Page 27 of Out of Bounds
“You drove here like that?”
“Like what?”
“Drunk. I can smell the liquor on you.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “Me being drunk is the least of your worries.”
“Masai.”
“Leave me alone, Kreed.”
“Leave you alone?” I repeated in a questioning tone. “Masai…” I grabbed her arm and spun her around. “What you on?”
“I ain’t on shit!” she yelled after snatching away from me.
Clearly, she had gotten drunk and had gotten in her feelings. Whatever it was, I needed her to keep her voice down before she woke my kids up. “Masai, can we please not do this? The kids are upstairs.”
“Do what, honey? What am I doing so wrong?”
“All right. Let’s go sleep this off.” I reached for her hand, but she recoiled.
“I don’t want to sleep.”
“Well, what do you need?” I sighed, knowing her response was going to be another dig at me, yet when I met her gaze, shewas no longer angry. She looked at me for a few seconds before slouching her shoulders.
“I need you to tell me why, Kreed. I need you to tell me what was so good about her that it made you want to risk this… Risk me. Risk our family.”
“Masai, you’re drunk and incoherent. I don’t want to have this conversation while you’re in this state.”
“Tell me, Kreed,” she pleaded. “Tell me why. What did she do that I didn’t do?”
Drawing in a shaky breath, I held it in before letting it out in a slow, uneven exhale. “Can I at least make a pot of coffee so you can sober up a bit?”
“Whatever, Kreed. You make all the decisions anyway. I just follow… like a trained puppy, holding onto your every fucking word.” She jabbed.
Reaching for her hand once again, I dragged her to the kitchen and instructed her to take a seat at the island. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and slid it across the counter to her. “Drink that,” I ordered.
Masai mumbled something inaudibly under her breath before untwisting the cap and taking a sip of the water. For some sick reason, I had visions of her being here, even if only for a moment. For that reason, I made sure to grab her favorite coffee and everything she would need to make the perfect cup when I was shopping for necessities.
While I moved around the kitchen to make my wife the perfect cup of coffee, I stared at her out of the corner of my eye. Even in her disheveled, emotional state, Masai was still the most gorgeous woman that I’d ever laid eyes on. She was sitting at the island with her elbows resting on the counter and her head perched in her hands. The way her eyes were red and low, I deduced that she had either cried before showing up or was fighting an intense battle with whatever liquor she’d beendrinking. After pouring the cold foam on top of her coffee, I set the mug down and slid it over to her.
“Take a sip, and then we can talk.” I let her know.
Masai scoffed under her breath but picked the mug up and blew it a few times before taking a sip. “You always did know how to make the perfect cup of coffee,” is what she said after a few minutes of silence.
“I learned from the best,” I said, giving her a half smile. “So…” I clasped my hands together and leaned on the island. “Before we get into anything, I first want to say don’t youeverdo no shit like that again, Masai.”
“Like what?” she asked and glared at me over the rim of the mug.
“Drive yo’ ass over here drunk. You could’ve gotten into an accident. We don’t play with our lives like that.”
“Oh, but we fuck other people, huh?” she spat out in response.
“No, Masai, we don’t.” I sighed. “Baby… I fucked up.”
“You think.” She scoffed. “Tell me… Tell me what it was. What was soooo good about this one that it had you going against your vows?”
“Nothing. There wasn’t anything special.Sheisn’t anything special.”
