7. Kai
When we arrive in Las Vegas, I set the trailer and unhook the back garage where I keep my bikes. There’s plenty of space to work on them and keep them stored and secured. Gem spotted me rolling my R7 out of the back of the trailer. She didn’t say anything, but she stared at me like she knew something was wrong. I have a good poker face, but if I can’t keep it together, I just smile all the problems away. Most people go along with it. Gem is an entirely different story. But I am back to square one in the sense that I can’t tell her, even if I wish I could.
I take off on my bike with the desire to clear my head and get right for tomorrow’s competition. If the mind isn’t clear and focused before throttling yourself up the ramp, you die. It’s simple. Mistakes cost lives. Then again, that’s part of the thrill, the fun of it. Toeing the line of seconds and breaths is what I do best.
The cool desert air flies through my hair and makes my jacket billow in the wind. I know I should have a helmet on, but sometimes, we have to dance with death to remember our own mortality. The problem is, I don’t need to be reminded of mine very often because I face it every day.
I motor down the Las Vegas strip. The neon lights are dimmed by my sunglasses. It’s like I’m seeing the world behind glass I’ll never be able to move past. Once I reach the end of the strip, I turn left to get back on the interstate. I want to go fast. As I merge on, there aren’t a ton of cars on the road at this time of night. I flick the throttle, shooting off into the night.
On my way back, I spot the Bellagio and turn in. I have no business going in here, especially because the Costas have their hand in this pot, too, but maybe I’ll see someone or something going on. I’m being proactive. Or maybe you’re just looking for trouble. Oh, wait, you’re going into the one place you are guaranteed to find it.
After I park my bike and walk through the door, the sounds of winning dings fill my ears. Luxury stores are on both sides of me, and the casino entrance is to my right. My heart pounds in my throat, and adrenaline rushes through my veins as I saunter through the low lights, dinging machines, and someone yells, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” I note my exits and find a table. It’s low stakes because I’m not actually here to gamble. I’m handed a few chips and dealt in for blackjack. I check my cards and then the dealer. I make the motion to hit me again while I observe the casino. Nothing sticks out to me. The men in suits look like security. No one is giving me funny looks. It’s like I’m begging to be caught.
I win the round and tell him to deal me in again. He calls for everyone to place their bets, and I slide my chips in. The chatter in the room goes quiet, and people look towards the main aisle. Wondering what everyone is paying attention to, I turn and see the princess herself walking down the velvety carpet like it’s a runway.
Aelia Costa. Marco Costa’s only daughter out of four children and his prized possession. We hear things about her. She’s wild and doesn’t care what her father or brothers think. She lives outside the lines of ordinary civilians, but even in her recklessness, she has to abide by the mob rules. I’m sure she’s been promised to a man from a rival family already, and she’s just pushing the boundaries as far as she can until she will have to stay behind them. I can understand that.
Aelia doesn’t spare me a glance, and neither does her entourage. Clearly, there is no activity going on here. I play my last round and cash out.
I call Liam while I ride back down the strip to the Wynn, the one that’s hosting the freestyle event. “Two times in one day. What did I do to deserve the honor?” Liam asks.
I roll my eyes and weave through traffic. “I went to the Bellagio and—“
A string of curses rings in my ears, and I wait for him to stop. “Why the hell would you do that? It’s like you’re trying to tip them off that we got rid of what’s his face!”
“His name was John. And I wasn’t trying to do anything. I just wanted to do some recon. I saw the princess, though.” Yeah, right, dumbass. You were definitely looking for a fight.
“Huh, I’m surprised she’s there. I heard she’s traveling the world most of the time.”
“Yeah, well, she was with her entourage.”
“That tells me her dad or her brothers aren’t there. I hear she avoids them like the plague.”
I frown, turning onto the back street where entertainers stash their RVs. “And how would you know?” I ask him, spotting Reece and Cordelia hanging out in front of their camper. Cordelia always sets things up when we get somewhere. She’ll string Christmas lights around the awning. I’ve even seen her set up some potted plants around the fold-up table they set out.
“I know a lot of things, Two. It’s my job to know those things,” he says. Liam is very good with computers. He got into them when we were younger, and he’s kind of a kid genius. He figured out how to hack our father’s phone just to piss him off and get back at him. So if there is chatter somewhere, Liam would know.
“Well, I was just there, so maybe nothing has come up yet,” I suggest.
He chuckles dryly. “No, Kai. If Daddy Costa was there and saw you, Emerson and I would already be on the jet, and Mom would be surrounded by an army. But no, there’s nothing. So your little mission was a failure.”
“That’s probably a good thing,” I mutter, glancing at the setup Cordi came up with this time as I flip my kickstand and turn off my bike. She has always found a way to make things better. Being the only woman in a group of men, she’s never shied away from being just that…a woman. My sunglasses are still on, so she doesn’t know I’m looking right back at her as I unlock my garage to put my bike away.
“I’d say so, but Kai…”
“What?” I grunt out, flipping the last latch.
“Why are you looking for a fight?” he asks me carefully. I growl and lay down the ramp to roll my bike up. Cordi is still staring at me, and I do my best to ignore her.
“I am not looking for a fight. I am trying to figure out what’s coming.”
“Well, you know what they say, Two. If you go looking for trouble, you are bound to find it,” Liam cautions.
I grab my handlebars, roll the bike up, and flip the kickstand back down. I wipe the bead of sweat from my neck and lean against the counter, subtly looking at Cordi, laughing at something Reece said. “I wasn’t looking for trouble, you ass. I just don’t want them to catch me by surprise again, and I couldn’t live with myself if I weren’t doing everything in my power to avoid the bloodshed, even if that means we need to have a sit-down,” I say, exasperated and entirely exhausted.
“You can’t negotiate your way out of this, Kai, as much as I wish we could. But for now, it’s quiet. Let’s just be happy it is. Plus…I kind of like the bloodshed.”
“Liam…”
He chuckles loudly, solidifying my concern for my little brother and his unchecked overconfidence. It’s going to get him in trouble one day, and I don’t think Emerson or I will be able to do anything about it. “Brother, chill. It will be okay. Just stop looking for a fight. I’ll keep an eye out. I sent messages out to my contacts in Washington.” I hear flip-flops and know Cordi is likely making her way over here.
“Okay, fine. Let me know, and tell Mom I said hi.” Liam laughs again, and I wince at the volume.
“Tell her yourself, asshole. You know she will just pat my cheek and say, ‘The prince can call me himself,’” he says in a bad interpretation of our mother.
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll call her later. Bye.”
“See ya,” he says, and the line goes silent. I pull my headphones out and set them on the counter. Cordelia saunters up to me with a container in her hands. My eyes involuntarily trail up her figure, stopping before they get to her face, and I lift my shirt to wipe off the sweat.
“Hey, daredevil. You took off so fast I was going to see if you wanted to have dinner with Dad and me,” Cordelia says.
“Hey, sorry, I just needed to clear my head.”
She frowns and looks between me and the bike. “Something you want to talk about?” I shake my head no and run my fingers through my hair. “Okay, well, I brought you dinner,” she says, holding out the container. I take it and lift the lid.
“Oh, I love your chicken, Alfredo, thanks.”
She hums and rocks back on her heels. “Well, do you want to hang out for a little bit while you eat?”
I shrug and flip the light off to my garage.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?”
Handing the container back to her, I close the back end of the trailer and walk around to the front to unlock it. I cringe right before opening the door because there is crap everywhere, and I’m sure it smells a little. I haven’t had time to clean or do laundry.
Without asking, she puts the container in the microwave and leans against the counter, waiting for it to finish. I rip my shirt off, and her eyes widen. Reaching for what I think is a clean one, I sniff it. It passes, and I slip it over my head. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge across from her, plop down on the couch across from the TV, and take a swig.
“So, how was your ride? Did you go down the strip?” she asks.
“Yeah, I did. It’s crazy, as always. I got off, though, and got on the expressway. I wanted to go faster than I could on residential streets.”
“Kai,” she says, her voice full of concern. It twists something in my chest. I shouldn’t like how it feels for her to be concerned for me, but I am. “You should be more careful. You have…you have a team to think about,” she says, clearing her throat.
I glance up at her and can’t take her bejeweled stare, so I break it. Yes, she is right, but it doesn’t negate the fact that I felt like I was about to explode, and nothing else really works. Well, I’m sure something else could work, but no, not doing that. The microwave beeps and Cordelia leans up against the counter to reach for the container. Her round butt and curvy hips make my mouth water. Her thick thighs look good enough to take a bite out of. She’s always been beautiful, but once we finally grew up, she grew into her body. She is a stunner, and I have to force myself to look away.
She rummages around in the kitchen, grabbing a fork and a napkin.
Realizing I forgot myself because I was too busy staring at her ass, I stand and take the container from her.
“Sorry, thank you. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
“No problem. Someone has to watch out for you,” she says, sitting on the sofa. She grabs the remote and flips on the TV. “What do you want to watch?” she asks.
“Whatever you want,” I say with a mouthful of food. “This is good, gem. Thank you.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “One thank you was one too many,” she says, watching me shovel food into my mouth.
I grin, and she giggles a little.
Her hand comes to my face, and she wipes a bit of sauce from the corner of my mouth before sticking her thumb in her mouth, and I almost drop my dinner.
“I want to watch either Erin Brockovich or John Wick. I can’t decide,“ she says, pretending like she didn’t just make the blood drain from my brain.
“Those are vastly different movies, and I’m pretty sure we have watched Erin Brockovich thirty times. I can recite it at this point,“ I cough.
She shrugs and finds the streaming service with either option.
I keep eating, willing myself to focus on the TV and not on Cordi. She’s going to make a grown man embarrass himself if she’s not careful. I take a drink of water and spare her a glance. She’s already looking at me; she does that a lot. My brow ticks up, and I wait for her to ask the inevitable question about to pour from her mouth.
“I know what you’re going to say, but I’m going to say it anyway because I’m persistent like that…” she says. I lean back and cross my ankles, trying to hide my smile as I stare at the TV. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but I care about you, Kai, and I want to be there for you. You can trust me. How long has it been now? More than ten years?”
I look up to find her ocean eyes drilling through my skull. “Yeah, it’s been a while, and thank you for being such a great friend, gem.”
She purses her lips. “Fine.”
“What time is it?” I ask her. I haven’t checked and tend to forget what’s going on around me when it comes to her. It’s terrible for my focus before a competition. Or maybe it’s really good, and you’re just an idiot. Maybe Liam is actually right for once.
“It’s time for both of us to go to bed, but here we are,” she says. I glance at my phone. It’s two in the morning, but I’m suddenly not tired.
Cordelia grabs the blanket off the back of the couch and settles further into her seat. The couch is not that big, so she’s leaning more into me. I lift my arm on the back of the sofa, and she snuggles next to me. I don’t mind this and have never told her no. If it’s the only thing I can have with her, I’ll take it.
Erin Brockovich yells at her new next-door neighbor working on his sweet Harley, and I chuckle. I’d imagine it’s quite annoying having a biker anywhere near you when you have a baby you’re trying to put to sleep. I’d probably be pissed, too.
Cordelia looks up at me, and I can feel the stare. I can feel the longing radiating from her because it’s burning off of me. My head turns of its own volition. We’re so close. It would be so easy to just lean in and feel those beautiful lips against mine. It would be so easy to see how far we could go. She leans in, and my body automatically draws closer. “Gem,” I rasp.
“Kai,” she says gently. Her chin tilts up, giving me permission. I want to take it. I want to take it so badly, but I can’t. I won’t ever be able to. At the last second, I bypass her lips and land on her cheek. I kiss her, lingering before pulling away. Her bright tides go stormy, and I can see the hurt all over her face.
I don’t back down, I own my choice. Of course, I would like to kiss the hell out of her. I want to take her mouth and own her. I want to be the air she needs to breathe. But I can’t.
“I’m going to go to bed,” she says and sits up, tossing the blanket to the side.
I clear the rocks from my throat and stand with her, the movie forgotten. “Let me walk you.”
“It’s twenty feet. I’ve got it, Kai,” she snaps.
“Five feet, ten feet, it doesn’t matter, gem,” I grumble. She huffs, and I follow her out the door.
“Night,” I grunt.
“Yeah,” she says and spins on her heel. I walk a few steps with her, then stop to watch her reach her trailer, open the door, and close it behind her. I wanted to call out to her and tell her to come back. But I keep my lips sealed and let Liam’s words keep rolling around in my head. It’s like I have two different wheels going at the same time, and I can’t control the speed. Eventually, I’m going to lose control.