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To my utter frustration, the one part of our friendship thathadn’treturned to normal was the touching. After our near miss in the escape room, Kai treated the air around me as a no-go zone. He was careful to make sure he didn’t so much as brush his arm against me as he passed. And as for hugs when I arrived or left? They were a thing of the past.
Fucking ironic that he’d stopped just as I’d realised I never wanted him to.
Tonight, we were at a bar opening in Soho. To my dismay, Tristan had slipped into the car after Kai. Judging by the expression on his face, he was as happy to see me as I was him. But for Kai’s sake, I kept things cordial. I still didn’t believe they were in love or serious, but I had to be respectful.
Tristan, however, hadn’t got the memo. He barely waited until Kai went to the bar to get us drinks before rounding on me. He had a lazy grin, but it did nothing to detract from the barb in his words. “Why are you here? Don’t you have better things to do than gatecrash your friend’s dates?”
“Can’t say I do,” I said, not taking my eyes off Kai at the bar. He was wearing a silver shirt that clung to his muscles. Like he was trying to torture me, he’d rolled up the sleeves, leaving his forearms on display. It wasn’t that I hadn’t noticed how hot he was before. For fuck’s sake, I’d helped him pick out that shirt. Didn’t think I’d be watching him in a bar months later, imagining stripping him out of it.
Seemed wild to me now that I hadn’t. All this time we’d wasted because I’d been so fucking blind.
“He has a boyfriend,” Tristan said pointedly. “Me. Can’t you see this is fucked up?”
And there it was, the reminder that I didn’t actuallyknowhow Kai felt about me. All I had to go on was some vague hints. Still, I wasn’t giving Tristan the satisfaction of my uncertainty. “Can’t say I do. This is how Kai and I have always been together.”
“It’s weird,” Tristan said flatly. I could feel his stare burning into the side of my face, but I refused to look away from Kai. He was leaning forward now to talk to the bartender, making his already tight trousers cling even more to his rear. It’d been two hours since he’d walked out in that outfit and I’d nearly swallowed my tongue. How had I gone two decades without climbing him like a tree?
I was here first.That was what my petty arse wanted to respond. Instead, I went with, “Take it up with Kai. If he’s got a problem with me being here, that’s down to him. Not you.”
Okay, perhaps I was being a bit shitty. But I wasn’t backing away until Kai told me to. Besides, if I thought for a second Kai was serious about Tristan, that he truly had feelings for him, that would be different. However, the couple of times I’d been out with them both, I hadn’t seen them do as much as hug.
Unless they saw me watching, of course. Then they’d glom together so hastily that I had to fight the urge to laugh. I knew Kai like the back of my hand. If he really liked Tristan, he had a funny way of showing it.
All I had to do was wait patiently for theirrelationshipto run its course.
Kai came back, balancing the three drinks in his hands. His easy grin slipped as he caught on to the tension between Tristan and me. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing,” I said, relieving him of a beer and sipping it. “Tristan and I are just getting to know each other.”
“Actually, Kai, can I talk to you?” Tristan took their drinks and put them on the table next to us. “Alone?”
Kai’s gaze bobbed between us for a second before he nodded. “Of course.”
They didn’t go far. The VIP area didn’t allow for that. Wanting to at leasttryand give them some privacy, I pulled out my phone and opened Insta. I snapped a couple of photos of the club below, posting them to my story and tagging the club and Kai.
Ignoring the slew of notifications that started to come in, I pocketed the device and couldn’t resist checking in on Kai. They were still huddled in the corner. I had no idea what Tristan was saying, but with how Kai was glowering at the floor, it couldn’t be anything good.
He better not be upsetting him, I thought as I sipped at my beer. The idea of him making Kai happy was painful.
But the concept of him hurting Kai? That was unacceptable.
Kai’s muscles grew tenser the longer Tristan spoke. Suddenly, I couldn’t bear it any longer.
Crossing the space in a few strides, I went over to them. Tristan fell silent as I drew near, his scowl making it clear how he felt about my interruption. “What?”
I ignored him, my gaze resting on Kai’s clasped hands. His tight shoulders. “You okay?”
He jerked in surprise, his brown eyes whipping up to mine. “Yeah. Of course.”
No, he wasn’t. There was an exhaustion there I hadn’t seen in years. Not since his mum’s last scare. That knowledge itched at me like a rash. “Wanna dance?”
“What?” Tristan snapped. The little dude looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel.
“Dance,” I replied with deliberate slowness. Kai hadn’t looked away from me, his lips parting in confusion. “Friends can dance together.”
Tristan scoffed. “Since when have you two ever danced together?”
I gritted my teeth as I finally broke the staring match between me and Kai. “Every night on stage, for approximately thirteen years. Everyone knows that.”
