Try Me

36.

-spoil you

I woke up at around seven in the morning out of sheer hunger; the night before had been fun but we hadn't remembered to eat anything other than a few snack in the midst of everything else. I quietly rolled out of Jay's hold and tip-toed in the direction of the kitchen. To my surprise Kev was already seated at the breakfast bar, phone in one hand a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Hey Kevin, why are you up so early?" My gravelly voice murmured as I moved towards the refrigerator, Kev hopped up as he adopted a defensive stance; he let out a sigh of relief and clutched his heart when he noticed that it was me.

"You can't sneak up on people like that girl." Kev chuckled and shook his head, "I woulda shot you in my past life." He sat back on the bar stool with a groan.

"I didn't sneak up on you! You were looking at your phone, so you didn't notice me." I replied while I gathered the ingredients for our breakfast, "You didn't answer my question though Kevin."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a second before realization took over his features. "Oh, I couldn't sleep. My mother was on my mind; the biological one." Kev slid his phone across the breakfast bar so that I could see what he had been looking at. The screen showed a picture of three women hugging each other with wide smiles; one of them was Amira and I assumed that on either side of her were Kev and D's mothers. The photo reminded me of one that I had on my dresser of Jazzy, Lea and me. "She's the one on the left and D's mother Ximena is on the right." Kev filled in the blanks for me.

"They look so carefree and beautiful." I whispered as I admired the photo, my heart hurt for Kev because I could relate to him and Darian so much; the three of us lost our mothers at a young age and we had fathers who never showed interest, at least when it counted. "Do you think about her a lot?" I handed the phone back to him and leaned over the counter.

Kev rubbed the back of his neck and regretfully shook his head, "Honestly? No, she's always at the back of my mind but the thoughts rarely make it to the forefront. It sounds fucked up but when people ask me about my mother, I automatically relate it to mama Mira." He shrugged, "I think about Gia when I feel lost; after our conversation last night I feel like I need to stop acting like a kid." Kev looked at the photo while he spoke.

"You don't act like a kid Kev! You're an frickin' CEO; the stuff we talked about last night is only a small part of who you are. You know that we only told you that stuff because we care about you right?" I asked him while I resumed breakfast; I made sure to split my attention between Kev and the task so that he knew that I was still paying attention to him.

"I know. I was good about it for a while too but- someone shot me down and I've been trying to ignore it." Kev smiled halfheartedly but it never reached his eyes, "I'm going to be real though; nameless, emotionless sex doesn't make me feel the same way it used to."

I let out a loud burst of laughter before clamping a hand over my mouth. "It's not funny but it's funny. I think that you're making progress then Kev. For the record though; running through vagina because your ego is wounded isn't a healthy thing to do but I'm sure you know that." I pointed a wooden spoon at him while I spoke; Kev held his hands up in surrender. "Who was it that shot you down?" I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling; I was sure of who the girl was, but I wanted him to say it.

Kev chuckled and looked at me like I was crazy, "I think everyone knows who she is. It's probably for the best because I don't think that we're ready for each other yet. I've got to be on my best behavior for a while before I drag her into my shit; we'll be friends for as long as she wants. You need help with anything?" Kev offered; he wasn't as open about his feelings as Jay was and he always tried to cut the conversation short when things were getting too close to his boundary, but I didn't mind; everyone had to start somewhere. I hoped that he and "the girl" figured themselves out and appreciated how mature it was of him to know that the timing was off.