Chapter 11
Eleven
BASS
For three days, Kai Vega has been a ghost.
Not literally—I've seen her around campus. I can spot her anywhere. Ducking into the library when she spots me across the quad. Taking a different route to avoid passing the rink. Yesterday, I swear she saw me walking toward the communications building and did a full one-eighty.
She's avoiding me, and we both know why.
Because of what happened in her room. The kiss that started softly and carefully turned into something that made my brain short-circuit. The way she melted against me for exactly twenty-seven seconds before her phone buzzed and reality crashed back in.
The way she pulled away like I'd burned her, wiping my kiss from her mouth, mumbling nonsense about us needing to get back to work.
I haven't heard from her since.
No texts about our daily sessions. No follow-up emails about brand rehabilitation. Nothing.
Coach Dixon asked me yesterday how our sessions were going, and I had to lie through my teeth and say they were "progressing well" when the truth is, my brand consultant has apparently decided to ghost me rather than deal with whatever is happening between us.
If I told Coach the truth, there’s a possibility Kai could get in trouble with her professor. Plus, it’s no one’s business how things are going on her end. This is my future we’re talking about.
Honestly, I can't believe I'm even considering that something is growing between me and one girl on this campus. I never thought I'd see the day I'd be laser-focused on one sweet treat in a damn candy store full of women.
Yet here I am– at a baseball team party, nursing a beer I don't want and trying to convince myself I'm not here looking for her when it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that’s exactly what I’m doing. Everyone knows I despise the baseball team.
The party is at some off-campus house that smells like cheap beer and overly confident bat boys (as I call them). Oddly enough, it's louder than our hockey parties but less chaotic—baseball players know how to party without destroying property. Pussies.
I'm standing near the kitchen, half-listening to some baby-faced sophomore tell a story about his latest conquest, when I see her.
Kai.
She's across the room, leaning against the wall next to the sliding glass doors that lead to the backyard. She's wearing a black dress that hugs her curves and ends mid-thigh. And tonight she’s wearing her hair differently. It’s loose and hangs down in dark coils that skim her shoulders and catch the light every time she moves.
She looks fucking incredible, and every damn guy in here recognizes it too.
I watch her like a hawk. She's talking to some kid from her program named Jack.
I only know who he is because I’ve done my homework. While Kai may be avoiding me like the plague, her roommate, Sue, is a lot damn nicer and has been giving me some good intel on the object of my new obsession and her world.
Jack Williams is some guy in her program who got the baseball team assignment that should have been hers.
He’s a typical VCU student. Tall, clean-cut, and probably has never been in a fight in his life.
He’s boring. Average. And nothing like me.
Which is why when I notice that it's this dry piece of toast who's currently making her laugh at something he just said, I fantasize about bad things like putting a knife to his chest.
I watch with a tense jaw as he leans closer, his hand coming up to rest on the wall beside her head.
I pulled that lame move in tenth grade. But she doesn't pull away.
Doesn't look uncomfortable. If anything, she seems relaxed in a way I've never seen her—like she's not constantly bracing for battle.
Is she fucking flirting with this asshat?
The beer in my hand suddenly tastes like ass.
"Yo, Morelli!"
I turn to find Trevor, one of the baseball catchers, grinning at me with the kind of expression that means trouble.
"Didn't expect to see you here," he says. "Thought you hockey dudes preferred your own spot.”
"Just checking out the competition," I lie, trying to keep my voice casual.
Trevor follows my gaze to where Kai and Jack are still talking. "Ah, looking at Will’s latest conquest? Dude's been working that angle for weeks."
"What angle?" I bristle.
"The girl. Kai something. She's in his communications class. Jack's been trying to get in her pants since the semester started."
My jaw clenches so hard I'm surprised my teeth don't crack. "Is that right?"
"Can't blame him. She's fucking hot. And smart, too—heard she's doing some project with your team, like Will's doing with us.” Trevor takes a swig of his beer. “I guess there’s some ass worth putting in the work for.”
First, I’m going to punch Trevor in the mouth for being disrespectful, and then I’m going to kill Jack.
“She’s not some ass,” I warn Trevor through gritted teeth, but now all I can think about is Jack's hands all over Kai's perfect ass.
Yeah, at this point, all I feel like doing is walking over there and introducing Jack’s face to my fist. Who gives a shit about the consequences?
But before I can move, Kai's big brown eyes find mine across the room.
For a second, we just stare at each other. Her expression goes from relaxed to guarded quickly, and I see the exact moment she realizes I've been watching her. But Jack says something in her ear that makes her look back at him, and when she laughs again, something in my chest snaps.
Fuck this.
I push off from the counter and start walking toward them.
I don't have a plan. All I know is that I need to get Jack's hands off that wall and remind Kai that three days ago we shared a kiss that she must have felt all the way down to her clit, or she wouldn’t be running this hard from me.
But halfway across the room, Kai excuses herself from Jack and disappears through the sliding door into the backyard.
Running from me…again.
I follow her outside, pushing past a group of baseball players who are arguing about some stupid shit –if Babe Ruth or Jackie Robinson played in today’s baseball era, would they still be as great? What a dumb debate. Of course, they’d still be great, I think to myself.
The backyard is smaller than it looked from inside, with string lights hanging between trees and a few scattered groups of people talking and laughing.
I find Kai standing near the fence, arms wrapped around herself like she's cold. She doesn't turn when I approach, but her shoulders tense.
“Funny seeing you here,” I say with a slight edge to my voice.
"What are you doing here, Bass?"
"Same thing you are, apparently. Having fun with the baseball team."
“You hate the baseball team.”
“How do you know that?” I smirk. “Have you been doing more research on me?”
She looks hard at me, eyes flashing. "Are you following me, Morelli?”
Fuck, my dick loves it when she calls me by my last name. It's damn near like foreplay.
"Following you?” I smirk as I think of something clever to say to deliver this lie. “This is a public party. I'm allowed to be here."
"Of course you are." She starts to walk away. "I should go."
"Why?" I catch her arm gently, and she stops but doesn't look at me. "Because I'm here, or because you're afraid someone might see us talking?"
"I'm not afraid of anything."
"Bullshit." I step closer, lowering my voice. "You're definitely afraid of something. You've been avoiding me for three days, Kai. Three days since—"
"Since nothing," she cuts me off.
“Nothing?”
"Since I made a mistake," she clarifies.
But the words hit like a physical blow.
"A mistake?"