Page 39 of Finding Kyler
“The hell you don’t.” I plant my hands on my hips and lance him with my fiercest expression.
“Just do what you’re told. Brad isn’t a good guy. Stay away from him.”
I stare him down with a furious look of my own.
“Please.”
I shoot him an incredulous look. As if a little ‘please’ excuses his caveman-like behavior.
He rams his fist into the wall in a temper, making a noticeable dent in the plaster. “To hell with this.” With that parting sentiment lingering in the air, he storms out of the room, leaving a maelstrom of confusion in his wake.
“What is that dude’s problem?”
Kalvin exhales loudly. “How long have you got?”
“Know what? I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care. Nothing that comes out of that asshole’s mouth will make a blind bit of difference anyway. Brad is a million times nicer than Kyler.”
“Oh, fuck me,” Kalvin exclaims. “This is a mess.” He shuts the door with his foot and then joins me on the bed. “I can’t tell you everything because it’s not my story to share, but you need to understand that Brad isn’t the guy you think he is.”
“Enlighten me.”
He tucks my hair behind my ears, surveying me with keen eyes. “You’re very pretty.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Get on with it.” My patience is resting somewhere between fleeting and nonexistent.
“Addison was Ky’s first serious girlfriend, and he was craaaazy about her.”
“I guess there’s no accounting for taste,” I spit out cynically.
Kalvin continues, ignoring my little burst of jealousy. “They were an item for two years, and they were even talking about going to Harvard together. Brad was Ky’s best friend since kindergarten. He’s on the football team, and he’s into motocross too.”
I have an inkling of where this is going.
“Brad and Ky were as close as two dudes get, without coming out of the closet, if you catch my drift.”
I roll my eyes and urge him to go on.
“Brad was hooking up with Addison behind Ky’s back. It was going on for months before he found out. It shattered him. Overnight he lost his girl and his best friend. It’s been more than six months, and he’s still not himself.” He gets up. “Brad is bad news, and Ky is only looking out for you. We both are.”
I nod. “I get it. Thanks for telling me.”
After Kalvin has closed the door, a shrill squeal rips through the room. I pick up my phone, and Jill and Rachel are talking at ninety miles an hour, chattering over one another, and I can’t make any sense of their rambling. I’d completely forgotten they were still on the line—they heard everything.
Rachel is audibly palpitating. “You should totally shag Kyler. He is seriously fit, and I’m not talking about Luke-level fit. We’re talking Zac Efron and Liam Hemsworth level of supreme deliciousness. He’s a total ride.”
“He’s a total asshole, Rach.”
“You don’t need to actually like him to screw him.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
Jill, always the more diplomatic of the two, interjects. “What Rach means is you need to get back on that horse, and Kyler is the perfect steed to ride into a state of orgasmic bliss.”
I flop back on the bed. “Not you, too! I’m not sleeping with Kyler. I’d rather sign up for invasive genital surgery than have sex with that tool. And have you forgotten? He’s mycousin.”
Rachel splutters. “Cousin smousin! Who cares!”
“I think it’s majorly frowned on over here. Trust me, there would be plenty of people with things to say if I got with him.”
