Revealing Kia (2 page)

I blinked. “What?”

She squinted at me warily. “You’ve been moody and depressed and I want to know why.” She didn’t wait for me to answer as she went on. “Is this about Claudia? You haven’t been the same since that incident at the school last week. What did she say to you?”

“Nothing,” I said as I always did when the topic of that day came up.

Her eyes only narrowed further. “She said something because you’ve been acting weird ever since, and I have a feeling Adam knows, but he won’t tell me either.” She exhaled heavily. “What kind of friend am I if I can’t be there for you when you need me, especially if it involves beating the shit out of that twiggy bitch? I need you to let me be that friend. It’s very important to me that I get an imprint of my boots on her ass.”

I would have laughed if she
hadn’t looked so serious. Instead, I sighed and hugged her. “I’m okay. But thank you for wanting to beat someone up for me.”

She held me tight for a moment before drawing back. “I really would, too.” She offered me a lopsided grin. “What are besties for?”

Apparently, I learned later, they were also good for making your blood pressure rise and your violent tendencies emerge.

I forgot all about our discussion on the bus as we wandered the mall.
I bought a new pair of boots and a new novel before following Nessie onto the bus home. I had no recollection of asking her over, but I didn’t complain when she followed me home. We chatted the whole way there, paying no mind to the soft flurry of snowflakes swirling down around us with the biting winds. We huddled beneath our jackets and kept our heads down the whole way to the front door.

“Mom
? Joanne? I’m home!” I shouted, stomping into the narrow foyer. I kicked chunks of snow from my boots and moved aside to let Nessie in.

She slammed the door behind her and shook the snow from her hair and jacket. I unwound my scarf and draped it over my designated hook on the wall. My jacket followed.

“Mom?” I called again, glancing up the stairs while kicking my boots onto the mud catcher. Nessie did the same with her boots, but kept her coat on.

“Kitchen!” I heard
and motioned Nessie to follow as I led the way down the hall.

Mom and Joanne were at the island, heads bent low over an
IKEA
catalogue. Each had a pen in hand; one red and one black, and they were circling things. Both glanced up when we walked in.

“Hello girls,” Mom said, smiling. “Fun day?”

We both nodded.

“What did you get?” Joanne asked, craning her neck as though she could see into my bag.

I held it up. “A new pair of boots and a book.” I let my arm drop. “I’m going to take them upstairs.” I turned to Nessie. “Coming?”

She nodded. “Let me take my coat off. I’ll meet you up there.”

Thinking nothing of it, I left. I went upstairs and pulled my new boots out of the bag. I tucked the box into my closet next to my other collection of shoes and closed the door. I left the book in the bag and dropped it onto my desk. Then I threw myself down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

How much longer would I have to play the hiding game? Eventually
I knew I would run into Adam again. I knew that. Mayferd was barely big enough to hide a needle, never mind a fully grown person. It was only a matter of time before our paths crossed and I was scared to death of that happening. I had no idea what I would do or what I would say. I had a disturbing image of myself diving head first behind a snow bank to avoid him, assuming he hadn’t seen me already… maybe even then. I was just not ready to see him again. I didn’t think I ever would be.

“Kia!” I heard my mom bellow from downstairs.

I pushed upright and glanced at the doorway, puzzled to find it void of Nessie. My curiosity propelled me downstairs and the trio sitting around the island … watching me. What was even more disconcerting was Nessie’s grin. It was a little too cat-like for my peace of mind.

“What?” I said, glancing from one to the other warily.

“What’s this about turning down Nessie’s invitation to join her family for Christmas?” Mom demanded.

My gaze swung to Nessie and narrowed. She continued to smile pleasantly, her legs
swinging beneath her stool. She was the perfect picture of angelic innocence. My ass!

“Christmas is a family thing,” I said through gritted teeth. “I thought you would want to spend it together.”

Mom and Joanne exchanged glances. Both shrugged.

“We don’t mind if you want to spend
it with your friend,” Joanne said. “Christmas isn’t just about family, but about friends and those closest to us.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if Kia came?” Nessie asked. The question was for my Mom and Joanne, but her eyes were trained on me
, quietly rubbing it in.

Mom shook her head. “Not if she wants to.”

Nessie batted her eyes. “Don’t you want to?”

My teeth creaked beneath the force of my grinding. Nails bit into my palms
as I fisted my fingers. Damn her!

“Dad—”

“Is going to Saskatchewan with Dallas to spend Christmas at her parents’ this year, remember?” Mom said, cutting off my last flimsy excuse.

I did remember, but I’d been hoping she wouldn’t.

I exhaled gruffly. “What about your parents?” I said, turning to Nessie. “Won’t they mind you just inviting me? What about…” I moistened my lips nervously. “What about Adam?” I tried very hard never to mention his name around Nessie on the off chance she caught something in my voice or on my face that may tip her off to my true feelings towards her brother.

Nessie shrugged. “My parents have
wanted to meet you for ages and Adam won’t be there this year. So…” She gave another shrug. “You have to come, or I’ll be completely alone and at the mercy of my parents and their constant reminder that I’m not good enough. And as my bestie, it’s your duty to keep me from committing murder.”

My heart rose and plummeted at the same time, making me momentarily nauseous. “
Why … where’s Adam?”

She buffered her nails on her jean-clad thigh, peeked at them absently. “Some resort getaway thing with his school friends.” She rolled her eyes. “They invite him every year. It’s like some ski thing they go to up in Whistler. It’s not far from the cabin, but they book a hotel for like
a week and party. It’s lame. A bunch of kids getting drunk and doing stupid things.” She waved a hand dismissively. “This is the first year Adam actually accepted so my parents are all freaked out that we won’t be together.” She rolled her eyes again, making
me
dizzy. “Like having just me around is the worst possible thing to happen to them. Bet they wouldn’t think so highly of their golden boy if they knew Vina girls have no morals, or panties, once you get vodka into them.”

I
felt queasy at the thought of Adam with some long-legged blonde wrapped around him. The very thought made my stomach hurt.

“Kia?” It must have shown on my face because Mom was out of her seat and at my side in a flash. “Are you all right?
You just turned a weird green color.”

I nodded
and squeezed my eyes closed.

“Maybe you should sit,” Joanne said, pushing back a stool for me.

“I’m okay,” I lied, clutching my knotting gut. “We ate at the food court. I probably picked something weird up.” Yeah, jealous-initis. I wondered if there was a vaccine for that.

“Liar
.” Nessie flipped a coil of hair off her shoulder. “This is exactly what I’m talking about,” she said looking at my mom. “She’s been weird for
weeks
. This trip is exactly what she needs.”

Mom str
oked my hair. “What do you want, baby?” she asked me.

I want
ed to shrink a foot, slim down around the hips, marry Adam and have a dozen blue-eyed babies. But I was sure she was talking realistically, in which case … I had no idea. I shook my head, indecision a tight fist in my throat.

“Please come,” Nessie said
.

Why not?
I thought. It would be a change of scenery. I would be hanging out with my best friend. Plus I knew Mom and Joanne wanted a Christmas alone, not that they ever said as much, but I knew. Dad and Dallas would be gone. And Adam wouldn’t be there.

What did I have to lose?

“Okay,” I said at last.

Nessie
screeched, leaping off the stool and tackling me in a hug. “You’re the best!” She pulled back, hands gripping my shoulders. “It’s going to be so much fun! We’re going to do a million things together.” She squealed again, hopping up and down on the balls of her feet while shaking me. “Our first sleepover! How cool is that?”

I forced a smile that probably looked like a grimace. “Super cool?”

She released me and did a twirl towards the door. “We’ll pick you up Friday! Bye!”

With a final squeak, she whirled around and disappeared down the hall. A moment later, we heard the front door bang closed.
I flinched before I caught myself.

What could possibly go wrong?

Adam

Some would say that there was something seriously wrong with me. It was an irrefutable fact when there was a gorgeous blonde all but straddling my lap and all that was keeping me from shoving her away was the fact that she wouldn’t let me. No. Taylor Kahn wasn’t the sort to take rejection with grace, and as one of the most sought after girls at Vina Academy, she didn’t have to. The sad reality was that I’d already made that mistake once and had no interest in going down that road for a second ride. Even if that meant there was something wrong with me. I just found nothing remotely appealing about her and was almost certain the first time with her had been due to stress, an overbearing schedule and horniness topped off with sleep deprivation. Also, in my defense, I’d been half asleep and half drunk when she’d climbed into my lap. The skull-splitting hangover the next morning hadn’t been my only regret.

It wasn’t as though I had anything against blondes, espec
ially blondes who filled their tops in a way that made any hot blooded male within the vicinity tight in the shorts. It was just that when I thought sexy, I had a flash of brown eyes, brown hair and a sassy mouth. I thought about Kia and her impish grins and the way she nibbled on her lips when she was in deep thought. I thought of the way she blushed when our eyes met and the way her voice raised an octave higher when she was nervous. I also thought how I would definitely not push her away if she was to straddle my lap and ask me to do dirty, naughty things to her. No sir.

“What’s the matter, baby?” Taylor cooed
loudly to be heard over the heavy bass of something intangible pounding from the stereo across the room. Her liquor-scented breath washed along the skin of my neck. It felt hot and sticky in a way that made me want to wipe at the spot with the sleeve of my shirt. “Don’t you like this?” Her small, pale hand drifted up my right thigh towards my lap.

I shifted, edging just a notch to the left, away from her.
“I told you it wasn’t happening again, Taylor.”

She puckered her bottom lip.
“But we were so good together. Don’t tell me you don’t think about that night.” She grazed the line of my jaw with small, white teeth. “You were an animal and I let you ravage me for hours.”

Who said ravaged anymore? This wasn’t a cheesy romance novel. And I had no defense for that night except that I was weak and she had come on to me, which was no excuse, but the best one I had.
Taylor made it very hard to say no and in that moment, what she was offering was all you wanted. Then morning came and there wasn’t enough bleach on the planet to wash away what you’d done. But she was right about one thing, it had been wild. The girl was crazy in bed.

But rather than tempt me for a replay, that night made me think of Kia. It made me wonder what it would be like with her. Something told me there was
a side to Kia Valentines that most did not see. She hid it behind books, but I knew I could make her catch fire in bed.

“There he is,” Taylor purred and I realized too late where my thoughts had led
me.

Crap.

“I’m tired,” I said, pushing her hand away from its task of rubbing my newly awakened body.

I
was
tired. I was tired of the noise and the people. I was tired of the endless nights lying awake staring at the ceiling. I was tired of getting my ass handed to me during practice because my head was never in the game anymore. I was tired of the relentless cyclone of questions hammering down on me every time I let my mind drift for even a moment. But more than all that, I was tired of my own cowardice. There was no excuse as to why I’d let things get so bad, or why I hadn’t fixed it. I should have confronted Kia days ago. I should have marched right up to her and demanded she talk to me. I should have kept her there until she did. Instead, I was sitting in an enormous penthouse overlooking a landscape of snow and fairy lights, watching as everyone around me got drunk and naked–sometimes, not necessarily in that order–while I pined away like some love-struck teenager. How pathetic.

The penthouse had been rented by Taylor,
or rather Taylor’s most recent stepfather, for the Christmas holidays. It had become a tradition. Every year, Taylor invited the most exclusive group of people to join her for a week of drinking, sex and the occasional ski trip to
Blackcomb
when everyone wasn’t hung over. It was my first visit, but I was quick to pick up on the routine. I might have had more fun if I actually drank, but I wasn’t up to getting hammered, not when Taylor was just waiting for another chance to get into my pants.

I discreetly unfurled her grip on m
y crotch and hefted myself to my feet. I adjusted my shirt down over my lap before turning to her, not surprised by the confusion on her pretty face.

“
It’s not happening, Taylor,” I said. “I’m interested in someone else.”

Her soft, pink lips parted and her eyes widened. I would have been offended
by her blatant shock if I didn’t understand why; in the last eight years since my family’s move to Mayferd, I had never shown more than a passing interest in any girl. Sure I’d dated and had even had sex with a couple of them, but it never seemed to work out. There was always something missing. Both my exes were smart. They came from good families, had good values and wanted a lot of the same things I did, or rather what my parents would have approved of. In all reality, one of them should have been the one. I should have felt something more than a passing interest, but even that always seemed to fade as soon I was with them. If my body didn’t like women, I would have questioned my sexual preferences. But I liked women so it had made no sense to me until I met Kia.

I pivoted on my heels and wound
my way through the half-drunk, sweaty, writhing bodies. The floor beneath my feet pulsed in time to the beat of the stereo. It drummed through my skull. I vaguely wondered if there was aspirin somewhere in the place or if there was anyone I trusted enough to ask. The last thing I needed was to be given something that left me face down in a pool of my own saliva, my tongue tasting like I’d licked the underside of a litter box. Not that I would know anything about that. I didn’t do drugs.

“Hey man!” A hard slap on the back sent me staggering forward a step. I grimaced as the assault rattled the nerve endings in my brain, amplifying the pain.
I turned my head, but my glower was wasted on the grinning face leering back at me.

“
You’re such an ass,” I muttered.

Kenta
Kimura only widened his smirk. “And you’re such a tool. Where are you headed off to, because it’s the total opposite direction of where you should be?”

I followed the jerk of his head to where Taylor sat, practically wrapped around a boy with sandy brown hair.
It certainly hadn’t taken her long
. At least I didn’t have to feel guilty about turning her down.

“
So not interested,” I said, continuing my shuffle down the short corridor leading towards the kitchen.

Kenny
fell into hurried steps alongside me. “I’m sorry. I think I lost a lot of my hearing due to the insane level of
Miley
, but did you say you weren’t
interested
?”

There were three people crammed inside the brightly lit kitchen. Only one of
them still had his clothes on. I paid them no attention as I made my way to the cupboards. I threw them open at random, finding most of them empty or filled with weird things like a single shoe, a wad of clothes, a tennis racket and … a rubber duck? I closed the cupboard, the pounding barely tolerable at my temples.

“That was Taylor Kahn,”
Kenny was saying when I focused again. “The hottest girl in like … ever!”

I cast him a sideways glower as I pushed my way back out the door.

As best friends went, Kenny was probably it for me. It was hard to tell when I spent the majority of the time restraining myself from throttling him. The guy was impossibly annoying in a goofy, almost amusing sort of way. He never let anything get him down, which was what I liked best about him. At the same time, it was also what made me want to beat him. Plus, he had a mouth on him that would have gotten him killed if I wasn’t there to save his ass. The guy needed a keeper, or a gag.

“Where we going?” he asked, practically jogging to keep up as I wound my way to the bathroom.

“Need something for this headache.” I mumbled, coming to a stop in front of the closed door. I reached for the knob, barely surprised to find it locked. I slammed a fist against the wood. “Hurry up in there!” I shouted.

The
re was a low, whining grunt before the person on the other end replied in a strained, pain-filled voice, “It’s going to be a while.”

Grimacing, I turned away. No amount of headache
in the world was going to make me walk into the room after that.

Kenny
arched a pierced brow. The silver bar caught the light and winked. “Dan Westwick would probably have something. He always does.”

I slumped back against the wall and ran my fingers back through my hair. “I’d like to keep a majority of my brain cells afterwards, thanks.”

Kenny snorted. “What for? It’s not like you’re going to be a doctor.”

I shoved away from the wall. “
Doesn’t mean I want to be you either.”

Kenny
hissed through his teeth. He clutched at his chest. “Ouch! Bitch!”

I snickered, shouldering him playfully as I turned back the way we’d come.
At the entrance to the posh sitting area, we paused and looked over the mess, the shouts and laughter as people danced and drank and did things that were probably not legal. It was definitely not my scene. I only accepted Taylor’s invitation because it was a chance to chill with my friends outside of school. But three hours in and I realized I liked them better sober … and dressed.

“I’m turning in,” I said,
pivoting once more on my heels and starting towards the set of iron stairs leading to the second level and the bedrooms. There weren’t enough rooms for everyone, but apparently the bulk passed out wherever they could find a spot and seldom ever made it to the beds. A plus for me.

I wasn’t so lucky that time. Every room was taken
, including the one I’d dumped my duffle in. I was tempted to march in and haul the pair tangled across my sheets out, but couldn’t bring myself to want the bed after what they’d done in it.

I was vaguely aware of
Kenny’s snicker from behind me as I growled in my throat. It was becoming increasingly clear that it was not my night and would continue to go downhill if I remained.

Screw this shit!
I marched inside, grabbed my duffle and coat off the bench at the end of the bed and stormed out.

“Where we going, boss?”
Kenny fell into step alongside me as I marched back towards the stairs.

“My parents are at their cabin this week,” I said, pounding down the steps. “I’m going there.”

Kenny punched my shoulder. “Yo, dude! Wait!” Then he was bolting back up to the second floor.

I was at the front door when he returned, backpack slung over one shoulder. He jostled it higher on his back and grinned.

“Ready.”

I opened my mouth to ask him for what, but decided against it. I was in no mood for anything but a dark room and a cozy bed.

Saying nothing, I threw open the door and marched out. The sudden silence in the corridor was a cool, welcomed blessing. By the time we reached the elevators, the headache was nearly all gone.

We caught a cab
and rode it in silence.

The two story log cabin was lit solely by the single dome light over the double doors. The rest of the house sat in soft, navy blue darkness.
The taxi’s headlights washed over my parents’ metallic gray Expedition, a sure sign they’d arrived. I paid the cabbie and climbed out with Kenny a step behind me. Pine trees rustled with the December winds. Snowflakes glittered. Our boots crunched as we made our way up the path. I dug my keys from my pocket and unlocked the door. Kenny followed as I darted to disengage the alarm as it began to beep the thirty second warning.

“Dude, this is nice!”
Kenny exclaimed, doing a circle on the spot.

I shushed him. “My parents are sleeping!”

He made a zipping his lips motion, which I didn’t buy for a minute. Kenny didn’t know how to shut up. The guy didn’t come with an off switch, and if he did, it was hidden in a place I didn’t dare venture.

We shut the door and removed our boots. I motioned for
Kenny to start up the stairs as I reset the alarm. The steps creaked beneath our weight as we tiptoed our way up. All the doors on the second floor were shut and I gestured for Kenny to the third one on the right.

“You’re sleeping on the floor,” I told him in a low whisper as I opened the door.

He groaned. “Aw, come on, man! Can’t we share? I swear I’m not a spooner.”

I shoved him, sending him staggering into the
sweltering depths of the room. I closed the door behind us, trapping us in with the heat. I’d forgotten all about the broken heater. I’d meant to tell Dad about it the year before, but once we’d gotten home and back to the routine of our day to day, a broken heater hadn’t been top priority. I made a mental note to tell him in the morning.