“No.”
“Kai—”
“I’m not getting it.” His voice is strained.
The phone keeps ringing.
“Seems important.”
“It’s not.”
“How do you know?”
“Haven, I swear to God?—”
One second I’m on my end of the sofa, the next I’m scrambling across the cushions, reaching for his phone.
“Don’t!” Kai grabs my sweater to stop me, but I pull free.
My fingers close around the phone.
I glimpse the caller ID—Sharon—before Kai tackles me to the floor, landing on top of me.
His weight crushes me as he tries to pry the phone from my hand. I twist away, giggling, waving it out of reach. We both know he could overpower me in a heartbeat. But I’m squirming too much, and he’s being careful not to hurt me.
“Give it back!” he shouts.
“Only if you answer it,” I shoot back with a giggle.
“I’m fucking serious?—“
“So am I!”
I’m laughing even though nothing about this is funny. And I keep wriggling under him, even though his weight has me firmly pinned to the floor. He makes a wild grab for the phone, latching onto my wrist. I yank my arm between us, twisting out of his grip.
“Stop!” His hand claps over the front of my throat, and we both stop moving. He lets out a flustered breath, the irritation on his face slowly retreating. “Just stop, Haven.”
Our faces are inches apart. I can feel his breath on my lips.
The phone keeps ringing between us.
His thumb presses just hard enough into the side of my neck to make my pulse jump. Those green eyes are as dark as rain-soaked moss—desperate and panicked, like just the sound of his mother’s voice could yank him back to the toxic hellscape he escaped when he left for college.
“Answer it,” I say, voice steady despite his weight, his heat. “Or I will.”
He snorts, voice low and bitter when he murmurs, “Like you could handle her.” His grip tightens a fraction, the sudden lack of air making my chest heave.
“Fuck you.” I buck my hips up, legs locking around his waist, and use every ounce of fury to roll us. Momentum does the rest, until he’s on his back and I’m straddling his waist.
He loses his grip on my throat, and I grab his wrists instead, slamming them to the floor beside his head.
I could get high off this feeling alone.
“What—” He cuts off when I curl my fingers around his neck.
“You’re done letting them rule you, Kai.” I squeeze, hard as I can, nails biting in. “Say it.”
Kai’s laughs vibrates under my palms. His eyes glint, hooded and amused, like this is the funniest shit.
