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“Come on,” he said, as I inevitably took his hand.
“I’d kill for a coffee right now.”
Ten
ADRIAN
There weren’t many people in this world who understood me the way Kayla did. And that’s fine, because most of the rest of the world could fuck right off.
“Up ahead there on the left,” she said, tapping me on the shoulder. “They should still be open.”
I leaned into the turn and Kayla leaned with me, the way she always did. She was a veteran passenger when it came to my motorcycle. Someone who wasn’t constantly afraid that she might fall off, as if I’d ever let anything happen to her. Even on the rain-slick roads she never faltered, hugging me loosely around the waist with that familiar two-handed grip I missed so much. I swear, at times it felt like she belonged there. Like she was an extension of myself, and there was only one person on the bike instead of two.
We bounced into the parking lot of the little cafe, my headlamp reflecting off the puddles in the broken asphalt. I swung down the kickstand, and Kayla dismounted with practiced ease. She secured her own helmet before pulling out her hair-tie and letting those gorgeous brown ringlets bounce around her shoulders.
“This place new?”
“Nah, not even close,” she replied. “Elizabeth and I used to come here all the time. It was far enough out of the heart of town that we could gossip freely. You know, talk about boys.”
“Which boys?”
“All of them,” Kayla smiled. “Maybe not so much you, though.”
“Not me eh?” I mused. “And why’s that?”
“Well Elizabeth crushed on you, that’s for sure,” she admitted. “But to be honest, I think she was a little intimidated by you.”
I took a moment to imagine our friend, smiling and laughing and tipping back cans of beer with us in the old sandpit behind the powerlines. It angered me to think right now she was lying in a silk-lined casket, only a few miles away.
“What about you?”
“Am I intimidated by you?” Kayla asked.
“No. About the gossip thing.”
She smirked instead of answering as I held the door for her, and that was fine. My eyes were glued to her ass anyway.
It’s been too long.
It totally had. Way too fucking long.
Your fault, not hers.
That part was true too. I’d made myself almost intentionally scarce, and I reached out to practically no one. Luke barely had enough contact information to track me down, and tell me about Elizabeth. At which point all the incommunicado stuff made me feel extra shitty.
As the hostess led us to our table, I shoved all of those things out of my head. I couldn’t help staring at her, at how good she looked. At how much womanly beauty the better half of the last decade had bestowed upon her, all when I wasn’t looking.
She’s not a girl anymore. Not even close.
I really liked that about her now. No, actually I loved it. Kayla had curves that were smoother when we were younger, and they were in all the right places. But it was her attitude as well. An all-new maturity in the way she presented herself.
She ordered for us, then folded her hands neatly in front of her. Her smile had the same little upturned corners it always did, only the lines at those corners were a little bit sharper and more defined.
“So… how long you sticking around?”
I grumbled internally. “Probably longer than I should.”
“Long enough to see your father?”
