Ruin Me (10 page)

Translation: I’m avoiding Kai because he straight up harassed me in the bathroom.

That was probably a mistake.

I can see the anger behind her eyes.

Definitely a mistake...
I lick my lips and taste her lip gloss still lingering on my tongue.
But it was a mistake worth making.

“What’s with all the damn vineyards?” she mutters as she stares out the window.

I smile.
Maybe it’s a mistake worth making twice.

“So, we need to address the elephant in the room.”

I flinch a glance over at Shawn and his booming voice. “What elephant?” I ask.

“I don’t want things to get awkward, okay?” he continues. “We’re all going to be in some pretty close quarters for the next few days. We should eliminate any and all doubt.” Piper stares across the compartment at him, her eyes flicking in my direction once. He takes a quick breath. “Mandy and I did it last night and it was pretty much the best thing ever.”

“Yeah, we know,” Piper assures him.

“We were there,” I add, remembering the impressive bout of constant moaning for nearly an hour before Piper showed up.

“I know…” Shawn says. “I just wanted to formally announce it.”

Mandy shakes her head. “How sweet…” she says with a half smile. She and Piper exchange a roll of the eyes and I don’t blame them for one second.

“And I wanted to say that it’ll probably happen again, so if you two could bunk up again tonight, that’d be great.” He nudges my arm and nods at Piper.

She and I lock eyes. “Shawn—” I say. “I don’t think that’s—”

“Sure,” Piper interrupts. “Why not?” Her voice is as flat as her straight hair. “Go nuts, you two.” She raises one foot onto her seat and rests her chin on her knee as she resumes staring out the window.

The bright yellow Italian sun makes her eyes shine like water diamonds and I can’t bring myself to turn away from her. When I finally do, I notice Mandy staring at me, her eyes bouncing back and forth between the two of us. To her credit, she says nothing, but I’ve never known anyone better at reading subtle social cues than Mandy Black. She’s probably figured out that something happened during that brief moment when I snuck out after Piper left the compartment.

Shawn, on the other hand…

“Maybe we can find a hot and loose Italian girl for you in
Roma
,” he smirks at me. “It shouldn’t be too difficult for you with that hot man bod of yours.”

“Once again, Shawn, your appreciation for my hot man body is entirely unwelcome,” I say.

“Yet completely factual.” Shawn looks at Mandy. “Am I right, though?”

She looks at me and gives a devious smile. “I’ve definitely had worse,” she says.

“And it doesn’t bother me
at all
that you’ve banged my best friend,” he says to Mandy. “Just don’t do it again and we’ll be cool.”

“Oh, I’ll try and restrain myself,” Mandy jokes, “but from the looks of it, I think the two of you boys are more likely to get it on than the two of us again. No offense, Kai.”

“None taken.”

Shawn nods. “I’ve always said that I’m constantly one subtle wink away from being down on my knees for Kai Casablancas—”

“You have
never
said that,” I argue.

“Settle one thing for us, Mandy,” Shawn continues. “Who’s bigger?”

Piper scoffs quietly.

“I don’t think either of you could handle the answer to that question,” Mandy teases after a glance at Piper.

I chew on my lip as I watch the girls exchange looks at one another. I’m not nearly as adept at reading faces as Mandy is, but one thing is certain…

Mandy is protecting Piper.

“Yeah, don’t answer that…” I say to Mandy. I glance back at Piper and she catches me watching her.

“I’m going to get a drink,” Piper says as she suddenly plants both feet on the floor. She moves through the compartment and slides the door open and closed again before any of us can say another word.

Mandy’s eyes instantly stab at me. She quickly flashes a warm smile at Shawn. “Hey, Shawn,” she says. “Would you go with her and grab me a soda?” She uses a sweet voice and has no problem seducing Shawn with it.

“Of course, babe,” he says. He stands up and looks back at me. “Want anything?”

“No,” I answer.

“Cool.” He follows Piper out of the compartment.

The door is barely even closed before Mandy starts in on me. “What did you do?” she bites.

“I didn’t do anything—”

“
Kai
…” She speaks through her teeth.
“What did you do?”

I sigh and cross my arms over my chest. “I kissed her. Okay?”

She stares at me through the narrow slits of her eyelids. “Why?”

“Why? What do you mean
why
?” I ask. “You may not be aware of this, Mandy, but
kissing
is a common sign of affection towards someone you are physically attracted to.”

“Put a fucking lid on it, Kai,” she warns. “Piper doesn’t need this right now.”

“How about we let Piper speak for herself on what she
needs
, hmm?”

“I mean it, Kai. The last thing she needs is her stepbrother trying to get in her pants to win some bet.”

“It wasn’t like that…” I stare out the window but turn back to her when I put it together. “Wait — what do you mean? What’s wrong with Piper?”

She sits back. “Nothing is
wrong
with Piper, but she’s got a full plate.”

“Mandy, what’s going on?”

“Don’t worry about it, Kai. The only thing you should be worried about is me beating the hell out of you if you try something like that again.”

I open my mouth to argue some more, but the door slides open and Piper steps back inside. As she passes in front of us, Mandy mimes a
“Got it?”
expression at me. I nod in understanding and sit back in my chair as Shawn follows her in. I usually don’t make it a habit to buckle under verbal threats, but when Mandy Black says she’ll beat the hell out of you, she means it. Hell, I’ve
seen
it.

“For you…” Shawn presents a cold can of soda to her.

Mandy smiles up at him. “Thank you,” she coos. She glares at me as she pops the top open.

He holds an extra can out for me. “I got you one anyway. Enjoy, asshole.”

I take it from him. “Thanks, douche.” Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Piper grinning before she herself takes a sip of her drink. I look out the window with her and shake my head. “Another damn vineyard?” I mutter.

She looks at me once before pulling out her phone.

Chapter 11

Piper

If I don’t get as far away from Kai Casablancas as possible, I’m going to do something I will regret.

We arrive in Rome long after nightfall. The eager city lights greet us with warm intentions with streets full of tourists and enthusiastic locals looking to bleed them dry. I clutch my itinerary to my chest, knowing full well what the city holds for me in the night. I focus on it instead of what I’m too tempted to think about.

I burst into our hotel room and toss my bags onto the nearest bed. Mandy follows me inside with an eyebrow raised. “Penny for your thoughts?” she asks as she closes the door.

I zip open my suitcase and pull out some fresh clothes. “I have to go out,” I say. “I have to go out and find a man because if I don’t get a good, hard dicking soon, I’m going to
fucking
lose it.”

She plops down on the bed in front of me. “Man, Kai has really messed you up—”

“It has nothing to do with Kai.”

“He told me about the kiss, Piper,” she admits. “Let’s not play here.”

I pause and stare down at her. “He told you?” I ask.

“Well, he needed a little persuasion first, but yeah. He told me.”

I continue pulling clothing from my bag. “You don’t have to
persuade
anyone, Mandy. The kiss wasn’t
entirely
unwelcome.”

“Then why did I just spend ten hours in a train car watching you pretend he doesn’t exist?” she asks.

“Fair question,” I say. “And the answer is probably why I plan on getting far,
far
away from him tonight.” I take a black top and a tight, black skirt and wander into the bathroom to look for a full-length mirror. What is it with hotels in Europe
not
having full-length mirrors? Luckily, this room has one attached to the back of the bathroom door.

“Well, you two bunking together is officially out,” she says. “It’ll break Shawn’s little heart, but he can deal with blue balls for the rest of the trip.”

“No, it’s fine.” I pull my shirt off and toss it to the floor. “I don’t plan on coming back to the hotel tonight, so you two go ahead.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh, yeah.”
I slip the new shirt on and pull it down. It gives just the slightest amount of bare midriff, exactly the look I’m going for. I grab the skirt next. “I can’t trust myself to come back and be alone with him.”

“Well, if something changes, let me know, okay?” she says. “I’ll kick Shawn out in a heartbeat.”

I push my jeans to the floor and slip into the skirt. “Thank you. I guess this means you’re not coming with?”

She scoffs. “I don’t even know how you have the energy for it tonight, to be honest. That was the longest train ride ever.”

“Oh, I have
a lot
of pent-up energy just begging to be released…” I look at her and smile. “We were
both
looking forward to this a week ago…”

“I know…” she says. “But I don’t really know where this thing with Shawn is going. I don’t want to mess it up too early, you know?”

I nod. “I get it.”

“Don’t let that stop you from having all the fun in the damn world, though.”

“Oh, it won’t. Believe me.”

A knock strikes the door and Mandy hops off the bed to answer it. She pulls the door open and Shawn and Kai are standing in the hallway. I see Kai’s face in the mirror, his eyes gazing down my body as Shawn speaks.

“You ladies hungry?” he asks. “There’s gotta be some good food around. It’s Italy, after all.”

Mandy peeks at me over her shoulder. “You in?” she asks.

My stomach growls. “Sure,” I say. I need all the fuel I can get for tonight.

She turns back to the boys. “Give us a few minutes to get ready. We’ll meet you downstairs.”

Kai’s eyes linger on me as she closes the door. My heart jolts in my chest. Every time I close my eyes, I see his dark gaze staring down at me in that train bathroom. I lick my lips. His flavor has faded from them now, but I can still feel him…

Nope. Knock it off, Piper.

I shake my head and reach for my makeup bag.

***

It’s late but the restaurant still breathes life by the time we get there. The four of us sit around a small table at the adorable outdoor cafe on the corner, just down the street from our hotel. I smile at my surroundings, loving the local flavor wafting off every living thing. I make a mental note to buy myself a motorized scooter someday and laugh at a street magician down the road.

When I finally look back at the table, I catch Kai staring at me. “What?” I bite, feeling balanced on the outer rims of self-consciousness.

“I didn’t say anything,” he answers.

“What are you thinking then?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Nothing.”

I look away as that smug look in eyes starts to take hold of his face. “So…” I look at Mandy sitting next to me and Shawn across the table. “How are we enjoying our trip so far?”

Shawn rips into a stick of bread. “Oh, man!” he chews. “I fucking love Europe.”

“Yeah, it’s not too bad,” Mandy agrees. “I can’t believe it’s almost over, though. It feels like we just got here.”