Page 82 of The Chaos She Brings
“Oh my god! You actually like him, don’t you?”
“Shut up!”
“Be honest with me. You have feelings for him?”
“Yes. Fine. Okay. I have feelings for him.”
Carina squeals, and I roll my eyes, but there's a hesitant smile ghosting across my lips.
“But it’s not like it matters anyway. We’re too different. He’s not interested.”
“You didn’t see him when you were missing, babe. He’s interested.”
“Funny way of showing it,” I mutter, bitterness creeping in.
There’s movement on the other end of the line, followed by muffled voices.
“Sort… shit… out.” That’s Carina, her voice urgent. “... like her?”
“What… problem?”
A masculine voice, low and gruff: “Not… simple.”
Then—
“Tess?”
Kai.
I freeze. My stomach twists. Words vanish from my mouth, and my brain clatters with thoughts that won’t settle. I’m hyper-aware of every second stretching between us.
“Hey,” I say, the word coming out shakier than I want.
There’s a long pause. I swear my heart’s beating in my throat. I want to say something meaningful, something cool, but my brain refuses to work.
Kai clears his throat. “How are you?”
I take the lifeline. “I’m good. Bored. Nico's good companythough. We played Monopoly today. I won, obviously. He tried cheating, but I wasn’t having any of it.”
“Then?”
“I tried reading, but the only books here are historical fiction. Like, where’s the tension? The angst? The smut? Priorities, people.”
Kai chokes out a laugh, and a flicker of warmth ignites in my chest. “You read smut?”
“Sometimes. Not... like, all the time.”
“Good to know.”
The conversation shifts into a more comfortable, teasing rhythm. I’m oversharing, but I can’t stop.
“What have you been doing?”
“Trying not to smother Nate with one of the pillows he keeps fluffing.”
I laugh. “But… you love fluffed pillows.”
Kai practically growls into the phone. “I do… but he won’t stop hovering.”
