Page 80 of Rush the Edge

“Fine!” I shout frantically.

Kane’s eyebrows shoot down with confusion.

“I lied to you.”

His eyes narrow. “Yeah, I fucking remember.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. “You don’t get it.”

I suddenly feel dizzy.

“When you came back to my room that next morning. I acted like it meant nothing to me, but I lied.”

Kane, the most stoic of them all, jerks backward with shock.

The elevator door opens to his floor, and I gulp in a breath.

“If I would’ve said yes to there being an us, you wouldn’t have left, or you at least would’ve come back to visit. So much would have been at stake…” Unable to meet his eye any longer, I turn and press the button to my floor. I grab onto my stomach when nausea hits me and keep my back to him.

We say nothing when the doors open again.

I step off and turn before the door closes us off from one another.

“You had to get away from Miles. The only way for that to happen was to cut off all ties…including me.”

I rush into my apartment with my stomach rolling. Exhaustion hits me, and I shake all over.

I’m not much of a gambler, but in the spirit of things, I think I just laid all my cards out on the table for Kane.

Twenty-Eight

KANE

I sober up as soonas the elevator closes me off from her. My apartment feels miles away, but somehow, I’m standing right in front of the door. I unlock it and step inside, tossing my keys onto the counter next to the Tylenol bottle that Malaki has apparently laid out for me. I bypass it and head to my room. There’s no medicine in the world that will relieve the headache Daisy has caused me.

I’m in a daze. My apartment feels emptier than usual, even with Malaki tucked away in his room.

My slow steps echo on my way to the shower.

I shed my clothes and step into the hot water with my head replaying the memory of her that I’ve had to block over the years.

Her rejection so long ago was a cut to my skin that I’ve had to live with. I’ve been through all the proper steps of grief, all the way down to acceptance.

I’d managed to convince myself that it was for the best—she always did have a way of looking at the bigger picture—so in hindsight, when she said there couldn’t be an “us,” it eventually made sense.

Too much was at stake for me.

I was vulnerable.

My thoughts were messy, and my life was spiraling out of control.

My desperation for her was an obvious tell that I was just trying to grasp onto the one constant I had. She was the only person who knew me down to my core and who learned of the truth behind the fiasco that led my mom to practically disown me.

Yet, hearing her admit that it wasn’t all that I had made it out to be is a total mind-fuck.

The truth remains, though: she’s still River’s little sister, and her family is the only family I have left. If there is one thing that hasn’t changed over the years, it’s my loyalty. In fact, it has only grown stronger. If you have me on your side, that means something.

The shower runs cold, and I finally turn it off.

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