Page 74 of Bad Influence
The biggest smile steals across my face as I shake my head. I want to contain it, but I can’t. Because his answer is everything and it fills all the hollow places inside me.
CHAPTER 21
Caroline
We’re standingoutside the arena when Killian gets a text. He sighs as he reads it, like he’s being asked to do something he really doesn’t want to do.
“Have you ever been to a pub?” He looks at me in question.
“Only hooligans go to pubs, Killian.”
He scoffs a laugh. “Let’s go be hooligans then.”
Reaching for my hand, he starts to pull me down the street, but I stay rooted to my spot. He turns back with a frown.
“We don’t have to do that,” I say. “We’ve already done this.”
I wave my hand behind me at the arena. I’m not a sports convert by any means and I watched the whole game like one watches a movie, but I did enjoy myself. I can’t say the same about Killian. I don’t want to put him through another thing he’s going to hate.
“Consider it a two-for-one,” Killian says. “You get to experience a pub and meet a bunch of hockey players.”
I’m not going to lie, I’m intrigued. “But you’re going to hate every second of it.”
With a sigh, Killian tugs on my hand and I reluctantly start walking. Now we’re just walking down the streetholding handslike it’s just something we do all the time.
“I’ll be fine,” Killian says.
I’m not convinced, though I don’t have much of a choice since he’s already leading us in the direction of the pub.
There’s scaffolding along the sidewalks which makes walking next to each other impossible. Garbage bags lined up in some places. Hot dog stands and people selling their wares. The car horns, ambulance and police sirens, pedestrians shouting at drivers when they turn too sharply. New York engages all your senses.
Then there’s Killian. He’s moving along with confidence, sidestepping people easily, knowing when a car isn’t going to stop from turning. He belongs here.
“You’re very quiet,” Killian says.
“I’m just focusing on walking,” I say.
He glances at me like he doesn’t believe me. Pretty soon, we’re at the pub and I stare up at it in surprise.
“This is the pub?” I ask. It looks way too fancy for what I was expecting, which was a hole in the wall dingy pub.
“This is it,” he says.
“I’m nervous. What if they don’t like me?” I look through the windows and the whole place is so crowded.
“What’s not to like?” Killian asks. “And you’re likely never going to see any of them again.”
That offers me some comfort. I’m more nervous about acting normal than I am about the fact that they won’t like me. I’ve only been around a certain sect of people in my life.
“You know in coming of age movies when the needy girl goes to college and ends up attending a frat party where she’s suddenly surrounded by jocks and she has no idea what to do?” I ask. “Yeah, that’s how I feel right now.”
Killian puts a finger under my chin, tilting my head back to meet his eyes. “Do you think I’m going to take you to meet a bunch of jocks if I don’t know they’re good people?”
“No,” I say with a sigh. “Also, you would be the cool guywho’s friends with everyone and that will ultimately confuse me because how can someone be that cool, and that grumpy.”
He pulls me towards the door and I have to follow because it’s not like I can go home on my own. If it was daytime, I might have risked it.
“You’re taking advantage of the fact that I can’t find my way back home,” I tell him, as we enter the loud bar.
