Page 162 of Holy Hearts
“You won’t,” I counter smoothly.
Kai studies me for a beat longer, then sighs, running his tongue across the inside of his cheek.
“Locker room,” he mutters, already turning toward the door.
I smirk as I follow him.
“Should I have brought champagne?” I tease under my breath.
“Shut up, Julian.”
“Just trying to set the mood,” I mutter, not bothering to hide the grin tugging at my lips.
I follow Kai into the locker room without hesitation.
He doesn’t look back, but I know he knows I’m there. The door swings shut behind us with a soft thud, locking out the world behind it.
Kai walks over to a set of lockers a few feet away, his movements unhurried. Deliberate.
I stay by the entrance for a beat too long, the weight in my chest pressing heavier with every step he takes away from me.
Like he might vanish if I get too close.
“Julian.” His voice pulls me from the spiral. Calm, but threaded with something I can’t quite place. “Are you just going to stand there and hope I’ll strip for your benefit?”
The dryness in his tone coaxes a faint huff of laughter out of me. “Would it work?” I shoot back, moving toward him at last.
Kai’s mouth twitches. “You’re a menace.”
His old nickname for me makes me grin. He’d used it once in front of Sophie, but that word pulls me right back to when we were teenagers. His teasing smirk, the way he’d shove my shoulder whenever I acted out.
I miss that, our old closeness.
I fucking misshim.
When I stop a few feet away, the shift in the air is palpable, like standing at the edge of something vast.
The smile drops off my face and I clear my throat, tugging my towel tighter over my shoulder. “We really should talk.”
Kai leans against the locker, crossing his arms in that casual way that somehow feels anything but relaxed.
“About what?” His gaze flicks over me, unreadable. “Words don’t mean much, do they? It’s actions that count, Julian. At least, that’s what I’m learning about all this.”
The weight behind his words lands square in my chest.
He’s not being cold, just honest. Which somehow cuts deeper.
I rub the back of my neck, suddenly unsure of what to do with my hands. “I didn’t know what to say. I let you go.Welet you go. I messed up. I know that now,” I say quietly.
Kai lifts a brow. “I’d say that’s accurate.”
The corner of my mouth pulls into a half smile, even if it feels a little out of place. He’s one hundred percent loving that I’m groveling.
That thought sends a swarm of something light and warm through me, and for a second—only a second—it gives me hope that we haven’t lost him forever.
“Right. Straight to the point, then.”
His eyes sharpen, narrowing just slightly as he steps closer.
