“Kam.”
“‘Scuse me?”
“It’s a joke. I have to get it.”
My mother curls her lip in gaudy disgust. “If you must.”
“I must.”
I pick up Kam’s present from the kitchen counter. I had it wrapped in shiny silver paper. I tried to call him before bed last night, but his phone went straight to voicemail. I know what happens when he goes out with his teammates. Mayhem, but he at least usually sends me a goodnight text. I will make sure to give him plenty of shit for ignoring me when he gets home.
I smile to myself. Kam has always made it way too easy.
I’m supposed to be meeting my mother for breakfast so I won’t be here when Kam gets home. I’m saving this baby for later. I can’t wait to see his face. Hopefully it makes him laugh. I miss hearing Kam laugh. I miss seeing his easy smile.
I pray this weekend did him some good.
Finishing the last of my coffee, I hear something that catches my attention during the celebrity gossip portion of the weekend news.
“A few New York elite were caught partying it up last night at a popular strip club right outside Myrtle Beach,” the newscaster in plaid excitedly exaggerates. I spy on the television screen close to a dozen familiar faces escaping out the front door of the club with a few girls mixed in. One face gains my full attention as the broadcast goes on. “It seems New York’s golden boy didn’t miss out on any of the fun. Wonder what the future Mrs. Ellis will think?” the man mocks as the video freezes on an image of Kam in the limo window with an obnoxious red arrow pointing at his neck. It feels like I’ve been slapped in the face in front of the whole northeast. Kam smiling with a gigantic hickey displayed proudly on his neck. Rage ignites inside me like I’ve never felt before.
When I told Kam to go blow off some steam, I didn’t mean with a fucking stripper.
