Kitten (Preview)

Chapter One

"All the girls here need to take them shirts off!"

Kit watched the obviously drunk twenty-something teeter as he announced this to the rest of the dimly lit den. He wobbled dangerously, his red cup tipping and spitting out an amber liquid on the carpet. It wasn't a surprise that people were already drunk. Some of the attendants had pre-gamed before turning up to the function and, after an hour, were already sloshed.

Beside Kit, his best friend Chad snickered. Chad wasn't much of a sloppy partier but the two of them loved watching the drunks slur out words and fall over. At parties like these, that was guaranteed.

"Sit your drunk ass down, Andre," one of the girls shouted at the man standing. He took two hits and handed it back.

"I'm heading to the bathroom," he announced, standing and exhaling the smoke. He climbed the steps and headed to the main part of the house. He couldn't locate the stereo system, but was interrupted only by small bits of conversation he caught while moving through the crowd. He finally reached the bathroom and slipped inside, shutting himself off from the rest of the party.

For a moment, Kit stood there against the door, a smile on his face. This was the reason he'd returned home. As great as things had been out in Washington, New York was his home. The place was filled with plenty of bullshit, but underneath it all, he felt better here than anywhere else.

He quickly did his business and washed his hands. Out of curiosity, he opened the medicine cabinets, grabbing a bottle of lotion. He applied a little and flicked the light off on his way out. When he opened the door, he looked up to see an obnoxiously familiar face.

"Of course, you'd be here," Kit mumbled, pushing him out of the way and heading back to the den. The man caught up with him and grabbed him by the forearm, holding him back.

"Wait up, shit," he complained.

"What do you want, Jaylen?" Kit asked, snatching his arm back. Jaylen knew well enough he didn't like to be touched like that and yet here he was, pulling on him like they were dating again.

"I want to talk."

"Not right now. I'm trying to have fun, not deal with you and your shit."

"Kit," he sighed, an insistent look in his eyes. Kit wanted to shove him off and return to the den with some of his friends but he knew he'd be followed. To save himself the trouble of explaining what all of this drama was about, he glared at Jaylen for a moment and walked to the back door. The two of them made sure they were alone before Kit turned to look at him expectantly.

"What do you want?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest. Jaylen took a deep breath and said,

"You."

"Corny," Kit said.

"I'm serious. I fucked up. I should have been honest with you, I shouldn't have kept you a secret. And that... thing with Omari was... That's my fault."

That thing. That was an interesting way of putting all the times he'd cheated with another man.

"It is your fault," Kit exclaimed, adjusting his voice when he realized that he was being loud. "I'm not some secret you keep in your closet. Niggas like you are out here expecting us to keep quiet, but I'm not messing around with that anymore. If you wanna fuck someone on the DL, you need to find someone in the closet too. I told you a month ago, I'm not doing this with you anymore. And if you think I'd take you back after you fucked someone in my bed, you're even dumber than you look."

Jaylen was silent for a moment. He nodded, his hand reaching out to stroke the other's shoulder. "C'mon," he started. Before he could finish, Kit swatted his hand away and shouldered past him.