Chapter 11 – Tamsin

When Kai turned away from me, I grabbed onto his elbow and pulled him back to face me. Reaching up, I touched his face as gently. His pale green eyes met mine and I don't know why, but I felt this was the closest I've reached out to him. Then he blinked and moved his face from my hand.

Chuckling, Kai touched his lip again.

"I like to fight." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"What happened to you? Who did you beat up?"

One corner of his lips lifted and a glint of humor flashed in his eyes. "I didn't know you had such faith in me."

To me, Kai was invincible. The boy didn't have a care for the world. Society norms and rules didn't seem to apply to him. He was unique and rebellious. So, I assumed the other person took the heavier hits.

"This isn't funny, Kai. You could get in trouble. How are you planning on going to school tomorrow? What if the teachers saw the bruises and cuts? They are going to have a major fit."

"You worry for nothing. No one would give a shit what happens to me." He shoved his hands into his black jeans before walking away from me. I skipped to catch up to him.

We continued to walk down a desired path. The sky was getting dark, but there was still enough lights. It was quiet. There no one here, but us. Silence fell between us as I thought about what he had just said. His words were cold and emotionless. It sounded like he didn't care if anyone cared.

"What about your dad?" I asked and felt him stiffened. I turned my head to look in his direction and saw how distant his eyes were.

He didn't answer me. Instead, he shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration and looked up at the sky as he stopped his footsteps. We were surrounded by trees now. You could hear the sound of the lake close to us.

"You have me. I care," I responded and realized that it was true. I did care about him. When I saw his injuries, my first instinct was to check how badly it was.

Kai's pale green eyes fell back on me. He regarded me silently. I bit the bottom of my lips before taking a step toward him. I placed a hand on his arm and looked him in the eyes.

"I care about you, Kai."

He swallowed hard before averting his gaze again. He started walking again, shoving his hands back into his pockets.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" He changed the subject.

I remembered why we were here in the first place. I followed a step behind him, half afraid to see his reaction about what I was about to ask.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

While I waited for his answers, I stared at the back of his head.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

"No, I was really drunk."

He snorted, "You were fucking wasted."

"Right, wasted."

"I don't recall every single thing, but I do remember one thing." He looked behind him.

"What?" I questioned.

"I remember you saying something about how hot I was, and that you like me."

I sputtered a bunch of nonverbal words. That didn't sound like me at all. Kai? Hot? That was ridiculous.

"As a matter of fact, you said I was dangerously hot."

"What? You're lying."

Kai stopped and turned to face me. I took a big step back. Suddenly, I was feeling trapped and didn't want to look him in the eyes. Did I really do something as say he was hot? That would be so embarrassing. He took a step closer to me.

"You said I was dreamy..."

I scratched at my temple, looked away, and took a step back. He followed my footsteps.

"That doesn't sound like me."

He smirked and I tripped backwards. He reached out and grabbed me. His arms wrapped around my waist and yanking me up to his body. I fell into his arms perfectly.

"You don't like Dean, Dollface." With one free hand, he reached out to cup one side of my face.

"I do. He's perfect for me."

"Sometimes, perfect isn't what you need."

"H-how would you know what I need? You don't know anything about me."

"I might not know you enough, sweetheart, but I know that you loved kissing me last night."

I gasped and covered my lips with my hand. As if this will erased what we did last night, but I knew he was telling the truth. The memories were coming back so quickly. I remembered how it felt to kiss him. I remembered how it made me feel too.

"Do you want me to jog your memory?"

I shook my head immediately and he laughed before releasing me. I stumbled back a little. My heart rate pounded rapidly and I tried to come up with every reason why it was beating that didn't involve him.

"Was that all you wanted to ask me?" he questioned.

"I...yes. Thank you for helping out last night. I appreciate your rescue. However, I just wanted to remind you that we are just friends. There isn't anything between us."

Kai scrutinized me for a few seconds before blinking and looking away.

"I guess it is what they say, love is truly blind."

I scoffed before following his footstep again. We spent the next half hour simply walking in the woods. The sun was rapidly setting over the horizon, but it seemed we weren't in a hurry to go home.

When did I start feeling comfortable around Kai?

It must be the amount of time we have spent together. In just under two weeks, I've felt closer to him than I ever felt with anyone else. Yet he was still the most complex person I have ever met. I don't know why I feel this way. There was a voice inside of me telling me that he wasn't telling me the whole story. His eyes showed more than what he said, but I wasn't going to push him if he wasn't ready to tell me. If he wanted me to know, he'll let me know eventually.

We left to go home after our walk in the woods. It was getting dark and school was tomorrow.

The next morning, I arrived at the school at the usual time. Walking down the sidewalk with a cup of coffee in my hand, I looked at my surroundings. People were hanging out with their cliques and laughing away. The gothic clique loitered against the school. The average people sat on the grass in front of the school. The rednecks sat in the back of their oversized trucks talking to each other in the parking lot.

My eyes stopped where Kai's group was. His friends Devon, Benny, and Nina. There was someone else there. I couldn't really see who it was until I walked up to them. The girl was sitting on Kai's lap. He had one hand on her hip to keep her from falling.

She looked beautiful with dirty blonde hair and an angelic face that looked like it came out of a teen magazine.

Kai saw me walking to them, but didn't bother moving. He sat there and waited. I should turn the other way and walk away, but my body continued to gravitate towards him.

When I made it to them, Kai's friends greeted me.

"Tamsin, right?" Benny pointed a finger at me.

I nodded my head and smiled in his direction.

"Sup, Tam." Devon nodded his head in my direction.

Nina walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me.

"Hey, girl," she whispered.

"Hey," I replied and hugged her back.

When she pulled back, I returned my gaze to Kai and the unknown girl. Kai didn't make a move to introduce her to me. Why was I surprised he had a girl clinging onto him? Wasn't it normal he had a new girl every week?

"This is Clover. She just transferred school. Kai and her have known each other for a year now," Devon introduced.

A year? That was a long time. I guess this girl meant more to him than I thought.

Kai was looking at me, burning me with those deep pale green eyes. An odd sensation churned my stomach, but I shoved it down with a blink and a practiced smile.

"Hi, Clover. My name is Tamsin." Clover's arms were wrapped around Kai's neck.

She looked awfully comfortable in his lap. They actually match as a couple. They remind me of the movie, Grease. The main couple leads looked good together too.

"Hi Tamsin," Clover greeted with a pretty and friendly smile.

For a moment, the awkward air idled around us. I shoved a hand through my unbundled, black hair. I shouldn't linger too long and walk away. Lifting up my coffee cup for a sip, I eyed them over the rim of my cup. Clover was laughing and leaned in to whisper in Kai's ear. He listened intently with a tug to his lip. I wanted to throw my cup of coffee at them.

Instead, I sighed and spoke up like a mature person.

"Well, I'll see you guys later."

I walked toward the school again. My gaze looked everywhere but at Kai. When I walked away, I grew angry. He kissed me. The dumbass kissed me and even gave me a hickey. Then he goes and bring another girl onto his lap. How was I supposed to feel in this situation? I wanted to smack his face, punch his guts, and stomp on his feet a thousand times.

Then I reasoned with myself—I should expect this from Kai. He was, after all, the school bad boy. He always had a girl around his arms. This was the reason why I didn't want to be anything more than a girlfriend.

But then why did you let him kiss you?

Why did you let him give you a hickey? You could have pushed him off, but you enjoyed it.

My conscience pissed me off because she was so damn right.

What kind of name was Clover, anyways? I made it to the classroom extra early. Throwing my backpack on top of my desk, I looked out the window by accident while sitting down. I saw Clover still sitting in Kai's lap. She was laughing and whispering.

What's so funny anyways? Kai wasn't a funny guy.

That odd churning in my stomach made its way to my heart and I felt it twist in pain. I tore my eyes away from them and buried my face in my backpack. A groan escaping me, but needing to scream.

"Why do you care? You put him in a not date list. He has a new girl every week."

After that, I stopped looking out the window. In fact, I avoided him. I didn't talk to him during our class period together. I pretended he didn't exist just like a few weeks ago. Even when I could feel him staring at me, I still didn't look at him. After sixth period, I was already feeling better. I forgot what had happened this morning and the icky feeling was gone.

Until Kai cornered me in a hallway. He caught me off guard my dragging me into an empty classroom and shutting the door. He pushed me up against the wall and boxed me in.

"What are you doing?" I pushed him away, but he didn't budge.

"What's wrong with you?" he questioned.

"Nothing is wrong with me."

Kai raised a disbelieving eyebrow and I rolled my eyes.

"I told you, nothing is wrong," I emphasized.

"You expect me to believe that? You have been avoiding me, Doll. What's going on in that crazy little head of yours?"

"Leave me alone, Kai. I'm not in the mood to talk." And just like that, the icky feeling came crawling back. I wanted to punch him and I'm not normally a violent type of person.

"Yeah, you are pissed. What's the reason, Doll?"

"Stop calling me that. My name is Tamsin." I shoved him again.

This time he came up so close, I could feel every inch of heat on his body. I was forced to look him in the eyes and couldn't hide my emotions. The scars and bruises on his face still looked pretty bad, but he looked better than yesterday.

He cradled my cheek, "Why are you mad?"

I looked away again.

"I'm not angry. Why should I be angry? You are nobody to me." I looked back at him.

His teeth clenched and he pulled back. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he glared in my direction.

"Why don't we cut through your emotions and get to the reason why you are mad?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm not mad."

"I can see it on your face."

"You don't know me. Don't act like you do."

He nodded his head in frustration and gave a disbelieving chuckle. He released me and took a few steps back. He shoved both hands through his hair before glaring in my direction. His hair was a complete mess, but he didn't care.

I turned to walk away, but stopped when he spoke again.

"Running away won't resolve anything, Doll. If you got something to say to me, say it to my face."

That was the last straw. I whipped around and stalked over to him. Stabbing him in the chest with my finger, I glared at him.

"You're a player. Every week, you are with a new girl. I won't fall for you and your stupid tricks. I thought I was getting to know you, but I was wrong. You don't care about anybody but yourself."

He scoffed.

"You're jealous."

"Jealous? You must be insane," I sputtered.

Kai took a step towards me and I stumbled back.

"Why would I be jealous?"

"I saw the look in your eyes when you saw Clover sitting on my lap."

My heart rate spiked and I felt trapped. He took another step toward me and I put a hand out to stop him.

"I'm not jealous."

He smirked. "You were jealous of Clover."

"You kissed me!" I shouted at him and shoved him hard.

"And?"

"And you gave me a hickey! I hate you! I hate that you did that to me."

"You didn't seem to mind it too much afterwards."

"You..."

He grabbed my arms and yanked me close.

"If I remembered correctly, you even kissed me back," he whispered before slamming his lips over mine.