When the elevator stopped on my floor, I left, arrived at my door, and set all the bags down.
Amber’s laughter sounded from the other side.
Thank God she’s in a good mood. I have no patience for her drama today. But what the hell is she laughing about?
I was eager for something myself—anything to get my mind off of the horror at hand. I smiled and hoped that her cheery mood would get us back to how we used to be.
We’re overdue for sex. I can’t think of no better way to finish off this day.
“Stop it.” Amber laughed some more. “You’re tickling me.”
I paused in the doorway. My keys dangled in my hand. Hot rage coursed through my veins. My heart boomed in my ears.
“Oh my god!” She giggled. “You are so playful today.”
A man’s deep voice sounded. “Am I, Amby baby?”
“Yes,” Amber moaned.
“Come over here. I want more of you before it’s time for me to leave.”
I left the bags on the floor. The door remained open. Fisting my hands, I stomped toward the bedroom. All I could think of was violence. Pure bloodshed. Nothing could stop me. There would be no excuse and no getting out of this.
Noise no longer reached me. It was just my heart pumping brutal beats against my eardrums. My whole body vibrated with vicious revenge.
I was in the bedroom in seconds and on him after that. It appeared all that time in our home gym had helped. I yanked the man off the bed and slammed him on the floor.
“Kamal!” Amber screamed in horror.
The guy barely knew what was going on. Once he realized he was on the floor, he looked up and caught my punch to his jaw.
“Kamal! No!” Amber cried.
“In our bedroom?!” I roared and slammed my fist into his head again. “And with him?!”
Completely naked, he was small next to my size and in every way it counted. No muscle. No height. No cock to speak of. No arm reach. No skills for a fight. Just a skinny blonde guy with blue eyes.
How many times had I grown up in my private schools getting bullied by this same sort of guy? Even in college, the privileged white guys grouped together and yelled out ignorant shit. They called me brownie, chinki monkey, and curry muncher. I was South Asian—my parents coming from India and the racist names became more creative as I got older. Since our newly elected president was more racist than diplomatic, this year a few times people would glance my way and whisper, Taliban Terrorist.
And this guy hadn’t called me any of those names, but I beat him like he did.
“No! Please!” Amber tried to grab at my shoulders. “Oh my god! No! I. . .”
I didn’t stop punching him. Blood dripped from his nose. Some of it smeared on my fingers. It was in that crazy moment that I remembered I was in the middle of a pandemic and shouldn’t let his germs get on me.
“You piece of shit!” I kicked him in the side and stepped back.
It would be just my luck that I get the damn coronavirus from him.
I marched off to the bathroom.
“Arh,” the man whined on the ground.
Amber rushed after me. Terror rose in her voice. “Kamal, please let me explain.”
“You’re naked. What is there to explain?” I entered the bathroom, turned on the faucet, filled my palms with liquid soap, and washed my hands. “I want you out of here!”
“What? I. . .”
“Out! Get the fuck out of my condo! I should have never moved you in.” I rubbed my hands and focused on the blood spilling down into the sink. If I looked at her, I might want to kill her.
She’s not worth it. Calm down.
“Kamal, I can’t just leave. I-I don’t have anybody here in New York.”
I looked at her. “I don’t give a fuck. Find a hotel or—”
“How? I. . .I don’t have any money.”
“Get it from the guy you were just fucking.”
“I. . .” She watched me dry my hands off. “Kamal. . .just let me. . .What could I do? You weren't paying me any attention. You stopped having sex with me and—”
“Get the fuck out!” I stomped back to the bedroom, hoping the idiot was there and needing to kick someone. “Not paying you any attention? I work. I provide you with a place to live so you can sit on your ass and do nothing.”
“I—”
I walked around the sheet toppled bed. “Why aren’t you packing?”
“I have nowhere to go. You know I don’t.”
I searched for the idiot. He’d disappeared with his clothes but left one of his shoes. I turned to Amber.
She trembled in front of me. “I. . I know you hate me, Kamal. I-I don’t deserve your help, but—”
“You won’t get it.” I glared at her.