Chapter 13 Khloe #2
“I think I might know someone,” I said carefully.
Kairo looked up immediately. “Yeah?”
“Someone who does day trading,” I added. “I can reach out and see if he has resources, recommendations… maybe even someone he learned from.”
“Yeah, he’d appreciate that. Who is it?”
I laughed, buying myself time. “Baby, with all the clients I’ve had over the years, I’ve crossed paths with people doing all kinds of careers we don’t even think about. Real estate brings everybody around eventually. I’ve definitely run into a day trader or two.”
He nodded. “That makes sense. Well, get whatever info you can.”
“I will.”
I stood in the mirror after my shower doing my skincare routine. Coffee was already mid-sentence in my AirPods.
“In that moment,” she said talking like I was her student, “you shoulda just shut the fuck up.”
I laughed softly, dabbing toner onto a cotton pad. “But you know Kordai is trying to get his life back on track. He doesn’t want to depend on anyone. Why wouldn’t I help if I can?”
Coffee sucked her teeth. “Ain’t nothing wrong with helping your brother-in-law. But not when the situation could get messy. You shoulda listened to your future sister-in-law Niv and not even contacted that man. Because now he already has you doing shit without thinking.”
I rolled my eyes, smoothing moisturizer into my cheeks. “Relax. I never said I was gonna connect Stacks and Kordai. I’m not that crazy.”
“Mhm.”
“I just meant,” I continued, “Stacks probably knows people. I can get information without anyone knowing anything about… us and our friendship.”
Coffee laughed. “Yeah. Friendship, my ass.”
I smiled at my reflection. “Oh hush.”
“The same way,” she went on, “I’m standing in this kitchen right now finishing up lamb chops for a man who was just begging for closure last week.”
“So this is finally the embryo conversation?”
She paused. I could hear a pan sizzling in the background.
“Girl,” Coffee said, laughing under her breath, “he’s not even gonna bring that shit up.”
“Really?”
“Nope. I shoulda said no to dinner,” she admitted. “But… I missed him today.”
She got quiet and then she exhaled. “You know what, never mind. I can’t tell you shit like this anymore. I’m not married. I can afford to do stupid shit. You can’t. And I don’t need you following my bad habits.”
I smiled, applying my eye cream. “Coffee, please stop. You act like I don’t have my own mind.”
Before she could respond, my phone buzzed on the counter. Motion detected: front door.
I glanced at the screen and saw Kairo stepping inside with grocery bags, and shoulders relaxed now that he was home.
“That’s him,” I said. “He just got back with my snacks.”
“Alright,” Coffee replied. “Call me in the morning.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too. And Khloe?”
“Yeah?”
“Just… think next time before you speak.”
I smiled faintly. “I will, Mom. Goodnight.”
I ended the call and set my phone down, finishing my routine as the sounds of Kairo and Kennedi talking got closer.
I stepped out of the bathroom just in time to see Kairo dumping grocery bags onto the bed.
Kennedi stood at the edge of the bed with her arms crossed, already irritated.
“I thought I said hot fries,” she complained. “Not hot chips.”
Kairo didn’t even look up. “Baby, it’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not,” she shot back, digging through the pile anyway.
I leaned against the doorframe, laughing. “It’s definitely not the same thing.”
He glanced up at me like I was supposed to be on his side. “Y’all act like I wanted to go to the store in the first place. I had already showered.”
“That’s true,” I said, smiling. “But when I said I wanted a Butterfinger, you wanted one too.”
Kennedi finally grabbed her chips and drink, still shaking her head. “Whatever,” she said, heading out of the room. “Y’all just don’t listen.”
As soon as she left, I looked at Kairo and laughed. “That is your daughter.”
He pulled his shirt over his head. “Nah. When she acts like that, she’s all you.”
I climbed onto the bed, sitting cross-legged next to the snacks.
“She always gets fries,” I said. “So she probably assumed you knew.”
He sighed dramatically and slid into the bed. “See? That thinking I can read her mind shit. She gets that from you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh my God. Here we go.”
He laughed, stretching out and yawning hard. “Busy day tomorrow?”
“Mm, not really,” I said, grabbing my Butterfinger and opening it. “You?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I gotta meet with Mrs. Nikki and show her a house.”
“Aww,” I said softly. “How is she?”
“She’s good… I guess,” he said, staring up at the ceiling. “I’m sure after being married that long, it’s a hard transition, but she sounds fine when she calls.”
Mrs. Nikki had been around my whole life. She was in the same friend circle as my mom and Kairo’s mom. I’d grown up hearing her laugh at dinner parties, watching her dance at cookouts, but divorcing at her age felt weird.
“What time?” I asked.
“Nine,” he said.
I nodded, already thinking it through. “Instead of calling her, I’ll just stop by when you show her the house. I’m sure she could use a hug.”
He turned his head toward me and smiled. “That actually sounds like a really good idea. I’ll send you the address.”
“Okay,” I said quietly.
He reached over and pulled me closer and my body responded before my thoughts had time to interfere. I let myself sink into that comfort. Into us.
I closed my eyes, breathing him in the rhythm we’d memorized over fifteen plus years. And then, uninvited, Stacks crossed my mind.
Stop.
I tried to shake it off and focus on Kairo’s hands, his voice, and the way he always moved like he was worshiping my entire existence. But the harder I tried to push the thought away, the harder it came back. I thought about Stacks’ laugh and the way he just listened to me.
What the fuck is wrong with you? I said to myself.
Kairo is my husband. The man I loved. The man whose name is stitched into every version of my future. And yet my mind kept drifting to our conversation and the ease, the curiosity that had crossed a line I didn’t even realize I’d stepped over.
It scared me.
When Kairo lifted his head to kiss me, saying something sexy against my skin, my heart skipped, but not in the way it should have. All I could see was Stacks’ face, clear as day, like my mind was playing a cruel trick on me.
Panic rose in my chest.
I turned over quickly, needing to break the eye contact and distance myself from my own thoughts. I told myself it was just a position change. Hell, Kairo loved hitting it from the back anyway so he didn’t question it. I thought that would help, but it didn’t.
His hands were massaging my body as he kissed my neck and back, but instead of pulling me back into the moment, my mind betrayed me again. I imagined what those hands might feel like if they belonged to someone else. Someone like Stacks.
Guilt slammed into me so hard it almost stole my breath.
Kairo kept whispering that he loved me.
“I love you too, baby,” I said back immediately, because I did. That part had never been a lie, and saying it out loud made something inside me crack. It confirmed what I already knew.
My friendship with Stacks couldn’t continue.
My mind wasn’t built to hold both of them. I wasn’t wired for emotional overlap or blurred lines. I saw what Niv and Coffee were talking about and how dangerous it was for me. How easily curiosity could turn into something I’d never forgive myself for.
I needed space in my mind since I’d given too much of it away.