Kash has always been a flirt. He likes to get a rise out of me and push my buttons. It’s his love language with everyone. But this feels different.
I arrive at my room and try the door, but it’s locked. I remember teasing Leah before I left about her mystery date. I have my keys with me, but I don’t want to intrude on this little secret that she’s been keeping. She’ll tell us on her owntime. So I walk, and I keep walking to clear my head. The air is crisp, the cold nipping at my nose as winter is still in full swing, but spring is trying to sing its way through. It seems no matter how far I walk, I can’t seem to shake this feeling deep in my soul.
I love Austin more than anything, and I would never want to jeopardize what we have. Some people cross your path for a reason, and that one person may have multiple soulmates in their lifetime. Austin is one of my soulmates, I’m sure of that. But from the moment I met Kash, it’s like a small fire ignited inside of me, and I’ve been desperately trying to put out the flames, ignoring the embers that have silently been crackling in my heart.
AUSTIN
I don’t know what happened before I walked into this room tonight, but from the way Vix reacted, it’s like she was spooked by the sight of me.
“What did you say to make her run away so fast?” I ask Kash.
“Nothing! I hadn’t said anything. We were watching a movie, and then you came home, and she ran out,” he explains.
“Well shit, see. I knew I didn’t have anything to worry about. Especially since she’s afraid of being alone with you,” I tease, a wide grin stretches across his face.
“Oh, very funny. It was you that scared her off, not me, my man.” Kash physically relaxes, as if the tension from moments ago is slipping from his body. I laugh, the digs I could throw his way about how unafraid of me she is, especially with my face between her legs, would be way too cruelto use right now. So I keep grinning, which sets him off on its own.
“Would you stop smiling at me like that, god damn, now you’re scaringme,” he jokes.
That makes me cheese harder.
“I’m going for a walk to clear my head,” he tells me and slips on his jacket.
“Don’t scare anyone else off while you’re out there,” I tease, and he flips me off. I laugh to myself, finding this way funnier than it actually is.
VIX
“YOU!” The fiery red head points her overly long, red manicured nail in my direction. “I have a bone to pick with you,” she shouts, storming her way across the room. I can feel people staring at me due to the outburst. I sit in the student lounge sipping my coffee and reading my book, completely minding my own business, whensomeoneshows up all crotchety and ready to throw hands.
“Well, hello to you, too, Lana. What can I do for you?” I ask, a little too much bite in my tone.
“What didn’t you do?” she retaliates. “You got Austin, yay for you, but that doesn’t mean you get to stake a claim on Kash, too,” she spits.
I laugh. I can’t help myself. I close my book now that she’s piqued my interest.
“I’m sorry, what are you going on about?”
“Oh, don’t act like you have nothing to do with Kash breaking things off with me. He won’t take my calls, tells me he’s not my boyfriend, and avoids me at all costs, and I know it has something to do with you, and I want to know why.”
This information catches me off guard. He made it seem like he didn’t care what we thought about Lana.
“Maybe he’s just come to his senses,” I smirk. I don’t understand my dislike for this woman. She seems to rub me the wrong way with her self-centred attitude. No one is entitled to another human being, and Kash deserves so much better than her. If she were a dragon, smoke would be puffing from her nose right now with the way she’s glaring at me. She’s about to spit more fire when I hold my hand up to stop her.
“Look, Lana, I don’t know what happened with you and Kash, but if he’s not interested in hooking up with you anymore, then that’s between you two. I’m with Austin, Kash is free to do whatever he wants, and if that’s not you, then I don’t know what to tell ya.”
I open my book back to where I left off and continue reading as if she isn’t standing right in front of me, throwing daggers with her eyes. She snatches the book out of my hand and throws it down on the table before me, rattling my cup of coffee and my last nerve.
“Do I have your attention now?”
I let out a breath and take a moment before reacting. I’m about to rip her a new one when the energy in the room shifts and I feel him before I hear him.
“LANA.” His voice booms through the room, and my entire body stiffens. Kash is walking over, eyes full of fury for his ex-fling. “I know you two aren’t friends, so there would be no reason for you to be over here spewing your bullshit onto Vix.”
Lana immediately starts to grovel.
“Hey baby, I tried calling you but?—”
“Cut the shit,” he cuts her off. “We’re done, Lana. I told you we’re done. It was just hookups, nothing more, and you knew that. Time to move on. Don’t bring your bullshit to myfriends just because you’re pissed at me.” He shuts her down. Lana’s eyes water for a split second, and then, like the crazy woman I always thought her to be, she snaps into the evil, vindictive woman she hides behind all of that makeup.
