Page 13 of Fighting For Light
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll call her later. Bye.”
“See ya,” he says, and the line goes silent. I pull my headphones out and set them on the counter. Cordelia saunters up to me with a container in her hands. My eyes involuntarily trail up her figure, stopping before they get to her face, and I lift my shirt to wipe off the sweat.
“Hey, daredevil. You took off so fast I was going to see if you wanted to have dinner with Dad and me,” Cordelia says.
“Hey, sorry, I just needed to clear my head.”
She frowns and looks between me and the bike. “Something you want to talk about?” I shake my head no and run my fingers through my hair. “Okay, well, I brought you dinner,” she says, holding out the container. I take it and lift the lid.
“Oh, I love your chicken, Alfredo, thanks.”
She hums and rocks back on her heels. “Well, do you want to hang out for a little bit while you eat?”
I shrug and flip the light off to my garage.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?”
Handing the container back to her, I close the back end of the trailer and walk around to the front to unlock it. I cringe right before opening the door because there is crap everywhere, and I’m sure it smells a little. I haven’t had time to clean or do laundry.
Without asking, she puts the container in the microwave and leans against the counter, waiting for it to finish. I rip my shirt off, and her eyes widen. Reaching for what I think is a clean one, I sniff it. It passes, and I slip it over my head. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge across from her, plop down on the couch across from the TV, and take a swig.
“So, how was your ride? Did you go down the strip?” she asks.
“Yeah, I did. It’s crazy, as always. I got off, though, and got on the expressway. I wanted to go faster than I could on residential streets.”
“Kai,” she says, her voice full of concern. It twists something in my chest. I shouldn’t like how it feels for her to be concerned for me, but I am. “You should be more careful. You have…you have a team to think about,” she says, clearing her throat.
I glance up at her and can’t take her bejeweled stare, so I break it. Yes, she is right, but it doesn’t negate the fact that I felt like I was about to explode, and nothing else really works. Well, I’m sure something elsecouldwork, but no, not doing that. The microwave beeps and Cordelia leans up against the counter to reach for the container. Her round butt and curvy hips make my mouth water. Her thick thighs look good enough to take a bite out of. She’s always been beautiful, but once we finally grew up, she grew into her body. She is a stunner, and I have to force myself to look away.
She rummages around in the kitchen, grabbing a fork and a napkin.
Realizing I forgot myself because I was too busy staring at her ass, I stand and take the container from her.
“Sorry, thank you. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
“No problem. Someone has to watch out for you,” she says, sitting on the sofa. She grabs the remote and flips on the TV. “What do you want to watch?” she asks.
“Whatever you want,” I say with a mouthful of food. “This is good, gem. Thank you.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “One thank you was one too many,” she says, watching me shovel food into my mouth.
I grin, and she giggles a little.
Her hand comes to my face, and she wipes a bit of sauce from the corner of my mouth before sticking her thumb in her mouth, and I almost drop my dinner.
“I want to watch eitherErin BrockovichorJohn Wick. I can’t decide,“ she says, pretending like she didn’t just make the blood drain from my brain.
“Those are vastly different movies, and I’m pretty sure we have watchedErin Brockovichthirty times. I can recite it at this point,“ I cough.
She shrugs and finds the streaming service with either option.
I keep eating, willing myself to focus on the TV and not on Cordi. She’s going to make a grown man embarrass himself if she’s not careful. I take a drink of water and spare her a glance. She’s already looking at me; she does that a lot. My brow ticks up, and I wait for her to ask the inevitable question about to pour from her mouth.
“I know what you’re going to say, but I’m going to say it anyway because I’m persistent like that…” she says. I lean back and cross my ankles, trying to hide my smile as I stare at the TV. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but I care aboutyou, Kai, and I want to be there for you. You can trust me. How long has it been now? More than ten years?”
I look up to find her ocean eyes drilling through my skull. “Yeah, it’s been a while, and thank you for being such a great friend, gem.”
She purses her lips. “Fine.”
