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All the air left my lungs in a rush as I watched the back door open and Kai came walking inside. I should have been relieved to see him, but I wasn’t. He wasn’t alone. Dana Walters was hanging onto his arm, laughing as he said something to her. My stomach sank and bile rose in my throat. Oxygen promptly left the room and I was frozen in place.
They stopped together just inside the room and I watched her entering his space. Kai wasn’t smiling at her, but his face was dipping down to her ear to say something again. I watched her hands as they went to his waist. His hands were wrapping around her biceps and I couldn’t watch it anymore.
Spinning on my heel, I rushed out of the room, blindly pushing my way through the groups of people. I reach the bottom of the stairs that led to the second floor of Lucas’s parents' massive house. My chest rose and fell with every shallow breath from my anxiety. I didn’t know where I was going, but I ended up making my way upstairs instead.
There were a few couples making out in the hall and I found myself ducking into the first room that wasn’t occupied. As I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, the smell of old books instantly flooded my senses. It was all I needed to feel a sense of relief. I was inside their family library.
A smile didn’t touch my lips, but it helped to soothe the anxiety and the pain. I lifted the plastic cup to my mouth and swallowed down the rest of the alcohol. I stepped deeper into the room as I admired the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. It was nowhere near as exquisite as the one in Kai’s home, but it was a close second. It was closer to the one in my own house. I walked around the room, my fingertips dragging along the spines of the books as I perused Lucas’s family’s collection.
The door to the library suddenly opened, drawing me away from the books. I spun on my heel, my breath trapped in my throat as I whipped around to see who it was. I sighed in annoyance when I saw it was Elias. I had known him for most of my life, as his father worked for mine. Elias had developed a crush on me some years ago and he was convinced we were supposed to end up together.
“Hey, Winter,” he slurred his words as he stepped farther into the room. A crooked grin formed on his lips and his eyes were bloodshot as he stumbled slightly. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I was actually getting ready to leave.”
Elias frowned. “So soon?” He stepped closer, closing in on me. I attempted to duck away from him, but his hand caught my wrist and he spun me around to face him. “Stay and hang out with me, Win.”
“Let go of me, Elias,” I demanded, my voice harsh as I tried to pull my wrist from him. “You’re drunk.”
“Come on, Winter.” I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he pulled me flush against him. “Stop fighting this between us. You know we were always supposed to be together.”
I tried to plant my hands against his chest, but he pushed them out of the way. “We’re just friends, Elias. I told you I don’t have feelings for you.”
“But you could,” he insisted, his warm breath on my face as he closed the space between us. “I could make you love me.”
“Stop, Elias,” I told him, shaking my head as he held my wrist by my side. His other hand was around the nape of my neck and mine was back against his chest. “Let go of me.”
I was shaking my head at him, my eyes clamped shut. Suddenly, he was stumbling backward and his hands were ripped away from me. My eyes opened in a flash and they widened as I saw he wasn’t moving of his own accord. Kai’s hands were wrapped around Elias’s throat and he was dragging him backward.
Elias’s hands clawed at Kai’s and I watched in horror as the muscles in Kai’s arms flexed as he tightened his grip around Elias’s neck.
“Kai, stop.” My voice came out as a whisper as I watched a shadow sliding across his expression. His eyes lifted to mine and they were filled with rage. “You have to let go of him,” I urged him louder.
Kai released his hands and Elias fell to the floor in a rush. He turned his back to me as he stepped in front of Elias.
“What the fuck, man?” Elias slurred at him as he rubbed at his neck.
Kai grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him back to his feet. He didn’t utter a single word as he drove his fist into the side of Elias’s face. It was as if everything was moving in slow motion, yet it was all happening so fast. I knew I had to do something. Kai kept hitting him and if he didn’t stop, I didn’t know what the hell was going to happen.
I reached for him, wrapping my small hands around his biceps as I tried to pull him back. “Malakai, stop. Please, just stop hitting him.”
His body stiffened and I watched his jaw clench as he stopped his fist from hitting Elias’s face again. Instead, Kai grabbed Elias’s shirt with both hands and was pushing him back toward the door. “If you look at her again, I will gouge your eyes out with my bare hands. If you breathe in her direction, I will collapse both of your lungs. And if you touch her again, Iwillkill you.”
He dropped one hand to the door and opened it before he shoved Elias through the opening. Elias stumbled backward across the hall and crashed into the wall. Kai slammed the door shut and let out a ragged breath as he turned to face me.
The rage had vanished from his eyes. The darkness still lingered, but there was concern and terror mixing in his stormy irises. He closed the distance between us, instantly lifting his hands to cup my face.
“Are you okay?” His eyes scanned my face with desperation. “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. He just caught me by surprise.”
“Surprise?” There was a harshness to his tone. “He was seconds away from assaulting you.” He paused for a moment as his eyes narrowed on mine. “What are you doing here?”
“I came here looking for you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “In the library?”
The memory of what I saw downstairs bombarded me and I took a step away from him. “I came here because I needed to collect myself after I saw you downstairs with Dana.”
