Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
I woke up to the sound of vibrating. My hands immediately went to my eyes, assaulted by the unexpected brightness of sunlight.
It was morning.
My tongue slipped along the dryness of my chapped lips. I tasted residual lipstick, and took in a sharp inhale as the events of the previous night came flooding back.
“Kain,” I called into the emptiness of the unfamiliar bedroom, a little panic rising in my chest when I was met with complete silence. I was alone.
My eyes scanned my surroundings. I was still in my clothes from the night before.
The bedroom was never-lived-in clean; everything smelled new. Clearly, I was in one of the rooms of the Safe House—soon-to-be Vance’s house. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I remembered in disturbing detail everything Kain told me the night before.
My chest tightened.
The plush white comforter that covered me felt expensive, as appeared the rest of the snow white bedding that adorned the king size I was tucked into. Beside me, there was an empty space. Kain had slept there, I remembered. He just wasn’t there now.
Perhaps this meant that he would return soon. Kain wouldn’t just leave me in an unfamiliar house to figure things out for myself. Especially not after last night.
The bedside alarm clock informed me that it was almost ten.
After stretching, I started to climb out of the cloud soft bed in search for a bathroom. I had to pee. The room was large enough to infer that it was the master suite, and so I knew there would be a connected bathroom somewhere.
In the bathroom, there was a Post-It note on the mirror.
Went to the store. Be back soon.
-K, 8:12 AM
I pulled the message off the glass, relieved and endeared at the sight of his messy script. He even thought to write down the time he’d left. It hadn’t been long since he’d went.
Like the bedroom, everything in the bathroom was brand new. New towels, new rugs, new robes, unopened toiletries. Well… mostly unopened. The note on the mirror wasn’t the only sign that Kain had been here.
Beside the sink was a four-count pack of toothbrushes. One was missing, leaving three.
After peeing, I took one for myself and began to brush my teeth. I’d almost forgotten my hair had been straightened the day before. My reflection in the mirror was positively ratchet.
I had a mess of crazy bed hair. My red lipstick was splotchy, faded around my lip line. Evidence of my sobbing from the night before came in the form of dried streaks of black mascara lining my cheeks.
This was what Kain woke up to this morning.
“Hello Sleeping Beauty,” I said to my own reflection as I brushed my teeth. After spitting into the sink for the last time, I began to run my fingers through the stringy haystack that was my hair.
Straight hair was so out of my element. I miss my curls, I thought as my eyes travelled to the one thing in the room that would restore them. The shower. Also, I could still smell gun powder from the shooting range on my skin. A shower would be lovely.
A shower would make me feel new.
Under the warm waters of a gloriously high-pressure shower head, I finger detangled my tresses as my curl pattern began to return.
The shrinkage from waist-length to back-length hair felt like a Disney Princess transformation.
I was Black Cinderella getting bippity-boppity-booed back to her best self.
The Old Spice liquid cleanser available on the shower shelf smelled just like Kain. So this was the soap he used. I took in a deep breath, unbothered by the idea of lathering up with the masculine fragrance. It smelled like my man, so I didn’t mind being wrapped all up in it.
My skin was squeaky by the time I was stepping out of the glass-walled shower. Not wanting to put on yesterday’s clothes after working so hard to get clean, I reached for the white robe hung up beside the towels, tying the too-big garment around me twice.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, I screeched, jumping out of my skin upon finding I was no longer alone. Coming to my senses, I sighed out of relief to find Kain sitting at a corner of the bed.
“Good morning to you, too,” he greeted, amused as I brought a hand to my heart. Kain’s eyes then seemed to register that I was in the shower robe that was probably bought for his uncle, but he left it alone. He didn’t care.
“You scared me,” I replied breathlessly, looking over him. Kain was dressed for errands.
He’d changed out of his clothes from last night, now wearing gray Nike joggers and a white tee.
He was still wearing the same white Forces from last night, but his brush cut was now hidden under a gray baseball cap.
It was the most casual I’d ever seen him, and it somehow made him even more attractive.
“Where’d you go?” I asked, curious if he’d stopped anywhere other than the store. The coffee cup in his hand let me know he’d at least stopped one other place.
“Uhh…” He thought about his answer. It was apparently a long list of stops.
“Stopped by the house for a shower and change of clothes. Got some coffee. There’s a cup out in the kitchen for you, if you want it.
Made a few routine stops—gas station, bank, checked my PO box, hit a few stores.
Now I’m here. And you’re still here, too. ”
My still being here was seemingly something he wasn’t expecting.
“Wait… Was I supposed to leave?”
“No!” Kain’s response came quickly, not wanting me to misunderstand. “That’s not what I wanted. I even picked up a few things for you in case you stayed.” So there was more than just coffee waiting for me outside. “But I just thought you’d wanna get home as soon as possible.”
Oh, right. I had to do that eventually.
The vibrating noise that woke me up started up again. It was coming from my purse, where I’d left it last night on a bedside table.
“Your phone’s been ringin’ off the hook since six o’clock this morning,” Kain added.
Surprisingly, the one thing I found noteworthy in what he said was, “You got up at six in the morning?”
We’d fallen asleep at around one in the morning last night. That wasn’t nearly enough sleep. I eyed the coffee cup in his hand. He barely slept last night.
“Five, actually,” Kain replied.
“You couldn’t sleep?” I was concerned.
“I almost always wake up at five.”
Well, this was new information. The things you learn about people when you stay overnight…
“That’s wild.” I shook my head. Couldn’t be me… “Like naturally, or do you have an alarm? I didn’t hear an alarm.”
Kain squinted at me, seemingly bewildered that I wanted to chit-chat. “So, are you just not gonna answer your phone, or…?”
Ugh, that...
“Well the only people who have the number are you, my best friend, your friends, and, most recently, my sister,” I replied, shrugging nonchalantly.
“You happen to be right here. Lux is a thousand miles away in a foreign country, with no cellphone reception. And I don’t want to talk to my sister, Marlon, Jay, or Amir. ”
Kain shook his head, a vaguely amused look about him. He started to ask, “You ain’t tryna race against the clock before your parents notice you’ve been—”
“Kain.” I put up a hand, stopping him before he could finish his sentence. “I’m grown.”
Kain pressed his lips together, looking away. He was desperately trying not to smile, trying so hard to not let me see that he found my serious declaration humorous.
“It’s not funny!” I shouted at the first sign of his lip twitching.
“I know, Lauren.” His tone was chipper, a thinly veiled attempt to disguise a laugh as a lively mood. “You tell ‘em.”
My eyes narrowed at his teasing.
I doubled down, announcing, “I’m not going home today. I probably won’t even go home tomorrow. You know why?”
“Because you’re grown,” Kain quoted me, struggling to say that last word without smiling. “Not because ya scared, right?”
I frowned at his smile. “I’m not scared to go home.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not scared of my parents.”
Kain was still amused. “I didn’t say you were.”
“I’m an adult.”
“Grown,” he echoed, nodding. He was not taking me seriously.
“You know what? Get me my phone! I will call my Daddy right now and tell him exactly what I’m about to do.” Kain reached for my purse on the bedside table, ready to call my bluff. As he unzipped the bag, I went into a rant.
“I’m going to tell him that you’re still my boyfriend! I’m going to tell him that you’re going to stay my boyfriend! And I’m going to tell him to deal with it!”
Kain watched me as I made my campaign promises, the most entertained look on his face.
“You don’t believe me?” I challenged.
My boyfriend shrugged his shoulders. “No, it’s not that,” Kain replied, practically glowing. “I was just wonderin’ if you were also gonna tell him about the pack of thirty-six condoms in your bag.”
Oh, shi—
I forgot about those.
“Magnum.” Kain was familiar with the brand I chose, and this choice made him laugh. “At least you got expectations of me.”
“Look,” I started. My tone was serious. I even stomped my foot. He was not about to tease me for being responsible. “I was prepared for any outcome last night. I was being responsible. I was being…”
“…grown,” Kain finished my sentence, mimicking my dramatic seriousness. I rolled my eyes. And he was still smiling when he said, “But you know, they sell these in three-count packages. Twelve-count packages, too.”
“It was a more economically informed decision!” I was now shouting. “If you buy a box of three, that’s almost a dollar per condom! If you buy thirty-six, it’s less than fifty cents per condom!”
“You better get those savings,” he teasingly encouraged.
“You know what? Forget this conversation.” I gave up, changing the subject. “What’d you pick up while you were out?”
“Not condoms.” Kain got one last crack in, amusing himself with my reaction before answering, “A change of clothes for you. Groceries.”
“You picked out clothes for me?” I asked, genuinely surprised. Trying to imagine Kain browsing through the women’s clothing section using his best estimation of my size, was a difficult image to visualize. Buying clothes for me had always been difficult, too.
My body was a confusing combination of small, then big, and then small again. It would be very easy for a person to assume I was one size, and then watch their estimation be proven wrong at the sight of me squeezing into some jeans.
Ah yes, the age old dilemma of having an ass. Making otherwise slim girls go up a size since the dawn of time.
“I can call my parents whenever,” I announced, waving a dismissive hand. Kain was amused by this because he’d expected me to look for an excuse. “Right now, I wanna see what you got me.”
***
The bright red tracksuit Kain picked out was a safe choice.
Although it was in a size small, it had just enough stretch to it to accommodate the curves of my body, hugging me in places that almost made the activewear kind of sultry.
Not to mention, red was, and always would be, my color. I wondered if Kain picked the red tracksuit because he felt the same. It was such a far cry from the whites, blacks, and grays he seemed to prefer for himself.
It was my style, though. A fiery red Adidas jacket and matching bottom, paired with a plain white shirt. Comfortable. Colorful. Casual. I looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, and thought, This is an outfit I would pick out for myself.
Ever the thoughtful one, Kain had even thought to buy me a fresh pack of panties.
Like the tracksuit, they had just enough stretch to them to accommodate the booty.
If he had somehow managed to guess my bra size, that would have been mind-blowing.
Kain was astute, but not that damn good. I recycled my bra from the day before.
My damp coils were pulled back into a tight puff, providing a full view of my bare face. I smiled at the reflection looking back at me. She was looking cute!
Kain’s attention was divided between me and his phone at the breakfast table.
It was a new experience for me. Before today there had never been a moment where I felt like Kain wasn’t present.
It dawned on me that this was because before that day, every time I had been with Kain, it was because he’d set the time aside.
Today was not planned, nor was it promised.
And so I had to share it with the rest of his life.
My boyfriend, I’d come to discover, was in popular demand.
He was on his second cup of coffee.
I’d declined the cup he’d purchased for me because I didn’t like coffee, and he’d willingly taken it off my hands.
I watched him as he read something intently off the screen of his phone.
The bagel in front of him had yet to be touched, and for the first time in my life, it mattered to me that someone wasn’t eating.
“Are you not hungry?” I asked as I picked at my banana nut muffin.
Kain’s eyes rose from his phone. “I’m not really a breakfast person.”
More discoveries. It had only been an hour and I’d already learned half a dozen things about Kain that I didn’t know prior.
Kain wakes up at the crack of dawn. He drinks his coffee black, no sugar. The soap he uses is Old Spice brand. He likes me in the color red. His preferred grocery store is Publix. And he’s not a breakfast person.
I chewed slowly, watching him work. Part of me wanted to ask what he was typing, wanted to know who he was talking to. And then another part of me was afraid he might tell me something I wasn’t ready to hear.
I wasn’t afraid of my boyfriend lying to me. I was afraid of him telling me the truth.
Without there being a formal declaration, I had a feeling Kain was no longer going to leave me in the dark about anything. Whether or not I could handle his honesty was the new beast to conquer. Last night had been… a lot.
“You wanna go somewhere with me?” Kain asked, snatching me out of my own head.
Without his saying so, I quickly understood that if I didn’t want to go, he would still have to. I had invited myself into Kain’s today and his tomorrow, and this came with an expectation of being cooperative.
“Where is somewhere?” I asked before I agreed to anything.
“South Beach. To a club called Poseidon.”
“We’re going to the club?” I asked, an eyebrow shooting up. “One of your family’s spots?”
“It’s eleven o’clock in the morning on a Sunday,” Kain reminded. “We’re hardly goin’ to the club. And yeah, it’s family-owned.”
“Is it safe?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t take you with me if it wasn’t.”
“And you have to go, even if I say I’m not going,” I guessed.
“I do.”
“Then I guess I’m coming too.”