After Nothing (14 page)

‘Can you take me home, Kane?’

‘You’re staying at Mel’s.’

‘No.’

‘You told her you would.’

‘She won’t mind if you take me home.’

‘I gotta go back to work.’

‘Oh. Okay.’

He kissed me. Gently.

I pressed myself against him. ‘Remember, Kane. I belong to you.’

‘I wouldn’t forget that.’

Back inside Melissa’s house I bypassed all the New Year’s well-wishers. Too many people wanted to laugh, and hug and kiss. There were drunken toasts someone tried to make me part of, but I was saved by a Justin Bieber remix blasting through the house. Suddenly the whole of the Pattersons’ downstairs living room area was a heaving dance floor.

After mistakenly opening the two doors before Melissa’s, I was finally in her bedroom. Shutting the door, I turned off the light and lay face down on her bed.

I stirred when the door opened, bright light shining in.

‘Nat,’ said Melissa loudly. ‘You’re not allowed to go to bed. Come back downstairs.’

‘Can’t.’

‘Nat,’ she said again, and this time my name was a complaint.

‘Sleeping,’ I murmured into her comforter.

I heard her sigh.

The last thing I felt before I fell asleep was Melissa pulling my heels from my feet, and then laying a soft blanket over me.

We were supposed to be going to a party being held at a club by Chuck, Kane’s tattoo artist friend and Callem’s cousin. But when I got to Kane’s place that evening, he was in no mood to go out.

He was sorting through clothes, throwing most of them toward a growing pile in the corner of his room. I watched him pick up a stack of t-shirts from his broken couch and dump them on the top of the pile. I knew they’d already been washed, because I’d been the one to fold them two days earlier.

‘Those are clean,’ I ventured.

‘Yeah, most of this is clean. But it fucking stinks ’cause Wayne changed to some cheap-ass laundry powder and now all my clothes smell like shit.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I just told you.’

‘Kane, I can tell something’s wrong.’

Kane swore, and then without warning he kicked the wall. And then kicked it twice more. And then he punched his fist through it.

He swore again, and sat down on his bed, burying his head in his hands.

My eyes shifted backwards and forwards between the damaged wall and my boyfriend.

‘Everything’s fucked up,’ said Kane.

I sat down beside him.

Is your hand okay?’ I asked, checking for blood, and feeling relieved when there wasn’t any.

‘Whole house is a piece of shit,’ said Kane, staring at the wall.

I could see his point. That flimsy wall wasn’t any kind of match for Kane’s toughened skin and hard bone and muscle.

‘You want to tell me what happened?’

‘Wayne had his girlfriend’s kids here last night. He already got them thinking they’re gonna be fighters. Shit, one of them isn’t even at school.’

‘You started young.’

‘Yeah, but Wayne … We had a fight. I said I don’t ever see him no more, and he said he’s where he’s always been, down at the gym. We both know that ain’t true though; he’s at his woman’s. I said if he wanted to move in with her then he should.’

‘Is he going to?’

‘No. I don’t know. Didn’t say he was. He said just ’cause he ain’t supporting what I’m doing that don’t mean I ain’t his boy anymore. That it’s always been him and me, but I’ve fucked him over so badly he can’t look at me right now.’

‘Everything’s so fucked, Nat. My rep is shot. All I’m good at is fighting and taking cars. I mean I’ve taken hits in the ring, and lost on points to older guys, but I’ve never once been knocked out. I hadn’t lost a fight in three years. And I miss not being able to take cars. I don’t even have that option now, ’cause round here I’m done. I was good at it. I never once had a car I couldn’t take, and I ain’t never been caught. I miss that feeling of not being a fuck-up.’

‘Stealing cars isn’t really men’s work though, is it?’

Kane froze beside me.

‘Kane, you have to admit, it’s doing someone else’s dirty work. Fine when you’re young, but if it’s a lower risk then you’re better off in the shop. And if your rep is only about fighting and stealing cars, just get known for something else.’

‘That easy?’ said Kane, eyeing me.

I shrugged. ‘Probably not.’

‘You think boosting cars isn’t men’s work?’

‘Is it?’

‘Depends on the car.’

‘I think you’re more than a car thief or a fighter.’

‘What else am I?’

‘An amazing artist, who doesn’t draw enough. And, like, a car expert. And you’re hot. And you’re my boyfriend.’

‘Last one’s a full-time job.’

I would have feigned being insulted, but Kane’s arms were suddenly around me, and he forced me backward on the bed. He then moved over on top of me, holding himself up as he looked into my eyes.

‘Thanks.’

‘What for?’

‘Not ditching me ’cause my rep’s shot.’

‘Maybe if it had happened before I fell in love with you …’

A smile entered his eyes. ‘You’re happy, Nat.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘I can see it.’

‘I’m happy when I’m with you.’

‘It ain’t me. It’s
you
making you happy.’

‘Are we still going to go to Chuck’s party?’

Kane nodded, but he was frowning and looking toward the wrecked wall.

‘Feel that?’ he said, moving off me.

I followed him, and then we both stood staring at the holes in the wall, as a cool draft of air caused goosebumps to rise on my arms.

‘It’s going to be worse in the middle of the night. You’ll freeze down here until it’s fixed.’

‘Fuck it,’ said Kane. ‘Let’s just go to this party.’

The club where Chuck’s party was being held was in an industrial area surrounded by railway lines. The building itself was more warehouse than club. It was huge and made entirely of ribbed metal. There were two bouncers standing in front of a small nondescript doorway: the only indication that it was the entrance to a club.

The bouncers were dressed in suits, and were each holding a clipboard with paperwork attached. They were big men. Tall, with muscles that would have pumped a lot of iron. The biggest one gave Kane a nod and said, ‘What up, K-man,’ and the other called him brother. He and Kane shook hands and hugged.

‘What up, Dom?’ said Kane.

‘Where you been, nigga?’

‘You know. Around.’

‘Not enough, brother. Not enough.’

Another group of people came up behind us. Kane shook hands with Dom again before guiding me inside.

‘How do you know them?’ I asked, as we walked up a long, barely lit hall.

‘Life before you, baby. Can’t hardly remember it though.’

There wasn’t a chance to tease him back, because already the music was reverberating through the floor; as we rounded a corner its volume skyrocketed. Before us lights traveled across a moving sea of people; dancing, drinking, talking, laughing.

The DJ was set up on the far side of the club, and to the right of us was the bar, eight bar staff moving at speed to keep up with demand. To the left of us were stairs leading up to a packed balcony that overlooked the dance floor.

‘Isn’t this a private party?’ I said, leaning toward Kane and raising my voice so he’d hear me.’

‘Yeah. But this is Chuck. He’s got more friends than anyone. His clients be here too. Come on. We here; I need a drink.’

Seemed like Kane knew everyone at that club. It took me all of two seconds to realize the girls Kane was introducing me to weren’t that happy to meet me. I can’t say I was too impressed by them either. I mean, I’d been known to not wear a lot of clothes, but I’d never come close to the amount of skin on show here: hot-pants that rode up butt cheeks, shoestring backless tops with plunging necklines that showed twice the amount of breast they concealed.

One girl in particular added six-inch stilettos to the look. She had black and silver braids that almost reached her butt. She flicked those braids and laughed just about every time Kane spoke. At one stage she pulled her braids over one shoulder, revealing a tattoo of a phoenix that covered most of her back. From what I could tell it was a beautiful tattoo – the only thing about her that had any class. For example, her next move was to step away from the group, pretend to look at something across the club, and then rejoin the group by standing behind Kane and me. She touched Kane’s arm, and he turned toward her. She leant in and asked him if he’d spoken to Chuck yet. When he said no, she moved further forward, her body pressing into my arm. I moved away from her, and suddenly she was standing between Kane and me.

I’d never seen someone so blatantly go after another girl’s man. It was almost funny, but I could also imagine how horrible it would be if I thought for a second Kane might be interested in her. I couldn’t help but compare the two of us though. The hot-pants and the strip of material clinging to her breasts were so tiny that she might as well have been wearing a bikini. I was wearing tight jeans, stiletto ankle boots, and a small fitted jacket over what was admittedly a reasonably skimpy gold tank top. She had a good body, but it was more muscles than curves. I reassured myself that if I had my bra-free breasts on display like she did, mine would have looked rounder and fuller, and they would have sat higher too.

After a while I got pretty sick of watching her flirt one-sidedly with Kane, so I wandered away to see if I could spot Melissa. She and some of her group had managed to get an invite to the party through Callem, though none of them knew Chuck.

I don’t know if it was the drink or watching the movement on the dance floor, but suddenly I was dying to dance.

Unless I went off on my own it wasn’t going to happen, until Melissa arrived. Kane did not dance. Ever.

I went back to him, and thankfully Braids was nowhere in sight.

‘I need to talk to you,’ I said. He frowned, but followed me a short distance away.

‘Who was that bitch who kept touching you?’

‘What bitch?’

‘Kane, you know who I mean. Braids. Phoenix tattoo. You’ve slept with her, haven’t you?’

‘Nat, we ain’t doing this tonight,’ said Kane vehemently.

‘Anyone else here?’

‘Did you just hear what I said?’

‘I’m not going to freak out. I’m just telling you, I’ve got nicer breasts.’

Kane grinned.

‘You need to tell me that’s true, Kane.’

‘Baby, your breasts are fucking unbelievable.’

‘Am I better in bed?’

‘Yeah, course.’

I narrowed my eyes at him.

‘Nat, I don't remember her. I remember every time with you. Come here. He kissed me. In the middle of that club, in the middle of all those people. It was the longest, deepest kiss; it nearly had me fall over when it ended, except Kane was still holding me in his arms.

‘You don’t like doing that in front of other people,’ I said.

He kissed me again.

‘You remember who you belong to tonight,’ he said.

‘Same goes for you.’

A pair of arms stopped me from following Kane toward the bar. Melissa hugged me like she hadn’t seen me for a year.

‘Natalie Kempe, I need to dance.’

Despite the club’s massive size, it was jammed with people, and the dance floor was packed. Luckily, Melissa was good at making space; she’d just repeat certain moves in an outward growing circle, which meant other dancers didn’t have any choice but to give her room to move. Somewhere along the way we got separated from her friends, and that was when the two of us got really crazy.

We started adopting each other’s dance moves. Melissa would call it, and together we’d either dance ‘Mel styles’ or ‘Nat styles’. Hysterically, we kept coming up with more and more outlandish moves for the other to copy.

Eventually we became desperately thirsty. After we’d downed about three glasses of water each up at the bar, I bought beers for her, Kane and me with the very last of my Grandma’s money.

It took us ten minutes to find Kane. He was standing with a group of guys near the entrance to the club. All of them, including Kane, were laughing their heads off about something. You know the sort of laughter where people are laughing so hard they kind of push each other, and there’s always that one person protesting about it, but they’re laughing too. It was so good to see Kane laugh like that. He looked young, and he looked at ease.

I delivered him his beer, which led to comments about beer and booty, and an invitation for Melissa to sit on the lap of a guy who’d got a bar stool from somewhere and was the only one seated.

Melissa surprised even me by climbing up on his lap. He was quite a big guy, and her perching on him like that led to a whole lot more laughter and comments, and still more when she wouldn’t share her beer with him.

‘Girl, you ain’t parking for free,’ he said.

‘Boy, you ain’t no parking enforcement officer, and I don’t see no ticket machine,’ replied Melissa.

As they kept joking about reserved parking and nice bumpers, Kane introduced me to Chuck.

He didn’t look a bit like Callem. In fact, apart from his Afro, Chuck looked more white than black. His skin was light, and his eyes, behind his clear-rimmed glasses, were green. He was wearing a fitted silver-grey suit with a black tie. He had tattoos on his hands, and colored ink covered his neck.

He wanted to tell me about the first time he inked Kane, but Kane wouldn’t let him.

‘He hyperventilated,’ said Chuck.

‘I was thirteen,’ defended Kane.

‘Which made you how old?’ I asked Chuck.

‘Fifteen, and yeah, I took a beating from my old man. Not for using his shit, but for doing such a bad tatt.’

‘It is a bad tatt,’ agreed Kane.

‘Which one?’ I asked.

‘The hammer,’ they replied at the same time, and then cracked up laughing.

Kane and I were still talking to Chuck ten minutes later when our school basketball team walked in. Callem’s height and looks ensured he stood out from the rest of his teammates. Chuck walked over to greet his cousin, and I glanced at Melissa. She had managed to claim the stool for her own. The guy who’d been sitting on it stood close beside her, his arm around her shoulder. Melissa was staring at Callem, and then her eyes shifted to me. You just know when you and your best friend are thinking the same thing. And what we were thinking was Damn! Callem was looking good.