Page 96 of Faithful

“You don’t need to protect me.”

“What if I want to?”

“Why?”

“Because I fucking love you, you dimwit.”

* * *

Kai’s expression morphs into one I can’t read. He stops fighting me and that has me losing my footing, tripping, and stumbling forward.

For a second there, I think my face is about to meet the floor of his mother’s patio, but he intercepts my unfortunate dive just in time.

Wow. This is one memorable confession, Dylan.

“I guess you really mean it if you’re literally falling for me,” Kai says breathlessly, holding me up. A ghost of a smile crosses his lips.

I quickly right myself and meet his eyes. “I do… mean it.”

My heart is hammering away. There’s expectation hanging in the cold air between us, the expectation of him confirming that he feels the same way about me.

I wait as the tense seconds pass by. I wait and wait and wait… until he wraps both hands around my neck, pulls me to him, and kisses me on the mouth.

I’ve kissed him a thousand times before, but this is different. It’s almost fundamental–this tender exchange of breaths that causes the world to fade away.

Everything becomes unimportant.

There’s just us, lips pressed together and bodies flush one against another, drowning in a shared whirlwind of sensations.

When Kai finally draws back to suck in more oxygen, he looks terrified. “Let me take you home,” he murmurs.

“What?”Aren’t you fucking supposed to say you love me too or some shit like that? Why did you kiss me as if you’re about to reveal the goddamn secrets of the universe and then do me so dirty?

My brain is experiencing a major operating system error.

“I have an early morning.” He stammers through this sentence like an awkward middle school kid and starts moving in the direction of the door.

I catch his wrist. “You want me to leave?”After I told you how I feel about you? After I emptied my bank account getting an urgent doctor’s appointment to get those STD tests done?

He nods.

“I don’t under–”

Kai places his palm over my mouth. “Don’t talk, Dylan. Don’t spoil the moment… Just… I need to process this. Let me process this, okay?”

* * *

The one time where things between us get weird and I really wish I’d driven my own car to Everett, it’s not the case.

Instead of spending their Thanksgiving in the city, Leigh’s parents had decided to spend it at their cabin near Lake Stevens and since it was on the way, Leigh brought me along, dropping me off near Everett Mall before heading east.

From there, I got an Uber to Kai’s place.

I can’t take an Uber back to Seattle because a) it’s far and b) it’s expensive.

So naturally, Kai has to drive me back.

It’s strange being with him in a car after spilling my guts and not getting anything in return.

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