Ruin Me (12 page)

Blue is for watching. Red is for everything else.

Where the hell are you, Piper?

I scan the dark faces with frustration. She has to be here. Anger flurries through my veins. I still can’t wrap my head about her wanting this, but I have it printed out in my back pocket.
I can’t wait to stop by while I’m in Rome.
Those are her words. She came all the way to Europe for
this
. I ball my hands into fists as I push through the strangers in masks. And of course, she came here alone. Anything could happen to her in a place like this. What the hell is she thinking?

“Ciao—”

“No.” I spin away from a woman in a blue mask. In any other situation, I would stop and talk to her all about her beautiful, round ass, but not right now.

I round a corner and nearly trip over a woman’s ankles. She’s on her knees, hunched over the lap of some Italian pissant. It’s pretty obvious what she’s doing as her head bobs up and down on him. Blonde-hair beneath the red mask. Not Piper.

I move along, my eyes scanning the rest of the sitting area until I finally spot her. She stands with her back against the wall in the corner. A red mask covers her eyes. Her dark eyes are closed, locked shut as she trembles in desire against some fucking guy. Some suave motherfucker in a black suit has his hands on her tits, tucked up beneath her blouse. He pushes down her body, his nails scratching up her thighs to pull her tight, black skirt up, giving him access to her everything. And she fucking lets it happen. I hear her moaning from all the way over here.

Her eyes flutter open as he drops to his knees in front of her. She looks down at him and laughs as he pushes his face between her thighs.

I can’t fucking watch this.

I tear the mask off my head. Rage boils just beneath the surface. I see others in the chairs around them, their hungry eyes staring at them through their blue masks. The urge to blind each and every one of them courses through me. I force myself to look at the floor instead, but I can’t fight the need to look at Piper again.

When I do, I see her stunned eyes locked on my face.

Chapter 13

Piper

Kai.

Every time I look up, I see his face. I’m lost in a sea of strangers, their faces constantly cloaked in shadows, and still, he’s all I can see. I thought it was just a mirage in Munich, a one-time surge of psychosis brought on by shame and guilt, but I was wrong.

Pleasure aches through my body. I raise my left knee and rest my toes on the man’s back as his tongue burrows between my folds. His face looked like Kai’s as well when I first set eyes on him. Now, I see that he shares no real resemblance with my stepbrother. I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed with that.

I open my eyes and look about the dark and warm room of the
Fire and Ice
club. It’s exactly how I imagined it’d be — and plenty more. I can’t wait to get back and tell Mandy all about what she missed in the morning. I’m sure she’ll be pissed she skipped it, even with Shawn Monty rocking her against various motel beds all week.

I catch sight of a man several feet away, his eyes locked on mine behind dark shadows. He shifts into the light and I’m once again met with Kai Casablancas’ face. I blink once. Then again. This usually makes the mental trickery go away, but as he drifts closer to me, the mirage refuses to disappear. This man, whoever he is, looks exactly like Kai.

Oh, fuck.

Kai reaches down to the man in front of me and grabs the back of his jacket’s collar. With one quick jerk, he brings him up and tosses him away. The man stumbles back and lands on the lap of a lonely man at the far end of the sofa.

“Kai?!” I gasp.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Piper?!” he shouts above the music rattling the walls. His face, red with anger, gives a sour expression. The vein in his forehead looks ready to explode. I open my mouth to speak, but he grabs my arm before I ever get the chance. “I’m getting you out of here.”

“Kai — stop!”

He squeezes me harder as I try to pull away. We plow through the crowd, bumping shoulder after shoulder as he drags me towards the exit.

I give my arm a sudden jerk and it slips from his grasp. “I said —
stop
!”

He whips around and bends over to pick me up.

“Kai!” I shout in frustration as he throws me over his shoulder. I try to wiggle free of him, but that just makes him hold me tighter. “Let me go!”

My shrieks catch the attentions of most nearby, but no one budges as he takes me away. My cheeks turn red from embarrassment, but mostly rage, as we ascend the stairs to the front entryway.

“Let me go!” I shout again as we reach the entrance. I see the bouncer immediately stand up from his stool by the door, but he’s not fast enough to stop Kai from kicking the door down and walking outside in the alleyway. “Put me down, asshole!”

Kai finally bends down and I slip off his shoulder to the ground, barely able to keep myself upright. I take in a large breath, preparing to rip into him with very unkind words, but I fall silent as the bouncer suddenly hovers over Kai’s shoulder. He grabs Kai and knocks the wind out of him with one, firm punch to his stomach. Kai doubles over and the bouncer strikes him again, this time in the face with a perfectly closed fist.

“Stop!” I shout to the bouncer. I step in front of him as Kai topples to the ground below.
“Mio fratello.”

The bouncer pauses above me and slowly relaxes his fist. He reaches into his front suit pocket, withdraws a white handkerchief, and tosses it at Kai’s crumpled form.

“Grazie,”
I spit. I bend over and grab the handkerchief as he bounds back into the club.

Kai rolls over onto his back and stares up into the night sky. Warm, red blood pools out of his nose, dripping down his face onto the concrete below him.

“Well…” I say to him as I cross my arms. “Are you pleased with yourself?”

“Yeah…” he chokes.
“Very.”

“Come on…” I hold a hand out to him, but he ignores it as he sits up on his own. “Just take my freakin’ hand, Kai. Come on.
Please.
”

Kai begrudgingly grips my fingers and I help him to his feet. I flinch as he immediately yanks it back and stumbles away, walking slowly towards the street. I follow him closely until we find a bench on the deserted street corner.

“Sit down,” I tell him. He does as he’s told and I raise the handkerchief to his face.

After a few moments of avoiding my gaze, he finally looks down at me. “You don’t seem nearly as pissed off as I imagined you’d be,” he mutters as I wipe the blood off his cheek.

“Oh, don’t let my calmness deceive you, Kai,” I say. “I’m actually quite pissed off right now.”

“You and me both,” he says.

I sigh and fold the handkerchief to a new angle not covered in blood. “You told me I wouldn’t have to look over my shoulder for you.” I put the handkerchief against his upper lip to stop the blood still seeping out of his nose.

He snatches it from me and holds it steady against his lip. “Yeah, well. I lied.”

“Obviously.” I shake my head. “How did you even know I was here?”

He lets out a quick sigh, then leans forward to pull something from his back pocket. “Here,” he says as he holds the folded paper out for me.

I take it from him and unfold it. I seethe on the inside. The email from my itinerary. “Of course…” I crunch it up in my palm and toss it to the ground.

“Piper, what the hell are you doing in a place like this?” he attacks.

“I’m having fun,” I shrug. “Letting loose. Like
I told you
I was here to do.”

“When you told me you came here to let loose,
this
wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, Piper…”

“That’s not my problem, Kai.” I scoff at him. “What the hell were you thinking in there?”

“Well…” he says. “I reacted to some very mixed emotions about seeing you like that.”

“Well, why didn’t you join in?” I spit. “You could have won your stupid bet and I probably wouldn’t have known the difference.”

He scoffs once, but winces at the slight pain it brings him. “It never occurred to me once, Pipes…”

“Why not?”

He looks at me. “Because
nein
means
nein
. Or, you know, whatever
no
is in Italian.”

“It’s
no
,” I tell him.

“Oh, goody.” He holds his head back a little.

“So, what’s the deal here, Kai?” I ask. “If you can’t have me, no one can?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Yeah,
maybe
.” He lowers the handkerchief. His nose has stopped bleeding, but there’s still a good amount drying on his upper lip. “But honestly,” he says, “I’m not even sure I’d be enough for you anyway.” He wipes his face one last time before standing up and tossing the cloth to the ground.

“Well, we agree on something then.” I push myself up to face him. “You
definitely
couldn’t handle me.” I spin on my heels and start walking down the street in the direction of the hotel.

He follows closely behind. “I couldn’t
handle you
?”

I scoff quietly, but keep walking.

“Oh, no no no,” he says. “I’m fairly certain my ability to
handle you
isn’t the issue here. I could
handle you
anytime.”

I spin around. “Oh, really? Then what’s your problem?”

“
I’m
not the problem,
Pipes
,” he says. “I just think girls like you need a little extra something to get it done, that’s all.”

I blink.
“Girls like me?”
I repeat.

He nods. “Yeah, girls like you.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Amusement dances behind his eyelashes. “Oh, you know exactly what that means.”

I grit my teeth. “Well, let’s not dance around it. You want to call me a slut again, Kai, go right ahead and say it. I don’t have all night.”

“What? You got a few more strangers lined up I don’t know about?”

“Fuck you.” I turn back around in disgust and continue walking. His heels click behind me, matching my stride as I cross the street. I glance over my shoulder and he meets my eyes before I turn back around. “What the hell are you even following me for?” I ask. “Fuck off.”

“Because you obviously can’t be left alone for five minutes, Piper,” he says.

“I can take care of myself.”

He laughs. “You
really
can’t.”

My skin burns so badly, it feels on the verge of melting off. Kai
fucking
Casablancas. Who the hell does he think he is? “You’re not my protector, Kai. You never have been and there’s no reason why you should start now.”

“I think Philip Lynch would disagree if he saw you getting fucked against a wall in some underground orgy club, Piper.”

“I don’t give a
flying fuck
what Philip Lynch thinks.” I dig my nails in my palms. “He’s not my problem anymore.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

I whip my head around. “It means
fuck off
, Kai. We’re
done
! I don’t want to see your face
ever
again.”

He chuckles lightly to himself. “I would just
love
to know how you plan on pulling that one off,” he mutters.

I stop in my tracks. “It’s easy, actually. Once we reach Paris, we’ll go our separate ways.”

He looks at me with confusion, but I don’t bother explaining myself. I turn back around. I usually get a burst of warmth from a battle of wits with Kai, but not this time. I just want to get away from him.

I stomp down the sidewalk and feel thankful that he’s finally chosen to keep his mouth shut.