Page 51 of Playful Kris

“You’re in my seat, Davidson,” Kris’ deep voice says from behind me.

I don’t bother raising my chin to look at him, I’m still pissed at him for the way he acted earlier, but I’m also grateful he’s kicking Davidson to the curb right now.

Davidson looks at Kris quickly, and just when I think he’s about to ignore Kris’ demand, Kris speaks again.

“Move.” His voice is low, but has a threatening tone to it that gets Davidson moving.

“Save me a dance, Kameron.” He smiles before heading across the room.

Kris moves into the seat Davidson was in. I sip my wine, content to ignore him the rest of the evening.

“I’m sorry,” he finally says, breaking the silence. “I was a dick.”

“You think?” I frown at him.

He blows out a breath before pinching the bridge of his nose and turning toward me. “I panicked. You know I don’t do relationships.”

“Funny, we had one.” I move my finger between us, gesturing to what we had in college.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t that serious.” He takes a drink of his beer that I didn’t even notice he had. “And besides, look how that turned out.”

“Thatturned out this way because of you. Maybe relationships aren’t the problem, it’s you.” Which I’m sure he knows, but I feel the need to point out the obvious here.

“I said I was sorry. I wasn’t even supposed to have to deal with them this weekend. Ruby and Kaleb were supposed to make sure that we were separated all weekend. I don’t know what happened.” His voice drops, nearly cracking and I catch myself staring at him.

He looks… worried? Like I’ll get up and leave at any point.

“Just don’t be a dick again, it’s unnecessary,” I tell him, and I hate that I’m letting him off so easily here, but he does have a point. He made it very clear that he can’t stand his parents, and he’s been thrust into dealing with them the second we arrived.

Everyone begins finding their seats, and the room’s volume level rises a bit until everyone is seated. We’re no longer sitting alone, but with both Kris’ mom and dad, and their dates.

The second they’re seated, the table is filled with tension, and the anxiety is rolling off of Kris in waves at this point. I almost feel bad for him, until I remember how he embarrassed me earlier.

Kris leans in, whispering in my ear, “I’m really sorry, Kam. I didn’t want my mom to dig for information between us because I can’t handle being around them for longer than necessary. I panicked, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” he tells me.

I look at him, trying to gauge the sincerity in his words. I can feel myself caving and want to punch myself in the face for even considering accepting his apology.

“Okay,” I say, staring into his eyes. “But, I’m not doing this dance all weekend long. I’ll call Cora and have her come get me.”

“Deal.” He smiles, and my God. There goes all my thoughts, and he knows it.

His cocky side is back in full force, and to be honest, it’s the side I like about him. Not this nervous one when his family is around.

Which reminds me…

I look from Kris to our table guests, and realize that Kris’ mom and dad are staring each other down. Their dates look about as uncomfortable as I feel, and I have no direct ties to them.

Sneaking a glance at Kris, he seems stressed, but not as much as I’d have thought having both parents right in front of him now. Instead, it’s almost like he’s enjoying them being uncomfortable for a change.

“Who put us at the same table?” Kris’ mom asks, looking around the room for her other son.

Kaleb is at the front of the room with his back turned to us, I’d keep my back to this table if I were you, buddy.

“I certainly didn’t ask to be sat byyou,” his dad tells her.

“I’d hope not,” she snaps, and the tension kicks up a few more notches.

Awkward. I’m not sure I can deal with this all evening.

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