Page 21 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

KAYLOR

D ashing down the hall after Raine, I kept his broad back in my sights, contemplating tackling the lying asshole. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from a Corvo.

Prick.

Screw it. What do I have to lose?

I picked my pace up to a jog, closing the space between Raine and me, and right before he reached the front door, I launched onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

I never had a chance. It was as if Raine expected me to try something, anticipating my last-ditch effort, and before I could secure my hold, I was being flipped through the air like a damn amateur gymnast over Raine’s shoulders.

He did the entire maneuver gracefully. The next thing I knew, I was blinking up at him, my head slightly disoriented from the jarring flip.

Kreed laughed from the other room, but despite the curl in my belly at the sound, I ignored him, spinning and facing the eldest Corvo. “If he stays, then take me with you,” I bartered.

Raine’s fingers trailed down the side of my arm, his light-green eyes sparkling.

“Do me a favor, killer, use this time to work your shit out. Forgive Kreed and put the rest of us out of our misery. He doesn’t know how to handle what he’s feeling for you because he’s never had feelings for anyone before.

Have mercy on him. Yes, he isn’t absolved of all guilt, but Kreed isn’t responsible for what happened. ”

“He still lied,” I pointed out. “You all did.”

“That was before you stole his heart. He doesn’t fully understand why he can’t stop protecting you, but you and I both know the reason.

Kreed isn’t as cold as he likes to portray.

Be careful with him. He’s been through more than the rest of us have.

Life hasn’t been easy on him. You, of all people, can understand his pain.

” The front door shut with a click. I stood in the hallway, frozen in disbelief, staring at the empty space where Raine had just been.

What the hell did he mean? Understand Kreed’s pain?

What have I gotten myself into?

Forgive Kreed?

Raine had lost his ever-loving mind.

“You can’t just leave him here!” I shrieked at the now silent door.

No answer. Of course not.

I spun on my heels, anger rising so fast it made my vision go white at the edges. My heart was racing, still trying to calm down from that kiss or maybe from the way Kreed looked at me before it happened. Like I was oxygen and he’d been drowning.

Raine wasn’t the only one who had lost his mind. I’d kissed Kreed! After telling him I hated him. Talk about confusing. What was crazier, I hadn’t even minded the taste of him, booze mixed with coffee.

I needed to get my head on straight and figure out what the fuck I was doing because, if toying with Kreed for revenge was going to backfire on me every time, I was the one who would end up getting hurt. Again.

Fuck. My. Life.

I stormed back into the living room, my eyes immediately searching out Kreed who was lounging on the couch like he owned the damn place. One arm was slung across the backrest, his head tipped back, that infuriating smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

My throat was dry, and I couldn’t swallow. “You can’t stay here.”

“I’m not leaving,” the stubborn ass replied.

“I hate you,” I hissed, feeling my cheeks burn.

A single brow arched, the stud in his nose twinkling under the dim lighting. “That so?”

“Yes. That’s so.” I stood my ground, glaring at him, doing everything to look at only his face. If I let my eyes wander over him, I was fucking cooked. “Wipe that smug look off your face. This isn’t some win for you.”

“You sure about that?” he asked, flexing his fingers and drawing my eyes to the suit of tattoos inked into his skin. “Because from where I’m sitting, it feels like a win. If this is how it feels to have you hate me, I can’t wait to see how it feels when you fall for me.”

“That’s never going to happen.” I shook my head, my shoulders slumping. “You’re unbelievable.”

“And yet, here I am. Believably on your couch. Alone. With you.” He grinned, and I wanted to throw the throw pillow at his stupid face.

“This is temporary,” I growled. “One night. That’s it. Don’t get comfortable.”

His gaze swept over me with deliberate slowness, and those silver eyes missed nothing, not the way my chest rose and fell too quickly, not the slight tremor in my hands, not the flush creeping up my neck despite my best efforts to remain unaffected.

He looked completely unbothered by my declaration, as if he could see straight through every desperate defense I tried to erect between us.

“I’ve never been comfortable a day in my life, little raven.

Except for the nights you were in my bed. ”

The nickname stole the air from my lungs, making my knees go weak.

My hand flew to my chest instinctively, fingers pressing against my sternum as if I could somehow hold my heart together through sheer force of will.

I hated that he remembered those stolen moments.

Hated even more that I did too, that my treacherous memory could conjure the exact cadence of his voice when he used to say it like a prayer.

“And that kiss on the couch can’t happen again.

” My tongue darted out to wet my lips, a nervous habit I couldn’t suppress, and I caught the way his eyes tracked the movement with laser focus.

“You keep your lips, your hands, and your dick to yourself.”

A slow smile spread across his face, making my stomach flip with unwanted heat. “I love it when you get bossy.”

“Stop it.” The command cracked, but even I heard the tremor underneath it. My body was already turning toward the hallway, muscles coiling with the desperate need to run before I did something irreversibly stupid. “I’m sleeping in my room.”

“I’d hope so.” His voice followed me, warm with amusement that made my skin prickle with awareness. “Unless you wanna share the couch.”

My spine went rigid at the suggestion, every nerve ending sparking to life despite my brain’s frantic protests.

I didn’t look back, couldn’t risk it, couldn’t trust myself to see whatever expression was painted across his face, because if I turned around, if I caught even a glimpse of that look he used to give me, the one that made me feel like the only person in his universe, I’d crumble.

My feet carried me down the hallway on autopilot, the walls seemed to close in around me, familiar family photos blurring together as I forced myself to keep moving forward instead of running back to where he waited.

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? The ugly truth I couldn’t admit out loud, couldn’t even fully acknowledge in the privacy of my own mind.

Despite everything, despite the lies and the betrayal, despite the way he’d shattered my trust so completely, some traitorous part of me still wanted him.

My bedroom door loomed ahead like salvation, but even as my hand closed around the cool metal of the doorknob, the feel of his presence burned at my back. I could imagine him sprawled across the couch, waiting for me with such arrogant cockiness.

I twisted the handle and stepped inside, closing the door behind me with a soft click.

How the hell was I supposed to get any sleep with Kreed downstairs? Somehow, not having eyes on him was worse. I had so much homework to catch up on, but studying or working on a paper was the last thing I wanted to do. I had zero concentration unless it was on the asshole sleeping on the couch.

Still, I flopped onto the bed, grabbed the borrowed laptop from Brock, and attempted to get shit done. I must have fallen asleep, exhaustion finally claiming me. My nights for weeks had been restless and long, anything but peaceful, except for the nights I’d been with Kreed.

I didn’t know what time it was when the nightmare started, only that I was drowning in it. Screams. Blood. My mother’s voice cut off too fast. My father’s hand, reaching, covered in crimson. The stench of smoke. A creaking floorboard, too close. And me, too late.

I gasped awake, my throat raw from crying, chest heaving like I’d run miles.

My sheets were tangled around my legs, drenched in sweat, and the laptop had slid off my lap, the screen blank.

The darkness of the room was familiar, but it didn’t feel safe.

Not yet. Not with my pulse still in my ears and my hands shaking.

“Kaylor.”

Kreed .

My eyes found him sitting on the edge of my bed, half shadowed by the glow of the hallway light leaking in behind him, so close to me his warmth seeped into me.

His brows were drawn together, eyes scanning my face as if he was trying to fix me with just a look.

His fingers were tangled in the side of my hair, his palm cupping my cheek.

“You were crying,” he said softly. “The nightmares still keeping you up, little raven?”

I swallowed hard, shame and pain catching in my throat. Papers were scattered on top of the bed, alongside the open laptop. “I—I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t.” He untangled his fingers as the pad of his thumb brushed along the outline of my jaw. “I couldn’t sleep. You’re not the only one haunted by things they would love to forget.”

You, of all people, can understand his pain. Raine’s voice popped into my head.

Had he been referring to their mother’s death? Was that the pain Kreed and I shared? If that were true, wouldn’t it have been trauma we all shared? Raine, Mason, Maddox, and Kreed? The loss of a parent?