Page 82 of Green Light

With that, they both walked out. Leaving me locked in a room alone with Kai.

“Fucking unbelievable.”

Kai gave a low whistle, making me wheel around to face him. “Yep.”

He didn’t seem bothered…or surprised. His agitation from earlier was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he was settling on a chair and pulling a bag from underneath. He rummaged for a minute before triumphantly pulling out a bag of Maltesers. “Snack?”

Realisation dawned on me. “You set this up.”

Kai shrugged as he tore into the packaging and popped a handful of chocolate into his mouth. “Can’t run away now.”

“Well, you’d know all about that,” I said bitterly, throwing myself into the chair opposite him. I was tempted to drag it over to the other side of the room, but that felt petty.

And maybe Luca and Arlo were right. There was no point running from this. We needed to get everything out in the open.

So we could both move on.

Kai cleared his throat, shoving the now-empty packet back in the bag. He’d always been a nervous eater. “I deserve that.”

“Damn right you do.”

Kai sighed before leaning his forearms on his knees. I tried not to notice how it made his muscles bunch, forcing my eyes to look elsewhere. They were traitorous bastards, though, sneaking their way back there without me even realising.

“Before I say anything else, you have to know I’m not in a relationship with Tristan.”

I opened my mouth to point out the obvious, but he reached across to put his palm over my lips. God, how I wanted to dart my tongue over his fingers. Maybe suck one into my mouth like the night before.

It was strange to be this angry at someone yet still drawn to them. But that was me and Kai all over. Nothing about our relationship should make sense, but it always had to us.

That was all that had mattered.

“Tristan and I are not, nor have weeverbeen, in a relationship,” Kai spoke quietly, his eyes searching mine. “He saw what a state I was in while in Mexico and offered to pretend to be my fake boyfriend.”

What…? I couldn’t wrap my head around what he was saying. He let his hand fall away, and I immediately blurted out, “You werenevertogether? At all?”

He shook his head. “It was a stupid idea, in the end. It didn’t do what it was supposed to.”

“And what was that?”

“Keep me away from you.”

I reeled back in my chair. “What, so it wasn’t enough that you hadn’t seen me for four months…you also didn’t want to be close to me when you got back?”

Fuck, I thought I’d felt heartbreak before, but it had nothing on this.

“No, that’s not it.” Kai blew out a breath in frustration. “I’m getting this all wrong. Again. What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Two decades of protective instincts finally reared their head. Even if I didn’t understand anything else, I knew Kai washurting.I…I didn’t want that. “Hey, it’s okay. Start at the beginning. I won’t interrupt.”

He raised an eyebrow, drawing a reluctant chuckle from me. “Okay, I’lltrynot to interrupt.”

He laughed nervously, shaking out his hands. “Sorry, it’s just I’ve imagined this a thousand times…but I never quite pictured it like this.”

I tilted my head at him. “Imagined what?”

He took a deep breath, taking both my hands in his.

“Imagined telling you I’m in love with you.”

---