Trapped (Caged #2)(14)

“And why do you do that?”

“Chicks like it.” I shrugged. “I said it because it got me laid.”

“Well, Tria’s a chick, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.” I rolled my eyes.

“So don’t you think she might like that kind of talk, too?”

I scowled at her.

“None of that was real,” I told her. “I didn’t mean any of it.”

“So maybe with Tria you should.”

I thought about that for a minute and was reminded of the conversation I had with Tria on Brandon and Nikki’s porch. I recalled what Tria had said. Then I remembered that even after that, she just curled up and fell asleep on me. It had been a long day, though.

“Liam?” Yolanda sighed.

“Yeah?”

“After the sweet talk, let her lead.”

I swallowed, leaned a little more against the wall, and wondered if I even had that kind of patience. What if it was weeks—or months? What if she never took any initiative?

“What if…what if she doesn’t?” I asked.

Yolanda chuckled softly, took a step forward, and placed a single finger at the base of my throat. Her finger trailed down over my sternum, past my abs, dipped into my navel, and hit the edge of my low-riding pants.

“She will,” Yolanda promised.

Through the window of the car, I watched the people go by. All the way home, I thought about what Yolanda had said. I tried to think back to when I was out on the prowl for * and considered all the lines I would use on women in order to entice them to spend a little more time with me. I wasn’t so sure Yolanda wasn’t full of shit though, because it’s not like I ever wanted a second date with any of them. The ride was too short for me to come to any decent conclusion, so I said goodnight to Yolanda and promised not to eat too much crap for breakfast in the morning.

*****

Work was good, despite my short time away. I was going to have some bruising on my side and around my ribs but nothing serious. I felt good on the way home even though I was tired, and it was late. I finished a cigarette and looked up to the fire escape to see Krazy Katie slumped against the wall of the building, puffing away. I headed up the stairs quickly as I fished in my pocket for the key.

When I opened the door, Tria was on the couch with a book propped up on her chest and her eyes closed. I quietly placed my gym bag on the floor next to the door and tiptoed past her to the shower. She was still asleep when I got back out, and I gently slipped the book from her fingers and placed it on the coffee table.

She rolled a little then and mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. I tucked my arms under her shoulders and legs and hauled her up. Her head dropped to my shoulder, and she mumbled again.

“Don’t want to stay with them…” she said quietly.

“You’re with me, babe,” I told her. I carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. She gripped my neck with her arms, and I had to untangle them before I could stand up.

“Don’t go,” she muttered as her eyes fluttered open.

“I was just going to grab something to eat,” I said quietly. “I’ll eat, smoke, and then be right back.”

“I made you dinner,” she said. “It’s in the fridge.”

Yolanda’s words echoed through my brain, and I reached down to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“You’re awesome,” I told her with a quick kiss on her temple.

“I know,” she said. She smiled and rolled over, grasping the edge of the blanket tightly in her fist as she fell back asleep.

In the refrigerator I found a bunch of stir-fried vegetables and rice in some tangy sauce of some sort. Even cold it was tasty. I finished off the meal with a big glass of ice water before heading back to the bedroom. Tria was out cold, so I climbed out the window for a smoke on the fire escape.

“What’s up, fruitcake?” I asked as Krazy Katie fumbled around in her bra for a lighter.

“Stings like a bitch,” she said.

“What does?” I said. She didn’t answer; she just poked her arm with the end of a jagged fingernail. The imagery made me uncomfortable, so I didn’t wait for an answer. “Did ya miss me?”

She didn’t say anything.

“We went to the place where Tria is from,” I told her. “There are people there who make you look f*cking normal.”

Krazy Katie didn’t respond. She seemed fixated on something in her hand.

“What’s that?” I asked. I stuck my cigarette in my mouth and sat down beside her. When I looked over at her hands, there was a crumpled photograph clutched in her fingers. “Can I see it?”

She took her thumbs and smoothed it out a bit. It was a picture of a black haired girl with wide, dark eyes and a woman who was obviously her mother.

“Is that you?”

“They said she had to go away,” Krazy Katie whispered into the cold night air. “I knew she was dead though. They just didn’t want to tell me.”

A single tear fell from her eyelashes and rolled down her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I told her. I wondered if it was her mom’s birthday or the anniversary of her death or something. “Were you just a kid then?”

She didn’t say anything else, and she didn’t shed any more tears. I sat with her for a while and smoked a couple more cigarettes while she looked at the picture.