Partners in Crime
(chapter three)
Larry had long since left, leaving me, Ines and Laurent. I’ve basically been here all day, listening to Laurent tell me about himself and Ines. I don’t know why I was still here, listening to him, but I was. I think it was because Ines begged me to stay, because she liked playing in my hair.
Ines was my weakness. It was her big brown eyes that sucked me in anytime she wanted something and made me weak, doing whatever it was she wanted.
“I not know you that well, but I like you.” Laurent says, looking over at me. I had made myself comfortable in his bed, Ines sleeping on top of me.
“Uhm, thanks?”
“I not let Ines see many girls that’s not her family.” Laurent says.
“You know she needs that type of figure in her life, right? She needs a strong woman around to keep her sane. I don’t know how she’ll be able to survive with just you and Larry.” I laugh, closing my eyes. Laurent looks down at me, making me frown. “What? Is here something on my face.”
“No.” He says, looking away and laying down next to me. “Is nothing.”
And during this time, I guess the three of us, or well, me and Nezzie, had fallen asleep. I call her Nezzie now, because I think it’s cute. Like, it reminds me of fuzzy. I don’t know, it cute.
“Kennie?”
I slowly open my eyes, meeting the watery ones of Nezzie. “Yeah?” I ask, slowly getting up and letting out a yawn.
“Papa’s gone.” She says, sniffing. I look down at her, my heart breaking a little bit.
“Oh, baby, he’ll be back, I promise.”
“He would’ve told me he was leaving though! He would’ve woke me and left me with grandma. But, he just left, Kennie.” She says, her little lip trembling.
“Oh, Nezzie, he’ll be back.” I say, getting up. “I’m sure he left a note or something.” I bend to pick her up, giving her an eskimo kiss. “Come on, let’s go look for a note.” I take her out to the living room, looking around for any sign. This poor girl was in tears, so the least this nigga could do was leave a note. “Oh, look, see!” I say, pointing to the fridge. “A note.”
I walk over, moving the magnet to the side and grabbing the piece of paper.
‘Violette,
Larry called me and said we had business to attend to. I’ll be back soon. Stay there.
Laurent.’
“See, Nez? He’ll be back soon.” I say, giving her a smile. “So, while he’s gone, let’s have some fun of our own, okay?”
“What will we be doing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we could go shopping. Does that sound fun?”
“Yeah! Daddy doesn’t take me shopping.”
“Well, I will.” I say, putting my nose up into the air. “But first, we’ll have to go to my house so I can take a shower and change, okay?”
Nezzie nods and I put her down. “Let me go get my stuff baby.” I say, walking to Laurent’s room. I shed the shirt I was wearing, quickly putting on my jacket and shoes. I walk over to the nightstand, grabbing my phone and keys.
“Shit, I don’t have a car seat.” I mutter, looking back at Nezzie. “Thank God for tinted windows.” I bite my lip. I gotta buckle the fuck outta her. I walk out the room, giving Nezzie a smile. “Lets go bébé.”
“You speak french?” Ines asks, walking behind me. I hold my hand out and she takes it.
“Un peu.” (A little). I say.
“What? I don’t speak french. Daddy does, and he says he’ll teach me.”
“Oh, well, I only speak a little. I’ll be able to understand it though.” I look at the door. How the fuck was I going to lock this? “Uhm, does your papa leave a key lying around anywhere?”
“Under the mat!” She says, and I close my eyes. If this dumb ass nigga really leaves his spare key under the mat, Imma be so pissed. The two of us walk out of the door and I squat down, checking under the mat. This nigga leaves a key under the fucking mat.
I let out a breath and turn and lock the door, putting the key on the key ring with my own. I’ll give it back to this nigga when I tell him how stupid leaving a key under the mat is.
“Kennie, is that your car?” She asks, running to my Diamond white 2016 Mercedes-AMG E63 S Sedan, lovingly named Candi.
“Yup.” I say, walking behind her. “My daddy got me this car.”
“Do you think my papa will get me one?”
“Ohohoho no, baby.” I say, shaking my head. This beaut costed a fortune. Good thing it was my dad’s money. “You’re a bit too young to get a car. But when you get older, like… sixteen, seventeen, he will.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” I couldn’t promise shit like that. Fuck, I hope she’ll forget. “Now, let’s get in.” I unlock the doors, wrinkling my nose. Did this nigga smoke in my baby? This nigga smokes? “This nigga! Didn’t even crack open the windows, fucking bitch.” I grumble, watching Nez open the door and hop in without even blinking an eye. That nigga must smoke all the time. I roll my eyes, pressing the start up button and rolling down the windows to air my car out.
“Aye, this yo car?” Someone asks, making me look up. I look back down and roll my eyes before looking back up.
“Yeah.” I respond as the dude walks closer.
“This is a nice ass car, yo.”
“Thanks.” I say, my voice going monotone as I cross my arms.
“Wassup Ines?”
“Hi Oncle Tony!” Nez says, scrambling to the side of the car he was on.
“Where are y’all going?”
“Papa left, so me and Kennie are going shopping!”
“Does he know you’ll be leaving?” This Tony character asks, eyeing me.
“Yeah.” I lie, crossing my arms. I was going to text him once we got to my house. I didn’t like the look this nigga was giving me. We had to fo.
“Alright then. It was nice meeting you Kennie.”
“Kendall.” I say, giving him a small smile.
“Kendall. Nice car.”
“Thank you.” I say, getting in. “Buckle up, Nezzie.”
“Yes ma’am!” Nez says, buckling herself in and I start the car, pulling off and driving to my house.
I wonder how my dad was going to react. “Wanna hear some music?” I ask Ines and she nods, excited. I press the button, causing the music too loudly start up. “Fuck.” I exclaim, turning it down. This is why I will never let niggas drive my damn car. I’m never getting drunk again.
We make it to my house safely and I let out a sigh of relief. Laurent would kill me if something happened to Nezzie. He said he’d kill for her, so, I’m not taking any fucking chances. “You okay, Ines?”
“I’m hungry.” She says, rubbing her stomach. I nod.
“Come on, we have plenty of snacks at my house.” I say, grabbing my stuff and getting out of the car. She unbuckles her seatbelt, following me and clutching onto my hand.
I unlock the door, opening it and almost running into my dad. “Oh, hey.” I say, moving past him.
“Where have you been, mon cher?” He asks and I shrug.
“Out.” I look down at Ines. “This is-”
“Ines Bourgeois!” Ines says, smiling up at my dad. “I am four years old!”
“Oh hello there little one.” He says, bending down to get on her level. I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Hi! Are you Kennie’s papa?”
“I am.” He says, nodding.
“You’re taking this well. I would’ve thought you’d think she was mine.” I say, crossing my arms.
“I assume since you haven’t gained any weight in the past few months, she’d be a friends.” He says, getting up.
“How would you know if I gained any weight or not? We barely see each other.” I say, walking over to the kitchen. “Come Nezzie, let me make you some lunch.”
“I’ve made lunch, Roar.” Dad says, walking over to me. He called me mostly by my middle name because he needed a nickname that differed from my moms. “Why don’t both of you eat and then you two can do what you need to.” He didn’t give one fuck. He was just gonna let me go back out after staying out all night then most of the day. Wow.
“Okay.” I say, walking to the kitchen, Ines following me. I was unsure of how I felt about that. My mom would’ve fucking freaked out and then I’d be home all day.
“Kennie, how do I know he didn’t poison my food?” I probably started this. Now she won’t ever know if her food is poisoned or not.
I can’t determine if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Cuz like now, she’s going to always question her food, but then again, she’ll become paranoid...
“You don’t.” I mutter, closing my eyes.
“What?”
“I’ll get you your food, Nezzie. I’ll eat some first to show he didn’t poison anything, okay?”
“Okay.” She says, perking up.
We eat our unpoisoned lunch of fajitas, which Ines seemed to enjoy very much and right after giving my dad a warning about taking care of her, I hooked my dead phone up to the charger, turning it on after waiting like fifteen fucking minutes and hopped in the shower, turning my speaker on and playing some music.
“Rora! Your phone is ringing!” My dad yells, pounding on my bathroom door.
I sigh, wrapping the towel around me. I was done with my shower anyway. I walk out of my bathroom and into my room, picking my phone up and answering it.
“Hello?” I ask, putting my wet hair up.
“Where are you and Ines?”
“Laurent?”
“Where are you?” He says, his voice sounding frantic.
“Oh shit, I forgot to text you. I’m sorry, I went back home to go take a shower-”
“Did you not read the note that said stay there?” Laurent asks loudly, making me close my eyes. I was trying not to cuss him out.
“I read the note, but I needed a change of clothes and-”
“Oh Dieu, Kendall, juste ... où êtes-vous? Dites-moi où vous êtes!” (Oh God, Kendall, just… where are you? Tell me where you are!)
“Don’t fucking yell at me!” I shout back. “I’m at my fucking house!”
This nigga done lost his goddamn mind.
“You not understand how worried I was when I come back to see you and my baby not there!” He yells at me, making me move the phone from my ear.
“You don’t understand how worried Nezzie was when she woke up and you weren’t there!” I yell back at him.
There’s silence and I sigh. “I’ll text you my address.” I say, hanging up on him. I sigh, dropping my towel and putting on my bra and panties before putting on a silk robe. I grabs some lotion, one hand rubbing the lotion in the other texting Laurent my address. He hella flipped for no reason.
But I really should’ve texted him before hand. I told myself to text this nigga but I didn’t, and now he’s mad and think I stole his daughter.
“Kennie! Kennie!” Ines says, running into my room.
“Yeah baby?” I asks, looking down at her.
“Your papa taught me some words in french. Now I can say, I am Ines!” She says, clapping her hands in joy.
“How do you say it baby?”
“Jee suiz Ines!”
“Oh, you’re so good. But baby, it sounds like juh swee.”
“Juh swee?”
“Yes.” I say, giving her a smile and nod while continuing to lotion myself up. “Go ahead and practice it.”
“Instead, can I look around your room? It’s so pretty in here and it smells nice.”
“It’s from my lotion.” I say, opening the bottle and moving it in her direction. “You wanna smell?”
She nods, leaning forward and sniffing it. “Mmmmmmm, it smells so good! What is it?”
“Black raspberry vanilla. I have a ton of lotion and perfumes. I’m a hoarder of them.” I laugh. “I love smelling good.”
“I do too!”
“You want some?” I ask, looking at her. “I have plenty of lotions, I could give you one.”
“Really? But… wouldn’t you miss it?”
“Nezzie, it’s just lotion. I could buy some more.”
“How many lotions can you buy?” She asks, looking up at me with curious eyes.
“Uh, I’m not sure.” I say, shrugging. “A lot probably. Bath and Body Works have a lot of sales and cheap stuff, so…”
“I ask because daddy is always complaining about money.”
“Really?” The nigga was just talking about buying me whole ass turntables and some mixers. And then talking about his many houses. Well, depending on the houses, he probably is losing money with rent or mortgage or whatever he’s paying.
I hear the doorbell ring and I sigh, getting up and slipping a different robe on. “Come on Nezzie.” I say, grabbing her hand and leading her back down the stairs to the front. “I got it!” I shout to my father who was God knows where doing God knows what. I open the door, meeting eyes with Laurent.
“Papa!” Nezzie squeals, running past me and grabbing onto his legs.
“Oh, Ines, my love.” He scoops her up, pressing kisses all over her face as she giggles.
“I was going to text you once we got here.” I say, crossing my arms. “But my phone was dead and I forgot. So it’s not like I went and kidnapped your daughter.”
“Can I come in?” He asks, and I roll my eyes.
“Go ahead.” I say, moving to the side and allowing him in. He puts Ines down.
“Ines, can you go somewhere so me and Violette can talk?”
“Yes papa!” Ines starts to run towards the stairs but looks back at me. “Can I go to your room Kennie?”
“Go ahead baby.” I say, giving her a warm smile. She runs up the stairs and runs into my room and I sigh. Why did she leave us. If he cusses me out, I’m gonna fuck his ass up.
“Violette.”
“Kendall.” I say, looking back at him. “Look, I was going to take her shopping. The poor baby said she’s never been shopping before and I was finna spoil the hell out of her. But I couldn’t do that in the same ass raggedy jacket I wore last night and got drunk and sweaty in.”
He lets out a breath and grabs me, pulling me to him, hugging me tightly.
“What? Can you-”
“Shut up.” He says, closing his eyes and placing his head on top of mine. “I was worried as hell for you.”
“Why?”
“When I get home, the place empty and messy.” He says, keeping me tight in his arms. “Messy as in… fucked up. Like a tornado go through it and mess everything up. Someone looking all in my stuff and Ines stuff and they fuck up the place and just leave. I was so scared whoever it was had Ines and you and I just freak out. Plus, you not answering your phone at all, and I freak out so bad. I drive everywhere looking for you two and I call my brother and ask him, but he not know nothing. So I’m sitting in my car, about to cry and shit and-”
“Okay, I get it.” I say, rolling my eyes and pulling away from him. “So, indirectly, I saved my and Nezzie’s life, huh?”
“Yeah.” He breathes out. “And I so happy that you did. So, I sorry I yell at you on the phone.”
“It’s cool.” I say, giving him a smile. I wrap my arms around him, giving him a little squeeze before pulling away. “Now let me get dressed and then I’m going to spoil Nezzie.” I turn on my heel, but he grabs my arm, spinning me around and pulling me to him, kissing me deeply.
Who does this nigga think he is? Kissing me and shit. Like, this was so unneeded. A simple thank you was fine. But… this was acceptable too. I mean, he’s a great kisser. I wonder how many girls he’s kissed. Probably hella.
His hand travels down my back and falls right on my ass, the other behind my head, keeping me in place. God, his hands are nice. He squeezes my ass, pulling me closer, and I almost faint. God, booty rubs and squeezes are life. I need to save lives more often if it means getting this type of treatment, shit.
But only from him. I only want this from him.
“Ahem.” My father says, interrupting the two of us. “Could you two… not do that in my front room?” I pull away from Laurent, a small dazed smile on my face. I probably looked hella dumb. “Rora, put on some clothes!”
I look down at my robe, which was slightly showing my bra. “Oh, oh, my bad.” I mutter, pulling it over my shirt. “I’m gonna… go upstairs, bye.” I say, turning and running upstairs. “I’m so fucking dumb.” I mutter as I enter my room and close the door behind me. I untie the robe, stripping it off my shoulders and preparing to get dressed.
“Kennie!” Ines says, startling me. I almost forgot the baby doll was here.
“Hey Nezzie. Did you smell anything nice?”
She wouldn’t remember seeing my in my bra and panties anyway. And besides, she’s a girl, so, it shouldn’t be a problem right? Would this traumatize her? I need some clothes.
“All of them smell nice!” She says, looking at shelf of lotions. “I can’t reach the ones at the top though.” I walk over to my dresser, pulling out a white v neck crop top and some black low rise skinny jeans as she talks.
“Oh, the ones at the top are perfumes.” I say. “And you would have to spray the air to smell them, and when you do that, it gets stuffy in here.”
“Kennie, are you and papa dating?” She asks, making me frown.
“What? Uh, why?”
“Because, papa said he really really really really liked you. And when papa really really really really really really likes someone, he dates them.”
Or kisses them like there is no fucking tomorrow. “Well, I mean, I kinda like your papa too, but… I don’t… know.”
“But… Kennie, I really like you. I want you and my papa to be together forever. Then we can buy lotions and I could do your hair and we could do all types of fun things!”
“That sounds really great, Nezzie. I just wanna know your papa better.” Before I kiss him like that again, because that kind of kiss… Wow.
“Then will you marry him?”
“Marry?” I ask, a frown on my face. “Nezzie, I’m still so young and-”
“Please, Kennie! Please, please, please, please, please, please-”
“Okay, okay, I’ll think about it!” I say, groaning and sitting down on my bed. I was not gonna think about it.
“Yay!” Nezzie says, jumping to me.
God this girl was my number one weakness.
“I need to get dressed Nezzie, so could you go see you-” I was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” I ask, but they didn’t answer and just walked in, making me close my eyes in order to keep myself composed. “Why would you just walk inside without even waiting and-”
“Is nothing I not see before.” Laurent says, closing the door behind him.
“Papa! Papa!” Ines says, running to him. He picks her up, giving her a kind smile.
“Did my dad talk to you?”
“Oui. He say that he not want any babies running around while you this young.” He puts Ines down and she opens the door, running out of the room. Laurent closes the door, making me sigh.
“Its not like we’re together anyway.” I shrug, holding the crop top up and studying it.
“Well, according to what I told your papa, we are.”
“What?” I say, turning around. “What did you tell my father?”
“Your papa ask if me and you were dating, and I say yeah. I not think about it. It just… feel right.”
“Well, that’s not right.” I nervously laugh. “You’re going to have to tell my dad you were wrong.”
“But… when I tell him he get so happy. Is probably because I tell him I’m from Guadeloupe and he say he from the islands too and that you dating someone with culture and not any of these boys that live here in LA.”
“Okay, that’s nice, but Laurent, we aren’t-”
“Just let it be for your papa. After a month or two, say I break up with you or something.” Laurent says, shrugging.
“Laurent-”
“Do it for your papa. His eyes light up and everything. He warn me for kissing you like that, but he say I’m a cool person.”
“What, he doesn’t even know you!”
“His first impression of me was good.”
“Oh my god Laurent!”
“Just hurry up and get dressed so we can go.” Laurent says, and opens the door. Ines walks back in, finishing off a fajita. I smile despite my attitude, but then Laurent’s words register in my head.
“We? This was supposed to be a girls day out with me and Nezzie, right Nez?”
“Yeah!”
“Don’t you have a house to clean or something?” I ask, putting on my ripped jeans and walking over to my dresser, looking for another shirt.
“No, I have people taking care of that.” Laurent says, picking Ines up and kissing her cheek. “So we all going together as a family.”
“A family?” I ask, turning around to face him. This nigga had me fucked up.
“Really papa?” Ines says, and Laurent nods.
“You know, Violette is my girlfriend now.”
“Laurent, don’t-”
“Really Kennie?” Ines asks, turning her big brown eyes on me. I swear to God they were sparkling and they looked so cute. Her mother was blessed with great genes.
“Yeah.” I nod, in a daze. Her eyes hypnotized me. Fuck. “Wait, Nezzie-”
“Yay!” Ines cheers loudly. “I’m so happy papa!”
Oh God. I let out a breath, resting my head on the dresser. They trapped me. Laurent set this whole thing up to trap me I bet. Now how was I going to tell Ines the truth.
“Does that mean I can call you mama, Kennie?”
Oh my God. “Ines…”
“Just wait for that, Ines.” Laurent says. “Kendall is still young and she not ready to be a mama right now. She just my girlfriend baby, she not my wife.”
“But will she be your wife?”
Oh my fucking God, please!
“I not know right now.” Laurent says. “Now, let’s leave so she can get ready.”
