Page 26 of Just Like Summer

“Ay, K,” he rumbled.

“Hm?”

He stepped to her, his change of clothes in his hands. “Don’t do that.”

Her brows fused. “Do what?”

He fought the impulse to kiss the top of her head and stepped back. “Don’t shrug. Say what you want. Outside ain’t safe, but right here,” he motioned his finger between them. “You safe. I mean that. On Azul.”

She tucked her lips and nodded.

“Say it,” he urged.

“Thanks for looking out for me. Since I got here…no one else really has.”

He nodded. “One day you’re going to tell me about that.”

“Maybe.”

Cairo offered that signature smirk. “I’ll get it out of you one way or another.”

Kamilla offered him a soft laugh.

He’d already lingered in her space longer than he intended. “Goodnight, K.”

“Goodnight, Cairo.”

eleven

“Mm,” she groaned softly, stretching out in the bed.

No one was banging on her door. No one was rummaging. No one was doing all that loud talking. There was nothing put peace. Peace. She hadn’t felt this since that day. If she was being honest, she didn’t know peace completely before then anyway. There had always been a quiet chaotic storm in their lives. Her parents going back and forth, off and on. Her father’s untimely death. The constant evictions once he was gone. The bouts of depression her mother went through. Kamilla never knew peace in its fullness, and that’s what she craved. Deep in her soul she wanted peace, wanted family, wanted a true smile on her face, wanted a laugh that came from her depths. She longed for it.

When her eyes fully opened and she patted the bed for the phone, the time on the screen zapped the sense of peace she had. Another day at Loco’s Tacos and another day of QaMeesha working her nerves. She groaned and rolled over onto her back. There were two hours until she had to clock in. Going back to sleep was out of the question, so she sat up and did her morning routine. Scroll through texts from her mother, start her personal playlist of her father’s music— some released and a whole lot of master’s that never got to see the light of day. A continuum of Kamilla holding on to the things she’d never get to touch again.

And then there was a text from Cairo. Of course, if he’d broken into her aunt’s house with ease, figured out her work schedule and softly kidnapped her, he’d have her number.

C-Ro: went to grab breakfast. Fresh towels in the bathroom.

Another text from the phone company thanking her for payment and another from Aunt J.

Aunt J: you didn’t come home last night? Don’t fuck up going to college behind some nigga

Kamilla scoffed and swiped out of the texts altogether. She honestly didn’t know what she was expecting from her aunt, being that this was the first time she had to act like there were other people in the world besides herself.

“God forbid she’d have to actually care about me,” Kamilla grumbled, scooting out of the bed. While Cairo was gone, she showered and dressed for the day.

“K, come eat,” Cairo called. shutting the front door with his foot as she was walking down the hall. He caught a glimpse of her and smirked. “You slept good?”

“Yeah, actually. You?”

“You were right about the couch not being big enough. Once I hit the floor, I was good.”

“I can really take the couch, Cairo. I’ve slept on plenty of couches and floors,” she shared, following him into the small kitchen and peeking into a bag.

“And that’s probably why you’re exhausted.”

She laughed wryly. “Imagine that; I’ve been tired most of my life.”