Page 179 of Something So Strong

That was the last point he could have told me he wanted to back out and it not be too late.

It’s not like the whole thing scares me. I’m more than secure in our relationship, it’s just that… I don’t know. And that’s the best way I can put it.

Opening the front door, Kai lets in another gust of frigid wind blowing unobstructed from off the heath.

Trudging down the small stoop first, I wait for Kai to lock up and join me on the footpath. Clasping my right hand in his left, he tugs me gently towards him and starts walking.

Our journey to The Washington—our closest and favorite pub—is only a short one, but I find my mind contemplating so many oxymoronic possibilities it’s a good thing I’m being led there by Kai.

Uni and helping out at my uncle’s soliciting firm have barely given me a spare second to think this past month since we made our profile. And when Kai sent me a screenshot of a DM we’d received with the question, “What about her?” I just reacted without thinking. I still don’t think it’s a bad decision. Nothing about it is screaming, this is a giant red flag and your relationship will suffer as a result. It’s more that we haven’t talked about it once the decision was made. About why we initially thought it was a good idea, and apparently still do.

“Everything alright?” Kai squeezes my hand before lifting it to his mouth and kissing the back of it.

Stopping right before we turn away from Hampstead Heath and towards The Wash, I look him right in his gorgeous hazel eyes. “Do you still wanna do this?”

Pausing, he doesn’t respond right away, instead opting to search my streetlight-lit face for what else I may be asking. “Yeah… Do you?” he asks, almost dubiously.

“Sure… I mean, yeah.”

“Really? That’s not very convincing.”

“You weren’t very convincing just now, either.”

Kai takes my other hand too and swings them back and forth between us. “Let’s go home then.”

My head flops back. “But that’s rude. If she’s not already there, she’s on her way.”

“So let’s go then.” He jerks his head towards the corner.

“But what if she’s—”

“Jesse. My pretty baby.” He pushes my hands against my chest with his own. “We might both get plowed down by a rogue delivery truck driver thirty seconds from now.”

My jaw clicks to the side and I glare at him with a don’t be daft look.

“Fine,” he chuckles. “Would you settle for, we’ve already come this far, so we may as well walk the next twenty-five meters and get a pint and a feed?”

I try to hide my smile, but it’s impossible. Especially when more and more of my lingo is making its way into his vocabulary. So I nod and kiss him instead. Giving him my tongue for making so much sense.

“This is definitely more an, I’d rather you take me home, kind of kiss,” he mumbles, sucking on my bottom lip. And maybe it is…

“Come on, now.” I regain ownership of my mouth. “Let’s just go get that pint, yeah? First round is my shout.”

Kai’s eyes roll so dramatically that his shoulders follow. “You don’t have a paying job, Jesse.” He shuffles backwards and tugs me towards the corner. “So you don’t ever pay for anything.”

“I pay for the flat we live in.” I drag my feet so he has to pull me.

“No. The spending money your grandfather left you pays for our flat.”

“It sure didn’t take you long to get over being a kept man.”

Looking back at me and grinning with the tip of his tongue between his teeth, Kai shrugs one shoulder. “Resistance was futile. You were gonna buy me shit I didn’t need, whether I liked it or not. And if I really was a kept man, I wouldn’t have a job paying me far more than I’m worth.”

“You don’t have to work.”

“I’m buying my own bike, Jesse.” Kai’s voice is gravelly and low, and just how it always gets when his buttons are being pushed. Then he looks at me and the smirk I’m wearing. “Fuck you.”

“What?” I snicker. “It’s not my fault you’re so easy to reel in.”

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