Chapter 11
ELEVEN
KAIRI
“So…are you two dating now or something?” Maliah asks, watching me adjust the flowers around my book flat lay for the hundredth time.
“Who?” I mumble, angling my phone to catch the light just right.
“Who do you think?” Eliana snorts. “Colton.”
I flinch and my phone slips from my hands, crushing the arrangement. I stare at the mess, feeling my frustration bubbling because I’ve been trying to take the perfect shot for my Bookstagram account for at least thirty minutes now.
“Seriously?” I groan, staring at the mess.
I pick up my phone and scroll quickly, praying I got at least one decent shot, then sigh and turn to face them. “No. We’re not dating. We’re just friends.”
They both snort, then look at each other and immediately burst into laughter. I can’t help smiling, even as I shake my head. I’ve missed this—just us girls, without all the chaos that comes with the boys.
Between Maliah’s bakery and Eliana planning her wedding with Griffin, days together like this have been few and far between.
“If either of you pees in my bed,” I say, dropping into my desk chair, “I’m sending you the dry cleaning bill.”
They slowly calm down, wiping tears from their eyes.
“Okay,” Maliah says, still sniffling. “We’re good.”
“Totally fine,” Eliana adds, biting her lip to keep from laughing again. “Now explain why you went on a date with Colton if you two aren’t dating.”
I glance down at my phone, heat creeping up my neck. “It wasn’t a real date,” I mutter.
The silence is deafening, and when I look up, they’re both staring at me like I’ve just said something deeply concerning.
I groan and drag a hand down my face. “It was a fake date, okay? Colton offered to help me with…dating,” I rush out.
“Like, coaching me so I can get Zale to actually take me seriously. He made me a profile, set me up with this guy—who, by the way, stood me up—and before that he took me on a practice date because I’ve literally never been on one and I didn’t want to completely embarrass myself. ”
The words tumble out so fast I forget to breathe until I finish. When they still don’t answer, my anxiety gets the better of me.
“Say something,” I snap.
Eliana glances at Maliah. “I—okay, it’s just…”
“Why didn’t you tell us all of this sooner?” Maliah cuts in, her brow furrowing. “We’re your best friends.”
Guilt twists in my chest.
“I felt stupid,” I admit, staring at my lap. “You both have your lives figured out, and I’m just…here. Clueless.”
Eliana’s expression softens, but there’s hurt there too. “Did you think we’d judge you?”
“I don’t know,” I say, a little too quickly. “Maybe? I just didn’t want to be another thing you had to worry about.”
“Well, that’s not how this friendship works,” Maliah says sharply.
“Mal—” Eliana warns, grabbing her arm.
Maliah shakes her off, eyes locked on mine. “Kairi, I’ve known you my entire life,” she says, her tone firm but less harsh. “Don’t ever decide for me that your problems matter less, because they don’t.”
My throat tightens and tears blur my vision before I can stop them.
Maliah and I have had disagreements in the past, but I’ve never felt like I’ve disappointed her as a friend until today.
I nod, looking down at my hands in my lap and willing the tears away, but it’s too late and they fall down my cheeks anyway.
“Did you have to be so mean, Mal?” Eliana mutters, standing up and walking over to wrap her arms around me.
“I was not being mean,” Maliah says defensively, though she doesn’t sound convinced. “It’s called tough love.”
“Kairi is not a tough love type of person,” Eliana shoots back. “And you know that.”
Maliah goes quiet before she stands and walks out of my room. The sound of her stomping down the stairs is loud, and the front door slamming behind her is even louder.
“Is everything okay in here?”
I look up and lock eyes with Colton who’s standing in my doorway, freshly showered and wearing a T-shirt and sweats as he dries his hair with his towel. He takes in my tear-streaked face, and his expression tightens.
“She’s fine,” Eliana answers quickly, pulling me to my feet. “We were just about to go for a walk on the beach.”
She guides me toward the door, but Colton grabs my wrist as I pass him, and gently tugs me toward him.
“Two minutes,” he says, eyeing Eliana.
She glances back at me questioningly and I nod to let her know it’s okay so she lets go of my hand and heads downstairs to wait.
“Why were you crying?” Colton asks, pulling my attention back to him.
He reaches up and his thumb brushes under my eye, wiping away a stray tear. The gentleness in his touch sends a shiver down my spine.
“I’ve just been a shitty friend and I got called out on it,” I shrug. “I’ll be fine.”
His brow furrows. “You’re not a shitty friend, Kai. And anyone making you feel like that probably isn’t being fair.”
A small laugh slips out of me. “Thanks,” I say softly.
He shakes his head. “You don’t need to thank me.”
We stare at each other, and I wonder if he’s also feeling the magnetic pull that I am. I want to melt into his arms, let him comfort me in the way that I need right now, or distract me in the way I want.
As if he can read my thoughts, Colton slowly runs his tongue along his bottom lip and I watch, completely captivated. That same tongue made me have the best orgasm of my life days ago, and I wonder if I’ll ever get to experience anything like that again in this lifetime.
“See you at practice?” he asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah.” I nod, sounding as breathless as I feel. “See you there.”
“He looked at me like he was going to fight me if I didn’t let you go,” Eliana says as we walk along the shoreline.
I laugh. “He did not.”
“He absolutely did.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you sure you two aren’t dating? He’s awfully concerned about you.”
“I’m sure,” I say. “But…”
Eliana’s head snaps toward me and I wince at the intensity of her gaze. There’s no use hiding what Colton and I did now.
“There’s a but?”
“We kinda hooked up,” I admit.
She blinks. “Yeah, we all knew that you two hooked up after the bonfire.”
I shake my head, looking down at my toes as the water washes away the sand sticking to them. “No, I mean…we hooked up again, but this time it was just oral.”
Eliana gasps and grabs onto my arm, pulling me to a stop and spinning me toward her, hands braced on my shoulders. “You’re kidding.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head, my cheeks growing warm.
“Kairi,” She hisses. “I thought you wanted Zale. What is happening?”
“I don’t know,” I groan, dropping into the sand. “It just sort of happened after my date stood me up.”
Eliana sits next to me. “Well…did you like it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I shrug.
“It does,” she insists, nudging me with her knee. “Did you like it?”
I pull my knees in, resting my cheek against them. “...Yeah.”
“And you’d want it again?”
I shoot her a look. “Obviously.”
She exhales a quiet laugh, then looks out at the water, the only sound between us the crashing waves and screaming seagulls. “So you have feelings for him.”
“No,” I say quickly. “It was just casual, sorry-you-got-stood-up oral sex.”
“You’re not the type of person to do anything casually,” she says. “You’ve always been in this tug of war match somewhere between Zale and Colton, whether you realize it or not.”
Maybe she’s right. I’ve always gravitated toward both of them, figuring it was just because they were my two closest guy friends, but maybe a part of me has always had feelings for Zale and, to some extent, Colton too.
And maybe my feelings for Zale have always eclipsed my feelings for Colton.
“It still doesn’t matter,” I finally say. “Colton made it clear that we’re just friends. He’s the one who said it shouldn’t happen again.”
Eliana turns to me. “Did he say why?”
“Because we’re friends,” I say flatly.
She raises a brow. “Then why did he do it in the first place?”
I groan, pressing my hands to my eyes. “Because I asked for it, but it doesn’t matter.” I look out at the ocean again. “We’re just friends.”
Eliana hums beside me. “He’s a very protective friend.”
That’s just how Colton is,” I say quickly. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
She tilts her head, watching me. “I think it means everything.”