Page 43

Nic

Three hours later, we’re still in bed, talking about everything and nothing. My head rests on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as I trace the ink on his biceps.

"No one can know we’re good. We can’t risk being seen together,” Kai says.

"We weren't ever seen together except in Gstaad—"

“I mean no one except my security team. Not my sister. Not yours. I can’t take any chances with you.”

“Oh, I see.” Then I freeze as the Dean’s sallow face swims into my vision. "Dean Halloran knows about us."

Kai’s fingers are still against my back. "How do you know? Did he say something to you?"

I snort. "Did he say something? Try suspension, loss of my scholarship, and repeating the whole year."

His chest expands against my cheek in a slow, measured inhale. "He doesn’t have the power to issue you all of that in one sitting, Nicole. Even with proof."

"Oh, he does, when the alternative was throwing me to the media.” I hesitate, then add, "Or telling me to claim you raped me and throwing you there."

Kai goes very still. "You’re telling me he blackmailed you."

"Total dick, right? Barry says he has it out for almost every member of the faculty. Students too."

"I see.” His voice is eerily calm. "I’ll handle him."

I lift my head, searching his face. "Wait, Kai, define ‘handle’."

"No."

I narrow my eyes. "What do you mean, no?"

He exhales slowly. "It means I want you to trust me. No questions asked. You’re not getting suspended.” His tone is final.

I push up on my elbows. "But how do you intend to pull it off?"

His eyes flick to mine, dark and unreadable. Then, slowly, his fingers slide up my thigh, stroking back and forth over the sensitive scars in a way that makes my breath catch.

"This is one of those times where you either trust me or you don’t, Nicole.” He presses a kiss to my hair.

I swallow the lump in my throat. That’s the problem. I do trust him—enough to know if I push, I won’t like the answer.

My heart pounds as I stare into his dark eyes, knowing this is part of who he is—who we are.

"It’s . . . hard to trust."

"I know,” he murmurs. "You’ll get there."

I raise a skeptical brow. "Will I get the same blind trust from you?"

His brows furrow. "On occasion, yes."

I smile. "I’m glad you said that, because there’s something I want you to trust me on too."

"What’s that?"

I resume tracing absent patterns over his chest, choosing my words carefully. "Don’t you think it’s odd that Sara drowned in a house full of people? That Cass started a fire and ended up in the pool? Both with no evidence of foul play?"

His body tenses beneath my touch, but his voice stays neutral. "I’m listening."

"It reeks of premeditation. Control."

Kai inclines his head slightly. “What are you talking about?”

I hesitate, feeling foolish, but my mind refuses to let it go. "You said your dad discovered something on the Aldridge Orchard before he was killed. What if it was a chemical? What if Sara and Cass were drugged with that chemical? Maybe even Elena."

Kai’s breath hitches. "The toxicology reports—"

"Kai, ” I cut him off gently, my fingers raking into his thick hair. "There are certain chemicals that never show up in toxicology reports."

His entire body stiffens. I can’t tell if it’s from the endearment or the implication of what I’m saying. "That’s not possible.”

"It is, Kai. I know of one. A party drug. It makes people do whatever they’re told—or at least leaves them very open to suggestions—it’s untraceable in the bloodstream."

He chuckles, but there’s no humor in it. "That’s a bold claim."

"I’ve seen it work in real life. The Aldridges use it on their friends—to get them to do what they want. Theo uses it at parties too."

Kai’s eyes darken. "Okay, what are you saying here?"

I lick my dry lips and state what he’ll probably laugh at. "That I think the Joystick might be the killer’s MO."

His brows knit. "Joystick?"

"That’s what Theo calls it, but it probably has another name. And if the killer is using Joystick, there’s only one source of it. Meaning there’s a trail leading to them."

Kai’s gaze turns sharp and assessing. "Hardly sounds likely. Look, I’ve gone through every scenario over the past fifteen years. None of them make poisoning plausible."

I study his face carefully, seeing the raw pain he tries to hide beneath his logic. "It’s your trauma, Kai. You can’t expect to be fully objective. I’m sure there are things you’ve mentally blocked out."

His lips twitch. "Hey, look who’s waxing psychoanalytic now."

I shrug, feeling the steady thrum of his heart beneath my palms. "I’ve taken . . . a few therapy sessions.”

"Have you now?"

"I had to find a way to deal with my mother’s death, and Cass leaving.” My voice lowers to a whisper. "How to stop hating my dad for not loving me—and Bea, for soaking up what little love he had left to give."

Kai presses a lingering kiss to my temple, then my forehead, eyelids, nose—punctuating each word with a kiss. "You’re. The. Strongest. Woman. I. Know."

His lips claim mine, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, sliding against mine in a rhythm that has me whimpering. Then he raises his head, his thumb sliding under my chin, tilting my face so I’m looking directly into his eyes. A lazy smirk tugs at the corner of his lips, but there’s something molten beneath it.

"I’m glad you didn’t seek treatment for the creepy stalking and obsession."

I swat at his chest, but he catches my wrist easily, flipping me onto my back in one smooth movement. His weight presses me into the mattress, his hands bracketing my wrists above my head.

"Seriously, Nicole, how did that Aldridge boy not find out about your secret stash?"

Face heating, I admit in a small voice, "He thought it was my mother’s ashes in the box."

Kai’s eyes widen to saucers. "Wow! That’s some fucked-up shit."

"Shut up,” I snap, but I can’t fight my own smile.“Well, your eyes are losing their hazel, which tells me exactly how you feel about ‘that fucked up shit’."

The warmth in his gaze fades just slightly as he studies me, all teasing replaced with something heavier.

"Yeah, it’s sickening how much they do that around you."

Before I lose my nerve—or get further derailed by his hardening cock—I get back on track.

“Kai. I meant what I said about you trusting me.”

“Okay. What do you want?”

“I wanna talk to Theo and find out what he knows about the Joystick supply lines.”

His entire body tenses. “Hell no.”

I arch a brow. “You can’t stop me from talking to him.”

Even as I say it, I feel his fingers flex against mine.

"Can’t I?” His voice drops, that familiar dangerous, silken tone.

The shift is instant. My breath catches, my body reacting before my brain even catches up.

But there’s something off about it this time.

I slip my fingers out of his and try to push him off, but he doesn’t budge. “What? Are you worried I’ll go back to him?”

Kai laughs, a purely derisive sound. "Going back would indicate there was something there in the first place."

I roll my eyes at his cocky arrogance and mutter, “Asshole.”

The sharp crack of his palm meeting my ass cheek comes so fast I barely register it before the sting blooms through me.

“Ahh!” My shocked gasp ends on a moan when he smooths his hand over the burning heat, his fingers kneading in slow, possessive circles.

"Watch your mouth.” His biting tone drowns any retort before it makes it past my tongue. It’s like a live wire brushing against my skin. My pulse skitters wildly, and something deep in my core tightens.

It’s not just the impact of his hand—it’s him, his will, the way his dominance yanks on me like a tether.

What the hell?

I blink up at him, disoriented, my body betraying me in ways my mind hasn’t caught up with yet.

Kai’s expression flickers—just for a second. But I see it.

He knows what he just did to me. And that he wasn’t supposed to do that.

“Kai?”

“I’m sorry.” His voice is softer, a low rumble that instantly grounds me again.

“But back to what you asked. I know you won’t go back to him. That doesn’t mean I want you anywhere near any of the Aldridges.”

His protectiveness should annoy me at this point. It would have, a few weeks ago. But now knowing everything he’s lost, everything he’s carried alone for fifteen years? It only makes my chest ache that Kai is fighting hard not to control me right now.

“Kai, Theo still sees me as part of the Aldridges. If I ask him about ‘the family drug,’ he’ll definitely tell me.”

Kai is silent for a long minute, his jaw tight. I let him process it, waiting as the tension coils tighter in his shoulders.

Finally, he exhales sharply. “You really think they were drugged?”

I nod. “It’s written all over this, Kai.”

His hand cups my jaw. When he claims my lips, I taste everything he’s not saying—possession, the fear of losing me and the desperate need to keep me safe.

But there’s something else, too. A grudging acknowledgment that I might be right.

For a moment, I lose myself in the kiss. In the way he makes everything else fade away.

When he finally lifts his head, his eyes are dark with promise and warning.

Kai doesn’t speak right away. He just watches me, his thumb trailing absently over my lower lip like he’s thinking, deciding.

“Alright, I’ll trust you on this.”

My heart stutters with those six words, gratitude and love washing over me.

And then he leans in, his lips grazing my ear. “But you should know, some monsters are better left buried, though.”

“Not this one, Daddy.”

This time when the smack on my ass comes moments before he slips his hard cock inside me, it’s all I can do not to giggle.

Kai doesn't hate the nickname. He hates how much he doesn't hate it.