His gaze moves over my face, and then, lower. I know exactly where he’s looking before he even settles there—just below my eye. I hate that I know, hate thatheknows, hate that he still looks at it all the time. I swallow, ignoring the way my pulse ticks higher, forcing my voice to stay even. “Not yet.”
Then, something clicks in my mind, something I’d almost forgotten. I straighten slightly. “Did you talk to my sisters?”
The shift in Kai is subtle, but it’s there. A slight pull at the corner of his mouth, a quiet, knowing smirk. He doesn’t look at me when he answers. Instead, his gaze flicks to Will, who’s already watching him.
Will grins—hiskind of grin. The kind that shows just enough teeth to be unsettling, catching the glint of the small diamond embedded in his incisor.
Will finally looks at me. “Definetalk.”
It’s strange, he hasn’t looked at Kym once since we got here. Not once. Not a single glance. Or any signifier that says he knows she’s here. Or that he cares. It makes me wonder what could have possibly happened between them.
It would be natural to assume that it’s simply because Will is just an unfeeling person with psycho-like tendencies. But the more I see him around friends—around Kai, Christian and Liam. He’s different.
Of course, I have my own observations about him. He’s worryingly obsessive. He doesn’t blink enough. Doesn’t fidget or shift or break eye contact. And his expressions?Wrong.His smiles? Don’t even get me started.
But around his people, he’s not like that. Not really. And in those moments, you forget. You think,Maybe he’s just a little odd. Maybe he’s just guarded.Because they trust him. Kai, Christian, even Liam.
So why, then, does he act so indifferent toward Kym?
The way he acts around her is… strange to say the least. Not cruel. Not even dismissive.
Justempty.
Like she’s nothing. Just another face.
A pit forms in my stomach.
I take a step forward. “Did youthreatenthem?”
There’s a sigh from beside me. Christian already looks tired, rubbing at his temple like he has a headache. His gaze shifts to Kai and Will, giving them alook.The kind that says he knows exactly what they did.
Kai tilts his head slightly, feigning innocence. “Is that a problem?”
Will is right beside him now, watching me with a glint in his eye, lips still curved in that slow, knowing smirk, like this is all a game. Like this is just what they do.
Is it a problem?
Yes. Of course it is.
Logically.
But logic isn’t what’s tying my stomach in knots. Logic isn’t what’s been eating me from the inside.
Because Iwantto hate them for it. Ishouldhate them for it.
But I can’t.
I hate that part of me. The part that never really stays mad. The part that forgives too easily. Forgives people who maybe don’t deserve it.
But it’s just… not in my character.
I exhale, forcing myself to look at Kai again.
His eyes are already on me.
And there’s something in them—something I can’t quite name. Something that pulls like an invisible thread, tightening between us.
I don’t say anything.
