Page 5 of Crazy Love

I chuckle. “Civilians are involved more than you think. Plus, they wanted Patty and Patty would only work with me. Well, he wanted to keep babysitting me, I guess.”

Kali’s gaze burns into the side of my head and my thoughts drift back to all the truths I want to spill but am too cowardly to admit. I wonder how much she knows about my past. I wonder what Hazel spilt to her best friend.

My brother’s been watching me like a hawk for the past few years, but I don’t blame him for it. If anything, I’m used to it. He’s slowly giving me more and more space, and our check-ins are becoming less frequent, but I know I’m on his mind more than he lets on.

I tense my knuckles around the steering wheel again as we enter Kali’s neighbourhood. No matter how much work I think I’ve done on dealing with my demons, something dark always sits under the surface, waiting to explode.

Change the subject.

“What about you?” I ask. “Have you always been into fitness?”

Kali smiles. “Dancing and gymnastics, yeah. My grandmother made sure I attended every class and every competition. I found Pilates once I left school and haven’t looked back.”

“It shows.” I throw her an exaggerated appreciative glance and she grins wider. “Did you win at these dancing comps of yours?”

“Of course,” Kali says, without irony. “I destroyed the competition. I’m great at winning.”

I slow the car to a stop outside Kali’s house and pull the handbrake on. Unnerved by the effect her stare has on me, I shift my entire body in the driver’s seat. “And I bet you suck at losing.”

“Gracious losers are never fully in it,” she says. “If you’re all-in, armed to the teeth competing, the loss should hurt like hell. It should be all over your face and bleeding out of you.”

“And you’re an all-in type of woman.”

Kali lifts her head and grins. “Absolutely.”

“Except for relationships, right?” I ask. “What was it you said? You enjoy the freedom and rush at the beginning of relationships more than being in one?”

Kali’s smile falters. “Yeah, so what? I’mall-inon not being monogamous. I prefer that above a committed relationship.”

A snicker slips from my mouth. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

As a woman who appears able to take any sort of ribbing, the mere mention of her feelings on love and relationships elicits something unexpected.

A shadow glimmers across her face.

Her eyes harden.

Oh.I’ve hit a nerve.

“Excuse me?” she seethes.

Unlucky for her, I stopped sugar-coating my words a long time ago. “I’m saying that maybe you’re notall-inon monogamy because you’re afraid of commitment, because you fear love.”

Kali scoffs. “Did you say you wereintherapy or a therapist?”

“I’ve had enough therapy for the both of us, Red,” I murmur. “And I can tell you right now, you ain’t fooling me.”

“Thanks for your concern,doctor,” she snaps. “But I’m not trying to fool anyone. Love is great. I just happen to enjoy my life as it is. Carefree and uncomplicated.”

I take note of how she holds herself. Tense, defensive, ready to claw at my throat. Instead of backing down, my mouth opens before my brain catches up. “My therapist would have a field day with you.” It was a dick thing to say, but my skin pulses with excitement all the same.

Kali blinks several times before setting her jaw steady. She scoops up her bag and furiously snaps the door handle, stepping outside the car.

“It’s fun getting under your skin,” I call after her.

She ducks down to look at me, her brown eyes alight with fury. “You’re not getting underanything.”

“We’ll see. The bet is still on and I’m no quitter.”

---