Page 28 of Hyperspeed
“I don’t know what you mean.” Kai cocked his head to one side, feigning innocence.
“Why would Tavoris sendyouto find me?” I asked.
He patted me on the forehead like I was a dog, and I shoved him again, even more annoyed because his non-answer said more than words.
He was fucking with me.
“You’re such a prick.” The lines on my skin flared a vicious, deep red through my shirt, and my tail uncoiled from my thigh, flicking behind me.
“That’s not very nice, rookie. You’ll wound my ego.”
“A battering ram couldn’t make a dent in that thing,” I snapped, turning on my heel and storming towards the bar.
Maybe I’d find Nery while I was there, but I doubted it. He was probably keeping his distance from this silly circus act, and I couldn’t blame him.
“I was saving you from a boring conversation,” Kai called after me.
“The only boring conversation is this one,” I hissed over my shoulder before following Nery’s example and disappearing into the crowd.
I needed to put as much distance as possible between myself and Kai. If I didn’t, I’d be looking at jail time.
For the next hour, whenever I spoke to someone who wasn’t Jax, Zylo, Saelix, or even Valen, Kai was there. It didn’t matter where I was in Nebula—by the table, on the mezzanine, or even in the conservatory—Kai found me and ended whatever conversation I was in.
At first, it was just ridiculous excuses.
“CosmoCharge’s CEO wants to meet the rookies.”
“A journalist wants a chat with you and Zylo.”
“The CRF wants a photo of the racers in the lounge.”
When they stopped working, Kai changed tactics, upping his game to fuck with me.
I was on the mezzanine, making small talk with a D-list soap actor I’d never heard of. I wasn’t even interested in the conversation, just killing time while Zylo and Saelix were off fucking somewhere.
The more they drank, the less capable they seemed of keeping their hands to themselves. I’d watched them maul each other at the table, feeling like a voyeur, when Saelix abruptly announced that they were going to get some air. I wasn’t sure what air they’d find behind a “Staff Only” door.
So I’d wandered, getting caught in the net of a mind-numbing conversation about this actor’s extensive collection of vintage spoons. I think they were handcrafted on one moon or another, but I was only half listening.
That was when Kai appeared.
Again.
Why was he doing this?
Why me?
What did he want frommeof all people? Was this a game to him? Another ego trip? Was I a new toy to prod and poke and crack open for his own amusement?
I didn’t get it. There were other rookies in the league this year, and other admirers in the room who hung on his every word. So why keep bothering the one who refused to play nice?
I wasn’t sure if it was his fucked-up idea of fun, or if he was trying to rattle me before the next race. But whatever it was, it was working.
And I hated it.
I didn’t react to his presence, too used to his antics and insufferable presence by now. He was like a barnacle on a rock, and it would take a jackhammer to pry him off.
But unlike his previous attempts, the excuses never came. Instead, he leaned in until the tip of his nose brushed my neck, his warm breath tickling myskin. His scent—so annoyingly appealing—flooded my nostrils, and my breath caught when I heard him inhale through his own.
