by T. L Smith
I cringe.
This can’t keep happening.
This shit needs to stop.
“No. Don’t come in.”
“Now, why would I not? It’s my place.”
“Because you distract the girls,” I reply, waving my hand to the two who are already here. Granted I fired one, and the other is almost fired if she keeps her shit up.
“Or, do I distract you.”
“No. No, you don’t.”
Blaze gets up and walks over to me. When he leans down to get in my face, I can smell whiskey on his breath and pull back.
“I think I do.”
“If you keep fucking with the girls, I will quit. Stop coming in, and let me run the place as I have done way before you came along.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Luckily for me, I don’t care what you want,” I say back to him.
“Kat.” I turn at the sound of my sister’s voice, she’s dressed in one of Marcus’s shirts and a pair of shorts. She looks from me to Blaze, then lets her eyes float around the room. When she stops at someone, her eyes narrow. I turn to see who she’s looking at—Silver.
“Do you know her?” I ask as Rochelle walks over closer to me.
“She tried to fuck with my relationship. I hate her, and she’s lucky I don’t let my fist go through her pretty little fucking face,” Rochelle says with venom in her voice as she looks to Silver, who has the decency to glance away from a furious Rochelle. Looking to Blaze, he’s watching Rochelle, afraid she’s going to lose it, and I wouldn’t blame her. Rochelle has a tendency to let her fists fly first. I know from growing up with her. But she’s pregnant now with Blaze’s niece or nephew.
“Like I said, you come back in to the club, and I will walk out.” I turn, but his voice stops me. “You should just quit then. No woman gives me ultimatums.”
“I quit,” I say while walking out with no qualms about it.
Rochelle follows me out until we reach the car. Her hands are shaking as she squeezes the steering wheel. “I hate her, why was she there?”
“She works for me. Well, did,” I say, knowing I have just quit a fucking job I need.
Goddammit!
“Mischa works for you?” she says, her eyes wide. “Blaze knew this?”
“Well, yes.”
“I’m telling Marcus. For fuck’s sake. This shit is not cool. She was the one who lied and said she slept with Marcus. I couldn’t hate her more.” Rochelle starts the car and throws it in reverse, driving out fast. She takes me home so I can get my car and pick up my daughter from Mom’s.
When I get out of her car, I look down at her. “Calm down. Marcus loves you, and only you.”
She nods.
“I know, but she’s a real bitch, that one.”
Then she drives off, not slowly either.
“He calls you by your first name,” my mother says, bouncing Annabelle on her lap.
I’m still so tired and have to remember to be calm. “Yes, he does.”
“You like this one?” she asks.
When I look up at her, her eyebrows are raised, and she has a smile on her face. “I can’t remember the last man you actually liked,” she says, surprising me. “You never brought anyone home, and you’ve never spoken about any, which was so surprising to me when you said you were pregnant.” She looks down at Annabelle. “Do you like him?”
“I do, but he isn’t right for me. For so many reasons. And I have to think of Annabelle now. No one else,” I say, standing and reaching for her. I need to go home and sleep, and preferably sleep with my baby girl by my side.
“Just don’t let that stop you from falling in love, Kat. You do deserve to be loved by someone else other than your family.”
“I will, thanks, Mom.” I take Annabelle to leave. But before I do, my mother gives me food for dinner, which she cooked last night, and I’m thankful. I haven’t told her that she will no longer need to care for Annabelle, since I no longer have a job. Especially not when we’re just starting to get along without biting each other’s heads off.
Driving down my street, I see a car parked out the front of my house, and I know who it is automatically and look to my phone. I see Mitchell’s tried to call.
Shit! Was I meant to meet with him today?
Stopping the car and grabbing my things, I get Annabelle out of her car seat. Mitchell smiles when he sees me and offers to grab some of the things from my hands, which I let him.
“I tried to call. I’ve purchased some things for Annabelle, which I was going to just drop off, but then I saw your car…” he trails off with a smile.
“Oh, thanks.” I look to my porch to see nappies and baby food in a box.
“I asked the lady at the counter what was popular food, she suggested that, so I hope it’s okay. If it’s not, let me know and I will buy exactly what you need.”
Walking inside, he picks up the box and brings it in.
“Look, Mitchell, I’m tired. Really tired. But thank you.”
“Oh, you worked last night?”
“I did.”
He looks around, and there’s a very happy Annabelle who doesn’t seem the least bit tired.
“I can stay if you like. Maybe watch some movies with Annabelle and just play while you sleep. We won’t go out the front or do anything other than stay right here.”
His offer is tempting, and I’m about to say no when Annabelle walks over to him, smacks his leg for him to pick her up, and smiles when he does.
“It will be no issue. I was hoping to spend some more time with her anyway.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” I say to him.
“I have signed that contract. It’s my only way to show you straight away that I don’t want to mess with what you have.” He turns, looking to Annabelle, smiling. “I’m here for her, Kat. I want to get to know her, and for her to know me. You will be no more than a few steps away, and I can wake you if I need you.”
“I just need an hour’s rest. So, I suppose…” I look up to my room.
“Rest. I know how to work a television, and we can play with her toys. We will stay right here.”
Mitchell takes her to the couch and sits down with her. I watch for a few minutes before I walk up to my room and crash on my bed, not even bothering to change.
I wake to male voices, which is weird considering I’m in my own house. I get up quickly and look at the time.
Shit! It’s almost four in the afternoon.
How long did I sleep?
I haven’t slept that long for ages.
“Momma,” Annabelle says as I walk down the stairs, now with my heels off and in bare feet. I scoop her up and kiss her cheek as I turn to find Mitchell with my front door open and Blaze standing there.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Blaze.
“Work starts now.”
I walk over, pass Annabelle to Mitchell, and step outside, closing the door behind me. “Leave. Now.”
He scrubs his face. “I was drunk.”
“I don’t care. Leave. I quit. Have fun running the place without me.” I turn to go back inside.
“Come back to work, please,” he says.
“No. You run it since you seem to know everything.”
“Who’s that man?” he asks. I turn to face him again. “I know you’re a single mother, and the father isn’t in the picture. So, who is that?”
“That is none of your business.”
“Didn’t think you to be a whore, but I guess we’re all proven wrong on occasion,” Blaze says, walking away.
My blood boils at his damn words.
How fucking dare him.
My hands clasp the potted plant next to my door and I throw it, aiming for his head, which it hits.
“You fucked this whore, asshole. Remember it! Because it’s the last time you ever will.”
Blaze turns angry and rubs his head.
Luckily for him it was plastic, but not so much for me.
“I’ve killed for less,” he says through gritted teeth.
I wave my hands out. “Try it!”
He laughs and gets on his bike with no helmet and takes off like a shower of shit.
Fuck.
Fuck.
He’s fucking with my head in more ways than one, and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.
“That man loves you,” Mitchell says, walking out without Annabelle. “I didn’t come back in hopes of getting back with you, but to say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind would be a lie. But now I see…” He shakes his head. “You like him too. And I’m in no position to say anything about that. But be careful, Kat. I haven’t been here for long, but I know who they are.” Mitchell pulls his jacket on and walks down the stairs to his car.
Looking back, he speaks, “If you need any help, especially with work, let me know.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Blaze
“You need Kat back. She runs this place better than anyone. The girls don’t listen to anyone else,” Steve says, shaking his head. His eyes are dilated, and I can tell he’s stressed. I’ve been helping out as much as I can all week, but he’s right, she runs a tight ship, and the girls clearly don’t listen to anyone as they do her.
“She doesn’t want to come back.”
“Bullshit! She loves it here,” Steve says, walking away, shaking his head.
He’s right, she does love it.
I go into the office and call her. All her things are here because she hasn’t been back to collect anything. Though she doesn’t have many personal items, just a drawer filled with panties and bras, which is weird, but who am I to say anything. I may get a plant thrown at my fucking head again, and I am anything but stupid.
“Fuck off,” she says as she hangs up on me.
Shit.
The door to the office flies open, and a small girl, the one who opens the night, walks in.
“Hi,” she says in a very small voice.
“It’s Sparkle, right?”
She nods. “Is Miss coming back? I kind of need to speak to her.” She bites her lip and looks down at the floor.
“I don’t know. What was it that you needed?”
“The girls… well, they aren’t very nice to me when Miss isn’t here. She’s the only kind one.”
I hand her the phone. “Call her.” She steps forward and takes the phone. “You know her number?” I ask, and she nods and starts calling.
I hear Katarina’s voice, just as when I tried to call, answering with a full-on loud as you can stand, “Fuck off.”
“Miss,” the shy girl says.
“Oh, Sparkle… I am so sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
“That’s okay,” she replies while looking at the floor.
How on earth is this girl a stripper?
“I just wanted to know when you’ll be back.”
I sit back, listening, waiting for her to answer to see what she says.
“Oh, I don’t know, Sparkle. Why? What are they doing now?”
“Nothing… it’s okay, sorry to bother you, Miss.” Sparkle holds the phone out to me, and I take it, placing it to my ear and wave Sparkle out.
“You have to straighten these girls out. Those bitches will eat her alive, and she’s one of the best dancers we have,” Katarina says, then hangs up, not even giving me a chance to respond to her.
“Oh, Blaze.” I turn to that voice. I’ve heard it before. Katarina’s mother is standing there, one of her hands on her hip and the other holding a bag. “I thought it was you.” She walks over.
“Hi,” I reply.
Snow looks her up and down, smiles, and I resist the urge to hit him. He cannot hit on their mother. That would be bad, so fucking bad. I’m already on Katarina’s bad side, and telling her Snow wants to fuck her mother would make things even worse.
“Rochelle let it slip that you fired Kat. Didn’t see that one coming with the way you stare at her.” Her eyes pin me, and I feel scrutinized. How can that be possible? No woman has ever felt like a mother-type before, but this woman makes me feel like I have to defend myself.
“She quit,” I reply.
Snow chuckles next to me, and her eyes cut to him, then back to me.
“Well, fix it. She hasn’t left the house, and she won’t let me babysit my grandbaby.” She pulls her bag up on her shoulder and pins me with another one of those stares. “I’ll see you next week at Marcus and Rochelle’s, I’m guessing, for their gender reveal.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Snow chuckles again, but she pays him no mind as she walks away.
“Dude, since when are you polite to mothers?”
“Don’t you even try to hit on her. I’ll cut your dick off,” I tell him while shaking my head.
“I wasn’t.” He holds up his hands, but he’s smirking. “It was just to play. You know how I like to play.”
“Yeah, play.” I give him a snide look. “Play my ass.”
“Well, if you insist.” He smacks my ass, making me jump.
“Jesus! Fuck off.”
“You do need Kat, though, right?”
“I do,” I tell him. “But she doesn’t want to come back.”
“Well, that happens when you treat her like shit. She isn’t like the other girls.”
“I know she isn’t.”
“And it doesn’t help you’re falling in love with her either.”
“What the fuck?” I turn around to him. People who were walking past us stop and look at us with horror in their eyes. “I don’t fucking love her. Nor am I falling in love with her.”
“Oh, how fun it’s going to be when you work out that you are.” Snow clasps his hands together and continues to walk.
“I’ve put a knife in someone for less,” I threaten him as we walk into the store.
“I’m sure you have. But I am not no one.” He chuckles. “How much fun is next week going to be? Can I come? I so wanna watch this shit play out, and… I love gender reveal parties.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “What the fuck is that anyway?”
“You know, they pop a balloon, and it’s either blue or pink confetti.”
“I’m disturbed how you know this shit,” I say to him as he takes a seat.
“I know all things, even about love.” Snow raises an eyebrow, and I somehow withstand the urge to throw something at his face.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kat
“What do you mean you don’t have balloons for it?” my mother asks.
“Rochelle is craving cake. So cake it is.”
Mom’s hands fold over, and she scrutinizes me. “Cake! What, you make the cake a color?”
“Yes, Mother. They cut it and inside provides the sex of the baby.”
“Does Rochelle know you’ve done it this way?”
Oh my God. Deep breath, keep taking deep breaths.
“Of course she knows.” She doesn’t, but she really doesn’t need to know. I wanted it to be a surprise for Rochelle as well.
“I bumped into that man of yours last week. He given you your job back, yet?”
Lord, give me strength.
“No, Mother, I quit.”
“Well, you should really talk to him. I’m sure you could get that job back if you wanted. I mean, you can do better, but I know how much you love it. So, whatever.”
“Thanks for your support,” I mumble under my breath while going to the front door and opening it. Rochelle is standing there with Marcus behind her.
“You’re early. I told you not to be early.”
“She insisted we come,” Marcus says, looking down at her. “I had no say.”
“I got this,” I tell her.
She leans forward, speaking just above a whisper, “Mom told me she was coming to help, so figured I would save you.”
I pull her in for a hug, and she laughs.
“Figured as much,” she says into my hair.
The sound
of a bike is heard from behind us.
“Oh, he was at ours, so he followed. Believe me, he doesn’t want to be here, but I insisted because it will be his niece or nephew.” Rochelle pulls away, walking past us and inside. “Go and say hello, please.”
Walking out as they go in, I step down to where Blaze climbs off his bike. He shoves a hand through his hair after he takes off the helmet and looks at me. “Katarina.”
“Blaze,” I say his name back.
“I didn’t want to attend.”
“I know. Thanks for coming anyway,” I say, using the nicest voice I can muster. Turning, I go to walk back inside when he says my name again, “Katarina.”
I look at him over my shoulder.
“You must miss the club. They all miss you and want you back.”
“I do miss it. But you see, Blaze…” I say, turning and stepping up closer to him, “… my boss is an asshole.” I smile, then walk back inside fast enough that if he called my name again, I don’t hear him.
As soon as I get inside, my mother is gushing over Rochelle. Marcus sits on the couch watching Rochelle as if she might escape at any moment. I bet he doesn’t want to be here either.
“Did you want something to drink? Perhaps somewhere to escape to?” I laugh, looking down at Marcus.
“No,” is all he replies, not losing sight of Rochelle for one second.
“There’s no use, he’s a lovesick fool for that one,” Blaze says, walking in and standing behind me.
“Aren’t they lucky,” I mutter, walking away.
“Blaze, so good to see you.” My mother walks over, kissing his cheek in greeting.
He looks down, and I have to stifle my laugh while watching him squirm.
I’m on to my third drink when Mitchell walks in the door a few hours later with Annabelle on his hip. She’s sound asleep.
“Oh God, she fell asleep?” I ask him, taking her from him. She stays asleep when she comes to me, so she must be tired. I let Mitchell take her to the park and for some lunch. He’s been consistent and trying harder than I thought he would. And Annabelle, she loves him, and this makes me happy.