Page 57 of Fatal Pattern

“Blade, could we have a minute?” Kiara’s eyes flicked toward Tori then back to him. “Just us.”

Tori snapped the laptop closed and pulled her cord free. She stacked her notepad and laptop under one arm. “I need a shower anyway.” Eyes down, she cut across the living room. The guest room door snicked shut, leaving him and Kiara alone.

“Let’s sit.” He touched her elbow, guiding her to the couch.

Every half-formed excuse collapsed before it left his throat. An apology would never make up for the way he’d dodged her calls, dragged her through Tori’s entire case last night, then didn’t bother mentioning Tori would be sleeping over. Kiara didn’t deserve this.

He sat beside Kiara, and she scooted over, putting space between them.

She studied his face, probably cataloguing the exhaustion. “You look terrible.”

“Thanks,” he said on a laugh. “Exactly what every guy wants to hear.”

She didn’t smile. Her gaze dropped to her hands, and he noticed her blush pink nail polish. So perfectly innocent. So perfectly her. The thought of his own stupidity made him feel like pond scum.

“Kiara, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, going on between me and Tori.”

She looked up at him, green eyes clear. “That’s just it. There’s a whole universe between you two. A shared history I could never be a part of.”

“That’s not—”

“Please.” She held up a hand. “This isn’t about anything you’ve done wrong. I’m not accusing you of anything.”

The words hit him wrong. She deserved better than his lip service. Better than him fumbling through damage control. Better than whatever this was.

“You’re a good man.” She squeezed his hand once, then let it go. “But your heart belongs to someone else. I suspect it always has.” She laughed without humor. “I don’t understand why you two can’t see it when everyone else can.”

Words gathered, then died on his tongue. He wanted to tell her she was wrong, beg her not to end things. But part of him—the part that had felt something shift when Tori had broken down in his arms last night—knew she was right.

“You and Tori . . . there’s something between you two that I could never compete with,” she whispered. “And I shouldn’t try. You deserve the person who already owns your heart, even if neither of you has admitted it.” She swallowed, offering him a sad smile. “You’re in love with her, Blade. You just can’t see it yet.”

In love with Tori?

“Don’t be upset. This really is for the best.”

She stood and wrapped him in a hug that smelled like her vanilla perfume. “Open your eyes, Blade. Tori’s actually an amazing woman.”

Her kindness cut straight through him. Anger would have been easier. Jealousy he could have fought against. But this gentle understanding, this graceful exit from his life, left him hollowed out and grateful and ashamed all at once.

He walked her to the door, his feet heavy on the hardwood.

“Take care of yourself.” She kissed his cheek, then was gone.

Blade closed the door behind her and leaned against it, staring at the bag of pastries on his counter. The white paper bag sat there like a symbol of the normal life that had just walked out his door.

16

Tori switched off the blow dryer and flicked her hair back, shaking it out. She couldn’t get over the look on Kiara’s face when she’d walked in, taking in the obvious overnight situation.

Great. She’d probably just torpedoed five months of Blade’s happiness.

It didn’t take a psychiatrist to know that women didn’t like it when their boyfriend’s best friend was another woman. Especially when that woman ended up wearing his clothes at seven in the morning.

God designed men and women to be in relationship. A symbiotic way of meeting each other’s needs. And it was only natural for men and women to be drawn into something beyond friendship when they spent extended time with someone of the opposite sex.

The cut on her arm burned like a brand. She shook two Tylenol from the bottle Blade kept stashed in the drawer and sucked water from the tap to swallow them both.

The mirror reflected back dark hair and dark eyes. Complete opposite of the woman Blade loved.