CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I knew Kaior was awake before I opened my eyes. Normally, she was either wrapped around me or somewhere close enough for me to reach out and pull her back. This morning, her side of the bed was empty. I opened my eyes and found her standing in front of the mirror getting dressed for work.
"Good morning."
"Morning."
That was it. So, I sat up and watched her put on her earrings.
"You still mad at me?"
"I'm not mad."
"You barely talking to me."
"Because I don't know what to say yet."
"Then say that."
She looked at me in the mirror.
"I just did, Joaquin."
My eyes narrowed.
"Don't do that."
She turned around. "Do what?"
"Call me Joaquin because you mad."
"That's your name."
"You know what the fuck you doing."
"Actually, Joaquin, I don't."
This woman was getting on my fucking nerves early in the morning. And somehow, that bothered me less than the fact that she hadn't come near me since she got out of bed.
"I told you last night I wasn't hiding shit from you."
"I know what you said."
"And I meant it."
"Okay."
There went that shit again.
"Okay?"
She sighed. "What do you want from me, Jokah?"
"I want you to talk to me."
"We talked last night."
"Then why you acting like this?"
"Because talking about it didn't magically make me feel better."
I didn’t say shit. She grabbed her perfume from the dresser.
"I understand why you went to Cody's game. I understand why you kept your promise to him. I'm not mad about that."
"I know."
"And I believe you when you say you aren't messing with Shania."
"Ain't no reason for you not to."
"I know that too."
She sprayed her perfume.
"But none of that changes the fact that she could be pregnant with your child."
"I don't believe she is."
Kaior closed her eyes for a second.
"Joaquin."
"What?"
"Please stop saying that like it changes anything."
I rubbed my hand over my face. She was right, but that didn't mean I liked hearing it.
"I should've told you."
Kaior stopped what she was doing and really looked at me. "Yes, Joaquin. You should've."
"I know."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"Something."
"I don't have anything else right now."
"So, you just gone walk around calling me Joaquin all fucking day?"
She grabbed her purse.
"That's your name, isn't it?"
"Kaior."
She walked toward the bedroom door.
"Have a good day, Joaquin."
"Keep playing."
"I'm not playing."
She grabbed her purse and stopped in the doorway. Normally, this was where she'd come back. One more kiss. Something smart whispered against my mouth. Me telling her to take her ass to work before she ended up late. This morning, she just looked at me.
"I'll see you later."
"A’ight."
Then she walked out. I listened to her footsteps disappear down the hallway before everything went quiet.
And I knew exactly why that shit bothered me.
I loved her. Yeah, I was in love before, but never like this.
Never to the point where the thought of losing a woman had me questioning shit about myself that I never questioned before.
I told Kaior things I never said to another woman in my life and let her into parts of me nobody else had ever touched.
Now she just walked out of my house mad at me because of some shit another woman dropped in my lap.
That shit didn't sit right with me at all.
I reached for my phone. Shania's number was right there.
For a second, I thought about calling her, but I changed my mind fast as fuck.
There wasn't shit to talk about. She said she was pregnant and that was fine.
There was one way to settle that. A DNA test. Until then, all the talking in the world wasn't going to change shit.
Deep down I just felt like Shania was doing this shit because I moved on.
I tossed my phone onto the bed and got up.
What I wasn't about to do was chase behind Kaior while she was trying to process it. She asked for space. Fine, she could have it. It didn’t mean I had to like that shit.
I went into the bathroom, showered and got dressed.
By the time I came back out, my phone was ringing. It was Poncho.
"Yeah."
"We got a problem."
I grabbed my watch off the dresser.
"What?"
"One of them niggas Pooh named ain't where he's supposed to be."
I stopped.
"Which one?"
"Dre."
My jaw tightened.
"How long?"
"Since last night. Nobody seen him. His phone off and his car gone."
"Family?"
"Checking now."
I fastened my watch.
"Find him."
"We on it."
"And Poncho."
"Yeah?"
"Don't call me back telling me what you can't find."
"Yeah, a’ight."
I hung up.
My eyes went toward the elevator. Five minutes ago, the only thing on my mind was Kaior leaving mad at me.
Now I had a nigga connected to Pooh missing.
I grabbed my keys and headed toward the elevator.
Whatever Dre thought he was running from, he was about to learn something.
You couldn't hide forever in Broward. Not from me.
I knew something was wrong and the second I checked my account confirmed just that. I stared at the screen, refreshed it, then checked again.
"No fucking way."
The payment hadn't been made. I went into the account itself just to make sure I wasn't tripping. Nope. It was still due. I immediately grabbed my phone and called Malcolm. It rang until his voicemail picked up, so I hung up and called again.
"Okay."
I waited a few minutes before trying one more time.
This time it went straight to voicemail.
Now I knew he was ignoring me. I sat on the edge of my bed staring at my phone.
The last time I'd seen Malcolm was at the club.
The same night he'd told me he was ready to leave and expected me to leave with him. But I stayed with Todd.
At the time, I hadn't thought much about it.
Malcolm and I weren't in a relationship.
He wasn't my man, and I wasn't his woman.
Technically, I hadn't done anything wrong.
But judging by the unpaid bill and three unanswered phone calls, Mr. Malcolm clearly had a different interpretation of the situation.
I called one more time and got the voicemail again.
"Petty ass."
I tossed my phone onto the bed. Then picked it right back up. Because petty or not, I needed to talk to him. And apparently, the phone wasn't going to get me anywhere.
An hour later, I pulled into the parking lot outside Malcolm's office. I sat in my car for a minute. Maybe I should've called the office first. I looked at my phone, and he hadn’t called back or sent me a text message. Fuck that! He knew I was trying to reach him, so I got out. If he wanted me to bring out the ghetto version of me, that’s all he had to say.
The woman sitting at the front desk smiled when I walked inside. "Good morning. Can I help you?"
"I'm here to see Malcolm."
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No."
"Mr. Malcolm is busy right now."
Of course he was.
"Can you tell him Armani is here?"
She looked at me for a second before reaching for the phone.
"One moment."
I stepped away from the desk while she called his office. Her voice lowered, so I couldn't hear everything she said. A few seconds later, she hung up.
"You can go back."
I smiled.
"Thank you."
At least he hadn't had me thrown out. But depending on his responses to me would depend on whether he had to call the police or not. I walked down the hallway until I reached his office. The door was partially open, so I didn’t bother knocking. I just waltzed my ass in.
"Hey."
"Armani."
That was it. There was no smile, no what's up? Or anything else I normally got from him. I closed the door behind me.
"I called you."
"I saw."
I waited for him to say something else, but he kept working like I wasn't standing there.
"Four times."
"I saw those too."
Okay, so he was definitely pissed.
"You couldn't answer?"
"I was busy."
"All four times?"
"Apparently."
I stared at him until Malcolm finally looked up.
"Was there something you needed?"
The attitude on this man was already working my nerves. I walked closer to his desk.
"Something didn't get paid."
"I know."
My eyebrows lifted.
"You know?"
"Yeah."
"And you just... didn't pay it?"
"That's usually what happens when I don't pay something."
I put my hand on my hip.
"Okay, Malcolm."
"What?"
"Why are you acting like this?"
"Like what?"
"You know exactly what."
He leaned back in his chair. "No, Armani. Tell me."
I looked at him.
"You're mad about the club."
"I'm not mad."
"Yes, you are."
"No. I'm actually very clear."
"About what?"
"Where I stand with you."
I frowned.
"Malcolm—"
"You made a choice."
"We aren't together."
"I know."
"So why are you treating me like I cheated on you?"
"I didn't say you cheated."
"Then what is this?"
He looked at me for a moment before answering. "This is me moving accordingly."
That shut me right the fuck up. Malcolm leaned forward and rested his arms on his desk.
"I asked you to leave with me."
"I know."
"You wanted to stay with your little boyfriend."
"Malcolm, he’s not my boyfriend. Do I know him? Yes, I do. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. I stayed at the club because I wanted to and I don’t appreciate being treated like a damn child. You were trying to embarrass me."
Malcolm's jaw tightened.
"I wasn't trying to embarrass you. I was pissed."
"Clearly."
"You left my house to go somewhere I already told you I didn't want you going. Then I get there, you drunk, shaking ass on this nigga, and you expect me to be cool with that shit?"
"You don't get to tell me where I can go."
"You're right. I don't."
That caught me off guard.
"But don't expect me to stand there and watch some shit I don't like either. I wanted you out that club, so yeah, I tried to get you to leave."
"By snatching me up like I'm your child."
"And I was wrong for that."
I stared at him.
"But being wrong about how I handled it doesn’t change how I felt about what happened."
"Okay then."
"So, what's the problem?"
I stared at him because he knew damn well what the problem was.