Tempted | Kai Parker

fifty four: space

Kai's POV

The thundering noise of a weighty slam crashed through the entire apartment, as the door was thrown so hard back into the frame that I thought the wood might crack.

The sound jolted through everything, rattling the plates in the cupboard, unsettling the air, causing a tremor in my heart. And it wasn't just that the noise was startling, it was the fact that Andie had made it.

My Andie. Gentle, kind, Andie. The girl I loved.

The girl I'd hurt and embarrassed time and time again.

I pulled in a deep, shaky breath through my lips as I watched her storm down the hallway towards the living room. It was like her feet were just propelling her as far away from me as she could get, as quickly as she could manage. When she finally reached the edge of the living room, and realised she had no where left to go, her head hung and she caught it in her palms, pushing ragged breaths into her skin.

I watched her frame for a moment, noting how tense her muscles were. Noting the way her spine was so rigid that it might as well have been a metal pole. And when I looked at her, I hesitated. I ran my hand across my jaw, just trying to think of the right thing to say.

Just trying to think of anything to say, really.

"I'm sorry." I finally breathed.

It was so quiet I could barely hear it. But she heard it. I knew she did because I could see the twitch in her body when she heard my voice. I practically saw the way her skin crawled at the sound of it. I could almost see the words infecting her like a rash – irritating her, eating away at her.

She slowly turned around, connecting her warm chestnut eyes with mine. Only today, they didn't look so warm. They were dull and lifeless, but they pierced right into me all the same.

Her stare was so abrasive it felt like it was peeling away at my skin. It made me itch. It made me uncomfortable. It made me beg to go back to normal, to go back to a time when things were good.

"Can we just talk?"

"Talk?" She whispered. "You want to talk?"

"Andie -"

"Oh, come on, let's talk then." She snapped, pacing forward so we were stood about a foot apart. "Were you going to do it?"

My top lip twitched as I felt the chill of her words. Her body was close to mine, but I didn't feel the usual happy buzz which danced between our skin. I felt a eerie tension which at any point seemed like it might explode, ripping us both to shreds in its path of destruction.

"Do it?"

"KILL HER." She exploded. "Were you going to watch her burn as I lay beside you?"

I sucked in my lower lip, carefully watching the trembles of her body, and trying to control mine. I couldn't bear the feeling of tears clawing at my throat, or guilt knotting in my stomach.

I couldn't stand all these feelings that I didn't know how to deal with.

The only thing I knew was that her question was a difficult one.

Was I going to kill her?

"I don't know." I croaked.

Her lips began to part as she stared deep into my eyes before she pushed out a short breath. She used her shaking fingers to scrape her hair away from her face, as her head shook back and forth.

"How could you?" She breathed. "How could you do that? How could you risk everything you have now - for what? For anger?"

"I wasn't thinking straight." I said, at an attempt of justification. "The anger just took hold of me."