She sneered, peering over at me again. In one breath, she let out, “I thought she was your brother’s girl.”
I jerked back, surprised by her revelation.
Is he talking about me?
“She has nothing to do with you. Let’s get that straight.” His tone was laced with dominance and persistence.
Is he being possessive?
She opened her mouth at the same time Kraven sidestepped her, taking me with him. The way he handled conflict was interesting, to say the least. I guessed he had to have the last word.
His grip only increased, and we didn’t stop until we got to a bar. He grabbed a bottle of vodka from the cooler, taking two cups and a few club sodas. I followed him back outside, walking past the partygoers, going to the field where most of the cars were parked. He never let go of my hand, which I was grateful for. I still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the whole situation, so adding whoever that was to the chaos didn’t help.
There was entirely too much coming to light, causing dizziness to override. The nerves were getting to me. Maybe this was too fast, too soon. I wasn’t used to being protected, and the fact that it was Kraven who was doing it was just too unexpected for me. It was my tipping point, spilling over into a mess I never intended to create.
He pulled down the tailgate of a massive, souped-up Chevy truck, patting the metal for me to take a seat. I went to jump up, but he gripped my waist as if I weighed nothing, setting me down on the tailgate instead to step between my thighs, and still, he didn’t let go of my waist when he was done.
“You alright?” he asked, breaking this spiral I was falling into.
I mouthed, “Your ex?”
He laughed, smiling widely. “She wishes.”
I didn’t know how long our gazes stayed connected. It was the kind of stare that etched into your skin, burning into you. No words were exchanged until he spoke with actions, simply letting me go.
I shook off the side effects of what could only be described as hurricane Kraven.
He reached behind me to grab a red Solo cup, filling it more than halfway with vodka, and then threw in some of the club soda.
With a nod, he handed it to me. “Has your name on it if you want it.”
I appreciated that he wasn’t pressuring me into drinking, giving me the choice. Usually, I would have turned it down. However, the tension was consuming me whole. I had to shift my mindset into another timeline to make it out of there with my sanity intact. I took a sip and immediately cleared my throat from the strong taste burning its way down my chest.
He knowingly smiled, hopped onto the tailgate beside me, and placed the bottle between his legs.
“My apologies,” he remarked in a smart-ass tone. “I got a loose hand.”
Suddenly, I felt all warm inside, and I didn’t know if it was from the liquor or how close he was sitting next to me. Our legs were pressed up against each other, and I could smell his intoxicating scent.
Taking another sip of my drink, I laid his hoodie beside me and threw on my scarf, wrapping it around my neck. He lifted the bottle to his lips, taking a long swig. Setting it backbetween his legs again, he gulped it down like a pro.
The silence between us was deafening as we just sat there, lost in our own thoughts. I never wanted to know what he was thinking as much as I did in that second.
I watched the way his lips moved with each rapid breath that blew out of his mouth, knowing his thoughts were racing as fast as mine.
I watched as his hair blew in the wind, framing his defined faceand intense stare, which was fixed solely on the horizon ahead of him.
I watched the way his solid, muscular chest heaved up and down, mirroring mine as if they were in sync with one another.
When he casually brushed the hair away from his face, he still didn’t say a word, which was unlike him since he was usually trying to get a rise out of me. I chugged my drink, this time trying to forget about the past I couldn’t change and the future I didn’t know.
And the present that was coldly sinking its teeth into me.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
ISLA
