Page 34 of Knox Academy Omnibus
“No talking. We’re going.” I don’t give him time to reply, putting the bike in gear, kicking up the side stand and gently easing the throttle. I’m not about to gun it out of here or drive wild if Kalen’s not able to hold on properly. And he’snot, because he’s currently massaging my chest and crooning unintelligibly in my ear.
This boy drives me to distraction but makes me laugh every step of the way. Just when I think I’m reaching breaking point with him, he does something sweet to make me melt all over again. He’s more dangerous than any of his brothers for that very reason. I could catch real feelings for him far too easily.
I drive into the nearest town and am lucky enough to find an all night diner serving food. I park up, let Kalen off, and then kill the engine and lower the side stand on the bike. I don’t bother to lock it up, it’s crazy late - or early - and there’s no one around. I drag Kalen into the diner and he picks out a window booth for us to sit in. He slides across to make room for me but when I try to take the seat opposite, he pulls me down so that I fall practically face first into his lap.
“Alright! Okay! I’ll sit by you,” I grumble. He beams - I’m starting to recognise it’s his trademark when he gets his own way - and slings his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. At this point, I let him. Anything for an easy life. I just pray he doesn’t start singing and get us kicked out. I have no idea where I’d take him.
“What can I get you?” a tired, bored and jaded-looking server asks us. I put down the menu I was looking over and order for the both of us.
“A pot of coffee please. Strong. A strawberry milkshake…no make that a coke float-”
“I want one!” Kalen whines, interrupting me.
“Two coke floats,” I clarify. “A stack of pancakes with all the toppings and a ‘Belly Buster’ fry up please, hold the mushrooms but extra hash browns.”
The woman looks at me dubiously like I’m either about to waste food, or do a runner without paying so I elbow Kalen in the ribs. He gets the hint, pulls out his wallet and chucks a load ofcash down on the table. Satisfied that we’re not about to run off, she turns away to place our order. She returns wordlessly with our drinks a few minutes later.
“Geez, what crawled up her ass and died?” Kalen complains loudly.
“Shush! Don’t be rude or she’ll spit in your food.”
“Maybe she has radioactive spit and I’ll turn into a spider.” He frowns. “No, wait, that’s not right.”
“Drink your coffee, goofball,” I laugh.
“Can’t stand the stuff. I want what you’ve got!” He makes a blind, clumsy dive for my glass and I only just manage to save it in time. I move his out of reach and push the coffee cup closer.
“Nu-uh,” I tut. “When you’ve had two cups of coffee you can have yours.”
“No fair!”
“Mmmm, it’s so good,” I tease him, groaning, taking a long drink from my straw. His eyes alight with heat and he leans in to kiss me, licking the ice cream foam from the corner of my mouth.
“Damn, I never knew it could taste so good.” We stare at each other for a moment and I’m sure he’s about to kiss me - really kiss me - again, when the spell’s broken by the server slamming our plates down in front of us.
“Anything else?” she snarks.
“A smile would be lovely.” Kalen beams at her. I kick him and apologise to the grumpy server, who glowers and leaves. “Bye, Brenda!” Kalen calls. “Ow, what did you do that for?” he moans, turning on me.
“You were being rude. What did I say before?” His brow creases and he honest to God can’t remember shit, so I sigh and dig in. He copies.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened?” I prompt. I know that with the greasy food and the coffee he’s about to sober up - and clam up - real quick, so I need to get him talking, fast.
“I may have had a little drink or two before I came out.”
“Kalen, I know we didn’t set a solid time for this date, but even I know you were hours late.”
“I needed Dutch courage to take you out,” he protests.
“Bullshit. Tell me the truth or I’m going.”
“Okay, fine! If you must know, I wasn’t exactly subtle in the dining hall earlier…”
“When are you ever,” I chuckle. I open my mouth as Kalen feeds me some pancake with strawberry.
“Well, word of our date got back to my brothers… they paid me a little visit.”
“And?” I say, forcing down the mouthful that I hadn’t finished chewing as dread claws its way up my spine.
