Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Burkeley
I sat at my desk, combing through report after report on this guy Harlan Triplet. So far I had found the same information she’d given me, which wasn’t much at all.
“You’re working harder, not smarter, BK. Search using his picture.” In my field, sometimes someone wasn’t truly who they said they were but pictures never got it wrong. I went to McKay’s file on my computer, going for the picture. Again, there wasn’t much, including no picture of Harlan.
“Shit,” I cursed lowly. This was the second fuck up I’d pulled when it came to McKay.
The first was not collecting my deposit.
I couldn’t after hearing her sound so broken by this bum ass muthafucka who’d left her when she got pregnant.
Baby girl was already dealing with a lot.
The last thing I wanted her to worry about was paying me to find his ass.
“Well the picture is needed, so you need to call her to get it.” I picked up my phone and scrolled through my log until I came across her name. It rang a few times before her sweet voice answered.
“Hello.”
“Hey, this is Burkeley—
“Oh my gosh did you find something already?” she rushed out, cutting me off, voice sounding three octaves higher than before.
“Not yet. I forgot to ask if you have a picture. There’s a lot of Harlan’s in the world. I want to make sure I have the right one.” I didn’t want to kill her excitement.
“Oh shoot, yes. I do. I even printed them off and forgot to give them to you the other day. I can drop them off.” I glanced at the time stamped in the corner of my computer and noticed it was a little after eight at night. It wasn’t late, but in her condition I didn’t want her out.
What condition, BK? She’s only pregnant.
Still, it was getting late and McKay didn’t need to be out driving right now.
Now a pregnant woman can’t drive?
“Only if you’re out and about already. If not, I can swing by.”
“Oh no, I’m at home but I don’t mind bringing them, especially since it was my lack of thinking that day.” I was already up.
“Not at all. I’m heading out to get food anyway. Shoot me your address.” The food part was a lie. It was my way of encouraging her to stay in. Without further back and forth from her, my phone vibrated in my hand, displaying her address.
“Let me know when you’re downstairs and I’ll buzz you up.”
“Okay.” I went to hang up but called her name, catching her.
“Hey, are you hungry?”
Burkeley, what the fuck are you doing?
In my mind, a simple, kind, good deed. It was clear the father wasn’t in the picture, and no, I didn’t know much about pregnancy for that matter, but I did know that pregnant women had cravings and ate a lot.
There was a pregnant pause before she released a few chuckles.
“As sweet as the gesture is, Burkeley, I could never ask you to bring me anything but thank you.” McKay said that but my mind was already mentally adding something for her to my order, even if it was just a shake and a fry.
“I wouldn’t mind, McKay.”
There was another pause before I spoke.
“I’ll be there shortly. I’ll text once I’m downstairs.”
“Okay.” This time McKay’s voice was low, but still sweet, as if she was blushing.
I shook that thought out my mind. I was sure I was just being silly.
As I walked down my hallway, passing through the kitchen, I quickly decided to take her one of Anna’s meals out of my refrigerator. I scanned through to find a pasta dish and the pot roast meal. I would still stop and get the fry and shake too.
Once I secured everything, I texted McKay, who immediately buzzed me up. I made it up to her floor in five minutes. I caught her little head poking out in the hallway, making me smirk.
“What are you doing? Were you afraid I would get lost between the elevator and your door?”
She shrugged while stepping back, allowing me space to walk into her condo which was bad as hell.
It fit her perfectly. It was a minimalist design, with lots of opportunities for fresh light to come through her windows.
It was weird how even with this simple and clean concept I could still pick up her bohemian style in certain pieces of art she had scattered throughout the unit, with the pops of rustic browns and earthy tones of blues and greens in throw pillows and blankets.
“No. But I wanted to make sure you knew which door was mine. Would you like something to drink?”
“No thank you. Remember, I stopped and got food,” I said, this time making the bag of food I had for her visible.
“Oh yeah—wait, please tell me that you didn’t, Burkeley. I can’t accept that.”
“McKay, it’s just food. If it makes it easier, the only thing I bought were the fries and shake from BJ’s. The other food my mother, Anna, made.” She frowned instantly, her brows furrowing together and her mouth curving up.
“Okay, that didn’t help. What I meant to say was, my mother does her version of meal prep for me and my brother, and instead of my brother coming over and eating mine too, I’m giving it to you and the baby.”
She stared at me for a minute before finally taking the bag of food.
“Thank you, Burkeley. Well, Mrs. Anna.” She opened the bag, going for a fry first before taking a sip of the chocolate covered strawberry shake I’d gotten her. It was a guess, but it was one of my favorites.
I watched McKay intensely as she closed her eyes and moaned lowly through the whole process as she sucked on the straw, clenching it tightly.
Once she caught my eye, her cheeks flushed red from embarrassment. I should’ve been the one looking away because I knew this was straight creep behavior, but I couldn’t. McKay was beautiful and I was selfishly taking every chance I could to admire her in person.
“Oh my gosh, I am sorry, and yes, I’m about to blame it on the baby. I could eat a piece of toast with the right amount of butter and lose my shit.” I chuckled as I held up my hands.
“No need to explain. I get it, the shake is that good. I wasn’t sure what flavor you would like, so I went with mine and prayed for the best. Seeing your reaction is all the satisfaction I need.”
When she blushed again, it made me think about earlier when we were on the phone, like maybe she did it then too.
McKay cleared her throat, putting us back on track.
“Well, I feel like I’ve taken up too much of your time, let me get you those pictures.” I wanted to tell her that she wasn’t taking anything I didn’t want to give, but thought with the food push anything else would be too much right now.
Yeah, way too much, BK. Remember, she has you looking for her baby’s father. She ain’t checking for no one else but him.
I followed her back toward the living room where she had the envelope of pictures ready for me.
“And I know you said no deposit was needed, but I want to pay that now too.” While I took possession of the pictures, I protested her request.
“It’s not necessary. Plus, I didn’t write up the official contract yet, so I can’t actually tell you how much your deposit would be.
Each is different based on the case, and with yours, I can’t say off the top of my head.
I’ll be in touch with you tomorrow,” I said, causing McKay to squint one eye at me as she tilted her head.
She was funny. She didn’t even know me but was trying to read if I was lying.
If she called me out right now, she would be right.
I chuckled.
“Burkeley, something tells me that you’re bullshitting with me right now, but I’ma take your word.
I will say, this is bad business. You can’t be letting people not pay you at least half up front, me included.
I don’t even let family or friends get my suites without getting something.
I’ll cut a deal, but not free, because that’s my business.
And in order for me to be successful and make money, they have to pay too. ”
I laughed to myself because I was sure if McKay knew she was the only person I had ever not collected my deposit money from, she would insist on paying me for real.
And I didn’t want that. That meant I was one step closer to our interactions being over with.
I was already stalling, stealing more time, but now I was even more curious about McKay.
“Suites? What kind of suites? And you’re telling me not even your parents?”
She shook her head. “Nope, and my dad wouldn’t allow me even if I wanted to.
He’s the one who told me no short cuts. If the same people are willing to pay another person the money why not me.
And I lease club suites around the city.
I’m talking Sharks, Royals, and Badgers.
I’m in with them all,” she said proudly.
I smirked.
“All the teams, huh? So do you have a suite available for the Royals opening game in a couple of weeks?” Even though Art had secured our suite, I could have him cancel in a heartbeat to put the money in McKay’s pocket instead if she told me she had one available.
“You’re kidding, right? It’s the third week in October, that suite went weeks ago and I was late listing it too.
To get my suites you have to book beyond weeks in advance around here.
I think I’m fair with my prices too. But in the future book using this site, not on the official stadium or arena sites.
They hike prices worse than us private lenders…
well, sometimes. For certain games and concerts I do go high because people will pay, but for standard games, never over twenty or thirty depending on the suite and the game.
” She was talking and walking over to her purse then came back to me with a business card with her information on it, including the website to book.
I had never heard of a suite owner renting out suites, especially not to the extent of having business cards.
“Oh, so you’re official with it too.”