My heart raced at the way he watched me. Eager, interested, and...inquisitively kind. The crude text messages and short temper of Kite all tripped and tangled in my mind. He was such an arrogant arse via text messaging, but he seemed open and...understanding in person.
Of course, he understands.He’s been talking to you for a month. Having phone sex with you. Masturbating to the messages you sent.
I shuddered in disgust and embarrassment.
It’d been fun when we’d had the power of anonymity. Now, faced with what I’d said, it was downright mortifying.
How can I get you to admit what I know? Correct that—what IthinkI know.
How could I be so sure that the tall, strong Hawk before me was Kite?
“Cat got your tongue?” Kes cocked his head.
“I think she’s bowled over by your welcoming charm,” Flaw chuckled.
My attention diverted to him. To the biker who ruptured my life by planting false photographs and standing by as I fell prey to a heartless hellion.
I wanted to tell them what I really thought. I wanted to ask why they were being so nice to me all of a sudden, but the only word I could catch hold of was Kite.
Kite.
Kes.
Kite.
Get it together. Until you know for sure, don’t let on.
Straightening my shoulders, I inched forward. “No one has caught my tongue, and I wouldn’t kid yourself that I’m speechless thanks to a welcome from either of you.”
“Oh, she has a backbone,” Flaw said, grinning.
Kes’s golden eyes, so like Jethro, Daniel, and Mr. Hawk, searched mine. “She has more than that. Her entire body is made up of steel.”
My knees locked into place. I wanted to scream at him to speak the truth, then strike him down for lying to me.
What did that mean? Some cryptic clue that he knew I knew along with some vague acknowledgement that we weren’t strangers? That he was my...friend?
No, he’s not my friend.
He’s my enemy in disguise.
I couldn’t let myself be swayed by anyone’s motives.
Sticking my nose in the air, fully embracing an uppity heiress, I said, “You’re just like the rest of them.”
Kes blinked. “Pardon?”
“Don’t ‘pardon’ me. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
The messages, you idiot.
Flaw stepped forward, looking at both of us. Standing just outside my personal space, he extended his hand. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Flaw. Real name’s Rhys, but we never go by birth names in this place.”
I couldn’t stop anger heating my cheeks. “You think I wish to shake your hand? The same hand that went into my room, packed up my belongings, and wrote a note to my father explaining my disappearance?”
Flaw held up a finger. “Technically, that wasn’t for your father but for the paparazzi who followed you around. But I will take responsibility for breaking into your room and packing.”
The way he talked and moved reminded me a little of my brother. Both were black-haired with lanky frames. A crippling pang of homesickness filled me. “Were you there?”
