Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
RILEY
I sit in the middle of the hotel bed with my knees tucked to my chest, staring at the blank TV. The room is quiet, save for the low hum of the air conditioning and the occasional siren outside the window.
I was hoping for a sense of relief by being here, but I just feel empty, considering that I can't stop thinking about the way Kieran looked at me once he realized I was a virgin the night we slept together in Vegas.
I had expected him to be a little confused, but what I wasn’t expecting was the way he pulled away from me like I was suddenly made of glass. I could see in his eyes that he was reevaluating everything he thought he knew about me, and that hurt more than I ever thought possible.
I wrap my arms tighter around my knees, my stomach twisting. I should have told him sooner. When it happened, even. But I didn’t know how. And now he’s going to think I didn’t tell him on purpose, which is exactly what I didn’t want to happen.
Kieran’s probably driving around right now, trying to come up with the best way to let me down gently.
“Thanks for the sex, kid. Shame about the emotional baggage.”
The thought of sitting through that conversation with him is too much for me to handle right now, what with everything else going on. So, I did the cowardly thing and left.
I didn’t want him to see me cry again or give him the satisfaction of knowing that I care.
I’m well aware of the risks I’m taking by leaving the safety of the penthouse, but to be honest, I’m past caring. I need some space and time to think, and I can’t do that around Kieran.
I considered turning up on Lucy’s doorstep, but that would compromise her safety, and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.
A hotel room for the night paid for in cash had the concierge giving me some serious side-eye. But I would rather look like a prostitute than charge it to my card for my brother to see. Other than Kieran, Oscar is the last person I want to see right now.
I glance at the clock. It’s almost four in the afternoon.
There’s no way Kieran hasn’t realized I’m gone by now. Maybe he’s glad that he doesn’t have to deal with me in person and that he finally gets to have the penthouse all to himself again.
The thought has my eyes stinging with tears.
I groan and collapse backward onto the bed, throwing my arms over my eyes as I realize what a mess my life has become.
Before I can truly spiral into a pool of my own self-pity, the hotel room door yanks open so hard it bounces off the wall behind it.
I shoot upright as my heart lodges itself in my throat as Kieran appears.
"What the fuck do you think you’re doing?" His chest heaves.
I scramble backward across the bed, putting as much space between us as possible.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I hold my hand to my chest as I try to calm down. “Was it really necessary to make such a dramatic entrance? You scared the living daylights out of me!”
“And why would you be scared of someone breaking and entering, Riley?” Kieran’s voice is sharp with fury, and I try not to flinch at his words. “Oh, that’s right. Because there’s a huge fucking target on your back!”
I snap my mouth shut and glare at Kieran.
“Get your shit and let’s go. I’m taking your ass back to the penthouse before you get yourself fucking killed.”
“How did you know where I was?”
“Doesn’t matter how I know. What matters is that I bring you back.”
“I’m not going back.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m safer here than with you.”
“And when Sean finds you and fucking kidnaps you, what then?” he growls, stepping closer.
“Then you won’t have to pretend you give a damn about me anymore! Problem solved.” I blink back the tears that threaten to spill down my cheeks.
Something like hurt flashes in Kieran’s eyes, but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he crosses the room in three strides and grabs my overnight bag.
“Hey! Put that down!” I spring off the bed as he starts stuffing my shoes and phone charger into the bag.
“You don’t get to run from me, Riley.”
“You’re being a complete asshole!”
“Better an asshole than having Sean bury your body in a fucking ditch somewhere outside the city.”
“Kieran—”
He slings the bag over his shoulder and turns to face me, his expression one of cold rage.
For a second, we both stare at each other, our chests heaving, until he steps toward me and it finally dawns on me what he’s planning to do.
“Don’t you dare.”
Before I can make a run for it, Kieran grabs me around the waist and throws me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing.
“KIERAN! Put me down! Are you out of your goddamn mind?” I pound my fists against his back as he carries me out of the room.
“No. You’ve proven you can’t be trusted, so now I’m having to resort to extreme measures.”
He stomps through the hotel hallway like some kind of angry mafia caveman, completely unfazed by my flailing limbs and cries of protest.
A woman pokes her head out of her room as we pass, looking alarmed as she catches sight of us. “Is everything all right?”
“Don’t worry, ma’am. My wife just likes to play the damsel in distress. It’s one of her many kinks.”
The woman quickly ducks back inside her room, and I land a hard smack to Kieran’s back as he heads toward the elevator.
“This is kidnapping!”
He hits the elevator button. “Tell that to the cops.”
My cheeks are on fire as Kieran carries me out of the hotel to his waiting car.
When he finally sets me down on the ground, I attempt to break free, but he slings an arm around my waist and pulls me flush against his chest as he unlocks the car.
“You are such an arrogant, controlling—”
Kieran yanks open the passenger door of his car and thrusts me inside without a word.
I twist toward the door, ready to bolt again, but he’s already pulling something from his pocket, and my jaw drops when I realize what it is.
“You are not serious.”
Kieran doesn’t say anything as he grabs my wrist and locks one side of the handcuffs around it before attaching the other side to the door handle.
“Are you out of your mind? You can’t just cuff me to your car!”
“I just did.” He slams the door closed and walks around to the driver’s side and slides in behind the wheel.
“Why?”
“Because you clearly have a death wish, and I don’t trust you not to throw yourself out of a moving vehicle into oncoming traffic.”
“Screw you, Kieran.”
“You want to act like a brat?” He shifts the car into drive. “Then I’ll treat you like one.”
“What if you crash the car, and I’m cuffed to the damn door?”
He smiles smugly before pulling away from the curb.
“I’m not going to crash. I’m way too good a driver for that.” He puts his foot to the floor.
The car lurches forward, and I brace a hand on the dashboard as I scowl at him.
“You’re such an ass, you know that?”
He doesn’t reply, and I refuse to talk to someone who handcuffs me to a car. So, I sit in my anger for the entire drive back to the penthouse, staring out of the window because if I catch sight of that smug smile, I swear I’m going to lose it.
When we pull into the private underground parking garage, I dig my heels in again as Kieran walks around the car and opens my door.
“I’m not going inside,” I state when he uncuffs me.
“Yes, you are.”
“Nope.”
“I swear to God, Riley.”
“You’ll have to physically drag me inside.”
I regret suggesting it the moment the words leave my mouth as Kieran does exactly that.
No matter how hard I fight him, I’ve got nothing on his strength, so I spend the entire elevator ride up to the penthouse thrashing and cursing as he holds me over his shoulder.
When the elevator doors finally slide open, he storms inside and drops me onto the couch so hard I almost bounce right off it.
“I can’t believe you just—”
“Do you really think I care that you were a virgin? Because it was never about that!” He paces the living room like he’s about to combust. “It’s about the fact that you took away my chance to give you something better, Riley.
Because you deserve better than a quick fuck on the edge of a pool.
You deserve… Fuck, you deserve rose petals and candles and all that romantic crap. ”
At a complete loss for words, heart pounding in my chest, I watch Kieran pace back at forth.
His expression morphs from angry to devastated as he runs his fingers through his hair, messing up the slight curls as he looks anywhere but at me.
When it comes, his voice is raw. “I care about you. More than I should. And yeah, maybe I’m a cold bastard most of the time, but not with you. Not with…this.”
My walls start to crumble.
My throat is too thick with tears to speak, so I bring my knees to my chest and try not to fall apart as he continues.
“And when I found out that you were a virgin in the middle of a fucking fight, as if it didn’t matter…” He shakes his head and looks away, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “It matters because you matter, Riley. You deserve the world, and I want to be the one to give it to you.”
The air leaves my lungs in a rush and all the anger I’ve been clinging to crumbles like ash in my hands.
“I didn’t mean to lie. I just… I didn’t want to make it a big thing.”
“You didn’t lie. You just didn’t give me the chance to show you how much I care.”
The silence stretches between us, but neither one of us makes to close the distance between us, despite the fact that every part of me aches to touch him.
“You shouldn’t have left.” Kieran sighs as his shoulders sag. “I went out of my mind with worry.”
“I’m sorry. But I needed some space. I even thought about going to Lucy’s, but if something happened to her because of me, I’d never forgive myself.”
“So, you picked a hotel with zero security instead?” His eyes flick to mine, and I wince at the flash of anger reflected in them. “You don’t get it, do you? I don’t care how mad you are at me, you can’t just walk into danger to avoid an uncomfortable conversation.”
“I wasn’t avoiding it!”
He snorts.
“Okay, I was. But only because I didn’t want to hear you say that you regretted what happened.”
“I would never say that. Because I don’t regret what we did. But I do regret not giving you something better.”
“Okay…”
“And if you ever try to run from me again, Riley, I swear—”
“You’ll cuff me to a radiator?”
He smiles, shaking his head. “Don’t tempt me.”
He walks over and sits on the edge of the coffee table in front of me. He leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs and looks up at me under his thick, dark lashes. “I’m not going anywhere, so stop trying to give me reasons to walk away because they’re not going to work.”
I meet his eyes and for the first time since this mess started, I believe him.
“I’m sorry I left.”
Kieran exhales as he rubs his hands up and down his thighs.
“I’m sorry for handcuffing you to the car.”
I chuckle.
“And I promise that the next time I handcuff you, it won’t be to a moving vehicle.”
“Excuse me? There’s not going to be a next time.”
Kieran flashes me a wicked grin, and that familiar heat starts to build in my lower stomach.
“Trust me, you’re going to want there to be a next time.” He leans in and presses his lips to mine.