Chapter 51
DIANA
Stella’s hand flies over my mouth. Kai’s name scrapes my throat.
“Don’t react,” Stella whispers in my ear. “Don’t react at all or your whole secret falls apart.”
Lust rounds up behind Kai and hauls him up by the arms. Tears burn in my eyes.
No, no, no!
Simon approaches Kai and swings his arm back.
“Agh, fuck!”
Simon crumples against the table, clutching the back of his neck.
Wallace stands behind him with a broom brandished high. “Leave my friends alone!” he shouts.
Kai fervidly searches for me. I shrug out of Stella’s grip and race towards him. The floor bangs beneath my heels.
We need to get out of here.
“Diana! Behind you!” Stella shouts.
I dart around just as Stella leaps onto one of the Vipers and tackles him to the floor. The Viper twists his body, throwing Stella off him. She lands on the floor with a thud.
“Stella!” Rowan’s voice clashes with mine.
The Viper advances on her.
Rowan rushes past me. He thrusts Stella behind him and punches the Viper back.
My head whips around in realization. The party had stopped. Down in the pit, three other Vipers and Griffins are fighting. Security shouts around us.
“There you are.”
Arms lock around my neck and drag me backwards. Fear skitters over my body. I kick out, twisting, writhing, and ramming my elbows back.
“Let me go!”
Kai snaps around. “Diana!” His eyes pale before they go black with rage. He surges towards me.
Suddenly, an Angeline Vivienne heel darts past my shoulder.
“Get away from her!”
“Ow—fuck!” The Viper’s grip springs apart. I grip the stair railing and whirl around. He tumbles down the stairs where Sophia stands with a single heel in her hand.
She gawks up at me as she races up the stairs. “Diana, what are you doing here?” she shouts.
“I—”
“Simon, please!”
My skin prickles. I snatch Sophia’s heel and twist around.
Andrea has wedged herself between Kai and Simon. The lights cut over the tears streaking her face.
“Don’t hurt him,” she begs. “Let’s just go, okay?”
“Get the fuck out of my way.” Simon sidesteps her. He grabs Kai by the collar and wrenches him back. Kai stumbles into the glass barricade with a groan.
His wallet clatters out of his pocket.
Simon scrambles for it. I hurl Sophia’s heel at him before he can reach it. Simon screams and crumples to his knees, hands grabbing at his crotch.
“You bitch!” he howls.
I wrest the wallet back just as Kai pulls me close. His hands cradle my face. He brushes the tears out of my eyes and kisses my cheeks.
“You alright?” he gasps. “Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine!” I tug impatiently at his costume. “But we have to get out of here!”
“Alright.” Kai looks over his shoulder and shouts at the boys. “Let’s go!”
He takes my hand and pulls me down the stairs. All six of us hurry out of the lounge. To my surprise, Luke takes Sophia with him as we spiral lower and lower towards the landing.
Thunderous footsteps fire out behind us.
My head flies back. I gasp at the horde of Vipers coming down the stairs.
“They’re onto us!”
“Just keep going!” Kai shouts.
I keep my face down when we drop onto the stair landing.
I shove past all the bodies crowding around me.
Hands swivel near my face. Torn costume pieces smack into my head.
Glass cracks under my heels. Ruined props litter the dirty bar tops.
Over my head, the “bad decisions only” sign flickers on and off in a mocking, red glow.
Kai and I break out of the nightclub doors and cold air bursts across my face.
The girls and I hurry to the parkade with the rest of the boys.
Heart racing, hair flying out, and rips tearing the lace of my gown, I’ve never felt so free.
I snicker before a laugh flutters out.
Kai furrows his brows. “Why are you laughing?”
“I hit Simon Valdis in the balls!”
Kai’s worry eases into a laugh. His eyes look so vivid and green like they did the first night we ran away together like this.
“Je suis tellement amoureux de toi.”
The nightclub doors creak behind us. Kai and I look back to see the Vipers coming down the sidewalk.
“Go! Go!” Kai shouts.
We quickly get into his car. The wheels back out with a screeching shriek before the car takes off into the night. The car veers down the direction of the highway. Soon, forests and mountains loom tall around us and the Vipers are out of sight.
The car stops at an empty backroad.
A long wooden fence runs down the length of the road. The pale moonlight glimmers down on the dark trees surrounding us.
I drop back into my seat.
Kai shuts his eyes. His breaths tremble in and out.
“Kai?”
I lean over the center console to brace his face between my hands. Kai swallows hard. Anxious lines scar his features.
“Di, the Vipers saw us leaving the club together,” he stammers. “Oh, s-shit. What if they…what if they think—”
“Half of the people were drunk or they were trying to watch the fight,” I soothe. “Let’s not panic until we know the facts.”
Panic thuds in my heart, but I can’t lose my composure. Not when Kai is fighting his way out of an anxious spiral. My hands flatten against his chest, feeling his heartbeat shudder beneath my fingers.
“What can I do?”
His hands tremble as they rise to grip mine.
“Five things,” he churns out.
“Five things?”
“It…” he gulps, his throat working. “I have to find five sensations…o-or random things that help ground me.”
“Okay.” My thumbs brush back and forth against his cheeks. “Tell me what you notice.”
His eyes slowly move to look behind me. They blink a little too fast, yet the panic ebbs ever so slightly when he focuses his attention. “I notice the…the trees. The leaves. Some of them a-are browning.”
“Yeah?” I whisper. “What else?”
Kai’s attention roves towards the glowing icons on his dashboard, describing the shapes and the colors. Then, he finds three more things. I listen to every little detail until the tense lines on his face smooth over and his heartbeat slows.
My forehead presses against his.
“That’s four,” I coax. “Tell me one more thing.”
Kai’s touch wraps tighter around my hands, and his gaze finds mine in the dark.
“I notice you.”
I smile faintly. Wonder overtakes his face again as he searches the contours of my features, tracing the lines and shapes as if I’ll disappear.
I’ve always daydreamed about being looked at by him. I wondered if my heart would burst out of my chest. If my skin would feel like it was on fire.
But I feel quiet inside. The world simply falls away, leaving the two of us in our own, little orbit.
Our hands interlock on top of the center console.
Kai frowns at me. “I’m sorry about missing the phone call, Di. I wanted to call you. I was just scared you’d hear my voice and know something was wrong and I didn’t want to risk worrying you.”
“I understand, and I’m sorry about accusing you of seeing someone else.” I sink back in shame. “I’m so used to everything going wrong. My brain instantly rushes to solutions and the worst possibilities I don’t…I don’t always know how to enjoy something just as it is.”
The words tumble out, raw and exposed, making me feel so strange inside. I don’t realize just how long I’ve spent surviving. Plotting. Strategizing.
I haven’t truly lived at all. Not in the way I’m supposed to, at least.
“It’s been a long night,” Kai murmurs. “Let’s leave the serious conversations for tomorrow.”
I nod, my shoulders dropping. “Okay.”
Kai smiles. His fingers skim past my cheek before he tucks a stray curl behind my ear.
My heart aches. Out of everything that has fallen apart, what we have is the one thing I can’t imagine ever coming together.
That’s why I can’t fight the fear that vises around my heart when I look at Kai.
What would the world do to us if they ever found out we were together?
The thoughts haunt me as we lean against each other. With our hands still locked together, we sit in his car watching the moon glow through the dark trees and quietly brace for whatever awaits us when the sun comes up.