Revealing Kia (15 page)

I didn’t like that
Joanne had been hurt, but it gave me a reason to come home. Maybe it was the isolation of the cabin and the close contact with so much drama, but my Christmas with the Chaves family had been interesting, if not a bit frustrating. There was something to say about distance clearing a person’s head. It didn’t help that I didn’t see Adam for almost two weeks. I wasn’t sure if that was something deliberate because he was still upset with me, or because he’d been too busy, but I hoped the latter had nothing to do with Taylor.

The fact that I knew Nessie was still up in the mountains and hadn’t returned a single one of my calls made me also wonder if maybe he’d talked to her and she’d shut him down as I had already guessed
she would, especially after what she’d told me about Taylor. Her disapproval for Adam dating her friends made perfect sense after that. But I’d been her friend since before I knew Adam and even after. Nessie was like a sister to me. Who her brother was had nothing to do with it. Yet I hated the idea that Adam would give up so easily, even if I couldn’t say I was surprised. I just wished I’d been there when …
if
he’d talked to her, so I could at least know if that was the reason she wasn’t speaking to me. The whole mysterious vanishing had me worried that I might have accomplished what I feared the most—losing my friend.

Aside from the ancient Christmas decorations that needed taking down, work hadn’t changed in the slightest. Angel greeted me with his usual cheer and left me to man the front while he did a stock check in the back.
It was kind of nice getting back into the routine of things. Not working for a week hadn’t really hurt me financially. The money I made usually went to buying books anyway, but I had missed the predictability of it. Dare I say it, I even missed the hat.

It
was snowing, the world outside the windows a snow globe of excitement. People were hurrying by, heads ducked against the fat little flurries. Oddly enough, despite the weather, people were actually piling into the restaurant. Most of the tables were, but I only recognized two faces.

Gary Hines.

He had his arm draped around the girl I’d seen in the picture, a pretty thing with soft alabaster skin and big brown eyes. She wore a pink toque that matched the scarf around her neck. Brown curls hung around her shoulders and down her back. She was snuggled into Gary’s side as though parting with him was just unbearable. I wanted to pitch a napkin dispenser at their heads.

Behind them, two girls scurried in, shaking the snow from their scarves and jackets. They were part of Gary’s group and I wondered if he was sleeping with all of them. Unlikely, but I couldn’t help it. The urge to march over there with a frying pan was a little hard to
overcome. The guy had some nerve using Nessie that way and then shacking up with another girl without even telling Nessie. He had no right to be there, smiling and making kissy-face when my best friend was miserable. I knew, despite Nessie’s words, she had really cared about Gary, which made my need to pound into him a whole lot more bloodthirsty.

“Um, excuse me?”

I blinked and looked down into the faces of the two girls Gary had brought in with him. It wasn’t the pretty brunette he was steadily trying to smother with kisses, but her friends.

“Yeah, hi. Sorry. What can I get you?”

“Um, we’d like the number two, eight and…” She turned to her friend, pert nose wrinkled. “Did Gary say he wanted a nine or a three?”

Her friend shrugged. “I don’t think he said at all. He was too busy trying to get into Steph’s pants.”

The first girl turned back to me. “A three and a one, please.”

I punched it in, stabbing the keys a little harder than was necessary. Part of me wondered if I could budge my
morals just that once and get Jerod to spit in Gary’s meal.

“God, does he have to do that everywhere we go?” the second one muttered, folding her arms.

“I know, right? I don’t even know why Steph invited us along if she was just going to make out with him all night.”

“
I think she feels sorry for him because of what happened with his ex.”

The first girl made a face. “Ugh, right? What a bitch.”

“Do you mean Vanessa Chaves?” I blurted before I could stop myself.

The two looked at me.

“Yeah, do you know her?” the second one asked.

I shrugged
, trying to come off nonchalant about it. “Kinda. What about her?”

The first one leaned in before the second one could speak.
“You know she was dating Gary, right?” At my nod, she continued. “Well, he found out she’s been sleeping with the entire football team behind his back. Apparently she did the same thing at her old school. Gross, right?”

“Plus, Gary says she
’s a spoiled, whiny bitch.”

The first one nodded in agreement.

That urge to beat my fists into Gary’s face intensified, but I smiled pleasantly at the two watching me and gave them their total. I told them I would bring their tray out, which was something we didn’t normally do, but I was willing to make an exception.

When their order arrived, I picked the tray up and made my way around the tables to stand over theirs. The two girls spotted me immediately and straightened in anticipation of their meal. Gary and Steph were still
lip locked, until I set the tray down.

“There you go,” I said, dusting my hands.
I looked at Gary and let my eyes go wide. “Oh my God, Gary! Hey!”

Gary blinked. His eyes
widened. “Kia … hey! I—”

I cut him off quickly. “
Wow, how great is it to run into you here? How’ve you been? How’s the rash? It hasn’t spread, has it? I hope you’re using the cream twice a day as prescribed. But you’re sitting again and dating so I guess it’s working, or at least the blisters are all gone.” I laughed lightly. “Anyway. It was so nice seeing you again. Enjoy your meal. Bye.”

I hurried away before the shock could wear off his face. The scuffle of feet and squeal of chairs being shoved back had me glancing back once to watch as the three girls leapt away from the table, ignoring Gary’s sputters of protest and bolted for the door. I smirked inwardly. Take that, jerk!

“Kia?”

I spun around
at the sound of my name. My surprise and delight built when I spotted Adam cutting his way across the room towards me.

“Adam, hi
!”

He stopped in front of me, his hair littered with melting fluffs of snow. They clung to his lashes, making them shine. I had to resist the urge to run my fingers over him, brushing away each flake.

“What are you doing here?” I asked instead.

“I wanted to come sooner, but—”

“You stupid bitch!” Gary charged his way towards us, his face a scary shade of red.

Uh oh…

“Adam, you have to g—”

Adam wasn’t listening to me. He’d turned his body and stood like a wall between me and Gary. Tension rippled along the width of his shoulders and coursed down to the tight fists at his sides.

“Is there a problem here?” he said with an eerie calm.

“Yeah, there’s a problem,” Gary barked. “You’re standing in my way.”

Adam didn’t move. “You need to walk away. Now.”

Gary squinted at Adam as though he’d just spoken Klingon. “Excuse me? Who the hell are you?”

“I’ll be your worst nightmare if you don’t leave,” Adam replied with that same evenness.

Gary straightened to his full height, which wasn’t much taller than Adam. “Listen, I don’t know who you are and I don’t give a shit, but this isn’t your problem. Get out of my way.”

Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Get out of my face.”

I touched Adam’s arm. “Adam—”

“Adam?” Gary’s eyes hazel eyes narrowed. “Vanessa’s brother, Adam?” He didn’t wait for a response. His eyes sparked. “Did she put you up to this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Adam muttered.

“Well, it’s not going to work. She was fun and, yeah, she’s super-hot, but that’s all she’s got going for her. She’s as shallow and stuck up as a stick. Plus, we all know about Vina and why she got kicked out. Your sister is a whore. I didn’t go anywhere half the men in Mayferd haven’t already gone.”

Adam hit him. It was a quick, hard jab straight in the jaw that sent Gary’s head snapping back and blood bursting from his bottom lip. He staggered beneath the blow, colliding into a table and sending chairs crashing to the ground. The other customers gasped and I swore inwardly.

“Adam!” I hissed, grabbing his arm before he could think about hitting Gary again.

“You don’t deserve my sister.” He shook me off and closed the space separating him from Gary. “If I see you anywhere near her or Kia again, I’ll do more than bruise your ego.
Now leave.”

Gary straightened. He tugged on the collar of his jacket
as he glowered at Adam. He ruffled a hand through his hair.

“If you knew your sister, you would agree.”

With a glower at me, he turned and stomped out, leaving behind a gust of cold air from the door. The other customers went back to their meals, no longer interested now that there didn’t seem to be a fight.

Adam turned to me, rubbing his knuckles. “I’m guessing that was Jerry?”

I chuckled despite everything. “Gary, and yes.” I reached for his hand. “Are you okay?”

He waved my concern away. “
Fine. What was that about?”

I grimaced. “Well, I…” I cleared my throat and walked over to the register. “I might have said something not nice in front of his date. What are you doing here?”

He was grinning as he made his way over to me. “I was going to ask if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight.”

“Dinner?”

His eyebrow winged up. “It’s a form of consuming nutrition and conversation. It usually involves two people going somewhere, preferably together.”

“I know
what dinner is, I just…” I shook my head. “Have you talked to Nessie?”

“Not yet, but that was something I wanted to talk to you about
… over dinner.”

I frowned. “You haven’t told her?”

He shook his head. “I will. I just haven’t had the chance—”

“Where is she then? I’ve been trying to call her since the day after Christmas. She’s not answering any of my calls or my emails. I thought she was avoiding me because you told her.”

“No, I haven’t. I also haven’t seen or talked to my sister since about the same time.”

I stiffened. “What do you mean? You guys were up in the mountains together. Is she okay—”

He put his hands up. “Easy. She’s fine. She’s been sulking in her room, sneaking down at night when everyone’s asleep to eat. It’s slowly driving my mom nuts. She keeps leaving her dirty dishes on the counter.”

I exhaled. “She
must still be hurting over what Gary did.”

Adam frowned. “What did he do?”

I shook my head. “I’ll tell you over dinner.”

His eyes lit up. “So you’re accepting?”

I grinned, pulling out a box of napkins from under the counter. “Looks that way. Besides, I want to talk to you about something as well.”

He squinted at me warily. “Uh oh, not sure I like that tone.”

I laughed.

“What time do you get off?”

We made arrangements for him to pick me up after work. I finished up my shift with half a mind lost to everything I would talk to him about and how I would ask him if he was a two timing asshole.

Adam

It wasn’t a surprise when I got home and Mom and Dad were gone. The house had an eerie calm I was all too familiar with. The note on the fridge told me that they’d gone back to the office and that Vanessa was up in her room. I crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash. It was officially back to the norm of things. The holidays were over and with it, family fun time. Most people wouldn’t believe how little we actually saw of our parents for a pair of dentists. But they spent most, if not all their time at the office, with the occasional break to travel around for conferences. They weren’t neglectful parents. They just believed in hard work and succeeding, which was why they never understood Vanessa’s lack of commitment to anything. Gary had been right about one thing, she was shallow and self-centered. The most I’d ever seen her care about anyone was Kia and even then, there were times when she forgot even that. As someone who had grown up with her, her moments of meanness went unnoticed, but I could see where people got so upset.

I knocked on her door.

“Van, I need to talk to you.”

A moment of silence, then, “I’m not here.”

I rolled my eyes and walked in anyway.

The room was dark, except for the orange glow of light pushing against the drawn blinds. The floor was a landmine of clothes, shoes, books and CDs. I managed to avoid stepping on most of it as I made my way to the bed where I could just make out the unmoving figure
sprawled beneath the blanket.

“I said I wasn’t here,” she grumbled
, her voice muffled by the pillow.

“And I clearly didn’t believe you. Imagine that.”

I could almost hear her rolling her eyes.

“What do you want?”

Kia.
“For you to talk to me about what happened with Gary.”

She snorted. “Why?
It’s not like you ever cared before.”

“True, but I want to listen now.”

The sheets rustled. “Why? Am I your new charity for the month? I’m sure your parents will not approve of your choice.”

I sighed. “They’re your parents, too, Van.”

“Are they? They haven’t been my parents in years. The only family I have now is Kia, which is why you can’t have her.”

I stiffened. “What?”

“I know all about you guys sneaking around behind my back. Claudia was nice enough to send me beautiful pictures of you guys at her party, the one neither of you bothered to tell me you went to …
together
!”

“We didn’t go together!” I shot back. “I didn’t even know it was Kia.”

The blankets rustled as she shoved them off and sat up. “I know. Unlike you and my so called friend, Claudia has been very generous with information the last few days.”

I frowned. “You can’t trust her.”

“Says the liar.” She laughed coldly. “But I do believe that you didn’t know it was her. I finally put the pieces together you know, about how Kia’s the mystery girl you’ve been searching for. Dad would be so proud if he knew I did it all by myself.”

“How long have you known?”

“That you guys were screwing behind my back? Since our shopping trip through Whistler.”

I recalled vaguely the
text she’d gotten that evening. It had been overshadowed by the punch she’d given me a minute later, but I remembered.

“You know we never meant for that to happen, don’t you?”

“You mean like you never meant to accidentally put my flunked history test on the kitchen table for Mom to find so you could take Kia to the carnival? Or how you never meant to sleep with Taylor? Or how you never meant to steal Kia?”

I had no idea how she knew about the test, but I was glad for the darkness as it concealed my grimace.

“I’m sorry about the paper. It was low and I already said I was sorry about what happened with Taylor. But Kia isn’t Taylor.”

“No, she’s not, which is why you can’t have her.”

My gut hurt. I barely managed to keep my voice steady. “Why?”

“Because she’s the only thing you haven’t taken from me. You’ve ruined my life
otherwise so it’s kind of nice to see you suffer for once.”

I felt my anger jump and had to smother it to keep it in check.
“You would do that to her? To me?”

“
Her … no! I want her to be happy. I love her like a sister. You … yes. I would. Happily. I want to see you finally not get what you want. Perfect Adam finally gets what he deserves.”

I was horrified by the venom in her voice. “You really hate me that much?”

“Yes!” Her shout ripped through the room before I could finish speaking. “I hate you. I hate how perfect Mom and Dad think you are. I hate that no one ever says no to you.” She threw back the covers and got to her feet. “I hate that you can take whatever you want and not care how it hurts someone else.”

“I have never taken anything from you.”

She laughed, cold and bitter. “You’ve taken everything from me. You’re the reason I lost Zach. You’re the reason all my friends use me to get to you. You’re the reason Mom and Dad think there’s something wrong with me because I’m not like you. But not this time. Kia’s mine.”

I turned to leave before I hit my own sister.

“Do you know why I picked her?”

I
glanced back over my shoulder. “What?”

“
As a friend,” she murmured. “Because she’s the sort of girl no guy ever notices. She’s quiet and shy and she actually has a brain. I thought that would be enough to keep you away from her. I thought she would be smart enough not to fall for your bullshit. She disappoints me. She’s just like Taylor.”

“
She is nothing like Taylor. Taylor was a mistake for both of us. I care about Kia.”

She snorted. “No you don’t. You love the chase.”

“There is no chase.” I pivoted on my heel to face her. “I love her, Vanessa. I want to be with her and if you were any kind of friend, you wouldn’t make her decide between us.”

“And why not? Afraid she’ll pick me?”

I shook my head. “I know she will because that’s the kind of friend Kia is. She’s loyal and she loves you. But can you live with yourself knowing you put your own selfish wants ahead of someone who cares enough about you to willingly give up their happiness because you asked them to?”

“What about me?” she screamed. “What about my happiness? Don’t I deserve to be happy,
Adam? Don’t I deserve someone to love me? Why does that make me selfish? Why does that make me a bad person?”

“It doesn’t, but taking away another person’
s chance at happiness does, especially if you claim to care for them.”

She moved away from me and went to the nightstand. Light illuminated the room as she snapped on the lamp.
Her blue eyes were wet and red rimmed. They were also the only color against her pale, tear-stained face as she stared at me.

“
I do care about Kia, which is why I won’t let you hurt her.”

By the time I showered and dressed for my secret date with Kia, I was almost sure I
was in complete control of my actions. I had all but tamed the seething desire to punch holes into the wall. It scared me all the more, the fact that I wasn’t angry with Van. Everything she’d said had been normal for her. I was angry with myself for being so stupid. Had I not fallen into Taylor’s trap, none of this would have happened. Van would have no reason to hate me. She would never have retaliated by getting involved with Zach, thus not been expelled and I would probably have met Kia under normal circumstances. I would have asked her out, she would have said yes and things would be fine. Van was right. It was all my fault. But despite that, I was too selfish to let it go, to let Kia go. I still wanted her. I still wanted to convince Van to let it happen, because without Van’s approval, Kia would never accept us. That annoying loyalty streak she had was both an endearing and frustrating trait. At that moment, it was just annoying.

How could Kia, someone so smart, not see what Van was doing? How could she let herself be played into that trap?
If she cared about me half as much as she said, why didn’t she, just for once, pick me? For someone who had never come second place to anything, I couldn’t say I liked the position she was putting me in.

It was still snowing
when I pulled up alongside the curb next to
Taco-Taco
. Everything was a flurry of white that gave the world a sleepy appearance. The odd person rushed along the sidewalk, but aside from the heat blasting through the car, it was quiet.

Kia sprung out of Taco-Taco right on seven. She waved over her shoulder as she hurried through the door. I watched her squint up and down the road, probably searching for me. I watched the way the cold nipped color into her cheeks and the way she bit her lip. I watched the flakes cling to her hair
and coat. She looked so sweet it hurt. I felt a physical wrench in my chest like I’d been punched.

Working through the pain, I yanked open my door and stepped out. But the twist only amplified when she spotted me and her entire face lit up like it had Christmas when she’d opened my present.

“Hey!” She jogged over to me. “I thought maybe you forgot about me.”

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. The twang was all too real still
gnawing a hole in my chest. I acted instead. I took her by the waist and yanked her forward. I smothered her gasp with a kiss that pulsed with everything raging inside me.

She was breathless and glossy eyed when I pulled back. Her lips were wet and as pink as her cheeks.

She smiled at me. “Missed me, huh?”

I laughed and moved aside a strand of hair out of her eye. “Yeah, I did.”

Taking her hand, I lead her to the passenger’s side and opened the door. I waited until she was inside before closing the door and making my way to my seat.

“So where are we going?” she asked, buckling in.

I hadn’t thought of that, but I had an idea.

“You up for a drive?” I asked her.

She grinned. “I am, actually.”

I took her hand over the console as we drove. Her fingers were small and warm entwined with mine.
Her skin was soft, except where there was a small scab on her knuckle.

“Reaching incident,” she said when my thumb roamed over it. “I was reaching for something under the counter and scrapped the top. Didn’t hurt.”

I chuckled quietly and brought her injury to my lips. She squeezed my fingers.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked. “You seem distracted.”

What wasn’t on my mind? My parents were pushing for me to start longer hours at their dentist clinic where I interned on the weekends. Kenny was pushing for me to hang with Taylor and the group more than I cared to. My sister was pushing me to stay away from Kia, and if all that wasn’t bad enough, I had practice for a sport I didn’t even like at four that morning which meant less time with Kia. As headaches went, I was feeling the beginnings of a big one.

“I’m fine.”

What else could I say? I could hardly tell her that her best friend wanted to make both of us miserable to pay me back for something I’d already apologized for a million times. I wasn’t even sure how to tell Kia. There was still a huge possibility that she would pick Vanessa over me. She already had several times over.

“Adam?” The gentle tug of her hand pulled me back to the present and I cleared my throat.

“Yeah? Sorry.”

“I asked if you were sure.”

I should tell her. It was on the tip of my tongue. I hated lying to her. She deserved the truth. She deserved to know where we stood.

After dinner.

I wanted our date. I wanted that night with her, more than ever if it meant there was a chance it could be our last. I wanted to convince her that … what? That she needed to dump her friend and be with me? It sounded ridiculous and I couldn’t do that. I would tell her and somehow find the stomach to accept whatever decision she made.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I kissed her fingers.

The country style steakhouse was one of my favorites. They served one of the best rib racks in the world, in my opinion. For years, it had been my secret hideaway and I wasn’t sure why I was sharing it now, but I had a feeling Kia would enjoy it and I wanted it to be special.