CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Having Kyrie stay with me wasn't as weird as I thought it would be. Maybe because we’ve done versions of this before. Him waking up here, leaving clothes behind, and getting comfortable enough to walk around my house like some of this shit belonged to him.
His shoes were sitting in front of the door again.
"Why your shoes always right there?"
Kyrie looked over from the couch.
"They by the door."
"They in front of the door."
"Ain't that where shoes go?"
"Beside the door would be nice."
He stared at me before getting up and moving them. "There."
"Thank you."
"Nagging ass."
"Homeless ass."
He looked at me and I tried to keep a straight face. "That's fucked up."
"I’m just playing with you."
"Thirty days."
"Twenty-something now."
"Why you counting?"
"I wasn't."
"Sounds like you was."
I went back to folding Kyrah's clothes. Truthfully, I wasn't in a rush for him to leave.
That was the part I didn't know what to do with.
Kyrie had been here almost every night since I told him he could stay.
Some of his clothes were already in my closet, his toothbrush sat beside mine, and he had fallen into a routine with Kyrah.
Anybody looking from the outside would've thought we were a family. Some days, it felt like one.
Kyrie sat back down. "Come here."
I looked at him. "I’m folding clothes."
"Talia."
"What?"
"Come here now."
I walked over, and he pulled me down onto his lap. Kyrie squeezed my ass and started kissing on my neck.
“Kyrie, let me finish folding the clothes.”
“Finish later. I want some pussy before Kyrah wakes up.”
“Kyrie, we have all day and night to fuck. I need to get this done, while I’m in the mood to do it.” Then a thought hit me, and I pulled back.
"Speaking of work, when is your vacation over?"
His eyes shifted toward me.
"Why?"
"Because you've been here every night."
"I'm on vacation. That's usually how that works."
"I know how a vacation works. I'm asking when you're going back."
"In a couple of days."
I looked at him.
"A couple?"
"Yeah."
"That's a long-ass vacation."
"Why are you worried about it?"
"I'm not. I was asking."
He took a drink of water.
"A'ight then."
I got off his lap and went back to folding Kyrah's clothes. Something about the way he answered didn't feel right, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I glanced at him as I folded another shirt.
"You talked to Kaior?"
"Nah."
"You gonna call her?"
"For what?"
"Because y'all were together for three years."
"That shit is over."
"You don't miss her?"
Kyrie looked at me. "Talia."
"I'm just asking."
"Of course I miss her."
I looked away because I didn't like how much his answer bothered me.
"But missing somebody doesn’t mean you are supposed to be with them."
That brought my eyes back to him.
"Too much shit happened," he continued. "I fucked up. She moved on. Ain't shit I can do about it now."
"So, you're done?"
"She’s done."
I nodded, but another question had been sitting in the back of my mind.
"You regret it?"
Kyrie looked at me. "What?"
"Everything you did. Do you regret it?"
He was quiet for a few seconds.
"Yeah."
"All of it?"
"Yeah. I lost somebody who really loved me because I couldn't leave shit alone that I should've left alone."
That hit a little differently considering I was the shit he hadn't left alone. I looked down at the clothes in my hands.
"Do you regret me?"
"Nah."
My eyes lifted to his.
"How do you regret what you did but not me?"
"Because you ain't what I regret. How I did shit is."
Before I could say anything else, Kyrah started making noise from the bedroom. Kyrie stood immediately.
"I got her."
I watched him disappear down the hallway.
A few minutes later, he came back carrying her. The second Kyrah saw me, she smiled before turning right back to Kyrie and grabbing his face.
"See that?" he said. "She don't even want you."
"Please. Put her down and watch what happens."
"Nah. She’s good with her daddy."
Kyrie said it so naturally that sometimes I forgot the truth for a second. He sat down with Kyrah on his lap, and she immediately started playing with his chain. Kyrie kissed the side of her head and kept talking to her.
The guilt was still there, but so was something else.
I liked this more than I wanted to admit.
Waking up with Kyrie beside me, watching him with Kyrah, and hearing the two of them around the house during the day had started to feel normal.
And admitting that scared me because Solo was still there too.
My phone rang on the table, and the second I looked at the screen, I knew who it was. I grabbed it and answered like it was any other call.
"What's up, sis? Hold on."
I glanced at Kyrie before walking into my bedroom and closing the door behind me. The automated voice came through first. Once I accepted the call, Solo's voice followed.
"What's up, baby?"
"Hey."
"What you doing?"
"Nothing. Just folding some of Kyrah's clothes."
"How is my baby?"
"She's good."
"And you?"
"I'm good."
"Kyrie still over there?"
"Yeah."
"A'ight."
I waited, but he didn't say anything else about it.
Then he got to the reason for the call. "My lawyer came to see me today."
"What is he talking about?"
"Got some good news."
I leaned against the dresser.
"What happened?"
"My appeal went good."
I straightened.
"How good?"
"Real fucking good."
"What does that mean?"
"Means shit might be moving faster than we thought."
"How much faster?"
"Don't know yet. Lawyer still gotta handle some shit."
"So, you don't know anything for sure?"
"I know enough to tell you to start getting shit in order."
"For what?"
"I'm coming home, Talia."
"When?"
"Ain't got a date yet."
"Then how do you know?"
"Because my lawyer ain't come all the way up here to tell me some bullshit. Just know it's looking good."
From the other room, I heard Kyrie talking to Kyrah. "Come on, stank. Leave my chain alone."
I closed my eyes. Solo was quiet for a second. Then his voice came through the phone. "Better figure out what you doing."
My eyes opened. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You know exactly what it means."
The call disconnected and I slowly lowered the phone. For the last couple of weeks, I've been letting myself enjoy having Kyrie here without thinking too hard about what it meant.
Now Solo was coming home. And for the first time, I had to admit the problem wasn't that I didn't know which man I wanted in my house. It was that part of me that wanted them both for completely different reasons.
"Fuck."