Page 89 of The Chaos She Brings

“Go to sleep, Hurricane.”

“I don’t want to hang up,” I pout. “I miss you.”

He smiles sadly. “Sleep. You can keep the call on, then I’ll be here to tell you good morning when you wake up.”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course.”

“For someone that says he’s never done relationships, that’s very boyfriendy.”

“Only for you.”

I smile as I snuggle deeper into the bed, tucking the duvet around me and placing the phone next to my head.

“Night, Kai,” I murmur.

“Night, Tess.”

Kai

I wake to the sound of Tess’s quiet snores filling my phone. I listen to her breathing for a while, feeling a sense of contentment wash over me.

I never thought I’d have this. Someone to care about this way, someone who cares about me. I closed myself off to the idea of love after watching my parents’ marriage—and the wreckage left behind in its wake.

It certainly never occurred to me that the person I’d want it with would be the living embodiment of chaos.

My Hurricane.

There’s a tiny part of me whispering in my ear that everything is going to go wrong. It has to. That’s what happens when you let someone in. They hurt you. Or they die.

I’ve never had a girlfriend. I’ve had hookups, but that’s the closest I’ve come.

But Tess… I want everything from her. I want to give her everything. She makes me want to lose control.

It’s dangerous. But I’m too far gone to stop it.

Tess yawns, and I see one of her arms fly over the screen as she stretches. It takes a few minutes for her to remember that the phone is on, but then her sleep rumpled face (creases and all) fills the phone.

“Mornin’,” she says, yawning again.

“Morning, Hurricane.”

Her smile sends lightning through my spine. “I look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards,” she groans, trying to smooth her unruly hair that’s sticking up in every direction.

“You look adorable.”

She blushes but waves me off.

Enzo bounces the door open to my room without knocking.Typical. I don’t even understand why he’s still here. He should be in America where Tess and the Russians are. “We’re making our move tomorrow. Don’t tell Tess, I don’t want to get her hopes up unless it’s certain, but it should be over soon.”

I raise an eyebrow at him just as Tess screeches, “I might get to go home!?”

“Fuck.” He scrubs his hand down his face in exasperation.

Then Nico's voice comes through the phone. “I want my phone back.”

Nate and Carina choose that moment to walk into my room (also unannounced).