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Kai
“Was he right?” Taz asked her. Everything was spinning out of control so quickly, that all Kai wanted to do was get off of the ride. “Did you use him to make me jealous?”
“If I say yes, how mad will you be?” she asked. He sighed and she assumed that he’d be pretty pissed off. “You didn’t leave me much of a choice, Taz. You were pushing me away and I was at my wit's end about what to do. So, I called a friend from college, and she came up with the plan to make you jealous.”
“That explains it,” Taz said. “How about we leave college kids out of what we have going on for now on?” he asked.
“What do you mean by that explains it?” Kai asked.
“I meant that I’m far from being a college-age kid. I don’t like games, and I want to stop playing them with you. We’ve both made mistakes, and I’d like a do-over,” he said.
“I think that I like that idea too,” she agreed. A fresh start would be good for both of them. “I won’t ask my college friends for their help with our relationship.”
“And I’ll work on being a part of a relationship, even though that thought scares the hell out of me. Deal?” he asked.
She nodded, “Deal,” she agreed. “I’m sorry that I used Gabe to try to make you jealous, Taz,” she said.
“Well, it worked, so there’s that,” Taz teased. “At least he’s gone now.”
“Yeah, but I still have to face him in class next Tuesday. We have a Tuesday, Thursday class together.”
“Is that how you met him?” Taz asked.
“No,” she said. “I met him at a few college parties that I went to when I first enrolled in school. I was feeling out of place, being an older freshman, and I decided to try to fit in. So, I went to a few parties and Gabe hit on me, but I turned him down. I guess I knew that he would be willing to go on a date with me, so I asked him. Plus, he was the best-looking guy on campus, so he was sure to get your attention if he showed up here to ask me to have dinner with him. It was a win, win,” she said.
“Not for Gabe. Did he know about your rouse, or did he really think that he was on a date?” Taz asked.
She felt awful about all of it, really, but there was no taking any of it back now. “He thought that we were on a real date. I never told him about wanting to make you jealous because his ego wouldn’t have been able to handle it. He would have told me, no, and I was desperate. So, I lied and told him that I had been wanting to ask him out for a while.”
“Wow,” Taz breathed, “remind me never to get on your bad side, honey. You should apologize to the guy. What you did wasn’t cool.” She knew that now. Hell, she knew it before she even asked Gabe out, but she couldn’t think of a better solution, so she just went with her plan. It was a shitty plan and Taz was right—she owed Gabe an apology.
“I’ll do that first thing Tuesday when I see him again,” she said. “I’m sorry, Taz. I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt in all of this—especially not you.”
“I’m fine, Kai,” he said. “But from now on, no more lies or secret plots, deal?” he asked.
“Deal,” she agreed.
* * *
They finished their shifts and left for her place just after midnight. It was an early night tonight and she had to admit that she was grateful for it. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for days. She was thankful that her only Friday class had been canceled so that she could sleep in.
Taz followed her home in his pick-up, and she felt almost giddy with every passing mile. He wanted to spend the night at her place, and she liked the idea of waking up with him tomorrow morning. As soon as she pulled up to her building, the parking lot full of cop cars, she knew that whatever was wrong involved her.
She parked and jumped out of her car, noting that Taz was immediately by her side. “What’s going on?” she asked one of the neighbors she never bothered to get to know.
“Your place was broken into. The door was wide open, so Carl called the cops,” the woman said.
“Who’s Carl?” Kai asked.
“You’re neighbor in 305. You really don’t know anyone in the building, do you?” the older woman asked.
“I don’t have a lot of free time,” Kai covered. The truth was, she didn’t want to get to know them. She honestly only lived there because it was close to her school and work. As for making friends, she really didn’t have time for that.
“I have to talk to the police,” she said to Taz.
“I’m right behind you, honey,” he said. She found a cop blocking anyone from going into the building.
“Hi, I’m Kai Washington,” she said. “I just found out that my apartment was broken into. Can someone please tell me what’s going on? Who broke into my place?” The cop nodded and started talking on his walkie-talkie.
