The Year of Second Chances (A Sunnyvale Novel Book 3) (14 page)

“It is, too.” I back up across the dark parking lot, opening the message. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to keep something bad from me so I won’t have an excuse not to talk to the cops.”

He slams the door and comes at me quickly, taking long, even strides. “That’s not what this is about. I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

I pick up the pace as he nears me. “How much more can they actually hurt me? I mean, I was kidnapped for God’s sake.”

“Not physically hurt.
Emotionally
hurt.” He quickens to a jog.

“What are you talking about!” I whirl around and dash toward the grassy knoll behind the gas station where a lamppost is shining through the darkness.

Kai rushes after me, his footsteps hammering against the asphalt. “Just let this go!”

“No.” I fumble to open the message.

I’m pretty sure you were right about who did this. Just thought I’d let you know. If you need help taking care of the problem, let me know.

Arms circle my waist, and I’m lifted in the air until my feet no longer touch the ground.

“Isa, give me the damn phone back.” Keeping his arm around my waist, he loops his other arm around me and tries to pry the phone away.

“Tell me what’s going on.” I twist around, trying to duck out from underneath his arm. “You know who did this?”

“Please, just let this go,” he begs with desperation.

I manage to get all the way turned around before I trip over his foot. I start to fall back and snag his shirt. Instead of stopping the fall, he loses his balance, and we topple to the ground. Fortunately, we land on the grass, a tangled mess of legs and arms as we wrestle each other for the phone.

“I’ll give you the phone back.” I roll onto my back and stretch my arm above my head. “But only if you tell me what’s going on.”

He flips over onto his stomach, his body over mine. “I can’t do that. You’ll only get hurt.”

“I’m already hurt.” I push against his chest, but he holds his weight down as he reaches up and snatches the phone from me.

He starts to push away from me, but I latch on to the hem of his shirt and force him to stay put.

“This isn’t fair,” I say calmly and quietly, attempting to sound more rational. “We’re in this together.”

He promptly shakes his head. “No, we’re not. From now on, I’ll be handling this.”

My heart misses a beat, and not in a fluttery, gooey, fantastically amazing way. “What’re you going to do?”

He steadily carries my gaze. “I’m going to make this person pay for what he did to you.”

“
He
,” I whisper. “Is it …? Did my … dad do this to me?”

He gives a firm shake of his head. “No.”

“Then tell me who it is,” I beg, my eyes watering with tears.

“Isa … I can’t.” He struggles to keep his voice even. “What happened today … thinking that you might be de—that maybe I’d never …” His lips are suddenly on mine.

I suck in a startled breath through my nose. Oh. My. God. Talk about the holy mother lode of fireworks and explosions.

This kiss, it’s everything I’ve dreamed of: perfect, breathless, magical, like pixie dust and wishes and rainstorms of glitter.

Yeah, I don’t care how cheesy I sound. Not right now. Not with this.

At first, I have no clue what to do. Do I kiss him back? Do I want to kiss him back?

Oh, my God, yes, I want to kiss him back.

An uncontrollable moan escapes my lips as his mouth moves against mine. I’d be embarrassed—it seems like I should—but I’m not. Maybe it’s because of everything that happened. Perhaps I’m too worn out to care. Or maybe I want to own this moment and not worry about if what I’m doing is wrong or right.

Kai groans in response and presses his body against mine as he slips his tongue inside my mouth, finally, finally,
finally
giving me a real kiss. My body shudders out of control, my heart beating at supersonic speed. If it died on me, I’m not sure I’d even care. I want to keep kissing him. I want to be closer to him. I want him to want to keep kissing me.

“God, I’ve wanted this for so long,” he whispers before deepening the kiss. Then he pulls back a sliver of an inch, looking down at me, his eyes so full of … well, with a look like he’s about to go skydiving. “I just wish I could’ve made this better for you, given you the perfect kiss under the perfect circumstances.”

Before I can respond, he delves in for another kiss.

Better? Yeah, right. I’m pretty certain nothing could ever be better than this.

“You taste so good,” he murmurs between kisses.

“Like sugar cookies?” I ask breathlessly with my eyes shut.

He chuckles, his breath tickling my lips. “Better than sugar cookies.”

My eyes pop open, and I poke him in the side, causing him to laugh.

“Hey, nothing is better than sugar cookies.”

“This is.” He grows serious then leans in and steals another kiss.

Our lips move slowly at first, but the longer the kiss goes on, the more heated it gets. Hands start to wander, skin touching skin. Our bodies begin to move rhythmically, perfectly. My mind is spinning out of control, empty of all my worries. My lips are swollen, my skin hums like a perfectly in-tune song, and my mind … Well, considering what happened to me, I feel strangely content.

But the moment crashes with a throat clearing.

“Well, what do we have here?” someone sneers from close by.

I don’t recognize the voice, but with the way Kai goes rigid, I can tell something bad is about to happen.

Chapter 14

Kai

Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.

My head snaps up at the sound of T’s voice, destroying my perfect moment with Isa.

“I have your money,” I tell him, pushing off Isa.

My body gripes in protest, wanting to lie back down and protect her from T’s view. But I need to face him, face this.

He’s not alone. He has five of his friends tagging along with him. Of course. Guys like T never want to have a fair fight. He’s also sporting brass knuckles and a smirk that silently announces I’m in deep shit.

“Where is it, then?” T melodramatically looks around the parking lot and at the gas station before he targets his gaze back on me again. “Or are you just trying to buy your way out of a beating?”

“Well, technically, I have until tomorrow to pay you.” I inch to the side, blocking Isa from his view as she pushes to her feet. “And that was only three hundred.”

He rubs his jawline, the brass knuckles glinting tauntingly in the moonlight. “Yeah, I changed my mind about that. I figure I’ve given you enough time. So pay the thousand now or pay the price.”

“A thousand bucks?” Isa whisper, clutching the back of my shirt. “That’s what this has been about?”

I reach around and find her hand, urging her to be quiet.

“I have the thousand,” I tell T. “But not on me.”

He laughs in my face, and his friends join in.

“Isn’t that what they all say?” His expression darkens as he stalks toward me “You’d be surprised how much bullshit I get fed from people who owe me money.” He flaps his hand in front of him, mimicking a whiney voice as he says, “
But, T, you said I had until then. I promise I’ll get you it by tomorrow.
” He lowers his hand to his side, his eyes narrowing to slits. “
I promise I have it, but it’s not on me.
Yeah, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that, then I wouldn’t have to go chasing down dumbasses who owe me money.”

“I’m telling the truth.” I tighten my grip on Isa, wishing she weren’t here to witness this.

He deliberates my words with a sickening grin and then spans his hands out to the sides. “Okay, then, prove it.” He taps the cheap watch on his wrist. “You have fifteen minutes to get me the money, or your beating will be twice as hard.”

I calculate how far Jules’ place is from here and swallow hard. “It might take longer than that.”

“And that’s my problem, how?” He flashes me a toothy grin. “Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Time’s ticking.”

“Fuck you,” I mutter, digging my phone out of my pocket.

“You better make that a phone call,” T warns. “I don’t want you sending out any texts for help.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I lie, punching in Jules’ number while fixing a death glare on T.

“So, you decided to take me up on my offer?” Jules asks without saying hello. “Because I have some pretty good ideas on how we can make him pay.”

“I might take you up on that offer later.” I crack my knuckles against the side of my leg. “Right now, I need your help, and you can’t mess this up.”

“Okay … What’s up?”

“I need you to bring me the thousand dollars in less than fifteen minutes,” I say with my eyes on T, who taps his watch again and mouths, “
Hurry up.
”

“Where are you?” Jules asks.

“At the Sunnyvale Stop and Grub Gas Station, the one just outside of town.”

“Is T there?” he asks cautiously.

“Yep.” I press my lips together, eyeing T, the dumbass. He should’ve had me put it on speakerphone.

“On it,” Jules says, hopefully understanding the silent words I can’t say:
bring backup.

“What are you talking about?” T inches toward me. “Put that on speakerphone. Now.”

“See you in fifteen,” I hastily tell Jules then hang up the phone. “He’s on his way.”

T balls his hand into a fist. “He better show up alone,” he warns then bashes the brass knuckles into my gut.

I grunt, collapsing to my knees as the wind is ripped out of me. My phone falls from my hands, and T scoops it up.

Isa shouts something from behind me, and T laughs, his friends joining in like a bunch of damn hyenas.

T crouches down in front of me, leveling his gaze with mine. “That’s just a taste of what’s going to happen to you if you try to screw me over. And you know what? Maybe to sweeten the deal, I’ll take this girl of yours and show her what a real man is.”

I growl, stumbling to my feet. My balled fists tremble at my sides as I stare him down. “If you so much as lay a finger on her, I will fucking kill you. You got it?”

His laughter simmers to fury as he storms toward me, getting right up in my face. “That’s a pretty big threat for someone who’s outnumbered.”

“I don’t really fucking care,” I snap. “Touch her and I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Kai, just let it go.” Isa’s tentative voice cuts through the tension in the air. She slips her fingers through mine and tows me away from T. “Let’s just get him the money so this shitty night can finally end.”

I suck in a few sharp breaths before fixing my eyes on Isa. Looking at her calms me down a little, but a storm is building in my chest, about to explode.

T talks a lot of talk, but he also does a lot of sketchy shit. I don’t trust him at all, and if Jules doesn’t show up with backup, he might try to come through on his threat.

Chapter 15

Isabella

I’ve never been much of a fighter, but I seriously want to punch this T guy in the face. Not only did he threaten Kai, but I’m also finding his constant humming of the
Jeopardy
tune incredibly annoying.

“Are you okay?” I ask Kai as we sit on the curb stretching along the grass at the back of the parking lot. “How’s your stomach?”

“I’m fine,” he mumbles, keeping his gaze trained on the ground. “He didn’t hit me that hard.”

Yeah, right. I heard the impact. But that’s Kai for you—always doing whatever it takes to keep people from worrying about him.

“So, how did you meet this guy?” I ask, casting a quick glance at the dumpsters where two of T’s friends are having a wrestling match while the others cheer them on, passing around a bottle of vodka. I have my fingers crossed one of them knocks the other out. Then we will only have five guys to worry about. Perhaps we’ll get really lucky, and they’ll end up beating each other up.

Le sigh. If only.

“Through Bradon. He’s the reason I’m in this mess. He screwed me over, and now I owe T money. I guess it’s probably my own damn fault, though, for even associating with T.” Kai rests his arms on his knees and lowers his head. “I’m so sorry for bringing you into this mess. I should’ve known something like this was going to happen, but I guess my father was right. I fuck up all the time.”

I lightly pinch his side “Hey, that’s no way to talk about yourself. And your father’s the one who messed everything up by treating you the way he does.”

“I deserve how he treats me,” he grumbles, scuffing the tip of his boot against the asphalt.

I pinch him again, harder this time and on the chest, and his head whips up.

“What the hell, Isa?” He rubs his pec. “What was that for?”

“For having a pity party.” I draw a circle in the air around us. “See this? This is a pity party free zone.”

His lips threaten to turn upward, but then his shoulders slump. “How can you joke around right now with everything going on?”

I shrug. “You usually do it, so I guess I learned it from you.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He heaves a weary sigh. “I can usually handle these kinds of situations, but with you being here and with …” His gaze travels over to T, who’s leaning against the dumpster, watching me with a look I can’t quite decipher, but that makes an unsettling feeling gnaw in the pit of my stomach. Tearing his attention from T, he turns to me and leans to the side, blocking me from T’s creepy gaze. “Do me a favor. If you see any chance to run, do it.”

I resist an eye roll. “Like I would just leave you.”

“Isa,” he warns.

“Kai,” I mimic his tone and stern look.

“This isn’t a joke, Isa. What T said …” His gaze flicks to T then back at me, worry lacing his every feature. “What he said … about touching you …” Taking hold of both of my hands, he laces his fingers through mine. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you, so I want you to—no, I need you to promise me that, when you get the chance, you’ll run and get help.”

I force the fear down my throat. “I won’t just leave you, but I will get into the gas station and call the police.”