Save Me (14 page)

Kai
stopped beside me and threw his arm around my shoulder. Lucky because I was seconds from falling on my arse.

“How many of them did you have?” he asked while looking at all the empty shot glasses and laughing.

“I think six,” I slurred. Kai laughed, poured three more and handed one to me and Holly, keeping one for himself.

“Last one, okay?” he said, clinking the glass against mine.

I nodded and my head hurt more. “Yeah, ‘k?” I downed the shot, not even feeling the burn as it slid down my throat anymore.

By three in the morning everyone had left and I was lying on the sofa watching the ceiling spin. Sophie had gone upstairs with some guy and Kai was having a real hard time with it – they were in
his
bedroom.

“They’
re in my bed, Tegan,” he said for the four thousandth time.

“
Yes, Kai, I know.”

“I’ll never get my bed clean. God, I’m gonna have to buy another one tomorrow.”

“You could just change the sheets,” I said, giggling. “I’m sure they won’t make too much mess.”

“Glad you find this funny.”

“Well, if you were nicer to her it could’ve been you up there.”

“No, thanks,” he replied, turning his nose up.

He suddenly laughed. “Hey, if you wanna go home you have to go up there and get her,” he said.

That wiped the smile off my face. I loved Sophie but there was no way I wanted to see her naked and filled with cock.

“I’m so not going up there. I need a blanket.”

“Sorry, I’m not eighty.”

I glared and he pulled his hoodie over his head. Alright…

“Have this,” he said, laying the oversized hoodie over my curled up body. I smiled and tried to make sense of all the ink on his arms. It moved when I was drunk, the waves looked like they were actually crashing against the shore. 

I yawned and curled up tighter. “Wake me up when they’re done,” I said and I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up to the light blinding me. My head throbbed and my throat was dry. Groaning, I looked over my shoulder and saw Kai beside me, right on the edge of the sofa. I’d snuggled into the back and he must’ve gotten on behind me.

That wasn’t the best position to wake up in, even though he was barely touching me and we were both fully clothed. I sat up
slowly and pushed myself up onto my feet so I was crouching. I had a headache from hell, the room was spinning and I had to pull a fucking ninja move just to get off the sofa unnoticed.

Standing up fully, I used the back of the sofa to steady myself and crept forwards so I could get off at the end.

I’d almost made it when I heard a deep chuckle. “The walk of shame has changed,” Kai said.

I
winced and turned around. He was lying on his back now with both hands behind his head. His eyes had never looked so light and as amused as they did right now. Prick.

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

“We didn’t do anything, Tegan.  Holly and James had the spare room and there was no way I was going in mine.”

“I know. It’s fine.”

“I was a perfect gentleman.”

Glaring, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, you kept begging me for sex but I had to turn you down because you were far too drunk.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Of course I did.
Now, I really need to pee so I’m gonna…” I hopped down from the sofa, proud that I didn’t fall over, and went to the bathroom.

Sophie
and the others came down shortly after I woke up and Kai cooked us bacon, sausages, eggs, beans and toast. It was much appreciated and helped to soak up the alcohol still sloshing around in my system. Sophie’s special friend for the night didn’t join us, he kissed her and left.

Kai dropped us off at Soph’s and went back to go ride his bike for a while.

“So you’re really telling Lucas about last night?” she asked
, again. I’d told her about waking up with Kai beside me and she thought I was crazy to tell him. Even though nothing happened I had a feeling he’d want to know something like that.

“Yeah
, I have to.”

“No
, you don’t. How would he ever find out? It will only piss him off and nothing even happened.”

“
I know, but if it was me I’d want to know.”

“And what if he breaks up with you?”
I gulped. “Exactly, Tegan. You’d be an idiot to tell him.”

“But it would be worse if he found out later.”

“Well, I’m not gonna tell him and Kai…” She stopped and smiled. “Yeah, Kai might. They really don’t get along, do they?”

“They don’t
, but Kai wouldn’t do that.”
Ugh, morals suck.

I
walked home after our talk and saw a note on the side from Mum saying they’d left to go to the village fate for the day and to meet up with them when I was ready. There was something I had to do before I went out.

Flopping down on my bed, I resigned myself to the inevitable, I was telling Lucas.

“Hey,” he answered on the first ring.

“Hi,”
I said quietly. My stomach was all tied up in knots.
Please don’t take this badly.

“You okay
, babe?”

“
Yeah, but I need to tell you something about last night.”

He hesitated and then said,
“Go on.”

I took a deep breath. “Last night
I stayed at Kai’s with Sophie. We weren’t going to but she met someone and spent all night in Kai’s room with him. I fell asleep on the sofa.” I paused a second to breathe. “I woke up and Kai was sleeping beside me. Nothing happened, I promise.” Silence. “Luke, I’m sorry. Please say something.”

“I’ll call you later.”

“No, Luke–”

“Tegan
, you know I don’t like the guy so please give me some time. I’ll call you later.” He ended the call. Fuck sake! Sighing in frustration, I buried my head in the pillow and groaned.

Chapter T
wenty-Six

Tegan

Less than an hour later there was a knock on the door and Lucas stood smiling sheepishly behind it. He winced at the pissed off look on my face. “Hey, babe.”

“Hey
, babe? That’s all you have to say to me?”

“Can I come in?”

I stepped out of the way to let him through even though I felt like slamming the door in his overreacting face.

“Calmed down?” I asked.

“I’m sorry. I know I didn’t handle that well.”

“No, you really didn’t.” I tilted my head back and tied my hair in a loose ponytail.
“Nothing happened.”

“I know, I believe you. I guess it just freaked me out because of your past with him.”

“Hey, key word in there, Luke, is
past
.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. On the way over here I was thinking about how badly I’d reacted and I realised that you didn’t have to tell me, I never would’ve found out, and I love that you did. I trust you.”

Sophie was so wrong. I was glad I told him the truth. I wasn’t that honest and open with anyone else in my life but I was really trying with him.

“So, are we cool?” he asked.

“We’re cool,” I replied, stepping into his embrace. “Thank you for coming all this way so we could sort it out.

“Of course. Do you want me to stick around?”

“I thought you had a lot to do?”

“I do but I want to make sure you’re alright.”

“I am now,” I said and kissed him. “And I don’t want to keep you, I know I’ve been doing that a lot and I’m meeting up with my mum and Ava at the fate.”

“I’ll drop you off then.”

I was happier since we’d sorted things out and after a quick change of clothes I was ready to go to the crappy fate.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay longer?” he asked again as he pulled into a parking space.

“No, it’s fine, really.” I smiled. “I’ll see you on Friday.”

He
kissed me again.

I reluctantly prised my hands off him, got out of the car
, and waved as he drove away. I headed off to try to find Mum and Ava but the steady stream of floats driving through town was making it hard.

Someone grabbed me from behind
, making me jump. I spun around to fucking punch them but stopped when I saw who it was. “Damn it, Kai!” I punched him on the arm anyway and he laughed.

“
Your face just then,” he said, trying and failing to get a grip on his laughing.

“
Whatever,” I mumbled, folding me arms over my chest.

“I’
m sorry, princess.”

He wasn’t.

“Buy me an ice cream and I’ll forgive you.”

He smiled.
“You’re easy. Come on.”

“What’re you doing here anyway? Didn’t think this would be the sort of thing you were into.”

He shrugged. “Got bored.”

We ordered ice cream and headed deeper into the parade.

“So, Sophie and Mark never came back then?”

“Nope
, but at least they’re in his bed.”

We turned the corner and
I finally saw Mum and Ava looking at a jewellery stall. Kai stopped walking as he saw them. “Are you scared of my mum?” I asked, giggling at the expression on his face.

He composed himself quickly. “No, I’m not scared.”

“Come on then.” I smiled. He reluctantly walked with me. I knew it was awkward but they all needed to get over it, Kai was my friend and there wasn’t anything anyone could say to change that.

“Hey,” I s
aid to their backs as we approached.

They
both spun around quickly. “Oh, hi, honey.” Mum’s eyes fell on Kai and he smiled a little too much. “Kai.”

“Hello
, Mrs Pennells,” he replied politely. I laughed but quickly covered it up with a cough. Kai nudged my arm.

“So
, what are you two doing?” Mum asked, eyeing both of us suspiciously. 

Oh, just off to shag on a float!
I hated that they were so suspicious of me and Kai. I wouldn’t bloody cheat!

“Not much,” I said, licking the cone as my ice cream
dribbled down the side.

“
Oh. We’re going to get a drink now if you two would like to join us?” Mum asked, looking at Kai.

Kai smiled awkwardly again.
“Err, sure, that would be great, thanks.”

“
Good, well, let’s go.”

This was going to be a barrel of laughs.

Mum and Ava led the way to the local pub and me and Kai trailed behind, neither of us really wanting to have a drink with them. He couldn’t have just said no?

“Why don’t you find a table and I’ll bring the drinks over,” Mum said.

“I’ll get them,” Kai replied.

Mum shook her head. “Please,
I want to. What would you like?”

“Okay, thank you. Fosters, please.” I couldn’t help admiring how cute Kai was when he was nervous. He didn’t seem to care that much at Ava’s party
, so I wasn’t all that sure what happened to change him from not giving a single fuck to nervous and super polite.

“You girls want your usual?” Mum asked.

We nodded and I was pretty sure that Mum didn’t know my real usual and I’d end up with a bloody coke.

Me, Kai and Ava found a table near the window and sat down. The silence was awkward. Ava didn’t like Kai and made no attempt to
just be polite anyway. I tapped my fingers on the wooden table while we waited for Mum to come back. Six seconds into my
It’s Raining Men
finger drum solo Kai slammed his hand down over mine.

“That’s getting annoying quick,” he s
aid, removing his hand and staring at me pointedly.
Well, the silence is getting awkward.

Ava cleared her throat.
Right, apologies, I forgot the touch of a hand is a promise now.

Mum walked over to the table with a tray holding two glasses of wine, a beer and my
damn coke. I would need something a lot stronger if I was going to get through this. Why did Kai agree to it again?

“Thank you, Alison,” Kai said.

“You’re welcome, Kai.”

I wanted to bash my head on the table. How much sickly niceness
could they fit into one small exchange? Kai – as much as he didn’t want to care – cared a lot about what my mum thought of him. I didn’t. She could hate him if she wanted; it wasn’t going to change my mind. I didn’t give a single fuck what people thought about me.

We all made it through the first drink. Yes, me and Kai practically downed ours. Having drinks with someone that thinks you’re committing sin with the person on your left is plain awkward. I wasn’t sure why all the judgement since both Mum and Ava had friends of the opposite sex that they managed not
to screw every time they set their eyes on them. Double standards.

“We’re going to check out more of the fate,” I said, standing up. It was only when Kai leapt out of his seat at the first syllable that I realised just how awkward it’d been for him.
I thought it was pretty sweet of him to suffer through that for me, it couldn’t be that nice to sit with people that had a clear dislike of you.

“Okay, we’ll see you home later then,” Mum said.

“Thank you for the drink, Alison,” Kai said, following behind me, just as eager to get away. Once we were safely outside he turned to me. “Well, I think it’s safe to say I’m still on their shit list.”

“I’m sorry about them.”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. I kinda understand why they’re not my biggest fans.” So could I, but they could at least be polite to the guy, he’d actually done nothing wrong at all. “So, how come Lucas isn’t here?”

“He’s street racing.”

Stopping dead in his tracks he faced me. “Racing?”

“Yep. What’s with the face?
I find it hard to believe you’ve never raced a car before.”

“No, I have….
when I was seventeen.”

“Oh
, and what do you do for fun now, since you’re so beyond racing? Play chess?” I teased.

Kai’s eyebrow raised suggestively and he smirked. “I th
ink you know what I do for fun now.”

I didn’t blush often but the way he looked at me, like he wa
s replaying one of the times we’d
had fun
in his head, heated my cheeks. I slapped his arm. “Stop thinking about it.” There was an uneasy feeling as I remembered some of those times. I shouldn’t think about it now I was with Lucas.

Shaking his head,
he batted my hand away. “Can’t. Sorry. Once you’ve been above, beneath, behind or beside someone you reserve the right to fuck or re-fuck them in your mind whenever you want.”

I wasn’t too sure what to say to that
, so after an extended blank stare, I moved on and pointed to a knock-the-coconut-down game. “Come on, you can win me one of those giant smurfs.”

“Good morning. Are you having a go for the little lady?” the balding, sweaty man behind the table asked. I wanted to punch his peanut shaped head in for the
little lady
comment. Arsehole. Kai nodded and I couldn’t miss the fucking smirk as he watched me shoot daggers at the sweaty mess in front of us. “Three balls, three chances to knock the cocoanut off. You get one down you get a stuffed toy.”

It wasn’t bloody rocket science.

He handed Kai the three wooden balls and he threw the first one. Shit, he had a good throw. It smashed into the coconut, knocking it sideways but it didn’t fall.

“Good shot, son,”
Sweaty Mess said, chuckling obnoxiously loud. He was on my bloody list since his comment so now everything he did grated on me. Wanker.

The look of determination on Kai’s face melted my heart a little. It was only a cheap, stuffed toy but because I wanted it he was going all out to get it. The next ball was swung harder and launched through the air with purpose. The coconut
dropped to the floor with a light thud.

Sweaty Mess burst into laugher again, holding his potbelly. “Nice. Which one ya want, little lady?”

I wanted to tell him to shove it but Kai had won it and probably pulled a muscle in his arm throwing that hard so I forced myself to smile and pointed to a smurf above my head.

“I thought you’d have wanted the girl,” he said, laughing again and reaching up to take it down. I wanted to back up, take a good run and slam my body into his stomach. I was small and didn’t weigh a whole lot but I was confident I could knock the air out of him.

“Thank you,” I said to Sweaty Mess and then repeated to Kai, my smile turning genuine for my friend.

“You’re welcome. Couldn’t have you not getting what you wanted now, could we, princess.”

Little prick. I glared, which only made him laugh.

“I’m calling him Kai
,” I said, holding up the smurf.

“You’re naming
a teddy after me?” He raised his dark eyebrow and turned his nose up in disgust. I nodded. His distaste quickly morphed into something that looked at lot like it would get him in trouble. “You going to cuddle up to it naked when you’re in bed?”

And there it is.

“Oh, every night, yeah,” I replied sarcastically.

“You know you could have the real thing.” He threw his arm over my shoulder as we walked towards the horse carousel.

“Well, thanks for the offer, but this Kai is way cuter.” I held up the smurf for emphasis. Shaking his head, amused, he helped me get on a horse and stepped back.

“You’re not coming on?”

“If you think I’m getting on a fucking pink pony and going round and round in circles for–”

“Okay, okay. I’ll see you in a minute.”

“You’ll see me about twenty times in that minute.”

The horse lifted as the ride started to move. “Lucky me,” I replied dryly, ear
ning myself a wink and half smile.