Page 52 of Friends Don't Kiss

“What makes you say that?” Despite everything Kiara said in the car, I know how she felt in my arms. It’s only a matter of time before she gets off her high horse and agrees we should be… together. But the decision needs to come from her.

She lifts her shoulders. “She’s on the apps,” she says as she opens her car door.

That dagger she planted in my heart last weekend twists a little deeper. “She’s what now?”

She throws her handbag on the passenger seat and turns back to face me. “On the apps. The dating apps?”

Yeah, I got that part.“What the fuck?”

“She didn’t tell you?” She frowns and looks at me with sympathy bordering on pity. “It happened last night. I’m sure she will. Grace told her to send screenshots of her dates to a friend. I kinda assumed she’d tell you…”

The harder my heart beats in my ribcage, the more her words trail off until she stops talking completely.

“Yeah-yeah, I’m sure she will.” I force a smile and knock on the roof of her car as a goodbye. “Take care,” I say and turn around.

“Colt!” Willow calls out.

I turn around reluctantly. Being the object of someone’s pity isn’t exactly something I like. I school my features to seem professional and absent of emotion. “Yeah?”

She shuts her door and walks toward me hesitantly. “Maybe… maybe I could help you.”

“Help me with what?” Willow grew up here, like me. I’ve known her all my life. She’s a great girl, for sure. She works for my cousin Chris—started as a shopkeeper in his bakery and is now doing the pastries with…Kiara.

Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline as if I’m being a little slow on the uptake. “Kiara!”

I try to hide the punch to the stomach I feel at the sound of her name. Stroking my chin’s three-day stubble, I answer, “Not sure what you mean.”

Hands on her hips, she tilts her head. “You’re fooling yourself. That sad puppy look would give it away if I didn’t already know you two need to give this a real shot.”

I tilt my head to the sky, take a deep breath, and turn around, raising my hand in a goodbye gesture.

“Are you really okay with her going out with strangers?” she calls out, raising her voice so I can hear her. “Cos I’m not.”

Me neither, but I don’t say that. I don’t say anything; I’m sensing a trap. Willow might not be a cop, but anything I say can and will still be held against me.

“Colt?” she insists.

Glancing at her over my shoulder, I say, “She’ll be a’right. Won’t do anything stupid.” Apart from letting another man set his hands on her.

Willow catches up to me. “Are you okay with her going out with someone else?” she asks again, disgust on her face.

“Kiara is entitled to date whoever she wants.” I just need to get her out of my system.

“She’s scared of commitment, Colt,” Willow continues. “That sound familiar?”

I stop in my tracks. “No, it doesn’t.”

Willow sighs. “Does the name Valerie sound familiar?”

“The hell does she have anythin’ to do with Kiara?”

“You let her get away, for starters. That’s something they have in common.”

Seems to me I dodged a bullet when it comes to Valerie. “What makes you think I wasn’t the one who broke it off?”

Willow plants her fists on her hips. “Well, were you?”

One thing I’m not doing, is going over my relationship history with Willow. “Is there a point you’re trying to make? I’m kinda busy.”

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