Page 31 of Exile
“Kai?” My voice comes out in a rasp, and I realize it hurts to talk. Apparently, Todd did some damage to my throat when he had me pinned against the wall.
“ReRe, I’m here.” Kai shoves past Dominick and wraps me up in a suffocating hug. The warmth and comfort of Kai’s embrace settles over me like a weighted blanket, and I melt into him. The spicy, citrusy scent of his cologne fills my senses until all I can feel, smell and hear is Kai. We stay like that until something wet drips down onto my nose. When I pull back and look up, I see Kai’s eyes, red-rimmed and shimmering with tears. I reach up and cup his cheek, hoping to reassure him with my touch.
“I’m…I’m okay, Kai.” My voice cracks, betraying my words. I clear my throat and try again. “Dom saved me before they…before they did anything. He got there just in time.” I watch Kai as he studies me intently, like he’s trying to tease out the truth from the dark circles shadowing my face. I’ve never felt his gaze on me like this before. It feels…intimate. Like in this moment we are two souls tethered together in this dark abyss of trauma. I see so many emotions whirling in his eyes. Terror. Anguish. Relief. But the one that stands out the most is love. It’s at this moment that I know Dominick is right about Kai’s feelings towards me.
Dominick clears his throat, breaking the spell, severing the tether holding us together. I drop the hand that was caressing Kai’s face and look over his shoulder at Dom. His face is a blank mask, but I can see the way his jaw is clenched and the hardness in his eyes as his stare bores a hole into the back of Kai’s head. Kai doesn’t move, doesn’t acknowledge Dominick’s presence. His focus is still solely on me, like he’s afraid I will disappear if he looks away.
Carefully, I scoot back, putting some distance between us, while my mind grapples with the revelation it just made. “How did you hear about the shooting? How’d you know I was here?”
“It’s all over social media. People were live streaming the crime scene investigation, and it came up on my feed. I heard someone say your name on the stream and came straight here.” My stomach plummets when I realize what I just went through is already all over the internet.
“Oh God, does Mom know? I need to call her.” Frantic, my eyes bounce around the room, trying to locate my cell phone.
“It’s fine. I told Mom to stay with your mom while I checked on you. Pretty sure she had already gone to bed before shit went down, so she’s just hanging out until you get home.” A relieved breath whooshes out of my lungs. I did not want her to get the news of my attack online without hearing from me first. I glance over at Dominick who still looms in the doorway, arms crossed like a sentry.
“Any idea when I can get out of here? Did the doctor say anything while I was asleep?”
“They were waiting for the report from the CT scan to make sure you didn’t have a concussion.” Dom’s tone is clipped, his stare never wavering from the back of Kai’s head. I wonder if he can feel the daggers Dominick is staring into him.
I shoot Dom a pleading look. “Can you go check? I need to get out of here. I want to go home.” The only part of Dominick that moves is the muscle in his jaw as he clenches and unclenches it. “Please?” I beg, desperate for him to leave the room so I can have a moment with Kai. With a huff, Dominick jerks a nod and leaves the room, but not before shooting one last glare in Kai’s direction.
When he’s gone, Kai pulls me into another bone-crushing hug and kisses my forehead. “Fuck, ReRe. I’ve never been more terrified in my life. If anything had happened…I don’t know what I would do without you.”
His words get choked off as he buries his face in my hair. There is a sense of peace and rightness I feel in Kai’s arms. I let myself revel in it for a moment. Absorbing it, letting it wash over me. Because this is the last time I can let him be this close to me if I want my relationship with Dominick to work.
“Kai, hey, it’s okay. I’m okay.” Gently I push back, putting space between us again. “Thank you for coming, but…I think you should go.” Kai’s eyes go wide in surprise, and I lower my gaze, staring at my hands, trying to avoid the hurt I know I will see if I look back at him.
“It’s…it’s just that Dominick is uncomfortable with our friendship. He thinks you have feelings for me. I know that’s crazy”—I huff out what I hope sounds like a dismissive laugh—“but I need to respect his boundaries. He just…he just killed a man to protect me. I owe him that much.”
“It’s not that crazy.” Kai’s voice is barely a whisper, but it rings through my ears like a gunshot. I jerk my head up and look at him. Really look at him. I am transfixed by his expression. I see it. I see the kiss coming before it happens, but I can’t bring myself to stop it. The first brush of his lips against mine is soft, tentative. A test. He presses his lips against mine more firmly, and mine part without a thought from me, letting him in. His kiss is tender, warm, and sends electricity surging through my body. “It’s not crazy at all,” he whispers against my mouth before pressing in again.
Emotions war inside of me. The rightness of Kai’s lips against mine. The wrongness of the timing. The guilt of letting him do this with Dom just steps away. The devastation of knowing this is the end of our friendship. The beep of the overhead page jerks me back into reality, and I push back against Kai, separating us.
“Kai…no…we can’t. I can’t. I need you to go. Please. I love him…I can’t do this.” My eyes sting from the tears threatening to fall.
“Serena, please, give me a chance.” Kai’s hands cup my face, and I shake myself free from his hold.
“Just go, please. I can’t deal with this right now. It’s too much.” Kai doesn’t move, doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and I keep my eyes fixed on the starched white of the hospital linens covering my bed. I can’t look at him. I can’t see how my words are hurting my best friend. There has been too much hurt tonight, and my heart can’t handle any more. Finally, he leans in and presses another kiss to my forehead.
“Fine, I’ll go, but this isn’t the end of this conversation.” With that, Kai moves to leave, and I immediately feel bereft from his absence. When I hear the quiet snick of the door shutting behind him, I curl up on my side and let the tears fall.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SERENA
It’s a little after 3:00 a.m. when I am finally discharged, with a clear report from the CT scan and strict instructions for vocal rest to let the swelling go down in my throat. The silence in Dominick’s car is charged while he drives me home. He’s been in a cold fury since Kai stopped by the hospital, and I don’t know how to break this awful tension thrumming between us. My emotions are in such turmoil, I don’t know if I’m capable of saying anything that won’t make the situation worse.
“I hope you know that was your last shift at Maverick’s.” Dominick’s voice is a low rumble that pulls me from the guilt I’m busy drowning in.
“Um, what?” My own voice is still little more than a hoarse whisper that barely manages to squeak out.
“That was your last shift at Maverick’s,” Dom repeats in a low growl. “I’ve been trying to get you to quit for weeks now to avoid something like this happening, and now that it has, I’ll be damned if I let you go back to that shithole and work. If they let scumbags like Brad and Todd in through their doors, there is no fucking way I am letting you continue to work there.”
“But—” I begin to protest, but Dom cuts me off.
“No fucking buts, Serena. You are not to go back there. I can’t always be there to keep you safe, and it’s lucky I got there when I did tonight. What would have happened if I had been even five minutes later? Huh? Did you think about that? He probably would’ve had his pencil dick inside of you. Are some shitty waitressing tips worth more than your safety?”
The bridge of my nose begins to sting from unshed tears as I drop my gaze to my lap. Dominick’s harsh words cut, but he’s not wrong. Those shitty waitressing tips aren’t worth what I just went through, but losing part of my income isn’t an option. I don’t argue though. It hurts too much to talk right now, and all I want to do is go home, crawl into bed and forget this awful night ever happened.