Teagan

Six Years and Four Months Ago

Monica Wilson is a bitch.

Her flirtatious laughter ringing through the house is like iron nails being raked down a chalkboard. I slam my geometry textbook closed and count to ten.

Is sixteen too young to have anger issues? Apparently, it isn’t because I’m fuming.

One. Two. Three. Four.

She might be holding his attention for now.

Five. Six. Seven.

But he’ll drop her quickly.

Eight. Nine. Ten.

Her cackle grows louder. I rub my temples. That counting shit didn’t help.

Fuck this.

I leap from my bed, skip down the stairs, and set my sight on my target.

“Monica! It’s been so long. How’s college?” It takes great effort to keep the edge out of my voice and appear happy to see her.

“Oh, hey. We went to school together last year, didn’t we?” Monica twirls a piece of her perfectly straight blonde hair around her finger and squints as if she’s trying to remember who I am. She knows exactly who I am because she used me to get closer to the men in this house.

“Yeah, remember I was the underclassman who you cheated off in math because you’d already failed it three times. I was so surprised to hear you got into Florida State. I hope the classes aren’t too hard for you there.”

Kai bites his lip, but a laugh still sneaks out at Monica’s expense.

Pride beams within me for a job well done, but my work isn’t finished.

She needs to go.

“Perfect. Teagan, you’re just in time.” Kai shifts Monica from his lap and stands, leaving her on the couch. His long legs striding toward me have excitement building in my stomach. He’s casting her aside for me. “Hey, squirt. Entertain your friend for a minute for me. Will you? I need to go make a work call.” His palm covers the top of my head, and he leans in close to my ear so that only I can hear what he’ll say next. “Be nice, but don’t use big words. She might get confused.” His hot breath on my skin flusters me, and then he’s gone, leaving me alone with Monica.

“It’s nice that Kai stuck around to be a father figure to you after what happened to your parents,” Monica throws a jab of her own, two actually. Kai has helped tremendously since I landed in my brother’s lap at ten, but he definitely isn’t a father figure to me. I love him and not in the way you love your father. She also thinks she can throw me off by casually mentioning my parents’ deaths. She’s going to need to try a lot harder if she thinks I’ll retreat with my tail between my legs.

Kai is the end game for me.

“Yeah, Kai really is a great guy, and the hero act definitely helps him with the ladies. He’s a bad boy with a soft edge. I mean, obviously, you see it. You’re here. I, for one, wouldn’t be okay with sharing a partner with that many other women.”

Monica’s confident facade cracks but only a little. It’s the slight tic in the corner of her fake smile that gives her away.

“This town is full of gossip. I’m sure half the stories about Kai aren’t true.”

She’s right. They aren’t. Kai’s no angel, but false stories are always hyped up about those worthy of being talked about, and Kai is definitely gossip-deserving.

“I live here. Remember? I’m privy to all the firsthand accounts, not the secondhand water-cooler tales.” I raise my chin a little higher and throw out my best air of confidence. Kai is a man-whore. He knows it. I know it, and she knows it, but I need to take it to a whole other level. I don’t like Monica, and I don’t want her hands … or any other skanky part of her anywhere near what’s mine.

“Things? What kind of things?” She chews on her nails as her hesitation grows.

I look around, being extra dramatic, and then creep closer to the dumb blonde.

“This is just between us girls, right?” I cup my hand to slightly cover my mouth like I have giant secrets I’m willing to share with only her. She nods, and I proceed. “Well, you remember Cassy, don’t you?” She nods once more. “Pregnant!” I whisper-shout.

The dots don’t connect for her. Her face doesn’t show any inclination that she’s following my train of thought.

So, I elaborate. “The baby is Kai’s. She was just here a few hours ago, looking for money for prenatal vitamins. But, remember, this is our little secret. Things would get messy if Cassy knew that Kristen was here while she came around this morning and that you’re his afternoon date.”

“I’m the third girl to be over here today?” Her eyes open in horror.

“Yeah, it’s been a slow day. I think he has something going on with work.”

“Slow day?” She stands—hopefully ready to get the hell out of my house—and shakes her head. “Everything you’re telling me, it’s all true? I mean, I wanted a juicy story from my break to brag about back at school, but this isn’t worth it. It’s too much.” She narrows her eyes at me, probably suspicious and rightfully so. “Why would you tell me all this?” She’s slowly backing away, even as she takes one last shot, hoping my stories aren’t true.

They aren’t, but I’ll never tell her that.

“I always kind of looked up to you.” Puke. “I know you’re better than the girls who come around here. I don’t want to see you get sucked in.” I give an award-worthy performance and really sell it.

She glances in the direction Kai disappeared and takes another step toward the front door. “Thanks.” Another step. Another glance. She then takes off down the hallway. “Cover for me, will you? Tell him something came up.” She doesn’t even bother to look back at me as she speaks. Good thing because she’d have seen me grinning ear to ear. Bye-bye, Monica.

That was easier than I’d expected, but as much as I don’t like her, Monica really isn’t like most women coming in and out of Kai’s bedroom. In over her head, she was easy to scare off with a few lies. The other women lined up to take her place wouldn’t have been rattled so easily. Those women would take Kai, no matter what number they were, maybe even welcomed the challenge of baby-mama drama, anything to have their hands on him.

The spot next to Kai belongs to me. He just doesn’t know it.

Doubt that Kai will ever see me the way I see him fights with the pleasure erupting from watching Monica hightail it out of here. But, in my living room, which is filled with memories and photos of me with the two men who raised me, I sit and enjoy my victory. It’s deliciously sweet. If only short-lived.

“Where’s Monica?” Kai plops down onto the couch next to me.

“Oh, something came up. She had to run.”

His smile melts my heart. It isn’t the same cocky smirk he gives everyone else. It’s genuine and pure, and it’s one of the many reasons he makes my heart race.

“That’s okay. I’d rather spend the day with you anyway. Women are exhausting.” He stretches out, getting comfortable, and I fight the urge to jump on top of him.

“I’m a woman.” I like that he’d rather spend time with me but hate that he doesn’t see me the same way he sees Monica. She or any of the other women could never understand Kai the way that I can.

“I guess you are, but you know what I mean.” He looks anywhere but at me.

I hate that I know what he means. I’m like the little sister he never wanted.

But I can’t help how hopelessly in love with him I am.

I sigh, the victorious feeling from moments ago deflating. Monica isn’t really what stands in the way of Kai and me. My unrequited feelings are our biggest obstacle.