Page 180 of Forgotten Prejudice

“Wait here, okay?” he said while holding his head up so he wouldn’t drip all over.

“Just go before you bleed all over the floor.”

Once he was out of the kitchen, I took a deep breath and then reached for a towel to clean up the bit of blood that got on the floor. I was almost done cleaning when a phone rang. At first, I thought it was Soren calling to check where I was, but instead, it was Kai’s phone buzzing. He’d left it on the kitchen table, so I glanced to check who it was. Usually, the only one to call him this early was his restaurant, if something went wrong with delivery and such, except that the one calling was Zoe.

She always had the worst timing.

I debated with myself for a half second before I picked up the phone.

“Thank fuck you’re finally answering,” she said, sounding angry.

“Actually, it’s me, not Kai.” I ran my fingers through my hair, already regretting answering.

Because Kai asked me not to, I hadn’t talked to Zoe about her bizarre request for Kai to father another one of her kids. And now, it stood on the tip of my tongue to tell her off, and I had to hold myself back from yelling something.

“Oh,” Zoe spoke, sounding annoyed. “Well, shit. I need to talk to him. Is he around?”

“He can’t talk right now, but I’ll tell him to call you later.”

She snorted. “As if he’ll do that.” It sounded like there was some beef going on between them.

Maybe she was angry because he turned her down?

“Can you tell him that I need to know if Paris can come next month? I’ve been waiting for his answer for almost two weeks now, and he keeps ignoring me. That man… Jesus.” She sighed. “Summer is almost over, and this is literally the only time I have to go with Dave on a short vacation, just the two of us. I love Paris, but I deserve some time with my boyfriend, no?”

I kept forgetting that in Australia, summer lasts between December and February, but hold on, did she say Dave? As in her so-called boyfriend Dave?

“Didn’t you guys break up?” I asked, confused because that was what Kai told me.

“What? Of course not.” She sounded impatient. “Why would I break up with the first man to treat me right? Seriously. Being with him only proves to me how lucky I am to have dodged the bullet with your idiot.”

What the hell?

So, what Kai told me about her wanting another kid from him was a blunt lie? But why? Why would he make up such a story? My blood froze as realization sank in, and I nearly dropped the phone. Kai lied to manipulate me. Again. He wanted to push me into a corner he knew would make me feel guilty and make it harder for me to leave him. He didn’t want more kids; it was just another way for him to keep me by his side where it suited him.

“Listen, I didn’t mean to sound so mean,” Zoe said, probably thinking my lack of response was because I was hurt. Well, I was, only not because of her.

“It’s all cool, Zoe. I need to go now.” I didn’t wait for her to speak back before I ended the call. A feeling of betrayal pierced me like a knife, quickly turning into rage—thick, bubbly fury that throbbed through my veins. But my anger didn’t stop there because who knew what else he’d lied about. Breathing through my nose, I attempted to calm down but failed and only clenched the phone so hard it hurt.

I walked to my room, where Kai had just finished washing his face. “How’s the nosebleed?” I asked, attempting to keep it down.

He tossed the used towel on the sink, the mess dancing on my nerves, and then gave me one of those goofy smiles of his. “It stopped, which is good ’cause I doubt we have tampons around here.” He reached out to hold me when I shoved his phone in his chest.

“Zoe called you,” I said and stepped back to my door, closing it so we’d be locked in this room until the truth came out.

“Did you speak to her?” he asked, voice casual.

I squeezed my eyes shut and released a breath before turning to face him. “Yeah, I did.”

“Did you bring up the—”

“The what?” I cut in. “The imaginary baby? No, I didn’t. She was too busy talking about her boyfriend.”

Kai bit his lip and looked aside, probably calculating how he could get out of this. But his silence annoyed me beyond words, and I snapped.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t, okay?” he hissed back, tossing his phone on the bed. “I saw you slipping away from me, so I wanted to show you that you still cared about me.”