Page 36 of Sugar Coated

Talk about sensation overload.

Of course, I wasn’t complaining. Not in the slightest. I rode cloud nine while Mike drove us home, and I couldn’t fight the smile that formed on my face. Mike could pout and brood all he wanted; I didn’t have to depend on him for attention or affection. He could screw himself. I didn’t need his hot and cold attitude.

When we got home, Kieran was waiting for me in my room, and he sent me a dimpled grin when I strolled in. His hair was damp, like he’d just showered. “You were gone an awfully long time,” he said, his gaze lifting off me to watch Mike walk by in the hall, probably going to his own room. “Doesn’t he seem chipper?”

The absolute sarcasm in that question made me laugh in spite of myself, and I went to stand near the window on the far side of the room. “Please don’t tell me you were hanging out, alone, in my bedroom this entire time?”

Kieran shrugged. “My sister dragged your father out to dinner somewhere, so I thought it’d be the perfect time toreacquaint myself.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around the room.

“Do you often like to hang out in my room when I’m not home?”

He took a step toward me, then another. Soon he was standing next to me, but instead of staring out of the window like I was, he stared squarely at me. “Maybe I do. Maybe I find all the pink comforting.”

I raised my eyebrows, finally meeting his dark stare. “Do you?”

“Pink reminds me of you, so…” His hands were still in his pockets; he looked weird. Awkward, like he didn’t know what to say. “How was Fang? Is the freak still freaky?”

“More freaky than you can ever know.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and as if I needed a reminder of just how freaky Fang was, the area where he bit me throbbed just a little, the wound too fresh.

His gaze dropped to my left hand, and he pointed to the new addition. “Let’s see it.”

I lifted my hand to allow him a better look at the metal prosthetic. He gingerly took hold of my palm, his fingers brushing against my skin in a way that made me hold my breath as his dark stare studied Fang’s work.

“Impressive,” he said, slow in releasing his grip on my hand. “They look like they move. Do they?”

With a nod, I demonstrated the way the fingers curled when I moved the nubs of my last two fingers. “Isn’t it cool? When Fang said he could make them move, I didn’t really believe him.” I sounded mystified, and that’s because I was. I didn’t understand how any of this worked.

Plus, a part of me was still back in Fang’s place, laying on that bed with him.

Kieran swallowed hard, a frown surfacing on his face. “Were you two… I mean, did you—”

He was being awkward because he wanted me to say it, me to suggest it, but I wasn’t having it. If he was that curious about what Fang and I got up to when we were alone, he could find the courage to ask.

He chuckled. “You’re really going to make me say it?”

“Say what?” I wanted to pat myself on the back. I really did sound innocent.

“That freak has wanted you from the moment he saw you.” He either didn’t care enough to hide the disdain in his voice, or he didn’t try hard enough.

“Don’t call him a freak. He might be a little weird, but he cares—and he’s honest, which is more than I can say for you or Mike.” Or, hell, anyone in this house, really. Politicians and lies came hand in hand.

The look Kieran gave me after that made me wonder if I’d sprouted a second head. “How am I not honest? Fang’s not the only one who cares.”

“Then why have you been ignoring me? Is it because I never answered your question?” If he wasn’t a step-uncle to me, what was he? “Or is it because you’re jealous that I have feelings for another guy?”

For multiple men, really, but that’s beside the point.

A grin spread on his face, but it wasn’t a happy-go-lucky grin like his usual. It was a serious expression, an oxymoron brought to life. “Laina, why don’t you get it? No one knows you like I do. Fang, Mike—none of them will ever understand you like me.” He took a tiny step toward me, but it was enough to make me feel claustrophobic, like he was boxing me in against the window.

“How can you even say that when you’ve been ignoring me?”

“I haven’t been ignoring you. I’ve stayed away from you because you needed time to think, and I needed time to heal.”Kieran cocked his head at me, his face suddenly inches away from mine. “I know you better than anyone else in the world. You have no idea how hard it’s been to stay away from you when all I want to do is—”

My heart skipped a beat. “All you want to do is what?”

The way he looked at me, it was unlike any look he’d ever given me before. Like he could stare straight into my soul and see every part of me I hid from the world. Like he really did know me better than anyone else.

He told me in a hushed whisper, “All I want to do is open your eyes. Fang, Mike; neither of them can give that to you. Only I can.” He lifted a single hand, and he swept some of my hair off my shoulder, exposing my neck to him, which he then lightly touched. “I need you to see me.”

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