Chapter Thirty-Three
‘Habibti, who is this?’
My shoulder warms under the weight of Kai’s hand, his thumb massaging the blade almost pointedly. Tucking the sheet tighter under my arms, I can feel myself shake, rage extinguished by a blanket of shock. Never in a hundred years,hell, in a millennium, could I have anticipated Shane turning up on my doorstep in Dubai. I hardly left a forwarding address.
‘Habib...’ Shane’s eyes are now saucer-wide. ‘You haven’t changed your name, have you? Gone whatsit... changed religion, ‘cos your mum’ll go spare!’
‘Of course I haven’t.’ The tips of my fingers tremble as I hold them to my lips. ‘It means darling,’ I mumble robotically, my stomach beginning to feel sick.
Instantly, Shane’s blue eyes go from saucers to slits. His whole posture changes as he straightens, bracing his hands on the sides of the doorframe. This is obviously for Kai’s benefit, not mine. For a moment, I’m grateful he’s behind me, because at least I can’t see his expression.
‘Mate,’ Shane drawls, his accent excessively pronounced. This isn’t the Shane I know, the man from Ascot, the enclave of Brisbane that’s as posh as it sounds. This is Shane, the dick head. The one who, in times gone by, liked nothing more than to cause trouble and brawl. For fun. ‘I dunno about ‘round here, but where I come from calling another bloke’s girl darlin’ gets your teeth smashed down the back of your throat.’
Despite his posturing, I know he gets it. I’m dressed in a bed sheet and Kai is shoeless and wearing not much more. You don’t need a Ph.D. to work out we’ve been doing the naked dance. I’d imagine this is enough to point out that I’m no longer his girl. That and the fact that I mailed back his ring.
Part of me—a big part—wants to gloat. Ask him how it feels, seeing the evidence of someone you professed to lovedoingsomeone else. It hurts, I know that well enough. And while it might be kinda satisfying to hear just how much it hurts, it might also go some way to explaining how he can look so bloody smug.
‘Have you knocked your head or something?’ I don’t give Kai time to answer, don’t want him involved.
Grasping the edges of the door with the intention of slamming it closed, even if itison his fingers, I end up stumbling over the sheet and being caught by two sets of hands. The hands struggle to right me, grabby and possessive, like housewives fighting over something in a department store bargain bin.
‘Get off! Leave me alone!’ With one hand, I push them away, the other still clasping the sheet at my chest.
‘You heard her, piss off!’
This from Shane, puffing his chest like a gorilla in my midst, as he attempts to step over the threshold to a wall of Kai.
As Kai straightens almost languidly, his demeanour is utterly unconcerned, but I can see the suppressed fury jumping in the pulse in his jaw. His movements seem to belie the way his weight-bearing shifts, preparing to protect me. Or maybe half preparing on a fight. It’s not an aggressive stance by any means, but he seems to grow larger, despite his already considerable height advantage over me and probably three inches over Shane. Not that it matters. Appearances can be deceptive. Shane may be a lot of things I don’t like, but he also happens to be very good with his fists from way back.
‘Maybe you’d like to make me? Take this outside?’ By Kai’s tone, anyone would think he was discussing stepping out for nothing more than a breath of air.
I step between the posturing pair before words come to blows.
‘What the hell are you doing here, Shane?’ My hair has fallen across my face and I shove it behind my ears.
Eyes flinty, Shane’s attention slowly lowers to me. ‘I came here for you.’ He says this like it’s obvious, like he’s expecting me to just fall into his arms.
‘Seriously?’
A hand finds a place on my hip, which I appear to have cocked in a moment of supreme attitude. Shame the effects are concealed by swaths of gazillion thread count Egyptian cotton.
‘Katie, you just up and left. The house is still full of your stuff and—’
I can’t help it; this isn’t the response I would’ve envisioned, if I’d anticipated him turning up at all. With the tips of my fingers, I push him hard. The effect is less than satisfying.
‘So, what? You decided you needed to talk to me for logistical reasons? You couldn’t have just put it all into storage and sent the bill to my mum?’
‘Where d’you think I got the address?’ Unmoved, quite literally, he folds self-satisfied arms, his next words hitting like a smug accusation. ‘Like you knew she would.’
My blood begins to boil.
‘What the fuck, Shane!’
My hands are in the air an instant before they’re needed to grab the sheet as it almost falls. But I’m not sure who’s most shocked by my temper: him or me. Even after I found him sprawled over a half-clad stripper, I never raised my voice once. Now I’m yelling and pushing him, and honestly, I think this is more to do with my disappointment of Kai.
‘Habibti, go and dress.’
The concealed reason for my ire places his hand on my shoulder once more, turning me from the door. The very essence of distaste washes across his face as he eyes Shane over my head.
