55. Tastes Sweet
Tastes Sweet
Istop.
“How the fuck did you know I was here?”
He pushes off the wall.
“You’re not the only one who knows how to lie to Elise.”
My eyes narrow.
“She told you?”
“She told me you asked for Natalia’s room number because you wanted to send flowers.” He looks me over again. “Really, Kiri? Flowers?”
“It worked.”
“Barely. Even I know Natalia’s a chocolate kind of girl.”
I keep walking before he can enjoy himself any more than he already is.
I don’t look at him. The elevators are at the end of the hall, but the second I see the glowing numbers above the doors, I imagine them opening on Ronan.
Or Rafe. No fucking chance. I cut toward the stairwell instead. Behind me, Rithy laughs.
“The stairs? Seriously? Going for more cardio? From the state of you, I’d say you two already trained hard enough to qualify for the fucking Olympics.”
I push through the heavy door and start down.
“So you're not denying it anymore?”
“I’m not talking about it.”
“Yeah, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Kiri, stop. Hold on.”
I keep going. His footsteps chase mine down the concrete stairs.
“Will you fucking stop for one goddamn second?”
I halt halfway down the flight and turn on him.
“If you’re about to tell me to stop seeing her again, I won’t. So don't waste your breath.”
The words come out hard enough to echo through the stairwell. Rithy stops two steps above me.
“I’m not.” I stare at him. “Not this time.”
Some of the fight leaves my body. Rithy braces one hand against the railing.
“I'm pissed but I'm not stupid. I'm aware you had Radhika Malhotra on your arm last night but you were still willing to risk prison and the band to defend Natalia’s honor like some fucking knight.”
My jaw tightens.
“Don’t call it that. I'm not a knight for doing the right thing. I stopped a predator.”
“Right.” Rithy nods solemnly. “Completely unavoidable that you knocked him out. Definitely had nothing to do with who it was he was trying to drug.”
I turn and start down the stairs again, slower now. He follows.
“Even I’m not dumb enough to think anything I say is going to make it through that thick skull.”
“Nothing needs to make it through.” I grip the railing harder. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you? Because yesterday you were reconnecting with the woman everyone thought you’d eventually marry, and this morning you’re sneaking out of Natalia’s penthouse like she spent the night using you as a scratching post."
I tug my collar higher over the mark she left. Rithy’s grin flashes.
“I’m just trying to understand.”
“There’s nothing to understand. I—”
“Don’t say it. Don't you fucking say you love her.”
I stop again. Rithy nearly walks into me.
“We're not in high school,” he says. “You don’t spend one night with someone and announce you’re in love because the sex scrambled your brain.”
I put my hand against his chest and shove him back by the shoulder.
“And what if I fucking do?”
His expression changes. The stairwell goes quiet around us.
“What if I love her?”
I hear the words as I say them. I love her. I expect them to taste like panic, or a rope closing around my throat. They don’t.
They taste sweet.
Dangerously fucking sweet.
Rithy stares at me. I stare back. Then he knocks my hand away from his chest.
“Then congratulations. You’ve fucked yourself on purpose.”
A laugh escapes me and echoes through the stairwell.
“I’m serious,” he says. “You understand that, right? She’s Kasia’s little sister. Rafe already wanted you dead before any of this happened. Half the internet is going to call you a predator when you hard launch it or whatever. Which you know you'll have to with someone like Natalia.”
I resume walking. Rithy follows close behind.
“So, what exactly is your plan?”
“I don’t have one.”
“Excellent. Strong start.”
I glance back at him.
“I just know I'm not running this time. I'm not giving her up. Not again.”
That shuts him up for three whole steps. Then he exhales.
“Well, I guess you’re getting married.”
I stop and cock my head.
“That’s the only possible way this doesn’t implode. You marry her, or the whole thing eventually burns down and takes several innocent bystanders with it. Me, being one of them.”
I consider that.
“Hm.”
Rithy narrows his eyes.
“What does ‘hm’ mean?”
“Maybe.”
His mouth falls open.
“She’d want a stupid-sized diamond, though. I’d have to plan ahead.”
I start taking the stairs two at a time.
“Kiri!”
“Probably something custom.”
“Are you serious right now?”
“She likes dramatic shit.”
“Oh my God.”
I hurry down the next flight, grinning despite myself. Behind me, Rithy breaks into a run. I push through the next stairwell door.
“Are you seriously talking about marrying her?”
“Keep your voice down. You brought it up!”
“As a warning!”
Rithy races after me, shouting words in a string of panicked Khmer.
I keep moving as a smile stretches across my face, so wide it almost aches.