“It turns me on.”
I release my lip,looking away, ignoring what I can only assume he’s thinking.
"Here,” Kevin says, handing me another White Claw.
“No. I need to stop,” I say, shaking my head.
"Oh, come on. You’ve been on a roll today,” he says, walking back to his chair, his laughter filling the air.
“That’s why I need to stop,” I say, looking over at Kai as he takes a sip of his nonalcoholic Topo Chico.
I’m glad he can stop after one or two drinks now. After I left him I worried if I made the right choice because I felt that made him drink even more. But I knew I couldn’t blame myself for him drinking to hide his demons. Although it took a few years, he finally realized what he was doing—especially for Amari's sake. With both of us having alcoholic fathers, I didn’t want my child to grow up watching that. The good thing was, at least Kai hardly drank on the weekdays. But when weekends came, he went on a bender. During that time, he wasn’t around Amari, so she never saw it.
Kai notices my glance and raises an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing,” I say, shrugging slightly. “It’s just nice to see you enjoying yourself without having to drink. You’re really calm now. It’s a lot different from the crazy weekends you used to have.”
Kevin chuckles from his spot across the fire. “What? Kai’s always been the calm one! I was always the one who would hype up the parties.”
Kai smirks but says nothing, taking another slow sip of his drink. He’s learned to avoid Kevin. We all have. But Kevin’s right, Kai was never the loud, wild type. His struggles were quieter, buried deep inside him.
“That’s because you were plain chaos,” Paige pipes up from her seat, near Kevin. “If it weren’t for you, half of these parties we all went to would have never happened.”
Kevin raises his can, saluting himself. “Thank you. It was my pleasure.”
Paige rolls her eyes. “I honestly don’t know how you ever pulled girls.”
I laugh, feeling the playful energy that always circles us between these two. “I don’t think anyone knows,” I say.
Kevin pretends to be offended, placing a hand on his chest. “Excuse me? I am every girl’s dream.”
“Only in your dreams.” Paige shoots me a look, as if she’s waiting for me to agree with her.
Kevin grins. “You meanyourdreams?”
“You wish.” Paige huffs.
I shake my head, still laughing.
Kai clears his throat, setting his bottle down. “Why don’t you two just fuck and get it over with already?”
Kevin raises a brow but says nothing.
There’s a brief pause, the crackle of the fire filling the silence, and then Paige speaks. Her tone of voice sounds surprised that Kai would even think that. “Never!”
I swear, if Paige were down, Kevin would be all for it. Their banter has gone on like this since they met. That’s been a long time. Sometimes I’ve wondered if they’ve ever done anything. I would think she would tell me if they did. Then, sometimes I think she wouldn’t, since she always turns him down in front of us. But you never know what happens behind closed doors.
Kevin smirks. “One of these days, you’re going to eat your words,” he teases.
As the fire crackles and the conversation shifts to lighter topics, I glance over at Kai again. His calm presence is a comfort, a reminder of the past, back when things were light and fun. It was a time in my life where I thought there was so much to worry about, but the only thing I did worry about was seeing him. It’s a time I miss sometimes because of how thrilling it was.
Kai
It’s our last night here, and I wanted to cook a dinner for everyone. Well, I’d prefer it to be just my family, meaning Blakely and Amari. But I couldn’t be a jackass and not invite everyone, plus, not inviting Liam wouldn’t go well with B.
"Dad, am I doing this right?” Amari asks over her shoulder.
I look over at the bowl of mashed potatoes I asked her to mash. “Smash them a little more until all the chunks are gone.” Amari wanted to help when I asked everyone to go to their rooms to get ready for dinner. I’ve been wanting to cook this recipe for a while, I’ve just never had the opportunity. I thought tonight would be a good night. It’s braised beef short ribs with a red wine sauce and garlic butter, mashed potatoes, and broccolini.
