Page 42 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

Of course he did.

I studied her, the way her eyes flickered, the tension in her shoulders. “So that’s how it is now?”

She exhaled sharply. “Kai, don’t.”

I let out a dry laugh, running a hand through my hair. “Don’t what? Don’t acknowledge the fact that I just watched you kiss him?”

Her jaw tightened. “It’s none of your business.”

That hit harder than it should have.

I took a step closer, lowering my voice. “Funny, ‘cause it sure as hell felt like my business when you kissed me.”

She sucked in a sharp breath but recovered fast, shaking her head. “That was?—”

“What?” I cut in. “A mistake?”

She hesitated, and that second of silence was like a blade to the ribs.

“I thought we were building something, S,” I confessed, and the words came out rougher than I intended. “I thought maybe you came back to Medford and realized we weren’t finished. I assumed….”

Idiot.

I shouldn’t have assumed anything.

She’d been gone for years. Who knew what life she’d lived away from here.

I’d lived mine…

Her eyes flashed, but I wasn’t sure if it was guilt or pure pain. “Kai, it’s not that simple.”

“It could be.” I held her gaze, letting her see the truth in my eyes. “If you’d let it.”

She swallowed hard, her breath unsteady.

But she didn’t answer. And that silence?

That told me everything.

I didn’t wait for her to respond. I turned on my heel and walked out of the bowling alley, the crisp air hitting me like a slap.

It didn’t cool the anger burning in my chest, didn’t settle the tightness in my throat.

I heard her footsteps behind me before she spoke again.

“Kai, wait.”

I didn’t.

I kept walking, the gravel crunching under my boots, my hands shoved deep into my jacket pockets.

“Kai,” she tried again, a little breathless as she caught up to me. “Would you just?—”

“What?” I snapped, stopping so suddenly she almost ran into me. “What do you want me to say, S? That it doesn’t bother me? That watching you kiss Adam was fine?”

Her lips parted, but no words came out.

I let out a humorless laugh, shaking my head. “You can’t even say it, can you?”

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