Page 31 of Chaos at Westbrook High

“What look?”

“Was—” He curses. “Was it me?”

I pull my head back with a frown. “No.”

“Was it Wyatt? One of the guys he was with just now? Derek?—”

“Kai, stop. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why do you look like you’ve been crying?”

“I don’t know,” I say defensively.

“Have you been?”

“What?”

“Crying.”

“No.”

He doesn’t look like he believes me, watching me suspiciously while I top his iced latte with whipped cream and grated chocolate. I grab him a straw, place a lid on Callie’s coffee, and pass them both over, all while he continues to stare at me.

“Thank you,” he says.

“You’re welcome. Now get out.”

He laughs lightly at that, taking a sip of his drink while he looks around at the empty shop behind him. “Can I stay?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re closed.”

He nods and looks around again as if he’s checking for something. “Do you have a security guard?”

“Obviously not,” I grit out.

He grins slyly. “You gonna throw me out all by yourself, Hails?”

My heart clenches inside my chest.

Hails.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why? You don’t like Hails?”

“Not when it comes out of your mouth.”

He laughs again, enjoying the back and forth.

“Out,” I say again.

“Come on. I’ll stay over here,” he promises, backing up toward the corner of the shop. “I won’t touch you. I just wanna watch you for a bit.”

Nervous butterflies flutter in my stomach as I watch him flick his tongue into the cream on his coffee. He always eats the cream first. I almost tell him it’s better if you mix it in, but then I realize I don’t care how he drinks it.

---