Lexia stopped midstep. “I...um...”
Khalil took one look at Lexia’s face and leaned down to see what his mother had said. His eyes widened. “Mom—”
“Didn’t you tell me the doctor said you could drive?”
His jaw tightened. “Yes, but—”
Even though he would never say it, Lexia knew he was afraid to drive. “Mrs. Gray, I appreciate the offer, but I already have plans for Sunday.”
The older woman looked crestfallen. “Well, okay. Maybe some other time.”
“Perhaps. Have a good evening.”
“You do the same, Lexia.”
“I’m going to walk her out, Mom. I’ll be right back.” Khalil grabbed his keys off a wall hook. He waited until they were at the elevator before speaking. “I’m really sorry about my mother. She’s on a serious kick to get us all married off. So every time my brother Malcolm or I say hello to a woman in passing, she starts her matchmaking campaign.”
“It’s okay.” She typed a message and held it up. “You don’t have to walk me out. I can find my way back down.”
“I know. But humor me.” The elevator doors opened and he gestured her in.
They stopped twice to pick up passengers and each time, Khalil moved closer to Lexia. The heat of his body surrounded her, making her remember their earlier kiss—the way his mouth moved slowly over hers and how his hands traveled up and down her body. She tried to create some space between them, but was flush against the wall with nowhere to go. She breathed a sigh of relief when they got to the lobby. He reached for her hand and escorted her out to the valet. She gave the man her guest ticket.
It took only a minute for him to return with her car. Khalil walked around to the driver’s side with her, brushed a kiss over her lips and closed the door behind her. She drove off, unable to get the feel of his kiss off her mind. Being with him reminded her of what she’d been missing. Things better left alone. But she didn’t seem to be able to stop the thoughts.
Chapter 9
Khalil sat in his usual spot at the family Sunday dinner observing all the conversations and laughter flowing. He found out in the first five minutes that using the app was useless with ten people around the table. For the most part, he felt isolated—almost invisible. He tried to read their lips to pick up small bits of what they were saying, but had a difficult time. One, lipreading was much harder than he anticipated, and two, for the first time, he realized that they never really looked at each other when they spoke.
Everyone kept trying to do things for him that he could do himself, despite his protests, and the longer he sat, the more frustrated he became and started to withdraw into himself. His appetite disappeared and he found himself pushing the food around his plate instead of eating it. Not able to take it any longer, he excused himself and went out to the back deck. A short while later, Khalil felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you all right, son? You didn’t eat much.” His father handed him the cell phone.
“Yeah. Just frustrated.”
“Forgive us for not making sure you could follow the conversation.” He shook his head and a pained expression crossed his face. “I forget sometimes.”
Khalil wished he could forget, too. “I know, Dad.”
“Your mother wants to postpone the cruise and I think it might be a good idea.”
“You don’t need to do that. I told Mom the same thing. I’m going to work tomorrow.” He had planned to go one day last week, but changed his mind because, although the drive would only take him about fifteen minutes, he wasn’t ready to get on the road. Thankfully, nothing else had happened and Malcolm and Alonzo had kept him updated. He had ridden over with Omar and Morgan today, but he had to get past this fear.
“Are you sure you’re ready to do that? Your ribs and wrist are still healing and you shouldn’t be running around a gym all day.”
“I won’t be running around. I’ll be sitting in my office. All of my personal training clients have been scheduled with my staff for this week and, as much as it’s killing me not to, I won’t be lifting any weights. So go on your cruise. You and Mom have been waiting a long time to do this and deserve this time together after sacrificing all these years.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am. I had my telephone equipment installed, so if you call, I’ll be able to answer.”
“Good enough, then. Come on in and have some dessert. Your mama made your favorite peach cobbler.”
Khalil grinned. “I’ll be in in a minute.” He stayed outside a few minutes longer, then steeled himself for more of his mother’s hovering. She had stayed over at his house for another two hours last week after Lexia left and no amount of pleading had moved her. She’d brought word search puzzles, a romance novel and ample snacks. If she hadn’t had scheduled appointments for the rest of the week, she probably would have come back to camp out on his sofa. Another reason for him to go to work. He was tired of them treating him like an invalid. Then stop acting like one, an inner voice said. “I’m trying,” he muttered and went inside.
His father must have said something because his siblings seemed to go out of their way to include him in conversations and spoke one at a time so he could keep up and they all downloaded the speech app on their phones. Khalil found that he relaxed a little. However, by the time he made it home, being up and out had taken a toll on him and he was in bed by nine.
* * *
The next morning, the closer it came to the time for him to leave, the more anxious he became. His heart pounded in his chest and his hands shook as he got behind the wheel of the car. He toyed with texting Felicia and telling her he wouldn’t be in, but she’d been filling in for him long enough and keeping tabs on Logan, going far above her normal duties. He had also scheduled a meeting with Alonzo to view the videos he had recorded.
Khalil left his complex and merged into the sparse traffic. As he continued, more cars filled the streets and his heart rate increased and his breath came in short gasps. He kept checking his mirrors and found himself driving at least ten miles below the speed limit. He became so uneasy that he had to pull off the road for a minute. He leaned against the headrest and waited for his breathing to slow and his heart rate to return to normal.
“You can do this,” he repeated over and over. “It’s only a fifteen-minute drive.” He’d been driving since he was fifteen and had never gotten one traffic violation. He kept up with his pep talk for a good five minutes and, when he felt in control, continued to the gym. By the time Khalil parked in his spot, he was sweating as if it was a hundred degrees instead of sixty. He took a moment to compose himself and got out of the car.
As soon as he walked through the door, several members stopped their workouts and turned his way. The day receptionist jumped from her seat, came around the desk, hesitated briefly, and then hugged him. “Hey, Chantel.” She had on a black T-shirt with the gym’s logo and a pair of gray leggings.
Her mouth started moving rapidly, and then she paused and clamped a hand over her mouth. Chantel reached for a notepad and pen. She held it up. Sorry.
“It’s okay. I’m going up to my office. I’m expecting Alonzo Wright at ten. Just send him up when he gets here.” In his peripheral vision he noticed people still staring.
She nodded.
Khalil threw up a wave as he passed through the gym and made his way to the elevator that would take him to the second floor. He usually took the stairs, but not today. He’d been trying to wean himself off the pain medication and didn’t take any last night. As a result, his pain levels were up and he planned to cut his workday short and go home after his meeting with Alonzo in a couple of hours.
Upstairs, he unlocked his office and scanned the room to see if anything had been moved. He checked his desk and saw that a stack of papers he’d left on the right had been move
d slightly toward the middle. Had Logan come into the office another time? Felicia appeared in the doorway with tears in her eyes. Just like Chantel, Felicia seemed unsure of what to do. She waved and wrung her hands. “I’m okay, so don’t go getting all emotional.”
Felicia thrust a piece of paper at him.
He took it and read. “Thanks. I’m glad it wasn’t worse, too.” He’d brought the cell phones to make it easier to talk to everyone and explained to her how they worked. His family had all downloaded the app on their phones, but he still carried this one for the times he had to meet with other people.
“So I just talk and whatever I say will appear on your phone?”
“Yep.” He showed her his phone.
“Wow. I had no idea this kind of technology existed.”
Neither had Khalil. And he still wouldn’t if the explosion never happened. “Has Logan tried to get in my office since we talked?”
“I don’t think so, but he was too mad after I locked the door.” Felicia placed a hand on her hip. “He kept trying to tell me that since you were out and he was the manager, he needed to have access to the office to keep things running in your absence. I told him he could do the same thing from his little office.” She rolled her eyes. “He must think I was born yesterday.”
He chuckled. Felicia hadn’t liked Logan from the first. He assumed because he was the manager that he should be the only person, aside from Khalil, with full access. But Khalil didn’t give full access to anyone. The only reason he hadn’t given the position to Felicia was because of her school and study schedule. She was also a certified trainer and had only two clients for the same reason. But she would be graduating with her master’s in biokinesiology from USC in a few months and he planned to promote her and have her manage the new gym, or this one if it turned out that Logan was behind stealing from the gym’s members. “I’ll have a talk with him before I leave today.”
“Are you staying all day?”
“No. I’m leaving after my meeting this morning, but I’ll be back tomorrow. Malcolm is going to come in for a few hours this week, as well.” His brother had agreed to keep an eye on things for the next two or three weeks until Khalil could handle a full schedule.
Felicia’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “Well, now.”
She’d had a crush on Malcolm for the past year, but Malcolm had made it clear to Khalil he wasn’t interested. After having his heart broken by his college sweetheart, Malcolm swore he would never date another woman seriously. Khalil understood and agreed. Memories of his betrayal surfaced in his mind, but he pushed them aside. “How’s your thesis coming?”
“I’m three-quarters of the way done. I have a meeting with my advisor tomorrow, so I’ll need to leave early.”
“No problem.”
“I know you have a lot to catch up on, so I’ll let you get to it.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know when I’m leaving.”
She handed the cell back and walked out.
Khalil sat at his desk and went through all the mail that had accumulated over the past two weeks and cleared out his emails. He had just finished when Alonzo arrived. He explained, once again, about the speech app.
Alonzo pulled out his own cell. “I’ll just download it on my phone, so you don’t have to keep passing around that one.” Once he’d done it, he said, “I’ve been tracking your computer and I don’t know if Malcolm told you, but no one’s logged on except you.”
“He told me.”
“But there were a couple of things on the cameras I think you should see.” Alonzo turned on his iPad and handed it to Khalil.
He watched the footage from three days ago. Logan was standing outside of Khalil’s office jiggling the knob. His face registered anger when he found the door locked. He glanced up and down the hallway and squatted down in front of the knob as if he were trying to figure out a way to get in. He finally rose and headed back the way he had come. “Is this the only time he’s been up here?”
“There’s one more two weeks ago. Click on Tuesday.”
Khalil did as asked and saw the confrontation between Logan and Felicia. Logan was standing behind Khalil’s desk and Felicia just inside the doorway. The argument lasted a minute before Logan stormed out. Then Felicia locked the door. This must have been the day she called him right before the explosion. “Is there anything I can do? If Logan is the one doing this, I want him gone.”
“Right now we don’t have any proof, so it might be hard to fire him.”
“So, what? I wait?”
“For the time being. He seems pretty arrogant, and people like him will slip up. Besides, he has no idea he’s being tracked. So that works in our favor.”
He didn’t want to wait. The fact that the man had tried to get into Khalil’s office made it hard not to fire him on the spot. But Alonzo was right. “All right. I’ll wait. Thanks, Alonzo.”
Alonzo stood and handed him a card. “Here’s the code to access the cameras. I figure you want to check it out yourself now.”
“I do. I’ll call you if I see anything.”
“And I’ll do the same.”
Khalil drummed his fingers on the desk. He hoped for Logan’s sake that he’d done nothing. If he did, Khalil planned to whip his ass. He went downstairs to Logan’s office.
When Logan looked up and saw Khalil, he started scribbling on paper.
“You don’t have to write—we can use these. Just talk in this phone and I’ll see it on mine.”
“It’s good you’re back, man. Felicia’s been acting like she’s in charge.”
“She mentioned you going in my office. I’m not sure why because there’s nothing in there that you’d need.”
Logan’s eyes widened for a split second. “I...um... One of your clients came in and wanted to know your schedule. I was just checking to see when their appointment was in case I needed to shift him to one of the other trainers because I didn’t know when you were going to be back.”
The man was definitely up to something. None of Khalil’s personal training clients would have come in because he’d had Felicia cancel them the first week. The second week the other trainers had worked with them. But Logan wouldn’t know that because his job was to make sure the equipment functioned properly, schedule routine maintenance, and take care of marketing. “I’ll take care of my schedule, so there won’t be a need for you to worry about being in my office. Has all the maintenance of the machines been scheduled?”
“Not yet, but I’ll have it done today.”
“Email me the list when it’s done.”
He nodded tightly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Khalil held his hand out for the phone. He had planned to ask Logan to take care of payroll tomorrow, but he didn’t trust the man and decided he’d do it himself. He was going to have Alonzo come back and install a camera in Logan’s office.
He poked his head in Felicia’s office to let her know he was leaving and gave himself another pep talk for the drive home. This time he made it without having to stop, but his steps were slow as he trekked down the hallway to his condo. Once inside, he eased himself down on the sofa and stretched out.
Before Khalil could get comfortable, his cell buzzed. Please don’t let this be my mother. She’d taken to texting him every day, sometimes more than once. He dug it out of his pocket and saw Gerald Walters’s name on the display. The agent had been in the business for more than two decades and had launched the careers of several models. Though he hadn’t been Khalil’s agent, Gerald had recommended Khalil for a few assignments that had kept him in the limelight for years.
Khalil read the message and frowned. The man had heard about the accident and thought it best that he find another escort for Rosalyn just in case Khalil hadn’t recovered from his injuries.
Khalil: The fund
-raiser isn’t for another three weeks and I’m sure I’ll be fine.
Gerald: What about your other injuries?
Khalil: I have three broken ribs and a sprained wrist. Hardly life threatening.
Gerald: I was talking about your other injury.
It finally dawned on Khalil what he meant. Are you referring to my hearing loss?
Gerald: Yes. With all the networking required, I’m not sure—
He didn’t bother to read the rest of the message. So, because he couldn’t hear, he could no longer be considered a valuable part of a community to which he’d given over ten years of his life. Not to mention that he started the youth program after seeing the toll the grueling schedule was taking on some of the younger models. He’d developed mentorships and encouraged them to balance modeling with school because they’d need to have a skill after leaving the business. The fund-raiser raised money for college scholarships and lodging assistance for parents traveling with their teen. But none of that mattered now.
White-hot rage swept through him, magnifying his pain. His ears were ringing, head pounding and ribs aching. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. As much as he didn’t want to take the pain medication, he knew he’d have to take it; otherwise he’d never get any rest. Maybe if he lay there for a while, the pain would subside. He didn’t like the way the medication clouded his mind, but after thirty minutes he finally relented.
Two hours later, Khalil awoke from a nap and sent up a prayer of thanks that the intense aching in his head and body had dulled considerably. However, just the thought of Gerald’s texts raised it a notch. He forced it out of his mind, braced himself and sat up. The bright green bag holding the book that Lexia had brought over last week still sat undisturbed on the coffee table. Even now, he couldn’t believe that she knew sign language or that she had learned it just to be able to talk to her friend.
He took the book out and flipped through the pages. She’d said it had taken her over three years to become proficient. Please don’t let it take that long for me to recover my hearing. He read a few pages and tried to make the first few letters of the alphabet, but gave up in less than five minutes. He could not do this. I’ll help you in any way I can. Lexia’s words came back to him. Would she really help him? And did he want to learn? He still was somewhat hesitant, but he’d take any excuse to see her again.
A Touch of Love Page 9