Chapter 5 #2
“What made her so upset?” Kaiser asked.
“Well, obviously everything you just said, but that particular night, she and Tia had an argument about Tia going on and on about you and Keegan told her to shut up. She said that you weren’t looking at Tia, you were looking at her, and she knew that because you are hers.
She went to bed right after and when I tried to talk to her, she didn’t really want to hear any of it.
So I just told her that it would be okay, and that sometimes mates find each other and part ways only to be reunited later when the time is right.
I just didn’t really know what to say other than the truth, and I didn’t know if it was the right time to go there or not. ”
“Cristie said she’s a little better now.”
“Seems to be. But it comes and goes.”
“I’d like to talk to her for a minute if you don’t think it’s too much.”
“I don’t know, Kaiser.”
“Neither do I, Lucas. But here’s what I do know.
We’re making all these decisions without her like she’s got no choice in any of this.
My entire plan would have worked had she not realized we are mates.
She’s realized it. And she feels deserted and alone and confused.
At the very least she deserves the truth from me.
And I called you first rather than calling her direct.
I’m still making every effort to be respectful to the entire situation.
Can I please talk to Keegan? I plan to explain why I left — that’s all. ”
“Can’t make things any worse, I guess. Hold on.” Lucas walked back inside the house. He made eye contact with Anahla, then called Keegan’s name down the hallway.
Keegan, typical of most teens, yelled her answer. “What?”
“Come here! Now!” Lucas answered.
A couple of moments later Keegan’s bedroom door opened and she wandered out wearing a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top. “What? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“You have a phone call,” Lucas said, holding out his phone to her.
“On your phone?” she asked, making a face.
Lucas nodded.
“Who’s calling me on your phone?”
Lucas glanced at Anahla for a moment, ignored Tia who had turned around on the sofa and was now all involved in the conversation she was observing, and looked at Keegan again. “It’s Kaiser. He asked for permission to speak to you.”
Keegan’s eyes widened and her breath caught.
“He’s got some things to tell you about, and since I already knew, he called to ask to speak to you personally. I think you really need to hear him out.”
Keegan took a deep breath, then stepped forward and took her father’s phone from his hand.
Lucas looked back at Tia again who was watching the whole thing with a shocked expression on her face. “Maybe go out on the porch for some privacy, baby,” Lucas said.
Keegan was looking at the phone she held, and rather than look up, she just nodded and walked toward the front door. Once she got outside she placed the phone against her ear. “Hello?”
On his end of the line, every bit of tension immediately faded away and he was able to take the first deep breath since he’d left home. “Hi, Keegan. It’s Kaiser.”
“Hi.”
“You have a few minutes to talk to me?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Thank you,” Kaiser said.
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“I really do. I’ve been doing what I thought was right without asking what you wanted, or even telling you my thought process and it resulted in hurting you. So, thank you for talking to me. My whole intention was to not cause you to hurt. Obviously, that didn’t work.”
Keegan laughed softly.
“Yeah, go ahead. Laugh at me. I deserve it.”
“I’m not sure you do, yet. I’ll laugh later if I think you deserve it after we finish this conversation.”
“Fair enough. First, let me just say a few things that while they are apparently obvious, they bear repeating.”
“Okay.”
“I am your mate. I recognized the fact that we are mates the last time I was home, not this most recent trip, but the one before that. It really freaked me out.”
“Because I’m so young.”
“Well, yeah, partially. And then there was the fact that I was sure your father would kill me if he knew, and the fact that it came out of nowhere with no previous indication despite us having always been around each other.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For the age thing. I know it can’t be easy to know that your mate is a kid you’ve watched grow up in your own Pride.”
“That’s one of the things we need to talk about.
I have no issue with our age difference.
A lot of couples have age differences. My only concern is that we figured this out now instead of a few years from now.
You’re still in high school. You’re only sixteen.
You have so much life and growing ahead of you and I don’t want to take that from you.
You deserve to have fun and find yourself, and do all the things that everybody does as they come into their own.
It’s the whole reason I left. Do you understand? ”
“You left because you’re trying to avoid me for now because you think I’m too young to know what I want.”
“Honey, no,” he said, laughing wryly. “I left because I didn’t want to take any of your future from you.
You deserve the chance to live your life and figure out what you want, because you want it, not because some instinct tells you that you have to accept it.
And I left because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could control myself when I was repeatedly so near you.
I left because when you are finally ready to face this thing, I want it to be because you want me.
Not because I colored your options or opinions by making myself a part of your life before you were even ready to live it.
And it’s only you that can tell me when it is that you’ll be ready.
Or if it even is still a possibility after you've finished with school or whatever it is you want to do until you’re ready to settle down. ”
“Why didn’t you just tell me that before you left?”
“I didn’t think that you’d recognized me as your mate yet and there was no reason to let you know if you hadn’t felt it. I was trying to keep you from experiencing the pain of being separated. I left to protect you, not to hurt you. I never wanted you to feel what I felt when I left here.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I felt it. It was devastating.”
Kaiser closed his eyes and gripped his phone tighter. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t give you enough credit, I should have known you’d already figured it out.”
“I had suspicions. I didn’t know for sure until I saw you on TV for the fundraiser the other night.
After that, I had no doubt. I put two and two together and realized the pain I’d felt was probably you leaving.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I just felt so much pain, so much loneliness that I couldn’t explain.
But it was so desolate, so devastating that I sent an embrace, some encouragement back to where the pain came from. ”
“And then you said it would be okay, didn’t you?”
“Yes! How did you know that?” Keegan asked.
“I heard your voice whisper the words. I was about to lose my mind as I drove away, but then I felt a sudden surge of calming energy, and I heard your voice whisper that it would be okay. I almost drove off the damn road trying to figure out where the voice came from,” he confessed.
Keegan laughed.
“I’m sorry for all this. I was trying to do the right thing. But in retrospect, how arrogant was I to not give you a chance to make your own wishes known.”
“You treated me like a kid.”
“That wasn’t my intention. I was in protector mode and not thinking past my own nose.”
Keegan chuckled. “You sure it was your nose?”
Kaiser laughed, truly laughed for the first time in a while.
“Keegan!” Anahla scolded from just the other side of the window Keegan sat outside of. She moved closer to the window and lightly hit the pane to startle her mother and let her know she didn’t appreciate her listening to her conversation.
“Sorry,” Keegan said to Kaiser. “Couldn’t help it. It just came out.”
“Do not ever apologize for speaking your mind around me. I love that you’re comfortable enough to be yourself instead of feeling like you have to watch what you say.”
“Thank you.”
Kaiser sighed as he collected his thoughts. “Okay, so, now what?”
“I have some questions.”
“Ask them,” Kaiser encouraged.
“What will you be doing while I’m in school, or doing whatever it is that I’m supposed to be doing?”
“I’ll be here in Atlanta for the most part. Doing what I always do.”
“Playing ball. Keeping late nights. Flashy cars. Beautiful women,” Keegan said.
“Playing ball, maybe a late night here or there, but make no mistake about it, Keegan. There will not be anyone else on my arm.”
“You don’t have to do that, we aren’t mated, and I know we’re considering years, possibly. I can’t demand that you’re alone all the time until I’m ready.”
“And I can’t demand that you’re alone all the time until you’re ready either. You have to figure out what you want and you can’t do that sitting home watching all your friends out living their lives.”
“Same.”
Kaiser laughed. “I know what I want, Keegan. I am not in a hurry, I have no problem waiting, and I can barely manage to scent any other female in line at a damn store because now that I’ve found you, all the others really annoy me.”
“Oh, okay, then,” she said, secretly smiling.
“What I’m most sure of is that if this works, it’ll be because you choose me. And that’s the simple truth. It’s in your hands, Keegan. I do not have any right to demand that it’s time. And if you don’t choose me, you have that right, too.”
“I’m pretty sure this is the strangest conversation I’ve ever had.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are my mate, but not right now. And I’m your mate, but not right now. But don’t worry about anything, we’ll figure it out. Eventually.”