AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I'm laughing because you came all the way over here to ask me what soap I use?"
"It's not that far," I sulkily reply.
But somehow it's broken the ice between us. He looks more relaxed, even if his eyes have darkened, deep, like there's a secret he knows that he's waiting for me to find out.
"You came here to ask about what I told you before I left."
My mouth doesn't answer but my head does in a nod.
"What do you want to tell me, Kiki? I can't say it for you."
"Did you mean everything you said?"
He nods. Twice. "Every single word. We should be together." He says it like it's not a bombshell. As if it's something we both should've known all along,
The laissez-faire way he says it makes me doubt him. He can’t be this sure about something, about us. "I don't believe you."
He smiles. It has the effect of turning my insides to molten lava. "Yes, you do. You're just scared of it."
The claws of the past dig into me, warning me. "No, Kylian. You hurt me."
The smile falls and his eyes now flood with regret. "I know. God, I know. I'm so sorry. I was so confused. I didn't know what to do. And the only thing I could think of doing was hurt you in a way that you’d never want to see me again. That night outside of the night club, I thought it was just an anomaly. We were drunk, the music, the atmosphere. And I didn't want to fuck things up with my best friend over a one-night stand, no matter how amazing it would've been.”
An image of my brother’s face appears in the space between us; angry, disappointed, hurt.
“And how do you feel now?”
Kylian shrugs. "I love your brother. He is my best friend and one of the best men I’ve ever known. And my life would fucking suck without his friendship. But this thing between us... it's real, Kiki. And we deserve the chance to see what it's about. Don't you agree?"
Nathan’s face disappears, and I’m so close, I’m so close to believing. But then the memory of that night when he told me to meet him… and then he was there with someone else. The pain comes rushing back, everything hurts.
I shove him, stepping away from the wall, gasping for breath. What am I doing? How can I even be considering this?
"No!" I yell. "I can't... I can't be hurt by you again." I run towards the elevator.
"Kiara!” He chases after me, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me against him. “Dammit, Kiara, please!" he begs, spinning me around to face him. His fingers grip my chin hard, forcing me to look up at him. "Look at me! Will you look at me? Can't you see that I regret hurting you more than anything I've ever done in my life?"
His voice, husky with desperation, moves me. The same way his eyes are begging me, pleading with me, to believe him. He looks almost... hurt. Suddenly all those years I wished to witness him feel just a tiny bit of the hurt he caused me vanishes.
At this moment, there’s no past, just us and now.
"I believe you, Kylian.” I exhale. “I believe you."
The words hang between us like a balloon and then, in slow motion, pop, and everything held within, the secrets, the longing, the pain, explodes.
His breath is ragged as he stares at me taking in what I’ve said.
And then, finally, he kisses me.
Kisses me like our lives depend on it; hard, passionate, his lips pressing against mine as my arms come around to grip his biceps, digging my nails deep into his muscle fibers as he kisses me.
"God, Kiara..." he murmurs against my lips as he drags a breath into his lungs. "Sweet Kiki, I've wanted to do this for so long."
I want to admit that it's the same for me, but I don't want to pull my lips from his.
I could lose myself in this moment forever, his hand sliding down from my chin to grasp around my neck, feeling my pulse against his palm.
He suddenly pulls away, and he stares, not into my eyes, but down at my mouth. Like he just realized we've finally kissed for the first time. He runs the pad of his thumb over my already swollen bottom lip, and then lifts it to his mouth, sucking in the aftermath of our kiss.
