27. Kaylor
27
KAYLOR
F or the first few minutes, neither of us spoke. The only sounds were the roar of the engine and the wind rushing past the windows.
I didn’t try to ask what happened. Didn’t push for details.
I let him be.
He drove too fast, burning his rage on the empty roads. The city lights blurred as he pushed the speedometer higher, the world outside turning into a streak of neon and darkness. Still, I said nothing, doing my best to stay calm and pretend I wasn’t more than a little afraid he might lose control or we might get pulled over by the cops.
I hadn’t intended to eavesdrop when I left the kitchen, but my feet stopped moving, and I had pressed against the wall, listening. I heard the way Donovan talked to his son. I heard him order Kreed to leave me alone and end things between us. Not that there was anything to end. Kreed and I weren’t an item, and I had no delusions we were headed that way, but knowing Donovan disapproved bothered me.
Was I not good enough for his son?
What was his reason for protesting so deeply against a relationship between Kreed and me?
Minutes passed in charged silence. The car cut through the morning fog, headlights slicing across the empty road. Kreed’s grip on the steering wheel was rigid, his knuckles white, his jaw clenched so tight it could crack. Fury radiated off him in waves, palpable, suffocating, his whole body wound like a ticking bomb.
He wasn’t just angry. He was looking for a fight.
A way to bleed out whatever storm was thrashing inside him.
I could feel the danger in the air and the quiet violence in the way he exhaled through his nose while his fingers clutched around the leather wheel. I should’ve left it alone. But I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
“Pull over,” I said, my voice steady.
Nothing. He ignored me, his gaze fixed ahead like he hadn’t heard me at all.
“Kreed.” I deliberately said his name. It seemed the only way to get his focus on me. “Pull over,” I insisted.
His jaw ticked, but after a tense beat, he wrenched the car to the side of the road, tires screeching, the force shoving me forward. My seat belt bit into my chest, but I barely noticed.
Kreed never drove like this. He was smooth. Precise. Controlled.
Not now.
The rough handling only confirmed what I already knew.
He was pissed.
He was losing it. And I was losing him to whatever fire was burning through his veins.
I unbuckled my seat belt, shifting toward him. A terrible idea, maybe the worst I’d ever had—but it clawed at me, this need to break through to him, to pull him from the edge before he let it consume him.
It just felt…right.
Kreed turned his head, his eyes flashing, dangerous and raw. “This is a bad idea,” he warned.
I held his gaze, unshaken. “Shut up.” Then I leaned in and kissed him. Not because I wanted to defy his father. Not because I was supposed to stay away.
Because he needed this.
He didn’t react right away—but then he snarled, low and frayed at the edges, and broke. His hands tangled in my hair, dragging me closer, his mouth crushing against mine with desperation. There was nothing sweet or careful, just fire, frustration, and something deeper I couldn’t name.
Like he needed me to breathe.
The air between us turned molten. My heart pounded against my ribs, my fingers fisting his hoodie as he kissed me harder as if trying to steal every last ounce of oxygen from my lungs.
I pulled away just enough to murmur against his lips, breathless, “Better?”
His eyes were dark, his pupils blown. “Marginally.”
I smirked. “Then we better try again.”
Our mouths fused in synchrony, sweeping me up again in a kiss so intense I barely registered the distant growl of an approaching engine, but a sudden blast of headlights flooded the car. Kreed ripped away from me, his breath uneven, his gaze snapping to the windshield.
A car sat directly in front of us. Its headlights glared and its engine revved.
Every inch of Kreed went tense.
My blood turned to ice.
I reached for him instinctively, my fingers locking around his forearm. “Kreed, don’t. I have a bad feeling about this.”
He didn’t look at me. His entire demeanor shifted—sharp, lethal, predatory. “Stay put,” he ordered, his voice like steel.
“Where are you going?”
“To see what this asshole wants.”
Fear spiked in my chest. I tightened my grip on his arm. “What if they have a weapon? What if?—”
“I’m just checking it out. Lock the doors behind me,” he ordered.
My gut screamed at me to stop him. To tell him to just drive . But before I could say another word, Kreed was already pushing open his door, stepping into the blinding light. I scrambled to hit the lock button, my heart pounding as I watched him approach the other car.
Without warning, the car lunged forward.
“Kreed!”
The vehicle charged at him. Kreed twisted out of the way at the last second, barely avoiding getting hit, but it didn’t stop. The headlights veered toward me.
Panic gripped my chest. I barely had time to react before the car came dangerously close, sideswiping Kreed’s vehicle hard enough to make it rattle before speeding off down the road.
Kreed was at my door in an instant, yanking it open. His eyes were dark with fury. “Are you hurt?”
My pulse was still a violent drum in my ears. “No.” I swallowed, my throat dry. “The windows were too dark. I couldn’t see who was inside.”
His breath came out sharp, his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might shatter. His gaze followed the car’s retreating taillights, disappearing into the distance. “Neither could I.”
I exhaled shakily, hands trembling. “Are you crazy? They could have killed you.”
His lip curled in a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes as he slipped into the driver’s seat. “As you can see, I’m not dead.”
I glared. “That’s not funny.”
He didn’t reply. Just jerked the car back onto the road, his hands gripping the wheel harder than before. “I need to get you home,” he said.
“What about school?”
“It looks like you and I are taking a sick day.”
“Won’t that upset your father?”
That smirk ghosted back onto his lips. “Probably.” Kreed cranked the steering wheel to the left as his foot hit the gas. The SUV made a half turn, fishtailing into the other lane and taking us back home.
I stared out the window, my nails digging into my palms, my mind racing. It felt like I couldn’t even leave the house anymore without being followed. Without being hunted.
Someone was after me, and I still didn’t know why.
What threat could I possibly pose?
Not much, considering the police were no closer to finding who murdered my parents.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I barely noticed when we pulled up to the house until Kreed cut the engine. I turned to him, but he was already staring ahead, the scars under his eye prominent as he frowned.
Squinting, he stared out the front windshield. “It’s best we avoid each other.”
The words shouldn’t have hurt, but they did.
I gave a stiff nod. “Right.” And just like that, the distance between us returned. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe I could pretend this didn’t matter. Maybe I could tell myself that whatever this was—this pull between us—didn’t mean anything.
And maybe if I said it enough times…
I’d finally start believing it.
The house was stupidly quiet with the twins and Raine gone. I didn’t check to see if Donovan was in his office, but given the graveyard silence, I assumed he’d gone out as well. Having an entire day to myself should have been refreshing and relaxing. It had the opposite effect. I was tense, edgy, and restless. I wanted to blame Kreed, who I hadn’t seen once all day, but the encounter with the mysterious car shook me more than I realized.
What unsettled me most was the question gnawing at the back of my mind: Had I been more afraid for myself or for Kreed?
I curled up on the couch after a long, scalding bath, binge-watching one of my comfort shows. It wasn’t working. My attention kept drifting, my fingers tapping absently against my knee.
I shouldn’t have kissed him. Again. I had good intentions. But good intentions didn’t erase the fact that it had been a reckless, stupid move for my sanity. Distancing myself from Kreed was the only way to untangle the mess of feelings I’d let take root.
Yet, as I sat there trying to pretend otherwise, my mind replayed every second of our fight in the kitchen. I had planned for that moment—rehearsed exactly how I’d play it. I knew Kreed well enough to predict what was going through his head. I had known that the moment I slipped into his bed I’d walk away wounded.
And still…
Kreed might regret what happened between us, but I didn’t. That didn’t mean I was naive enough to think he felt anything for me. He had used me, and truthfully, I had used him, too. It couldn’t happen again. I had my moment of weakness. It passed, and I had to move on. I needed to focus on what was important.
Why did I feel like shit after our fight?
I said what I had practiced, forcing myself to be detached, to be cold. I tried to act like none of it mattered. That he didn’t matter. I tried to act like a guy instead of the girl I was. When it came to feelings and sex, men got to be indifferent. And women.
Women got to be wrecked.
So, fine. If Kreed wanted space, I’d put a whole damn ocean between us.
For now, I had to keep up appearances, keep my emotions in check, and go back to loathing Kreed Corvo.
My fingers tapped on the side of the window as Kreed drove. We’d barely exchanged two words. He didn’t look at me. I didn’t look at him. Avoidance was our new language, and we were fluent.
The black car trailing behind us had become a shadow I couldn’t shake. Evan had been following me for a week now. He was everywhere—school, home, errands. The only privacy I had left was in the bathroom and my locked bedroom, and apparently, I had been too caught up in my head to consider that Evan had probably seen me sneak into Kreed’s room that night.
Was that how Donovan found out?
Because he definitely knew something when he walked in on us in the kitchen.
I exhaled sharply, forcing the thoughts away, only for Mason to break the silence.
“Okay, what the hell did we miss?”
I didn’t glance at over. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mason let out a low whistle. “Clearly, something happened to cause the tension storm brewing in this car.”
Kreed shot him a warning look in the rearview mirror. “Mason, for once in your life, mind your own business.”
“You know, every time you tell me to fuck off, it only intrigues me more,” he replied.
Kreed’s foot pressed heavier on the accelerator.
Mason smirked at the reaction, then turned his attention to me. “So, my little kitten, care to share what my dear brother did to make you freeze him out?”
“Nothing happened,” I insisted, pulling my stare from the snow-covered trees.
Mason studied me, then Kreed. His sharp green eyes narrowed, flicking between us, his expression shifting as realization dawned. “The only time a girl ever ices out Kreed is after he…” He leaned forward between the seats, his eyes narrowing, then widening. “Holy. Shit.” His eyes went back and forth between Kreed and me. “Why didn’t I see it? It’s so obvious.”
Maddox, who had been silent until now, frowned. “What?”
“They hooked up,” Mason announced.
I went rigid. I should have denied it. Instantly, and the dreaded silence that followed only made it worse.
Maddox’s head snapped toward us, his sharp eyes locking on to Kreed like a loaded gun. His entire body tensed, his hands curling into fists. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“Drop it, Mason,” Kreed warned, not looking particularly happy.
Maddox’s hands clenched into fists, his breathing heavy. “Is that why you don’t want me to sleep with her? Because you already did?”
I whipped my head toward him. “Excuse me? Back the fuck up, Brutus—when did I ever give you the impression I wanted to sleep with you?”
Kreed’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. “Maddox?—”
“You fucking hypocrite!” Maddox exploded. And then, all at once, he lunged.
The car swerved violently as Kreed jerked the wheel, barely keeping control. I gasped, gripping the door handle as my stomach lurched. Mason, the absolute lunatic, just cackled from the back seat like this was the best entertainment he’d ever had.
“Are you insane?!” I shrieked as Maddox swung, his fist narrowly missing as Kreed blocked him with one hand, the other struggling to keep the car on the road. The tires screeched, veering dangerously close to the other lane. My heart slammed against my ribs, and I braced myself, praying we wouldn’t end up in a ditch.
“Get off me, you asshole!” Kreed roared, his muscles straining as he shoved Maddox back, but the unpredictable twin was furious—seething—his fists still raised like he was ready to throw another punch. The car jerked again, a sharp skid making my stomach drop.
And then Kreed snapped.
With a roar, he slammed on the brakes, the car jerking violently forward, sending all of us lurching in our seats. The scent of burning rubber filled the air as the tires skidded against the pavement. Before Maddox could make another move, Kreed grabbed him by the collar, yanking him close. Their faces were inches apart, both of them breathing heavily, tension crackling between them. “Get. A. Grip.”
Maddox glared, his chest heaving, but Kreed’s eyes were dark, deadly.
No one spoke.
For a moment, the only sound was the rumble of the engine and the distant honking of a car that had swerved to avoid us.
I thought for sure Kreed was going to hit him.
Mason broke the silence with a lazy drawl. “Well, that was the most fun I’ve had on a school morning in a long time.”
Shaking my head, I glared out the window, my arms crossed over my chest as Kreed released Maddox, who fell back into his seat. If I thought the things had been awkward, the strain hovering in the SUV now was suffocating.
Fucking idiots.