Chapter 19 #2
“It’s not,” Kain confirmed. “But I didn’t think Silas would kill him for it, either. That kind of money is pennies to Silas. And Laz was just a kid. I thought he would get fired, most likely jumped. Not shot in the head the following day.”
“When I was a kid, beatin’ up Laz for stealin’ my stuff felt so beneath me. Because that shit didn’t mean anything. He was my cousin. He was my family. That meant something to me.”
“But it didn’t mean anything to your father.”
I crossed my arms, and to my surprise, I was nowhere near the crying mess I thought I’d be after getting answers.
Instead, I was furious.
“True,” Kain’s voice came out solemn, eyes still on the road. “It didn’t mean a damn thing to Silas.”
***
On day two of my week with Kain, I learned that although Kain had been born and raised in Miami, Florida, most of his family set their roots in Memphis, Tennessee. They were authentically Southern, and evidence of that could be heard every once in a while in Kain’s subtle accent.
I learned that Kain’s wildly attractive way of speaking was a mix between the restless heat of South Florida and the rhythmic lilt of Western Tennessee. Nobody speaks like Kain. Today I learned why.
There were two really big events happening in the Montgomery family this week.
Today, there would be celebration Vance Montgomery’s new lease on life.
And on Thursday, many of the same family members would be heading over to Memphis, Tennessee to lay young Lorenzo Montgomery to rest.
It was nine o’clock in the evening. Right about now, the first guests for Vance Montgomery’s homecoming were piling into the Montgomery house.
Among them, one guest would be missing.
In my new pair of red satin pajamas, I watched him from the threshold of the master bathroom, drying my hair with a towel.
Kain seemed perfectly fine as he turned through the pages of an LSAT prep book. His demeanor was unbothered, relaxed. I wondered if he was thinking about the party at all. I wondered if he was beginning to regret his decision to not go.
My phone on the bedside table began to ring the moment I climbed into bed beside Kain. I let out a frustrated sigh, assuming it was my sister yet again, and reached to silence the device. To my surprise, the name on the screen was not Morgan’s.
“That’s weird.” I called Kain’s attention away from his book. “Amir’s calling me. Should I pick up?”
“He’s probably calling for me. Give it here.” Kain’s outstretched hand closed around the silver phone before he slid his finger across the screen and languidly gave a bored, “Hello.”
In the quiet of the room, I could just barely make out the words spoken on the other end.
“Aye, so you really not gon’ show for the party?” Apparently, Amir was already at Vance’s homecoming, dismayed to find Kain wasn’t in attendance.
Kain let out a tired laugh. “Are you askin’ for you, or for Cierra?”
That confirmed my suspicion that Amir and Cierra were a thing.
“Both, nigga,” Amir replied, to which Kain smiled. “Everybody out here askin’ where you are. On account of you livin’ here and all. You know how bad it looks when it’s a party at your house and you still don’t show up?”
“It crossed my mind.”
“You sittin’ out ‘cause of Princess?” Amir sounded like he was accusing me of something. I frowned and looked down at my lap. In a second, Kain’s thumb was under my chin, lifting my gaze to his. He held my eyes there reassuringly.
“Nope, I would’ve sat this out regardless.
Princess just makes it easier.” Unlike Amir, when Kain used the nickname Princess, it felt like a caress.
It wasn’t sarcastic, nor was it mean. It was sweet.
“Tell Cierra I’mma see her on Saturday at Sanaa’s dinner.
And I’ll see you on Sunday. Don’t call again unless it’s an emergency. ”
As soon as the phone was off, I questioned, “You’re going to dinner at Sanaa’s with me?”
We hadn’t talked about this. In fact, it had completely slipped my mind that I’d agreed to dinner at Sanaa’s not too long ago. Monique, Cierra, and Sanaa were supposed to be there. I’d be lying if I said knowing Kain would be there, too, wasn’t a little comforting.
“Yeah, you didn’t think I was gonna leave you alone with three of my sisters, did you?”
“You said they were harmless.”
“They are harmless,” Kain expressed. “But they’re still my sisters. And I know them. They are gonna gang up on you and grill you if left unchecked. You need me there.”
“Did you grill Amir when he started dating your sister?” I asked curiously.
“No, I already knew Amir when he started up with Cierra.”
“Doesn’t it go against some sort of Guy Code to date your best friend’s sister?”
Kain shrugged and asked me, “You ever come home from school to find your dad beheading someone in the garage?”
The question threw me off, seemingly coming out of nowhere. My hand went to my mouth with a gasp.
“Don’t tell me your father—”
“Not mine,” Kain interrupted, hands raised to stop me from jumping to my own conclusions. “Amir’s.”
The words spilled out of me. “What the f—”
“African gangsta shit…” Kain chuckled at a memory. “Asante—Amir’s father—used to walk around with a machete on his waist and practically dare niggas to look at him crazy.”
“I can’t believe you think that’s funny.”
“Sometimes you gotta laugh.” Kain shrugged, his amusement subsiding.
“But that was Amir’s life, though. And sometimes it’s uplifting to be around people who ain’t so horrified by your history.
Cierra, although super sheltered, is… still a Montgomery.
She can stomach the atrocities of his past in ways most women can’t.
Yeah, she’s my sister… But I wouldn’t dream of takin’ away what Amir’s found. ”
Listening to Kain explain this made me feel extraordinarily insecure. I wondered if Kain longed for the kind of girl his best friend found. If he ever found her, how soon would he drop me?
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said suddenly, eyes still on me. “You’re taking what I’ve said and applying it to us. It doesn’t apply.”
“But I am horrified by your history,” I confirmed.
“Yeah,” Kain acknowledged this fact, and my heart sank.
Wordlessly, his arm snaked around my back, and he drew me closer to him, his chin resting atop my damp curls.
“Yes, you’re horrified of my past, but you see beyond it just enough so that you can see me.
That’s more special to me than a high tolerance for the ugly.
It’s also much harder to do. You easily see the hardest-to-find parts of me, and remind me that they’re there. ”
I raised my head to meet his face, touched by the earnestness of his words.
Kain’s eyes were already on me, a dreamlike quality behind them.
Somehow, the already-gorgeous man before me had become even more beautiful in my eyes these last couple of days.
It felt like I was finally beginning to see the fine details of an ever growing picture.
Sure, some of the details were hard to swallow, but the details that weren’t… they made me love him even more.
My breathing caught as an epiphany hit me.
Love.
In just a little over three months, Kain Montgomery had cemented himself in my heart and made me love him.
I didn’t say so. Perhaps I might’ve thought it was way too early, as my eyes traced every detail of his handsome face.
I wasn’t sure what I was looking for in his eyes, but at the exact moment that I realized that I loved him, it seemed like he’d found something in mine.
I felt naked. Exposed.
And yet… I was comfortable as ever.
Like many times before in the past few days, the distance between us shrank and his lips were on mine.
Gently at first, like always, measuring my response carefully so that he could get a feel for how far he could take us.
It wasn’t long before I was straddling his lap, getting lost in the passion of his kisses.
For the past couple days with him, we’d made out here and there, but it was nothing too crazy.
Kain was patient with me. Somewhere along the way, he’d appeared to decide it would be best if we moved according to my pace.
It was considerate. It was gentlemanly. And, ironically, it made me want him even more.
“Kain,” I whispered breathlessly against his lips as we separated. “I’m ready to do this.”
His head tilted slightly, his eyes narrowing as if to check for signs of indecision. This was uncharted territory, in a sense, for both of us. He’d never heard those words out of my mouth before. And I had never said them.
“You sure, baby?” The gravelly baritone of his voice in that moment did things to me.
Kain’s voice, although thick with desire, was still giving me an opportunity to back out if I wasn’t sure.
I’d never given it much thought until then, but because of the circumstance that lead to us coming together, it was clear that my consent was very important to him.
As if to drive me wild, he questioned against my lips, “What’re you ready for? ”
A sound that could be described as a cross between a sigh and a whimper came from me then. He wanted me to say the words. The thought of it made me feel a weird mixture of emotions. How could I be both embarrassed and aroused at the same time?
Is this foreplay?
He cracked a half smile, eying me with vague amusement. “What’re you ready for?”
“You… All of you,” I whispered, biting into my lip nervously. This seemed to draw his attention back to my mouth, and in a blink, he was back to them, kissing me with a renewed sense of purpose. But this time, kissing was no longer the main event.
It was the opening act.
And it showed.
With his lips still on mine, Kain’s palms fell to my waist, lowering to the hem of my pajama top before his hands crept under it. The new sensation of his hands on my bare skin sent a jolt through my body, electricity climbing down my spine and ultimately resting between my legs.