My stomach twists into a pretzel. For a wild second, I’m sure I’m going to puke.
I almost wish I can and that Kai gets the worst of it. Like all over his shoes or something.
Wait…he’s not wearing shoes. He looks like he just crawled out of bed, with his sweat pants and rumpled hoodie.
But there’s no time to process that, because Professor Rooke…
Isn’t there anymore.
I know I didn’t imagine him this time. He must have come looking for me because I ignored his voice note.
“Hey! Fucking look at me when I’m threatening you.” Kai grabs my chin. “I need your word, Haven.”
“Professor Rooke’s here,” I mutter out as I tug free of his grip. “But please, do carry on threatening me. I was just about to break.”
Kai lets out a low growl, then throws his head around to check behind him. “Where?”
“He’s gone already, you idiot.”
There’s a dangerous gleam in Kai’s narrowed green eyes when he looks back at me. “Stop fucking around. I’m serious. You say anything to that cop about me and you, or me and Ezra, and I’ll tell them all about your little power trip this morning.”
He flinches when I let out a rough laugh. “So you didn’t go down to the police station to report me after I got out of the Uber?”
Color touches his cheeks, his eyes bright like he’s catching a fever.
I lean forward, pushing my chin out, trying to stare down my nose at him, but he’s too tall.
“You poke a hole in this ship, Kai, and we’re both going down.” I stab a finger into his chest. “Bet you didn’t think about that, huh?”
He catches my finger, wrenches it to the side. I yelp—more in surprise than pain—and a couple nearby turn to look at us. Just as quickly, they both decide they have somewhere else to be.
Fuck ‘em.
Don’t need their help anyhow.
I’ve been handling Kai’s moods since we were kids. His almost manic joy. The dark dips he’d catch afterward. The times he was more zombie than man, eyes unfocused, jaw slack, just going through the motions until I found a way to snap him out of it.
It usually resulted in me being tied to a tree, but hey, we both had our coping mechanisms back then.
“Go on,” I tell him when he tugs at my finger even harder, watching me intently. “Break it. Bet it’ll make you feel like a big, strong man.”
He leans into me so hard, so close, that I’m doing a fucking back-bend to avoid him. He grabs the back of my neck, holdingme in place, and when I try to bat him away, he shoves a hand between my legs.
My body responds in all the wrong ways, of course. Face flushing, pussy clenching as his touch sends an electric thrill racing up my spine.
“Kai! Stop!” There’s a frantic edge to my voice as I try to tug his hand away. “What are you doing?”
It’s raining harder now. Not just a cute little drizzle. The pool is emptying out. Everyone’s going inside, where it’s warm. And dry. And shit isn’t going down that they can potentially be witnesses to.
People look, then look away.
Nobody’s going to save me.
And Kai fucking knows it.
It makes me so mad I want to punch something.
Kai will have to do.
