by Xyla Turner
“Thanks, Kat,” I said, grabbed my bag and left.
Chapter Six
Last Night
KAT
Vic was wearing on me more than I would have liked to admit. I wouldn’t confess it but I knew deep down, he was chipping away at my wall. I was starting to see him as the man and not the cop. The shit was annoying. As a cop, I could resist him, but as a man, well.
I was not so sure.
Don had texted me about a potential meeting in Brooklyn, but said he would give me the details later. He said the black delegation, which I thought was something they made up on the internet, wanted to talk with the group. He thought I should be there, so I set out to show up. Don was six years older than me and when our dad was killed, he didn’t have the luxury to take it as hard as I did because he had to grow up extremely quick. He did internalize that anger.
When they broke the news, the police had to restrain him and even threaten to take me away and call child services. He was only eighteen years old but his boyhood was gone and the militancy in him grew even more. The irony was that our dad raised us to be compliant, have respect for authority and do the right thing. But I’ll never forget the day Don said, “And what did that get him? Dead.”
I was too young to fully understand the dagger that was my plea for him to not be so angry nor the toll it would have on our family.
There weren’t a lot of us; a cousin in the Bronx, and another one in the Carolinas. They came to the funeral but since Don was eighteen, it was assumed we’d be okay. We were, but nothing prepared us for the transition we were about to make in our lives. I started acting out and almost burned the school down on purpose. Don didn’t know what to do because he wasn’t a parent. He was my big brother who got a teenager dumped on him.
Throughout the day, I ran some errands that only morning dwellers could do since I had to work the night shift most of the time. Afterward, I met at the center for our meeting, which was not bad considering we had some more powerful allies that were willing to fund our movement. When the shit hit the fan like that, even celebrities who used to put their heads in the sand, had to pop up and say enough was enough.
From there, I went to work and Wendy and I did our little dance about how the evening would go. This time, I was wrong. It wasn’t a crazy day in the ER at all. The only crazy thing was the visitor that stopped by the Emergency Room.
“Kat, there’s a handsome man out here asking about you.” Wendy yelled.
“Who?” I asked and peered around the filing cabinets that surrounded the front area.
Holy shit!
It was Vic.
“Hey,” I walked around to the front. “What's up?”
“Is this your friend?” Wendy asked.
“No,” I said at the same time Vic said, “Yes.”
We looked at each other and I frowned.
“Don't do that.” I said to him. “I work here.”
He must have caught my seriousness and said, “We have mutual friends.”
“Well, you could be my mutual friend.” Wendy leaned over the counter to overtly look at his feet.
“Wendy,” I gasped and wrapped my arm around Vic's elbow and pulled him to the side while Wendy cackled loudly.
“What's wrong with Wendy?” Vic whispered when I stopped walking.
“Uh, nothing.” He looked at me in confusion.
“I can't mess with any of your coworkers either?” He smirked.
What?
“Oh, you get down like that?” I stepped back and put my hands up. “By all means, suit yourself.”
Then I turned to make my exit. Shit what was I thinking? Well, I tried to make an exit. Vic grabbed me by the elbow, effectively pulling my entire body into his.
Shit.
He was warm and comfortable.
“Jealous?” He smirked.
I lifted my head so he could clearly see my lips and my eyes when I sneered, “Never!”
Vic bent down so his lips were hovering over mine.
“Bullshit.”
I gasped, and then rolled my eyes. There was no need to leave or run. He was trying to rattle me; therefore, I simply wouldn't let him. Purposefully, I relaxed my body against his tight grip and kept my eyes on him so he would see that I meant what I said.
“Why are you here?” I asked matter-of-factly.
He saw that I wasn't moved by him, so he let me go.
“I wanted to see you.” He raised an eyebrow.
I leaned in and repeated his words, “Bullshit.”
Vic burst out laughing and even I had to smirk at the man.
“Can't sleep?” I sobered up and asked.
He nodded.
“Look, Vic…” I started, but he cut me off.
“I know, Kat. I swear it's the last time. Swear to you. I'm going to a Psychologist tomorrow. I just sleep better with, well you know. It's crazy but I cannot sleep at my place. It's the last time.”
I exhaled.
“My shift isn't over until six,” I said.
“I'll wait. I'm fucking suspended anyway. I don't have shit to do.”
“Vic, you can't wait around the ER all night.” I extended my blended arm towards the waiting room full of people in pain.
“I'm cool.” He nodded.
“Shit,” I sighed. “Come on. This is the very last time.”
“Yup, unless you want me to spend the night.” He taunted me.
“Keep dreaming! You apparently have a better chance with Wendy.” I noted.
“Not interested in Wendy.” Vic clarified. “Already told you who I wanted.”
This caused me to stop.
“Is this what this is about?” I asked.
"Sweetheart, as much as I want you and I do mean more than you just being underneath me or twirling on top of me; stealing kisses from those beautiful lips, spending quality time with you to find out what makes you tick, or simply watching you looking at me like you want me.” Vic paused. “As much as I want all of that, right now, I just want to fucking sleep. So, I'll wait. For all of it, but right now I'll wait until you get off of work."
Goddamn.
Now, he had me there. Shit, I couldn't even believe he said all of that shit. I couldn't fake acting like that didn't affect me, so I turned my ass around and led him to the nurse’s lounge.
"You can stay here for now and I'll swing by to get you when I get off." I stood in the door to let him inside.
"Thanks, Kat." Vic nodded and walked in.
"Umm, hmm." I mumbled.
When I went to close the door, Vic held it open and said, "No, really. Thank you. I owe you big time."
He was being sincere, so I smiled and nodded my head.
My shift couldn't have ended fast enough but I swear to God, Vic Ritter was in my head during the entire time. Every word he said, that look in his eyes, and even the goddamn visual of being under him and twirling on top of him.
I could see that shit.
Probably the last place he needed to go was my place, even if he was on the couch because those words definitely riled me up.
In a way that I didn't want to be near him. It was bad enough he was taking liberties with kissing me on the forehead, showing up at my job and just saying crazy shit that had me focused less on my job and more with getting off of work.
Around five-forty-five, I started to pack up and get ready to leave. Wendy gave me shit all through the night about ‘my boyfriend’ and having a sleepover. Each time I went away from the front for any significant amount of time, she asked me if I got ‘sum’. This was definitely a time I practiced my skills at actively ignoring her.
When I went to wake Vic up, He hopped up as if he wasn't sleep at all.
“You weren't able to get any sleep?” I asked.
“Yeah, a little.” He picked up his bag and followed me out.
Once I clocked out, ignored Wendy some more with her motioning to ‘get sum’, we left and drove to my apartment.
Vic went to
the couch, I went to the kitchen and we started our routine as if we had done it a thousand times before. I made a snack while he brushed his teeth. He told me he'd make breakfast and coffee but not too early, and we said good night.
Unfortunately for me, I was the one who couldn't sleep. My eyes drifted closed several times but every other part of my body wanted that man to come back to my room. So much so, that I had a quick dream about him doing just that.
I woke the hell up with beads of sweat on my forehead and neck. Fuck, the man had invaded my mind and now I probably needed to talk about it with someone.
D’asia was out of the question because she would not be objective at all. Vic already told me what he wanted and my brother was not even in the equation. The other folks in my life were not close and that was my fault. I never kept people close to me. Even D’asia became a fixture in my life because she wouldn't leave me alone. It was probably time to set up an appointment to see my therapist. I'd seen her last year, so it was a good time to check back in with the updates of my life.
Between sleeping off and on, I eventually started to hear movement in the kitchen, but I didn’t really trust myself to go out there just yet. Then the smell of bacon and sweet coffee entered my room with the door closed and I knew it was time. However, before I went anywhere, I took a cool shower. A long one, actually, because I needed to get clean with the hot water first, then I needed to simmer down with the cold shower. This time, I took the scarf off my head, so that my long untamed afro would stay moisturized. I always tied my hair up at night because I didn’t have the luxury of being lint and tangle free.
When I walked into the small kitchen, most of the food was done. Vic was actually cutting up some oranges into quarters.
Who knew?
The man was domesticated.
“Morning,” my voice was gruff.
Vic laughed and said, “Morning to you. Where’s the scarf?”
Really?
“Ha-ha, very funny.” I answered.
A look of concern crossed his features and he asked, “What?”
“You’re making fun of my scarf?” I said.
“No, I wasn’t,” he defended. “I like when you have it twisted on your head. It’s different.”
He kept cutting the oranges.
“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” Vic followed up.
“Okay,” I answered and walked over to the bacon sitting on the back burner.
When I reached for a piece, my hand was snatched back by what felt like a ninja move.
“Nope, no picking. We eat out there,” Vic laughed and pointed to the dining room.
“You are no fun!” I snapped and stomped out the kitchen.
His laughter was almost contagious probably because he didn’t do it often. It was deep and husky. A couple of minutes later, Vic came out with waffles, bacon, home fries and a plate of oranges. He had to make a few trips but I didn’t move because I was still pouting about not being able to eat the bacon. He also brought out the coffee pot for me and orange juice for him.
“No raw eggs today?” I asked.
“Not today,” he laughed. “I do that once or twice a week. Plus, you didn’t have enough eggs.” He noted.
We filled our plates and commenced to eating and then he said, “Let’s play a game.”
“What kind of a game?” I asked. “We’re a little old for those, right?”
He chuckled.
“Oh yes, sweetheart. I don’t play those games; I mean like a get to know you game. Two truths and a lie.” He nodded like he was pleased with himself.
“Ah, okay. That should be interesting. Are you going first?” I asked.
“You can.” He nodded towards me as he ate his second small blueberry waffle.
“Okay, let’s see. I…”
“Wait, the other person gets to pick the topic.” He smiled.
“Hmm, okay. Shoot. What’s my topic?” I asked him.
“Love life.” He said a little too quickly for me.
I smirked at him and said, “Okay. I’ve been married before, I’ve had a total of three boyfriends and I’ve been engaged twice.”
Vic raised an eyebrow and said, “You’ve never been married.”
“You’re right. How’d you know?” I gave him the side-eye.
“Truthfully, I’ve run your records. So, there was no mention of a husband and please don’t get all sanctimonious with me about running your record. I am a police officer and I need to know who I associate with.” Vic raised his hand.
With my own eyebrow raised, I put a piece of bacon in my mouth and slowly chewed on it before I said, “It’s fine. I ran your record too.”
That stopped him mid-sip of his juice. “You did?”
“Oh yeah, I’m cautious and yes, D’asia and Ryan are folks I consider to be friends of mine, but you could be anything. And that badge means nothing to me, so…” I nodded at him.
“Well, fuck me.” Vic chuckled. “A woman after my own heart.”
That comment stopped me in the middle of pouring my second cup of coffee.
Then we both burst out laughing.
What a goddamn pair.
“Okay,” Vic said when we both stopped laughing. “You’ve been engaged twice? You gotta spill the beans on that.”
I laughed.
“Okay, the first time I met a doctor at my job and we’d been dating secretly for a while and a year later, he wanted to get married. It was still a secret and that was because relationships like that were frowned upon. If it got out, he’d have to go somewhere else or I’d be transferred elsewhere. Neither of us wanted that, so we kept it secret. What I didn’t know was that he wanted to keep the marriage a secret as well. Let’s just say, when I found out about his plan, I started cutting up those wedding invitations.”
Vic’s mouth was wide open.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “A mess. The second time, it was a guy that I’d known for some years. He was an associate of my brothers and he and I had grown intimate without my brother knowing. When my brother found out, he beat the shit out of him and the next thing I know, he was proposing. We were in love so I didn’t really think much of it. But one drunken night, during an argument, no less, he told me that my brother highly persuaded him to make the relationship legit. And there’s my sordid story.”
“What the fuck?” Vic exclaimed. “I want to beat the shit out of both of these dudes. Kudos to your brother.”
“Yeah.” I raised both eyebrows and said, “Okay, your turn. The topic is relationships.”
He clapped once and said, “Okay, I’m ready. Uh, my last lady friend turned out to be a man, I don’t date a lot and I’m ready to settle down.”
“Come on, Vic. You got to be serious.” I whined.
“What? That is serious. The things that I’ve seen and experienced, sweetheart.” He shook his head. “I could tell you some stories for years.”
“Fine, uh, the lie is you are not ready to settle down.” I challenged.
“On the contrary, I’m totally ready to settle down. I was engaged once but that didn’t pan out. It was years ago and to answer your unanswered questions, we wanted different things in life. The lie is my last lady friend turned out to be a man. It wasn’t my last lady friend; it was the one before that.”
“What did you do?” I gasped. “No, how did you find out?”
My body was halfway out of the chair because I wanted to hear this story.
Vic shook his head and said, “Kat, we hadn’t been intimate and thank God for that, but it was the second date and over dinner, she told me that she was, in fact, a man and would be getting the surgery to have everything replaced next year. She told me that she really liked me and thought we hit it off.”
“What did you say?” I exclaimed.
“You’re enjoying this, huh?” He asked.
“Come on!” I yelled. “Tell me.”
He laughed and said, “I told her that I appreciated the fact that she let me know
early but that wasn’t what I was interested in and good luck with the surgery.”
“What?” I asked. “That’s it.”
“Yeah, man. It’s fucking two thousand and sixteen. Nowadays you got to ask any and everybody if they’re gay, trans, bi-curious, open, monogamous, and all types of shit. You can take anything for granted. Are you any of those?”
I threw my napkin at him and said, “What do you think?”
“Shit if I know. I’d love to find out,” he said.
I made my voice deep and said, “Are you sure?”
He burst out laughing again and so did I.
“You’re funny, when you’re not being mean.” He noted.
“So are you, when you’re not being a jerk.”
“Me.” Vic pointed to himself with his thumb. “A jerk?”
“Yeah, you. A jerk” I said.
“Says the woman who could melt a man with one look. Narrowed eyes, pursed lips, one eyebrow up. Shit, who has a chance?” He asked.
“I thought we were playing two truths and a lie.” I changed the subject.
There was no need in going there because he definitely didn’t have one. Vic looked at me and nodded his head.
“Okay, your turn. The topic is cops.” He sat back and strategically placed his hands on the table.
“You want to go there?” I asked.
Daring him to say yes because one sure fire way to get him out of my life, was to go there. He needed to go anyway, so he asked for it.
Vic’s head nodded in the affirmative.
“Alright.” I put down my utensils and placed my hands on the table. “Cops serve and protect my neighborhood, like they serve and protect white neighborhoods, cops are nothing but a gang, who wear the same color and bully folks who don’t know their rights. Cops are able to do almost anything and they’ll never be brought to justice.”
Yup, there’d be no more laughing.
“Well, it looks like you’ve changed the game. Not even two of them are true.” Vic noted.
“You’re right, I did change the game. All of them are true.”
“Kat, all of those are not true. I’m a cop and I should know.” He challenged.