Page 306

“I don’t want you dealing with it alone.”

“Well, now I’m not. Thanks to those girls, you’re dealing with it, too.”

As soon as Kota tells me which lot to turn into, I start searching for her white Lexus.

“People have been doing that to you all week? The fucking snickering and shit?”

“Pretty much.”

“And you still asked me to meet you?”

“It was my grand gesture.”

I almost laugh at that. “Grand gesture? But that’s to express one of two things, remorse or…”

“Love.”

The Lexus forgotten, my head whips Kota’s way. She’s already got a hand up to her head.

Slamming on the brakes, I shift into park before pulling that arm of hers down.

“I love you, Khaos.”

“How?”

“What do you mean ‘how?’ I don’t know. I just…fell for you.”

“You fell for me?” Me?

“Yeah,” is practically a whisper.

“How do you know?”

“How do I know I fell for you?”

I nod.

“I…” She pauses. “I hate being away from you.”

Check.

“I think about you all the time. And when I do I…” Her lips spread into a smile.

Got that, too. I’ve never smiled so much in my life as I do when I’m around Kota, or yeah, even thinking about her.

“I want the best for you.”

That’s a given.

“I hate seeing you hurt.”

Just the idea causes me literal fucking pain.

“I feel like I can be myself around you, except…maybe…the better version? I want to be the better version of myself. Actually, no, the best, because I think you deserve it.”

Kota deserves the world, and if I have to improve myself to make that happen, I will. I’m already trying to.

“I don’t even look at other guys. Like, obviously I have to. They’re there, existing and stuff, so I see them, but I don’t find any of them attractive anymore. Even when other girls say a guy’s hot, I’m just like ‘meh.’”