“I’m not upset, I’m?—”
“Yes, you are,” he cuts in, gently cupping my jaw with his fingers as he lowers his voice, ensuring only I can hear him. “You’ve always been pissed when I’m around, but you were never this sad before. Something happened right around the time I left for Cancun, didn’t it? When Damon and Callie got married. You disappeared for a few days, and then you came back and…” he trails off, his forehead creasing as he bounces his eyes between mine. “Baby, what happened?”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
His expression softens, and he grins again, tilting his head to touch my nose with his. “I don’t know your name,” he whispers. “Tell me what it is and maybe I’ll use it.”
I inhale a breath and let it out slowly, inwardly warring with myself over what to do next. I don’t want to give it to him, but he’s going to find out soon enough anyway.
“Hailey,” I finally tell him. “My name is Hailey.”
“Hailey,” he echoes. “I like that.”
“Oh, good. I was worried you’d hate it,” I say dryly.
He laughs lightly as his hand falls away from my face. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the daisy he would have given me at the coffee shop this morning. My eyes close briefly.
Every goddamn day.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper. “Not here.”
He doesn’t put it away.
My nostrils flare as I snatch it from him, successfully slipping out from his makeshift trap just as the second bell rings. I knock my locker shut and manage to walk away unscathed, not missing the way Ryan and Rachel are watching while pretending to mind their own business.
“Hey, Hailey,” Kai calls out, and I stupidly look back, finding all five of Elijah Kingston’s children staring back at me, Kai in the middle with that stupid grin plastered to his face.
“What?”
“You’re pretty when you’re angry.”
He says it loud enough for everyone to hear, and now I’m pissed and mortified, instinctively keeping my head down as I walk through the crowd that jumps out of the way for me.
Chapter 6
KAI
She’s here. The coffee girl I’ve been obsessing over for weeks is here, pushing her way through the double doors at the end of the hall with that bratty little attitude that makes me want to kiss the shit out of her.
Hailey, I think to myself, imagining the way I’ll say it in her ear when I finally get the chance to pin her down and wrap her legs around my waist, to tease her and fuck her and make her moan for me. The thought makes my dick hard—everything about her makes my dick hard—and fuck me, I’m gonna be hard all day, every day for the rest of my school life with her this close, right here for me to play with and chase around as much as I please.
Callie laughs at the look on my face. She’s the only one of my family members who’s not still frowning at the doors Hailey just walked through.
“Kai,” Callie says.
“Hm?”
“Dude, you need to stop grinning. You look a little psychotic.”
I try to relax my face and force my features even, which makes her laugh harder.
“This is gonna be fun.”
She’s damn right it is.
I grab my boy Ryan and kiss his head, making him laugh while I open my locker, which just so happens to be two lockers up from Hailey’s. I grab the shit I need while shamelessly adjusting my cock through my jeans. I don’t care if anyone sees what she does to me. I want them to see. I want them to know the new girl is mine and she’s not to be fucked with.
“Kai.”