Chapter 17

Chloe

So We Meet Again

Kane’s eyes are the widest I’ve ever seen, and he has his left hand over his chest, clutching at his rapidly beating heart. The shout he just released bounces off the walls before fading away completely.

As he finds me, he jumps and yells again, “Chloe! Jesus Christ, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

I tilt my head and ask, “Why? Is there something wrong?”

His eyes dart away from my face, and he puts his right hand–the one holding his phone–into his pocket. I watch him very carefully, noticing the way he lets out a deep breath before meeting my eyes again.

“Nothing,” he says too quickly. His lips form an overly wide smile.

You see Kane's face if you search ‘guilty face image’ in Google right now.

I repeat slowly, “Nothing?”

He hums and moves towards me, holding the back of my neck. His beautiful chocolate eyes are filled with fear, and the guilt that he desperately tries to hide causes him to say something silly, “I was looking for you. I thought you got lost on your way down here.”

He brings my head closer and leans down to kiss me.

I came in about a minute before he hung up, but during that time, I heard quite a lot. He was talking about sending the company’s address to this person as well as showing the person around the city. Then, he promised the person to help him secure a job in the city. It sounded just like Fiona when I was getting ready to come to Austin.

My brain is now working overtime as I try to guess who he was talking to and what they were talking about.

So…he has a friend who wants to start over in the city, and he wants to help this friend.

But if that’s the case, why did his voice sound so tight and strangled while he was speaking? And why was he so startled to see me behind him? Definitely, I walked into something I wasn’t supposed to find out.

If he feels uncomfortable with helping this person out, why wouldn’t he just say so? Unless it’s someone he can’t turn away.

I can only think of one such person.

He’s so distracted that even his kiss is a bit sloppy. Eventually, he pulls away and steps back, scratching his stubble.

“Are you okay?” I ask, and he nods.

“Well, I don’t think you are,” I comment, staring at him. He looks stressed, and the lines on his face deepen with each passing second. “Who were you talking to?”

He rushes out, “No one.”

Well...that was very convincing.

“That didn’t sound like no one.”

He waves his hands dismissively, “It’s no one you should be bothered with.”

“Do they scare you?” I press, “Because you seemed pretty terrified after the call.”

“I was just startled to see you here, that’s all.”

As far as I know, he is not the type of a person who startles easily unless he is hiding something…

"What are you hiding, Kane?" I demand with as much seriousness as I can muster. He tries to look down, but I hold his chin firmly, forcing his eyes to stay locked with mine. “We’ve come too far to keep secrets from each other. If something or someone is bugging you, I want to know.”

His eyes flutter closed for a brief second, and when he opens them, I see just how vulnerable he is right now.