UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) (31 page)

“Uh-oh…”

I look over at Piper to find her staring back at me with a smile. “What?” I ask.

“You have that look in your eyes,” she notes.

“What look?”

“That head-over-heels look.”

I step closer to her. “And what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing.” She fits herself into my arms.

“You ever think about those days?” I ask her.

“Those infamous days?” she teases.

“Yeah. You and me against the world.”

“You and me against
each other
,” she smiles.

“Sometimes,” I chuckle, “Okay…
mostly,
but not all the time.”

“Yes,” she answers. “I think about them a lot, actually.”

We lock eyes and I once again get lost in the waves of blue in her irises. “Do you miss them?” I ask.

Her gaze falls away and she scans the skyline again. “Is that…” she pauses to take a quick step back. “Is that why you planned this trip, Kai?”

“Is what why?” I ask.

“I mean, is it some quest to recapture what we used to have?”

“
Used
to have?” My heart sinks a little in my chest. “As in… don’t have anymore?”

She shakes her head once. “You know what I mean.”

I cross my arms. “I really don’t.”

“Kai, can we please not—”

“No, say what’s on your mind, Pipes,” I interrupt. I pull back my tone, not wanting for things to escalate too far.

She spins around. “This just feels a little strange, that’s all. I’m sorry I said anything.”

“To answer your question, yes,” I say. “I planned a good part of this trip to relive the past.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” I ask. “They were the best days of my life, Piper.”

“But we can’t keep living in the past, Kai,” she says. “We have to start looking forward.”

“Wow…” I breathe. “My mother really got to you, didn’t she?”

“This has nothing to do with your mother,” she argues. “Believe me, Kai, I miss the glory days, too… but we were just kids. We had no idea what we were doing or feeling and we didn’t care.”

“Maybe
you
didn’t care, Piper,” I scoff. “I cared a whole lot.”

She sighs and looks down at her shoes. “How long are you going to keep throwing that in my face?”

I fall silent and bite my tongue to keep myself from saying something equally as stupid. She turns away from me and walks over to the other side of the roof. I almost expect her to pull the door to the stairs open and leave my ass up here. I honestly wouldn’t blame her at all. Instead, she strides to the edge of the building and sits down to dangle her feet off the ledge.

That’s my Piper. Always living dangerously.

I inch over to her and slowly sit down beside her. We watch the streets below us, gandering at the people passing by. Their voices echo up from the ground, but their words are lost in the wind by the time they reach us.

“I’m sorry,” I finally say. “You’re right. I focus on the past a little too much.” I look at her, hoping that she’ll say something, but she stays silent with wandering eyes. Her raven hair falls down in front of her face. I want to reach out and push it behind her ear, just like I’ve done a thousand times before, but I hold myself back. I know better than to invade Piper’s space after I’ve pissed her off.

“It’s just…” she mutters quietly. “There was a lot of good back then… but also a whole lot of bad.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “I remember.”

“I don’t like thinking about who I was back then. I’m not that girl anymore and I don’t want to be her again.” She glances at me. “So, you understand why reliving the past makes me feel a little uncomfortable.”

I put my hand on her knee. “Pipes…”

“You’ve always been Kai Casablancas,” she continues. “You’ve always been yourself. You know what you want, who you are, and you’ve never compromised.”

I nod along with her words. “I guess that’s true.”

“Four years ago, you wanted Piper Lynch.”

“I still do.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”
I shift closer to her, pivoting myself to face her. “I wanted the girl I knew back then and I want the girl sitting in front of me now. And you’re right. You’re not the same Piper Lynch that walked across the stage at Belle Academy graduation and I don’t want you to be. That girl was
boring
.” A laugh escapes her lips. “She was an ugly girl — well, on the
inside
. You’ve always been gorgeous.”

She bites her lip and her little blues finally peek up at me. “Okay…” she smirks. “Get the lines out.”

“These aren’t lines, Pipes. I’m being honest.” I hold out my hand and wait for her to take it. She quickly entwines our fingers. “I can’t guarantee that I’m always going to be the same Kai Casablancas you grew up with, nor can you promise that you’ll always be the Piper Lynch you are now — but so what? We’ll grow and change and we’ll do it together.”

“Sounds…
ordinary
,” she mutters.

I sit back, faking a stunned face. “Oh, wow…” I say. “You’re right. Maybe we
should
quit while we’re ahead—”

She reaches out and smacks my shoulder. “Dick,” she laughs.

I laugh and wrap my arms around her to pull her in closer to me. “I brought us back to Europe to try and recapture the wonder years,” I say, “but now, I’m thinking that maybe I should toss out the itinerary.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she warns. “My father will go berserk.”

I plant a kiss on her alabaster cheek. “Let him.”

She smiles and her eyes search my face. “Kai…” she whispers.

“Yes, Piper?”

Her smile fades down her cheeks. “Never mind,” she says. She leans towards me and kisses me softly. I return her kiss with caution, careful not to tip forward and topple off the tall roof.

Piper
fucking
Lynch.

Of course I still adore you.

Of course you still annoy the crap out of me.

Of course you’re still beautiful, even more so than you were before (and if your mother is any indication, you’ll age very, very well).

Of course I still fight the urge to strangle you when we don’t see eye-to-eye.

But we’re perfect exactly like this. It’s you and me against the world. We don’t need marriage or babies or any of that crap my mother hopes and dreams for. I’d rather it just be us, free and alive to do whatever we want.

I kiss her again and I know she feels the same way.

Chapter 9

Piper

You know what would be fucking great? If I could go a single hour without hearing the name Kai Casablancas.

It’s bad enough I have to stare at him across the dinner table at home now. I can’t handle hearing from his fucking fan club every time I have to visit my locker at school.

“Oh, my god,” Delilah Monroe chirps from the locker next to mine. “You will never guess who I hooked up with last weekend.”

I take a subtle peak around to see she’s talking to Annie Prescott.

“Who?” Annie asks with wide eyes.

Delilah leans in. “Kai Casablancas.” I’m sure she thought she was whispering, but her voice carries far enough to easily hit my ear.

I roll my eyes and grab my Anatomy textbook.

“Oh, shut up!” Annie shouts. “I’m so jealous.”

“And you should be,” she smirks. “He was
amazing
.”

“Barbara has a date with him next week,” Annie says.

I move slowly, listening carefully. I’ve heard countless whispers of Kai’s various conquests in the last few months, each one from a different girl in my class. Before Delilah, there was Judy. And Rachel. And even Mandy.

My god.

He’s actually trying to do it.

I overheard him make a stupid bet with his friend, Shawn, last summer, just before he moved in. His mother was already living with us and they wanted to have his big birthday bash at our house. I was hiding away when I heard them talking all about it.

“Man, there’s not a single ugly girl in our class, Kai.”

“I know,” he said. “I’ve noticed.”

“Far too good looking, even for you.”

“Is that so?”

Shawn chuckled. “Yeah, I bet you couldn’t even get two.”

“Bullshit,” Kai said. “I could bang every last one of them if I wanted to.”

“I’d pay good money to see that.”

I slam my locker closed, too furious to think about it any more. Kai
fucking
Casablancas. Could you get any more disgusting?

***

I roll over in the bed and Kai’s arm slips around me. “Whoa, where do you think you’re going?”

I chuckle as his lips find their way to my neck. He scratches his teeth across my skin, tickling at me as I try to pull away. “I need to stretch my legs,” I say.

He moves his hand down my body. “I can take care of that for you…” I whispers. His fingertips push between my legs, spidering between them, inching towards my exhausted slit.

“I think you’ve taken care of me enough for one day…” I laugh.

“Once again, Piper…” He slides in closer. “We disagree.”

I place the heel of my hand against his forehead and playfully push him away. “Down, boy…”

He falls limp against the pillows and lets me climb out of the bed. My toes sink into the lush carpet as I stand up and grab the thick hotel robe of a nearby chair.

Kai winces. “No, don’t cover up,” he smiles. “Leave it off.” I smile down at him and smirk as I slowly push my arms into the sleeves one-by-one. “Evil bitch…” he mutters.

I shrug. “You’ve called me worse,” I joke. I pull the robe tight and tie it off. My knees and ankles pop as I glide across the room to look outside, stiff from lying in bed for most of the night (and morning). “What time it is?” I ask as I glare out the window. The afternoon sun explodes in my eyes, nearly blinding me.

“Just after noon,” Kai answers with his phone in his hands.

“When is our train?”

“I’m sorry,” he says, pushing his arms behind his head. “You’re only allowed one question between sex sessions.”

I look back at him and he winks at me. “I didn’t realize the question to thrust ratio was so low. Maybe if you shared the itinerary, I would have been better prepared.”

“There is no itinerary anymore.”

“Then I can change the rules whenever I want.”

He wrinkles his nose. “There is far too much talking happening right now.”

“I disagree.” I smile down at him and fight the urge to mount him.

“Come back to bed, Pipes.”

“In a minute.” I stretch my arms over my head and listen to my shoulders crack. As I bring them down, the motion rocks my stomach and I nearly tumble over in a dizzy spell. I lean against the wall. My knees rock beneath me.

“You okay, Pipes?”

I hear him sit up. “I’m fine,” I say with a casual tone. “Order us some food, will you? I need to refuel.”

I make a break for the bathroom and close the door before another wave knocks me to my knees. Saliva gathers on my tongue, tempting my insides to become outsides. I pull myself up to the sink and pour water down my throat to try and curb the urge to dry heave. I spit the sour taste from my mouth. A tear falls down my cheek. Strength abandons my muscles. I want to cry out to Kai, but I bite my tongue to keep quiet. I’m not ready to have this conversation with him yet. I’m not ready for his questions yet. I’m not ready to ruin this trip for him, for us. I want to stay in this bliss for as long as possible.

“Piper?”

His voice travels through the door. I stand up quickly as I feel the life return to my body. “Yeah?” I ask.

“How about we go out to eat?” he asks.

“Sounds good,” I reply. “I’ll be right out.”

“Your phone is ringing.”

I take another quick look at myself in the mirror. My eyes look a little red, but hopefully that won’t be obvious in the dim lighting of the room. “Who is it?”

“It’s Mandy.”

I pull the door open and walk back to the bed. Kai sits on the edge, naked and grinning. “Going out like that?” I ask with a chuckle.

“It’s my best suit,” he jokes.

I grab my phone and answer it quickly. “What’s up, Mandy?” I ask.

“Can you please explain to me why I woke up in Shawn’s bed?”

I laugh. “You don’t remember?”

“No, I don’t remember,” she says. “This isn’t funny.”

I sigh. “Kai and I wanted the fancy room. You agreed to go sleep off your hangover in Shawn’s room while he went out trolling for English girls all morning.”

“Why would you do that?”

“You agreed to it, Mandy.” Kai stares up at me with curious eyes.

“I obviously wasn’t in the best state of mind to agree to that, Piper. What were you thinking?”

I sit down next to Kai and he leans in closer. “Did something happen?”

“Well, Shawn wasn’t exactly out
trolling for English girls
all morning, that’s for sure.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Did you two…?”

“Ugh, no! Thank god…” she spits. “But he’s apparently been here all day watching me sleep.”

“I have not!”
Shawn shouts, his voice obscured in the background.

“Shut up, pervert!” she fires back. “Piper, this is not okay.”

“Calm down, Mandy—”

“Tell me you didn’t do this on purpose.”

“Do what on purpose?”

“Whatever — just get me out of here. Now.”

I look at Kai. “When is the train?”

“Three,” he answers.

“To where?”

“Paris.”

My eyes go wide and I can’t stop my smile from spreading. “Really?” He grins back. “Mandy,” I say into the phone. “We have a train to Paris leaving at three. Hang tight until then, okay?”

“Fine
.” She hangs up.

I toss the phone onto the bed. “It really wasn’t a good idea bringing them along, was it?” I ask.

“Nope,” Kai says.

“Oh, well,” I sigh.