Chapter 5

“Mick, this is my father.”

I launched myself at him.

“DIE FUCKER!”

Kendi screamed. My reaction was immediate and very physical as I hit him with the full force of my body and drove him to the ground. I was getting ready to unload on him when I was grabbed. Two men had my arms and Kendi was in my face.

“Relax Mick! It’s OK!”

I watched as the man I didn’t know but would come to hate again over the past two days, slowly stood. He was a few years younger than me, but I had him by a few pounds. I looked to the left and right at the men who had grabbed. They were sizable and were dressed in nice suits. I had the sense that I had done something not so good.

“Mick! Are you OK?”

“I guess. I am calm. So these two gorillas can let me go.”

The gorillas looked at Kendi’s father and he nodded. They let me go and I went to Kendi.

“I’m sorry. Are you OK?”

“I’m fine. How about you?”

“Good thing I didn’t have any dessert. The sugar high could have set me off.”

Kendi patted my arm and turned to the server.

“Please bring us the tab in the bar and I will take care of it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Come on Mick.” She headed for the bar, I followed, and her father and the gorillas followed.

The server appeared with the bill and Kendi paid it, left a sizable tip and wrote an apology on the bill before handing it back.

“I’m sorry about this,” she smiled at the server.

She looked at me and tipped her head towards the door.

Once outside Kendi let loose.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“Easy, Kendall. I am your father.”

“FUCK YOU!”

I stepped in.

“Come on Kendi, let’s get you home.”

“Don’t touch my daughter. I gave you a freebie, but after this you will pay for everything that happens.”

“Really? You want to say that again nice and loud, so more people hear you?”

“It doesn’t matter who hears me,” he smirked.

“Good, you keep thinking that.”

“Mick. Can we please go?” Kendi pleaded.

“I’ll see you later, Kendall,” her father told her.

“It is a free country,” I said.

“It is your life,” Kendi replied.

I opened her door for her and then I walked around and got in. She started the car and slowly pulled away.

“AAAAAhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!” Kendi beat on the dashboard.

“Feel better, Kendi?”

“No! How dare he. Who the fuck does he think he is?”

“He thinks he is your father, apparently.”

“When we get home, we need to talk.”

“First, that sounds like a good idea. Second, home?”

“Yes, dammit! Home!”

A wise man knows when to shut the hell up and I may not be smart and sneaky, but I do have the wisdom that comes with age. I sat quietly as we went ‘home’. That doesn’t mean that my mind wasn’t going a mile a minute trying to get things straight in my head. When we pulled into the parking garage and I looked over my shoulder to be sure no one followed us in.

“You haven’t said a word, Kendi. Are you sure you are OK?”

“No, I am not OK. I am angry and upset and worried.”

“OK, we’ll cover each of these areas one at a time when we get upstairs. OK?”

“OK.”

When the elevator door opened on the sixth floor, I took Kendi’s hand and walked to her door. As soon as we stepped inside, she started to strip off her clothes.

“Me too?” Better to be safe than sorry.

“Yes.”

“OK. Let me put them in my room.”

“You said ‘my room’.”

I paused and looked at her as she bared it all.

“I know.”

“Then I guess that means that we ARE home?”

“I’m not quite there yet. Let’s talk.”

I went into ‘my’ room and took off my clothes. When everything was put where it needed to be, I walked back out to the living room to find Kendi there with two glasses of wine on the coffee table.

I looked at the easy chair.

She looked at the place with the towel on the couch next to her.

I sat on said towel.

“OK, Kendi. First. Angry.”

“Yes.”

“At me?”

“No.”

I let out a sigh of relief, “Good.”

She sipped her wine and scratched her left breast.

“But you did surprise me.”

“I just snapped when you said it was your father.”

“It was a surprise to me too.”

“I didn’t know that I had that much emotion built up in me after just a few days.”

“It wasn’t a few days, Mick.”

“I have only known about you since Monday night.”

“You are still angry about what happened back in So Cal.”

“I sure didn’t think so.”

“You still have feelings that you could have done something to stop it.”

“But you’re not angry with me for taking him down?”

“No, he needs to be taken down.”

“You want to tell me why?”

“Next question.”

Her face had a serious expression.

“OK,” I said. “Second issue. Upset.”

“I really am.”

“I am not going to try to guess about what, because I know I am upset about a whole ton of shit right now.”

“What?” Her expression changed to concern.

“Oh, no. This is your upset, not mine. What is the cause of you being upset?”

“He is here. That means he is still looking for me. He still thinks that he owns me.”

She was heating up.

“Owns you?”

“Yes.”

“You need to explain this to me.”

“He told my mom and sister that he could do whatever he wanted to us because he owned us. He still thinks that, I could tell by his look and posture.” She was getting very angry.

“Well he doesn’t own you. I won’t let that happen.”

I tried to calm her and make her feel safe.

“WHY, BECAUSE YOU ARE A MAN AND YOU WANT TO OWN ME?” She snapped at me.

I looked at her face. She was really pissed, and I was ... insulted?

“I don’t know where that came from but I won’t upset you further.”

I stood and went to the room I was staying in and began to dress and then pack my bags again. As I was filling the second backpack, I heard sobs coming from the living room. Walking out with my bags over my shoulder, I found Kendi curled up on the couch.

My old self, from two long days ago, would have kept walking. My new self, or perhaps my real self, my old, pre-divorce former self, couldn’t.

Sitting next to her I laid my hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t want to own you. I don’t want to own anybody.”

“I’m sorry.”

“The only thing I wanted to own was my life.”

“And?”

“And you showed me that the life I owned wasn’t worth shit. You showed me that I could own a better life. Thank you for that. I will never let go of that debt to you.”

Standing I walked to the door. I opened it, turned to say “Good-Bye” and was attacked.

“NO! You are NOT leaving me. Not after I spent so many years finding you and falling in love with you.”

You know those tracks I mentioned a while back? I stopped in them again.

“Are you out of your cotton-picking naked-ass mind?”

“Yes,” she nodded and added softly, “I love you.”

“You are beautiful and completely out of your mind.”

“Over you.”

“I’m older than your father.”

“Mick, you are the best man I have ever known.”

“OK, thanks for that but that is admiration, not love.”

“Don’t tell me what love is.”

“Well somebody should!” I raised my voice a bit.

“Mick, I have been searching for it a long time.”

“If you think that I am it, you haven’t looked very hard.”

“I saw it with my foster family. They loved each other, their kids and me.”

“But it has only been two days!”

“Not for me. I have been falling for you for over two years now.”

“You must have seen it from the guys you dated and stuff.”

“Mick, there have been guys and dates, but there hasn’t been any ‘stuff’. Ever!”

“You mean that you have never...”

“That’s right! I still have my ‘V’ Card. I saw love, like I wanted, between my foster parents, and I haven’t seen it since. That is until I actually found you and got to you.”

“Got to me?”

“You know what your feelings are telling you.”

“Shit.”

“Nope, not that. Please don’t leave me. We still have a lot to talk about.”

I closed the door and dropped my bags in the kitchen. We walked back to the couch and I sat her down before taking off my clothes, setting them on the easy chair and then joining her.

“Can I hug you?”

“Yeah. I think you probably should.”

“Should?”

“Yes. Should, as in, if given a choice you would.”

I wasn’t expecting Kendi to do what she did. She stood and turned to sit on my lap and hug me.

“Oh my.”

There was a bit of surprise in her voice.

“That is a first in a long time.”

“Is that a baseball bat in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”

“Um ... no pockets.”

After she gave me a kiss on my lips, I moved on to the important stuff.

“We were on upset. Do you have anything else to add?”

“Yes, but when you get to worried, I will explain why I am so upset.”

“OK, Third, worried.”

“My father won the lottery and is worth about $30 million.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“No wonder he thinks he can own you.”

“And that is why he wasn’t worried if anyone heard any of the threats he made in the parking lot.”

“His gorillas make him feel safe.”

“Now that he has the money, he is trying to buy himself out from under his child rape conviction. He’s bribing officials trying to get a pardon.”

“We can check and see if he is on the sex offenders listing here. If not, we can pressure him.”

“He has gotten a lot more arrogant than he was before.”

“Keep explaining the worry.”

“He contacted me three years ago and told me that he was rich and that I should come back to him.”

“He is nuts, right?”

“He wants to fuck me.”

“Well I am not going to let that happen.”

“If he finds out that I am a virgin, he is going to go nuts trying to be my first.”

“No matter what, he is not going to get to you.”

“Mick, you saw his bodyguards. If they come to get me, he will rape me.”

“They won’t get to you. At least not this week, while we are together.”

“What about next week?”

“Would you mind if your house guest stayed a bit longer?”

“Really?”

“You act surprised. Isn’t that what you have been working towards?”

“Yes.”

“I just never thought that you would go this far just to get an old man to move in with you.”

“MICK!”

“Sorry, that was supposed to be dark humor.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Kendi. I want you to know that I will do what I can to protect you.”

“Would you take my virginity, if it helped?”

I had to stop and think about that question for quite some time.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because if you have a choice and can set it up, your first should be memorable and loving and not as a method to ward off your father. Besides if what you say is correct, it won’t stop him from attacking you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I needed to make sure that you understood that I have never even thought about getting into your pants.”

“I’m not wearing pants.”

She wiggled on my lap.

“I can tell.”

She kissed me on the lips again.