Page 30 of The Chaos She Brings

I need to distract her so she doesn’t cry. “Tell me about your day, Tess.”

She sucks in a breath, then tells me about her colleague Dana, who is on husband number three apparently. She runs through some of the nicknames for the clients at the gym: Grunt Goblin, Barbie and Ken, Protein Princess, to name a few.

I’m almost there.

“I’m pulling up now. Stay inside. Don’t come out until I get there.”

“Okay. I’m okay. I’m sorry I freaked out. I’m sorry I called you. I know you don’t care.”

My teeth grind. "I care, Tess. I’m right outside. How are you doing now?”

“I’m okay. Sorry. I... I don’t know.” She breathes out a shaky laugh. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“Stop. You’re not bothering me. I’m here, Tess. And I’m not going anywhere.”

I slam on the brakes outside the gym, my heart racing as I fly out of the car.

“Open the door, Hurricane.”

She’s standing there, her face unsure, eyes shining with vulnerability. Without thinking, I pull her into my arms, the world around us falling away.

She sinks into me like she’s been waiting for this, her soft body pressing against mine. I inhale her scent—vanilla cupcakes—and hold her tighter.

“I’ve got you,” I murmur into her hair, as my pulse steadies for the first time all day.

“Hey, Kai?” she mumbles into my shirt, her voice soft, almost hesitant.

“Yeah, Hurricane?”

“Why do you call me that?”

I can’t help but laugh, though the sound is more of a rumble than anything else. Of course that’s what she’d pick up on. I hadn’t meant for the nickname to slip, but now that it’s out, it feels right. “You’re like a storm. You come in fast, and you don’t give a damn who gets caught in the whirlwind.”

She goes quiet for a beat, and I can almost hear the confusion in her pause. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

I tilt her chin up gently, my thumb brushing across her jaw. “I’m not,” I say, and this time, I mean it—surprisingly so.

9

Losing Control

Kai to Tess: I wish we could do that again… [unsent]

Tess

“Tellmeeverythinghesaid.”

After picking me up, Kai drove us straight to his place. Now we’re sitting in his living room, the tension between us thick as we try to unravel the meaning behind that guy’s cryptic words.

“He said something about me being… busy,” I say, wracking my brain. “And then—wait, yeah—he said that some things are harder to bury than others.”

Kai’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t say anything.

“There’s more,” I add quickly. “He also said it’s a small world, and you never know who’s watching.”

“Did you notice anything strange about him? Anything that stood out?”

“He had an accent,” I recall after amoment, the memory snapping into focus. “Russian, maybe? Or German? I’m not good with accents.”