“I may very well be all those things from time to time. But I assure you that’s not why we broke up,” he responds casually.
“What do you mean?” I demand.
“I mean, Kendall hasn’t told you everything. She’s good at that—omitting important details to people she cares about. We broke up because there were three of us in that relationship. Me, Kendall, and you.”
“Me?” I ask, even more confused than I was a minute ago.
“Our relationship couldn’t survive you, the baggage you two had. The absolute chokehold you had on her. But seeing you two together today…it makes sense. I see it. It’s like the universe intervened to finally give me closure.”
“See what?”
“What you two have. No one else ever stood a chance with her. Not even me. A charming, handsome, pediatric surgeon,” he smirks. This is where a smarter, more evolved guy would have walked away and ended the conversation. But he just had to have the last fucking word. Regardless of what it cost him—his ego, his pride, his date that was no doubt wondering where he was by now. “Oh, and Kai, she may have faked her feelings for me at the end, but there are some things she definitelydidn’tfake, like how much she loves my tongue,” he says glaring at me.
The thought of this asshole’s mouth anywhere near her body has me seeing red. My rage starts to boil over and it takes less than a millisecond for my flying, curled fist to connect with his face. I hit him with precision and strength—hard enough to cause serious pain but not hard enough to break anything. He stumbles backwards bringing his hand to his mouth and whenhe pulls it away, there’s bright red blood dripping from his thumb.
“Fuck. A little sensitive about our mutual love interest, huh bro?” he asks, baiting me.
Did this guy have a fucking death wish?I advance towards him, quickly grabbing his arm and pinning it behind his back. With his face shoved against the paper towel dispenser, I twist his arm a little more for good measure.
“Okay, okay,” he pleads desperately, spittle flying from his lips.
“If you say another fucking word about her or ever come near her again, I will break every one of your fucking fingers slowly and make it look like an accident. And I’m pretty sure you need those to eatbro,” I warn.
“You made your point. I deserved that,” he concedes.
I back away from him, easing up the slightest bit and he walks out the door as quickly as possible, tail between his legs.
Chapter 32
Kendall
Kaireturnsfromthebathroom looking like he wants to punch someone. And based on Julian’s busted lip and the way he scurried out of the café without so much as making eye contact with the three of us, I’m not entirely sure he didn’t.
He’s quiet on the drive back to my apartment. I know we are on a freight train that is fast approaching a fight, I can feel it. And yet I have no inclination to throw myself in front of the train to stop its inevitable demise. Which is okay. We need to clear the air. Let things hurt and breathe a little bit. This is a fight I know we need to have. There are some things that are more painful not to share with him and my history with Julian is one of them.
After I put Akio down for the night and make sure his sound machine is on, I lightly pad out to the living room. Kai is sitting on the couch head back and eyes closed. He has a bag of frozen peas resting on his right hand. I sit down next to him gently.
“What happened?” His eyes flutter open and he props himself up with his arms on his knees, his hands clasped together tightly.
“You aren’t going to like it,” he declares, laying the bag of peas on the table.
“Well I need to hear it anyways,” I say, folding my arms across my chest.
“He was running his idiotic mouth about you and I ensured he wouldn’t do that again.”
"How?” I implore.
“I think you know how,” he answers, his tone neutral as if all he did was flick an annoying fly off of his shoulder. I assumed him and Julian had gotten in some sort of altercation. I had put two and two together, but part of me was hoping I was wrong.
“Kai Matsumoto, you can’t just go around threatening and punching my ex-boyfriends because they piss you off.”
He shrugs. “I’ve done a lot more for a lot less. And I don’t know what to tell you. You know how I get with you.”
I do know how he gets. In fourth grade, when girls made fun of me for having two moms, he helped me put fire ants in their lunchbox. In seventh grade, when Becca Hightower started bullying me about my hair, he conveniently spit gum in hers and made it look like an accident. And senior year, when Aiden Kenney called me a slut at homecoming, Kai beat the shit out of him. He has little tolerance for people who don’t treat me well. He is also overprotective to a fault. That’s the way it’s always been and I kind of love that about him. I’m pissed…but also a little turned on.
I let out a huff of frustration.
“You mean like a territorial caveman?” I ask and Kai snorts in response. “Even if he deserved it, you could have been the bigger person and walked away.”
