My hands trembled and pain shot through my palms as I tightened them into fists. If I showed signs of nervousness, it was game over. Guys like Rick were like sharks smelling blood. Give them a weakness and they pounce on it, relishing the fact they were holding some sort of power.
So, I stood tall, schooling my features into something unbothered. "I'm not your babe, asshole."
Maybe insulting a guy twice my size wasn't the smartest thing to do—I could literally hear Killian's nagging voice inside my head. But Chris really managed to tick me off. Or the three shots finally kicked in, I wasn't sure. So yeah, maybe I should have waited for him and Cody to get here, but how was I supposed to know that Chris' weird ass friend would interrupt us?
I made to move past Rick, but his arms shot out, forcing me to backpedal. Fuck. I should have taken a few self-defense courses. Then again, Rick was so big it probably wouldn't make a difference.
"Get out of my way," I said, but my voice had lost some of its confidence. I side-glanced my ex, but Chris had clamped his mouth shut and frowned at his feet. Yep, no help there. Not that that came as a surprise.
A cold, disgusting feeling slunk down my spine. Get back with him? What a freaking joke.
Rick smirked at me. "Why the rush, kitten?"
Ugh.
"My friends are waiting." And I had to get a fucking move on before a certain friend decided to come look for me. Who would give him the satisfaction of catching me being irresponsible? Not me.
Rick took another long drag from his cigarette. "Oh yeah? The little feisty one downstairs?"
"Suz, yeah." I paused, and added after an afterthought, "And Killian and Cody. They should also be here by now."
If the situation wasn't so tense, I would've laughed. Rick choked on the smoke he'd just inhaled and erupted in a loud coughing fit. His pale skin turned completely white. "Y-you know them?"
Seeing his reaction, it finally clicked. He was the guy who got into a brawl with Killian around Halloween. The one with the raspy voice. No wonder he seemed intimidated. What did he say again? Killian nearly broke his arms? Well, how convenient.
"As I said, they're my friends." I made a show to check my phone. "And they're here. Are you going to let me pass or should we wait for them? 'Cause I'm totally cool with both."
He jerked his shoulders up and down. "Sure," he said in a tone as if he hadn't been the one blocking my way. "Go ahead."
Finally.
Feeling slightly suffocated from all the smoke, I sped through the hallways and somehow ended up in a small side yard. A brick wall rose to my left slightly hidden behind a shed.
My breath came out in a whoosh and I sank into a crouch, gripping my hair. So much for being a bad bitch. Any second longer and my facade would have crumbled. And I still didn't know who sent me those threats. Except that it hadn't been Chris. He seemed honestly surprised at least.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I shut my eyes tightly. I kind of wanted to see Killian now. At least he never made me feel weak. A little stupid sometimes but not weak. Should I message him? But then what? Tell him I might have a stalker and confronted my ex to see if it was him? Even in my head, that sounded ridiculous and sort of whiny, like I was pining for his attention. Then again, he'd told me to talk to him if anything happened.
But just as a last resort, a small voice whispered inside my head.
Argh! Why was this so hard?
I gripped my phone, feeling torn. Damn, it. There was only one way to find out. Besides, I could provide him with a case to solve. After all, he did choose to study criminal justice.
Alright. I stood, feeling better now that I had a plan.
I swiped through my contacts when a new notification popped up.
Suz: Where r u? Chris just came back alone!
Me: Side yard. It wasn't him. Join you guys in a sec.
Suz: No, stay put. And...good luck.
Huh?
A few moments later, the door burst open and a tall guy strode out, his head swiveling from side to side. Not just any guy but—
"Killian?"
He twisted around and stalked toward me. For a second it seemed like he would barrel right through me, but he stopped with only a sliver of space between us, towering over me with an expression as if I had kicked his dog or something.
"There you are," he clipped.
"Yes?" I replied slightly panicked.
He appeared way too fast. How should I approach this? Just come out and say it? But I tried that with Chris and that totally backfired. I dried my sweaty palms on my pants. Maybe I should tell him that I wanted to talk first.
Before I got the chance though, he snapped, "What in the world are you doing here?"
"I—What?" Did he mean the side yard? "I got lost and ended up here—"
"At a house?" He ran his hand through his hair. "Don't just go to these places when you have no idea what you're getting into."
At his commanding tone, all thoughts of wanting to talk faded into the back of my mind. "Stop telling me what to do."
"I'm not telling you what to do, I'm telling you to be smart. Use your common sense."
I already knew coming here had been a shitty idea, but he always had to point it out, didn't he? "So?" I shot back. "Maybe my common sense decided to take a vacation. Maybe it deserved a vacation."
He pinned me with an unamused stare. "Then I'm your replacement. So, until your common sense returns you better listen."
I fluttered my eyes at him. "I'm sorry I must have missed your crowning ceremony. Silly me."
"Tay," he groaned. "These guys are bad news, trust me on this."
"Thank you, genius, I already figured as much when I met Rick."
Killian's eyes flashed and his mouth drew into a hard line. Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Rick. Whoops.
He cursed, his voice rising with frustration. "You've got to be kidding me. Of course, you fucking did. Why am I even surprised?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, bristling at his tone.
He took a step back, scanning me from head to toe before more curses spilled from his mouth. "You already attract enough attention as it is," he started and continued in a pained voice, "What the hell prompted you to come here of all places looking like this? You have a talent to make others worry, don't you?"
I felt punched in the gut. So, just like Chris, he thought I was looking for attention?
"I wanted to meet Chris," I hissed.
Killian put on an expression as if he thought I wasn't quite right in the head. "Chris? You mean your douche of an ex? Or are we talking about another Chris that I don't know about? You two are suddenly friends as well, yeah?"
"What?"
The sarcasm was thick in his voice as he spoke again. "Aren't you making friends with everyone now? Or was the quarterback an exception?"
Friends was a bit of a stretch but if he wanted to be mean and fight I was happy to oblige. "So, what if I am?" I challenged.
"Ridiculous," Killian muttered, raking his hand through his hair. It had grown a bit since the vacation and he made it look all tousled and...sexy. Okay, where the hell did that thought come from?
Focus.
I put on my best glare, settled my hands on his chest, and gave it a push. He barely budged. "Why would you care? It's none of your business!"
"You're my business so this is part of my business. You can't possibly like him, can you? Why the hell are girls like that?"
"Why the hell are you like that? I can like whoever I want!"
"I guess then you have somebody else to catch you when you do something stupid again," he growled. His eyes widened just a fraction. "Shit," he started, dragging his hand down his face. "That came out wrong—
It was too late. My chest tightened. "That's what you hope for, isn't it? If it's such a chore, just look the other way next time! I never asked you to do anything, so don't put your actions on me!"
His eyes shone with an intensity that made my stomach clench. He took a step forward, forcing me to crane my neck even more. "I'm not putting my actions on you. You know I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying you must be happy now that—"
"You're the one who must be happy!" My finger poked his abs with as much force as I could muster. It felt like I was poking a wall. "And stop using your stupid height on me like this."
With one swift movement, he picked me up and placed me on the wall behind me. His hands loosely spread at the side of my legs, stabilizing me. "Better, your highness?"
He was still taller but now the distance had shrunk to a few inches. I blinked, feeling tingles spread through my body, but they weren't unpleasant. Quite the opposite really.
"I'm not some backpack you can just pick up and place wherever you like," I said.
"Really? Could've fooled me with how tall you are. Besides"—he bent forward, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth—"you don't act as if it bothers you though."
I realized my hands were gripping his shoulders and let them fall to my sides. "You're so annoying, you know that?" I tried to sound angry, but it came out breathless. Okay, so maybe I liked it just a teeny tiny bit. But just because he did it so naturally that it was kind of hot. Not that I would ever admit that out loud.
"No," he said quietly, his eyes falling to my lips for a brief second. "You're the annoying one."
"Then just leave," I retorted.
"That's the annoying part," he said in that low, soothing tone of his. "Whenever I leave, you do something stupid."
"I told you I didn't want or ask for your help!"
"Exactly. That makes it even worse, knowing that you wouldn't ask for my help. So, every time I turn away, I have to worry about what you're doing instead." He squinted at me. "Like pulling up at a house where she knows nobody to talk to her douche of an ex."
My nerves did some weird jittery thing. "Then just stop."
He sighed. "Don't you think I would've already if I could?"
A thrill went through me, catching me off guard.
"You are on my mind all the time," he spoke softly, holding my gaze. "I have to watch you do one stupid thing after another, and if you're not there I have to wonder what you're doing, and it doesn't stop. It just keeps getting worse. So, please stay away from the likes of Rick before I suffer an aneurysm."
I couldn't decide if I should feel offended or pleased by that statement, so I chose the easy way out. "I don't think that'll be hard. He didn't seem to like my company."
Killian raised his brows. "I'm going to make damn sure he doesn't, but don't bullshit me."
"I'm not," I said defiantly. His name certainly worked wonders to scare Rick away. It was probably better to keep that tidbit to myself for now. Although I really really wanted to know why Killian had fought with him in the first place, I shoved my curiosity back down.
"Tay, don't make me say it. I know you have some self-awareness. If that psycho laid eyes on you he'd definitely make a move, but especially after seeing you in that outfit."
Did he just call me pretty in a roundabout Killian-type-of way?
I knew it was dumb to feel this happy about it when I was one flare away from looking like a drug addict, but as soon as his words registered, this weird, girly part of me spontaneously decided to dance salsa. Any sort of flattery from him felt like a rare gift and I had to fight back the smug smile threatening to come out.
"Tay?" Killian asked softly. "You good?"
He implied that I was pretty, which was cool. All good—Okay, no it was not fucking good! How could he just drop this so casually?
"Totally fine," I said, working hard to keep a blank face.
That was me; totally unimpressed. Except that I suddenly felt light-headed and breathless like I sat on a roller-coaster, rushing toward the ground. What the hell was wrong with me? He gave me one backhanded compliment and I acted like some idiot who bait-clicked on the wrong email link and now my whole system got flooded with malware, drivers stopped working, random programs popped up, software applications froze, and my bios was about to crash.
"You must have noticed the way guys tend to act around you," Killian commented dryly.
"But not you." The words slipped out before I could stop them. Yep, Brain.exe definitely decided to stop working.
His fingers brushed along my side and settled on my hip. "Me?"
"You don't act like that." Like you're into me.
Tilting his head, he said slowly, "Well, I don't think I have to. Doesn't mean I'm blind."
"Yes, but you—
"Wait, does that bother you?"
My body flashed hot, cold, and hot again. Somewhere inside my head a vacuum appeared and sucked out all rational thoughts. It took me a second to respond. "No!"
Both his brows shot up. "Seriously, for someone so smart you sure can be dense. It's not about that."
"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Pokerface. I forgot you were captured by my—as you like to point out—amazing personality."
He gave me a playful grin. "Glad you know that."
"Yep. Because I'm Cody's friend, right?"
The grin got replaced by a small scowl as Killian leaned forward, bringing our faces even closer. "Do you really think I'd go this far because you're friends with my roommate?"
"You made it sound that way."
His mouth opened and closed again before he finally spoke. "You're impossible. You really want me to spell it out for you?"
Now it was my time to get angry again. "And you are a pain in—"
Before I could finish that sentence his lips crashed onto mine, shutting me up.