Page 84 of Vicious Little Snakes

She sighs and looks away.

“Okay. Fine. Don’t talk. But get up. I have a chore for you. Maybe that’ll help you shake off the doom and gloom on your face.”

I frown, lifting the side of my lip in a sneer. “You’re torturing me. Your only son. This is borderline child abuse.”

“Good thing you’re a man and not a child.”

She stands, shaking her head with a laugh, heading back toward my bedroom door before stopping and turning around. With her hand resting on the frame, she winks. “You have a package to deliver down to my office, and as a reward, there are some gorgeous palettes on my desk that you can grab for your paintings. That is unless you’ve given that up in favor of Harvard.”

Jesus, Babe.She’s pushing all my buttons today. Not going there either.

I groan, ignoring her pointed remark about my conversation with my father, and throw my blanket back, feet hitting the floor.

“Don’t you have an assistant for this?”

She grins. “Yes. I do. But you and Kai are free labor.”

My face goes blank. Fuck. Babe said Kai. He’s here to throw down. Can I blame him? I’m surprised it’s not the entire cavalry.

Adjusting my basketball shorts on my hips, I say, “What do you mean, Kai?”

“He’s downstairs. His mother donated a piece for the Nudes gala. I don’t think she wanted to risk a courier taking a look, so she sent him to deliver it.”

The frown I feel must be evident on my face because she grins. “Funny, that’s the same look he made when I told him you’d go together. Now hurry because I don’t like to wait.”

Fan-fucking-tastic.

* * *

Kai managed to remain polite only until my mom closed the front door behind us.

“I should put my fist through your face. Right here on your front steps.”

“Probably.” I nod. “I won’t stop you.”

Kai and I are about the same size. I’m not scared of him, nor do I think I’d ever lose to him in a fight. But I deserve to get my ass kicked for what I did to Caroline and, depending on what he knows, to him too.

He blows out a breath, turning and taking the steps quickly. So I begrudgingly follow as his voice raises, “You’re a fucking prick, you know that? That shit you pulled last night was not cool. I don’t care if she started it”—he spins around at the bottom—“She’s Caroline. We don’t treat her that way.”

“I know.”

But he clearly doesn’t.

Anger vibrates off Kai, justifiably so—I did hurt Caroline. But I don’t want to hear about it from anyone but her.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Liam? Since when are you such a dick? That’s Grey’s department.”

Since I lost the only girl I’ve ever wanted and with her my mind.

I don’t know how to explain what it’s like to continually eat your words until nothing else will go down, so you fucking spew it all up. And with Caroline, I can’t hide—she won’t let me.

I open my mouth to try, but all that comes out is, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Kai’s brows pull together like he’s fighting with himself before he turns toward his maroon Mercedes G-Class. He pops the trunk, stepping out onto the street, where he’s double-parked and places the small, crated photo in the back. Another look in my direction has his head shaking again as he clicks the fob to shut the door.

“Well, are you coming?” he shouts, walking around to the driver’s side.

Fuck. Why me. This shouldn’t be awkward at all.