Kai slides his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on top of my head. I place my hands over his, on top of my stomach, pleading with my eyes. Slowly, she nods, and I slump against Kai in relief.
“I saw you outside,” she admits. “And I could tell you were very much in love.” She looks over my shoulder at Kai. “But I still need you to look me in the eye and tell me you mean her no harm.”
“I promise I won’t hurt her. I just want to keep them both safe. If her father finds us, there’s a chance none of us will come out of this alive.” I can’t see his face, but his tone is even and sincere.
“I believe you,” she says, glancing anxiously around. “You should go now before someone else recognizes you.”
“Thank you.”
“Good luck to you both.”
We race out the door without looking back.
“Fuck.” Rick slams his hand against the wall in the living room. “This is a nightmare. Where the hell are we going to go?”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Kai says. “We’ll stay here, but you need to bring Harley and Joaquin back home, and you return to Harvard.”
“What about Dad?” Rick asks.
“What about him?” Kai snarls. “You three tell him nothing. If he doesn’t know where I am, he can’t get to me.”
“You know that won’t cut it with him.”
“Then tell him he’s dead to me! And leaving me alone is in his best interests, because if I get my hands on him, who knows what I’m liable to do.” Pure liquid venom spills from Kai’s mouth, and I’m shocked to see it directed at his dad.
“What if the waitress changes her mind and reports it?” Rick asks, changing tack.
“She won’t.” I perch on the edge of the couch. “I’m good at reading people, and she won’t say anything.”
“I agree,” Kai says.
“Wow.” Jackson grins, his gaze dancing between us. “This is progress.”
I poke my tongue out at him, and he chuckles.
“You did good, Abby,” Sawyer says, lifting his head from his laptop.
“She did more than good,” Kai supplies, and I detect a hint of pride in his voice. “She could’ve turned us in, turned me in, but she didn’t.” His eyes bore a hole in my skull as he stares at me, and a fissure of electricity crackles in the space between us.
“You have proof you can trust me,” I say, holding his gaze. “The ball’s in your court now.”
Sawyer nods respectfully at me. “Staying here is our best option,” he says, glancing at Rick. “Manning has eyes and ears everywhere, and this is bait. He wants us to run so he can find and kill Kai and take Abby back to Rydeville.”
Pain stabs me in the heart, like a hundred tiny knives pricking me all at once. Kai can’t die. It’s as simple as that. “That is totally his M.O., and we can’t leave. But you guys can’t either, because if he locates you, then he’ll locate us.”
“I have it covered,” Rick says.
“How?” I ask.
“The guy who owns this place has access to a private jet. They can pick us up here and drop us directly home.”
I shake my head. “That won’t work. The pilot has to lodge a flight plan, and they can trace it back here.”
Rick smiles. “The pilot is his dad, and his brother is an FBI agent with mad IT skills that make Sawyer’s skills look like chopped liver.” His phone pings in his pocket. “And, speak of the devil.” He grins, walking backward. “I’ve got to take this. I’ll make arrangements.” He swipes his finger across the screen, turning around and walking toward the door. “Hey, man. I was just talking about you.”
“He sounds like a handy friend to have,” I say.
“Chopped liver, my ass,” Sawyer grumbles, stabbing his keypad as if it’s done him an injury.
Kai and Jackson exchange grins. “Don’t worry, dude,” Jackson says, slapping Sawyer on the back. “You’re still our number one.”
“Fuck off,” Sawyer snaps, and my mouth forms an O. Sawyer is one cool cucumber, and it’s not like him to lose it. I file that little tidbit away for future.
“You’re not speaking to your father?” I ask Kai, kicking off my sneakers and swinging my legs up onto the couch.
He drops on the end of the couch, lifting my legs and placing my feet in his lap. “That asshole is dead to me.” I arch a brow. “Don’t look at me like that!” he snaps.
“Why?”
“Why do you fucking think?” He drags a hand through his hair.
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.” He’s said that to me before, and I’ve always loved throwing his words back at him.
“Because he’s manipulated me for the last time. I’m done with his shit.” His eyes penetrate mine. “Done making excuses for all the crap he’s pulled.” He squeezes his eyes shut for a couple seconds. “What he did to you, what he did to us, is unforgivable. That was it for me.”
Silence engulfs the room, and the weight of what hasn’t been said adds tension to the air.
“Kai.”
His eyes flit to mine.
“Where are your baby brothers?” Jackson hinted at something the other day, and it got me thinking.
I was only seven when I attended Kai’s mom’s funeral, and I remember his baby brothers. They were only one and two, respectively. But I kinda got confused then, because when we were hanging out as kids, it was always the Anderson four. Rick, Kai, Joaquin, and Harley. It got muddled in my head, and I forgot about the other two because the only time I’d ever seen them was at the funeral. Emma had given birth to them after she fell out with my mother, so I never knew the two youngest. All this time, I’ve been thinking Kai had three brothers, but he has five.
Yet no one has mentioned them.
Not even once.
And that’s weird.
Sawyer and Jackson lock eyes on Kai. “Tell her, man,” Jackson says as Sawyer closes his laptop and stands. Together, they walk out of the room, leaving us alone.
Kai’s chest heaves up and down, and the urge to comfort him is riding me hard, but I resist.
“My father gave them up for adoption,” he admits after a few beats.
My jaw slackens. “What?!”
He rubs his hands up and down my legs as he stares off into space, looking deep in thought. “Dad was a mess after your mom died.” He looks over at me. “Rick and I thought it was a delayed reaction to our mom’s death, but as we got older, and we listened to his drunken ramblings, we realized Dad was mourning another woman.” His eyes bore into mine. “Your mother.” He shakes his head, averting his eyes again. “Anyway, Dad checked out, leaving Rick and me to look after our younger brothers, but we didn’t have a fucking clue how to look after babies, and Rogan and Spencer were always crying. Dad would shout at us to shut them up, and we tried, but—”
“But you were only kids yourselves, and it was unfair of him to burden you like that.”
He shrugs. “We came home one day from school, and they were gone. Just like that.” He lowers his head, and his chest shakes.