6. Rose #3
“Laurel, that is enough.” Kirin’s voice held the authority of a pissed-off older sibling. She’d used it a time or two on her sisters, and the kitchen quieted.
“Kirin, literally anyone would be better than this trash.” Laurel’s tone was pleading and laced with an edge Rose usually heard during practice.
She didn’t dare react, not when Maya, Bridget, and a few other teammates entered the kitchen.
All of them stopped, but Maya’s eyes narrowed as she caught sight of Kirin with his arm around her.
Rose swallowed her eye roll. There was a low rumble through the kitchen and living room at Laurel’s insults.
“It’s cute that you’ve looked into me, Laurel, but you should stop confusing poorly researched facts with biased opinions.” Rose closed her hand over Kirin’s arm and squeezed it, hoping he’d catch on that she needed to get out of here.
Laurel’s blue eyes switched between Rose and Kirin like she wasn’t sure how this could happen or what to do because her brother didn’t side with her. But Rose was mentally somewhere else, holding on to Kirin to keep herself upright as the weight of uncertainty tried to drag her down.
If Preston and Margot were together, and by Laurel’s accusation, she’d bet they were, then maybe she didn’t need to keep hiding.
Maybe she stood a chance at having a normal life again because her obsessive and controlling ex-boyfriend was busy elsewhere.
Which meant this whole ordeal with Kirin had a real shot of helping her get her social life back.
It would be easy to keep going on like she had for the past year.
With a blink, she could be back in the hospital, another and she could be back in that car where the world was fuzzy, or on the side of the road as Preston— No.
She shoved the thought away and instead let herself fall into hope.
Holding on to the prospect of having a life instead of hiding away forever, where she knew Preston wouldn’t dare come for her.
If Kirin wasn’t standing behind her, she might have felt like she was falling backwards.
The memory flashed through her mind, and she shivered.
The rush of panic and pain that had her biting her tongue to keep the whimper in, just like she did that night.
Through the panic, the edge of her brain caught on to the sharp, quiet tone coming from Kirin, her mind still reeling too fast to focus on the words he was spitting at his sister.
She relaxed into him, enjoying the way he curled around her like a barrier between her and Laurel.
She felt as if she were in a fog. Seconds passed like hours until Kirin’s lips brushed her ear with a much softer tone to ask, “You okay, Flower?”
“Can we go?” she whispered. It probably went against their goals for the evening, but she didn’t care.
Laurel wasn’t getting on board tonight, and that was the point.
Their teaser was in full force. The more people saw them together—not having sex against a wall—the more Kirin believed Laurel would get on board.
And everyone who was here tonight would watch to see what happened between them.
Mission accomplished for their data. But she didn’t want to be on display anymore, not with the realization that her life might be on the verge of normal again.
“Kirin, come on,” Laurel said, her eyes pleading as she looked between them. “You can’t tell me she’s worth it—”
“Enough.” His voice cut through Laurel’s objections as he stepped around Rose, leaning down to talk to his sister directly. “We can discuss this later. I expected more from you.”
Properly scolded, Laurel swallowed and looked away.
She didn’t say anything else, just watched them leave with a confused look on her face as Kirin took Rose’s hand and pulled her after him.
He slapped hands with a few people on the way out, stopping to whisper something to Leon and Ainsley, who were still talking where they’d left them.
Then he was pulling her through the party and into the street beyond the front door.
“Do you have a car?” he asked and then clarified, “I came with Leon.”
“Yeah, uh.” She blinked into the streetlamps. “I parked around the corner, but I was the ride, so what about—”
“Leon and Harrison will make sure Ainsley and Harper get home. Ainsley said she was cool with it. What do you drive?”
“A burgundy Bronco,” she murmured, and he stopped, looking down at her with surprise. “What?”
“Not the car I would have put you in. What year?”
“Nineteen seventy,” she answered with her own lifted brow.
“So you already own your dream car, but did it have to be Westmont colors?”
“My parents are alumni. I was raised in burgundy and black.” She glanced pointedly at him. “It’s a hard habit to break.”
“A legacy makes sense, but I’ll help you.” He grinned. “I wanna take you somewhere. Do you mind if I drive?”
The memory tried to overwhelm her again, and she shivered. “Yes, I mind.”
“Okay, I can play navigator,” he said without argument or question, even though she could sense the latter pressed between them.
They didn’t say anything else as she led him to where she parked and unlocked the driver’s door. She climbed in and leaned over to open Kirin’s door. When he was settled, she whispered her thanks.
Kirin gave her a serene smile. “Whatever makes you comfortable. You’ll need to go down this street and turn right at the light.”
She started the Bronco, and her eighties rock blasted through the speakers. She slapped the dash to turn it off and took a deep breath while the engine warmed up.
“A Bon Jovi fan?” he asked, and she swallowed, nodding.
“You are a puzzle, Adeline Rose Aldrich-St. James,” he murmured, and she closed her hands around the steering wheel.
“It’s not intentional,” she answered, shifting into drive as Kirin laughed.
She waited until they turned at the light to ask, “Where are we going?”
“I figure you deserve some good food after Laurel came after you like that.” His wide grin was visible from the corner of her eye in the flashing lights as they traveled down the road. “The best around here is on the other side of town, so we’re going to Rita’s.”