Page 8 of Spark

RUBY

“ T hanks for trying to solve my Insomnia Rubik’s Cube, Ruby Duby,” Kendrick says as we step into the hotel elevator. I’m riding his back, piggyback-style, so he’s got to be the one to press the button for our floor.

“Cuddling with you is going to be a special kind of torture,” I deadpan. “But that’s the kind of friend I am. I’m a saint.”

“No, you’re a gem.”

It’s what Kendrick always calls me. His gem of a best friend.

“If it turns out your theory is wrong,” Kendrick says, “feel free to ditch my sleepless ass and go to your own room after fifteen minutes. No sense both of us lying awake in the dark.”

“Pfft. I can sleep anywhere. You know me.”

The elevator doors open, and we begin trekking down the long hallway toward Kendrick’s room, with me still on his broad back. Before we reach our destination, a door ahead of us opens and a dark-haired woman emerges, her backside facing us.

“I had so much fun, Kai. ”

“Me, too,” Kai’s groggy voice replies from inside the room. “Take care now.”

“Call me, okay?”

“If I can.”

After blowing a kiss into the room, the woman steps out and pivots, letting the door shut behind her, and that’s when it’s plain to see she’s floating on air.

Quickly, Kendrick stops in front of a random door and pretends to be looking for his key as she passes. And the second she’s gone, he gallops past Kai’s room and toward his own with me on his back and both of us laughing like hyenas.

Inside the room, I slide off Kendrick’s back and buckle over with laughter as he imitates his brother’s comment: if I can. Soon, we’re falling onto his bed and belly laughing like a couple of goofballs.

Still chuckling, I turn onto my side and take in Kendrick’s handsome face. He’s mere inches from me, and he looks as drunk as I feel. “She looked really happy. Hopefully, having whatever she thinks is good sex and a fun story to tell her friends will soften the blow when he never calls.”

“Ye of little faith. Maybe Kai’s a changed man. Maybe it was love at first sight for both of them.”

I snort. “That doesn’t exist. Especially not for Kai Cook.”

“Sure, it does.”

“For Kai ?”

“For anyone.”

“Have you experienced it?”

Kendrick pauses a weirdly long time, his cheeks flushed. Finally, he says, “No. Not personally. But I believe it exists.”

I swat at him. “You’re such a romantic.” I flop onto my back and sigh.

“Why has your brother been acting like such a douchebag this tour? Did his breakup fuck him up that badly? He’s acting like pre-Laila Savage.

” Kendrick doesn’t reply, so I look over at him.

“What’s wrong? Aw, is your sweet, tender heart sympathizing with your brother or with the girl he fucked and won’t ever call again?

” Kendrick looks like he’s biting his tongue, so I push on his arm. “Spit it out.”

“Spit what out?”

“Whatever’s making you look sad.”

“I’m not sad. I’m just . . .” Kendrick drags his teeth across his lower lip. “Was it hard on you seeing that girl come out of Kai’s room?”

I snort. “Yes, it was torture.” I laugh, thinking he’ll join me. But he doesn’t. Not even a little bit. I sit up. “Why would it be hard for me to see that? Was it hard for you ? What does that even mean?”

“I just . . .” He sits up, matching my position, and runs a hand through his hair. “Actually, never mind. I shouldn’t have said that. Fuck, I must be really drunk.”

“Why shouldn’t you have said it?” I pause, waiting for an explanation. When it doesn’t come, I poke his muscular bicep. “What the fuck is going on with you? Kendrick, spill.”

“Come on, Ruby. I’m sure you don’t want to talk about this.”

“About what ?”

“You know . . . What happened between you and Kai.”

I stare at him blankly, having a hard time processing his words.

“Way back when,” he adds, like that will clarify things for me. But I’m still confused.

Does Kendrick know about that thing that happened between his brother and me, despite Kai making me promise on my life I’d never to say a word about it, ever?

If so, that can only mean that Kai himself must have told Kendrick.

Which would then mean my long-ago promise is now null and void.

At least, that’s my interpretation of our binding agreement.

It suddenly occurs to me that if Kai told his brother that story accurately, then there’d be no reason for Kendrick to think, even for a minute, that I’d have a hard time seeing his brother with some fuck buddy.

Am I deeply confused because I’m shitfaced?

I definitely drank too much down at the bar.

“Did Kai tell you something about him and me?”

Kendrick nods.

“Did it involve something that happened at my twentieth birthday party?”

Kendrick’s nostrils flare, as he subtly nods again. “I promised him I’d never breathe a word about it, though.”

My heart is thumping. “Why did he make you promise that? What was Kai worried about—his bruised ego or Titus kicking his fuckboy ass?”

Kendrick furrows his brow. “ His bruised ego? No, he wanted to protect you and your bruised ego . ”

“Huh?”

“Kai wanted to protect you from embarrassment. Not that you have anything to feel embarrassed about, of course. You were young, and what you felt was perfectly natural. But?—”

“Kendrick, I don’t know what Kai told you happened between us, but I’m beginning to think he told you the story in reverse.” Adrenaline is flashing through me. “Because I assure you, if anyone had a bruised ego that night, it was Kai. Not me.”

Kendrick’s lips part in surprise, and suddenly, despite the haze of my drunken stupor, I’m positive Kai has slandered me. Lied, lied, lied, like the motherfucking snake he is.

“Kendrick, tell me right now what fucked-up story Kai told you, in detail, or I’m going to march right down to his room and?—”

“No, don’t do that! I promised him I wouldn’t say a word to you.”

“Well, you did, and I have a feeling your brother lied through his teeth. So, you’d better start talking.”

“Fuck. ”

Kendrick’s Adam’s apple bobs. But that’s the full extent of his response.

So, I grip the White Sox emblem on his hoodie and hiss, “If you don’t tell me everything that weasel of a brother told you, right fucking now, I’ll .

. .” I pause to think of the worst thing I could possibly do, in Kendrick’s eyes.

And when it comes, I smile broadly. “I’ll sob.

All over you. I’ll cry and cry, buckets of tears, with snot and everything, till you have no choice but to tell me. ”

“Come on, Ruby. You’re not fighting fair here.”

“Boo-hoo-hoo. Wracking, heart-wrenching sobs , because you wouldn’t come to my aid when I needed you most.”

“Can we forget I said anything, please? I promised Kai I’d never?—"

“Well, it sucks to be you, then, because I promised him the same thing after he begged me not to say anything to anyone, ever. But now, it sounds like Kai has used my silence against me, to secretly slander me, which means all bets are off, motherfucker.”

“Ruby, please. I promised.”

“Too bad. You’re going to tell me what I want to know, or I’m not only going to Kai’s room, and I’m not only going to sob all over you till you’re covered in my snot and tears, but I’m going to Titus’s room first to tell him and ask him to beat the truth out of your brother.”

Kendrick palms his forehead. “There’s no need to involve your henchman, okay? That’s exactly what Kai wanted to avoid.”

“I bet he did.” I look at my watch. “You’ve got exactly ten seconds to make your decision. Nine. Eight.”

“Okay, okay!” Kendrick exhales loudly. “Jesus Christ, you’re scary.”

“Four. Three. Two.”

“I don’t know too many details, okay? Kai just told me the gist of what happened. ”

“What did he say?”

“That you, you know, asked him to go upstairs at your twentieth birthday party. To . . . sleep with you. And he turned you down.”

My heart explodes in my chest. “Motherfucker! Kendrick, I turned him down! Kai asked me to go upstairs, and I said, ‘Dude, I think of you like a brother!’”

Kendrick’s jaw drops. “No fucking way.”

“I swear.”

He’s floored. “Could you have misinterpreted what he said? Could there have been a misunderstanding?”

“Absolutely not. That boy pulled me aside during my party and told me he’d felt an ‘attraction’ to me from day one, but?—”

“What?”

“—because of my age, and the band, and blah, blah, blah, he felt compelled to ignore it and pretend it didn’t exist.”

“Motherfucker!”

“He was like, ‘But, hey, now that we’re both adults and it looks like the band is falling apart, anyway. . .’ This was when you were still off being a football god, and the band was dying a slow death without you.

So anyway, he goes, ‘We’re both adults now, and the band is on life support, and, oh, ha, ha, I had a super-hot sex dream about you the other night, so?—”

“What?” Kendrick bellows, even louder than before.

“‘—I’m curious to see if the real thing would be as hot as my sex dream.’”

“I feel sick.”

“That’s how I felt! Kai was like, ‘So, what do you say, Ruby? You wanna go upstairs and do something crazy and have meaningless sex with me?’”

“Kai swore you said that to him !”

“Lies! ”

“Not only that, but Kai also said you confessed to being in love with him.”

“In love with him?” I scream. “Oh, hell no.”

“Actually, he said you confessed to being ‘desperately’ in love with him.”

“What the serious fuck?” I shove Kendrick’s broad shoulder. “And you believed him? This whole time, you’ve been thinking that I was ‘desperately in love’ with your idiot douchebag brother?”

“He’s exactly your type, Ruby.”

“No, he’s not. He’s an idiot.”

“When you get to know him, yes. But why would I doubt his story when all your boyfriends have been exactly like him, and you looked at Kai like you were extremely interested the first time you met him.”

“I did not.”

“You did, Ruby.”

“Oh my fucking god. Kai hit on me and lied to you about it for years, but I’m supposed to defend myself for the way I supposedly looked at him, back when I was a sixteen-year-old virgin who’d never been kissed?”

“What?”

“ What what?”

“What about Dexter Brenner? You kissed him, didn’t you?”

“Dexter Brenner is gay, Kendrick.”

“Oh. I thought . . .”

“Jesus, your gaydar is the fucking worst. Now, focus .” I grab his chin. His eyes are half-mast from all the booze we drank downstairs. “Tell me what you said to Kai, right after he’d told you all those horrendous lies about me.”

“I think I was pretty much speechless.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me.”

“I’m not. I swear.”

“When did Kai tell you this bullshit story? And why? ”

“It happened right after I dropped out of school and came back home. After I rejoined the band. I could tell something was off between you two at practices, so I asked Kai what happened while I was gone. He denied anything was weird, but I kept insisting it was, until finally?—"

“Why didn’t you just ask me?”

Kendrick pauses. “I don’t know. I wanted to hear it from Kai, I guess. And once I did, asking you about it was out of the question, since he made me promise not to talk to you about it. Why would I want to, anyway? I didn’t want to embarrass you, Ruby. That was the last thing I wanted.”

I shake my head. “I can’t believe, for all these years, you’ve been thinking I threw myself at your fuckboy brother after declaring myself ‘desperately in love’ with him.”

Kendrick shrugs. “I mean, women have always chased Kai. I know you think he’s an idiot because you know him well, but women who don’t know him think he’s irresistible. I’ve seen it my whole life. Kai’s a chick magnet. Not as much as Savage, but who is?”

Hearing Savage’s name makes me realize something. “You’ve told Savage this bullshit story, I presume?”

“Of course not. I told you, I promised Kai not to say a word to anyone.”

“But you did, anyway, didn’t you? Don’t lie to me, KC.” I squeeze Kendrick’s face between my fingers and thumb and stare him down. “Kendrick Alan Cook. Tell me the truth.”

“Fuck.” He sighs. “Fine. Yes. I told Savage. But I didn’t tell anybody else, I swear.”

I grunt in frustration and release him. “Why the hell did you do that?”

“Because I tell Savage everything. You know that. He’s my boo.”

“ I’m your boo! ”

“But he’s my first boo. And he didn’t tell anyone, and neither did I, except for him, so it’s fine.”

I can’t help chuckling, despite my anger. “Sweetheart, your math ain’t mathing. You telling Savage means two-fifths of our band has believed Kai’s bullshit story for five long years. That’s forty percent of the band.”

“Oh.”

“And if you take Kai out of the equation, and me, too, then that’s a full sixty-six percent of our band believing Kai’s horrible slander about me.”

“I didn’t think of it like that.”

I swat his shoulder. “I’m so mad at you for believing Kai all this time.”

“I couldn’t fathom he’d lie to me about something like this.”

“Babe, I know you never would, but the world is filled with men, like Kai, who’d lie to save face without a second thought.”

Kendrick exhales. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry’s not going to fix it. Come on.” I pat his thigh. “It’s time for an emergency band meeting.”

“Now?” He looks at his watch. “It’s almost four.”

“I don’t care. If I wake anyone up, they can sleep on the plane.”

“But what about testing your theory about my insomnia?”

I pull a face. “Seriously?”

He shrugs. “I mean, it seems like an intriguing idea. I’m definitely curious if it’ll work.”

“Jesus Christ, KC. Get your priorities straight, dude. Your brother has slandered me!” I grab his hand and yank on him. “And I’m not willing to wait another second to clear my goddamned name!”