Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“Do you have someone you need me to call?” Kain asked.
At three o’clock in the morning, I wasn’t all that convinced my sister was still here.
I cringed at the thought of sending the man in front of me to go look for her.
Thinking about Kain giving Morgan a summary of the things that had transpired filled me with a shame I couldn’t describe.
Would Morgan think I was stupid for taking the drink? Would she think it was my fault?
Was it my fault?
“Or not,” he added in response to what could have only been the look on my face. Kain leaned backward in his desk chair, watching me with gentle curiosity, as if he was waiting for me to say something.
Feeling like I’d overstayed my welcome, I announced, “I can leave.”
With this being his bedroom, my presence was probably an unwanted one. He’d probably come up here for some privacy. By his own admission, I knew he had a headache, and the fact that I was on his bed was probably keeping him from laying down so it could pass.
Dragging his blue blanket off of my body, I pushed my palms into the mattress, swinging my legs over the edge, and rose to my feet.
My balance was a little wobbly, and I steadied myself by taking hold of a corner of the desk Kain sat behind.
I instantly regretted making such a big show of standing because there was no way I was going to make it to the door on my own. Forget making it down the stairs.
“Sit down.”
If ever there was a way to sound both demanding and tender all at once, it would sound like him. Kain’s voice was patient, gentle like he was afraid I might break if he spoke too forcefully, but it also had an edge, like he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
So I sat.
My actions bordered on obedience, automated like a person under a spell. Kain didn’t seem to be affected by my lack of rebuttal. This was clearly a person who was accustomed to getting what he wanted out of people.
“I’m not about to take the blame for you fallin’ down the stairs,” he reasoned, that Southern accent rich and pouring out like warm honey. “Just sit. Collect yourself for a while. Did you come here with someone?”
“My sister is probably looking for me. She totally played me into coming to this party. I’m the designated driver.”
He raised a single eyebrow. “Are you?”
Images of me demanding he give me my fifth shot flooded through my mind, causing me to look away. I cringed, feeling stupid. Did he find me stupid, too? I looked at him, expecting judgmental eyes waiting for some sort of explanation.
“I know… I know,” I sighed, taking in his unreadable features. “I just…” Unable to find the words to explain some sense into the situation, I did the next best thing. Tears.
It wasn’t intentional, but as soon as the first drop rolled down my cheek, others followed, larger in size and in the speed that they fell. Kain drew in a sharp breath, visibly becoming uncomfortable with this unexpected show of emotion.
“Please don’t…” he warned at first, in exactly the same tone you’d tell a child not to scribble on the living room walls with their crayons. His insensitivity only served to loosen the faucet on the garden hose that was my face.
They started off as tears of embarrassment, of shame.
And soon they became loud, shaking sobs of acknowledgement of what almost happened to me.
Just flashes of Victor’s face, Victor’s hands, Victor’s teeth biting into my neck…
My own little horror film playing on rotation in my head, no end in sight. These memories were forever.
I was startled out of my crying by the feeling of Kain resting a reassuring hand on my knee. The unexpected touch made me flinch and he quickly drew back, as if my reaction to his touch gave off a physical shock.
“Don’t cry,” he tried again now that he had my attention.
I wiped away at my cheeks. “That wasn’t a command,” he added.
I shot him a confused look. “What I mean is… please don’t cry because…
it makes me real uncomfortable.” I grimaced at this, to which he quickly added, “But if you need to… Go ahead, cry. Let it out if you got to. I just… I just wish you wouldn’t, though. ”
As bad as it was, his attempt to be sensitive was surprisingly comforting. In an amusingly messy sort of way. Just bad enough for it to be a little funny, and despite everything, it made me smile.
“You’re not very good at this,” I told him.
“I’m not,” he agreed, the faintest hint of a smile blossoming. Kain reached for the tissue box on his desk, pulling a few sheets loose. “Here.”
He watched me as I wiped both the tears and the mascara streaks from my cheeks before he said, “Can I ask you somethin’?”
The unexpected question caught me a little off guard. I looked at his solemn expression and nodded quietly.
“How far did he get?”
I recoiled in shock at the blunt delivery of the question.
I looked down at my lap. Even though I’d gotten dressed earlier this evening feeling classy, I suddenly felt like my dress was too short.
It might’ve been too tight as well. None of this would have happened if I didn’t drink tonight like Morgan told me to.
It wouldn’t have happened if I stayed home either.
My skin felt like it was covered in a thick layer of grime that even a dozen showers could never clean off.
I would never get clean enough.
Kain took my silence as an answer all by itself. “I should’ve shot him.”
There was not an ounce of humor in his tone. He was dead serious. And it was vaguely frightening.
Sighing, I told him, “Nothing happened. Nothing big, anyway.” I swallowed down on the lump forming in my throat. “He just…touched me.”
“I should’ve shot him,” Kain repeated, indignation in his voice.
I tilted my head to the side with curiosity, wondering what this reaction was all about. “Why does it bother you?”
“Bother me?” Kain repeated back at me like I had the wrong idea. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t know me. You’ve never met me or known of me before tonight.”
Kain raised his eyebrows questioningly. “And?”
“Why shoot another person for someone you don’t know?”
“People get shot for less,” he replied so casually that he could’ve been talking about the weather. He spoke as if people getting shot was the type of thing he’d grown very used to seeing. I pressed my lips together, unsure of how I should respond.
The silence that fell on the room was, in its own way, quite loud. Kain was the first to speak.
“Look,” he started. “You show up to a house party wearing a dress I haven’t seen since the sixth grade—” I grimaced, offended.
“—No offense. You’re out there gettin’ plastered after three shots of Absolut, tellin’ strangers about how much you hate your sister.
You thought a cabinet in a kitchen full of strangers was a good place to put your stuff. ”
Either Kain was ridiculously observant, or he’d been watching me a little too much tonight.
“You’re na?ve—innocent, even,” he concluded.
“Where is this going?” I rushed him to get to the point.
“What I’m sayin’ is... It’s dozens of fast-ass girls downstairs that would have chosen to fuck that nigga. The fact that he saw your clueless-ass and decided you were the one...” Kain shook his head. “It’s fucked up. It’s damn near child molestation.”
I made a face, offended that he would put it that way.
“I’m nineteen,” I told him.
“That’s not the point,” he stressed. “You’re just a kid. And people who take advantage of kids... They should be shot on sight.” Kain didn’t look that much older than I was and I wondered if he just looked young for his age.
“How old are you?” I asked curiously. Like someone who’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t, a slight smile settled into his features. I wondered if he could tell I stopped breathing a little. Discretely, I let out a slow exhale, biting down on my lower lip.
“I’m not talkin’ about age in numbers, Lauren.” Say my name one more time, the voice in my head whined. “I’m talkin’ about age up here.” Kain tapped at his left temple.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I’ll be twenty-one in July,” he replied, chuckling a little when I rolled my eyes.
“No use trying to make yourself seem older by telling me how old you’re going be. It’s March—nowhere near July. You’re twenty. Practically my age. If I’m a kid, you’re a kid, too.”
Kain shook his head, disagreeing with me. “People age depending on their circumstances. Some people become adults faster than others.”
I raised a skeptical eyebrow. “And that would be you?” I asked sarcastically.
Kain just looked at me, an expression on his face that seemed to wonder if I was being serious.
“Because I’m sure Mr. I-Live-In-A-Miami-Beach-Mansion has had a very hard life.
” To my surprise, my mockery only made him laugh.
“You don’t even know where you are,” he chuckled, shaking his head as he repeated, “You don’t even know where you are.”
“Should I?”
“An adult would.”
I frowned, narrowing my eyes at him a little. This only served to amuse him as he broke into one of his dazzling smiles, rendering me completely incapable of holding my scowl. Before I could ask what the big deal about this house was, he’d changed the subject.
“So, why did you stay anyway?” Kain asked. “At this party, I mean. After you realized your sister played you. Uber is cheap. You could’ve left her here and gone about your business.”
“Wow,” I muttered. “That didn’t even cross my mind,” I told him as I leaned backward against his pillows, making myself a little more comfortable. “With ideas like that, I bet you’re a really mean person.”
“Still a better idea than gettin’ so drunk that you’d both be stranded.” From his desk chair, Kain’s eyes traveled down the length of my body laid comfortably on his bed, noting that I was positioning myself for an extended stay. “So now what?”
“Huh?” I squeaked out.