After we had gotten back to Harper’s apartment, I told her about the plans I had made with Malakai. I instantly felt like an asshole, considering the information she shared with me about her call with Phillip. I should have stayed in with her, but she insisted I go meet Malakai. She declined when I invited her along.
Harper was the most important part of my life. I wanted her involved in every aspect, every space of it, but she was adamant about staying home. She said something about how I needed to catch up with my friend without her. There was also a look of exhaustion that had settled into her features and she needed some time to herself to process the news she had just received.
As I stepped into the bar, it was already crowded and most of the tables were occupied. I pushed my way past some of the groups of people that were standing around, drinking and talking. When I reached the bar, I paused for a moment and scanned the backs of the heads sitting in front of me.
Toward the very end, I caught sight of his dirty blond hair as he tipped his head back and sipped his beer. It was a little longer than the last time I had seen him. It was a mess of tousled waves that rested just above his eyebrows.
As he turned his head to the side and spotted me from across the bar, he gave me a swift nod. No wave, no smile. That was Malakai Barclay.
We were a peculiar pair of friends when we were younger. It wasn’t often that any light shone through the darkness that cloaked Malakai; he was generally more reserved and quiet. We were a stark contrast to one another, but I suppose that was why our friendship worked.
There was a seat that was empty next to Malakai and I walked over and slid onto it as I turned to face the bartender. My legs were tucked beneath the bar and I folded my arms in front of me as I turned to look at my old friend.
Malakai glanced over at me, his stare blank with a hardness settled in his jaw. He had filled out over the years and you could tell he had been working out to stay fit, considering his blossoming golf career. The coldness was still enveloping him like it always had.
“How have you been, Kai?” I inquired as I waited for the bartender. “It’s been years. You look good, dude.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Thanks. I’ve been all right. How about you?”
I shrugged dismissively. “You know how it goes. Busy with hockey and shit.”
“I can only imagine.” His voice almost sounded thoughtful for a fraction of a second, but Kai was never one to give much away. He was always slightly distant, but something about him made it feel like he was completely disconnected from it all.
The bartender walked over and I ordered a beer before turning my attention back to Malakai. “I had no idea you were going to be back in town. What brought you back? Golf?”
Kai lifted his beer to his lips and absentmindedly stared at the TV hung above the bar. “Just some unfinished business.”
I stared at the side of his face for a moment, taking in his appearance. There was a tiredness that had settled into the corners of his eyes. Even though he was in his mid-twenties, you could tell the demons he had been battling had taken a toll on him.
“Are you staying at your parents’ place?”
“Fuck no,” he ground out the words as he looked over at me. “I have a condo in town.”
His anger wasn’t directed at me, and it was valid. After the shit he went through not living up to his father’s expectations, I felt like an asshole for even asking that he would stay at their place. His last statement took me by surprise. “I didn’t know you had a place here.”
Kai shrugged and drained the rest of his beer. “Sorry I’ve been shit with keeping in touch. You’ve been busy with hockey and me with golf.”
“It’s all good,” I told him, although I couldn’t help but feel like I was talking to a complete stranger. “That’s what happens in life. People grow up and grow apart. I haven’t been the best at staying in touch either.”
He didn’t bother responding to that and the silence settled around us for a moment before Kai chose to speak. That was how Kai operated. If he didn’t have anything to say, he wasn’t going to fill the void with meaningless shit. “Have you settled down yet or are you still fucking anything that moves?”
A laugh spilled from my lips. “First of all, fuck you. I was a horny-ass teenager and liked getting my dick wet.” I paused for a moment, watching his mouth twitch, but it didn’t develop into a smile. “Surprisingly, I do have a girlfriend and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”
“Good for you,” he said with a slight sadness in his tone. He wasn’t going to elaborate and I wasn’t going to pry. Trying to get anything from him was like trying to get water from a dry well. “You deserve to be happy and with someone who is good for you.”
I studied his profile again as he grabbed the fresh beer the bartender brought to him. “What about you? Anyone in your life?”
Malakai’s jaw tightened and he flexed his tattooed hand in front of him before wrapping it around the bottle. “Nah.”
He didn’t offer anything more as he took another swig. When we were in high school he had started his collection of tattoos even though his parents didn’t approve. When he came home with one on his neck, I’d never forget the way his father threatened to cut the skin from his body. He was a disgrace in their eyes and he wasn’t going to disappoint them in that aspect.
He rose up to the challenge and covered his body in tattoos instead.
“What’s the unfinished business you’re here for?”
Kai continued to stare at the TV. The silence settled between us and I couldn’t tell if he didn’t hear me over the noise or if he was choosing to ignore me. The silence continued to stretch and it was a few minutes before he finally spoke.
“Winter came back.”
My brow furrowed. “Winter Reign?”
Winter was a quiet girl we both went to high school with. Kai was friends with her, but he was never vocal or really public about their friendship. He kept her to himself.
I always had a feeling there was more to it, especially the mornings I picked him up from the end of her driveway. At the time, it seemed like the same thing I was doing, but I never saw Kai with any other girls.
“She’s the unfinished business.”
His admission took me by surprise. “What happened between the two of you?”
Malakai’s grip tightened around his beer. “A fucking lot.”
“That’s really all you’re going to give me?”
He shrugged. “You always knew everything you needed to, Nico. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“Sometimes I wonder how we were even friends when I feel like I really didn’t know you.” I paused for a moment as the irritation began to build. I didn’t know if I expected Kai to be different, but he was even more closed off than he once was. “Did anyone actually really know you?”
He turned his head to look at me, his dark eyes piercing mine. “Winter did.”
We fell back into silence and the two of us drained our beers. I was used to the silence with Kai, but now I was left with more questions than I had ever had and I knew he was never going to give me the answers.
“I should probably head out,” I told him as I paid my tab and rose from my barstool. “If you want to get together again, you know how to get a hold of me.”
Kai turned to look at me and nodded as he followed suit and rose to his feet beside me. “I don’t imagine I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”
“Good luck with Winter.”
His mouth twitched again. “Do yourself a favor and stay the way you are. Don’t fuck up whatever you have with your girl like I did with Winter.”
He threw a hundred-dollar bill onto the bar and turned around without another word to me. I watched him for a moment, completely perplexed by it all as I watched him disappear into the crowd. I didn’t imagine that I would hear from Kai again anytime soon.
He made it clear he was here for one reason—and one reason only—and there wasn’t a part of me that blamed him.
Whatever he had with Winter years ago had stuck with him this long. Knowing my own feelings for Harper, I understood it completely. And I also knew I would never do anything to jeopardize what we had. I would never make whatever mistakes Kai did.
Harper was mine.
And I would spend the rest of my life loving her.
