Page 27 of Protect Me
To my relief, he nodded, as if he approved. Having someone else’s stamp of okayness felt better than wading into the void on my own. The Frolicking Moose loft doubled as a HomeBnb, and tended to book out quickly. Patches of availability appeared here and there.
I hoped.
His phone buzzed, but he ignored it.
“It’s Vini,” I said.
He sighed. “I know. I’m avoiding her.” He met my gaze over the top of his phone. “I’m sorry, Kate. I wasn’t trying to get you in trouble. I’ve just been worried, that’s all. I can’t get you out of my head,” he mumbled.
His sincerity—despite a slightly annoyed tone—cut all the way through my heart. Such an apology was a gallant move that re-stole my loyalty all over again.
“Oh.” I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I’m sorry.”
He waved it off, then answered the phone with a quick, “Vini.”
Her voice jabbered, words indistinguishable, though I could detect nuances of frustration in the speed. Vik sent me an amused glance, then turned his attention back to the phone.
“I’m at her place. Yeah. She’s being evicted.”
My eyes closed. Frankly, I had no energy to be frustrated again. Instead, I accepted his help with gratitude. Vik had just removed the burden of dealing with Vini’s loving outrage off my shoulders. I opened one eye to find him good-naturedly rolling his eyes as he pointed to the phone.
Eventually, Vini’s tirade slowed.
“No, Vini, she’s not going to be homeless and she’s not moving to New York to live with you and Zayne.”
He looked at me, one eyebrow cocked in question.
I shook my head. Definitely not going to New York. Living with Vini was a dream of mine, but would make for a terrible marriage. Zayne would never see his wife, and I’d intrude on their happily-ever-after. We needed independence.
“Vini, calm down. Everything is all worked out.”
Vik met my gaze, holding it. My soul crinkled all the way to my toes under the power of that stare.
I pulled in a breath as he murmured, “She’s going to stay with me.”
ChapterEight
The moment the words dropped from my lips, the unsettled feeling in my chest finally calmed. A week of restless agony—gone in a breath.
Katelyn’s astonished expression morphed into confusion, then something not unlike terror. Vini’s incessant chattering in my ear went silent.
“What?”
I leaned forward, speaking more for her sake now than Vini, but wanted to buy Katelyn a few moments. “Katelyn is going to stay with me. Hernandez and I will help her pack. You remember my place, right? There’s plenty of room in the hall closet for storage and she’ll have the whole back bedroom.”
Vini fell silent.
“Well,” she murmured. “That’s not half bad, you know.”
Kate’s brow had grown heavy over her lovely eyes. She kept her gaze locked on the table, but didn’t seem trepidatious. Thoughts swirled behind those turtle-shelled glasses as she pieced together variables, options, arguments. Oh, I saw her attempts to thwart this.
Eternal Second at her best.
Years apart notwithstanding, I knewexactlyhow to play this chessboard. “Is there anything safer in Pineville?” I queried. “She can move in tonight.”
Katelyn’s head popped up.
Bingo.
