Page 29

TWENTY-NINE

KAI

T he weekend was a mess from start to finish. Silas couldn’t make it to the fight on Friday because of his dad, so we had to bring in a replacement from OCK. The fight itself was fine, but the aftermath was a goddamn nightmare. One of our guys had the bright idea of crashing OCK’s afterparty. Idiot. That’s the number one rule: you don’t go to the parties for another frat. It’s like declaring war.

And, of course, things went sideways. Our guy stirred up shit, started another fight, and succeeded in getting his face smashed in. I spent the entire weekend cleaning up his mess, coordinating with Dredyn to fix the chaos. Broken furniture, blood on the floor, stains everywhere—it was like a fucking crime scene. If that asshole wasn’t already half-dead, I’d have finished the job myself.

To make matters worse, Sable went home this weekend to visit her mother, but she came back earlier this afternoon. And I feel like I can finally breathe again.

We have just gotten back from the grocery store, the two of us putting away the groceries that we’ve gotten for the week. I pull out the package of breakaway cookies and set it on the counter. “Chocolate lovers?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at Sable.

“The only best kind,” she replies with a smirk, her eyes sparkling in that way that drives me insane.

I can’t help it. I pull her close, savoring the feel of her body against mine. Her warmth, the way her curves press perfectly to me, the intoxicating scent of her skin—it all makes my blood heat. It’s not just affection when I kiss her. No, it’s something more primal. A declaration, a claim. She’s mine . The soft giggle she lets out against my lips is so fucking delicious that I devour it like it’s the air I breathe. She breaks the kiss, smirking as she tears open the cookie package and starts breaking them onto a baking sheet. I watch her every move.

She bends down to slide the tray into the oven, and I can’t help but let my gaze linger on her. The way her cropped hoodie rides up just enough to reveal the faintest hint of bare skin, her unrestrained tits shifting beneath the fabric. Jesus. My cock twitches just thinking about it, and I’m sure she notices. I press the button to turn on the oven light and sink down onto the floor in front of it, sitting cross-legged.

Sable raises an eyebrow at me, her hands tugging at her hoodie, a futile attempt to shield herself from my view. She doesn’t even realize how fucking perfect she looks right now.

“Why are we sitting on the floor?” she asks, lowering herself down to sit beside me, her confusion clear as she crosses her legs.

I grab her hand, intertwining our fingers, feeling her warmth seep into me. I keep my eyes locked on the cookies, not because I care about them rising, but because I’m remembering. “My parents couldn’t have kids of their own. They adopted me when I was nine.” My reflection stares back at me from the oven’s glass. “Before then, I bounced around a few foster homes. There was this one place—Miss Patti and her asshole husband, whatever his name was. She’d make cookies every Friday night after dinner. But her two teenage shithead sons? They’d steal them from us younger kids. So one day, I sat down in front of the oven, just like this, and I made sure those assholes couldn’t get to them first. I waited for the cookies to be done and made damn sure the little ones got their share.”

Sable’s fingers tighten around mine. “I didn’t know you were in foster care.”

“I don’t like talking about it. My birth parents were probably junkies—nothing worth remembering. I’ve got good parents now, people who love me, so why bother dwelling on the past? It’s not worth it.”

She doesn’t respond, and she doesn’t have to.

My past is nothing more than that.

A past.

The oven beeps, snapping me back to the present. I get to my feet, extending a hand to help Sable up. She takes it, her fingers lingering in mine, and for a moment, we just stand there, the warmth of the oven brushing against our skin, the scent of cookies filling the kitchen. Her eyes lock onto mine, and I see it—the fire burning behind them. The way her chest rises and falls, her tongue flicking out to wet her lips—it drives me wild.

I want her. Bad.

I break the moment, pulling the tray out of the oven and setting it on the stove, the cookies steaming. But before I can even think about grabbing a plate, Sable’s on me. Her hands fly to my neck, pulling me down into a kiss that’s all teeth, tongue, and desperation. It’s like she needs me to know that she’s mine just as much as I’m hers. Her nails scrape against my scalp, sending a shiver down my spine that makes me groan into her mouth, a sound she eagerly swallows.

She bites down on my bottom lip, hard enough to draw a hiss from me, and I can feel her smirk against my mouth. My hands slide under her hoodie, finding the soft skin beneath, warm and inviting. “Kai,” she gasps as I roll her nipple between my fingers, her mouth falling open in a silent moan. The way she speaks my name—sweet, addictive—it’s a sound I could listen to forever. I’ll make sure she’s saying it until the end of time.

All I’ve ever wanted was to belong somewhere, to have a family that feels like mine. Even with my adoptive parents, as much as I love them, there’s always been this sense of being the odd one out, like I’m missing something crucial.

But with Sable, it’s different. With her and the other guys, I don’t feel like an outsider. For the first time, I feel like I’m part of something real, something that could finally make me whole. It scares the hell out of me, but it’s also the only thing I want.

I’m falling for Sable.