Page 67 of Something So Strong

“I didn’t know you worked on Sundays.”

His brooding face cracks a smile at the silliness of my joke. “You’re an idiot.”

I tilt my head. “A cute idiot.”

“You’re a pretty idiot,” he corrects me after taking a sip of his coffee.

“I miss talking to you like this.”

He nods. “It kinda makes me feel like everything could be okay.”

“It still can be.”

Kai’s eyes blink slowly, and any tension I’d been able to sweet-talk out of his system is back with a vengeance.

“Tell me how it can be when I wake up with shit like this?” Sliding off his black denim jacket until it’s bunching at his elbows, Kai then pulls up the sleeve of his t-shirt to reveal a giant bruise. Purple, and indigo, and fading out to yellow, it’s visible on almost every spot of un-inked skin on his upper arm. “Hurts like a bitch,” he mutters, tugging down his sleeve and shrugging his jacket back on.

“I’m not gonna pretend like I have an answer for that. It’s fucked… It’s just. It’s fucked,” I repeat. “But I’m not going to tell you I feel sorry for you either.”

Kai screws up his face and looks at me, almost in disgust. “I never asked for your pity.”

“True.” I nod. “But what you did do is practically force me to want you.” I lean in closer. “You’re doing it again now… And… you’re so fucking sexy when you’re confident.”

“I’m sure you know by now that it’s an act.”

“I don’t know if I do.” I lean back in my chair, making sure not to crowd him. “What I am certain of, though, is that Kai Tremblay—the real one—is the cocky bastard who picked me up from the airport. And that guy just so happens to get vulnerable sometimes. And…” I pause. “I don’t think it’s as big of a turnoff as he does.”

Closing his eyes, Kai fists his hands in front of his mouth.

His rumination feels like decades as every movement of the cheap clock on the wall ticks louder and louder, drowning out everything else in its incessant drive to go round, and round, and—

Kai pulls his hands away from his mouth, his lips part, and—

“Here ya go, wifey,” Romeo interrupts, sliding a plate in front of me.

Swallowing my disappointment, I counter with; “And there you go, my devoted husband. Do make sure to replenish your strength before you spend another night cheating on me.”

“Who’s the lucky girl this time?” Kai asks, pretending to be interested.

“Cleo,” I answer for him.

Romeo picks up his fork and points to me with it. “I never admitted to anything.”

“She does get better the more turns you get,” Kai adds nonchalantly, like sleeping with Cleo was like learning to ride a bike. Which—in itself—is a freaking hilarious metaphor.

“Happy memories?” I ask with a tinge of sass.

“Yeah,” Kai responds bluntly. “But I should probably watch what I say so you don’t get jealous.”

“There’s enough of you to go around.” I wave my hand flippantly. “You two should share stories… Is her ass as good as her tits?”

“Nup,” says Romeo.

“Yes,” nods Kai at the same time.

I rubberneck between them and notice Kai looking at Romeo, just as confused as I am.

Romeo fidgets with his fork. “You know me, Jess. I’m a tits man. And when they’re that perfect, nothing else matters.”

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