Page 6 of Kaz
He shoved Ezra off the couch for that. Not that it stopped his best friend from laughing as he lay on the floor between the couch and coffee table.
“Shut up.”
He didnotwant Kaz. That was well and truly done. Kaz had ensured it was.
If Kaz hadn’t cheated, though… no, he couldn’t do that to himself, because he knew what the answer would be: Yes. Fuck yes.
He’d never wanted anyone as much as he wanted Kaz. What he felt for Kaz? He’d never felt for anyone since, and he doubted he ever would. The man had thoroughly gripped his heart, and when he walked away that day, on Kaz’s nineteenth birthday, he feared he left it behind with Kaz.
He’d been in several relationships since then, but none of them lasted long. They hadn’t been… enough. They hadn’t been Kaz. No one would ever be able to measure up, and it wasn’t fair for them to try. They would never succeed.
∞ ∞ ∞
He raised his hand to knock on his sister’s door, a heavy weight on his shoulders from yesterday’s events. His crew hadn’t been happy when he told them he quit, and once he explained why, it certainly hadn’t helped. Mika and a few of the other had quit right then and there. He wished he’d had the foresight to have jobs lined up for them before quitting, but he hadn’t exactly planned it.
He was going to take a small break to gather himself and figure out what he wanted to do next: look for a new job or start his own company. Both seemed daunting tasks right now.
The door opened to show his smiling sister, and he barely got out a, “Hi,” before he had her arms around him. He held on tight, feeling some of that tension seeping out the longer he had Emmasquished against him. There was no one he loved more than her. She’d always been his ride or die.
He’d called and told her what happened yesterday, but she’d been tight-lipped about her reason for asking him here today. He wasn’t sure if he should be excited or nervous. Probably nervous, knowing his sister. She was nothing if not unpredictable.
“Come on,” Emma said and tugged him inside.
He closed the door behind them and followed Emma down the short hallway, through her kitchen, and into her bedroom.
She had her long blonde hair braided back like she often did when she was going for a ride on her motorcycle, though he suspected that wasn’t why she’d braided it today. She was wearing yoga pants and a loose T-shirt, and they’d been taught from a young age to dress for the slide, not the ride.
He frowned when she stopped in front of her dresser and faced him with a carefully blank look on her face, her hands bunching up the bottom of her shirt.
He cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at her.
“What’s going on?”
She nibbled on her lip, then took a deep breath.
“Killian and Kaz are starting their own club. It’s a new Salvation Kings chapter in a town called New Freedom. It’s in Pennsylvania.”
He blinked at her, thoughts evading him.
Emma licked her lips, an almost guilty look in her golden-brown eyes. She grabbed something off her dresser, and when she held it up, his heart froze in his chest. It was a leather cut with the Salvation Kings’ colors on it,New Freedomwritten underneath.
“I’m a King now. We had our patching-in last night. I’m moving there tomorrow.”
He looked at his sister, disbelief coursing through him as he took in her words. It didn’t make sense, though her droppingthose specific news on him the night before made perfect sense. He wouldn’t have time to dissuade her or come up with reasons she might listen to.
“Moving,” he muttered, brows scrunching. “What about your job?”
Emma shrugged. “They need paramedics in New Freedom, too.”
He didn’t understand it. She’d been so excited last year when she moved to the fire station where Pops worked. Seeing those two work their ambulance together was nothing short of inspiring. Why was she giving that up? She could keep her job even if she moved. It wouldn’t be that long a commute.
The only reason he could come up with was that she wanted a fresh start, and that scared the shit out of him because he couldn’t figure out what could’ve caused her to want that.
“Why?” he asked in a near-whisper.
“Because I want to do more. Way more than being a paramedic allows me to.”
Something caught in his throat.More. The club saved people in ways paramedics couldn’t. The way they saved two kids on the run from the hitman who murdered their parents twenty-six years ago. It terrified him to think of his baby sister in dangerous situations like that, but he shoved that feeling deep down until he thought he might choke on it.
