Distracted (13 page)

Kennedy

The call came in before I could even make it back to my apartment.

I smiled when I saw his name pop up, though I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when it came to him. I knew my moves had been somewhat reckless, at least from what I remembered. But at this point, it was too late to take them back.

“Hello?”

“Kennedy Wilson. Thank you.” I blushed unashamedly, knowing he couldn’t possibly see it through the phone.

“What’d I do?” I asked teasingly as I turned into the parking lot of my apartment complex.

He groaned into the phone as if he was remembering every detail that was honestly a blur to me. “Your performance last night was… impeccable.
Five stars
. Now what do I need to do to earn an encore?” A laugh boiled over before I could contain it.

“There won’t be an encore, Bryson. It was just a… what’d you call it? Heat of the moment thing.”

He let out a little laugh of his own as he said, “Well can I at least take you to lunch so we can… talk about it? Maybe not the fine details of you begging me to watch, but at least the motive.”

Damn, I said all that?

I quickly thought it over and no matter how warm the concept made me feel, the little ounce of control I had left told me otherwise.

“Bryson, I don’t think that would be a good idea. Things aren’t exactly the clearest for me right now and I… probably shouldn’t have shown up to your place last night with all my baggage.” I was beyond grateful that he hadn’t taken advantage of me, though I highly doubted I would’ve regretted that part of it.

He sighed into the phone, not quite disappointedly but still holding a different kind of weight as he explained, “Kenn, I’m your friend. Friends take care of friends, no matter how much of my willpower you drained by playing with your pussy in the middle of my bed.” Hearing him say it out loud caused a rush of embarrassment to run over me.

“I’m sorry, Bryson.”

“Don’t be. It’s all good. Just let me know when you’re ready to talk, alright? I’ll be here.”

Though I had told Bryson more than once to his face that he wasn’t shit to me, I knew better now. He may have been a little manipulative in general, but he had certainly been an ally when it came to this particular situation. He didn’t have to open the door, he didn’t have to respect me,
he didn’t have to
...

“Thank you. I gotta go. I’ll… talk to you later?”

I could feel his smile through the phone as he said, “Looking forward to it.”

&

“So… did you fuck him or what?”

I thought about tossing my freshly broken off piece of bread at Chloe’s forehead for asking, but instead I flipped it back on her. “Did you fuck Wes?”

She rolled her eyes like the answer was obvious. “Come on now, Kennedy. Is that even a real question? Of course I did. And he was… he was
alright
.”

“
Alright
?”

She took a sip of her martini - her third if we were keeping count - as she broke it down, “I’d give him a… B overall. 
A+
effort,
B+
length,
C-
Stamina.”

I took a sip of my water, still trying to fight the hangover from the night before as I asked, “Ahh, so Mr. Wes was a quick pumper?”

She swatted a hand at me. “Quick is an understatement. But we’re not here for that. We’re here to find out what happened with you and Bryson. So spill it.”

I sighed deeply as I gave her the most honest version I could without saying too much. “Nothing happened, Chloe. He was a complete gentleman; slept in a different room and everything.” It still surprised me that between us two, he was actually the one that made the responsible decision.

“What?! You must really be in love with Landon if you didn’t let Bryson hit that.” Just the mention of both names in the same sentence made me cringe.

“
I
… I do love Landon. A piece of me will always love Landon. But he… he’s not who I thought he was.” The irony of the situation still blew my mind. How he tried to belittle me for my honesty like he wasn’t out here pulling shit on the side.

Ugh.

As I was busy in my own thoughts, Chloe kept her eyes fixated on my face as if she was trying to get a read me. “Hmm… are you sure about that? Or did it just take someone else coming along for you to realize it?”

“Maybe both? I don’t know, Chloe. This is still new for me.”

“I understand. I still can’t believe he was fucking around with those girls at the club though. She wasn’t even cute.
And
her butt was fake.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“I know, right? It like… wasn’t even shakin’.” We laughed together as my phone began to ring. I picked it up from the table, getting a closer look at who the call was coming from.

Nicole.

I had honestly kind of forgotten about her, but now that Bryson had been a friend to me, it was only fair that I did the same.

“Hello?”

She sang into the phone, “Heyyyy Kennedy. So I’m at the mall looking at some pieces and I was thinking you should probably join me. I mean, since you’re my stylist and all.”

Chloe gave me the,
‘who is that’
look and I tried to answer with my emphasis, “Actually,
Nicole
. I don’t think I’ll be able to work for you after all. It’s just… conflict of interest.” I still didn’t know if she was really carrying Bryson’s baby, but either way it was too close for comfort.

She smacked her teeth as she asked, “Conflict of interest? What does that even mean?”

I broke it down as simply as I could, “It means… I can’t work for you.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear as she yelled, “But you signed a contract!”

There was really no reason for me to get out of character, so I remained calm as I told her, “And I’m breaking it.”

“Bitch, I’ll sue your ass into the ground.” Her use of expletives tickled me. She was surely a fan of old tricks if she thought dropping the B-word was gonna get me emotionally-invested in the conversation.

“Let’s be real, Nicole. How much sense would that make? I mean, for one… you can’t really afford it. For two, would you rather me show up and make you look like crap? I think not.”

She grunted before she spewed, “Whatever, Kennedy. If you don’t wanna work for me, fine! You weren’t that good anyway.”

But you hired me so...

“O… kay, Nicole. Be well. Good luck with the pregnancy.” She growled into the phone before hanging up and Chloe immediately jumped into action.

“Do we need to ride out on that bitch? She was rude as hell.” Though I always brushed off the idea of having friends, Chloe was definitely as ride-or-die as they came.

“Nah, it’s all good. Let’s just focus on the positive. Like your next step with Mr. Wes.”

Bryson

“So I think I deserve a token of appreciation for delivering Kennedy to your front door like a Hot ‘N Ready pizza.”

I laughed Wes off as I wiped my face with my towel before tossing it over my shoulder after practice. I still hadn’t gotten a chance to get the full story out of Kennedy, so I was counting on Wes to give me the details.

I waited until we settled in at our respective lockers to ask, “How’d that shit happen anyway?”

He took a swig from his water bottle before he answered, “According to Chloe, she and her dude got into it over some shit at the club.”

Of course this dude was pillow talkin’...

“Oh word?”

I changed out of my practice jersey into a regular t-shirt while I listened to him answer. “Yeah. And Chloe was already chillin’ with me when all that shit settled, so Kennedy came and joined us. Took a few shots too many and next thing you know she was begging me to take her to your crib.”

“Begging you?” I hardly saw Kennedy as the begging type.

Though she did beg you to watch her...

“Begging, bruh. I’m assuming her ol’ man was probably gonna be at the crib tryna get her back and since Chloe was without a doubt coming home with me, you were her first option.” The explanation made total sense, no matter how surprising it was that she thought of me as a safe place to go.

“Hmmm… that’s interesting.”

“Nah, what’s interesting is how many positions you had her fine ass in before the sun came up.”

I brushed him off. “Chill, bro. We didn’t even do anything.”

He didn’t even pretend to be convinced as he said, “Bryson, I’ve known you a few years now and I have a hard time believing that shit. Unless, you….
awww shit
.”

“What?”
He eyed me for a minute before he asked, “You really care about her, don’t you?”

“Most definitely.”

He looked borderline disappointed. “Damn, so ya’ll really didn’t do anything?” I shook my head no though clips of her in the middle of my bed had been on repeat ever since.

“You better be careful, man. One second you care about her, the next second you’ll be in love.”

My heart damn near skipped a beat. I had never been a fan of the L word; at least not in a serious manner.

“
In love
? Nah, man. It’s not even like that.” Though I cared for Kennedy quite a bit, I hardly saw love being the case.

“Sounds all fine and dandy now, but don’t be surprised when cupid comes and bites you in the ass when you least expect it.”

&

“Big bro, you gotta let me have these kicks. I mean, ever since you’ve been on your grown and sexy thanks to that stylist of yours, you probably don’t even have the time to give these babies the attention they deserve.”

I gave my little brother Miles a smack to the side of his head to knock some sense into him as I dragged him out of my closet. He was visiting for the first week of his summer break before he planned on flying down to Atlanta to see his girlfriend.

“Off limits, bro. You know that. And besides, my stylist doesn’t control all my moves. Not anymore at least.” I still became annoyed with the idea that Kennedy had quit her job with me to take one with Nicole. But the fact that she was at least talking to me somewhat made up for it.

“Yeah right. After I saw you in those tight ass pants in that interview you did, I knew whoever she was must have you wrapped around her finger.”

Damn, was it that obvious?

I brushed him off. “Nah, she just had a vision. And you know how Leslie is about my image, so I had to follow the rules.
”
He eyed me suspiciously before he followed me out of the room and down the stairs.

“Mmhmm. How bad is she? Be real.” I dug in my pocket and pulled out my phone, scrolling through my Instagram app to find her profile. When I found one of my favorites, a picture I had actually screenshotted to save in my phone, I handed it to him.

“Damnnnnnn. She
is
bad.”

I could tell he was scrolling to other pictures so I snatched the phone back from him as I told him, “I’m tellin’ Ava on you.”

“Aye man. Even my girl can appreciate a beautiful woman when she sees one.” I knew that was a stretch, but I let it slide.

I was just getting ready to ask him about his final grades for the semester when the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting anyone so I gave the nod to Miles to answer it for me and run clearance. Then I stood by the stairs to listen in.

His voice took a different tone as he said, “Can I help you with something, ma?”

Should’ve known it was a girl…

“Hi. I was… looking for Bryson. Is he here?”

Kennedy?

Miles leaned away from the door to make sure it was cool and I waved for him to let her in.

“Yeah, he’s here. Come on in, ma.” He opened the door further to let her past, shamelessly checking her out as she went around him. Behind her back, he gave me two thumbs up then jokingly wiped his mouth.

“Kenn. What’s up, girl?” I strolled over to her, pulling her into a hug just so I could get a whiff of her always pleasant scent.

“Well I called myself doing one of those
in-the-area
visits friends do, but I didn’t account for company. My apologies.”

I quickly assured her, “This knucklehead is hardly company. Kennedy, this is my little brother Miles. Miles, Kennedy.” I couldn’t believe the little smirk he put on to pull her into a hug of his own. He peeked over her shoulder to taunt me and I mouthed, “
I’m telling Ava.
”

“It’s good to meet you, Miles. I hope you’re nothing like your brother,” she teased.

“Not in the slightest, ma. He’s more of a Beyoncé. I’m just Solange.”

Kennedy busted out laughing as she stood on her tippy toes to wrap her arm around his shoulder and say, “Well I just so happen to like Solange, particularly for her fashion sense. So you’re good in my book.”

Miles flashed me the biggest smile as he teased, “You hear that, Bryson? I’m good in her book.”

Instead of giving Miles’s antics any attention, I directed it all to Kennedy. “You want something to drink? Miles has already eaten the fridge bare, so if you’re hungry we’ll have to go out somewhere.”

“I’m actually good. But do you think we could talk…
alone
?” Miles looked at me for an answer until he realized what she said.

“Oh. Oh! My bad. I’m going. But if ya’ll go get something to eat, I’m coming with. A brotha is mad hungry.” Kennedy laughed again as I shoved him towards the stairs.

Then I lead her to the living room as she gushed, “He’s adorable.”

“Don’t let him hear that shit. He likes ‘em older.” Even though I knew he had Ava, I still wasn’t gonna let him get too comfortable with Kennedy.

She fell onto the couch, pulling her shoes off as she replied, “Well with that natural charm, I’m sure he pulls ‘em by the boatload.”

I made myself comfortable next to her, not hesitating to pull her feet into my lap and give ‘em a rub down. “He’s actually going to see his little girlfriend when he leaves here in a few days. She’s a pro basketball player down in Atlanta.”

Her eyes closed as she adjusted to the pressure. “Awwwww. Like
Love & Basketball
?”

Why does everyone always reference that shit?

I laughed as I replied, “Yeah, something like that. But enough about them. What’s up with you?”

“Nothin’ much. What’s up with you?” She joked.

“Kenn, you are so cheesy. But really though, what’s going on?”

Her whole demeanor seemed to change as she pulled her feet from my hands. “I umm… I cancelled my contract with Nicole.”

Now that caught me off-guard. Kennedy had made such a big deal before about how she had bills to pay and even though I knew Nicole wouldn’t have been able to pay her for long, she certainly had enough money for at least a couple paychecks.

“Word? Why’d you do that?”

She shrugged, her eyes on her hands as she twiddled her thumbs and answered, “I don’t know. I guess after seeing your true colors the other night, it just felt like the right thing to do.”

“
My true colors
? Kennedy, I’ve been real with you from the jump.” Though things had gotten a little cloudy from time-to-time, there had never been an instance of me deliberately selling her lies. 

“Tell me then. Straight up. Is she really pregnant with your baby?”

I released a heavy sigh before I honestly answered, “As bluntly as possible, unless she masterminded some crazy shit like poking a hole in my condom collection or somethin’ like that, then the chances are slim to none. But we still have to wait for the DNA tests to be 1000% sure.” The whole process was exhausting, but I was grateful that Leslie handled the in-person dealings with Nicole so I wouldn’t have to anymore.

“And when are you gonna do that?”

I was literally counting down the days of the last, “Two weeks.”

“So I have to wait a whole two weeks until I can find out how
outstanding
you are?”

Wait a minute… what?

She blushed as she casted her eyes back down to her hands. “I mean, I’m not getting any on the regular these days and a girl can only do so much with her hands before she gets early onset arthritis.” I snatched her feet back into a hold, applying pressure in just the right spot to make her head fly back.

“Kennedy, I’m a strong, youthful man with a strong sex game. Why are you wasting orgasms on your hands?”     

“Because your strong ass has a possible. So until then… Little Miss Kenn has to keep herself occupied.” Her teasing was way too cute.

I watched her eyes roll to the back of her head as I did some teasing of my own on her feet.

“You gonna wait for me?”

Her answer came out as more of a moan than anything. “
Yeah
… I’ll wait for you.”

I felt giddy as hell as I sat there thinking of the possibilities. And just when I was getting ready to go into the details of how good I was gonna make it for her, I heard Miles yell from the stairs, “Ya’ll so nasty!”