Page 18 of Kian's Devotio
He would walk in the same room and she would look down at her hands or her notebook and ignore him.
He wanted it that way, and she would give him what he wished for.
When he graduated from high school and moved away with Reid, she missed him, though she didn’t want to.
She was proud of him going after his dreams. And she knew that he would go after them with his fierce determination he always had. She sent him a card once in a moment of weakness, wanting him to know how proud she was. She just didn’t want to say it to his actual, stupid, handsome face.
She finished up high school with Emery at her side but didn’t want to go to college. Not in the typical way that most of the people did.
She started trade school and went at nights three times a week to learn to do hair.
When she graduated from high school and went to work at a local food chain to help pay for her schooling.
She was a damn good waitress and was proud of the work she did.
It was hard, but she did her best and the customers and the owners loved her.
She felt as if she was really doing something great, and over the next year, she did well in school as well.
Emery hadn’t wanted to go to school. Was happy to just crochet, which she was amazing at, and sell her items on her Etsy shop.
Her best friend did pretty well for herself and Karalee was proud of them both.
Ailith and Ken let the girls know that the house was theirs to use after they graduated from high school, but that they wanted to fulfill their dreams of moving to Scotland to open a small bed and breakfast there.
Karalee missed them and helped drop them off at the airport.
Emery went with and no matter how they wished for her to go, she just didn’t want to intrude on this trip, so she left it be and stayed home, even though it was a miserable month without her best friend.
She went to work, went to school and did her best to avoid her mother.
She often just stayed at the lonely, quiet house that she felt most comfortable in and never went back to her mother’s unless absolutely necessary.
And life was fine. When Emery got back, the two were once again thick as thieves and though Emery longed to date and find her happily ever after, the damage had been done and no man dared to speak to her.
Karalee didn’t mind it. Kian was the only man she would ever want in that way, and since he didn’t even want her, she let her dreams of finding love die.
She still missed him more than words and hated that she did.
She would listen to every single detail of his life as an officer in Chicago when he would call and talk to Emery and did her best to keep him out of her thoughts.
It wasn’t easy. At all. Not when Emery was determined to bring him up all the freaking time.
Yes, he was the bane of Emery’s existence since he was so overprotective, but Emery loved him and talked about him all the time.
Karalee would just hide her feelings and let her best friend talk about her brother.
It was all she could do.
* * *
Karalee was determined to get her schooling done and threw herself into both work and school, keeping her thoughts of the man she loved in the back of her mind.
She hated the back and forth of it and did what she could to push him back to the back of her mind again.
She lived at her mother's house again some of the time and did she hate it.
For one, her mother was still as hateful as ever. Still treated her like garbage and didn’t care that she was a real person with actual feelings. And for two, her mother had a serious boyfriend now.
