Kane Richards Must Die (7 page)

M
y fists clenched at my sides. No way in hell was Lawrence kissing her.

My girl. Whether she liked it or not.

Yeah, I felt guilty about earlier today, but shit. The fact that Suranne just stood there smirking at me didn’t help. And Lawrence, slightly breathless, looking at me like I was an idiot for interrupting him.

Too bad.

I grabbed Suranne’s arm and dragged her across the lot towards my car, ignoring her attempts to pull away from me, and ignoring Lawrence calling after us. Right now I really didn’t give a shit what either of them wanted. The ache in my chest had increased tenfold, and just watching them had boiled my blood. I can’t remember the last time I felt so angry over a girl. Well, maybe I can, but I’m not going there.

“What are you doing?!” she yelled at me as I tugged her roughly behind me, completely ignoring her. I couldn’t deal with this crap. As we approached the door to my car, I pulled her roughly and spun her around so that she was pressed up against the door. I didn’t let go of her hand, instead I grasped the other one as well so that both her hands were tightly in mine. I pushed up against her roughly.

“What the
hell
was all that about, huh?” My voice was low and cold while I tried to rein in my anger, and if I was completely honest, my jealousy as well. I cocked an eyebrow, waiting for her to speak, but she just continued staring into my eyes, her breathing becoming labored and heavy. I came undone when she bit her lip and all my blood rushed down to my groin.

Groaning quietly, I dropped my head.

“What’s wrong, Kane? Don’t you like someone messing around with you like you do with them? Bit hypocritical don’t you think?” she sneered at me, a slight vindictive smirk tugging at her lips.

“That’s completely different,” I spat sharply. “I wasn’t kissing the goddamn girl in front of you was I?!”

“You didn’t need to!” she snarled back at me, and I noticed her gray eyes flashing in anger and in . . . vulnerability? I wasn’t sure, but I knew that she was hiding something from me. Seeing as I was doing the same thing, I let it go.

“You don’t understand . . . I . . . can’t . . . right . . . now,”
I mumbled, dropping my gaze to the ground, half wanting her to hear me, and half not wanting her to. I heard her huff in exasperation, and snapped my head to look up at her.

“You’re bloody well right I don’t understand!” she yelled at me, her sexy-ass accent coming out thicker, and only making my hard-on worse. I could feel myself straining against my pants to the point where it was almost uncomfortable.

“And seeing as you’re obviously not going to explain it to me, you can let go and leave me to my own devices,” she continued, her eyes shining smugly, “including Lawrence.”

I could tell she was waiting for a reaction from me, and what d’you know, it worked. My eyes narrowed, my fists clenched around hers and two words burned in my thoughts.

You’re mine.

She smirked as she saw my anger, obviously happy that she got the reaction she wanted. Not caring, I pressed harder up against her, ducking my head so that I could whisper roughly into her ear.

“Is this what you want, Suranne, huh? Do you know what you do to me?” I groaned, and pushed my hips roughly into hers, getting a gasp and a low whimper in response. She dropped her head to my shoulder as her body became limp against mine and I thought about how much I affected her, a smug grin on my face.

After a couple of seconds of her heavy panting on my shoulder, her hot breath burning through the fabric to my skin, she regained some of her strength and tugged against my hands slightly, trying to get free. I held on tighter.

“Why can’t you just let me go?” she whimpered, and I could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t just talking about my hands. I wished so badly that I could just tell her, but the more selfish part of my head was stronger than the confident part at the moment. So I stayed silent, squeezing my eyes shut, and wishing I could man up and get some courage. When I opened my eyes and finally focused on our surroundings I noticed that people had actually stopped midstep to stare at both of us, all wide-eyed and whispering. I could see all the chicks looked pretty angry, including the red-headed chick that I had walked away with earlier. As bad as I had felt about Suranne, I’d needed some release to get my stress levels down so I’d let her lead me off to the janitor’s closet.

But the whole time I was thinking about how Suranne’s face had twisted in pain when I had hooked my arm around the other chick. I just couldn’t erase the pictures from my head. And the burning ache in my chest only got worse as soon as she got down on her knees. After a while I just got pissed off, pushed her off me, and walked to class.

“People are looking Kane, please, just let me go,” Suranne pleaded, the last three words strained as her voice broke slightly, like she didn’t have the strength anymore.

No, Suranne, please just wait for me
.

But my body let her go and she stumbled away from me, sniffling quietly and treading unsteadily back to Lawrence’s car as he glared daggers at me and put his arm possessively around her.

Whatever.

I spied the rest of the lot and noticed that all eyes seemed to follow Suranne’s movements until Lawrence’s car peeled out of the lot. Then their eyes snapped back to mine.

“Fuck off,” I muttered lowly as I got into my car and started the engine. The familiar growl permeated through the small space. I put the car in gear and screeched out of there as the eyes of the entire school burned into my mirrors before disappearing altogether.

I realized that for once, the guys weren’t cheering and murmuring about how I was the man. They were looking at me like I was crazy. Like I had somehow lost my touch, no longer desired by the entire female population.

At that moment, as I came back to focusing on the road in front of me, I knew that when I returned to school tomorrow, I was no longer going to be
the
Kane Richards. And if it meant that I would be able to get my girl in the process, then it meant that I really didn’t give a shit.

T
he car was silent apart from our breathing and the occasional sniffle from me. Lawrence fiddled with the radio for a while, but didn’t find a station that appealed to him, so he turned it off.

After a few more minutes of silence, he turned to me slightly. “Suranne, are you OK?” he asked softly, turning his head back to the road and then glancing at me quickly.

I nodded absently, my mind still thinking about how my whole jealousy payback thing had backfired. For some reason Kane always seemed to have the upper hand.

“So, what do you wanna do once we reach my place?” he asked lightly, trying to remove the dark cloud that had filled the space between us. Shaken out of my daze my head snapped up, my tone of voice instantly contrite.

“Oh crap, Lawrence, I’m so sorry but . . . would you mind just taking me home?” I pleaded softly.

He turned towards me, shocked, before concentrating back on the road. “But . . . you said─”

“I know Lawrence, but . . . please . . . I just really wanna go home.” Tears slowly started to gather at the corners of my eyes again.

“OK,” he sighed heavily, and took the next turn towards my aunt’s. I hung my head, now feeling guilty that I had been leading Lawrence on just because of Kane. It was cruel and he deserved someone so much better.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered softly, looking out the window, wiping the new tears that slid silently down my cheeks.

“Hey,” he murmured, lifting one hand and cupping my chin, turning it towards him so that he could look at my face.

“Don’t worry, Suranne, I’m not gonna push you. If you want me as a friend, then that’s who I’ll be,” he assured. But I could see the sadness and rejection shining in his blue eyes. Lawrence was amazing and the sane part of me wished that it was his blue eyes I thought about daily instead of warm chocolate-brown ones. Wished that there was some part of me that could feel attracted to him, even if it was only small, so that it could build up over time.

But there was nothing.

Nothing except brown eyes, and sweet-fragranced cologne, and the smooth velvet voice that made my ears sigh in contentment.

There was nothing but Kane.

And I hated it.

I gave him a weak smile of gratitude, turned my face to look out the window, and thought back to when Kane had me pushed up against his car. How my breath had hitched and my pulse had quickened when he whispered in my ear. How I felt a jolt of desire race through my veins every time he had pushed his hips into mine, and how the sound of his groan drove me wild. How his touch left a trail of tingling fire burning on my skin. How his sweet scent engulfed me and left my mind blank and reeling.

He said I didn’t know what I did to him, but if it was anything like what he did to me then I definitely knew.

I knew too well.

Lawrence pulled me out of my reverie when he switched off the engine.

“Alright, we’re here,” he announced, keeping his hands firmly locked on the steering wheel. I bobbed my head and hummed as the air between us became awkward. Lawrence shifted in his seat nervously before he sighed and turned his shoulders towards me.

“Just . . . one time, Suranne,” he pleaded softly before abruptly shifting forward and gently pressing his lips to mine. He sighed into my mouth, cradling my face in his hands as my whole body stayed frozen. He broke the kiss only to give me smaller chaste ones against my lips and the edge of my mouth.

“OK,” he sighed, pulling away and putting his hands back on the steering wheel. “I’ll be OK now.” He nodded and I blinked stiffly at him, then stepped out of the car and walked into my house without a backward glance. My aunt greeted me from across the living room and I gave her a weak smile, walking past her and heading up the stairs. Once I reached my bedroom and flopped down on the bed, I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands. Lawrence’s lips never gave me that jolt of electricity that Kane’s had. My lips still felt the same as they always did.

With a groan of frustration I rolled over, pressing my face into the pillow. I felt a vibration against my left thigh and jumped, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

One new text message from Kate.

Hey, heard Kane got to you aftr skl. U Ok? xKx

I sighed and pressed the reply button.

Yeah, im fine. Just feeling rly confsd — S

After a few seconds my phone buzzed again.

Dnt wrry, he does tht to evry1. Heard u didn’t cave tho. Im proud xKx

I grimaced at that. If only she knew.

Its Lawr. Im more worried abwt. He lukd rly upset t.day –S

He’ll get over it. I’m sure he’ll find sum1 at the flowrshop LOL xKx

I giggled as I looked at the screen, remembering Lawrence’s knowledge of flowers. As I pressed the reply button and began typing out my first word, my phone buzzed again.

“God, give me a chance,” I mumbled to myself, rolling my eyes. It buzzed again and I growled at her impatience whilst I exited my created message and went into my inbox.

Two new text messages.

MEET ME
I’LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING

I frowned at my phone, staring dumbly at the two text messages. Kate never texted in capitals and she always left her classic “xKx” signature. I couldn’t think of anyone else who had my number and wouldn’t leave their name. Lawrence always rang, saying that texting was overrated, and my aunt was downstairs.

I looked at the number and didn’t recognise it. Pressing the reply button I started tapping at the keys.

Who is this? – S

I waited anxiously and immediately grabbed my phone once it started buzzing.

THE SAME PERSON WHO WATCHED YOU AIRPLAY YIRUMA’S RIVER FLOWS IN YOU AND THOUGHT YOU LOOKED HOT DOING IT

My breathing stopped, my phone slipped from my grasp, and my heart thudded in my chest, my eyes wide in recognition.

Kane.

How the hell did he get my number?

Before I had the chance to mull over the question properly in my mind my phone buzzed again from the floor. I leaned over and grabbed it, flipping it open and reading the new text message.

MEET ME @ THE SAME BENCH IN HALF HOUR?

It was a question. I didn’t have to say yes, I didn’t have to be entranced by his lean, sexy body and his hair and his voice and his warm eyes and his too sweet smell.

I didn’t have to.

And yet, when I glanced down at my phone, I saw that my fingers had already tapped out my reply.

I’ll Be There.

I
reached the secluded bench and sat down to that same cool breeze blowing around me. I wrapped my arms around my torso, hugging myself whilst I glanced at the calm, still scenery in front of me.

Every few seconds my eyes darted from left to right. I couldn’t help the buildup of nerves that had settled in the pit of my stomach, but I’d needed to come. He said he was going to explain everything, and I deserved an explanation.

I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket and pulled it out, staring at it curiously. I flipped it open, and frowned at the screen.

One new text message. From the same number as before.

CLOSE YOUR EYES

I turned around and peered between the trees and bushes trying to spot him, squinting as my eyes flitted in different directions. My phone buzzed again and I looked down at the screen.

THEY’RE NOT CLOSED SURANNE

I sighed in frustration, unable to see him anywhere yet he could quite obviously see me. After a while I relented, with a defeated sigh, and turned back around, slumping against the bench. I closed my eyes hesitantly. I tried to control my breathing as my inner excitement grew at the thought of seeing him, hearing his voice, gazing into those brown eyes again. I had seen him not more than two hours ago, and I deeply missed him already.

After a couple of seconds a familiar smell assaulted my senses. I felt a sudden rush of feeling like I was back at home, in London. The scent was unforgettable, rich and mouthwatering. It was a scent I hadn’t indulged in for far too long.

Fish and chips.

A small moan escaped my lips as the smell became stronger and my stomach growled furiously. My eyes snapped open of their own volition and I was rewarded with a beautiful sight.

“If you had any idea how fucking impossible it was to get this, I think you’d love me just that much more.” He smiled crookedly at me, dressed in the same outfit he was in when I first saw him. Snugly fitted black button-down shirt and dark jeans, the front of his hair spiked up neatly as always, his deep brown eyes shining brightly, and his little sexy stud in his ear.

I didn’t know what I wanted more. The food or him.

“How did you know?” I breathed, reaching out for the food. It was even wrapped in paper like it was back home and I smiled broadly at his efforts. As far as I knew shops like that didn’t even exist here.

“I know it’s the national dish or some shit, I figured you’d be into it. I guess I’m right, huh?” He shrugged, sitting down next to me and watching with a smirk on his face as I greedily tucked in. After a while I felt a little bit self-conscious stuffing my face whilst he was watching me, so I started eating it more slowly. He seemed to notice my hesitance and laughed lowly before leaning over and whispering in my ear, his silky voice washing through my brain and leaving a pool of uncoordinated mess in its wake.

“Just for the record, the sight of you eating is extremely sexy, Suranne. Don’t stop.”

I gulped at his words and his voice before a question struck me.

“How the bloody hell did you get my number, Kane? First it’s my address and now this. Anyone would think you’re stalking me.” I looked at him with raised eyebrows before popping another couple of chips in my mouth, nearly groaning at the taste. They weren’t quite as good as home’s, but they were a close second.

He shrugged and smiled at me.

“I have my ways.”

I swallowed and nodded, saving that answer for later. Right now I wanted what he promised me.

An explanation.

I put the chips down between us and wiped my hands, turning fully to him and raising my eyebrows in question. He seemed to realise what I wanted right away and cringed, throwing his head back and groaning up at the sky.

“You want the explanation, am I right?” he muttered.

“Well, it would be nice,” I chuckled dryly, folding my arms over my chest, but otherwise keeping silent, waiting for him to explain it in his own time. I guessed there was more to it than “I just really want to screw you.”

He lifted his head and turned to me reluctantly. Closing his eyes, his face turned into a grimace before he lifted his chin slightly in determination and squared his shoulders. He opened his eyes and looked levelly at me and as I gazed back at him, I saw the defeat evident in his stare. After a few moments of us gazing at each other, his full, soft lips parted to speak, and he graced me with his heavenly voice.

“For you to really get all this, I’ll just have to start at the beginning,” he mumbled, his face twisted and his voice low and ragged. My hand ached to touch him. I had never seen him showing such emotion before, not just to me but to anyone, and I immediately wanted to alleviate it. Taking another deep breath, he stared intensely at me. A stare that told me this was difficult for him. That he hadn’t talked about this in a long time, and that at this moment in time, he trusted me. I smiled reassuringly and gave him an encouraging nod.

“My father was the managing partner of a law firm. When it came to his line of work, he was expected to host large dinner parties and attend important events overseas with different companies. He had a lot of friends and whenever he held dinner parties the smile on his face was never fake.” His jaw clenched and he squinted his eyes tightly before his face relaxed.

“He was also a proud man. Proud of his wife, his son, his daughter, his home, his job, and the amount of work he put into the firm. And he was always generous with money, hosting different social events to fund charities and shit. He set up trust funds for each of us, always chucking ridiculous amounts of money into them for no reason. I used some of mine to buy my car and it hardly put a dent in my balance.” A heavy sigh escaped him as he shook his head. “His firm is still going strong, and the money now goes directly to us. Well . . . mainly to my mom.” His fists clenched in his lap when he mentioned his mother and he averted his gaze over my shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the various trees, shrubs, and our surroundings in general, before continuing.

“Three years ago, my father had to attend a social event in Hong Kong. He took a private jet; he said that it was always easier for him,” he muttered darkly. I kept watching him, transfixed with how the different emotions played across his face.

Hurt. Anger. Guilt. Reluctance.

Although some part of it scared me, there was a much larger part that kept me intrigued with the new side of him that he was letting me discover. His large, alluring brown eyes glazed over with a faraway look, as if he were completely involved in a memory of some kind. He spoke as if in a trance.

“The plane crashed that night,” he whispered. I inhaled a sharp breath, my eyes wide, and my jaw dropped slightly. Deep down I had guessed where this story was leading. I could tell from the hurt that was evident on his face, but the bluntness with which Kane said it shocked me.

I reached out to touch his arm in apology and he snatched it away from me, his blank chocolate eyes flashing in anger.

“I don’t want your pity!” he spat at me sharply. I recoiled from the tone in his voice, leaning back away from him and putting my hand back on my lap.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair muttering to himself.

“Shit . . . it’s why I didn’t wanna do this shit . . .”

I tried making sense of his jumbled words but couldn’t come up with anything, and didn’t particularly want to ask him when he was in this mood, so I just sat there silently. After a few minutes of tense silence and Kane constantly running his hand through his hair, causing it to become a dishevelled but sexy mess, he dropped his head in his hands and groaned slightly.

“I’m sorry . . . I just . . . damn . . . I’m not good with words,” he mumbled awkwardly. I nodded slowly in response, still wary of his outburst yet still wanting to touch him. He raised his head slowly and his eyes locked with mine. They burned and swirled with such intense emotions that I nearly gasped out loud. I had never seen Kane look like this, and I had never wanted him more.

He scooted closer to me and placed a hand on my cheek. His blazing eyes were still locked on mine, not allowing me to escape the intensity of his stare.

I could see his hesitation. He wanted to get this off his chest, and yet I could also see his fear, his apprehension, and I knew I had to put him at ease. I leaned into his touch and pressed my forehead against his, our eyes still locked and unmoving. His stare begged for understanding, my stare begged for trust.

“Trust me, Kane,” I whispered, closing my eyes and leaning my face closer. I was giving him the only thing I could, and the only thing I knew would help.

“Trust me,” I murmured once again, before pressing my lips softly to his, still keeping my eyes closed, too afraid to see the expression in his. In my mind, I realised that this could only go one of two ways. Either I was doing the right thing and Kane would appreciate my form of appeasement, and hopefully kiss me back, or he would misjudge my actions as a sign of sympathy and withdraw from me altogether, possibly leaving at the same time.

This was my only chance, and I fervently hoped that I had made the right decision.