Page 66 of Kings Don't Break

But I already know Korine’s filling up with guilt—the explosive heat begins to cool and her hands come up to my chest to nudge me away. Soon she’s pulling back from our kiss, turning her head from mine, heaving out deep breaths.

“Blake…” she puffs. “We can’t…”

All I can do is utter her name. So I do. Just as breathless and dazed as she is. “Kori…”

“Dinner. I’ll get started on dinner.”

She hops down from the table, ducking out from under me, and hurries for the kitchen. I expel another hitched breath from my lungs and run fingers through my messy hair.

What the hell just happened?

* * *

That evening, we don’t mention earlier. Sunny’s our buffer, clueless and unknowing as to what happened between us just hours ago. She cracks jokes in typical Sunny fashion, teasing the two of us at different points in time. Korine meets my eyes from across the dinner table, the expression on her face almost panicked.

And, fuck, does she look beautiful even now—her naturally dusky pink lips still kiss-swollen, a flushed glow about her, short hair tousled.

I’d love nothing more than to take her to bed. Make her remember how I’d once given her so much pleasure, she saw stars. That was a decade ago. I could have her seeing whole galaxies now…

These thoughts that feel both inappropriate yet so damn arousing have me cleaning off my plate. I go for seconds, devouring the pot roast Korine prepared like I really want to devour her.

We spend the rest of the evening avoiding it. Sunny asks to turn in early, citing a pounding headache. Korine helps her to bed while I sit by the window and strategize over the club’s upcoming drug deal. She eventually comes out wearing a nervous smile.

“Want to watch a movie?” she asks. “Like old times?”

I cock a brow. “You sure you’re alright being around me? After…”

She rakes teeth over her bottom lip. “Stay on your side of the sofa. I’ll stay on mine.”

“What are we, fourteen again?”

“Yes, if it means you’ll behave yourself.”

I get up off the recliner and cross the living room. “I never behaved myself. You know better than that.”

“True,” she concedes, folding her legs up on the sofa. She spears me with a stern look. “But at that age you knew better than to ever try to touch me.”

“Probably ’cuz I knew your father had ESP and would show up out of nowhere to toss me out the door.”

We both laugh at the truthfulness of the statement. Mr. McKibbens had always been (rightfully) protective of his daughter. That’s not even getting into her older brother, Shawn.

Korine scoffs. “As if you were even interested. You treated me like one of the guys. It wasn’t ’til after I started dating that you seemed to notice I was, in fact, a girl.”

“How would you know?”

It’s amusing watching Korine’s subtle surprise flicker in and out. She opens her mouth to reply, then closes it again as if unable to think anything up. The movie starts and we redirect our attention, settling into the awkward kind of tension we’d had during dinner.

I don’t regret it—Korine’s convinced I had never noticed how pretty she was when we were kids. The nice way she smelled and how my stomach rippled whenever she’d grab my hand or touch me in any way. I just hadn’t known how to act on those feelings ’til I was older.

’Til other girls had given me the confidence I needed for my dream girl.

I’d always worried I wasn’t good enough for her.

We watch two movies before Korine drifts off to sleep. I do what I’ve done so many times over the past couple weeks and cover her with a blanket once she does nod off. Most nights I’ve been functioning off three or four hours of sleep passed out in the recliner. Tonight’ll be no different.

In the heavy silence engulfing the trailer, I move to check the locks on the door and peek out the window. It’s in the naked dark surrounding the trailer outside that I spot the police cruiser parked feet away near the ravine. Headlights blink on as if aware I’m watching, then the car pulls away.

My eyes narrow, my glare full of immediate hatred and rage.