Page 78 of Ink & Ambition

Pulling up the chair in front of him, I sit. Kai continues to shovel food into his mouth, effectively ignoring me.

“What’s going on, Kai?” He knows from my inflection that I’m not asking casually.

He finally meets my eyes, his mouth full. He, thankfully, swallows his food before continuing. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been off, man, for a while now. Something’s not right.”

Kai remains silent. He has a split second to decide what to do. Is he going to tell me the truth or is he going to lie to my face? I keep talking before he can make a choice. “We’ve known each other a long time. And you know I have your back no matter what.”

Kai sighs, not meeting my eyes. “I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to pay for the final semester of school.”

I raise my eyebrows, taking in the very last thing I expected him to say.What does that have to do with Ryan and Margot?

“Your parents aren’t paying?”

Kai remains quiet.

“Why didn’t you tell me? You know I can help, I—”

Kai gets up, bringing his plate over to the sink and throwing it in. “I’m not a charity case.”

“What the fuck, man. It’s not charity. You’re my brother.” I follow him into the kitchen where he’s now gripping the sink, his knuckles white. “This is a drop in the bucket for my asshole father. He won’t even realize it’s missing.”

Kai sighs, meeting my eyes again. “I appreciate it, man. But it’s more than that.” I keep quiet, allowing him to talk when he’s ready. Kai turns around and leans against the sink, crossing his arms over his chest. “I got into some trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“The money-owing kind,” he says. “I used the tuition money my dad gave me to pay off some debts but it wasn’t enough.”

“Dude,” I sigh, not knowing what to say. My ass finds the top of the kitchen stool as I sink into it. “How much do you owe?”

“Let’s just say it’s a lot.”

“Who do you owe it to?”

Kai remains silent, answering the question without saying a word. It’s the Deltas. It has to be. Suddenly it all makes sense. Why Keith was jumped. Why Kai was upset about it enough to take his anger out on me, trying to push the blame on Ryan and Margot instead of himself. This is what Ryan told her last night.

Kai must see the spark of recognition in my eyes. “Don’t tell Keith, please, Alex.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard this man plead for anything in the four years I’ve known him. “I will handle this.”

“But you’re not handling it. It’s handling you.” I try not to sound judgmental but this whole thing is so fucked up, I don’t know what else to do. Fuck, Margot has every right in the world to be upset with me, especially after that my answer to that last podcast question. Once I’m finished up here, I vow to run over to her apartment and beg on my knees if I have to. None of thisis her fault and yet she found herself in the middle of a shitstorm that I only made worse by thinking the worst of her.

Kai has his face in his hands. “I’ll figure it out.”

I sigh, raising from my stool to place my hand on his shoulder. “I’m here for you, man. Let me help.” Kai looks up, letting his hands fall, his red eyes finally meeting mine. And he nods.

Chapter Thirty-One

Margot

“Mr.Darcywouldnever,”Danika comments, popping another piece of popcorn into her mouth. As an attempt to take my mind off what’s going on between Alex and I, Sydney suggested a movie night which I happily agreed to…until Danika made non-stop parallels between the leading man and my podcast co-star.

I hit her with my millionth scathing glance of the night but she continues to ignore me. “Do you think Mr. Darcy would be into podcasts if he lived in modern times?”

“No, he would think they’re a frivolous waste of time,” Sydney answers for me, her eyes glued to the screen, as well. Even though we’ve seen this movie over a hundred times (this year), it’s always our number one pick-me-up movie.

Just as Elizabeth is denying Darcy by not returning his affections, a knock sounds on our door. Both of my friends whip their heads to me. Alex better not have shown up right now. I am nowhere near ready to talk to him.

With a sigh, I pull myself off the couch and trudge over toward the door. Taking in a deep breath, I steel myself before pullingthe door open. The face that greets me on the other side causes a gigantic smile to erupt on my face.

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