Page 9 of Do You Right

“So, one of my teammates is from Guadeloupe, and he brought me some rum back from his last visit home. Wanna try it with me?”

KC’s voice pulled me back into my body. All I could do was nod because I was afraid that if I looked him in the eyes, I would lose it. Thankfully, he didn’t press me further and hopped up to get the liquor. When he returned, he had two shot glasses and the bottle of foreign rum. He sat on the floor beside me and poured us up. I watched quietly as he lifted the glass to his nose.

“Hmm, this smells good,” he told me.

Since he mentioned it, I decided to give it a whiff too. “Mmm, it does. Like vanilla.” We lifted our glasses in tandem before clinking them together. My face was already balled up, prepared for the harshness of the liquor, but honestly, the liquor was so smooth the reaction never came. “Ou, it tastes good too,” I mumbled with an approving nod.

KC lifted the bottle and twisted it from side to side like it would help him figure out what was in it or how it was made. “That’s dangerous right there. Something that’ll have you throwing back shot after shot until it’s too late.” We shared a laugh but fell silent when it began to thunder again. “We scary as hell,” he joked.

I slapped a hand over my mouth to hold in my laugh. I slid my glass toward him when I saw he was pouring himself another shot. We tossed that one back just as easily, and I had to admit if I wasn’t careful, I was going to be bent. “I’m curious about you, Chai.”

I folded my legs Indian style after angling myself toward him. The liquor had me warm on the inside and more susceptible to conversation. “Let me guess. You want to know how I ended up on the streets?”

“Kinda.”

I offered him a sad smile and sighed. “It’s actually kinda crazy to me too. Did you know I’ve been playing the violin since I was four years old?” He shook his head and scooted a little closer, intrigued by the words spilling out of my mouth. “Yeah, once I had my mind set on it, my parents poured every penny, nickel, and dime into hiring the best tutors for me, but I fucked it all up.” My voice came out hoarse and smaller than I intended. “I need another one,” I told KC, nodding to my shot glass.

He smiled but remained quiet as he poured shots for the both of us. I tossed it back, savoring the vanilla flavor and the warmth that spread through my limbs. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt his thumb brush softly against my cheek.

“Don’t cry, Chai. We just met, and I already hate to see you cry.” His voice was low, deep, and steady as it washed over me like a wave. Without warning, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. His cologne invaded my senses, and the heat from his body anchored me in the present.

“Why are you so nice to me, Kaizi?” The question came from nowhere and surprised me too.

“Shit, . . . somebody has to be. Why not me?”

Why did he have to go and say that? I balled his shirt in my hand as I buried my face in his chest. He was completely silent as I cried harder than I meant to in front of him, but it was like his presence pulled out every thread of sadness stitched into my heart. I had no choice but to unravel right then and there.

When I finally gathered myself, Kaizi palmed my face, forcing me to look at him. “It’s going to get better, beautiful. Your worst days are behind you.”

“How do you know?” I asked with a trembling voice.

“Because it can’t get worse than rock bottom, and since you’ve already been there, you know what not to do moving forward.”

He smiled at me, and I could only smile back at him. When I first met KC, I didn’t expect him to be the comforting type, but he was very good at it. I was feeling so at ease around him that I literally cried harder than a newborn baby. What shocked me even more was that he didn’t even bat an eye about it. He just let me fall apart. “You know, I really did misjudge you.”

He released me quickly and frowned. “Facts, you did, and I still got beef with you about that. Matter fact, take another shot as punishment.”

Since the liquor was so good, I couldn’t even call it punishment, but I still held my glass up for him to pour. I tried not to stare at him for too long and kept failing at it. Kaizi was too handsome not to marvel at. Then when I considered his kindness and the way he consoled me, I knew I had to pull it together, or I would mess around and give this man all of me.

“Ican smell your onion breath from over here,” KC told me after turning down the volume of the Pooh Sheisty album he was blasting all the way home.

I glanced over to find his charming eyes on me as he pushed his Corvette through the streets like a madman. “Keep your eyes on the road before you hit somebody else, and leave me and my onion breath alone.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he rewarded me a hearty laugh in return.

I was happily munching on a bag of sour cream and onion chips after we finished grocery shopping for the house. Kaizi literally picked up everything I looked at for more than a second. There was so much food I felt like it would take more than a month for the two of us to eat it all. I also wasn’t looking forward to carrying it all in the house and having to put it away.

“Why the fuck is it so many cars out here?” Kaizi said more to himself than to me.

We’d turned on Lincoln Drive to find cars lined up on either side of the road. He pulled up to his townhouse and used his remote to lift the two-car garage door. After securing his car inside, he hopped out to come around and open my door for me. I’d learned very quickly that KC was a gentleman. He loved to open and hold doors for me. It was even raining when we left the grocery store, so he left me at the front while he went to get the car. He’d come to the door with an umbrella to walk me to the car before he took it upon himself to load the car with all the groceries.

“I got the bags. Unlock the door for me.”

I took the keys from his hands, while he went to the trunk to begin grabbing bags. I lifted the key to the door, ready to insert the key, when a bout of laughter made me stop. I could tell KC heard it too because his body tensed. I heard him curse under his breath, but he patiently waited for me to open the door.

We walked right into a cloud of smoke so thick it almost made it hard to see. There were voices coming from everywhere, and even music was blasting from a speaker system nearby. I glanced over my shoulder at KC to find him frowning. His chest heaved up and down proving that anger was simmering beneath his calm composure. Not to mention his face started turning red.

He kept quiet as he surveyed the mess all over the kitchen. There were piles of empty pizza boxes. Liquor and sodas covered almost all the counter space. KC had to set the bags of groceries in his hands on the floor because there was nowhere else for them to go.

I followed closely behind him as he began to maneuver his way through his home. I hated to see the condition it was in when it was a house full of grown ass men and women and not teenagers. They could’ve used trashed bags, but instead, they treated his home like it was the trash bin. I was too busy looking at a couple making out in the hallway to realize KC had stopped walking. Bumping into his solid frame made him turn to quickly steady me.