I laughed harder. “Everybody calls him that.”
“Not me… I’m not calling him that. I don’t care if that is his middle name.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“Exactly. So until I meet him, his name is Kaiden.”
I shook my head as I leaned back against my pillows. “Whatever.”
“So who is he?”
I tried to figure out how to answer without explaining the entire mess that had brought Vice into my life. All she knew was that I’d witnessed a shooting, everything else I refused to tell her because I didn’t want her to worry. “He’s somebody I met after I came back.”
“Sooo, you like this somebody.”
I smiled but didn’t say anything, and apparently my silence was enough of an answer.
“Oh, shit.”
“Calm down.”
“You like him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“And you didn’t have to.”
I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me. “We’ve been spending time together.”
“How much time?”
“Enough.”
Her voice changed immediately. “Did you kiss him?”
My mouth fell open. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you sound guilty.”
“I do not sound guilty.”
“You kissed him.”
I covered my face with one hand, already knowing there was no point in lying. “Maybe.”
Her scream was so loud that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Girl, calm down!”
“Do you know how long it’s been since you talked to me about another man?”
“I know.”
“No, seriously, Milan. You were with Evan forever.”
The mention of his name settled something inside me.
Ten years was a long time to belong to one person. For ten years, Evan had been the only man I kissed, the only man I slept beside and the only man I imagined myself growing old with. Even after finding out about his betrayal, a part of me had still been stuck in the life I thought we were supposed to have.
Tonight, I had kissed somebody else.
