Kitten

by Jack Harbon

  “Does anyone have questions?” Roman asked. He surveyed the room, pausing to allow anyone to raise their hand. When no one did, he said, “Great. Let’s get to work.” He glanced at Kit, jerking his head towards his office.

  Wordlessly, he hopped up from his seat and grabbed Roman’s coffee, hurrying to the room in the back. Kit closed the door once he stepped inside. “What’s up, boss?” he asked, handing the coffee over. Roman placed it beside his Rolodex and leaned back in his chair.

  “Thank you for this,” he said.

  Kit’s eyes widened. “And I didn’t even have to make you say it. Character development, Romy.”

  “If you could never call me that again, that would be great.”

  “But I think it’s kinda fitting,” Kit said, rounding the desk to sit on the edge of it. “I mean, unless you’re comfortable with me calling you Daddy at work.”

  Roman nearly spit out his coffee. “Kit, what did I tell you about keeping things separate at work?”

  “I know, I know,” he sighed dramatically. “’I don’t talk about relationships or act like a human when I’m at work,’ I get it. I’m just fucking with you, don’t be so tight. That’s my job. What did you want to talk about?”

  “Well, I wanted to tell you that we both need to stop messing around and get down to business. Ari’s breathing down my neck about figuring out this money situation. It’s not a huge loss that we’re taking, but he’s anal.”

  “Same,” Kit smirked. Before Roman could shoot him a dirty look, he added, “I’m kidding. What do we need to do to figure this all out? I can’t promise that I’ll be able to Nancy Drew this situation, but like I said, I want to help.”

  “Well, right now, Ari has the tech department trying to find some kind of paper trail back to the person doing this. I won’t pretend like I understand anything they tell me, but I trust they’ll figure something out. In the meantime, I’m considering doing personal interviews with everyone here.”

  “Like, here, as in this department? I doubt anyone here would need to steal, that’s chump change compared to what most of you all make, isn’t it? Like, you’re probably making six figures every year, right?” Kit couldn’t see anyone trying to steal a few hundred dollars here or there when they were being paid so much.

  “You can never underestimate someone, Kit. Oftentimes the greediest are the ones with the most money. Look at the man some people call our president.”

  Kit clicked his tongue in agreement. “If that’s the case, you should probably start investigating Ari as well.”

  Roman took another long drink of coffee. “Excuse me?”

  “Like you said, if everyone is a suspect, then that should make Ari a suspect as well.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Um, deadass. I don’t know much about how this business runs, but I do watch a lot of Shondaland shows, so I kinda know how to be shady. Ari had to fire his whole team before you and everyone else showed up. I’m sure he took a huge pay cut trying to replace everyone. How far of a stretch would it be for him to feel entitled enough to take money here and there? I mean, he busted his ass to keep this thing running, anyone would feel like they were owed at least that. Plus, he’s the one that pointed it out to you. Classic case of pointing the finger and shifting the suspicion on someone else.”

  “Careful with what you say, Kit,” Roman said, tapping his chin with his index finger, “Someone might think you yourself are the one stealing.”

  “You think if I knew how to hack and launder money, I’d be working here still? I had an apple and a banana for breakfast this morning, Roman, don’t try me.”

  Roman chuckled and reached for his cup. Before he could grab it, Kit snatched it up and drank a good amount. He placed it back in Roman’s hand and smiled. “Too sweet.”

  “I like sweet things,” Roman shrugged.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Kit glanced at the opposite wall, looking through the two-way mirrors. Everyone outside seemed to be working hard, none the wiser about Kit and Roman’s interactions. He smiled, then slinked forward, trading his seat on the desk for a seat in Roman’s lap.

  “Kit…” Roman sighed, looking out at the other employees as well.

  “They don’t know,” he assured him. Turning his head by his chin, Kit made Roman look at him instead. “Plus, you said you like sweet things. Am I not a sweet thing?”

  “Sweet as you may be, you know my rules. I should throw you out of my lap.”

  “But you won’t,” Kit said. He straddled Roman and played with his green silk tie. “You can pretend that you don’t like the whole PDA thing, but I know you do. I can feel it down here.” Kit’s hand snaked between his legs, teasing the front of his slacks.

  “You’re so sure of yourself.”

  “Because in the short time that I’ve known you, I’ve picked up on all your little tricks. You pretend like you hate me, but that’s a lie. You don’t like my attitude, but you like when I boss you around and give you lip. You’re not as complicated as you think, Roman Li.”

  Roman’s eyebrow cocked up. “Is that right?”

  “It’s right like a Conservative.”

  “That’s enough puns from you, Kenneth. What are you doing tonight?”

  Kit shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you want me to be doing?”

  “I want you to have dinner with me at my place. We’ll order takeout, watch a movie, maybe other things.”

  “If you think I’m cheap enough to get freaky for a box of chow mein… you’re right. I’ll need to tell my sister I won’t be home tonight, but I should be free.”

  Roman tilted his head. “You have a sister.”

  “And a mom and a dad too,” Kit smirked. “There are a lot of exciting things you don’t know about me yet.” Slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to Roman’s. The kiss was a combination of bitter and sweet, a byproduct of the coffee they’d both shared.

  Roman slid his hands down to Kit’s lower back, holding him. “I want you to tell me about these exciting things tonight.”

  “We’ll see. I should probably get back out there. People might start to wonder.”

  “I’m inclined to let them wonder,” Roman challenged.

  “No you aren’t.” He knew Roman, well enough to know when he was about to get himself into a bit of trouble. And if Kit gave in and let this go any further, trouble was certainly on the menu. Reluctantly, Kit stood up and made his way to the door. He began to open it, but paused. “Let me know if you need anything else, Romy.”

  “You’re fired.”

  “If you say so, Mr. President.” Kit loved the laugh Roman gave him.

  He took one last look at him, then returned to the seating area in the office, impatiently waiting for work to be over.

  17

  Don’t Disappoint Us

  Trying not to let his mind wander towards thoughts of dinner with Roman proved to be a much more difficult task for Kit than he’d thought. He couldn’t help but find himself daydreaming about spending more time alone with Roman at his home, especially considering everything that had happened the last time he’d come over. To keep from fantasizing too much, Kit threw his energy into helping other people around the office.

  Barbie needed to know which of the three catchphrases she’d come up with was Kit’s favorite. When he settled on one, she quickly typed up the phrase and centered it on the pamphlet, smiling when she looked it all over. Once Kit was done helping Barbie out, he even ventured over to Yolanda’s neck of the woods to see what was going on.

  “I don’t have any spare change, Kenneth,” she said, not bothering to look away from her computer as she continued sketching.

  “No need to be so hostile. I was just coming over to see if you needed help with anything. Roman’s schedule is pretty blank today and I figured I’d make myself of some use.”

  For a moment, she ignored him, zoned in on her drawing. Kit took note of the amount of times
she changed the color scheme of the lizard. No matter how many times she switched up the colors, she couldn’t decide on a combination she liked.

  “Kit, you can clearly see that I’m working, please leave—”

  He didn’t bother letting her finish before he said, “Orange, green, and yellow.”

  “What?”

  “Make the body orange, the eyes yellow, and the spikes green.”

  She was reluctant at first, but eventually Yolanda added the colors to all the places Kit had indicated. She stared hard at the picture, bouncing her leg up and down. Finally, she shrugged. “It looks nice.”

  Kit knew he wouldn’t get anything more than that, and he decided to take the win and go.

  For the rest of the day, Kit made himself more available to the people around him, even going so far as to actually call a few of them coworkers. To his surprise, nobody seemed bothered by that word, either. It was nice to feel like he was part of the team rather than just some kid in the background.

  At lunch, he received an email from his calendar app telling him to update it otherwise he might lose his data, and he didn’t even hesitate. Most of the time he let those notifications sit for days until finally breaking down and updating. Considering this was work-related, he figured it was best to stay on top of things. He patted himself on the back for being so proactive.

  It wasn’t until nearly nine o’clock that Roman finally stepped out of his office, done for the day. Kit had almost fallen asleep on the sofa waiting for the man to finish up, and without anyone else in the office to keep him company, he’d turned to his favorite podcast. Conveniently enough, that particular episode was about relationships with older partners.

  “Are you ready?” Roman asked, loosening his tie.

  “That’s funny coming from you,” Kit said. He pushed himself up from the couch and stretched out his legs. “I’ve been ready for the past hour.”

  “I was on a conference call with some clients in LA, otherwise we would have been out of here sooner. I did order dinner, though. You said chow mein would make you do some freaky things, right?” he grinned.

  Though he tried to pretend he was upset over having to wait so long, Kit’s resolve broke and he smiled. “I did say that, yes.”

  “Perfect. I ordered plenty. Let’s get going.” Roman gestured for the elevator. Kit followed him downstairs and then to the parking lot behind the building. Kit was surprised to see that he drove to work every day given how terrible traffic could be.

  He buckled himself in, and while Roman backed out of the parking lot, Kit reached for the radio. Roman glanced at him. “If you put on some bullshit, you’re walking home,” he warned him.

  “The level of disrespect, Roman… I have the best musical taste of everyone I know.”

  “Small social circle, then,” he retorted.

  It took all Kit had not to slap his shoulder. To prove him wrong, he scrolled through his playlists until he found the one that won over most people. No matter their preference of genre, majority of the people he played it for were swayed.

  Roman made a quick stop at the Chinese restaurant to pick up his order, then turned back and headed towards his home. Kit took notice of the drumming of his fingers on the steering wheel, unable to keep from laughing softly. Not even Roman was immune to his musical selection. Fifteen minutes later, the two pulled into Roman’s driveway.

  Kit carried the food while Roman unlocked the door, holding it open so Kit could enter first. They both paused to remove their shoes and leave them by the front door. Kit watched Roman start for the table before he decided to carry the food over to the living room. By the time he put down the bags and took a seat on the fuzzy rug in the middle of the room, Roman had turned around to stare at him.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “I’m picking the most comfortable place in the room to eat.” He shrugged and removed the sleeve covering the cheap wooden chopsticks.

  “That rug cost two thousand dollars, Kit.”

  “I guess we better be careful then,” he winked. While Roman glared at him, Kit opened up the container of orange chicken, expertly lifting a piece out with his chopsticks. Back in college, he and Chad had practically lived off of Chinese food. He was a master when it came to using chopsticks.

  Roman, clearly weary, sighed and took a seat across from Kit. He leaned back against the couch and groaned as he stretched. He settled down comfortably, then asked, “How are things at home?”

  Kit was caught off guard by that question. Roman never asked him about his personal life unless it was to tell him to cancel whatever plans he’d made that day. “Uh—things are pretty good. I’m saving up some money to move out of my sister’s apartment soon. I’m sure she’s tired of having to share a place with her brother and her girlfriend. I should be out of her hair in a few weeks. I was supposed to be gone earlier, but after what I spent on that room at the hotel…”

  “That’s thoughtful of you. Could your parents help with any kind of moving expenses?”

  “I’m not close with them,” Kit shrugged. He gave a strained smile and focused on mixing around his noodles for no reason in particular. “It’s nothing serious, they always just had issues with my boyfriends.”

  This wasn’t a complete lie. While the reason he and his parents didn’t get along was a lot deeper than that, they did always have a problem with him talking to guys at school. Considering they were both highly active in their local church, having two gay children made them look like the worst parents in town. People whispered about them behind their back. They figured the two of them must have done something horrible to be cursed with not one but two sinful children.

  “I have to admit, I’m not a fan of your boyfriends either,” Roman smirked.

  Kit laughed. “You’ve only met one. Normally I have good taste.”

  “I don’t know about all of that. How is that one ex of yours? Still bothering you?”

  Kit shook his head and said, “Nah, he’s gone. He actually blocked me on every social media website. Which actually pisses me off because I’m the only one allowed to do that since he cheated on me.”

  “At least he’s out of your hair. Now you can focus on better things,” Roman said.

  Kit narrowed his eyes at the man. “Is that jealousy I’m detecting?”

  “Do you really think I’d be jealous of that?”

  “I think you’d be jealous of the fact that I was giving him any kind of attention when I was with you. I think you got really protective over me when he grabbed me. I think you liked when I told him off and kicked him to the curb. So, yes, I do think you’d be jealous of him—even just a little bit.”

  Roman stabbed at a piece of chicken and pushed it past Kit’s lips, shutting him up. “You talk too damn much, kitten.”

  Kit glared as he chewed. After he swallowed, he crawled across the rug until he was sitting next to him, back against the couch. “C’mon, Romy. Just say it. Say you were jealous of Jaylen, but now that he’s gone, you get me all to yourself.”

  “I invited you over for dinner, not for an emotional evaluation.”

  “But you know it’s true,” Kit insisted. He thumbed over the front buttons on Roman’s shirt absently, a devilish look in his eyes.

  Roman sighed. “Maybe I was a little jealous. But when he put his hands on you, I just got mad. I don’t tolerate that.”

  “I like your hands on me more anyways,” Kit said, shrugging.

  A silence fell over the two of them as they ate. As much as Kit liked the flirty, playfulness of their banter, he wanted to get to know more about Roman. “Tell me about your family.”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Because I told you about mine. I want to know more about you.”

  “My parents have both passed away.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Roman shrugged. “That’s life. When they were around, they were the strongest people I ever knew. They mov
ed from Taiwan to America when my mother was pregnant with me. After she had me, my father stayed home to raise me while she worked. She understood more English than he did, otherwise he would have done it in a heartbeat.”

  “She sounds like a badass,” Kit said.

  “Yeah,” Roman laughed, “She was. My folks were also huge on gambling. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to win damn near every time they went out. Eventually they got bored of the casino and wanted something a little more risky. The next step was trading stocks. When I tell you they hit it big, I mean it. In less than ten years, we went from near-poverty to them paying for all four years of my private school up front.”

  “Holy shit,” Kit exclaimed. The only thing he knew about the stock market was that if given the chance, he’d probably do some insider trading. Given the situation with Yellow Fall’s financial issues, he didn’t plan on admitting that aloud…

  “They always knew when to put money on something, when to give it all of their attention. Thirty years ago, people didn’t expect Alainment Enterprise to grow much more than it did. It was just this small entertainment company, but now look at it. I’m sure you’ve heard of The Danby?”

  “Who hasn’t? It’s like The Hilton, but even more bougie.”

  “During the construction of that hotel, my parents knew they were onto something, so they invested in the company.”

  “Your parents are both badasses,” Kit said, correcting his previous statement. It was impressive how much two people could accomplish with just a little faith in themselves and each other.

  “They were something special. They died a week after one another. My father was sick for a long time. He passed away at the hospital. I know it’s cheesy, but I’m pretty sure my mother died of a broken heart. They’d been through so much together, and without him, she wasn’t able to go on.”

  The tone of Roman’s voice changed. The smile in his words was gone, now replaced with something much more somber. Kit could tell that he was getting close to something he didn’t really want to bring up, but he was unable to think of anything to say to stop Roman.