Page 58 of Raine

She offers me a small smile, then turns around and keeps typing away on her phone. Shaking my head, I leave her to it in the hopes it’ll kill the unease pooling in my stomach.

I walk across the polished floor to the fridge again and grab a bottle of water, then walk to Kenzi. She’s huffing and puffing when I reach her, and the small tank top and shorts she’s donning are soaked with sweat.

She looks up at me, a smirk tipping her features while her breaths come in short bursts.

“I feel so fucking unfit, even though I’m not.” She laughs. I throw her the bottle, and she catches it. “Thanks.”

Bringing the bottle to her lips, she takes a healthy swig and then wipes the excess water from her mouth and points the bottle at Starr.

“She’s good.”

“She is.”

Her eyes flick between me and Starr. “So, what’s going on between you two?”

“What?” I say, feeling the color drain from my face.

“Come on, Raine, the tension between you two is palpable.”

I groan, reciting what happened yesterday, and Kenzi sits there, nodding her head, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Starr.

“So it was a mistake for you?”

I chew on my lip for a second, thinking of the right words to use. “Not a mistake. I feel I took advantage of a situation I should have stopped.”

“But she kissed you first.”

“She did. She’s my friend, Kenzi; I can’t lose her.”

“And you think being something more with her might?”

“More than likely. Look at me and Arrow.” My voice breaks, and I rub the ache in my chest with my hand.

Kenzi’s face softens, and she leans forward, patting my arm awkwardly. “He’ll come around.”

“You sound like Justyce.”

She smirks, her eyebrows dancing. “Maybe he’srubbingoff on me.”

“Gross!” I grimace, grabbing her empty water bottle off the floor and throwing it at her, which only incites more laughter.

Mock scowling at her, she hiccups through the last of her laughter, wiping the tears from her eyes. “That was funny.”

“Maybe for you. The last thing I want to envision is a man who is like my brother, getting nasty with his girl.”

“Fair call, but it was still funny.”

The three of us spend the next couple of hours in front of the mirror getting ready. Justyce had called a few times already, and Kenzi placated him, saying she’d be home soon and that I would be driving her before my show.

It seemed to work, but in my heart of hearts, I knew he was suspicious. A man like Justyce doesn’t get where he is by trusting people outside his circle. He’s the man who deals out justice when needed, his trusty blade helping him deliver it when required.

He didn’t bring up the tail he’d had following us, which made me smile. That can only mean one thing: he doesn’t want Kenzi to know he had someone trailing us, but he’ll know I knew. No doubt he’ll ream my ass about it when I see him, along with allowing Kenzi to dance.

Watching the security feed on her phone, Kenzi waits until Justyce leaves the house and then sends him a message saying she was on her way home and she’d catch him tonight.

I watch her type the message out, and when she presses send, her electric blues find mine, and a grin forms on her pretty face before she speaks.

“It’s showtime.”