Page 24 of The Saviors: Part One

“Because I can read, dipshit,” he says, stabbing a button. It glows, and I can hear the machine firing up.

“I can read, you fucking gorilla,” I huff. “So, you want to throw questions out there? What was that shit at the bar?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Laughing. You don’t fucking laugh.”

“I do laugh.”

“Dude, you were giggling like a fucking schoolgirl,” I accuse, and his eyes narrow again. I walk backward, hands raised in surrender. “I just mean that you were laughing like I’ve never heard before.”

“She’s funny. That’s all.”

I hear the stairs creak, noting Chelsea is coming back down; I point at Kai. “We will file this conversation away for later.”

“There isn’t anything to this conversation,” Kai says, pulling a coffee cup from the drying rack beside the sink. He pours coffee into the mug from the torture device.

Chelsea walks around the corner in an oversized band T-shirt and shorts that barely peek out from the hem. She has wiped all her makeup off, and her hair is wrapped into a messy bun on top of her head. She’s never looked more beautiful to me. She walks over to where Kai is, and I notice the safe distance she leaves between them.

“Did you make me coffee?” she asks, smiling up at the big guy. Without her heels on, she looks fucking tiny compared to him. Which most people do.

“I did, but it was his idea. I don’t know how you like it, though,” Kai replies, that blush creeping up his cheeks again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so uncomfortable, and it’s my new favorite thing.

“Rough,” I cough. His blush deepens even as he whips that angry look at me again.

“Sean!” Chelsea explodes into a fit of laughter. “Cream and sugar. I’m easy,” she says, then she winks at him.Winks.Can you fall in love after seeing a girl twice? Because I’ll be damned, I think I just did.

Kai’s mouth drops open. “I expect that from him, but not you.”

Chelsea laughs. “Blame it on the alcohol.” She reaches past him for the cream and sugar, causing her shirt to ride up. Sure enough, his eyes laser in on her ass. Probably imagining what he saw outside.

Vaguely I know I should be jealous that he’s checking her out, but I can’t muster that up. I just feel curious. He’s been around her for about two hours. He’s already smiled, laughed, talked to her, checked her out, and I think he’s even flirted a few times. All of the above, Kaineverdoes.Might be worth exploring some things.

“Let’s go to the living room,” Chelsea says, grabbing her cup and leading us into the other room.

I can’t help but pull her down beside me, tucking her into my side, my arm wrapped around her shoulders.Look at me cuddling and shit.The little smile she gives me is well worth it.

“I have something to come clean about,” she says into the silence. I jerk my head toward her, but she’s looking at Kai. “My real name is Chelsea. I gave him my middle name the first night.”

He frowns a little then his face smooths out. “I would have lied too. He was four seconds away from stalking you.”

She turns to me. “You were?”

I shrug, unashamed. “I told you I thought about you all week.”

She grins. “Were you just going to show up on my doorstep?”

“Something like that. But he convinced me to go to High Flyer again. I’m glad I did.”

She gives me that soft smile again, the one I can literally feel melting my heart. “What does that mean? For…this?” she gestures between us.

“It means I want more.”

She gets a look on her face that I can’t decipher. I can’t tell if she’s into what I said or not. She purposely clears her face from the emotions running rampant across it. “I’d like that,” she says eventually.

“Are you sure?”

She sighs. “I am. I have…baggage,” she says, looking pointedly at Kai.