Kane Richards Must Die (2 page)

N
o questions asked, Kane Richards was a carving of pure perfection.

He looked about six feet tall and had short dark hair, neatly spiked up in front. His facial features were . . . well . . . indescribable. His high cheekbones and firm jaw line were perfectly symmetrical, and his skin was flawless and tanned.

Like Lawrence, he had a stud in his left ear, but it was bigger, and looked much more appealing on him. His eyes were a very light brown that reminded me of the milkiest of chocolate, and his full red lips were screaming to be kissed. He wore a crisp black shirt that emphasised the perfection of his chest, and dark jeans. As he walked down the aisle of desks towards me, there was a string of enthusiastic greetings upon his approach.

“Morning, Kane.”

“Hi, Kane.”

“Hey, did you get my message?”

The greetings continued as he walked past them without giving any inclination of a reply. He didn’t look at them, didn’t speak, he didn’t even nod. He just carried on walking, his milky chocolate eyes fixed on mine. He flashed a crooked grin in my direction as I stared at him in awe, my mind barely comprehending the fact that he was getting closer to my desk.

“Oh, great,” Kate groaned and ducked her head to write something in her notebook. I decided to follow her example and tore my eyes away from his perfection, doodling on the back of my timetable, but before I knew it, I felt the paper being pushed aside by a set of extremely attractive hands, and as I glanced up, Kane Richards sat down on the side of my desk. A whiff of expensive, mouthwatering cologne swirled up my nose and I nearly choked on the sweetness of his smell.
This was going to be difficult.

“Suranne Williams, I’m told.” My ears rang as his deep and seductive voice hugged the smooth words that slid off his tongue. I stared at him, my eyes wide and locked in his gaze as he arched one thick eyebrow. Before I had the chance to answer, a slender girl in a very revealing vest, with bouncy brunette curls, walked up to Kane and tapped him lightly on the shoulder with two fingers. I recognised her as one of the girls who was dreamily sighing when I mentioned his name in my last class. His eyes never left mine and his eyebrow was still raised

“Yes?” Once again his smooth voice rang in my ears, like he was in song. I looked at the girl who was looking at me with a ferocious jealous glare before eyeing Kane and batting her eyelids ever so slightly.

“So, I had a good time last night?” She said it more like it was a question than a statement in her high reedy voice.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” he said, without the slightest amount of interest. I bit back a smile at his tone, but it couldn’t be kept in completely, so I released a very small smirk. He noticed and grinned in response, winking at me ever so slightly. I could definitely understand why the girl next to me had been sighing dreamily. This guy was one hell of a catch. He frowned as he remembered the girl still standing there shifting her weight uncomfortably and turned to glare at her, raising his eyebrows.

“Listen . . . Kelly, can’t you see I’m
busy
?” His head inclined slightly in my direction as if to prove his point. The girl’s eyes widened, and she blushed, “It’s uhh . . . Kerry, actually,” she mumbled, her face twisting into a grimace. Kane merely shrugged and turned his glorious face back to me. I peeked quickly behind him to catch Lawrence watching us both, his eyebrows raised and his expression looking worried. I frowned as I remembered our conversation in my last lesson.

“
Is he some kind of misogynistic womaniser or something?
”

“
You could say that.
”

Glancing back at Kane and his hypnotic eyes, I raised a brow. “Kane Richards, I presume?” I spoke, trying to keep my voice cold. His eyes widened and he grinned, keeping his stare firmly locked on my face.

“Damn, Lawrence, you didn’t tell me her voice was
that
hot,” he spoke, his perfectly white teeth shining. My breath caught and I felt the warmth spread over my cheeks and he chuckled gently at my blush.

“Uhh, yeah, she’s from London,” Lawrence replied, sounding irritated. His voice reminded me once again of our last conversation; I told myself to get a grip and continued to glare at him.

“You have earned quite a reputation here, so I’m told.” I kept my voice cool and businesslike as much as possible, but his smile was melting my concentration. His lips turned up into a smirk and he winked at me as his smooth, musical voice caressed my ears.

“I’m the best.”

“Hmm,” I replied curtly. “They say men with large egos who big themselves up are usually making up for something rather. . . ” my eyes roamed down his body and stopped at the belt of his jeans. “Small.” I smiled and lifted my head before raising an eyebrow. His eyes tightened ever so slightly and I could see Lawrence trying to fight a smile behind him. The class door opened and a bald man in a tweed jacket walked in, calling the class to order even though the room was silent, everyone turned in their seats, concentrating on Kane and me.

He was still smiling, and suddenly leaned in closer, so that our faces were inches apart. My breathing sped as I smelled his sweet cologne. I could almost taste it on my tongue and I instantly wanted more. Unconsciously, I leaned my head a tiny fraction in his direction, and he chuckled before sliding off the desk.

“She wants me,” I heard him murmur to one of his friends as he approached his own desk and gracefully sat down. My jaw dropped and I stared after him with narrowed eyes, feeling both frustrated and flustered.

So
this
was Kane Richards.

“W
hat the
hell
was that?!” Kate asked leaning against her locker as I put my books in the one newly allocated to me. The locker door was obscuring her face so I couldn’t see her expression, but she sounded annoyed.

“What?” I asked innocently.

“You weren’t supposed to speak to him,” she snapped as I shut the locker door and peeked at her face. I was right. She was annoyed.

“I couldn’t just ignore him, Kate; that’s not how I was raised.” I sighed, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose with my forefinger and thumb. His sweet smell was still overpowering my senses and I was starting to get a migraine.

“Yeah, well, you know, Suranne, when it comes to—” Her voice was cut short by someone clearing their throat. “Hey babe, could you do me a favour?” The delectably smooth, deep voice rang in my ears. I stiffened and at once was engulfed in that luscious smell of Kane Richards’s cologne.

“Err . . . sure,” I heard Kate answer breathlessly and opened my eyes to glare at her. Here
she
was snapping at
me
when she’s drooling over him just the same. Hypocritical or what? Kane raised an eyebrow at Kate whilst she stared wide-eyed at him.

“Move,” he said, like the answer was stupidly obvious and this time I turned to glare at Kane. How could girls be dim-witted enough to
like
this guy? He spoke to them like they were pieces of dirt. Kate just stood there dumbfounded for a second before her cheeks went red and she stared at the floor.

“Sure,” she mumbled, trudging off. I could commiserate with how she felt and stared at her back retreating down the hallway. Once again I heard Kane clearing his throat. I took a deep breath and turned back to him.

Whoa . . .

He was standing
much
closer than I expected; his arm stretched above our heads, resting his palm on the roof of my locker, whilst his other hand was tucked in his jeans pocket. His head was slightly ducked and his thick black eyelashes were casting long shadows across his cheekbones. His lips were parted as he slowly eyed my body from the waist upwards before curving up into a smile.

“You know, that wasn’t very nice. Do you have
any
respect for girls at all?”

He shrugged lightly, his eyes still moving up my body. They lingered at my neck and his smile grew wider. “Sure I do, but she was in my way so . . .” he trailed off as his eyes reached my face, slowly travelling up until they finally reached my eyes.

“What do you want?” I demanded. His presence was messing with my mind and I was beginning to become flustered, with his aroma swirling around me and his silky voice hugging my eardrums. I needed some air, and fast.

He leaned his face even closer to mine, and licked his bottom lip ever so slightly before grazing it with his teeth. “I need a favour,” he murmured, his breath fanning across my face, his musical voice dominating my mind.

This wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d thought.

“What could I possibly give you that no one else can?”

He chuckled and glanced down at my body again, shrugging his eyebrows rather suggestively. “
Well . . .”
he started before I interrupted him.

“If you’re after sex you can forget it. I’ve only been here a day and I can pretty much figure out the type of guy you are,” I said through clenched teeth, remembering the girl who stood next to him when he was sitting at my desk. I mean he couldn’t even remember her
name
! No way was I going to be one of those girls. Kate was right. I should just ignore him.

I stood there waiting for his comeback or an egotistical comment of some kind about how I would regret it but he didn’t say a word. He just continued to stare at me, his light brown eyes seeming to be calculating something.

“OK, then.” He lowered his arm and strolled down the corridor. I stared after him, my mind blank. Is that it? Just “OK, then?” What does that mean? Was that really what he was after?
Sex
?

I huffed angrily and headed for the canteen to look for Kate. My eyes roamed over the various tables, but I spotted Kane first, already seated with his perfectly toned arm around some straight-haired brunette, smiling at him like she had just won the lottery. I looked around the room again and mercifully spotted Kate sitting at a table. I quickly joined her and slung my bag on the floor.

“Hey,” she muttered quietly, she seemed a little glum.

“Hey,” I replied back in a low voice. There was no more conversation after that. We both picked at our food silently, and I was a hundred percent sure that Kane Richards was on her mind.

He was definitely on mine.

If I thought the first day was bad, it only got worse. There was more than one reason for this. Firstly, my teachers were persistently giving me hell because I was constantly zoning out in their lessons, even though they realised that I already knew everything they were teaching me.

 Secondly, the weather in South Carolina had turned unbearably hot. Back home, if it was sunny any time other than summer it was a blessing, and as a rule, we enjoyed it while it lasted. I had grown up with the climate there, was used to it, quite comfortable with it, even. So having this kind of weather in February was madness. I was sure I was going to become ill if it stayed this hot any longer.

And the last reason was the most annoying, and the most unbearable. It was unbearable because Kane Richards completely ignored me. It was as if I didn’t exist. He didn’t speak to me, didn’t look at me, he didn’t acknowledge my presence whatsoever. I knew that this should be a good thing; after all he was possibly the worst form of guy out there. But I couldn’t help it. I kept thinking back to our last conversation and how he had so casually walked away from me.

Already my mind was agitated, wondering about what he could have possibly meant. Already I was yearning for him to be back in front of me again so I could smell him, see his smile, listen to his wondrous voice.

I was like this already. And he’d spoken to me
twice
.

Slowly I began to realise that I wasn’t
going
to become one of those girls who had been dreamily sighing about him just yesterday. I wasn’t
going
to be like the girls who had greeted him so eagerly upon his approach and had watched his every move with rapt interest.

Oh no. Because instead, I realised something else.

I already
was
one.

“Y
ou would think that as someone who enjoys female company so much, he would be kissing her like crazy. It’s obvious she’s dying to make out with him.”

It was a Friday, and Kate, Lawrence, and I were sitting at a table in the canteen. Across the way stood Kane Richards; his arm casually thrown round a wavy-haired blonde with a huge bust and long legs. She had her arm around his waist and was gazing at his face like she had seen the sun for the first time. I couldn’t blame her. I would be staring at him like that as well.

“Kane doesn’t kiss his chicks,” Lawrence snorted whilst he picked at a breakfast bar with his fingers.

“
Really
?” I asked. That seemed weird; you would think that he’d at least kiss these girls before he slept with them. Surely they wouldn’t just jump into bed with him without any effort on his part. But as I stared at him, I could easily believe that they did. He was wearing a clean, crisp white shirt today. The collar was stiff so it must have been brand new, and the sleeves were rolled up around his firmly toned forearms. The front of his hair was spiked up neatly as always, and he wore dark jeans with a black belt, the buckle just slightly showing over his shirt.

“Yeah, well not on the lips anyway; he’s happy to kiss anywhere else,” Kate said rolling her eyes. “Everyone assumes that it’s some kind of statement, that the girl who he does kiss on the lips will be like ‘The One.’” She raised her fingers into quotation marks as she said that and chuckled.

I had never noticed before. I was usually too busy staring at his body, or his face, but it was true. For the past three weeks, he’d never once kissed any of the girls on the lips. And it wasn’t like he didn’t have many to choose from. Every lunchtime meant a different girl he had his arms around, kissing her forehead gently whilst she giggled and blushed.

“He’s gonna be sitting with us by the way. He told me at practice,” Lawrence announced dryly, still picking at his food.

“
What
?!” Kate hissed, glaring at Lawrence. “Why didn’t you tell him
No
? He never sits here!”

Lawrence just shrugged and continued picking at his food broodingly. I felt guilty watching him sitting there. I hadn’t really paid much attention to him since the whole locker thing, and only now noticed that this seemed to be his usual mood recently.

“What’s wrong, Lawrence?” I asked gently. He was sitting opposite me and Kate, so I got up and switched sides, sitting in the empty seat beside him and shuffled it closer to his side.

He just shrugged weakly. “’s nothin’ I guess,” he murmured.

Although I no longer felt any attraction towards Lawrence—mostly due to the fact that my attention was solely directed at Kane—I still found him unbelievably cute. His clear blue eyes were the most prominent feature on his face. They literally shone against his skin, and seeing them sad was discomforting. I leaned closer to him and his lower lip jutted out slightly before he groaned and leaned his head on my shoulder.

“Life’s shit,” he whined before sighing and closing his eyes, seemingly pleased with his new position.

“Tell me about it,” Kate muttered sourly. “And thanks to
you
it’s gonna get a whole lot worse.”

“He would’ve come anyway Kate, you know that,” Lawrence announced, his voice seemed brighter as his head rested on my shoulder and I stroked his hair instinctively. He reminded me of an adorable little brother you wanted to cuddle. He sighed contently and seemed to relax a little.

“Well this is
cozy.
” The sound of
his
voice was like some kind of addictive drug. The fact that I hadn’t heard it in almost three weeks had been giving me withdrawal symptoms and hearing it now gave me some kind of internal high as the smooth words embraced my ears once again. Lawrence sighed and sat up, whilst Kane pulled up a chair next to him. I frowned, wondering what was wrong with the empty chair next to Kate.

 I realised that he didn’t have the blonde tucked under his arm anymore. Kate seemed to notice too, and raised an eyebrow at him. “Where’s your latest piece of meat?” she asked sarcastically, but Kane just shrugged and looked at me for the first time in what felt like forever. I tried to prevent myself from hyperventilating, and focused on taking deep breaths instead of on the light brown that dominated his eyes.

“I told her to go eat, she was boring me,” he replied, still looking at me.

“Boring you? I assume you had
sex
with her last night?” Kate challenged. Kane looked at her then, and raised an eyebrow. “So?”

Making a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, Kate leaned back in her seat and folded her arms whilst Kane started talking to Lawrence about some basketball game. Only the smaller part of my mind was keeping tabs on what was happening around me. The rest of my mind was focusing on his face. A certain thought had come to me and so I stared at him as he chatted and laughed with Lawrence before the curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask.

“Why don’t you kiss girls on the lips?” I blurted out, interrupting their conversation, and all three of them turned to look at me stunned. I kept my eyes on him.

He shrugged casually. “I have no desire to. If I wanted to, I would.”

I cocked my head to the side whilst my mind processed his answer. So he had the desire to sleep with these girls, but not kiss them? Kane must have assumed that I wasn’t going to comment on his answer, considering that he turned back to Lawrence and continued his conversation.

“You know, some people seem to think it’s a statement,” I blurted out again, and like before, all of them turned to stare at me. Kate looked angry, like I was saying something I shouldn’t. Kane looked curious and Lawrence slightly frustrated.

“A statement of what?”

“People think that it’s some kind of imperceptible certainty that the girl you
do
kiss on the lips will inevitably be‘The One.’” I shaped my fingers into quotation marks like Kate had done earlier. Both of them turned back to Kane awaiting his reaction as I stared at him with nothing but curiosity in my eyes.

“What do you think?” he asked, arching a perfect thick brow.

I shrugged before voicing my opinion.

“I think it’s a subconscious attempt to make yourself feel better. It’s believed that kissing on the lips is a higher assertion of intimacy than sex itself, and that maybe if you
don’t
kiss them, you won’t feel so guilty about
jerking
them around. Of course, if this
is
true, then it means that there is hope for you after all,” I announced nonchalantly, even though my heart was racing in my chest. “Maybe you’re not a complete arsehole in spite of everything else.”

My outburst seemed to take everyone by surprise. Kane had his eyebrows raised, but there was a slight tension in his jaw which convinced me that I was right. Lawrence once again looked frustrated and Kate just stared at me in awe, before eyeing Kane up and down to consider whether my opinion was even possible.

Kane chuckled somewhat tightly, as if forcing out the sound and then playfully punched Lawrence on the shoulder. “Dude, I gotta go, coach said he wanted to speak to me ’bout somethin’. Catch you later.” After that, he stood up and walked off without another word.

I smirked whilst staring at his retreating figure. It seemed I had touched a nerve.

Maybe cracking Kane Richards wasn’t going to be difficult after all.