Chapter 46
KAI
“Do you guys think Diana was jealous earlier? You know, when I was teasing her about flirting with Sophia and her friends?”
The boys glance up from their laptops. We’re all occupied with a different thing: Wallace is sorting out details for the Halloween party, while Rowan, Luke, and I are catching up on homework. With our bones aching from the Grouse Grind, there’s no better time to get late assignments done.
“Well, Diana looked like she wanted to strangle you,” Rowan muses. He twirls a highlighter between his fingers. “Was that the plan or are you just a masochist?”
“It’s a good sign, right? It might mean she’s just as into me as I’m into her.”
Wallace purses his lips in confusion. “Didn’t she have a crush on you for three years?”
“She did. But at the Wing and Flame, she said she doesn’t have feelings for me anymore.
With everything going on with her dad and the CEO vote, she’s doing everything out of necessity.
” My hands come off my laptop to fiddle with Diana’s hair clip.
I shake my head, groaning a little. “Except sometimes, I feel like she never actually stopped feeling something for me. I can see it in the way she touches my hand. When she calls out my name.” I glance back up at the boys. “Am I overthinking this?”
“Oh, absolutely not, bro.” Luke jabs his finger at the hair clip. “Diana wouldn’t have given you that if she didn’t have feelings for you. A gesture like that is literally in every Jessica Lovelace book.”
Rowan sighs and sets his textbook aside. “Can I offer an opinion that’s actually rooted in reality?”
“Absolutely not,” Luke protests.
“Diana definitely has feelings for you.”
“Actually, keep going.” Luke pats Rowan’s knee. “I like where this is going.”
“But even if Diana has feelings for you, it’s hopeless no matter what,” Rowan finishes.
“For fuck sakes,” Luke curses.
Rowan rolls his eyes. “I’m saying that because of what we found out tonight. Sophia suspects Edward Huang is testing Diana. Whether or not Diana believes it, she knows that being with you is a risk and she’s not going to tempt danger more than she already has.”
“Or,” Luke interjects, “Diana is braver than we all think and eventually, she’ll realize her feelings for Kai are stronger than her fears.”
Rowan’s caution and concern is unshakeable. “You know I’ll support whatever you want to do, Kai. But I draw the line when it comes to giving you false hope.”
Disappointment sinks in and exposes my hopes for what they really are: stupidity and delusion.
Rowan is right.
This hair clip is most likely what Diana said it was: a token of friendship and nothing more because we can never be more.
Diana is on the cusp of taking over one of the world’s most powerful mass media companies, and I’m a disgraced university hockey player fighting for another chance to play in the NHL.
It’d never work out between us. Not when we come from two different worlds.
“Yeah.” My voice feels empty and hollow in my throat. “I appreciate it, Row.”
I tuck Diana’s hair clip back into my pocket and force my attention back to the brutal twenty-eight hundred word paper for my strategic management class.
“So, that’s it?” Luke whips his head around, looking baffled and disappointed. “Aside from Wallace, we’re all just going to die alone?”
Wallace peeks up from behind his laptop. He gulps. “Is this finally the time for us to talk about Emilie?”
The light in Luke’s face dies out. He goes still, every part of him shutting down.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he brushes off. “She broke up with me because she wanted to focus on her internship.”
Wallace frowns and pulls him into a hug. “It’s okay if you’re crushed. I know you really liked her.”
Luke snatches his water bottle so hard, it crinkles. “Not enough if it didn’t make her stay.”
The boys and I swap worried looks.
We used to say Luke King never falls in love.
‘Fall’ is too fragile of a word for what he feels when he likes a girl.
Luke collides into his emotions, bones breaking, skin splitting, but he still gives and loves through all of it.
A part of him dies a little when he looks around at the end of the relationship, and realizes he was the only one willing to take the fall.
“Hey.” Rowan cups the back of Luke’s neck, making him stare up at the conviction flashing on his face. “Don’t let this kill you, alright? You’re going to meet a lot of girls who are going to fight Wallace for just a second of your love and attention.”
“That’s true,” Wallace agrees.
“And someday,” I promise, “one of those girls is going to give you the exact same love that you give so fearlessly to everyone else.”
Luke takes in our words with a small, hopeful smile. But before he can say something, Wallace’s laptop screen flashes.
He pales at the new notification that pops up. “Shibal.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
Wallace looks up. His throat bobs. “Simon Valdis just bought six tickets to the Halloween party.”
Panic swells inside of me. “Why the hell would Simon go to a DHU Halloween party when Lakefield always throws their own every year?”
Luke’s brows knit together. “What if they’re planning on doing something? Kai did say Matthias threatened him after the presentation. He could be in on this, too.”
Rowan’s head drops down in defeat. “I think we need to call Mikhalkov.”
Wallace gawks at him. “The Menace?”
“He knows everything about everyone.” Rowan doesn’t hesitate to dial his number. “If Simon is planning to fuck things up, he’d know about it.”
Mikhalkov’s name puts the boys on edge.
Alexander Mikhalkov is the captain of the Hyburn University Eagles hockey team based in Abbotsford.
We call him the menace because of his size, his physicality, and his shit-eating grin whenever he pisses off players on the ice.
There’s a saying that if you decide to go after a Hyburn Eagle, you won’t walk away without Mikhalkov’s fist in your mouth.
He’s an even bigger problem off the ice.
No matter how long you’ve been playing, Mikhalkov will always have dirt on you that he can use to his advantage.
The phone rings multiple times before a deep Russian accent drawls through the speaker, “This better be good.”
Rowan wastes no time. “What do you know about Valdis and his plans for the DHU Halloween party coming up?”
“It depends.” I can hear the smug smile snake through his words. “What will you give me in return?”
That’s the catch. Mikhalkov never gives away his information without a price.
Rowan’s jaw clenches. “You’re playing against the Missouri Thundercats next week. I have some intel about their starting line you might want.”
“Alright. Good enough. Er…” Mikhalkov lets out a small, irritated groan. “Can I call you back in ten minutes?”
Before Rowan can answer, Luke snatches the phone from his hand and shouts into the speaker. “This is an emergency, Mikhalkov! Simon’s dad threatened to go after Kai, and now we’re freaked out that little shit is gonna pull something at DHU’s Halloween party next Friday night!”
Mikhalkov’s voice perks up a little. “Is that Luke King?”
“Of course.” Rowan rolls his eyes and wrenches his phone out of Luke’s hand. “Who else screeches dramatically like that?”
Luke whips out his arms. And what about it?
Suddenly, there’s the rustle of bedsheets and a girl’s faint voice whining in the background.
Mikhalkov sighs. “Listen, all I know is that Valdis is going to the DHU Halloween party with some of his teammates and their girlfriends. The last time I heard, they’re just hopping from party to party.”
“But you haven’t heard of him wanting to do anything suspicious?” Rowan presses.
“How could he?” Mikhalkov scoffs. “Everyone’s in costume and Levels is one of the biggest clubs in Vancouver. You can’t lay out a good hit there even if you were hellbent on it.”
Rowan’s shoulders fall, yet his muscles still tense up. “If you hear anything, can I trust you to give me a heads up?”
“I’ll promise to give you a heads up as long as you don’t keep me from getting some head.”
We can hear the girl giggle in the back.
Rowan is hardly fazed. “Always a pleasure, Mikhalkov.”
“Looking forward to kicking your ass in November, Kaneshiro.”
The line goes dead.
Luke throws up his arms. “Well, that was useless.”
“That was a start,” Rowan corrects. “It’s better to call on someone who has a shot at finding out what Simon and the Vipers are up to.”
“Should we still go to the party?” I ask.
Rowan considers the thought. His fingers rub across his lips, and his face softens.
Then, he shakes his head. “I know the boys have been looking forward to the party all week. They’ve been working hard and deserve some time to cool off.
What I’ll do is warn them to stay clear of anyone with the Vipers tattoo on their wrist.”
Rowan turns towards me, grounded and steady like the earth beneath our feet. “Even if the Vipers pull something, it can’t be too catastrophic considering all the factors Mikhalkov mentioned. It’s going to be okay, Kai.”
Worry twists in my gut. My lungs draw in tight, and my breath grows shallower when I remember Matthias’ threat.
I will do everything in my power to make sure you never take Simon’s place.
“Are you gonna tell Diana about this?” Wallace asks.
I rub my hand over my face. Diana is already so nervous about exposing her brothers and saving Sophia. Adding Simon on top of it will tip her over the edge. Besides, if nothing actually happens at the party, then I would’ve just made her worry for nothing.
“No. I’m not gonna tell Diana anything,” I decide. “She has too much going on right now.”
It’s one thing for me to have Simon and Matthias at my back. It’s another for Diana to get involved in my bullshit.
I don’t know what the hell is going to go down at that Halloween party, but I know one thing for sure: Simon Valdis is going to fucking suffer if he goes even an inch near Diana.