Kitten

by Jack Harbon

  11

  We’re a Team

  Something was wrong. Kit didn’t know what it was, but he felt it the moment he stepped off the elevator that following Wednesday. It was on the faces of his coworkers. Damien and Logan, the two jokesters in the office, were noticeably silent, and even Yolanda seemed particularly tame. He made a face and crossed the floor to the mini kitchen. He found Barbie sitting with her hands wrapped tightly around a mug of tea.

  “Hey, Barbie. Everything okay?” he asked, pouring himself a cup of tea.

  “I don’t know, honey,” she said somberly. He took a tentative sip and looked around the room. Every person that met eyes with him diverted their attention elsewhere a moment later.

  He took a seat beside Barbie and said, “Okay, what the hell is going on? Why is everyone being weird?”

  “It’s Roman.”

  The moment the words left her lips, the elevator doors dinged open again. Rather than his boss walking out, Kit watched a stranger step out into the office. His wavy, shoulder-length black hair was brushed back neatly, and his suit looked as if it were tailored by five women with eighty years of experience. He adjusted his tie and looked at everyone in the office.

  “Roman’s in his office,” Yolanda said, forcing a smile. The stranger nodded and headed to the room in the back, not even bothering to knock. An oppressive silence hung over the office.

  “Barbie,” Kit insisted. “Who was that? Why is everyone acting so strange?”

  “That was Ari Naser.”

  The name was familiar, but it took him a moment to realize that Ari was the owner of the company. He’d been the one who’d fired all of those people involving the Grandeur scandal. He’d been the one to put all of these people in the positions they currently occupied.

  “Oh,” he said meekly. It made much more sense why everyone had suddenly clammed up and gone quiet enough to hear a pin drop. “Why is he here?”

  “I don’t know, but he hasn’t been down here before unless something was seriously wrong,” Barbie said. She nervously bit at the nail on her thumb, her eyes wide with fear. Kit glanced back at the office and narrowed his eyes.

  What could be the problem? He was sure everyone here had been doing their job the right way. Nothing bad had happened since he’d started working. Whatever it was, he hoped Roman was doing alright. He looked back at Barbie when she stood from the table and grabbed her purse.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Lunch. Yolanda’s paying. You’re invited too, if you want.”

  Kit shook his head. He wasn’t all that hungry, plus owing Yolanda money wasn’t very high on his to-do list. Barbie patted him on the shoulder and followed the rest of the employees out of the office. Soon Kit was left by himself. He took a breath and sat back in his seat. His mind began wandering.

  Was Roman in trouble for something an employee on his team had done? Or was this something Roman himself had done? What if their conversation was about him? Kit swallowed hard. If Ari had fired an entire team of highly qualified designers and illustrators, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to fire some assistant fresh out of college. Did he even have the power to fire Kit?

  “Of course he does,” Kit said to himself. “Shit.”

  The door to Roman’s office opened and Ari came striding out. He closed the door carefully, his eyes falling on Kit. He tilted his head curiously. “You must be Kenneth,” Ari said in a thick Australian accent.

  “Y-yes, sir,” Kit said, standing and offering his hand. Ari took it and gave him a firm shake. Kit tried to mask the wince.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met, which is unfortunate.” Ari moved around him and walked to the coffee pot. He poured the drink into a Styrofoam cup and took a long drink. Kit stood still as a statue, unsure how he should react. He wasn’t sure whether it was best to keep it casual or be super formal.

  “How has your day been?” Kit asked, hoping his voice didn’t waver too much.

  “Stressful. I’m glad I finally had the chance to talk to Roman. And now, you.” Ari turned to face him, his gaze hard. “I wanted to tell you personally. I heard all about your little incident with the company card.”

  Kit swallowed hard. “Yeah. That was…”

  “Unprofessional. Irresponsible. You’d best be thankful Roman’s so forgiving. I can’t say many other people would be.”

  Kit nodded and dropped his eyes to the ground. “I promise it won’t happen again, sir.”

  “I’m sure it won’t. Crossing me twice isn’t something I’d recommend. Get back to work.” Ari tossed his cup into the trash and walked to the elevators again. Kit watched him leave before he took a deep breath.

  “Don’t think so highly of yourself, asshole,” Kit muttered. Roman cleared his throat behind him. Kit spun around to face him. “Hey.”

  “Hey indeed,” Roman said, his arms crossed and his eyes stern. “Do you remember when I told you that I was keeping you around because you did your job well? Do you remember that I said I didn’t care how you behaved because I knew that at the end of the day, I could depend on you?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m really starting to wonder if I made a mistake in that assumption,” Roman said.

  Kit blinked. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about you telling me that you finished going over all those credit card statements and that you didn’t see any other issues besides the one you made. So, I find it very interesting that when I turned over the statements to Ari, they were filled with little irregularities. Did you even go through anything else besides your own spending history?”

  Kit wanted to kick himself. He’d looked over everything once or twice, but he had to admit that he hadn’t done the best job he could when he reviewed the other card statements. He’d been distracted with his time with Chad and Michelle, and at home, he, Bria, and Trish had been preparing for Trish’s musical.

  “I did a shitty job, Roman. I’m sorry.” He figured it was better to own up to his mistake than to try and justify why he hadn’t done it right the first time. “Was he here because of me? Did I spend more than just that hundred?”

  Roman shook his head. “No.”

  “What was it?”

  “It’s nothing,” he said, turning to head back into his office. Kit caught his arm and stopped him from leaving. He could feel the muscle in his arm flex, suddenly tense. Roman remained still for a moment before he turned back to face Kit.

  “It’s not nothing. Tell me.”

  “Someone’s stealing from the company,” he sighed.

  Kit’s brows knitted together. “Stealing how?”

  “Through our credit cards. It’s not just on this floor, it’s every department. They’re depositing a hundred dollars into different offshore accounts, withdrawing the money, and closing the account.”

  “Can’t you find out who’s opening these accounts?”

  “Ari’s lawyers contacted some of the people in charge of the accounts, but they have no idea what’s going on. Someone’s using their identity to open them.”

  Kit’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. He’d seen records of a hundred dollars being sent to random accounts, but he’d assumed they were business related. They didn’t seem out of the ordinary at all. Plus, nothing had shown up on his account.

  “Wait, this didn’t happen on my account. I’m the only one in this department not being robbed,” Kit said suddenly. “Does Ari think that it’s me doing this?” The idea of losing his job—and potentially spending time in jail—scared the shit out of him.

  “No, Kit, you just got here. Plus, this is far too advanced for you.”

  “If I wasn’t so relieved, I’d call you a dick,” Kit murmured. “What are we gonna do about this?”

  “We?” Roman looked down at him, skepticism on his face.

  “Yes, we. We’re a team, Roman. Whatever happens to you, happens to me.” Kit meant every part of that, too. Not only was it in his job description
to help out Roman to the best of his ability, but maybe if he’d done a better job of looking over the credit card bills, he’d have been able to save Roman the trouble of getting yelled at by Ari.

  Roman stared at him for a long while, examining all of his features. Kit looked back at him, reassured in his promise to help. He gave a small nod before returning to his office. He closed the door, but a minute later, he called Kit inside.

  “Yeah?” Kit said.

  “Thank you.” Roman said it with a kind of sincerity that Kit hadn’t seen before. He smiled slightly, then left the man to resume his work.

  Friday night came, and by that time, Kit was certain that everything was going to go according to plan. He wasn’t sure how they were going to catch the Yellow Fall thief, but he was positive about this new scheme. He’d thought over what Michelle had told him, how he had to make Roman see that he wasn’t going to let that kiss go, and he’d formulated the perfect idea. He was going to show Roman just how much that night at Eleven Madison Park affected him.

  He laid out his outfit and then hopped in the shower. Bria and Trish were out doing some preparation for her musical which meant he got to blast his music as loud as he wanted. Migos pounded through the bathroom, and it took Kit just a bit longer to get himself washed up on account of all the dancing he did.

  Once he was cleaned up, he changed into his tuxedo. Roman had it tailored for him, and now rather than looking boxy and ill-fitted, the material draped over him better than anything else ever had. He stared at himself in the mirror then pulled his phone out to stunt on Snapchat.

  “Okay, but do you see ya boy?” he asked the camera, flipping it around so he could see himself in the full-length mirror. He gave himself a full once-over then posted it to his story. “The next time you’ll see me, I’m gonna be at the Mandarin Oriental. You know a bitch like me gets invited to all the best parties.”

  He laughed at himself and then flopped onto the sofa in the living room. As much as he’d complained about having to work, since he’d become a part of Yellow Fall, he’d experienced so much more than he ever thought he would. Sure, they ate stupid, bougie food that made him roll his eyes and left him hungry, but the things he’d seen and done in the past two and half months more than made up for that. He was living the life every kid fresh out of college wanted.

  His phone buzzed in his pocket. He quickly checked it to see what it was, and when he saw that Jaylen had taken a screenshot of his Snapchat story, he rolled his eyes. Jaylen had a way of coming back into his life whenever it was the least convenient, but Kit wasn’t going to let him do this again. He was finally in a good place now. He had a job, he had new friends, and he was wearing a suit that cost almost as much as his contribution to rent did. Jaylen could drink bleach for all he cared.

  “Team block that hoe,” he said, tapping his screen and blocking Jaylen from his Snapchat account.

  Not letting that get his mood down, he put on another song and danced around the house until Roman called him. Kit gave himself one last look in the mirror, inspecting all his angles, then took a deep breath and headed down.

  It was time.

  12

  Loose Lips

  Kit felt like that nigga as he stepped down from the staircase outside of Bria’s apartment. It was only fitting that he had an equally attractive ride to the event. Pulled up to the curb was a black BMW. The back window came down slowly and Roman’s face appeared. Kit expected him to look up at him apathetically, but he didn’t. Instead, Roman’s eyes wandered up and down his body once before his mouth quirked up into a smirk.

  “I’m not opening the door for you, Kit,” he said.

  Kit rolled his eyes playfully and opened the door, climbing inside next to Roman. “You went all out tonight, didn’t you?”

  “It’s a party. Of course I did.”

  “You couldn’t spring for some chivalry with the door?” Roman glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and snorted. “Woooow,” Kit laughed.

  Once he clicked his seatbelt on, Kit told the driver he was situated and they could head out. The man up front nodded and pulled away from the curb. Kit sat back in his seat and looked over himself once more. He wasn’t normally all that concerned and nitpicky with his clothes, but as Roman had so eloquently put it, this was a party. He had to look his best for all of these uptight, smarmy businesspeople.

  Though Roman didn’t say much on the way to the ride, Kit never felt like there was an uncomfortable silence. It was peaceful, quiet—save for the classical music the driver had on the radio. Kit’s eyes slid over to Roman, and for the first time, he thought he saw a crack in Roman’s façade. He fixed his tie for the fifth time in ten minutes, and after that, he made sure his jacket was smooth.

  “Don’t be nervous,” Kit said softly.

  Roman glared at him for a moment. When Kit’s face remained sincere, Roman’s glare softened. “I’m not nervous,” he said.

  “Of course not.” Kit smiled like he had a secret. “But just in case you do get a little jittery, don’t be worried. You do this all the time. You got this. Plus, you have me, and you can’t lose when you have me.”

  Kit waited for Roman to respond. Instead, Roman seemed to be intentionally looking at everything but him. Kit grinned and went back to his phone.

  After twenty minutes, the driver pulled up outside of the massive hotel. Kit tilted his head to look up at it through the window, awestruck. This was the most ridiculously impressive place he’d ever been, and he’d once been to a concert with trained farm animals dancing on stage.

  Roman climbed out first, pausing to straighten out his clothes once more. Kit quickly replied to a text from Chad, and when he started to open the door, he noticed Roman outside. He pulled it open for Kit, a bored look on his face.

  “Now was that so hard?” Kit asked once he was out of the car. Roman shot him one of his famous icy scowls.

  Together, the two of them headed up to the front. A woman in a pinstripe dress stood at the door, a clipboard in her hand. Roman approached her and told her that they were there for the party with Chelsia Vivienne. Kit nearly choked on his gum.

  Chelsia was one of the most popular upcoming fashion designers. She’d worked with Gigi Hadid, both Jenner sisters, and Chrissy Teigen, and that was only in the last two months. It suddenly made all the sense in the world why Roman was fidgeting with his clothing and why he’d shrugged off the price tag on Kit’s suit. They had to look their best for the host.

  The woman in the stylish dress instructed Roman on how to get to the ballroom. After thanking her, the two of them started towards the hotel. Kit reached back for his pocket when someone snagged him by the arm. He nearly fell backwards as he spun around to see who had a hold of his forearm.

  “What are you doing here, Kit? You don’t belong here,” Jaylen said.

  Kit felt his heart stop. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be dealing with Jaylen around his boss. Around so many people who had pull in the business world.

  “Let go of me,” Kit said, trying to pull his arm away. He didn’t want to make a scene outside of the hotel, but the grip on his arm was starting to hurt.

  “I saw your video, Kit. You’re a completely different person. This shit isn’t you. You don’t act like that. You don’t dress like—this!” He gestured to the clothes Kit had on.

  “You don’t know anything about what I do anymore, Jaylen. You don’t get to know what I’m doing. Now get off of me.”

  “Is there a problem here?” Roman asked, appearing at Kit’s side. He looked between the two of them, then his eyes fell on the hand clamped around Kit’s arm. His eyes darkened. “What’s going on, Kit?”

  “Nothing,” Kit grumbled, his eyes still on Jaylen.

  “Yo, why don’t you mind your own fucking business and let me talk to my man,” Jaylen asked, puffing out his chest.

  “Nigga, I am not your man,” Kit said through gritted teeth. He could feel his nerves rattling even more. He was ou
t of control here. Jaylen had him and wouldn’t let go. Jaylen was going to ruin all of this for him. The fear and the anger nearly took Kit over. Roman waited for a moment before he reached for Jaylen’s hand. He took hold of his middle finger and pulled back swift, a loud pop following the motion. Jaylen recoiled instantly, cradling his hand into his chest.

  “What the fuck!” Jaylen exclaimed. Now free, Kit stalked towards him, pushing his shoulder as he made the other man retreat.

  “Stop fucking bothering me, Jaylen. You hear me? Leave me alone. I’m not your man, so stop crying about me on Twitter, and stalking my Snapchat, and trying to get back in my life. Otherwise, I’m gonna have him do so much worse to you.”

  Jaylen glared at him. He turned and stormed off, never once looking back. Kit took a deep, shaky breath before he tentatively touched the small bruises that he knew were already forming on his arm. They were going to sting for a few days.

  Once he recollected himself, he turned around. Roman stood by the door, watching him carefully. Kit straightened up and approached him. He could feel the lingering gazes of the other attendants outside, but he didn’t spent too much time focused on them.

  “Thank you,” he said. “I’m sorry he showed up.”

  “Are you okay? He’s never done that before, has he?”

  “No,” Kit said, shaking his head. “It’s mostly online. It’s my fault that he knew where I’d be, anyway. I was bragging on Snap about it. By the way, what happened to violence never being the solution?”

  Roman’s concerned expression changed into a conspiratorial one. “We’re a team, remember? What happens to you happens to me. I also wasn’t a fan of him touching you like that.”

  Kit bit his tongue to keep from asking why that was. He wasn’t sure whether the answer would be as salacious as he hoped. Instead, he simply nodded, took a deep breath, and gestured for Roman to lead the way inside the hotel.

  The ballroom was been decorated extravagantly, adorned with gold décor and dinner plates, a live band up at the front, and a golden statue in the center of the room. Kit, trying to loosen up his tenseness, took a glass of champagne from one of the servers and threw it back in one long gulp. Roman looked at him curiously but said nothing. Instead, he led them over to their table and pulled out Kit’s chair for him.