one.
Interesting defense.
“Didn’t say she was.”
“She cares about me.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t know shit about it.”
“You’re right.”
Curtis looked almost disappointed that Kai agreed.
Kai continued, “And I don’t need to. Tell Denise.”
“Or what?”
Kai hated the question because any answer would sound like a threat.
He chose the truth.
“Or I decide how long I’m willing to sit in front of Nola knowing something this big.”
Curtis’s face went still.
“You’re fucking my daughter?”
Kai’s patience disappeared.
“That’s your question right now?”
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“No, you’re not?”
“No, I’m not discussing Nola’s sex life with her father in a parking lot.”
Curtis stared.
Kai gave him until Sunday.
Not because Curtis deserved time.
Because Denise deserved to hear it from the man who had made vows to her if there was any chance he would do the right thing.
Kai told himself that was the reason.
He drove away.
Ten minutes later, Nola called.
“You coming over?”
Her voice was easy.
Warm.
He hated how fast guilt showed up.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Mani brought banana pudding and I told her you eat too much, so I’m hiding yours.”
“Why would she bring me some then?”
“She didn’t. She brought me some. You’re stealing by association.”
Kai smiled despite himself.
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Bring ice.”
“You got a refrigerator.”
“Bring ice.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She laughed.
Kai almost told her.
Right there on the phone.
Then he pictured Denise learning from Nola, Nola learning from him, Curtis never having to own his mouth.
He waited.
That decision would cost him.
He knew it might.
He made it anyway.