Chapter 22
DIANA
No.
Chests heaving, minds hazy, we stumble apart from each other. Cold air ravages the space between us.
Everything returns in stark relief.
The warm ceiling lights casting over us, the slightly chipped paint on the wall, Kai staring back at me with such agony scarring his strong, gorgeous face.
Shock breaks through me.
My eyes slowly widen as I take in the fingernail marks etched into his muscles like crescent moons; they trail down to his hands, where cum wets his fingers and drips from his lips.
Oh my god.
“I t-think—” Kai catches his breath. “I think you should go get that.”
“Huh?”
“The phone.”
The shrill ringing blares out from my jean pocket.
Hans.
“Oh,” I stammer, “R-Right…right. Yes. The…the phone.”
With wobbling limbs, I grab my phone and pad toward Kai’s bedroom. The swish of my legs makes my pussy ache, and I hope Hans doesn’t hear me wince through the call.
“Hello?”
“Miss Diana, I’m here to take you to the Fairmont. I am waiting a block away as you requested.”
“Uh, thank you!” I stutter. “I-I’ll be right there, Hans.”
The call clicks off.
My mind races. I try to draw deep breaths in and push deep breaths out. Shivers suddenly prickle across my legs. My brows knit together before I look down.
I gasp.
My jeans and my underwear are gone.
There’s a knock at the door. “Diana?”
Kai stands at the threshold. With his tousled black curls and maroon hoodie thrown back on, he looks like he has just woken up from a nap.
The illusion shatters when I see my jeans and lace underwear draping over his forearm.
His other hand grips a warm, dampened towel.
Words vanish from my lips. Numbness and confusion paralyze me instead.
Kai walks over to me and crouches down. He flicks on the bedside lamp. A comforting amber glow befalls the dimly lit bedroom. His eyes are soft and gentle as they look up at me.
“I’m just gonna clean you up. Is that okay?”
I nod slowly.
Kai rises and perches himself on the side of the bed. “You can lean against the pillows if you want.”
I draw back against them, my muscles stiff and unsure as I do. But they start to unwind when Kai brings the warm towel over my skin, his brows furrowing in concentration. The confusion and haziness relent, easing into a feeling of comfort and security that makes my heart ache for him.
Kai looks up at me again, his throat bobbing. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” My voice comes out small and hesitant. “Are…are you?”
“I’m…” He blows out a breath, folding the towel in his hands. “I don’t know yet.”
The words we want to say are there. Hanging in the air. Yet neither of us are brave enough to confront what happened between us.
Not even when Kai walks me out to the car.
The evening air bristles, cold and crisp with the first bite of autumn.
Up ahead, the blinking taillights on Hans’ black Range Rover illuminate the side of the street.
I gulp, turning around to face Kai. Behind him, the skies are darkening into a deep blue streaked with fading clouds.
The last shard of sunlight glows from the horizon.
It radiates over Kai, illuminating his powerfully hewn face and his soft, full lips.
I clear my throat, stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets. “We can figure out how to proceed with the project on Monday. I’ll email you.”
“Sure.” Kai nods.
Before I can turn away, Kai catches my hand again, making me look over my shoulder at him.
“I-I was thinking…” He hesitates. His face scrunches up so nervously it’s almost endearing. “What if we met up to do this once in a while?”
My brows arch in surprise. “You mean…be friends with benefits?”
“Yeah.” Kai shakes his head. “You don’t have to decide right now. It’s just an offer. I thought—” He shrugs. “You’re stressed, I’m stressed. Maybe we could help each other out?”
In my head, sleeping with the boy I’ve been daydreaming about for stress relief sounds so scandalous and exciting. But now that the offer is dangling right in my face, it’s so real and terrifying that I’m scared of all the unpredictable possibilities I can’t control.
Despite my hesitation, Kai’s patience is unwavering.
“If you wanna do it, come to the Wing and Flame,” he proposes. “If you don’t want to do it, I completely understand.”
Except I don’t think I want to say no.
Rising against the fear is a wild, uncontrollable need to feel Kai’s hands on me again. Knowing that I can have them touch me whenever I want wears down my hesitation ever so slightly.
No strings attached. Just sex.
I squeeze his hand softly.
“I’ll think about it.”
The car slows to a stop in front of the Fairmont. The opulent hotel rises in steep patina roofs and limestone walls that bask under the golden street lights.
“Diana! Diana!”
My heart clenches as a swarm of reporters and cameramen clamor around the car.
They pound at the windows, their lenses pressing up against the glass.
I shut my eyes and cover my ears, but I can still hear the muffled voices shouting my name, demanding a statement.
I can still see their cameras' swift, muted flash going off.
I knew coming here was a risk. After the news broke out, no one—not even in a high-end establishment like the Fairmont—would resist alerting the media.
“Everything is going to be just fine, Miss Diana,” Hans assures. “I will get you out safely.”
He exits the car. Hans dodges the reporters as he comes over to my side. I hurriedly fix the collar of my turtleneck, desperate to hide the hickeys Kai left behind. I grip my school bag close and hug my books to my chest.
The car door opens.
“Psycho bitch!”
I flinch back as crumpled tickets pelt my face. A horde of Sasha Vellair fans throw themselves at me, pointing fingers, spittle flying from their mouths.
“Sasha might forgive you, but we won’t!”
“I hope you fucking rot!”
Tears tremble in my eyes. Jonathan and Sophia should be the ones taking the blame and harassment. Not me. Everything I’ve become and everything I’ve done has been for the good of the HMG, yet I’m the one being torn apart for something I didn’t even do.
With enough pushing and shoving, Hans eases me through the front doors of the hotel.
Whispers stalk my every step as I walk to the front desk.
She’s vindictive. A jealous, attention-seeking bitch. A master manipulator.
I keep my head down, cringing at how loudly my heels strike the marble at every stride. They’re too loud, take up too much space, and draw too much attention when all I want to do is sink into the ground and disappear.
The second I’m alone in my suite, I head into the bathroom, strip off my clothes, and step into the shower.
Steam rises under the hot water streaming down my body.
I close my eyes, rubbing the soapy shower sponge all over me.
The white suds streak down to my legs. It conjures the memory of Kai’s head bobbing between them, his deep moans resounding into my pussy as he licked and sucked—
My legs instinctively cinch together. But it doesn’t matter what I do. That wild, desperate desire flares up again; I can’t stop imagining what would’ve happened if Hans never called.
The realization hits me.
I was just fucked by Kai. Kainoa Te Aito Mason-Maiau. The boy I’ve had a crush on since my first year. His fingers and his tongue were inside of me.
“Oh,” I groan. “Oh, no, no.”
I shut the water off and slump my forehead against the foggy shower door.
Terror swallows me up. If bàba finds out what we did, I don’t know what he’ll do. Staying away is the most obvious solution, but…
I don’t want to stay away.
When I think back to that moment in the hallway with Kai, I didn’t have the strength to stop because it felt incredible and insanely liberating. All the stress and panic overwhelming me went silent the moment his hands were on me.
What if we did become friends with benefits? Kai is attracted to me. I’m attracted to him. Neither of us can be in a relationship right now. I frown, fiddling with a loose strand of hair.
If I agree to Kai’s offer, I will be doing something for myself for once.
The thought terrifies me more than it should because everything I do is for the good of the company, my family, and my reputation. Except now that everything is in ruins, I’m sinking so fast under the pressure to claw myself back onto my feet.
Maybe being friends with benefits is exactly what I need.
Being temporarily suspended from the HMG’s succession plans no longer makes me a threat. My family will think I’m sulking and hiding from the media.
I rise from the shower seat.
Let them assume it, then. In truth, I’m going to plan and do anything I need to get my life back together. If Kai is the way to let go of the stress that comes with that, then so be it.
I’ve spent so much time putting out fires.
What if I let this one burn?