Page 49 of Rival for Rent

No answer.

I jogged up the stairs clad in nothing but boxers, my heart pounding. I checked every room—bedroom, guest room, office, bathroom.

All empty.

My chest tightened. I bolted back downstairs, cutting through the dining room, throwing open the sliding door to the backyard. Nothing but that sterile square of grass. I ran the path to the back gate, yanked it open, looked into the alley.

No Kai.

Bella came trotting out behind me, wagging, amused by my panic. Was that a good sign? She didn’t look worried. But then again, maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she loved death and destruction and that was why she was so calm all the damn time. If she ever grew opposable thumbs, we were screwed.

I ran to the side gate, checked the path between houses. Still nothing.

Back inside. I rushed to the front door and yanked it open, scanning the sidewalk. No one. Not a soul.

Where the hell was he?

He’d been angry last night. Maybe he’d stormed off, decided to go somewhere on his own. Probably being a stubborn asshole.

But I couldn’t even be mad about it. Not when I didn’t know if he was safe.

I grabbed my phone and called him. Straight to voicemail.

I texted instead, thumbs flying.

CALL ME

WHERE ARE YOU

WHAT THE FUCK KAI???

Cursing didn’t make me feel any better. I tossed my phone on the couch and went back upstairs, ducking into Kai’s room. His bed was made, so either he’d never slept in it, or he’d made it before he left. I looked around on his nightstand, checked his closet, pulled out all the drawers of his dresser, looking for some clue of where he might be. All I found were a handful of condoms and lube in his sock drawer.

What a lovely fucking morning I was having. Panic, sweat, and the casual reminder that the guy I had accidentally hooked up with might be getting railed by someone else before sunrise.

My chest tightened.CouldKai have gone out to meet someone? Some guy from an app? Maybe he was doing it to spite me. A hot, jittery feeling filled my chest.

But that was stupid. I didn’t care if Kai was hooking up with someone in general. It was his safety I was worried about. That was all.

I flushed, remembering that night on the couch two days ago. I’d been doing my best not to think about it. To chalk it up as an aberration, an overflowing of frustration and nothing more.

There was only one thing I knew for certain, which was that it was a really bad idea to make things between us more complicated. I needed a clear head when it came to Kai.

But this morning, as fear pumped through me, I remembered how mad I’d been that night—and how hungry. When Kai kissedme, he’d lit a flame inside me, a burning need that I couldn’t extinguish except with his body.

I’d needed him. His body pressed to mine.His hand on my cock. My stomach turned another somersault as I remembered how good it felt. His confidence was intoxicating. I was used to being in control, but he made me lose control in so many ways. I’d meant it when I said it was a mistake—but I couldn’t shake the memory of coming in his hand.

But it was seven in the damn morning. Who the hell hooked up that early? Kai wasn’t out fucking someone. Probably. Almost definitely. Probably. Unless that was a thing gay guys did? I wouldn’t know. Even if—no. I shoved that thought away.

Kai wasn’t hooking up with anyone. But he was still gone.

I left his bedroom and headed into his office. Bella padded along behind me, totally unbothered by the fact that I was clearly losing my mind. Or secretly reveling in it, twisting an evil doggy mustache in her mind. Hard to say.

I searched the room for anything that might tell me where Kai had gone. Nothing—except his phone, lying next to the keyboard on his desk. My stomach sank. Had he forgotten it? Or had he left it on purpose so I couldn’t track him?

I hadn’t installed a tracker on his phone, but maybe I should have.

I sat on the edge of his desk and tried to calm my breathing, to do the exercises they taught us for high-stress scenarios. Breathe in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. It wasn’t working.

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