Page 82 of Chaos at Westbrook High

“You feel bad for him.”

My eyes hit his again. “No.”

“You do,” he says. “A little bit.”

Maybe. But not for the reasons he might think.

“I just…I just wish I knew he was okay.”

Kai’s quiet for a few minutes, our hands still linked as he uses them to shift gears.

“What?” I ask. “Say it.”

He sighs. “You’re too good for him, Hails. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“He’s my family,” I say quietly.

I don’t bother telling him he’s his family too, but I can tell he knows I’m thinking it. His nostrils flare as he stares straight ahead, his free hand flexing on the steering wheel.

I pull my brows down. “You really don’t give a fuck about him anymore, do you?”

“He hurt my sister,” he says, his eyes darkening along with his tone. “He hurt my brother when he fucked his girlfriend and broke his heart. He hurt all of us when he walked out on us without so much as a goodbye. He stopped giving a fuck about us way before we stopped giving one about him.”

I don’t think that last part is entirely true, but I keep that to myself.

I fall silent and lie my head back on the seat, still holding his hand while he drives us toward the coffee shop. When we get there, Damon climbs out of his car and does a double take at Kai.

“What’s his deal?” I ask, tipping my chin at Damon.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, an hour ago he was threatening to kill you, and now he looks like he wants to kill me for taking the smile off your face.”

“That’s just Damon.” He shrugs. “Anger and overprotectiveness are his love language.”

I scrunch my nose. My feelings toward the Kingstons—Damon especially—are rocky at best, but I can’t help feeling a little envious of their relationship. This family… They worry about each other constantly. They’d kill and die to keep each other safe. They protect each other and love each other unconditionally, flaws and all.

Valerie loved me like that.

Derek loves me like that in his own way, but it’s not the same. Not anymore.

“Why don’t you drive?” Kai asks randomly.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I turn my head on the seat to look at him. “I’m a passenger princess.”

Kai blinks at me once, twice, and then lets out a surprised laugh, leaning over to tuck his finger under my chin. “My passenger princess.”

He kisses me, and I let him even though his siblings are watching. When I see one of them moving in my peripheral, I turn my head to find Wyatt saying something to Wren on the sidewalk, though his eyes are on me and Kai through the car window. Wren takes a step to the right, blocking his view of us.

I turn back to Kai. “Be nice.”

He smirks, leaning in for another kiss, and I push his face away.

Climbing out of the car, I try to smile at Wyatt, but I’m sure it looks more like a grimace. “Hey.”

“Hey…” he says warily, trying to get a better look at me through the small gap between Wren and Kai’s heads. “You okay, Hailey?”

I nod, finding myself surrounded by Kingstons while I get the door unlocked. I frown at them, but they don’t back up.

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