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  KITTEN

  Jack Harbon

  Copyright © 2019 by Jack Harbon

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  To everyone on Wattpad that encouraged me to finish this book (and also yelled at me until I published it). Your support means more than I could ever put into words. ♡

  About this story…

  Fresh out of college and back on his older sister's couch, Kit expected his days to return to the way they'd always been. He anticipated spending his days perusing Netflix with one hand on the remote and the other in a box of pizza, but when he's given the opportunity for a job at one of New York City's newest advertising agencies, there's no way he can turn the offer down. Unfortunately for Kit, this job might be more than he bargained for.

  Not only does Roman - his handsome yet ruthless new boss - let his wandering eye linger just a little too long, Kit can't seem to shake the feeling that the glitzy personal assistant gig he just landed might be a bit shadier than he imagined. Before he's even able to make a reservation for Roman's dinner at Le Bernardin, Kit's professional and personal life become one, and he finds himself forced to somehow separate business from pleasure.

  Easier said than done, especially when it’s his job to take care of Roman’s every need.

  Content Warning…

  I think it’s super important to be aware of what you’re consuming, and it’s never my goal to trade my readers’ safety for an unexpected twist or shocking moment. Because of that, I feel it’s necessary to include a list of possible triggering content that could potentially upset readers. If you want to go into this story without any warnings, you’re more than welcome to skip ahead, but I ask that you respect this decision and have empathy for those that truly do need a heads up about some rough content. ♡

  Kitten contains the following:

  Alcohol and/or drug use

  Homophobia

  Mention and portrayal of abusive relationships Parental abuse (neglect, emotional, mental)

  Abusive partner (emotional, mental)

  Mention of suicide and depression

  Mention of terminal illness

  1

  Yellow Fall

  “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 love 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. Kit was all too involved in watching this exchange go down that he nearly missed Chad holding out the small joint. 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 the sound of Trina 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.

  “Fuck outta here,” he mumbled under his breath. He walked back into the house and maneuvered through the crowd until he was in the den.

  “Finally!” Chad exclaimed. He handed off his cup and Kit downed the last of his Hennessy. Chad watched with amusement. “Someone’s in their feelings,” he said lightly.

  “I ran into Jaylen.”

  “It was only a matter of time. What’d he want?” Chad asked.

  “What do you think he wanted?”

  “You should take it as a compliment,” he smirked. “Got that bomb bussy.”

  Kit shoved Chad’s head and took a seat on the sofa. He relaxed into the cushions and surveyed the room, doing a double-take when he spotted a girl looking in his direction. She twirled one of her loose curls around her finger, bedroom eyes on full volume. Kit nudged his friend.

  “She’s feeling you.”

  “Who?” Chad looked around the room.

  “Niecy over there.”

  When they both looked in her direction, she turned away coyly and whispered something to her friend. They both giggled and looked back at the boys.

  “Get ‘em,” Kit said with a smile.

  Chad rose from his seat and crossed the room. He took a seat next to Niecy and suavely stretched out an arm around the back of her chair, and it took everything Kit had not to laugh at his best friend. He had game for a white boy, Kit had to admit that.

  After a few minutes of people-watching
, Kit slipped his phone out of his pocket. When he checked the time, he made a face. Almost three in the morning.

  He’d text Chad later and tell him why he had to go. At the moment, Chad was busy. After a few goodbye nods and high fives, Kit was outside and walking down the sidewalk, his cellphone in hand. He took a seat on the sidewalk and waited for his Uber to arrive.

  Twenty minutes later there was a car pulling up for him. Kit hopped up and climbed inside, double-checking that his driver knew the right way to his sister’s apartment. It was a bit of a drive, but he was too tired to be worried about his bank account at the moment.

  His phone buzzed, and when he read the message, he smiled wide. Chad and Niecy were on their way back to her place. He wasn’t surprised that his friend had gotten lucky. Not a day went by that he didn’t get hit on by girls and guys alike. Not that Kit was left out of the fun, either. Unfortunately, most of the guys that hit on him were on the low. They didn’t want anyone knowing about their fun between the sheets. Guys like Jaylen.

  Just the thought of him turned his stomach. He couldn’t be more over the situation if he were standing on the Empire State Building. Jaylen was persistent, something that had caught his attention in the first place. Kit wasn’t stuck up, but dating wasn’t something he’d been interested in, and Jaylen didn’t take that for an answer. He wormed his way into Kit’s heart, and as a result, things had all gone to shit.

  He was done stressing over guys who wanted to play that game. One of his favorite self-help books had taught him that he was worth more than the options being presented to him. Thus, was a more confident, newer Kit Bayer.

  Kit tipped well when his driver pulled up to the curb outside of his apartment. On his way to the seventh floor, he made sure to rate her five stars. After he unlocked the door, he pushed inside, searching blindly for the light. His hip bumped into the table near the door and one of the tiny angel figurines fell.

  Before he could save it, the porcelain shattered against the wood. He sighed and closed the door, shaking his head. To avoid making any more noise, he tip-toed over to the couch and collapsed face down on the cushions, letting out a sigh. There was nothing better than coming home and falling down onto something soft.

  And just like that, Kit was unconscious, his clothes and shoes still on.

  Light streamed through the window blinds and Kit suddenly hated that he needed the sun to survive. His head hurt, teetering somewhere between a migraine and a hangover. Slowly, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Kit jumped in surprise when he saw his sister’s girlfriend Trish glaring at him from the recliner.

  “What’d I do this time?” he asked instinctively.

  “Just your typical lightskin behavior,” she said, sucking her teeth judgmentally. Kit couldn’t recall anything he’d done lately, but he was sure there was something. When he didn’t respond, she glanced back at the broken porcelain on the ground.

  “Did I do that?”

  “Yes, Urkel.” She stood and made a noise of disapproval. “Bria said she wanna talk to you, too. You in trouble.” Trish left him alone in the living room.

  “I’m completely innocent,” Kit mumbled, standing up. His head pulsed painfully but he ignored it and grabbed the broom from the closet. Making quick work, he swept up the glass and trashed it. When he was done, he tentatively knocked on Bria’s bedroom door.

  “Come in,” she called out. Kit pushed into the room, glancing between the two ladies on the bed. “How’d you sleep last night?”

  The tone of her voice wasn’t as warm as it usually was, and Kit didn’t need to be a detective to figure out that she was less than pleased.

  “Uh… I slept alright. Why?” he asked.

  “Because that was your last night sleeping in until noon without spending the day job hunting.”

  “What’s that mean?” Kit didn’t like the sound of this conversation already.

  “It means that starting today you need to get out there and look for a job. It’s been three months since you graduated, Kit. You keep saying you’re looking for a job but…” She raised her hands in defeat. “I love you, but if you’re going to be living here, you have to help out. So, you’ve gotta get out there and find some kind of job.”

  As she talked, her voice became softer. Kit knew she didn’t like confrontation like this. It was too close to their childhood. Because of that, he was willing to keep his cool and not pout. As much as he hated admitting it, he knew she was right. He was running out of money by the day, from food to clothes to movies, and he had no way of making more.

  “I mean… Fine.” Kit knew he could make a big deal out of this, but Trish wouldn’t hesitate to check him if he got out of line.

  Bria’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah,” Kit said, shrugging.

  “Also,” she started. “You owe Trish a new figurine. You broke her favorite one last night when you came stumbling in.”

  He wanted to correct her and say that he wasn’t stumbling because he hadn’t drunk that much but kept his lips pressed together.

  “Gotcha,” he replied. “I’ll start looking today. Is that good?”

  “It’s perfect,” she said.

  “The coffee shop around the block is hiring if you’re interested,” Trish offered. Kit made note of it and nodded, slipping out of the room. He returned to the couch and kicked off his shoes. Logically, he knew he couldn’t be mad, but starting off his morning by being told he needed to do something with his life wasn’t exactly as great as a plate of pancakes in his face.

  Rather than sulking, Kit sent Chad a text. If he was going to go looking for work, he’d need someone to keep him entertained along the way.

  *

  That night at dinner, Kit, Trish, and Bria sat around the small table in the kitchen talking about all the exciting things they had planned. Trish swallowed a spoonful of soup and said,

  “We’re still looking for our Danny Zuko. I hope we can find her by next week. Then we can start planning dates and things like that.”

  Trish was directing an all-female version of Grease, one of her favorite musicals. Kit had been interested in helping out until he found out that there would be no male roles. He’d never been in a musical before, but he liked Kenickie the most and would have loved to play him.

  “I’m sure you’ll find the perfect Danny,” Bria said, smiling at Trish. She stirred crackers into her soup and looked up at her brother. “What are you looking forward to?”

  He shrugged and picked at his food, separating all of the peas from the rest of the vegetables. “I don’t know. Hopefully some calls from the places I applied to. I filled out like, eleven applications today, so I’m sure I’ll get at least one response.”

  “Hopefully,” Trish said, glancing up at him. “That figurine was seventy bucks.”

  Kit rolled his eyes and smiled. “I’m not going to forget. Don’t worry. I’ll hit you back with some money.”

  “You better,” she said.

  Kit was glad Bria had finally settled down with someone like Trish. Back when they both lived at home, she was always dating girls that she knew would piss off their parents. He remembered many nights the three of them would scream at each other, his parents mad that she was interested in girls and his sister mad because they couldn’t accept her. It was the reason he’d been single until college. When he moved away, he went wild.

  Trish had straightened his sister out. Figuratively, of course.

  Gone was her rebellious behavior, and instead she could be who she really was. Rather than sneaking out and getting tattoos that would only enrage their conservative, highly religious mother and father, she was spending time inside, working from home. She’d mellowed out way more than he’d expected.

  “And you, Bria?” Trish asked. “What’s on your busy schedule?”

  “I’m going grocery shopping on Saturday and I can’t wait.”

  Kit snorted. “So exciting, Bri.”

  “Whatever,” she grumb
led. “You don’t ever say shit when I bring home them little Cutie things.”

  “Okay, that’s because those slap,” he laughed. “You should get some pizza rolls too. I need more of those.”

  “Mhm,” she said, giving him one of her dismissive glances.

  Kit started to speak when his phone buzzed. He stopped himself and pulled it out. He didn’t recognize the number. He held up a finger and excused himself from the table.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Kit, sorry for calling you so late and on my personal number, but I got your voicemail and I’ve got something you definitely don’t want to pass up,” Ira, the man from the temp agency he was using, said.

  Kit had never been happier to hear that nasally voice. “Oh yeah? What is it?”

  “It’s with Yellow Fall. Have you heard of them?”

  “Sounds familiar, but I don’t know where I’ve heard it,” Kit said. He took a seat on the couch and opened Bria’s laptop. He typed in the name into the search bar and navigated to the company’s homepage.

  “It’s this new advertising agency. You might know them from that ad they ran for Grandeur’s new cologne.”

  How could Kit forget about that? The tagline of Grandeur’s cologne had been “Drive women mad,” and the ad depicted gorgeous, muzzled women in straightjackets and a padded cell, a shirtless man lounging between them. Kit could see the vision of the advertising team, but the ad had angered plenty of people. Deemed misogynistic and insensitive to both women and those suffering from mental illnesses, Grandeur quickly pulled the entire ad campaign.

  When he’d first heard about it, Kit questioned whether it was an oversight or an unsavory marketing scheme. Outrage made people talk, and to many companies, it was worth the hit to their reputation so long as it brought in customers.