Authors: Niobia Bryant
Red Hot (26 page)
“You shoulda woke me up,” she said, reaching up to touch his arm and lightly squeeze his bicep. “I woulda put you to sleep.”
Quint shifted to the other side of the crib . . . and away from her touch. “I really want to concentrate on this,” he said.
Kaitlyn stiffened her back; she felt completely dismissed.
“Cool,” she managed to say; then she turned to leave the shed, even as the hurt of his distant treatment literally caused a pang in her chest.
Once back in her apartment, she removed the footed pajamas and balled them up to toss in her dirty clothes hamper before climbing into her bed, naked. She lay there for a long time with her hand stretched out to palm the spot where Quint usually lay.
In the moments just before her eyes finally closed, as she drifted off to sleep, she knew he was not returning to her bed that night.
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The next morning proved her right, and Kaitlyn thought about that as she sat at her desk, gazing out the window at downtown Charleston. She saw nothing of the views, though, because her thoughts were on Quinton. After they had words about her shopping spreeâsomething she still didn't understandâthey had eaten the food she brought from her mother and then lounged together as they watched TV. He even spent the night at her apartment, but they hadn't truly spoken to one another. That night they hadn't made love or even touched one another in their sleep.
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“Kaitlyn, did the manager of the Charlotte store e-mail you her choices for the fashion show?”
She looked up at her boss standing behind her. The tall and handsome blond man was twisting his diamond band around his finger. She knew that meant he was annoyed. Pulling up to her desk, she accessed her company e-mail.
“No, not yet,” she answered. “Do you want me to call and request it before close of business today?”
He winked at her and smiled; his veneers were as bright as egg whites and a little too large for his mouth. “Thank you,” he sang in a falsetto before turning and heading back into his office.
Kaitlyn quickly made the call, but her thoughts never strayed from Quint. She just didn't understand how he could be so annoyed by something her parents had done for her. She hated to think he was intimidated by her parents' wealth, because there was nothing she could do about that.
Usually, throughout the day, if he wasn't too busy, he would call her. Today she received no calls, and she refrained from calling him because of his cool treatment of her from the night before. Another first.
When Kaitlyn headed home for the night, she was intent on sitting Quint down to talk. She hated feeling disconnected from him, but she didn't appreciate feeling judged either.
Or put aside. Forgotten. Dismissed.
As she pulled her car into the complex, Kaitlyn spotted Quint talking to contractors outside Mrs. Hanson's old apartment. Her neighbor had understandably found it hard to live in the same complex as the woman who had been sleeping with her husband, so she had moved out last month. With his lover being marriedâand not looking for a new roommate, word on the street was Mr. Hanson was back home with his mother. Quint was busy getting the unit ready for a new tenant.
He looked down at her as she climbed from the car. Kaitlyn was surprised when he took a moment out of his life to lift his head in greeting. She arched her eyebrows at him and sucked her teeth before she went around the back of the complex to climb the stairs and enter her apartment through the rear.
“Humph. You give me your ass to kiss last night and didn't bother to call all day, and now I get a homeboy head nod. Negro,
please,
” she muttered, slamming her purse and keys on her kitchen table as she kicked off her heels and sent them flying across the floor in two different directions.
please,
” she muttered, slamming her purse and keys on her kitchen table as she kicked off her heels and sent them flying across the floor in two different directions.
Her front door opened and Kaitlyn looked down the hall as Quint walked in and closed the door behind himself. She eyed him as he came down the hall and bent down to press a kiss on her. She turned her head and his lips landed on her cheek.
“It's like that?” he asked, rising to his full height.
Kaitlyn leaned back to look up at him with her eyes wide. “It was like
that
last night,” she reminded him, then brushed past him to walk into her bedroom.
that
last night,” she reminded him, then brushed past him to walk into her bedroom.
Quint followed behind her. “I thought we could go and grab something to eat,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Actually, I was going to meet some friends for dinner in Charleston,” Kaitlyn said, paused in unzipping the high-waist leather skirt she wore. “Something wrong?”
“No, no,” he assured her, coming over to stand behind her and undo the zipper for her.
Knock, knock.
They both looked up.
“Aw, hell, zip me back up?”
Quint did and then followed her out of the room. He went to the kitchen and Kaitlyn headed for the front door. She opened it and her face filled with surprise to find her parents standing there.
“Hey, I didn't know y'all were coming,” she said, stepping back to let them enter as she hugged each one.
“We were just getting back from Charleston and we decided to stop by and see if you were home,” Lisha said, moving around the apartment to look around at the photos Kaitlyn had displayed.
Kaitlyn wrapped her arm around her father. “Actually, I do have plans for dinner,” she said.
Kael Strong looked around the apartment as well. “It's a little small,” he said.
“It's a change from my last apartment,” Kaitlyn agreed as she watched her parents share a look.
“If you wanted to move to a bigger place, we would be willing to help until you got on your feet,” Kael said.
Kaitlyn's face filled with surprise before she squealed.
Her father winced and placed a finger in his ear.
A noise echoed from the kitchen. Her mother jumped to her feet in alarm.
Kaitlyn smiled. “That's Quinton,” she said, turning to head to the other room. Confusion filled Kaitlyn's face to find it empty. The noise must have been the door closing as he left.
Without speaking to my parents,
she thought.
she thought.
“I thought you said Quint was in here,” Lisha asked, entering the kitchen to look around at that room as well.
“I thought he was too,” she lied.
“Now, listen,” Lisha said, eyeing her. “We are not going back to the old days of flitting around the world on our dime. You keep your job and work on your career, and we'll help and be there for you. Understand?”
Kaitlyn nodded. “I appreciate the safety net, but I'm still flying on my own.”
“We see the change, so we're willing to help you.”
“Thanks, Mama,” Kaitlyn said, reaching over to squeeze her mother's side.
It was cold. Bitter cold. Even in the South, January weather at night was brutal. However, Quint had bundled up in his sweat clothes, threw on a skully, and went for a long run. He took the back roads for the forty-minute run to Walterboro and didn't stop until he came up on his house. He breathed deeply as he felt the sweat dripping from his body under his clothes as he thought of his decision go forward about giving his tenants forty-five days' notice to move.
He made the call just that day. They were ending their annual lease and he decided not to renew it with them. He also gave his employer the same forty-five days' notice.
It was time to go home.
Quint nodded, feeling more assured of his decision before he turned and began the run back to Holtsville. Tonight he wanted to share his plans with Kaitlyn, but he had been busy all day getting the apartment ready to be shown. And then she had plans for the evening, so their talk was postponed.
Bzzzzzz . . .
Quint stopped running to reach into his pocket for his cell phone. The back roads were dark at night and he was glad for the glow from one of the homes' utility pole in their front yard as he answered the call from Lei.
“Daddy.”
Quint frowned. “What's wrong, Lei?”
“Man, Daddy, Mama left me at my friend's house who lives down the street from us. Then she just called me, talking about she not coming home and asking if I can spend the night here. I don't have clothes and I don't have a key to the house.”
Quint squeezed his phone so hard that he was sure it would snap in half in his hand. “I'm on my way. Let me talk to your friend's mother.”
His heart was pounding hard and it had nothing to do with his run. He'd had it with Vita. Absolutely had it. Even as he thanked the neighbor for watching out for his daughter, and let her know he was on his way to get her, he was walking fast and hating that he was far from his vehicle.
Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn might still be in Charleston.
He stopped running again and called her phone.
“Hello.”
The sound of music and loud voices was so loud in the background that he barely heard her.
“Are you still in Charleston?” he asked.
“Hold on.”
He fought for patience because his issues with Vita and Lei were not her fault.
“Yeah, I'm back.”
The noise was gone.
“Are you still in Charleston?” he asked.
“Yes. What's wrong?”
“I hate to bother you, but I went for a run and I don't have my car, and Vita left Lei at somebody's houseâ”
“Give me the address. I'll go get her,” Kaitlyn said without hesitation.
Kaitlyn had ridden with him to pick Lei up. “It's 12 Sycamore Lane, a few houses down from Vita's house,” he said, feeling some sense of relief. “I just can't believe she would pull this kind of stunt.”
“I'm leaving Anola's now. I should be there to get her in less than twenty minutesâif that.”
“Thank you.”
After they ended the call, Quint allowed himself a few moments of feeling weak, out of control, and out of sorts. Lei was his child and he heard the anxiety and hurt in her voice. And that had slashed him, just as deep as a sharp knife.
He dialed Lei back.
“Daddy, Kaitlyn just called meâ”
“Lei, why didn't you call me earlier?” he asked as he walked down the road.
The line remained quiet.
“Lei,” he said sternly.
“She usually comes home or at least lets me in the house first.”
Quint stopped once again as he pulled the phone from his face to look at it. “Your mother been leaving you in the house alone? All night?” he asked in a hard tone.
“Yes, sir.”
The reluctance in her voice angered him. A child should never feel required to cover for a parent.
Never.
Never.
“She got a new boyfriend,” Lei admitted into the silence.
Quint punched the air to release some of the emotions flooding him and causing his body to tense up.
“We'll talk when you get here. Love you, okay,” he assured her, needing to get off the phone before he talked crap about her mother to her.
As much as Vita proved time and time again that her selfishness was endless, he never talked down about her to their child. It would only hurt Lei to point out to her that she was not number one on her mother's list of priorities.
Quint finished his run and was glad to reach the complex. Kaitlyn called to assure him that she had picked up Lei, as promised, but Quint wouldn't feel right until he laid his eyes on his daughter.
What should he do now?
Make Lei move back in with him? Or not? He wanted the choice to be hers, but as a parent he couldn't sit back and let Vita's level of competency as a mother be dictated by whether she had a new stiff one in her life.
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