Chapter 41 #2
Noah leans down, and I startle when he speaks right next to my ear. “Because you’ll only run out crying like a little girl.”
I think about the senator’s wife, wondering if that’s what’s going on here.
Has she got her claws back in Kane? Is she here now?
He said he handled it, but is that true, or did he simply say that to make me want to give him a second chance?
Are they still involved? Is she still fucking him? Is she here? Now?
I look back over my shoulder and see Noah leaning back against the wall with a satisfied smirk. He’s enjoying this, isn’t he? Watching me flustered and close to tears at the thought of Kane and… her.
As I turn around, Cash drags his hard gaze away from Noah. He tries to reach for me, but I shrug my arm free. I don’t want him to try to soothe me with some lie about why I can’t go up there.
Noah chuckles behind me, but I won’t let him get under my skin.
Which is easier said than done when all I want is for him to tell me the truth, even if it hurts.
Especially then.
Because at least I’ll know. Cash fails to speak, so I mutter, “Screw this,” and shoulder past him, hard enough to knock him back a small step.
And then I’m running, rushing up the stairs, my heart thrashing so hard I worry it’ll explode, and I glance behind me, seeing Cash at the bottom of the stairs.
He calls my name, but I keep running because I need to see whatever it is they don’t want me to see. I need to see it with my own eyes.
I turn down another corridor, and then I’m there outside Kane’s bedroom, about to knock when giggles on the other side turn my blood to ice.
Is that a… girl?
I swallow hard, suddenly nervous as I press my ear to the door, but before I can listen, the door opens, and I tumble into the room, coming face to face with a pretty brunette in a halter dress. She’s younger than us, around Summer’s age, and pretty, with big eyes and wispy lashes.
“Can I help you?” she asks.
I stare at her for a beat, but I can’t form a thought. My mind goes blank. What is she doing here? I was expecting the senator’s wife, not this girl. Who even is she?
Kane walks out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, water drops clinging to his bare chest. He sees us and freezes.
“Jessica,” he says around a gulp, glancing between us. Then he takes a step and carefully raises his hand like he’s dealing with a cornered animal, and I take off running as my brain comes back online.
Rain was wrong. The pain tearing through my chest isn’t worth those moments when everything feels right. Nothing is worth this. I rush down the stairs, surprised I don’t trip, and escape past Cash, who calls my name and reaches out to stop me. I can’t stay here. I have to get out. Now.
I can’t see Rain anywhere. She’s not in the living room or the kitchen. Where could she have gone? Did she leave without me?
I burst through the front door, slipping past a group of guys on the steps. They all ignore me, except for one who catcalls.
Ignoring them, I cross to Rain’s car and try the door, but it’s locked. She must still be somewhere inside the house.
It was too much to hope she’d be waiting for me.
Why did I even come here? What did I expect to happen?
That we’d get back together? Just because I’ve finally come to my senses doesn’t give me the right to be upset that he’s moved on.
No matter how sweet he’s been on the phone lately, it doesn’t mean he’s not seeing other women.
We’re not together. He can do whatever he wants.
Still, tell that to my heart, because it won’t listen, and no amount of deep breathing or pacing can ease the pulsing pain in my chest. Why did I come here? Why?
“Jessica?”
Shit.
Kane pushes past the group of guys on the steps and then shoves one of them aside, tearing after me. He’s still shirtless, but a pair of gray joggers hang loose on his hips, so at least he’s not chasing me in a towel.
“Wait! Jessica.” His voice booms across the open space.
I dart between the luxury cars, my heart racing madly. Kane is quickly gaining on me, and his breath is growing closer. I push harder, darting behind a gleaming truck, as he slides across the hood of a bright red McLaren reflecting the moonlight.
“It’s not what it fucking looks like,” he calls out as I roll underneath the truck. I can’t outrun him, but he’s too big to fit under here. It’s my only chance.
His sneakers come into view, and I inch further away, hoping he didn’t see me hiding here.
He crouches, peering right at me. “Hi, baby.”
Damn my stupid heart for stumbling when he calls me baby in that soft tone.
“Whatever you think you saw up there, that’s not it.” He tries to reach for me, and I bang my head on the fuel tank when I move too quickly.
Dammit. I didn’t exactly pick the best place to hide. This might be a lifted truck that sits higher off the ground than most, but it’s not a comfortable fit.
“Will you please come out so I can explain?”
“Leave, Kane.”
He straightens up and props his elbows on his thighs as he rubs his chin in that way men do when they’re frustrated. I can’t see it from here, but I can hear the rough scrape of his stubble.
“Dammit, baby. What do you think you saw back there, huh?”
“You know damn well. Who is she, Kane?”
“Say it.”
“Say what?” I ask, confused.
Suddenly, he’s there, lying flat on the ground and staring right at me.
I feel stupid hiding under a truck in Kane’s driveway. Okay, it’s a huge driveway, but still.
“Tell me what you think you saw.”
I frown. “You know what I saw.”
“Then say it.”
“You fucked that girl.”
“Is that what you think?”
“I know what I saw.”
“Yeah?” He blows out a breath that does little to hide his exhaled laughter. The sound isn’t bitter, but it isn’t amused either. “What did you see exactly?”
What did I see?
I gnash my teeth, fighting back the burn of tears. “I feel humiliated, Kane.”
“Because you’re fucking crazy.” He jabs a finger into his temple to drive the point home. “Insane, baby. A little fucking chaos bunny.”
Before I can get a word out, he exhales hard, presses his forehead to the ground, and buries his hands in his hair. “God, you’re so paranoid.” His voice is quieter now, and somehow, that makes it hurt worse. “It doesn’t matter what I do. You’re determined to believe the worst. Every. Single. Time.”
My bottom lip begins to tremble as he meets my gaze again.
“And I still wouldn’t change your kind of love for anything else.
” His choked voice softens even more. “If you think for even a second that I would fuck that girl back there, or any other girl for that matter, you’re crazier than I thought.
There’s only you, Jessica Holt. No one else.
I haven’t even looked at another woman since you came into my life. ”
“Why were you in a towel?”
“I was in the shower.”
“That doesn’t exactly answer my question, does it?”
“Cash threw a party. I hadn’t been home long when you came upstairs.”
He must see the question in my eyes.
“I’d been running,” he says. “You know, the same thing you do. Well, it turns out it’s an excellent way to work through my emotional shit.”
“You run?”
I don’t know why that makes me so curious.
“Until I feel like I might pass out. The surgeon warned me to take it easy for a while, but I can’t be alone with the shit in my head for too long, or I’ll be kicking your door down and begging on my knees for another chance.
” He chuckles, then shifts onto his back and stares up at the stars overhead. “Aren’t you curious who she is?”
Yes.
No.
Fuck.
“It’s Noah’s sister. He’s a lazy fuck and sent her upstairs after I had already told him I was taking a shower. He wanted a phone number and couldn’t wait five minutes. I was in the shower when his sister made me tell her the number through the door. Noah is lucky I had it memorized.”
So that’s how Noah knew she was upstairs. He also knew I would jump to conclusions and run off like a scaredy cat because I don’t have the guts to stay and fight for what I want.
It turns out, I do take the easy way out.
Every. Time.
“Do you think I’d be talking to you now if I had slept with his sister?”
A reluctant smile curves my lips, and he grins softly, too. You could think he’d won the lottery when he looks at me like that.
“You know I’m right,” he says. “Noah would be out here now, chasing me down with a shotgun.”
“He told me you were upstairs,” I admit.
His smile falls. “Noah did that?”
Oh shit.
He sees my expression and grumbles, “I’m killing that fucker.”
Then he exhales, jumps to his feet, and walks around the vehicle. The next thing I know, he grabs my ankle and pulls me out.
I squeal. “What the hell? Kane?”
It’s not that I want to stay hidden under the car, but I instinctively dig my fingers into the soil anyway, fighting him.
Kane is stronger, and with a determined expression, he pulls me all the way out. Then he lifts me like I weigh nothing and presses me against the truck.
“Does this mean I’m done waiting?” he asks, cupping my cheeks and pressing his forehead to mine.
I feel his warm breath on my lips as I nod. It’s like that feeling when you know everything is about to change—a little scary, and a lot exciting, and I’m finally willing to toss my coin and risk it all.
“No more waiting,” I breathe, and my breath hitches when he lifts me higher up against the car.
“Good. I’m done waiting.”
And then his lips come down on mine, and I kiss him with everything I have.
Kane gives as good as he gets, devouring me until my heart isn’t the only thing that trembles.