Page 47 of The Chaos She Brings

I feel bad that Kai slept downstairs on the sofa while I have the perfectly large enough bed for the two of us, but then I remember his gruffness at dinner and feel immediately better about it.

I tried making conversation, but he basically ignored me, shutting down all my attempts to make things less awkward.

We still haven’t spoken about the whole face riding, dick sucking incident. And it’s clear now that weare just pretending it never happened.

Which is fine.

Obviously.

I. Don’t. Care.

Kai is nowhere to be found when I finally drag myself out of bed and downstairs, but there is a coffee waiting for me on the side that’s still warm so he can’t be far.

It’s not like we can leave this house prison anyway.

I can’t believe I’m actually missing my flat. My tiny, ugly flat that doesn’t even have a carpet right now. It’s not the flat I miss, it’s the normalcy. I like to think I’m pretty resilient—I mean, killing Jake really didn’t make me lose that much sleep (unless you count the hours spent cleaning and disposing of him). But even I’m wearing thin with all this change.

What I don’t miss, at all, is my job. It’s not that my job is bad—I sit on my ass all day, watch men workout topless, get hit on a couple more times than necessary—but it’s just a bit dull. I thought that I was okay with that, but I’m starting to think I need to do something fulfilling. Something that makes me excited to get up every day.

“Morning.”

I nearly jump out of my skin, coffee sloshing everywhere as I whip around to find Happy standing there, a smirk playing at his lips.

“Christ, you scared me! What are you doing here?” I clutch my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.

Grabbing a wad of paper towels, I start mopping up the mess, while Happy has the good sense to look sheepish. He rubs the back of his neck like a guilty kid caught stealing cookies. “Sorry. I just came to check in.”

“Oh. Okay.” I toss the soggy paper towels into the bin and straighten up. “Well, I’m good. All checked in, see?”

“Where’s your boyfriend this morning?”

I blink at him, confused. “Boyfriend?”

He grins, all too pleased with himself. “Kai, right? He’s not your boyfriend?”

I scowl. “Kai? No. He’s not my boyfriend.”

Happy’s grin widens, his amusement practically lighting up the room. “Do you have one?”

“Not anymore,” I mutter, turning back to the coffee machine and punching the button a little harder than necessary to brew a fresh cup.

Sliding onto one of the kitchen stools, I cradle my mug, hoping he’ll take the hint and leave. Instead, Happy settles onto the stool across from me, looking far too comfortable. I raise an eyebrow, surprised—and maybe just a little suspicious.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my tone flat and unamused.

“Getting to know you,” Happy replies with a smirk that’s just shy of cocky. “Since we’re going to be stuck here for a while, I figure I might as well get comfortable.”

As if to emphasise his point, he leans forward, resting his chin on his hands, his eyes fixed on me with a lazy, unapologetic confidence. It’s the kind of look that says,I’m not going anywhere.

Begrudgingly, I play along. It’s not like I know where Kai is, and honestly, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone to talk to—or at least someone to distract me.

“Alright, I’ll bite,” I say, lifting my coffee to my lips and taking a slow sip before setting it back on the counter. “What do you want to know?”

He grins, the corners of his mouth curving just enough to give away his mischief. “What’s your favourite colour?”

I blink at him, caught off guard. “Seriously? That’s your opening question?”

“You can tell a lot about a person by their favourite colour.”