Red Hot

by Niobia Bryant

  He looked down at her as she climbed from the car. Kaitlyn was surprised when he took a moment out of his life to lift his head in greeting. She arched her eyebrows at him and sucked her teeth before she went around the back of the complex to climb the stairs and enter her apartment through the rear.

  “Humph. You give me your ass to kiss last night and didn’t bother to call all day, and now I get a homeboy head nod. Negro, please,” she muttered, slamming her purse and keys on her kitchen table as she kicked off her heels and sent them flying across the floor in two different directions.

  Her front door opened and Kaitlyn looked down the hall as Quint walked in and closed the door behind himself. She eyed him as he came down the hall and bent down to press a kiss on her. She turned her head and his lips landed on her cheek.

  “It’s like that?” he asked, rising to his full height.

  Kaitlyn leaned back to look up at him with her eyes wide. “It was like that last night,” she reminded him, then brushed past him to walk into her bedroom.

  Quint followed behind her. “I thought we could go and grab something to eat,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Actually, I was going to meet some friends for dinner in Charleston,” Kaitlyn said, paused in unzipping the high-waist leather skirt she wore. “Something wrong?”

  “No, no,” he assured her, coming over to stand behind her and undo the zipper for her.

  Knock, knock.

  They both looked up.

  “Aw, hell, zip me back up?”

  Quint did and then followed her out of the room. He went to the kitchen and Kaitlyn headed for the front door. She opened it and her face filled with surprise to find her parents standing there.

  “Hey, I didn’t know y’all were coming,” she said, stepping back to let them enter as she hugged each one.

  “We were just getting back from Charleston and we decided to stop by and see if you were home,” Lisha said, moving around the apartment to look around at the photos Kaitlyn had displayed.

  Kaitlyn wrapped her arm around her father. “Actually, I do have plans for dinner,” she said.

  Kael Strong looked around the apartment as well. “It’s a little small,” he said.

  “It’s a change from my last apartment,” Kaitlyn agreed as she watched her parents share a look.

  “If you wanted to move to a bigger place, we would be willing to help until you got on your feet,” Kael said.

  Kaitlyn’s face filled with surprise before she squealed.

  Her father winced and placed a finger in his ear.

  A noise echoed from the kitchen. Her mother jumped to her feet in alarm.

  Kaitlyn smiled. “That’s Quinton,” she said, turning to head to the other room. Confusion filled Kaitlyn’s face to find it empty. The noise must have been the door closing as he left.

  Without speaking to my parents, she thought.

  “I thought you said Quint was in here,” Lisha asked, entering the kitchen to look around at that room as well.

  “I thought he was too,” she lied.

  “Now, listen,” Lisha said, eyeing her. “We are not going back to the old days of flitting around the world on our dime. You keep your job and work on your career, and we’ll help and be there for you. Understand?”

  Kaitlyn nodded. “I appreciate the safety net, but I’m still flying on my own.”

  “We see the change, so we’re willing to help you.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” Kaitlyn said, reaching over to squeeze her mother’s side.

  It was cold. Bitter cold. Even in the South, January weather at night was brutal. However, Quint had bundled up in his sweat clothes, threw on a skully, and went for a long run. He took the back roads for the forty-minute run to Walterboro and didn’t stop until he came up on his house. He breathed deeply as he felt the sweat dripping from his body under his clothes as he thought of his decision go forward about giving his tenants forty-five days’ notice to move.

  He made the call just that day. They were ending their annual lease and he decided not to renew it with them. He also gave his employer the same forty-five days’ notice.

  It was time to go home.

  Quint nodded, feeling more assured of his decision before he turned and began the run back to Holtsville. Tonight he wanted to share his plans with Kaitlyn, but he had been busy all day getting the apartment ready to be shown. And then she had plans for the evening, so their talk was postponed.

  Bzzzzzz . . .

  Quint stopped running to reach into his pocket for his cell phone. The back roads were dark at night and he was glad for the glow from one of the homes’ utility pole in their front yard as he answered the call from Lei.

  “Daddy.”

  Quint frowned. “What’s wrong, Lei?”

  “Man, Daddy, Mama left me at my friend’s house who lives down the street from us. Then she just called me, talking about she not coming home and asking if I can spend the night here. I don’t have clothes and I don’t have a key to the house.”

  Quint squeezed his phone so hard that he was sure it would snap in half in his hand. “I’m on my way. Let me talk to your friend’s mother.”

  His heart was pounding hard and it had nothing to do with his run. He’d had it with Vita. Absolutely had it. Even as he thanked the neighbor for watching out for his daughter, and let her know he was on his way to get her, he was walking fast and hating that he was far from his vehicle.

  Kaitlyn.

  Kaitlyn might still be in Charleston.

  He stopped running again and called her phone.

  “Hello.”

  The sound of music and loud voices was so loud in the background that he barely heard her.

  “Are you still in Charleston?” he asked.

  “Hold on.”

  He fought for patience because his issues with Vita and Lei were not her fault.

  “Yeah, I’m back.”

  The noise was gone.

  “Are you still in Charleston?” he asked.

  “Yes. What’s wrong?”

  “I hate to bother you, but I went for a run and I don’t have my car, and Vita left Lei at somebody’s house—”

  “Give me the address. I’ll go get her,” Kaitlyn said without hesitation.

  Kaitlyn had ridden with him to pick Lei up. “It’s 12 Sycamore Lane, a few houses down from Vita’s house,” he said, feeling some sense of relief. “I just can’t believe she would pull this kind of stunt.”

  “I’m leaving Anola’s now. I should be there to get her in less than twenty minutes—if that.”

  “Thank you.”

  After they ended the call, Quint allowed himself a few moments of feeling weak, out of control, and out of sorts. Lei was his child and he heard the anxiety and hurt in her voice. And that had slashed him, just as deep as a sharp knife.

  He dialed Lei back.

  “Daddy, Kaitlyn just called me—”

  “Lei, why didn’t you call me earlier?” he asked as he walked down the road.

  The line remained quiet.

  “Lei,” he said sternly.

  “She usually comes home or at least lets me in the house first.”

  Quint stopped once again as he pulled the phone from his face to look at it. “Your mother been leaving you in the house alone? All night?” he asked in a hard tone.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The reluctance in her voice angered him. A child should never feel required to cover for a parent. Never.

  “She got a new boyfriend,” Lei admitted into the silence.

  Quint punched the air to release some of the emotions flooding him and causing his body to tense up.

  “We’ll talk when you get here. Love you, okay,” he assured her, needing to get off the phone before he talked crap about her mother to her.

  As much as Vita proved time and time again that her selfishness was endless, he never talked down about her to their child. It would only hurt Lei to point out to her that she
was not number one on her mother’s list of priorities.

  Quint finished his run and was glad to reach the complex. Kaitlyn called to assure him that she had picked up Lei, as promised, but Quint wouldn’t feel right until he laid his eyes on his daughter.

  What should he do now?

  Make Lei move back in with him? Or not? He wanted the choice to be hers, but as a parent he couldn’t sit back and let Vita’s level of competency as a mother be dictated by whether she had a new stiff one in her life.

  Quint stepped up onto the front fender to lift his body up to sit on the hood of the truck. It didn’t buckle under his weight, and he wouldn’t have cared if it did. Just as the cold wasn’t affecting him when his anger had him well heated.

  He didn’t know how much time had passed before Kaitlyn’s car finally parked next to him. Lei hopped out and came around his vehicle to stand by him. “Kaitlyn stopped and got me some Mickey D’s,” she said, looking up at him with a little guilt in her pretty eyes.

  Quint smiled down at her as he reached to stroke her head. “Go eat your food. I’m coming in,” he said.

  “Thanks, Miss Kaitlyn,” she said over her shoulder before she used her key to unlock the apartment and enter.

  Quint turned his head to eye Kaitlyn slowly walking over to him. She wore a sequined dress that fit her curves like a second skin. She looked beautiful and sexy; but in that moment he saw the old Kaitlyn and he wondered if he had changed his prejudgment of her too soon.

  Kaitlyn came over to stand between Quint’s legs and pressed her hands to his thighs.

  “You good?” she asked, looking up at him and pretending unspoken words didn’t still linger between them.

  Quint nodded as he looked down at her. “Just disappointed in Vita. I have a feeling I haven’t heard the worst yet.”

  “Have you talked to her?” Kaitlyn asked, playing with her oversized clutch bag.

  He shook his head. “She’s not answering her phone.”

  Kaitlyn had a lot she felt she could say, but she refrained. She never wanted Quint to feel as if she were trying to guide his actions to suit her fancy. He had enough stress on him; the last thing he needed was her in his ears with her nickel.

  “You had fun at your dinner party?” he asked.

  She looked back up at him as she nodded. “My friends Tandy and Anola threw me a surprise dinner party. If I knew it was going to be more than just the three of us, I would have invited you. We had fun.”

  “Probably not my type of crowd,” he said, reaching out to pluck something from her hair.

  “You don’t know that,” she said, feeling her guard rise.

  “If these are the people who influenced the type of person you were when you first came here, then I’m pretty sure.”

  Kaitlyn leaned back and held up her hands. “Whoa. All that judgment from Mr. Perfect is a little much,” she said in a tight voice.

  “‘Mr. Perfect,’ huh?” Quint asked.

  Kaitlyn nodded. “Also Mr. Judgmental. Take your pick,” she said over her shoulder as she turned from him.

  “Says Miss Materialistic, Miss Daddy’s Girl, and Miss Afraid to Grow the Hell Up,” Quint shot back, still sitting on the hood.

  Kaitlyn turned back. “Do you have a problem with my family?” she asked, recalling her earlier thoughts of possible insecurity on his part.

  “I have a problem with them taking the woman I love and turning her back into the spoiled little rich girl I couldn’t stand,” he admitted.

  Kaitlyn looked up at him with disbelief carved in every inch of her face. “Because my family is able to help me, I shouldn’t accept it to prove to you that I’m grown?”

  “No, you shouldn’t accept it because you’re smart and brave enough and woman enough to get it all on your own,” Quint stressed. “If you wanted to, but the hard road ain’t for everybody.”

  And that hurt. He complimented her and then swiped it all away by insinuating she was weak.

  “Are you jealous of my family’s wealth?” she asked, more out of hurt than anything.

  Quint slid down off the hood as he released a heavy breath. “For you even to think that lets me know you are every bit of the spoiled brat that I thought you were,” he said, standing next to her and shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Get the hell out of my face, Quinton,” she whispered up to him as her eyes glistened with tears fed by anger and hurt.

  “I’ll do you one better and get the hell out of your life.”

  Kaitlyn’s jaw literally dropped as she turned to watch him walk away from her and into his apartment without another word.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Wow. You look . . . interesting.”

  Kaitlyn turned in her chair and looked up at her boss, Lyle Turner, who was frowning at her as he entered the office. She knew she probably looked a sight because she felt like there were bags under her eyes and grit on her lids. Nothing good ever came from crying all night—especially physically.

  “Allergies,” she lied.

  “Really,” he said in obvious disbelief, coming around her desk to stand behind her.

  Kaitlyn turned back to her computer to pretend she wasn’t straight out giving him her back. “I put the list of upcoming local designers on your desk. I think you will like the young lady from Atlanta the best,” she said, trying to remain professional even as she felt like her world was shattered.

  Kaitlyn couldn’t believe that Quint had actually dumped her.

  Like, really, Quint? Really?

  Her pain quickly flipped to anger.

  Who the hell is he to judge me?

  And that was the emotional roller coaster she rode all night. In between listening to Mary J. and Whitney Houston songs, she tore up Pepsi floats and glasses of wine.

  Tears and then anger. Back to tears and then more anger. It took everything she had not to go downstairs and knock on the door to knee him in the nuts . . . before kissing the hell out of him.

  She hated that she sat there all night waiting for him to call or to come up and say he didn’t mean it. To take it back. To say he was sorry.

  But he didn’t.

  “Fuck him,” she muttered, glancing over at the five-by-seven photo of Quint and herself that she kept on her desk. She slapped it down.

  She wasn’t chasing a man—any man. And especially not one who sat in judgment of her as if she had to be exactly who he thought she should be for their relationship to work.

  Quint had been in his office since before the sun rose. He sat behind his desk and tossed a tennis ball up into the air as he wrangled with his thoughts. His concerns. His problems.

  His relationship with Kaitlyn.

  All night long he lay in bed and tried to let sleep top his thoughts. He failed.

  Some of his worries were alleviated by Lei volunteering to move back in with him. Still, would Vita fight him for custody, when relinquishing their daughter meant giving up the child support he voluntarily paid her to help with Lei’s care? Or would she give up and enjoy her new relationship?

  Did he make a mistake in resigning from his job, starting a new business, and taking on his mortgage again? Should he forge ahead now that Lei was back with him? Or play it safe?

  And then there was Kaitlyn. In the months during their relationship, he had seen so much growth in her from the partying, self-involved “it” girl she had been.

  But now, she seemed to be wavering at the first opportunity not to stand on her own two feet, to fall right back into being a label fiend and a shopping addict. She seemed poised to go back to losing some of the independence she claimed.

  Quint really had to consider if he wanted to be with a woman who allowed her family such involvement in her life. He liked the Strongs, but what possible sense did it make for them to spoil her, then punish her for living the life they created for her, and then reward her for being independent-by-force by spoiling her some more?

  Kaitlyn was a relationship girl, and he had been happy wit
h her over the months. He had discovered and accepted that he loved her. He had even imagined himself with her for the long term, but he refused to saddle himself with a woman who would forever be comfortable playing the role of the baby of the family.

  He cared for her, but he would have had more respect for her if she had stiffened her back and turned down any help from the family. He did not want to marry a frivolous woman. He had been down that road before. He wasn’t taking the trip again.

  The door to his office opened and Quint looked up as Lei stepped inside. She was dressed in clothing she’d left behind at his house.

  “You finally up?” he asked.

  She nodded as she closed the door behind her. “Mama called and woke me up.”

  Quint checked the time on his cell phone. It was well after nine in the morning and Vita was just calling.

  “Why didn’t you wake me up?” Lei asked, dropping down upon one of the chairs in front of the desk.

  Quint tapped his fingers against the top of the desk. “After what happened last night, I thought you and I needed to talk about just what’s going on at your mother’s house with you.”

  Lei looked over at him and nodded in understanding. “I told Mama I wanted to move back home with you,” she admitted.

  “And?” Quint asked as he leaned back in his chair and fiddled with his cell phone on the desk.

  “And she said no.”

  Quint looked up to the ceiling before he looked over at her. “You know I love you, and I would walk to the ends of the earth for you. That’s my job as your father,” he began. “This situation with your mom can get a little complicated, so I don’t think the moving back and forth between the two of us is a good idea.”

  Lei looked pensive.

  Quint sat up and pressed his elbows on the desk. “Think about it and be sure that you’re sure. And if you say that you are, then I will talk to your mom and make it happen. Of course you can visit her whenever you want.”