And then he starts walking toward me.
Oh, no.
My heart pounds in my chest, and for a moment, I’m concerned it will actually burst out of my ribcage.
“Oh, shit,” Liam hisses, suddenly reappearing at my side. “This is gonna be good.”
I barely have time to process his panic before Kai Steele is standing in front of me. “Adeline,” he says politely, but with an edge. “What are you doing here?”
He says it like he’s someone greeting an acquaintance at a dinner party. Like he might offer me champagne next. But his eyes don’t smile.
It shouldn’t scare me. But it does.
I swallow hard, the lump in my throat making it difficult to form words. “I was trying to give Camille her phone back,” I say, and despite it being true, the explanation sounds weak even to my own ears.
His gaze flicks past me, scanning the room. “Camille,” he repeats. “She’s not here.”
I frown. “Why not? She told me this was where she was going.”
Kai nods slowly, and his smile, if it can be called that, is something you could cut your hand on. “She was sent home. Which means she’s not here. And now you are. Standing exactly where she should be. That’s… curious.”
There’s a chill in his voice, I realize.
So slight I could swear I imagined it. Like the cold you feel when a cloud passes over the sun. Faint, but you feel it anyway.
I shift slightly, heart thudding against my ribs. “I was only trying to help. I wasn’t planning on staying.”
“Then by all means,” he gestures, graceful, dismissive. “Don’t let me keep you.”
The silence that follows stretches just long enough to make me wonder if I should take the out he’s offering.
I should leave.
That would be the smart thing, the easy thing. I wasn’t meant to be here. I wasn’t asked. I wasn’t supposed to take Camille’s place.
But I didn’t get dressed up in this ridiculous outfit for nothing. And besides, if I leave now, I’ll either get paid less or not at all.
And I can’t afford not at all.
Not when I still owe rent. Not when there’s barely any food left in the fridge. Not when survival depends on things like this.
When you’re starving, literally or otherwise, your options tend to shrink.
I don’t say anything. Neither does he.
In fact, we stare at each other for a beat longer than I’m comfortable with.
Until…
“Good night, Adeline,” he says at last, glancing to Liam and Christian, nodding once in acknowledgment.
Liam lets out a low whistle beside me as soon as Kai walks off. “Well, that was awkward,” he mutters.
“Liam,” Lilia hisses. “Not the time.”
But a voice cuts through my thoughts, familiar enough that I know who it is almost immediately. I don’t need to turn around; I could recognize that voice anywhere. In any amount of years.
Because I haven’t had many acquaintances.
