Apparently not for her.
I didn’t remember the exact details of what happened in that hallway, but one minute we were scowling at each other in front of the restrooms and the next we found ourselves on the side by a stretch of lockers, staring deeply into each other’s eyes. When I let my lips fall to hers in a tender kiss, she didn’t pull away. Katy did the opposite. She latched on to the lapel of my suit jacket and pulled me close, unleashing her tongue between my teeth. Only when the pain of my boutonniere pin poking her in the chest caused her to remember who she was with did she push me away, telling me to find my date.
After that I went right back to the Katy-hating character I played so well, but I couldn’t force myself to leave Pelican Bay. Even after four years in college, I returned to the town my family had abandoned by then. It was nothing more than one of their many vacation properties, so nobody objected when I claimed our family place as my permanent residence.
I thought I would be happy watching Katy from afar, but the last few years she’d found herself in danger more times than a grown man could count. With each instance Katy put her life in danger, I realized I didn’t want anyone else. No one made me smile wider than Katy. No one else pissed me off as much, either. I had far safer options out there—women with better connections or docile personalities—but they didn’t matter.
Katy Kadish was the only woman for me.
I spent a lifetime denying it, but now I wanted to shout my revelation from the rooftops. Let the town know what she meant to me.
The only roadblock in my plan was Katy herself. She hadn’t come to the same realization over the years. She harbored her hatred for the Kensington family like it kept her warm at night. You wouldn’t catch me saying the family didn’t deserve a bit of her ire. We definitely did. But that was generations ago. How long did Katy plan to hold my grandfather’s misdeeds against me?
“Katy, don’t you see that we can’t keep going on like this?” If something didn’t change and soon, the two of us would implode.
She nodded, actually seeming to agree with me, and as a moron I allowed myself a moment of happiness. “I agree. There’s nothing between us. Nothing but hatred.”
I wanted us to stop the insanity by starting a relationship. Katy wanted to end it by pushing me off a tall bridge.
Katy stood up from the couch, and in one smooth motion I followed. “You don’t believe that any more than I do.” Just because she was more stubborn and refused to admit it didn’t mean Katy didn’t see what brewed between us.
Her back faced me but her head fell again and she barely whispered the words. “I have to believe it. I have no other choice.” Her words held so much unnecessary pain.
I turned her around to look into her eyes. “We have choices, Katy.”
“Not me,” she said, refusing to meet my gaze.
She stopped by the front door and I let her walk away until she hesitated letting herself out.
“Stay,” I said, and the words sounded like a plea. If it took begging to get Katy in my bed tonight, I would fall to my knees. “Just tonight. We’ll go back to hating each other tomorrow as we always do.”
Katy nodded and didn’t object when I cradled her cheek in my hand and tasted her again. Our interludes from hating one another were getting closer each and every time we allowed ourselves to fall in this particular rabbit hole, but I had no plans to complain or stop my attempts to seduce her until she admitted to being mine.
5
Katy
“Does this megaphone get any louder?” I scanned the side of the brand-new device looking for a volume up button. The old megaphone, which someone mysteriously misplaced after our last protest, was much simpler to use. I had to purchase this model on the internet. They didn’t sell megaphones at our local mall, even if I made the drive to Portland.
Somehow, the plastic on the piece of equipment was hot against my fingers as if it was metal heating in the sun. Sweat dripped down my back as I fanned my shirt trying to get air. It was the last few days of summer in Pelican Bay and the weather viciously held on to every bit of humidity it could muster. I loved fall and hated everything about winter, but it would be a welcome respite from the sweltering summer we endured.
“Are you okay? You seem… angrier than normal,” Pearl said, her eyes heavy on the megaphone as if she expected me to throw it on the ground or break it into a million pieces at any second.
It wasn’t far from the truth. My thoughts strayed there more than once.
“No,” I replied using the back of my hand to wipe sweat from my brow. “I just have a lot going on.”
My mental to-do list hit five hundred tasks, and it never felt as if I made any progress. Our most recent protest, coordinated with the Women’s Auxiliary, was the most exciting thing on my plate currently, and I hadn’t even been able to talk my friends into joining me.
Plus, Pierce was still alive, and that always put a damper in my day.
Stupid Pierce.
And his stupid fake fiancée.
What sick twisted psychopath hired someone to pretend to marry him? And how much money did he pay her? Only a Kensington lied so spectacularly and expected to get away with it. I’d punish him for his deceit, but first I had to finish the protest, solve a murder, find a job, and, if I found the time, get my eyebrows waxed.
It didn’t matter how busy my schedule seemed. My thoughts always came back to Pierce. Worst of all, even though I knew his relationship with Mari was a sham, it didn’t make me feel any less guilty about what we’d done. I didn’t know it was a fake relationship when Pierce and I were caught kissing, and if I truly searched my inner being, finding out she was a fraud didn’t lessen the situation.
