Ruin Me (26 page)

She avoided me like the plague after that.

Hopefully, history isn’t going to repeat itself now.

I reach the door and knock on it three times. With each passing second of silence, my heart sinks more and more. I knock again.

“Looking for Mandy, Kai?”

I turn around to see Nina walking towards the door. She carries a thick stack of textbooks in her arms and fumbles a bit in her jacket pocket before yanking out her keys. “Yeah,” I answer.

Nina slides the room key in and pushes the door open. “She’s not here,” she says. “I just saw her down in the lobby with
your sister
,” she winks and lays her books down on her bed.

Dammit, Piper.

“Any idea where they were headed?” I ask from the doorway.

She shakes her head. “Sorry.”

“Thanks,” I mutter.

My phone rings in my pocket as I step away from the room and for a second, I think that maybe she’s calling me. The excitement disappears when I see it’s my mother. I take a deep breath before answering it. “Hey, Mom,” I say.

“Kai…” she says, “we would like to have dinner with the two of you at the house tonight. Is… Piper still with you?” Her voice is direct, stiff, almost like she rehearsed the question a few times in front of a mirror before calling.

“Yeah,” I lie. “She’s here.”

“Can you be at the house by seven?”

I take a breath. “Sure, Mom. Seven sounds good.”

“Thank you.”

She hangs up before I can say anything else.

I expected something like this. Whenever anything bad happens in the family, my mother’s first instinct is always to throw a dinner party. Get everyone in one place and talk it out, calmly and effectively. It’s how Piper and I found out about their affair. They sat us down, all four of our parents, at the same table still standing in the dining room to this day, and informed us that they were getting divorces. My mother and Philip did most of the talking. After all, they were the ones coming out on top in the end. Penny, Piper’s mother, cracked jokes and drank nearly a whole bottle of wine by herself while my father occasionally laughed along with her at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. There was another dinner party after I got back from Europe and Piper was declared missing.

Piper showing up after disappearing for six months? Definitely an event worthy of a dinner party.

The kids caught in bed together? The after party will be legendary.

I begin a new text message and send it to Mandy.
Tell her we have a dinner party tonight at seven.

If Piper needs her space right now, that’s fine. I can give it to her. But that feeling of dread grows larger in my gut. I guess I should have known better.

Catching Piper Lynch is like trying to hold a live catfish with your bare hands while your fingers are coated with lube.

Chapter 26

Piper

“Tell her we have a dinner party tonight at seven,”
Mandy reads out from her phone.

I glance at it over her shoulder. “What?” She tilts the screen in my direction and I let out a deep scoff. “Of course…” Ava’s back to her old, predictable tricks again.

“I guess he figured out you gave him the slip,” she says as she slides the phone back into her pocket.

“It wasn’t exactly stealthy,” I say. “But the more nervous he is about it, the better it’ll feel when I show up with these.” I hold up the cardboard cup holder. One highly-caffeinated coffee sits nestled inside each of the four slots.

Mandy grins as she pulls one cup loose and claims it as her own. “You’re such a good girlfriend.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Not sure if I’m okay with the label just yet… but I’m trying. See?” I hold up the drinks again. “This is trying.”

“I’m sure it will make him very happy,” she laughs and holds the door open for me as we make our way outside.

We begin walking back towards the dorm. “Thanks for knowing how he likes his coffee,” I tell her. “I feel like I should have already known that about him.”

She shrugs. “You know plenty about him already. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“Oh,
sure
,” I say. “I know he likes it when I scratch up his back and that he gets turned on when I nibble on his left ear — but
not
the right ear — and I know what part of his penis to stimulate the most for the fastest orgasm… I don’t think any of that is what people have in mind when they talk about getting to know a person.”

“Screw what other people think,” Mandy replies. “You guys aren’t like normal people and you shouldn’t be. Normal people are boring.”

I chuckle. “You sound like my mother.”

Her face beams. “Any comparison to Penny, no matter how small, is the greatest of compliments. I’ll take it.” She sips her coffee. “Where is Penny, by the way? Did she come with you?”

I nod. “She’s in town. Somewhere.”

“Somewhere?” Mandy asks.

“She didn’t come back to the hotel room last night,” I say. “I texted her. She said she’s fine.”

“Then I’m sure she’s fine.”

“I’m not too worried,” I say. “No, I’m
way
more worried about this damn dinner party tonight.”

We reach the dorm and Mandy opens the door for me again. “You’re not going to try and get out of it?” she asks.

I shake my head. “Kai’s right, I think,” I sigh. “If I don’t at least try and make things right, then I’ll regret it later.”

“Look at you, Piper,” she smirks. “Thinking like a genuine adult.”

“I know…” I say. “It’s
sickening
.”

We board the elevator and she presses the button for their floor.

***

I stand outside his room and wonder if I’m allowed to just walk right in. Mandy used the term
‘girlfriend,’
but is that really what I am yet? Are girlfriends allowed free reign to just waltz in whenever they please?

I balance the drink carrier in one hand and knock instead.

Shawn answers the door and immediately grins at me as if I’ve slipped a nipple. “Hello, Piper,” he greets me.

“Hi, Shawn,” I say. I glance around him and see Kai sitting at his desk. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” he replies and steps to the side. “I was just on my way out.”

I take a few steps inside. “Before you do—” I grab one of the coffees and slide it free from the carrier. “This is for you.”

Shawn takes it from me and holds it up to his nose. He inhales deep to enjoy the scent of the fresh brew. “You know…” He points at me and then back at Kai. “A man could get used to this.” He strides around me and closes the door as he leaves.

I look at Kai and my heart swells. “Hi,” I say.

He spins around in the swivel chair to face me. “So, you went for coffee, eh?” he asks.

“What?” I ask as I glide over to the desk and set the carrier down. “Did you think I ran off? Hailed a cab to the airport?”

“It crossed my mind,” he admits.

“Mine, too,” I tease with a wink. I pull his coffee free and hold it out to him. “Cream. No sugar.”

Kai takes it but sets it down on the desk. He stands up silently and wrap his arms around me. I return his embrace and he grips me even tighter against him.

“What’s this for?” I ask with a small chuckle.

“Nothing,” he says. “Just felt like doing it.” He pulls away and stares down at me with a hand on my cheek. “Piper… what were you going to say before?” he asks.

“Before what?”

His hand drops from my cheek. “Before they walked in here,” he says. “You said,
‘Kai, I…’
What were you going to say?”

My breath catches in my throat. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask about that, but I’m happy he did. “I was going to say… that I loved you.”

“Did you mean it?” he asks.

I surge of annoyance spikes inside of me. “Of course, I did,” I say. “You don’t have to ask me every time if I mean the words I say to you, Kai.”

“To be fair, Pipes,” he says, “
yeah
, I kind of do.”

“Absolutely nothing about that is
fair
,” I argue. “If I recall, I
never
asked you to stay with me in Europe. You did that on your own. And I never once told you I loved you either, so I don’t appreciate this attitude that I somehow led you on.”

“You
did
lead me on, Piper,” he fires back. “You could have told me to leave at any time.”

“And I did!”

“Yeah, after a whole week of getting what you wanted out of me.”

“I don’t remember
you
having any complaints about that at the time!”

“Then you’re remembering
wrong
!”

I put my palms against my face. “Ugh!” I cry. “Stop! This is ridiculous!” I take a deep breath, preparing for his comeback, but silence fills my ears. When I finally lower my hands, I catch him smiling at me. “What the hell are grinning at?” I ask him.

“I love you, Piper.”

I heave a thick sigh. “I love you, too, Kai,” I mutter.

He reaches for the last coffee in the carrier and pulls it out. “See?” he says as he hands it to me. “I told you I liked this about us.”

I nod once before taking a sip. “I guess our arguments usually did lead to some pretty satisfying make-up sex,” I consider. I step away from the desk and sit down on the edge of his bed.

Kai returns to his desk chair and reaches for his coffee. “Our sex has
always
been make-up sex, Piper.”

“Good point,” I chuckle. “I just wonder if that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

“Probably not,” he says with a smile. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

My cheeks feel pink. “Kai Casablancas and his infamous lines,” I joke.

“They work, don’t they?” His eyebrows bounce and I laugh again. “No, Pipes,” he continues. “I’m done with the lines and the moves. I think, for you, honesty is best.”

“That’s a good line, too.”

He chuckles. “Maybe,” he says. “But if I’m not honest with you, then how can I expect you to be honest with me?”

I nod in understanding. “Sounds reasonable,” I say.

He rolls forward in his chair and stops in front of me by the bed. “Piper...”

“Kai…” I get lost in his deep brown eyes.

“I want you to do what makes you happy,” he says. “Don’t stay here because it’s what I want you to do. Do what you want to do.”

“I
am
doing what I want to do.” I set my coffee down on his bedside table.

“You spent years planning how to get out of this place, you said so yourself,” he reminds me. “If you have any doubts at all, then I don’t want to stand in your way.”

I lean forward and cup his cheeks. “Kai…” I whisper. “I’m staying.”

He smirks. “Are you sure?” he asks.

I raise an annoyed eyebrow at him, knowing that he asked me again on purpose. That’s just how we are. He relishes in pushing my buttons just as much as I delight in pushing his. “Yes,” I answer firmly.

He narrows his eyes. “Okay then…” he whispers. “I believe you.”

“If it makes you feel better,” I say, “you can call me your…” I swallow, “
girlfriend
… if you want.”

“Oof…” he laughs. “You could
barely
even get that word out.”

“Hey, I’m
trying
here,” I smile.

He licks his lips. “I think we’re beyond that crap, aren’t we, Pipes?” he asks.

“Oh, thank god…” I lean in and kiss him hard. He laughs and returns my kisses one-by-one.

His phone vibrates against his desk and he leans back to read the new text.
“Make sure you wear something nice,”
he reads.

“Your mother?” I ask.

He nods. “I guess she’s afraid of the two of us showing up naked with a sheet wrapped around us.”