Chapter 8 – Kylie
eight
Kylie
I walk to the table, swinging my hips a bit more than I should, but I know he’s staring at me; I could feel his eyes the moment I walked in the bar.
It makes my whole body tingle as I walk back into the room and head over to the empty chair beside Lexi, which is right in front of his.
“Hi,” I say, sitting down, putting the glass in front of me and then my purse on the other side.
“How are you?” she asks me and the chair in front of me is pulled out as Knox sits down.
The black shirt he is wearing is pushed up a bit and I see ink only on one of his arms while the other one holds his water.
His shirt is open at the collar, the zipper pulled down to show his bare chest, and he has a silver chain hanging down.
“I’m great,” I reply, picking my drink up and taking a sip, “just great.” I smile at her.
The whole time my heart is beating about a million miles a minute.
The last person I expected to see here was him.
I mean, I guess I should have maybe expected it, but he’s never come to dinner with all of us before, so it never even crossed my mind he would be here tonight.
But the minute I made it deeper into the room, I felt his stare on me.
At first Kirby blocked him, but the minute he moved to the side, I saw his obnoxious, stupid face.
Obnoxious, stupid, hot face. Now not only do I have to see him, he’s sitting right in front of me.
I make a mental note to ask who is coming the next time I’m invited to these things.
But truth be told, if it wasn’t for these dinners, I would never go out.
“What’s new?” Kirby asks me, leaning forward.
“Same old, same old,” I answer, ignoring the pull to look over at him.
“What’s new with you?” I turn the question around. “How is skating going?”
“Skating…” He laughs and I can hear Knox chuckle, and it vibrates through me. I pick up my drink and take another sip of it. “…is going good.”
“Great, keep up the good work.”
“I’m getting you a pass again this year,” he tells me, “so you can come to the games with Lexi.”
“As long as there is food, drinks, and good company,” I state and mistakenly look over at him, “then I’ll be there.
But,” I look back over at Kirby, “I draw the line at wearing a shirt with your name on it.” Kirby laughs.
“They are going to either think we’re sister wives…
” I use my hand to point my finger at Lexi and then myself, “or”—I snap my fingers—“what is it called when you want to sleep with hockey players?” I look at Knox. “Do you know what it’s called?”
His eyes turn into daggers. “No,” he says, “never heard the term.”
“Yes, you have.” Lexi throws her head back and laughs.
“Everyone knows the term.” The stare down between me and Knox is so strong, neither of us looks away at Lexi.
“It’s called a puck bunny.” I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to turn away, not wanting to lose to him.
However, I have no choice because if I stare at him any longer someone is going to ask questions, and we do not need that.
“That’s it.” I look over at Lexi, breaking the stare. “That’s what it’s called.”
“Everyone knows you’re my sister,” Kirby says. “I posted you on social media like last week.”
“I’ve never seen her on your social media,” Knox refutes and then I look over at him, but I don’t say anything when the waitress comes in to tell us about the specials.
I pick up my drink, listening to her talk.
Then I look and see him staring at me, no doubt planning my death, but that’s what he gets for being an asshole.
I turn to talk to Lexi most of the dinner and then see the guys all get up and head over to the bar.
Leaving just the girls, who talk about the latest show everyone is watching.
I look up and make the mistake of looking at the bar.
Knox is leaning against it, talking to Nash and Jaxon about something.
His head falls back and he laughs, which irritates me.
He should be having a horrible time and should be filled with dread, I think to myself, finishing off the glass and then filling it up again.
The music starts to get a little louder and I find out this place turns into a club after ten, but because we are in the private room, we get to keep our tables.
“I think I’m going to head out,” I tell the girls.
“I’ve got an early workout class tomorrow morning.
” The girls all groan as I take my phone out of my purse and pull up the rideshare app.
“I know the party is now going to dwindle and fizzle because the belle of the ball is leaving,” I joke and laugh at myself.
I add in the pickup address and then put my address as the drop-off.
“We can drive you,” Lexi offers, and I shake my head.
“No, you guys are having fun, it’s fine,” I say when my phone alerts me my ride will be here in ten minutes.
“I’m going to head to the restroom before I leave.
” I put my phone back in my purse and stand up.
“I hope you all have a fabulous night, well as fabulous of a night as you can have without me.” I finish my Cosmo.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” I wink at them.
“Big boys.” The four of them laugh and shake their heads.
I start to walk out of the room and think about going to say goodbye to Kirby, but he’s standing there talking to Knox, and he’s the last person I want to speak to.
So instead, I turn and head to the back of the restaurant.
I go to the bathroom and wash my hands, applying my lip gloss before grabbing my phone and looking down to see the driver’s going to be here in three minutes.
I walk out the door and stand in front of the restaurant as people go in and out. I look down at my phone when I get a notification the driver has cancelled my ride. “Oh my God,” I groan.
“You okay?” I hear from beside me and I look over to see Knox there.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, avoiding looking at him. “My ride just got cancelled,” I tell him, pulling up the app again. “It’s all good, I’m going to get another one.”
“Kylie, I can drive you home. I was just leaving,” he offers.
“No,” I reply, looking at the circle going around and around as it tells me it’s searching for a driver.
“Let me do this for you,” he says at the same time the app tells me no drivers are around and to try again in a few minutes.
I sigh out. “Fine, but this doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like you.”
“Noted,” he says, putting his hands in his pockets and looking around, then motioning with his head toward the parking lot. I start to walk next to him. “Also,” he adds, and I look around to see if I spot his SUV anywhere, “I’m not too fond of you and your attitude either.”
I gasp, “My attitude?” I point to myself as we walk to the back of the parking lot, and I see his SUV. “I give what I get, buddy.” I walk to the passenger side door and wait for him to unlock the vehicle before pulling open the door.
He stands on the other side of the SUV. “You do not give what you get.”
I huff, getting into the truck and then looking at him when he gets in beside me. “I gave you a smile.” My voice gets louder. “A fucking smile, I was being polite, and you went all ‘I don’t want you to suck my dick.’” I mimic his voice, but it sounds like Donald Duck.
“I said I was sorry.” I roll my eyes as he starts up the SUV and pulls out of the parking lot.
“Yeah, you only said you were sorry because of Kirby,” I point out to him.
“Do you even know where you are going?” I ask him as he turns right on a street and I look around to see we’re in a commercial area with office buildings, “If you are going to leave me in the middle of nowhere,” I huff out at him as he parks the SUV on the deserted street that I’m sure is hustling and bustling Monday through Friday during the day. But being a Friday night, it’s empty.
“I’m not going to leave you in the middle of nowhere,” he says. “I’d like to leave you in the middle of nowhere, but I’m not going to.” He puts the SUV in park. “Put in your address.” He motions to the console.
“Such a gentleman,” I mumble, taking off my seat belt and scooting closer on the seat.
“Don’t press anything you shouldn’t,” he warns. “It took me forever to make it right.”
I look over at him and wish he wasn’t as hot as he is.
I also wish that my body wasn’t so alert with him near me, she obviously didn’t get the memo that he’s an asshole.
“Then why are you asking me to do it?” I turn and press the first button that looks like a map, which then comes up but there is no signal.
“It’s broken.” I look over at him and he unbuckles his seat belt and moves forward, his hand pushing mine to the side.
“You’re such a jerk,” I mumble, going to slap his hand away from the screen.
“See, I give what I get too.” He looks over at me and I don’t know who reaches for who first, or how it happens.
He moves and my back is against the seat, his face in front of mine.
“A pain in the ass,” he mumbles, or maybe he says something else, but the last thing I see is his head advancing into my space, and I reach out to grip his sweater as his mouth crashes down on mine.
His tongue slides into my mouth and it’s like an explosion of need courses through us both.
My hand goes from his shirt to the stubble over his cheek then up to the long hair on the top of his head.
The kiss goes from zero to a hundred and fifty, his hands moving to my hips as he picks me up and pulls me over the console and into his lap.
My legs are stretched over the console as my back is to the door.
His mouth leaves mine for a second, only to bite down on my bottom lip. “Fucking drive me—”