Close Quarters: A Novel (Zane Presents) (28 page)

With the office locked up, I embarked on my commute home. The entire trip I kept telling myself to just act normal when I saw Malik. I was anxious to see how he would behave or hear what he’d say. I exited the train station and walked toward our street. As I neared the corner where I had parked my car all I saw was an empty space. “Oh shit,” I mumbled to myself. My car had been towed. Not only had I left my car in front of a no parking sign, but today was alternate-side-of-the-street parking. “Shit. Shit. Shit,” I said while marching down the block.

Malik was in the living room when I came in. “Hey.”

He looked up from the file in his lap. “Hey.”

I spoke over my shoulder as I hung up my coat. “My car must have gotten towed today. I left it at the corner Saturday night because of the snow.”

“It’s not towed. I moved it yesterday.”

“Did you?” A smile flitted across my lips.

“I saw it on the corner when I went to the store yesterday. I used your spare key to move it. It’s down the block.”

I went into the room and sat next to him. “Thanks, Malik.”

He tossed his folder on the table. “Listen, Mel. I feel like I should apologize for the other night. I don’t know where that came from. I mean, I know where it came from, I just don’t know what made me do that. I know you’re with Ellis and it was wrong of me to . . . well . . .you know.”

I was glad I wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with our indiscretions. “I’ve been thinking about what I would say to you when I got home. Now that I’m here my words are falling short.”

Malik looked good in his steel-blue V-neck sweater and dark-blue cargo pants. He was clean-shaven and his hair was shorter than when I last saw it.

He caught me giving him a once-over and smiled. “I can understand that.”

“I don’t want to pretend that nothing happened here on Saturday. In fact, I want to put my cards on the table. I loved what happened between us the other night. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t. But the guilt has been eating me up inside for two reasons. One, I cheated on Ellis, and two, because I enjoyed it so much. I can finally grasp what people mean when they say they knew they were doing wrong, but it felt so good.

“I am every bit as responsible as you for what happened. I would never let you think it was your fault. I should have stopped before
things went too far, hell, before they got started. But I didn’t. And that’s my cross to bear.”

“So I take it everything is back in order with Ellis?”

“We’re working on it.”

“Did you tell him about us?”

“No and I’m not going to.”

“It’s our dirty little secret, huh?”

“Malik.”

“What if I told you that I want it to happen again?”

“It can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked, inching closer to me.

“Because it’s not right.”

He leaned over and kissed me on the neck. “No one can determine what’s right or wrong but us.”

I put my hand on his chest and pushed him back. “I’m confused. You just apologized for your behavior and said that you were wrong.”

“I apologized because it was the
right
thing to do for putting you in a fucked-up situation. But if we’re putting our cards on the table, the truth is, I want to be with you again.”

I put some distance between us and went to sit across from him. “Malik, I think the best thing for me to do is to move out. We can’t be roommates. Saturday never should have happened.”

“It’s no secret that I don’t like Ellis. Even if I did like the brother, I’d still say he’s not the man for you.”

“And I suppose you are?”

“I’m not going to make this about whether it’s me or him. It’s about you. I know you, Mel. You won’t be happy with that man.”

“I don’t need this right now,” I said, shaking my head. “We were kidding ourselves thinking we could live in close quarters like this without something happening. You’re a
single
man. I get that
maybe I was the forbidden fruit. Well, now you’ve tasted the fruit and it was a big mistake. It’s not going to happen again. I can’t live in this apartment with you. We need to go our separate ways.”

“That’s it? Our friendship is over because of this?”

“How can we be friends when you’re telling me you want to sleep with me again? I’m engaged, Malik.”

“You were engaged two nights ago.”

“That was a low blow.”

“No, it’s the truth.”

“Well, what about your truth? Let’s talk about you.”

“Talk about me, what?” he said, tossing his hands up.

“What about Kai?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s a classic Malik answer. You throw my engagement in my face but get evasive when I bring up your relationship.”

He nodded. “I’ll give you that.”

“So, answer the question.”

“Okay. I like Kai. She has potential to become someone special, but right now our shit is broken.”

“Well, I suggest you work on fixing your shit with Kai, instead of trying to tear apart my relationship.” I got up and headed toward my room. “I’ll be out by the end of the week.”

M
elina got me thinking I needed to figure out my situation with Kai. I had never officially deemed her my girl, but since we started messing around I hadn’t been seeing anyone else. We had spoken briefly earlier in the day and were meeting at her place when she got home from work.

I stepped off the elevator and began walking down the hallway to Kai’s apartment. I caught a glimpse of someone heading into the stairwell at the end of the hall. I could’ve sworn it was the big dude we had bumped into on a previous occasion in the elevator. “What the fuck?” I muttered.

Kai’s door was cracked open. I gently nudged it and stepped into the foyer. She was smoothing her hair and adjusting her shirt over her slacks. She spun around when she heard my footsteps. “Oh, Malik, you’re here.”

“It’s seven o’clock.” I loitered near the door, inspecting the room. A pillow from the sofa was on the floor and two glasses of water on the coffee table.

Her eyes were drawn to what had my attention. She bustled to replace the pillow and carry the glasses off to the kitchen. “Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.”

“Looks like you were doing a little entertaining.”

“Don’t beat around the bush, Malik,” she shouted from the
kitchen. “If there’s something you want to know, then ask.” She came back into the living room, drying her hands on a dish towel.

“So dude was just in here?”

“If by dude you mean my neighbor, Gavin, then yes, he was here.”

“Word? You want to fill me in on what was going on?”

Kai’s hands immediately went to her hips. “You might want to rethink your tone, Malik.”

“I see Big Boy sneaking into a staircase as I’m coming down the hall and then I walk up in here and you got shit thrown on the floor. You’re over there fixing your hair and clothes, but you’re worried about my tone.”

“I think you need a reality check. You don’t own any of this,” Kai said, striking a pose. “I gave you multiple opportunities to make this an exclusive arrangement, but you kept side-stepping, probably too scared to be
locked
down. So now you come into my home acting like I’m your woman? I think we both know that’s not the case. And just to set the record straight, though I don’t owe you any explanations, Gavin and I are friends and nothing more. I don’t appreciate your insinuation that he was sneaking off. That’s my neighbor. He doesn’t need to sneak from my apartment.”

Women were notorious for mixing their messages. On the one hand, Kai wanted to make it known that I had no claim to her if she was fucking dude, but on the other hand, she said they were just friends. I knew I had probably hurt her ego by not saying either way whether I wanted a serious relationship with her. I had to admit that it was more of a stall tactic than a rejection. I didn’t know what I wanted, so I left the issue hanging. I figured as long as we were spending time and having fun, then she was still getting what she wanted.

“That’s cool, Kai. I’m just wondering why you didn’t speak to your friend when we bumped into him months ago. Neither one of you uttered a single hello. It’s funny. When I see my friends, we
speak
to each other.”

“Really, Malik?” Her neck was rolling now. “Now you’re just being an ass.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“Not by me. At least not yet. Gavin and I met at a condo-owners meeting
after
we saw him on the elevator. I don’t have to do this with you. You’re not my man, so stop pretending to be.”

I had to chill. My suspicions were just that. Suspicions. I didn’t come over to anger Kai. I came over to discuss the one thing that had her pissed. Us. “Listen, when we first decided to mix business with pleasure, we both knew what it was. You knew the rules just like I did. We were keeping it light, so no one would get hurt, especially since we worked together. I’m not blind and I can hear. I know your feelings began to change toward our situation. I’m not gonna lie. I was cool with the way things were going.”

“Don’t you mean the way things
are
going?”

“That’s what I said.”

“No, it’s not.”

I released a stream of hot air. “Let me finish. I know you want more, but I’m asking you to be patient with me. I got a lot of balls up in the air right now. Getting fired thrust me into overdrive, trying to get my agency open earlier than planned. You know how important that is to me. But I do want to figure out where we’re going with this, when the time is right.”

“Okay. Let me see if I understand what you’re saying. Basically, I shouldn’t rock the boat and expect anything serious until, as you say,
the time is right
. Yet you can come in here and question what I do and with whom even though you and I aren’t exclusive?”

“That’s what you took away from what I said?”

“Yes, Malik.”

This wasn’t the time for tiptoeing around the issues. “Kai, I’m still feeling you out. Sometimes what you say and do don’t quite match up. On more than one occasion you’ve gone missing, most recently last week when I got fired. And I’ll admit that dude walking out of here right before I arrived pissed me off. You’re right we aren’t exclusive, but again, I need to be able to trust what you say and do. If you’re telling me that Big Boy is just a friend I have to take it at face value, but that’s not how it looked.”

“You’re doing an awful lot of speculating about what I do. What about you? I guess you’re living the life of a saint. You’re not with me twenty-four/seven. Am I supposed to believe that you’re not involved with anyone else?”

“Exactly.”

“Bullshit. I know how you are with the ladies and I know you’re fucking someone other than me.”

“You’re wrong,” I said without flinching. Technically, I wasn’t lying. What occurred between me and Melina was a chance encounter. Melina had made it clear that there was no chance in hell of it happening again, no matter how much I wanted it to. She was moving to Long Island in a few days and planned to sign the lease to the apartment over to me. Ever since we slept together, I’d been trying not to think about Melina. Yet somehow she kept popping into my head. I knew she was getting married and would have been moving soon anyway, but I kept thinking how much I would miss seeing her and being around her and even how I enjoyed her company when we were out together. My feelings for Melina definitely had nothing to do with fucking.

Kai came over and planted herself directly in front of me. “It’s written all over your face that I’m not wrong.” She moved my
arms out of the way and positioned herself on my lap. “But, like you, I have to take your word that it’s the truth.”

“Fine. Sounds like we’re on the same page.”

“Not quite. I like to get my way, Malik. Right now, you’re getting your way.”

“And I appreciate it, but think of it as my
agency
getting its way.” I stood and lowered Kai onto the sofa.

“Where are you going?”

“Business is calling.”

“You’re not staying with me tonight?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t. I have to be at the Gable Building in the morning to sign the lease on my office space.”

Kai smiled up at me. “Well, kudos to you. It seems like you’re going to get everything you deserve, after all.”

• • •

As I left the building, I wondered whether Big Boy had already slipped back into Kai’s apartment.

I
strolled through the main lobby in Grand Central Station on my way to the Gable Building on Lexington Avenue. The morning rush was like orchestrated chaos, people crisscrossing each other at varying paces, amazingly avoiding collisions. Had I not been on my way to sign the lease to my office, I would have been annoyed by the hustle and bustle. Somehow knowing that in a matter of minutes I’d be holding the keys to my own office suite helped me maintain my calm.

The receptionist led me to the waiting area and offered me a cup of coffee. Initially, I declined, but after fifteen minutes of waiting for the property manager I had a change of heart. I glanced at my watch for the tenth time in two minutes. My appointment was scheduled for nine a.m. It was nearing half past the hour.

Finally, the manager rushed into the room. “Mr. Denton, I’m Roger Gordon. I’m sorry to keep you waiting, but we seem to have a problem.”

I stood, so we could speak eye to eye. “What sort of problem?”

“It seems the suite we were going to lease to you is no longer available.”

Heat rushed up the back of my neck. “How is that possible?”

“I apologize. There must have been some sort of internal mix-up among our team, but that suite has already been leased.”

“I spoke with your office two days ago and was assured that I could have that space.”

“I apologize for this oversight, Mr. Denton,” he said, his face reddening. He was repeatedly apologizing, but not offering any viable explanation.

“Well, what other suites can you show me in the building?”

“That was our last suite and we don’t have any other offices available either.”