Off the Cuff

by K. I. Lynn

  “I’ve had a really tough day. Can we not tonight?” I asked.

  Her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t stand still. The itch had her, and I really didn’t want to let her in. I hated Kinsey seeing her like that, even if Kinsey had no clue who she was.

  “You’re high.”

  “Please, Roe. I just need a place to stay tonight. Please.” A squeak drew her attention, and she finally looked down to the bundle in my arms. Her lips pulled up into a smile. “Hey, pumpkin.” She leaned over and took Kinsey’s hand. “How’s my baby?”

  “If you really cared, you’d be around more.”

  She looked back to me again. “Roe…”

  I blew out a breath. “Are you hungry? There are some leftovers in the fridge.”

  “Thanks,” she said, stepping back and allowing me to unlock the door.

  We entered, and I threw my bags down on the coffee table and slipped my shoes off. There were some leftovers that might not be good anymore, so I pulled out my phone to order something for her. I was still full from sushi, but some junky and carb-filled appetizer to top it off wouldn’t be bad. Just as I turned to ask what she wanted, Ryn opened the door and three men filed in.

  My eyes widened as I tried to process what was going on. “Ryn?”

  Ryn was looking at the ground not saying a word.

  “Where’s the shit, Ryn?” When she didn’t answer, a man with greasy black hair yanked her hair back, making her scream out before he slapped her.

  I watched as one of the men, who was as big as a linebacker, pushed Ryn to the ground.

  “Bitch, where’s the money?”

  Ryn looked to me. “She knows where.”

  My eyes widened as the situation fully settled in. Movement caught the corner of my eye as the last man came through the threshold and headed straight for me. A heartbeat was all it took for instinct to take over and I turned around, rushing into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me. I pushed against the door to lock it and jumped after it clicked when someone slammed against the door.

  “Open this door, bitch!”

  Kinsey let out a cry, and I pulled her closer. I could hear Ryn screaming and some glass breaking, but whoever was on the other side continued to beat on the door.

  With shaking fingers, I pulled up my contacts and hit the call button for the first person that came to mind.

  “Couldn’t last fifteen minutes without me, huh?” he answered.

  “Thane,” I said, my voice shaking. “I need help.”

  “Roe, what’s wrong?”

  The door shook with a slam, making me jump. A scream left me, and I pulled Kinsey tighter to me. “There are men in my apartment.”

  “Where are you?” he asked. What had been silence was suddenly filled with the sounds of the city in the background.

  “The bathroom. Third floor, apartment four.”

  “Stay put. Find something to defend yourself just in case. I’ll be right there.”

  “Please hurry,” I whimpered as I watched the door shake.

  My heart hammered in my chest as I grabbed the bottle of cleaner from the cabinet under the sink. It wasn’t much, but it was something and the bleach would hopefully burn. The slams against the door grew harder and I climbed into the tub, sinking down, holding Kinsey close to my chest.

  My eyes closed, pinching shut at another slam that shook the door. Kinsey let out a wail, tears sliding down her cheeks.

  There were a few loud thumps, crashes, something breaking, and then I heard Thane yelling. My heart slammed in my chest. What is he doing? He could get hurt!

  Another few heartbeats passed before it became silent, then footsteps became louder as they grew closer. A soft knock on the door made me freeze before the sound of Thane’s voice filtered through.

  “Roe? It’s okay now. You can open the door.”

  With a shaking hand, I reached up and flipped the lock on the door, then turned the handle. I looked up as he passed through the doorway and stopped, his eyes wide.

  At least Kinsey wasn’t a secret anymore.

  A baby.

  There was a baby in Roe’s arms. She had the same hair color and same hazel eyes as Roe.

  Roe was a mother.

  I was struck stupid as I stared at them.

  Everything suddenly made sense. The leaving early, late arrivals, refusal to stay late, rejecting my date invites, and even more so why she had disappeared that afternoon.

  The child filled the stretching silence with a piercing scream. Roe pulled it tighter to her, bouncing slightly as she soothed. “Shh, it’s okay. He’s here to help us.”

  Tears slipped down Roe’s cheeks, her bottom lip trembling.

  I stepped forward and kneeled down beside the tub. The angle was awkward, but I was able to wrap my arms around them both and pull them close.

  Roe shook as she let loose a sob. She reached up and gripped my neck, pulling me closer.

  The child’s cries subsided, a curious look on her face as she stared at her mother.

  “The police will be here soon,” I whispered.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “Mama,” the baby cooed as she nuzzled into Roe’s chest.

  The police arrived a few minutes later and separated us as they took our statements. One of the intruders was still unconscious on the floor, and they cuffed him as they waited for an ambulance. He’d knocked his head pretty hard on the table when I punched him—hard—sending him to the ground.

  Good.

  He deserved more for the terror he put Roe through.

  The others were unfortunately long gone. I’d seen two other men and a woman.

  They didn’t walk out with much, but what they did take was a hard hit to Roe. All that Roe could discern that they stole was her Blu-ray player, tablet, jewelry box, and her purse.

  I’d stopped them before they got her TV, but it was broken in the process.

  She had no prescription drugs, no video game console—though I did notice a few game boxes for a PS4 on a shelf. Her personal laptop had been on her bed when she got up that morning, the covers haphazardly thrown on top of it, putting it out of sight.

  Her purse being gone was the worst, and she had to find the numbers to cancel her cards. Then came the realization of what was in the jewelry box. At first she brushed it off as costume jewelry, not worth anything really, just pieces she would miss. Then it hit her.

  “My dad’s watch.” Her face crumpled and tears filled her eyes. By her reaction, it was the one thing that really mattered. Everything else could be replaced.

  But I knew that couldn’t.

  “It’s a Cartier Tank watch from the late nineties with gold trim and a leather band.”

  “Any distinguishing marks or engravings?” one officer asked.

  She nodded. “On the back are the initials M.C.P.”

  After a few hours, the police left and I closed and locked the door after them. I’d tried to get Roe to come to my place or get a hotel, but she refused. The baby was fast asleep against Roe’s chest as I sat down next to them on the couch.

  I flexed my fingers, lifting the ice from my knuckles. They were a bit swollen and a few were split, but other than some pain, they were fine. All superficial.

  Roe smiled, and I could tell it was a struggle. She looked down at the baby in her arms and brushed a few stray locks from the tiny girl’s face.

  “Thane, meet Kinsey.”

  I stared at her in stunned silence. Putting a name to her baby made her all the more real and made me question many things, the most prominent being why she never told me about her.

  “Where is her father?” I asked. A burning curiosity filled me.

  Roe shrugged. “Who knows?”

  “You’re not still with him?”

  She blinked at me, then looked around like she suddenly remembered something. “My work laptop.”

  I pointed to the floor a few feet from the door. “I managed to pry it from one of the
guys as he ran out. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them from taking more.”

  She shook her head. “It’s fine. As long as we’re okay. That’s my work laptop and has so much sensitive information on it.”

  “And it would still be fine if they’d taken it. Better it than you.”

  She settled back down, her hand absently stroking Kinsey’s back.

  “How old is she?”

  “Eleven months.”

  “Roe, the door wasn’t broken in, so how did they get in?”

  “Ryn. They were with Ryn.” Her voice was distant, her eyes too. It made my chest clench, seeing her beaten down emotionally.

  “Who is Ryn?”

  She pointed to a framed photo sitting below her now smashed television. I walked over and picked it up before returning to her side. In the wooden frame was a woman who was maybe in her forties with a teenage girl on either side. One was obviously Roe, and the other had to be Ryn. They had similar facial features as well as hair and eye color, making it obvious they were related.

  She must have been the woman I saw.

  “Your sister?” I asked. She nodded. There was a time for tiptoeing and letting her push me aside, but no more. “I know it’s been a hard night, so I can’t tell if it’s due to that or if you have a hard time opening up, or just opening up to me.”

  Abruptly, she stood. “I’m going to go put her in bed. There is a bottle of tequila in that cabinet and some limes in the basket on the table. Hopefully you know how to make a margarita.”

  I watched her walk down the hall, hating that she had to hold Kinsey protectively to her out of fear from what happened. I stepped over to the large wooden cabinet she pointed to. The tequila was close to empty, but I located a smaller bottle in the back of the cabinet.

  I knew vaguely how to make a margarita, but still engaged in the power of the internet for help.

  The shards that fell from her television were scattered across the tabletop. It took a moment to locate a trashcan to sweep them into, and then I found a broom and swept the floor around the table.

  Once the debris was cleaned, I started in on her drink.

  When she stepped out of the bedroom, her work clothes were gone and replaced by an oversized T-shirt and shorts that I could barely see.

  I held out a glass to her, and she took a few long gulps. “Thank you.”

  “You called me.”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  I locked my eyes with hers. “Don’t be.”

  She looked down at the tabletop, her fingers swirling along a grove in the wood. “I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “You don’t have any friends?”

  She shrugged. “I lost a lot after Kinsey. I have Lizzie and James, but they are in Midtown. I knew you weren’t far.”

  “I’m glad you could count on me.” I needed to assure her that she was right to call me. It would kill me to find out what happened on Monday knowing I was so close and she didn’t call. I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if I’d been a few minutes later. The bathroom door was solid wood, but they’d managed to crack it. Much more, and then what? I shuddered to think, and the anger rose in me.

  She set her hand on mine and squeezed. “Me too.”

  That calmed me and brought me back to what was important. “You have a beautiful daughter. She looks just like you.”

  She made an odd chuff that reminded me of the tigers at the zoo, but the sound was more of a bad emotion than the good emotion my memory evoked.

  “You’re a good mom.”

  She reached up and swiped a tear from her cheek.

  “Hey, none of that,” I said as I took her hand in mine and tipped her head up so that she’d look at me. “You did good today. They’re gone, and you’re both safe.”

  “It was a situation that I shouldn’t have even been in!” She pulled back, and I watched the anger move through her. She stood and began pacing, which, given the size of the room, meant she walked about two steps before she turned around. “For fuck’s sake, she can’t stay clean for a day, and I’m done! Just fucking done! She brought that into my home, to where her fucking daughter sleeps, to fucking rob me! After all I’ve fucking done for her!”

  I narrowed my gaze at her as I tried to unscramble what she was saying, not knowing what fueled her sudden burst of anger. “Your sister?”

  “Yes.” She was shaking her head back and forth. “I’m done with her. I can’t do it anymore and after tonight, she’s never getting Kinsey. Ever. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Once again, everything clicked. Kinsey wasn’t her daughter. Kinsey was her niece. That was why she’d never mentioned a child. That was why the baby resembled her.

  “Your sister is a drug addict, and you’re raising her baby.”

  That realization hit me hard. My own mother had abandoned me for drugs, and the beautiful woman before me was doing everything to shield Kinsey from the same experience.

  “Not many people at the office know that I’m her guardian.”

  “How long have you had her?”

  “She wasn’t very old when I took her, a couple of weeks. With no father, a crackhead mother, and a traveling nurse grandmother, I was the best candidate. There was no way in hell I was going to let her fall into the system. She didn’t deserve that just because her mother is a piece of shit.” She tipped back her glass, polishing off the liquid before slamming the glass down in front of me. “Barkeep, another.”

  “As you wish,” I said as I moved back over to the tiny kitchen that ran along one wall. There was “open concept,” and then there was her apartment. The kitchen, dining room, and living room were all scrunched into a room that was maybe twelve feet by fifteen feet, which was smaller than my bedroom.

  “It didn’t take much for the court to grant me guardianship, especially with all that Social Services had on the situation.” She went silent, her gaze far off before she drew in a stunted breath. “I defended Ryn for so long. Helped her get into rehab clinics, gave her a place to stay. Food, money—whatever to help her. Put strain on my life and my relationships. Now I see that she doesn’t want it. She’d rather put her family—her own daughter—in jeopardy for a hit. She probably would have sold Kinsey for a couple bags of heroin by now. She couldn’t even quit while she was pregnant, so Kinsey had neonatal abstinence syndrome and had to be in the hospital those first few weeks.”

  My chest constricted. The baby had done nothing and was born into immeasurable pain because of her mother’s vices. I poured the remainder of the mixture I’d created into her glass, though it didn’t even fill it halfway, then handed it over.

  “She couldn’t even give her a damn name.”

  Seriously? “Who named her?”

  “I did,” she said with a sad sigh. “She was born on our dad’s birthday. His name was Mac, short for Malcolm, so I named her Mackinsey. Somewhere along the line, it just got shortened to Kinsey.”

  “That’s a sweet tribute.”

  She gave me a sad smile and swiped another tear away, confirming my suspicion that her father was dead. “Mom thought so, too.” She took a deep breath. “I hoped Ryn would get clean one day and could really be a mother to Kinsey, but I’ve lost hope of that ever happening.”

  “Why don’t many know about her?” I asked. It was that omission I’d felt when we talked, the reluctance to open up.

  “Because I lost people I trusted, people I loved, when I took in Kinsey. Good riddance, but it’s caused me some unintentional issues.”

  “Boyfriend?” I knew she didn’t have one, but I wondered if she lost one.

  She opened her hand and made the explosion sound. “Four years down the drain. When I told him I was taking her in, he was out. No discussion, just gone.”

  “That had to be hard.”

  She stared down at her glass. “At one time, I thought we would get married someday, but at the first challenge to the norm, he was gone. He gave me an ultimatum, but I didn’t bu
dge.” She polished off her glass and pushed it toward me. “Barkeep, my glass is empty.”

  “I’ll make another if it will keep you talking.”

  “Dam is open now.”

  “He wasn’t the one, you know.”

  She raised a brow at me. “The one? A little romantic sounding for you.”

  “You think I don’t know what romance is?”

  “No, not really.”

  Ouch. Have I really given her that bad of an impression of me? No wonder she didn’t want to go out with me.

  “I may have never been in a long-term relationship like yours, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it.”

  “You don’t like kids, so I figured you weren’t a love kind of guy,” she said with a shrug.

  I froze. “When did I say I don’t like kids?” And how in the hell did she get that idea?

  “You were bitching about Crystal being gone so long so she could take care of her baby. You were pissed she chose the baby over work.”

  Fuck. Once again, my own issues were messing things up. That wasn’t it at all.

  “Is that why you wouldn’t go out with me? Because of Kinsey?”

  She nodded. “I’m surprised you’re still here.”

  My heart sank. She had no faith that I would be able to handle her having a baby.

  We’d gotten closer, learned more about each other, but she didn’t know my past, just my assholish behavior in the beginning, which drew a very unlikeable portrait of me. One, it seemed, I was never able to fully erase in her mind.

  “You’re not the only one who’s had to deal with a drug-addict relative,” I admitted, hoping that opening up to her might help her see me as someone other than the man she’d known those first few days.

  The bristles from her emotional explosion settled and softened. “You, too?”

  I nodded. “But I’m not you in this situation. I’m Kinsey.” Her eyes widened as she stared at me. “I’m going to ask you a question, but it’s a little different than before—will you and Kinsey go out with me tomorrow?”

  She blinked at me, her brow furrowed. It had been a long, hard night and I knew her emotions were everywhere, but I needed her to know that having a baby didn’t scare me away.