Chapter 7 Khloe
Khloe
It had been almost three months since Kairo said that dumb shit about a hall pass.
And in those three months, I hadn’t said a word about it. Not once.
That night, after the silence in our bed and I realized how easy it was for him to fall asleep while I lay there wide awake, I made a decision. I was tired of explaining the same shit to him, so I told myself I was going to find happiness within me.
I poured myself into work at my dad’s firm more than I had in years. Took on clients I didn’t have to. Stayed late when I didn’t need to and not because I suddenly loved the grind, but because it gave me something that felt like it belonged to me. And I poured the rest of myself into Kennedi.
School events. Cheer. Late-night talks. Drive-thru runs. Movie nights. I showed up for her the way I always had, but with way more intention because being her mom started to feel like the only place I wasn’t asking for too much.
Nothing really changed between me and Kairo.
I still cooked. Still checked in. Still asked about his day. Still showed up to family events on his arm. Still made sure his clothes were clean and his favorite snacks were stocked. I still fulfilled my wifely duties the way I always had.
He still worked. A lot.
We still had sex on the days he had the energy for it. And on the nights I wanted another round, another touch, or another moment, I’d just turn over and force myself to sleep, telling my body to quiet down because my heart already knew better.
I gave him three full months.
Three months to change.
Three months to notice.
Three months to try without me reminding him, without repeating myself, and without begging.
He did absolutely nothing. And that was my answer.
I wasn’t angry anymore. I was past that. I was just… done starving.
It was Sunday and I was driving to my in-laws’ house for Mamma G’s dinner. If you missed it, you better be sick or dead. And even then, she’d still side-eye the excuse.
Kairo and Kennedi had left an hour before me. I could’ve rode with them, but I made up some excuse about needing to stop somewhere first because I didn’t want to sit next to him in silence pretending everything was fine.
As time went on, just being around him started to irritate me.
The way he breathed.
The way he scrolled on his phone.
The way he asked, “You good?” without really caring about the answer.
I still loved him. I only wanted him. But loving someone doesn’t mean you keep shrinking yourself to fit the space they’re willing to give you.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter as I pulled into the driveway. I woke up that morning tired of giving one hundred percent in a marriage where I kept getting told—without words—that it was too much to ask for the same.
I spotted Niv and Rivah lounging poolside and walked over. Everything inside of me felt… heavy, tired, and starved. I didn’t say a word as I sank into the chair beside them. I was present in body, but not in spirit.
Niv squinted at me, her sunglasses slipping down her nose.
“Uh… what the hell is wrong with you?”
Rivah added, “Yeah. Bringing all that bad ass energy over here.”
I sighed. “The only reason I came was to see y’all,” I said, putting on my shades.
“If it wasn’t for y’all, I’d be at home.
I’m just… tired. Tired of pretending. Tired of acting like everything with Kairo is fine when it’s not.
I feel like I’ve been screaming my needs at a wall and nothing ever changes. ”
Rivah didn’t even crack a joke. Her hand slid over my arm, rubbing gently.
“All I want is real time. Just us. Something intimate and consistent. But he’s like a damn machine.”
I looked at them. “I hate his somewhat scheduled sex. Can you believe that shit?”
Their faces mirrored my own disbelief. But it wasn’t even funny anymore. It hurt.
“He lets his career run everything. Everything. Like I don’t have a whole degree and dreams and shit too. I’ve never put my work before him or Kennedi. But with Kairo, work is always first.”
I hesitated. “He said… maybe he’s not enough for me.”
Rivah and Niv both sat up straighter.
“He said that out loud?” Rivah asked.
“Yep. That maybe I want too much. Too much attention. Too much sex. Just… too much of him.”
Niv’s mouth parted like she couldn’t believe it.
“And then…” I paused. “He said some shit about an open marriage.”
They both hollered like they’d been stabbed.
“He hurried and changed the open marriage to a hall pass. I’m convinced that he just said it because he doesn’t think I’ll do anything with it.”
Rivah was shaking her head. “He must not know the power of a woman?”
“That’s the thing,” I said, looking at the pool water.
“He does know me. That’s why he thinks I won’t do it.
I’ve always been the good girl. The loyal wife.
The one who bends and sacrifices and waits.
But I’m done waiting. I’ve been waiting on him to see me, to choose, HELL, to want me. And he doesn’t.”
“You sure about that?” Niv asked.
I turned to her slowly. “I’ve sat with this for months. I’m sure enough to find out what else is out there.”
They both gasped.
“I’ve never been with anyone else. Ever. This marriage is the only love, the only sex, the only everything I’ve ever known. I deserve to know more than this numb routine.”
Niv leaned forward. “Girl. Are you sure?”
I nodded, calm as hell. “I’m done giving chances. I gave him three months. Three whole months to shift something without me begging for it. He did nothing. So, I’m done begging. It’s time for something new. Something that feeds me.”
I looked down at my drink, twirling my straw.
“…I just don’t know how to date,” I admitted. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
Niv’s face lit up like she’d been waiting on that line. “Don’t even worry about it. I got you. And I got the perfect person.”
She pulled out her phone, grinning like she was about to change my life.
When she turned the screen to me, I literally stopped breathing.
The handsome man had dark chocolate skin. Locs tied in a bun, thick beard, and eyes that looked like they could see everything about you and hold it. He looked like a man who built things with his hands—homes, futures, orgasms. All of it.
“Who… who is that?” I asked, surprised by how beautiful he was.
Niv laughed. “Stacks. We grew up together. He’s like my brother, but whew, he’s a handful.”
Rivah was staring too. “Damn…”
“He’s not your world,” Niv said, locking eyes with me. “But he’s the storm that could shake it.”
I bit my bottom lip. “He’s beautiful.”
Niv tilted her head and looked at me. “Khloe… before I move forward with anything, I need to ask you something.”
I raised a brow. “What?”
“What do you really want out of this?”
The question made me nervous. Not because I didn’t know, but because saying it out loud made it feel like a decision I couldn’t take back.
“I want…” I exhaled slowly. “To feel good.”
They both just looked at me.
“I want to feel something. I want to feel like a woman again. Desired. Wanted. Chosen.” My voice cracked a little, but I didn’t cry. “I love my husband. But there is an itch… and it’s deep. And it’s been there for a long time. I need it scratched.”
Rivah covered her mouth and laughed. “Niv… you gon’ fuck her up.”
I blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”
Niv turned to me slowly, like she was about to deliver a life changing sermon on a Sunday morning.
“Because, Khloe… you come from money. So does your husband. You both know luxury, polish, and control. But Stacks?” She held up the picture on her phone again like it was a warning label.
“Stacks comes from the dirt. The straight-up, hood-raised, grind-hard world. Everything that man has, he bled for. There are no trust funds, no safety nets. Just him and the life he made with his own hands. That kind of man and the way he moves is different from what you’re used to. ”
Rivah raised her glass and added, “Once you go hood, it's almost impossible to come back.”
I rolled my eyes, but deep down, I knew they were right. I wasn’t oblivious to what I was about to walk into. I just didn’t care anymore.
“Set it up, Niv,” I said flatly, still staring out at the pool. “But this stays between us. Just us three, please.”
Niv nodded, already tapping into her phone.
I put my shades on and crossed my legs, sinking into that lounge chair like a woman who had already made peace with the fire she was about to play in.
“Kairo thinks this is a game,” I said quietly. “But I’m not playing anymore. I crave mental stimulation. Intimacy. Passion. Not just another Birkin bag or a G-Wagon. That stuff doesn’t mean shit if I’m going to bed empty.”
Rivah tilted her head at me, curious.
“So this is just sex?” she asked. “No feelings?”
I hesitated. That part… I didn’t want to lie about it.
“I want it to be,” I said. “I need it to be.”
Niv looked at me, stone-faced. “Khloe. You sure? Because this ain’t the type of man you tangle with lightly. He’s not for the weak-hearted. If you go in just trying to fuck, make sure you don’t come out falling.”
I nodded slowly.
“Falling in love is not something that’s even on my mind. I’ve spent years making everyone else happy. Putting my needs last. Hoping and praying Kairo would meet me halfway. I’m done begging for love in a language he doesn’t speak.”
They stared at me in silence.
The moment Kairo offered me that hall pass, something shifted. Not just in our marriage, but in me. He thought it was just a threat—just talk to shut me up for the night.
But I’ve played the good girl all my life. It was time I learned what it means to play for me.