This would make my mom happy. She wouldn’t have wanted me to live out the rest of my life the way I had been living—well, living probably wasn’t the right word—the way I had been existing these past six years. I glanced at Kane through my lashes, my mom would have loved him. She would have loved the tattoos and probably even the piercing because it showed he didn’t care what others thought of him. That he did things because he wanted to. That he wasn’t afraid of what people thought. She wanted to be that way … she just found herself in a situation that she couldn’t get out of without there being repercussions that she would never be able to live with.
Sharing custody of me with my dad, her not being able to protect me if he were to ever try to abuse me the way he had her, was not an option to her. So my mom staying in an abusive relationship protected me, in a weird way.
Kane cleared his throat, jarring me from my thoughts. “I know I said I would take you back to the dorms, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to you yet. It’s fine if you don’t want to, but would you like to spend the night at my place? I will take you back to the dorms first thing in the morning if that’s what you want but I just want to hold you tonight. I want you in my bed, with me.” He glanced at me to see if I was considering this, but, really, what was there to consider? I was already dreading the goodbye when he dropped me off. The thought of spending the night in his arms sounded like the perfect way to end this perfect day.
“Yes.” I enthusiastically nodded my head. “I would love to spend the night with you.”
I smiled when I heard the engine rev a little louder, obviously he was speeding up a little to hurry and get us home.
We pulled into the parking lot of Shot’s and Kane cut the engine. He opened his door and held out his hand for me. I slid across the seat, careful so that my dress didn’t ride up too high. I was, after all, going commando at the moment. We held hands as we made our way to the stairs that lead to his apartment.
When we made it to the door Kane bent down and picked something up. I then realized it was the leftovers Emma had sent home with him that he had asked Landon to drop off, which reminded me I needed to call Jessi and let her know I wouldn’t be back to the dorm tonight. Kane let go of my hand to pull a small, silver key from his pocket and slid it in the lock. After a little twist he pushed open the door and motioned for me to step in ahead of him.
Everything was black; there was no light at all, not even one of those little plug-in night lights. I heard the door close behind me then a click. The room lit up and I turned to see Kane with his finger still on the light switch.
“Well, this is my place.” He nodded toward the open room.
I turned and took it all in. It wasn’t bad. It had an open floor plan. There was a long bar that separated the kitchen from the living room and I could tell the kitchen had been recently updated. It had dark granite countertops and sleek stainless steel appliances. The walls were painted a cool electric blue and was accented with black throw rugs and vases.
I bet Emma helped him decorate. It was too put together for a bachelor pad. The living room had a large flat screen TV hanging from the center of the wall and a dark leather U-shaped couch sat across from it. Again there were accents of burnt orange throw pillows and a bowl of orange and brown globes that sat in the middle of the coffee table in front of the couch. Now I was certain Emma had her way with decorating. What guy would think to buy that?
I stood there, not really sure what to do next. I had never spent the night with a guy before so I didn’t know protocol on these sort of things. Did I just go sit on the couch and get comfortable? Did I wait for him to offer me a seat? Since I didn’t know, I just stood there like a huge idiot.
Kane walked around me and into the kitchen. He began pulling the left overs out of the bag and placing them in the fridge. “If you’re hungry I can heat some of this up for you.” He peeked around the fridge door at me. I shook my head no and continued to stand there taking in the rest of the apartment.
Directly in front of me I could see a very small hall and what looked like three closed doors. I guess that’s where the bedroom and bathroom were. Speaking of bathrooms, I really needed to pee. Clearing my throat I asked, “Can I use your bathroom?” Well, that came out a little dumber than I thought. Of course I could use his bathroom. If was going to be staying here all night, I’m pretty sure I would have to use it sometime throughout the next few hours.
Kane didn’t seem to notice the stupidity in my question. He only came around the bar and took my hand. “It’s right over here. Hey, do you want to take a shower? Wash some of that pond water off? You can wear my clothes and I will throw yours in the wash.”
A shower actually sounded like heaven right now so I nodded.
Kane showed me where the bathroom was and I took one look in the mirror and just about face palmed. My hair was a mess! It was actually sticking up on the left side like I had stuck my finger in a light socket. How could I not notice that my hair looked this bad? How could Kane not laugh every time he looked at me? I was trying to get my fingers through my unruly hair when Kane came back into the bathroom with some folded clothes in his hands.
“These will probably swallow you, but at least they are clean. I will have your clothes washed in no time though.”
I smiled and took the soft cotton shirt and boxers from his hands. “Thank you.”
Kane smiled and lightly flicked his lip ring with his tongue. The sight of that one simple move had my belly fluttering and I quickly turned to set the clothes down on the sink.
“Well, I will let you get to it then. I’ll be right in the living room if you need anything. All the soaps and shampoos are in there.”
I turned back around to look at him and could see a sly smile on his face. Did he know what the lip ring did to me? Was he doing it on purpose? I had no time to ask—not that I was sure I would—before he stepped back out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.
I sat down on the closed toilet lid and tried to compose myself. It was a good thing he left when he did because had he still been playing with that lip ring when I turned back around, I probably would have drug him in the shower with me.
I couldn’t believe I was spending the night and that I would also be spending the night in his arms. Speaking of spending the night, I really needed to call Jessi. I got up and walked over the countertop where I had laid my cell. It had been on silent and the screen was already lit up with two texts. The first from Jessi.