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“Yeah, but they won’t do anything since he hasn’t touched her, even though she’s terrified. It’s like they don’t even care.”
“Sounds about right,” I grunted. “I think you should put her in touch with Marcus. She shouldn’t be having to deal with this shit.”
“I think you’re right. I’ll talk to her tonight. For now though, I have to get going if I want to make it to campus for my 11:30.”
“Aiight K-Pain,” I told her, standing to pull her into a hug before I kissed her forehead. She pulled back, just to scowl at me.
“K-Pain isnothappening, stop it.”
“Don’t be a hater all your life,” I called after her as she headed toward the front of the house to leave.
Surprisingly, she’d left the kitchen mostly clean. Shereallymust’ve been feeling convicted about that boyfriend of hers. But honestly, even with his felony record – busted hanging with the wrong crowd when he was just out of high school, a fate that could’veeasilybeen my own – Khalil seemed like a good kid. I’d used the resources atFive Star Securityto run a few test scenarios past him, when he and Kay first started dating. Fast, easy money, but the kid never did bite.
I was impressed.
It was too soon, to me, for her to feel like we needed to get introduced. I’d run off enough knuckleheads to recognize that the ones she brought to me after a month or two were the ones she knew weren’t shit, she just wanted me to give her confirmation.
Khalil had been around for nine.
With this one, I could tell, she really liked him, and he was good to her. She didn’t want me to run him off before she was ready for him to be gone… or she was waiting until her feelings were strong enough that she didn’t care what I thought about him. Either way, I was cool. Actually, I thought he was good for her. He was a little bit older than her – he was just twenty-five, but still – and more mature. Grounded. Humble. Made enough money as a painter to actually support himself, between commissioned work and his fairly popular business. Ilikedhim for her.
I couldn’t tellherthat though. Not yet. She’d run the other way.
With Kay headed off to school, I went upstairs to look in on Monica, expecting to find her still asleep. What I found instead was an empty bed, which caught me a little off guard. It hadn’t occurred to me that she would leave.
I stepped out of my room and went down to hers, knocking on the door first instead of just walking in. I had to knock twice to get her to answer, and when she did, her whole vibe was just…off.
I narrowed my eyes, confused about why the hell she was standing in the doorway, cracked just enough for her to stick her head out instead of opening it to let me in.
“Uhh… what’s going on with you?” I asked.
“What? Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “I just um… I came to take a shower, and put some clothes on. Get my day started. You know, the usual.”
“Oh.” I pushed my hands into the pockets of my sweats. “You know, uh… you could’ve used mine, right?”
“I didn’t want to be in your way, you know. Figured I’d get myself back to my own space, give you yours.”
I tipped my head to the side. “Did I give you the impression that there was a problem with you being in my space?”
“Um… no. No, you didn’t.”
“So then why…” I paused, meeting her eyes in search of some kind of explanation, only to have her stare right back, offering none. Which was an answer in itself. “Ohh,” I said, as understanding clicked into place. “This… isn’t aboutmeat all, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” she said, sounding relieved. “I… woke up feeling a little confused, and so—”
“Youneed some space. Got it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really? Just like that?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. I didn’t survive Kay’s teenage years not being able to take a hint about when a woman wants to be left alone. When you’re ready to talk, you just let me know.”
She tried to hide it, but a little smile crept to the corners of her mouth as she nodded. “I will. And um… I heard you talking to her. Just a little, because I wasn’t trying to be nosy, I just went looking for you, and I heard you two downstairs. Didn’t want to interrupt.”
“You could’ve. She made you a waffle.”
“Really?” she asked, genuinely surprised.
“Yeah. I put it on the warmer for you.”
