Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
On day three of my week with Kain, we’d set up targets in the backyard and made our own at-home shooting range.
Working with BB ammo, I was able to work on my aim as he coached me.
My aim had greatly improved by the time evening rolled by.
It was a night spent in with movies, some canoodling here and there, and more learning new things about Kain.
On that day, I found out Kain has a favorite Supreme Court Justice.
Who has a favorite Supreme Court Justice? I remembered thinking to myself.
My question only served to make me sad, because I was quickly able to answer it.
The first person who came to mind was my own father.
It was a sobering realization. My boyfriend is a total legal studies nerd, and had he been from literally any other family, my father would have adored him for that alone. Life was seriously unfair.
On day four of my week with Kain, he’d finally learned something new about me. After months of conversations totally centered around me, it was kind of an accomplishment for him to discover something new.
“You pour the milk before you pour the cereal,” he observed from the other side of the kitchen island. I was helping myself to a snack between lunch and dinner, and Kain seemed to have a problem with my methods.
“Yes. And?”
“You don’t think that’s all wrong?” I only shrugged at his frustrated question. “So, what? Is this the part where I find out you put your shoes on first when you get dressed?”
“You’ve seen me get dressed, Kainie,” I reminded. This was true. Neither of us had been bothering with modesty anymore; not since Monday night.
It wasn’t before long that we’d gotten into a back and forth about the level of convenience behind milk-first versus cereal-first. In the end we’d reached a stalemate, each of us deciding to agree to disagree.
That was the most explosive argument we’d gotten into that week.
So far.
Days five and six went well without incident.
A blissful two days spent bonding and enjoying each other’s company.
I imagined what the consequence of extending my stay for another week might be.
A whole week of Kain was beginning to spoil me and the thought of letting it end was weighing heavily on my mind by the end of day six.
“Kainie, what happens when you get your phone back from Amir on Sunday?” I asked as I applied a light layer of mascara to my lashes. From the mirror’s reflection I had a clear view of him behind me.
It was Saturday—day seven. I was in the middle of getting ready for dinner at Sanaa’s house when the question eventually fell out of me.
“Back to the old routine,” was his response. “Vacation’s over.”
“And I go home.”
Kain tilted his head to the side in thought before replying, “Only if you want to.”
“You mean… I could stay here?”
“Of course you can.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?” Kain asked.
“I just… I like waking up to you in the morning,” I confessed. “Will I be by myself? Are you going back home?”
Kain asked, “You mean my father’s house?”
Evidently, he didn’t seem to consider the house where he’d grown up home. Not surprising. I simply nodded at his question.
“Not if I can help it.” He shrugged, adding with a subtle smile, “I’m already home.”
His smile was contagious, spreading across my face. I brought a dramatic hand to my chest humorously as I exclaimed, “My, my, my… Did we just move in together?”
Nodding, he added, “You should call your folks, though.”
I frowned. “They’ll tell me to come home. I mean… their house. I’m already home, too.”
“So let ‘em know,” Kain reasoned. “But, come on. You’ve been missin’ for a week. And they haven’t heard a word from you. And I know this don’t mean much to you anymore, but I’m still a Montgomery. They’re stressed the fuck out, and you know it.”
If only they could hear him nagging me this way.
“You haven’t called your father in a week,” I challenged.
Kain looked like he might roll his eyes. “Silas doesn’t call because he’s worried about my safety. He calls to ask me to do things for him.”
“Illegal things?”
Kain chuckled at this. “You stay takin’ it there. Yes, at times, it’s like that. But more often… it’s just errands. You know — ‘Pick this up on your way home.’, ‘Could you drive me to the airport?’ ‘Go to the bank.’, ‘Can you get me my prescription at the pharmacy?’”
I just blinked. “That’s…”
“…Normal.” Kain finished my sentence. “I get it. That’s weird for you. You’re so used to seeing the old man from your father’s criminal perspective, that it almost doesn’t feel real to hear he does regular shit, like pick up blood pressure medication from Walgreens.”
“He has high blood pressure?”
Kain nodded. “He’s sixty-nine years old. But don’t sidetrack me, Lauren. Call your parents.”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Lauren.”
“Alright, I’ll do it!” I turned away from the mirror and looked at him as he sat at the edge of our bed. “But not tonight. Definitely tomorrow. Tonight I just want to make it through this dinner with your sisters in one piece, and then tomorrow morning, I’ll call them.”
“That’s fair,” Kain sighed, standing to his feet. “You ready to go?”
***
My pink turtleneck sweater dress was right in the middle between formal and casual.
It was hard to tell if I was supposed to dress up, so this felt like a safe choice.
Kain’s outfit certainly didn’t clear things up.
He was also right in the middle of formal and casual, wearing a gray button up shirt rolled up to his elbows and dark jeans.
We were in my car.
I had my doubts about how well I’d be received because Kain was coming, too.
Sanaa hadn’t invited her brother, so did it make me look bad that I brought him?
If we’d come in his car, I imagined it would’ve looked like I put no initiative towards showing up tonight at all.
So we had to come in mine. Kain said I was thinking too hard.
But women think differently than men.
Sanaa’s home was in the affluent Coral Gables area, not too far from my university’s main campus.
Kain had informed me that his older sister was an in-demand event planner with an illustrious list of clients.
Of course having Silas Montgomery as a father set her up for success in some ways, but apparently Sanaa was wildly independent, making a name for herself beyond the association.
One look at her beautiful Spanish-style home, and I was impressed. The house was not quite modest, yet somehow still not over-the-top, I thought as I killed the car engine.
“Baby, relax,” Kain sighed from the passenger’s side. “You’re tense as f—”
I interrupted. “What if they don’t like me?”
“Sanaa likes you.” He shrugged. “Since day one, actually.”
“I don’t think Cierra does,” I asserted. “And what if Monique doesn’t like me either?”
He chuckled at this. “That’s unlikely.”
Before I could ask him to explain, Kain was already letting himself out, encouraging me to follow him to the door.
There were three other cars in Sanaa’s driveway, telling me that I was the last to arrive.
My eyes skimmed over the high end vehicles parked out front, trying to guess which sister drove which car.
I’d parked behind a bright red Porsche, and a nagging feeling told me that it belonged to Cierra.
“Wait, you’re not going to knock?” I asked as Kain reached for the door knob.
To my dismay, the entrance was left unlocked. “Sanaa always forgets to lock her door.”
Kain nodded me inside before stepping in behind me. Sanaa’s house smelled like lavender and cedar wood, a surprisingly homey feel despite the grand floorplan. From the foyer, sounds of conversation could be heard from what I assumed was the kitchen.
We slipped past a beautifully furnished living room, following the noise. A heaviness set at the pit of my stomach. It was alright for Kain to just walk right in to his sister’s home, but I doubted it was as acceptable for me to do it.
Cierra was in the middle of saying something when Kain and I appeared into the light of Sanaa’s kitchen.
“And that’s when I told Amir that…” Cierra stopped talking abruptly at the sight of us, her head rising from her hands as she looked from my face to Kain’s. In front of her, Sanaa and another woman turned to get a look at what caught her attention.
Sanaa’s eyes lit up. A little part of me sighed in relief. As she registered that I’d brought Kain along with me, the smile on her face only grew.
“Your door was unlocked again.” Kain sounded a mix of amused and irritated as he announced this. “Hey, Mo. Hey, Ci.”
“Kain!” All three of them exclaimed at once, delighted that he was here. I seemed to be acknowledged as an afterthought, and honestly, I didn’t mind that their attention was elsewhere.
Sanaa was the first to turn her eyes to me. “Lauren, you look so pretty.”
I tugged nervously at my twist-out, offering Kain’s upbeat sister a thankful smile. I was so happy I wasn’t underdressed this time.
“Monique, didn’t I tell you she was adorable?” Sanaa tossed a look back at the older woman standing beside Cierra.
Monique Montgomery was a medium height beauty with deep brown skin reminiscent of Kain’s. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, carrying an air of sophistication only advanced age could cultivate. Her dark eyes looked over me curiously as she took a few steps toward me.
“Monique,” she formally introduced herself.
I stuck out a hand for her to shake. “Lauren.”
Her eyes fell to my hand and I watched her eyebrows scrunch together in confusion very much like the way Kain’s would from time to time. Noting that she wasn’t going to take my hand, I very awkwardly started to retreat when her arms unexpectedly came around me.
“We hug in this family,” she informed as her hold around me tightened. Her embrace was warm.
Friendly. Sweet. Loving.