“You going to apologize to Ashley?” he asks in a soft voice. A big change from last night’s tone. I almost choke on my coffee?
“I’m sorry?” I say, thinking I must have heard wrong.
“You need to say sorry to Ashley, she’s a friend of mine and I don’t want to have to choose between you two.”
“There is no choice, you chose her, and that’s fine. And no, there's no way in hell I'm going to say sorry to that bitch,” I say frankly.
Kade sighs, like I am the bane of his existence. Well, I sure as hell am not his problem anymore.
“Just tell me when she’s coming over, I’ll go hang out with Layla. Problem solved,” I say with a shrug.
“You are f**king infuriating, Nikki,” he growls.
“Whatever, Kade,” I mumble, walking away from him.
Chapter Ten
The first week after the fight Kade starts avoiding me. It's so f**king awkward! Whatever, if he wants to sulk and hide from me because I punched his ‘best friend’ who is a total bitch, that’s fine with me. I’m not going to beg him to talk to me. However, his backing off pisses me off. I know it shouldn’t, but it does.
James and I are hanging out. It’s been a busy week with my internship and I’m happy to finally have a couple of days to myself. I decide I wanted to work out a bit in the gym and ask James if he can be my sparring partner. He hesitates at first, but then agrees. We get up off the couch and head into the gym, over to where the mats are on the floor. We start off playing around, laughing. I try punching him a few times, but he dodges my every endeavor. I try to do a sneaky kick I learned in self-defense class, but he intercepts and grabs my leg in midair, leaving me standing there hopping on one foot like an idiot.
“James!” I squeak out. He laughs, letting go of my leg. We start messing around again, and I manage to get one hit in, but after that first time James kicks it up a notch, letting me know he’s just been fooling around the entire time, not taking it seriously. Shit, he’s good.
“Where the hell did you learn your moves from?” I ask, breathless.
He shrugs, “Around.” Vague as always.
“Will I ever get a straight answer out of you?” I chuckle.
He just grins.
We go at it for a little while longer. When we hear the front door open, I make a move because James is distracted. I jump on him and I’m able to pin him down as I straddle him. At that moment Kade walks in, taking in the scene, his face tightening in anger.
“What the f**k is going on here?” he seethes.
We get up off the floor without saying anything to him. He’s being an ass as usual. I look at James, and call out “I win," with an evil smile. I even add in a little victory dance.
“Should have made this into a bet.” I laugh and James chuckles, shaking his head at my antics.
I look over at Kade. “What’s your problem? We were just sparring.”
James looks amused as Kade walks out and slams his bedroom door. Fucking baby. I stare at James, seeing him in a new light. The man didn’t even break a sweat and I know he was just humoring me by letting me get a few moves in on him. Who knows what he's really capable of? Still waters run deep. James should get that tattooed.
I head to the bathroom for a nice hot shower.
******
It’s been two whole weeks, and Kade is still giving me space. I don’t know if he’s still mad about the Ashley fight, or if he’s pissed I’m spending so much time with James. Either way, he needs to get the hell over it. We usually mumble greetings to each other and remain civil, but we don’t hang out or joke around anymore, and he doesn’t hit on me or make any moves. We act like strangers.
Ryder rang me up last night, and asked me out on a date. I know Ryder has been interested in me for a while, but I never took him seriously. He's Layla’s cousin and I know for a fact Layla doesn’t like the girls Ryder gets with. However, after weeks of nothing from Kade, I decide to give Ryder a chance. He’s gorgeous enough, and I need to move on from Kade because my obsession is not healthy. Ryder wants to come and pick me up, but I tell him I'll meet him at the restaurant. I dress in white skinny jeans, a tight black strapless top, and a pair of strappy black heels. My hair is dead straight, and I’m wearing the slightest amount of makeup with some cherry lip balm. I head out to the living area to grab my clutch bag and almost collide with Kade. His gaze rakes over me, and he looks at me in confusion.
“Where are you going?” he asks, curious.
“Out,” I say evasively.
“Out where?” he demands.
“I have a date.”
“Date?” he whispers. “A f**king date?” he yells.
“Yes, Kade, a date. God!” I throw my hands up in exasperation.
“Who the f**k are you going on a date with?” he demands roughly.
“None of your business,” I hiss.
He looks livid. He walks off and slams his room door. Mature.
I sigh, grab my bag, and head out.
I pull up to the restaurant, and Ryder is standing by the front door waiting for me. He looks so f**king hot, wearing a nice pair of jeans riding low on his hips, and a white shirt folded up to his elbows, showing off the amazing artwork on both of his forearms. I know the tattoos cover both sleeves of his arms, and he also has one on his neck, a script saying something in another language. I have no idea what it says or means. A black tie hangs loosely around his neck, dressing up his casual look slightly. His hair has gotten longer, and almost reaches his chin in slight chocolate brown waves. I grin. Ryder has always dressed for himself, in his own style because he doesn’t care what others think, nor does he follow trends.