Thoughtful(152)

I’d turned down her suggestion of the back room. For one, I’d go home alone if I had sex with her right now, and I didn’t want to be alone tonight. And secondly, it felt wrong to do it here, in Kiera’s workplace, while Kiera was here. It would be akin to taking someone on her bed. I don’t know, even though things were kind of snarky between us, it just felt off-limits to me.

Kiera had been mainly ignoring me while I’d been sussing out my companion for the night, but it was clearly a forced reaction. I could tell she wanted to openly glare at me, wanted to go off on me, she just didn’t have a reason to.

I was minding my own business, heading to the restroom, when Kiera finally spoke to me; these were the first direct words she’d said in a while, and after they registered, I wished she’d kept her damn mouth shut.

“Wanna try keeping it in your pants, Kyle?”

Stopping in my tracks, I turned around. Did she seriously just say that to me? Did she have any idea how hypocritical those words were, coming from her mouth? Denny’s failed attempt to talk to me about my dating habits—at Kiera’s request—flooded my mind. She had no right to talk to me that way.

“That’s rich,” I laughed, anger filling my veins.

“What?” Her tone was blank, but her eyes were as fiery as mine. She was ticked, and she had no right to be.

I walked over to where she was standing at an empty table. Grabbing her arm, I pulled her close to me. We hadn’t been this close in a while, and my heart started beating harder. No. I would not let her affect me. I would not let her in. Kiera tensed, and I didn’t know if that was because of my closeness or what I was about to say. Leaning in so I could talk in her ear, I whispered, “Is the woman with the live-in boyfriend, the one whom I’ve had sex with on not fewer than two occasions, really lecturing me on abstinence?”

Kiera tried to pull away from me, but I held her tight. Frustrated anger inflamed my body, and harsh words escaped before I could stop them. Lips directly on her ear, I hissed, “If you actually marry him, will I still get to fuck you?”

I knew I’d gone too far the moment the words left my mouth. Kiera agreed. Bringing her hand around, she pulled away and slapped me. No, “slapped” is too mild sounding. She whipped my face. That was what it felt like. Staggering back a step, I inhaled a sharp breath. Stars exploded in my vision. My ears rang, and my cheek felt like she’d touched me with a hot iron. Dazed, I could only stare at her. What the hell?

“You stupid son of a bitch!” she screamed, seemingly unhinged.

Completely ignoring the fact that we were in a packed bar, drawing an audience with every tense second that slipped by, Kiera raised her hand to strike me again. This time, I caught her wrist and pulled it down. She winced in pain, and I realized my grip was hurting her, but I didn’t let up. I knew the look in her eye—she wanted blood. My blood.

“What the hell, Kiera? What the fucking hell!” If she was going to ignore our very alert audience, then I would too. Fuck it. Fuck it all. I was too pissed to care anymore.

Her other hand twitched, and I grabbed it before she could attempt to backhand me. She still didn’t fucking back down. The feisty bitch raised her leg like she was going to knee me in the balls. Oh, I don’t think so. I shoved her to the side, away from me. She couldn’t attack me if she couldn’t reach me. Surprising me, she leaped after me again. She was almost like a wild animal, trying to rip me to shreds. If I weren’t so angry at her, I might have been concerned.

While Evan grabbed Kiera around the waist, restraining her, Sam put a hand on my chest. It wasn’t needed. I wasn’t going to go anywhere near her. Jenny moved between Kiera and me, arms outstretched, like she was magically holding us apart. While my eyes were glued on Kiera, I felt Matt and Griffin step behind me. Matt was quiet, Griffin was laughing; aside from Kiera’s and my heavy breaths, his laughter was the only sound in the bar. I was glad he found this amusing. It was anything but to me.

When no one seemed to know what to do with the two of us, Jenny took charge. Grabbing my hand, then Kiera’s, she started pulling us away. “Come on,” she told us in a tight voice. Clearly she wasn’t happy about this either.

Following Jenny’s lead, I ignored Kiera on the other side of her. I didn’t really want to see that bitch right now. My face still felt like it was on fire. I was really tired of her smacking me. I was tired of anyone smacking me. I’d been smacked enough in this lifetime.

I blocked out everything and everyone as Jenny pulled us into the hallway. Evan opened the door to the back room and Jenny dragged us inside. Evan scanned the hallway for eavesdroppers, then stepped inside the room, closed the door, and guarded it, like Kiera and I were prisoners or something. The whole thing seemed ridiculous to me, and I just wanted to go home.