Page 33 of Centering Kaos

Nodding, I opened a cupboard. “Yep. Just thirsty.” Quite the understatement, since my throat felt like the Sahara Desert. “You want anything to drink?”

She picked up the second bottle of wine she’d opened and poured the last of it into her glass. “Nope. I’m good, thanks.”

“Kaos?” I asked, trying not to look at him.

Carisa leaned forward, settling her elbow on the bar and using her hand to prop up her head as she stared at her cousin. “Yeah,Kaos, are you thirsty, too? Or is it just our friend Tina, there?”

I liked Carisa, but I was going to have to kill her.

“A glass of water would be great,” he replied. “And don’t mind my cousin. She treats wine like it’s a food group, and it makes her a little bonkers.”

Carisa rolled her eyes. “Grapesarefruit. It’s science.”

I filled two water glasses and plunked them down on the bar before circling back around to retake my seat. Unwrapping my gyro, I bit into it. The flavor was excellent, but my stomach was far too active for such nonsense and wanted nothing to do with food. Forcing down the bite, I reached for my glass and guzzled down the water. When I came up for air, both Kaos and Carisa were staring at me.

Calmly rewrapping my sandwich, I stood. “I’m gonna… I’m not all that hungry, so I’ll just put this away for later and get back to the bathroom.”

Before either of them could respond, I stashed my sandwich in the fridge and fled up the stairs. Halfway up, I remembered we’d left off in the downstairs bathroom. Too bad. I’d just have to settle for starting on Dylan’s bathroom instead, because there was no way in hell I was going back down those stairs.

I was busily scrubbing down the tub when Carisa joined me. She popped out a hip to lean against the sink, folding her arms as she watched me work.

“I like you, Tina,” she said. “I’ve decided you can date my cousin, but,” I started to object, but she held out her hand to stop me. “Don’t even try to deny your attraction. I was just in the kitchen with the two of you, and whew. Girl, if contact pregnancy ever becomes a thing, the vibes you two are throwing up could populate a freaking country. But that’s all fine as long as you don’t try to take away my job. I’ve got a good thing going here. I always knew Darius would hit it big, and I put in the time to ensure my spot as his favorite cousin. Nothin’ personal, but if you try to take this from me, I will smash a wine bottle and use it to rip out your jugular. Know that in your heart.”

That sounded pretty dang personal to me, but I held up my hands in surrender. “I would never take your job away from you.” I dropped my scrubber and sat on the edge of the bathtub so I could face her. “But you have nothing to worry about, because nothing can happen between me and Darius. Not for several months, at least. I need to get my life together first and figure out what I want to do.”

“Oh, honey.” Her eyes softened and she let out a little giggle. “You think you can control emotions? That’s so… adorable. Naive, but adorable.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are, which makes it even better.”

I kind of wanted to shake her. “Nothing is going to happen.”

She laughed, throwing her head back and everything. When she finally regained control, she wiped away tears from beneath her eyes and held up her wine glass in a mock toast. “To bullshit declarations of abstinence. This really is gonna be fun.”

11

Kaos

THE MOMENT TINA fled out of earshot, Carisa turned on me, gesturing wildly at the now vacant stool between us. “What the actual fuck was that?” she asked.

The “that” in question, had been one hell of a sexually charged lunch. Tina had been blushing and stammering, and every muscle in my body was sore from the strain of not reaching for her. Of not wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her neck. If my cousin hadn’t been there, things between Tina and me probably would have escalated until I stripped her bare, sat her ass on the countertop, and fucked her right there in my kitchen.

And then afterward, there would have been hell to pay.

But since I couldn’t say any of that without sounding like I was out of my fucking mind, I decided to be a smartass. Gaze snapping to the stool, I replied, “Thatwas once a tree. Though technically, it started out life as a seed. Which begs the question… what came first, the seed or the tree? I’d say the answer depends on whether you believe in creation or evolution.”

She blinked. “Are you for real right now?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. Are any of us really real?” She was making this too damn easy. “I could be a figment of your imagination. This entire universe could be just a program aliens are running in your head while you’re plugged into their matrix. Who knows? Maybe your drunk ass slipped and bashed in your noggin, and now you’re stuck in your own mind.”

Her expression flattened. “I’m talking about the fireworks going off between you and Tina.” Carisa narrowed her eyes at me. “Have you guys… hooked up yet?”

Hooked up? What were we? Teenagers? I shook my head. “It’s not like that. She’s going through a messy divorce. Her ex is a piece of shit, and I’m putting her up until she can get free of him.”

Carisa continued to study me. “She said she has a kid.”

“Dylan.” I fought a smile at the mention of the boy. “He’s a quick-witted little asshole who likes to put me in my place. You’ll love him.”

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