“Honestly, it’s not really your business,” Quinn said.
“We are,” I said.
“Just friends, in a house with only one bed and no couch… interesting,” Kai said. He gently laid Lucy back into her make-shift bed.
“Look, my guy, at the end of the day, you’re far from my type,” I told Kai.
“So, you don’t like black guys?” he shot out.
“Kai—”
“What? That has nothing to do with it,” I said, cutting Quinn off.
“Well, if you’re not into Quinn, nor me, then what?”
“I’m not into you because you give me a weird vibe, and you tried to force yourself on me,” I said.
“Wait, what?” Kai said.
“Yeah… last night… Ya tried to kiss me… a little forcefully, might I add,” I said.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“I think it’s time for you to head on out,” Quinn said. “We have quite a bit to do today.”
He nodded and headed out of the room. Quinn followed him, and I walked over to Lucy. I knelt and scooped her into my arms. I checked her all over. Then I sat and started letting her move all about on the floor. Quinn came back into the room and stood in the doorway watching me play with her.
“Did you want to practice sparring this morning?” he asked.
“You really aren’t tired?” I asked.
“Honestly, I feel the most rested I have in over a month—”
“Because you slept on a bed…” I finished.
“Yeah…” he said, dropping his eyes to the floor.
Instant guilt settled into my stomach.
“So… sparring or no?” he asked, after a minute of silence.
“Umm… yeah, sure,” I said.
“Alright, I’ll set the mat up. We can go outside since it’s nice today,” he said.
He headed out of the room, and I sat there playing with Lucy for a few minutes longer and then put her back onto the blanket. She only played for short periods before she napped again. She had another two hours or so before she needed to eat. I headed out of the house. He stood on the mat bouncing around, shirt and shoes lying on the ground beside the mat. I dropped my eyes to the ground. I made every effort not to look, not to think about how wonderfully good-lookin’ he was. I couldn’t have these thoughts, but every time I tried to will them away, they pressed in the back of my mind harder.
I was struggling with reasons to hate him. Since being in the bayou, he’d been nothing but nice to me. Hell, even when I was captive, he took care of me, in a roundabout way. I—we—needed to focus on getting back home. We both had obligations that needed to be our priorities. That’s what I told myself, and yet some part of me wanted him.
I stood next to the mat, pulling off my shoes and stepping onto the mat. I started jumping around, warming my calves up. He threw fake punches at me. I countered and moved out of the way.
“I know I asked for this, but what’s the point when I’ll never be able to beat someone… like you?” I asked.
“Because there are many others out there that are not werewolves that are shitty people,” he said.
“How are you going to take down Ravik?” I asked.
He stopped moving, his arms dropped to his side, and he stared at me. “I haven’t quite worked it out in my head.”
