Kya & Xavier: It's Always Been You (Life As We Know It Book 1) (31 page)

               
“Yeah coach,
that’s what’s up.”

               
“Now for
part two of this waste of time.” Coach stepped towards the bench that he was
standing in front of, reached forward and unzipped the two duffel bags that
were sitting on it. He reached inside and removed a box of condoms and tossed
it to Davis.

 
“Dean Stewart had family planning supply you
guys with the tools necessary to prevent any mishaps that would misrepresent what
we stand for here at UNC.”

               
“What
the heck Coach.” Ty yelled and the rest of us laughed. “I hope you got more
than just what is in those bags Coach. That’s on night for me.”

               
“Here’s
the crash course. Sex makes babies, babies are expensive and make the alumni
really uneasy about funding are program so don’t have any. Any questions?”

               
“Yeah
coach do you have any double XL in that bag. I’m not a light weight like the
rest of these fools.” Trey said.

               
Coach
shook his head. “Everybody sign this form before you leave.” He pointed to a
clipboard that was sitting next to the duffle bags and then walked out.
Seriously, did this just happen, WTF

Chapter 23

Kya Renee

               
“Well
that was fast.” I said when Xavier opened his bedroom door. “So what was the
meeting about?”

               
“You
wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Xavier said with a huge grin and then
tossed me a box of condoms.

               
“Um
okay, what’s this?”

               
“My
parting gift.”

               
“So your
coach had a meeting to hand out condoms?”

               
“Something
like that. It was kind of about overnight guest but ended with don’t get
anybody pregnant.”

               
He sat
on the bed on the bed next to me.

               
“What
about overnight guest?” I asked totally ignoring the pregnant thing.

               
“Don’t
worry about that, it’s not important.”

               
“It must
be if you had a meeting about it.”

               
“It’s
not trust me, you hungry?”

               
“A
little not really?”

               
“You
feel like going out?”

               
“I
guess?”

               
“Come on
lets go, I’m starving.”

               
We left
and headed to Chipotle followed by chick-fil-A for me and then right to campus.
When Xavier pulled into the parking lot he parked but kept checking is rear
view mirror.

“Don’t open your door.”

“Why not?” I asked feeling worried.

 
              
A car pulled in right behind us
and parked two spots away from and he pulled out his phone to make a call.

               
“Aye,
what’s up?”

               
“You on
campus?”

               
“Where
you at bruh?”

               
“I need
you to come handle something for me.”

               
“Zay
what’s going on?” I asked. I could tell that something wasn’t’ right.

               
He held
up his hand to stop me from talking which made me feel even more uneasy.

               
“How
long?”

               
“I’m
outside in the parking lot. My park lights are on and they’re in a gray mustang
two spots away.”

               
“Yeah,
I’ve seen it a few times, the same one and I know it’s him.”

               
“Alright,
bet”

               
“Zay,
what’s going on?”

               
“Just
chill for a min Ky. Please.” He wasn’t yelling but his voice was raised and I
knew that he was irritated.

               
I
nervously started looking around and Xavier could tell that I was worried
because he grabbed my hand and then leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Everything’s
fine, Okay.”

               
“Why are
we just sitting here and who’s in that car? Do you know who’s in that car?”

               
“Two
guys got out of the mustang that followed us into the parking lot and began
moving towards Xavier’s Jeep.

               
“Lock
the doors and do not get out until you see me or Link come get you out.” Xavier
said calmly and then opened his door. “Ky did you hear me?”

               
“Yes
but…”

               
“Just do
what I said. Do not open the door unless it’s for me, Link or somebody you know
I trust.”

               
“Okay.”

 
Now I was more than just worried. I was scared
as hell. Lincoln Taylor or rather Link and Xavier had been friends since they
were kids but Link was a little more rough around the edges than Xavier was. He
lived by street logic and didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Anytime Xavier had
an issue that required extra help Link took care of it for him.

               
“I’m
serious, Ky, just us.”

               
“Okay.”

               
Xavier
got out and started moving in the direction of the two guys that were heading towards
his Jeep. He threw his hands up in the air and yelled something but he was too
far away from me and I couldn’t hear him. One of the guys that was moving
towards him held something in the air and then pointed it at Xavier, it looked
like a baseball bat.
 
Thank god it's not a gun.
They were
clearly arguing but I couldn’t understand anything that they were saying. Just
before they reached each other guy Link’s F150 rushed into the parking lot and
stopped next to them and four guys jumped out leaving the doors wide open. I
could tell that one of them was Link.
What
the hell is going on, it has to be serious if Xavier called Link.

               
Xavier
pointed towards me and one of the three guys who had arrived with Link started
jogging towards Xavier’s Jeep but before he got to me I saw Xavier punch the
guy in front of him and when he did other guy who got out of the mustang with
him swung something that landed on Xavier’s back and caused him to fall
forward. I threw my hands over my mouth and began to cry. Link reached behind
his back and pulled out what I assumed was a gun and held it in the air above
the guy’s head. The other two guys with Link followed his lead and did exactly
the same thing.

               
“Ky,
open the door.” I was frozen sitting there with my hands over my mouth, tears
violently falling. Travis tapped on the glass and yelled my name. “Kya, open
the door.” He pointed toward the door and yelled again before he looked over
his shoulder to see what was going on with the situation that he had just left.
He looked back at me and yelled again, “Right now Ky open the door, Zay wants
you to go inside, open the door.”

               
I pulled
the handle to open the door, Travis snatched it open and then yanked me out.

               
“Let’s go.”
He yelled and began dragging me towards the front door of Xavier’s dorm.

               
“Travis,
what’s going on?” The words barely made it out of my mouth because I was crying
so hard. I turned and tried to pull away to head towards Xavier and Link but
Travis grabbed me around the waist to turn me towards the building and then
forcefully grabbed my arm before he started pulling me towards the door again. “Let
me go Travis.” I yelled.

               
I looked
back over my shoulder and Xavier was up again. I could hear Link yelling.

“I'm not going to ask you again, do
we have a problem?” Link yelled.

The guy who Xavier hit yelled back. “I
don’t have a problem with you but ya boy here, that’s a different story.”

“Any problems you have with him you
have with me so it looks like you have a problem with me and I'm currently not
feeling this situation.”

“Ky I’m not going to tell you again, let’s
go, now!” Travis yelled at me. “Zay wants you inside and you’re going inside.”

“I stopped fighting and let Travis
drag me to the dorms. We took the elevator to Xavier’s dorm room and then
inside.

“I was still crying, and my body was
tense and shaking.”

“Ky, calm do okay. Everything's fine.”

“It’s not fine, don’t say its fine.
Link has a gun, it’s not fine, stop saying everything is fine. I'm not stupid!”

Travis rubbed his forehead and then
stepped towards me but I backed away and threw myself down into the corner of
the sofa. I crossed my arms, placed them onto my knees and lowered my head onto
them. My mind was spinning out of control.
How
could he say everything was fine? Everything is not fine.
I jumped up but
Travis stepped in front of me like he read my mind.

“You’re not leaving this room.”

“I need to go back out there.” I
yelled.

“And do what Ky?”

“You wanna help Zay, then stay here
where he knows you’re safe. If anything happens to you…Just sit down and try to
calm down. You’re not leaving.”

Travis wasn’t yelling this time but I
still knew that he meant business. He had his marching orders and there wasn’t anything
that I could say to change his mind. I sat down on the sofa again, pulled my
knees into my chest, secured my arms around them and lowered my head. All I
could do was wait so I closed my eyes and began to sway back and forth. I
rocked and I waited. It was all I could do.

Xavier Lee

“I’m going to ask you one more time,
do we have a problem?” Link had the gun pointed at dudes head and I knew that
he wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger.

               
“Nah
we’re good, it’s all good.” He was afraid I could tell.

               
“You
sure bout that ‘cause if not we can handle this right now.”

               
“Nah
bruh, we’re good.”

               
“Just
remember, I’m always around. Always!”

               
“I said
we’re good bruh.” He looked at me and held his hands in the air. “We’re good.”

               
I guess
there’s something about staring down the barrel of a gun that can squash any
beef. I could tell this dude wasn’t hard. Something’s you can just tell and he
might have been good for a fight or two or even jumping me like he had planned
on doing tonight but after having to face Link and his glock, I knew that I wouldn’t
have any more issues with him. He wasn’t hard, I could see the fear in his
eyes, the same fear that I knew that I would have had if I had been on the
other end of that gun the way that he was. Link on the other hand, had a death
wish. He would have likely told you to pull the trigger if he had been on the
receiving end of a barrel.

Link was born of the streets and raised
in the streets. It was in his blood and there wasn’t much that he feared.
That’s why he was the first call I made when I kept seeing this punk creeping
around my dorm, following, me watching me. I knew that he was trying to figure
me out, trying to decide how to get back at me for beating him down,
embarrassing him, taking his manhood away from him the night he fronted me in
my dorm. Tonight was his chance or so he thought. I’m sure he expected to catch
me slipping and take me down in front of Ky to try to gain back some kind of respect
but he under estimated me and he damn sure wasn’t expecting my boy Link to be
on deck ready for whatever.

“Yo, you good bruh?” Link asked after
dude got in his car with his home boy and left.

“I’m good.” I closed my fist and held
it towards Link and he met it with his. Once again Link had pulled me out of a
situation that could have cost me a lot if not everything. That was the kind of
friendship we always had. It wasn’t that I couldn’t handle my own but Link and
I made a pack years ago that anytime I had a situation where the price was more
than I was willing to pay, he would be there to handle it for me. Link felt
like I had too much to lose while he on the other hand was as he always called
it, “just getting by.” He had me, always had I knew he always would. Not even
blood could have made us any closer than we already were.

I could feel pain in my back from
where old boy clocked me with that metal baseball bat but other than that I was
straight and grateful that things hadn’t gotten any worse. Travis had Ky so she
was good.

“I don’t think you’ll have any more problems
out of him but if you do you know I got you.”

“Preciate it fam.”

“Always, let’s go find Ky. I know
she’s freaking out.” Link said.

Damn, I do not wanna have this conversation

As soon as we walked into my dorm
room I knew that that this was going to be a long night. Ky was balled up
sitting in the corner of the sofa. Travis was standing by the door waiting.
“Everything straight?” He asked when we stepped inside. I nodded but kept going
until I got to Ky. I sat down next to her while Link filled Travis in on what
happened after he left.

I put my arm around her, pulled her
to me and she lifted her head eyes flaming red and filled with tears.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked.

“Are you?” She mumbled barely getting
the words out.

“If you're okay, I'm okay.” I said.

She lifted her hand and wiped her
face with the back of it. “What was that about?”

“Not now, I just need to know you're
okay?” I said ignoring her question.

“Whatcha you crying for Kya Renee?
You know I would never let anything happen to my boy.” Link always called her
by her full name or shortened it to Ky-Re just to aggravate her so I knew that
he was trying to lighten the mood sensing that she wasn’t in a good place with
everything going on. Link had a huge grin on his face not fazed by any of what
had just gone down.

She looked up at him clearly not
ready to accept his good mood. Link and Ky were about as close as we were so he
wasn't going to let her write him off that easily. He grabbed her hands and
pulled her to her feet before he closed her into his arms. She had her arms by
her sides with her forehead on his chest since he was about a foot taller than
she was.

“You better hug me back.” He said and
then laughed which she did so he lifted her slightly off the ground and the twisted
his body from side to side causing her body to fall in line before he let her
go and then looked at her with a grin.

“You good?”

“I guess so.” She looked back at me
before she smiled and hugged Link again as if thanking him for being there for
me.

I struggled to stand because of the
pain in my back and then pulled my key out of my pocket and handed it to her.
“I'll be right back.” I said.

“Where are you going?” She asked
looking concerned.

“Just in the hallway. I'm not
leaving.” I could tell that she was still afraid. I kissed her on the forehead
before I stepped into the hallway with Travis and Link. I pulled the door
closed behind me just in case Ky stayed in the living room.

“She'll be alright.” Link said.

“You know how it is, she doesn’t live
in that world but yeah she’s straight.” I said.

“We’re gonna hang around here for a
while but old boy would have to be extra stupid to try anything else so I think
you’re good.”

“Yeah, I think so too. Preciate it.”
I gave him another pound.

“You know I got you fam. We know
where dude lives so I might just pay him a visit to make sure we understand
each other. Just hit me up if you need anything. Now go take care of my little
sister and we’re out.”

I laughed. “Pray for me because I’m
about to catch it bruh.”

“And you know this.” Link said and
then laughed before he and Travis disappeared into the stairwell.

I opened the door and didn’t see Ky
so I figured that she was already in my room and when I pushed the door open, I
could hear the shower running in my bathroom. I turned the knob on the door but
it was locked.
Really?
I knocked on
the door “Ky, unlock the door.”
Nothing.
I
knocked again and then heard the lock so I turned the door knob, walked in and
leaned on the counter. She was already in the shower.

“Why’d you lock the door?”

“I don’t know, I just did.” I
couldn’t tell if she was still upset or just flat out mad.

“We’ll talk when you get out.” I said
and then left the bathroom. I sat down in my computer chair running through
everything that had just happened. I knew that Ky wasn’t use to stuff like
happening and it’s not like it was my everyday life but being around Link all
my life had put me in situations like that more times than I care to remember.
Street life wasn’t really my thing but I could hold my own if I needed to
whereas Ky on the other hand had only seen things like the situation that went
down tonight on TV and movies.

I heard the bathroom door open so I
held my head back to look for Ky and when she stepped around the corner I
asked, “So you ready to talk to me now?”

She had on pink and green boxers with
a pink tank top. She walked past me and dropped her clothes on the floor next
to her bag and then sat down on the edge of my bed.

“Come here?”
 
She didn’t move she just looked at me. “Ky?”
She stood up and walked over to me and then fell into my lap with her back
angled against half of my chest and my right arm so I locked my hands and
rested them in her lap.

“What’s up?” I asked.

She laid her head back against my
shoulder but still didn’t say a word. “You’re not gonna talk to me?” I asked.

“What do you want me to say?” She
said softly.

“Whatever you need to say?” I let my
hand rest on her thigh.

“Was all this about that fight?” She
asked.

“Yeah.”

“Is it over?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know that?” She lifted
her head and looked up at me.

“I just know.”

“But you don’t really know that?”

“I know I can’t make you not worry,
but just trust me okay?” I pulled her closer to me.

“What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything to him?”

“What did Link do to him?”

“Ky he’s fine, but he also knows to
stay away from me so don’t worry about it.”

She didn’t say anything. “Ky.” I slid
my finger down her nose and she swatted my hand away.

“Don’t ever do that again.” She said.

“I can’t promise that. I will always
do whatever I need to do for me and especially for you.”

“I know.” She laid her head on my
chest.

“Let me change.” I said and sat up so
she stood up and sat on my bed but it took me a minute before I could stand. I
could feel the pain in my back. I struggled to pull my sweatshirt and t-shirt
over my head and then tossed them into my computer chair.

“Let me see.” Ky crawled to the edge
of my bed on her knees and waited for me, so I walked over to her and turned my
back to her so that she could inspect my injury. When I felt her hand on my
skin I flinched from the pain.

“It’s swollen, I can see the whelp of
the bat. He hit you hard.”

“I figured.” I turned around and she
sat on her heels.

“You should put ice on it. Do you
have something to take?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I took my jeans off
and laid them across my chair, opened my draw, found a pair of basketball
shorts and put them on. Kya pulled my covers back got under them and then
pulled them over her body, while I flipped the switch to turn on my fan, turned
off my light and locked my bedroom door. I pulled my covers back, climbed over
Ky and then covered her again when I was settled. She turned to face me, folded
on arm under her head and then placed there other one on my side so I reached
behind her with my free arm and moved her closer to me and held her as tight as
I could.

I kissed her on her forehead. “I’m
sorry.”

“For what?”

“Making you cry?”

“You didn’t.”

“The situation did and the situation
was my fault so technically I did.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah it is.”

She placed her lips on mine and
whispered “No it’s not.” Before she kissed me and in that moment reality
finally set in. This is what I have to lose, she is what I have to lose. I climbed
on top of her, tugged on her shorts and whispered, “Take these off.” Before I
kissed her neck. I needed her, I needed us. I just needed to be as close to her
as I could and there was only way for me to satisfy that feeling. She knew it
and I knew it.