Page 7 of Little Paper Games
“You’ll regret this!” he hollered from his car door.
Kenna and I both watched quietly as Craig’s baby poop brown Ford Fusion bumped and sputtered down the cold road.
Silence hung in the air after that, ticking by slowly.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly. I didn’t like what I had seen. I may not like Kenna. At all. In any way. But that was horseshit. No one deserved that. The look of fear on her face hit me hard, and I wasn’t ready to process that yet.
“Yeah. Sorry about —”
“Don’t you dare,” I spoke more sharply than I had intended. When I looked at her face, she had that same look of fear plastered back on.
“Listen, Kenna. I don’t like you. You don’t like me. That’s fine. Butthat. What just happened… that is never okay. I need your word that you will never hesitate to come get me. Got it?” I felt like I was speaking through a serious case of lockjaw. The tension in my face was so severe with a thin restraint. Her green eyes looked up, meeting mine as she nodded.
“Good.” That’s all I could manage to say after that.
I waited until she had made it safely back into her side of the duplex and a few seconds more. Once I heard the locks click into place, I went inside, too.
The whole moment felt like a tornado within me, emotions swirling up in a way I didn’t like. So much for my relaxing Friday evening to myself. I quickly put the book away, cleaned up my tea items, and made my way back to my room. Donning my workout clothes, I made my way to the workout space I had created and readied myself for a nice, long workout. I needed to release the tension somehow. Being back home meant my normal means of stress relief were not available.
To be honest, as much good as a booty call would do me, I didn’t want the distraction of a woman in my life right now. Not even a booty call. I needed to focus. I needed to keep my eye on the goal and get into law school.
I tried not to focus on what would have happened on the porch tonight had I not lived right here. Had I not been home. Had Craig pushed his way into Kenna’s place. The anger welled up within me and I pushed the weights harder.
That was a bad thought to have. I felt the growl rip through my chest before I could even acknowledge hearing it.
The clank of the metal weights hitting one another became the soundtrack to my journey to emotional stability.
Just a little more weight.
Just a little slower.
Feel the burn.
Breathe slower.
Focus.
I would make sure that Craig the toxic idiot didn’t come back here. Sure, that was the kind thing to do. The right thing to do. But outside of that, I would stay away. Away from her doorway.
Away from Kenna Clarke. Away from any drama that seemed to gravitate to her, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it.
I would stay away, and I would not think about her. I wouldn’t think about her dark brown hair or her green eyes.
I most definitely would not think about how good it would feel to shut up her sassy mouth with my kisses, pushing her back into a wall. I wouldn’t think about how she tasted, how my tongue would savor and take the sarcastic wit right off her tongue.
Jesus, what was wrong with me, thinking about kissing her silent after what had just happened? After I had just ran off her boy toy from the front porch!
I would not think about kissing her.
No, I definitely wouldn’t think about that.
Chapter 4
KENNA
So, the simple flu that seemed to get everyone down wasn’t, in fact, the flu. Not by a long shot. I sat perched on the edge of my sofa, my eyes plastered to the television. The news had officially reported it. Not only here, but worldwide. The whole world was officially declaring it a pandemic. A global pandemic.
February had been odd, especially after that night on the porch with Craig. I felt weird after Jude had interceded and helped. He’d helped. Then he’d disappeared like nothing had ever happened. I mean, nothinghadhappened. Not really. Craig was just an asshole.
