But they were attractive, I guess. Just not to me. I grew up hearing how they talked when they didn’t have to filter what they said and smelled their vomit after long nights of debauchery. Super hot.
Yeah, no. They were like Damon. Like brothers.
The guys stepped up to the bed of a truck with its tailgate down and a makeshift bar on display. I jumped down from Lev’s back as David and Ilia grabbed cups and walked over to the keg, filling up. Lev took a bottle of Patrón and poured a shot in a red cup.
I thought about asking for one, but he’d just say no. It wasn’t like I was a virgin to alcohol or anything. Damon liked having someone to run with when his friends weren’t around, so I’d had beer, wine coolers, mixed drinks...
But never in public. They probably knew my brother wouldn’t like it.
Looking behind him, I noticed David and Ilia still hanging around the keg, but another guy had come over and started up a conversation. They were smiling easily, looking relaxed. For once.
“Walk me around?” I asked Lev.
He raised his eyes, only briefly hesitating before he nodded. Shooting a look over his shoulder at David, he said, “We’re going to make the rounds. Be back.”
David’s eyebrows dug in with a warning. “Don’t. Lose. Her.”
I caught Lev’s eye roll as he nudged me along, getting us both out of there.
Veering right, around the truck, I took us in the direction of the bonfire where I noticed a fight going on nearby. It looked playful, though, as people sat around watching. I cast glances left and right, looking for my brother.
And Kai.
But I didn’t see them. I knew they pulled pranks on Devil’s Night, so they could be off somewhere still. I kept my head down, though. At Damon’s request. I was to observe. Not interact.
“You’re gonna be eighteen next summer,” Lev pointed out. “You getting out of here?”
I shook my head, watching some kid shoot marshmallows with a hockey stick, hitting a group of guys. “I wouldn’t know where to go.”
“But you can, you know?” he told me. “You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to stay with him.”
I turned my eyes on him, narrowing my gaze. It was unusually gutsy of him to say something like that. Since when did he care what I did?
And I didn’t know how to respond.
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t thought about it. I knew things would change soon, but I didn’t think they were changing for good. I’d tread water until Damon got out of college, and then…like he said, we’d be on our own. The idea of leaving forever—of living by myself, working by myself, making my own friends, coming and going without consequence—it seemed too far-fetched to consider. Even if I wanted to—which I didn’t—Damon wouldn’t allow it.
I averted my eyes, dropping my voice. “He’s all I have.”
“And who told you that?” he tossed back. “Him?”
I shot him a look. Asshole.
I changed the subject. “Toward the fight?” I gestured toward the group of guys in the distance, and he nodded.
We walked through more headstones, and I could hear the chanting from the fight ahead. I
was used to seeing tussles, the guys around the house constantly starting shit with each other when they were bored. I’d even picked up a few moves.
“Who’s she?” I heard a woman ask.
Stopping with Lev, I looked up to see a young redhead, her arms crossed over her chest and looking at him like she was two seconds away from spitting battery acid.
But without waiting for him to respond, she spun on her heel and started to walk away.
“Come here,” he said, grabbing her arm.
But she yanked it away. “Go screw yourself.”
“Until when?” he shot back, getting in her face. “The next time your boyfriend can’t get you off, princess, and you come begging me for it?”
My eyes widened. He was screwing around with a Thunder Bay girl? What was he thinking?
To her, this was slumming and getting her kicks. He had to know that.
The girl jutted her chin over me, scowling. “Who is she?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
She whipped around and stalked away from him, her red hair flying.
He looked at me. “Stay there. I mean it.”
I watched as he spun around and caught up to her, forcing her behind a tomb, the edges of their bodies just visible.
“Where is he?” Lev asked, and I watched her thigh hike up around his waist at the same time I heard the sound of fabric tearing.
He? Her boyfriend?
Heavy breathing, fingers up her skirt, and…yeah, that’s all I needed to see. I didn’t know what was happening there, and I didn’t care. I turned around, leaving them to it.
Pulling my hood lower and covering my eyes, I headed toward the fight, hearing cheers break out and seeing a body hit the ground. I peered through the gaps in the crowd, watching as a dark-haired fighter straddled him, and he raised his head just enough for me to see his face.
My heart leapt into my throat. Kai.
His hair was wet with sweat, and I noticed a trickle of blood spilling out of his nose. They continued the bout, rolling, punching, and wrestling, and I stopped behind a tall grave marker, hiding myself and peeking around the edge.
Kai rolled onto his back, holding the kid’s neck above him, his arms flexed and every muscle defined as he kept the other guy at arm’s length. Abs tight and jeans having settled low on his waist in the struggle, he made my cheeks go warm.
My brother’s friend was hot. Why did I have to want him?
Damon might eventually resign himself to me falling in love someday, but he wouldn’t tolerate it being his best friend.
I smiled to myself, watching how he looked so happy right now. Not that I’d seen him a lot, but I didn’t think I’d ever seen such an easy expression on his face before. Like he was finally alive.
I could watch him all night.
Until I smelled the all-too-familiar scent of my brother’s cigarettes. Turning my head, I watched him blow out a stream of smoke, drop the butt to the ground, and stomp it out. He walked up and stood behind me, leaning his arm on the tombstone.
“So, this is what you wanted me to see?” I asked him, both of us watching Kai pummel his opponent. “It takes a lot to shock us, remember?”
“Not this.” He shook his head. “Just wait.”
I turned my gaze back, waiting for the big mystery about Kai Mori to reveal itself. I couldn’t imagine what Damon thought would be so shocking. I was hard to impress.
He let out a sigh at my side, looking around. “They left you alone again. I’m really going to kill someone one of these days.”
I smiled, even though I felt sorry for the guys who were supposed to watch me. It was a shit job, and they were built for more.
“You’re not that merciful.” I glanced at him, my gaze immediately dropping to the corner of his mouth. “And you have mustard on your lip. And your breath stinks.”
He opened his mouth and huffed right in my face, the stench of cigarettes and hot dogs—or whatever he’d just eaten—assaulting my nostrils.
I winced and turned away.
“Last girl didn’t care,” he taunted playfully. “Of course, I wasn’t kissing her lips. Not the ones on her face anyway.”
And he proceeded to hook an arm around my neck and lick my cheek like a sloppy dog.
“Gross!” I snarled, pushing him away and wiping off my face. “Jesus.”
He just shook with laughter.
“Yeah, that’s all I need, some girl’s ‘juice’ all over me. Thanks.”
He ruffled my hair through my hoodie, still laughing. Of course, his damn delight in life came from fucking with everyone around him, and I wasn’t excluded from that. Ever.
I calmed down and turned back to the fight, watching as Kai took a hit across the left side of his jaw. He returned with a right hook and shoved his opponent in the chest. Wet strands of the kid’s brown hair hung in his eyes, but he must’ve seen Kai coming for him, because he shot out his hands, waving for Kai to stop as he hunched over, trying to catch his breath.