Kian(26)

Well…

I laughed to myself, looking back to the ground.

Maybe Kian wouldn’t have. He understood the humiliation from Edmund. He saw the torture my foster father put me through. Maybe I was romanticizing it, what Snark had warned me against doing. I didn’t know.

What was I doing?

Jake saved me from them, and I was thinking about Kian.

Then he started toward me. He was going to kiss me. I saw the intent in his eyes. I saw how he was looking at my lips.

I was torn. To stay or to hide, to be kissed or not to be kissed. Those were my choices.

This was Jake.

He was here. He helped me run from a pack of washed-up rich pretenders.

He was so close now.

I closed my eyes. It was now or never. I should leave or let it happen. I knew Jake. He was familiar. He wasn’t who my stomach was in knots over the entire night, who I shouldn’t even be seeing that night.

His hand caught mine, and I looked up as he said, “Jo.”

I bit down on my lip. If Erica were here, she would’ve been raging at me, but he was the better choice.

She didn’t know that yet.

His voice was hoarse as he tried to remain in control. “I really want to…” His hand lifted and cupped the back of my head. He tilted my face up, my lips waiting for his. He continued, “I really, really want to kiss you right now.”

He was standing over me, his dark eyes black as they looked down at me. I saw the lust there. I closed my eyes. I was waiting. The decision was made.

Jake was good. Jake was sane. Jake was—

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

And the decision was made. A wall slammed down inside me. I knew who had just texted me.

Erica was at the newspaper. She wouldn’t have texted. If she wanted something, she would’ve called. There was only one person who would’ve texted me, someone whom I’d known was going to text, and I had been waiting for it all day.

I stepped back from Jake’s hold.

The moment was gone. I couldn’t kiss him, not knowing what I would be pulling him into. I pulled my phone out then and read the one-worded message.#p#分页标题#e#



Roof.





“What is it?”

“Huh?” I was still looking at my phone.

He was here. He was waiting for me.

Jake gently nudged my hip with his hand. “Jo? You okay?”

Looking at him took work. My neck felt like it was pulling my head through waist-deep wet cement. When I could finally focus on him, his gaze went back to my phone.

“Is something wrong?”

Yes, very wrong.

I tucked the phone against the palm of my hand, so he couldn’t read the screen, and I slid it into my pocket.

“Uh, yeah—no, I mean, no. Nothing’s wrong.”

“You sure?”

“Very.”

The lies were spilling from my lips, but I needed to get Jake out of here. Even knowing he was so close to Kian sent a cold blast through my body.

“Um, I—thank you for walking me back to my place.”

“Walking?” Jake grinned, following me back inside from the balcony.

There was something off about his response to my comment. A buzzing sound was filling my head, so I couldn’t stop and pay attention, but I registered that. I shook my head. I couldn’t concentrate on what happened between us. My blood was coursing through me, picking up speed, as I made my way to the door.

The lights were still off, and there was a different feel to my own apartment. It felt alien, surreal. I knew it was because Kian was above. Fear was mixing with a sense of urgency, and I just wanted Jake gone. That was all I wanted at that very instant.

“Yeah.”

Pulling open the door, I fixed a fake smile on my face. “I, uh…we should do this again someday.”

Jake’s head reared back as he stared down at me, pausing in front of me by the open door. “Do this again? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” More lies. “Completely.”

“Okay…” He stepped into the hallway, still watching me. “You’re sure, sure?”

“Absolutely.” I started closing the door, still smiling around it. “Thank you, Wanker.”

“Wanker?” His eyebrows shot up.

I shut the door with a click, turning my back against it. I let out a breath of air, then drew another one in even more slowly. I closed my eyes. I needed to calm down. He was up there. And he was waiting. The meeting was finally going to happen.

There was no way I was going to calm down.

I grabbed my key and patted my pocket to make sure my phone was there, and I lingered on my bedroom door. I had a Taser in there. Erica never knew about it, but old habits died hard. I’d kept it just in case, and Kian was a killer.