“You need help?” he inquires, his smile deeply amused. “It sounds like you’re dragging a body up the stairs.”
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Hi, Rain.” He leans down and kisses my cheek. Becca makes a sound in the back of her throat. His eyes flash to her. He takes her in, her tattoos, her attitude, and then he braves the beautiful beast. He holds his hand out to her. “You must be the famous Becca. Did you bring your gun with you?”
I can tell she tries not to, but she laughs anyway. “Yeah, it’s in my purse.” She takes his hand, shaking it firmly.
I continue not to breathe as they interact.
When he looks for her purse she laughs harder. He grins handsomely at her and raises his eyebrows. “Just checking.”
“Kent,” she greets, dropping his hand. “We’ve met before. I’ve seen you in action so don’t get cute with me.”
His smile falls. “If you saw me in action then that means you were there for the preshow. So don’t get cute with me either.”
My jaw drops. I close my eyes so I can’t witness Becca ripping him apart.
“You listen to me, you prick. You’re lucky I’m even letting you kiss my sister on the cheek. If it were up to me I’d take her and leave here forever.”
“Good thing it’s up to her, then.”
Uh oh.
I wait a moment and when I open my eyes Becca is in Kent’s face. For what it’s worth Kent doesn’t back down. Most men would have.
She stabs him in the chest with her finger. “You’re going to leave her alone.”
“I’m not.”
“Why not? Raina is the most important person to me. I refuse to let you drag her down. She’s got morals and self-respect. Nothing like your usual fare. Why don’t you keep picking from the bottom of the barrel and leave the gold to the good men?”
I expect anger, or something similar. Instead his face falls and he stares down at his black sneakers. “I want to be good enough for her,” he mutters.
I can’t stand watching her beat him up. I drop her luggage and step in front of him, touching his face until he looks up into my eyes. His are leaking his sadness. I kiss him softly, needing his lips right this moment.
“Oh brother.” Becca grabs my hand and yanks me in after her, pulling me away from Kent. His hand tries to reach for me but Becca pulls me out of the way. “Show me your room. Now!” she growls. “We need to talk.”
“Again? My room’s the first door in the hall on the right. Go talk to yourself.”
She meanly shoves me toward the hall. I look back at Kent and the expression on his face kills me. It looks like he’s lost something, as if the one thing he wanted he can’t have.
“I’ll get her luggage,” he mumbles, turning away from me.
Once inside of my room she slams my door and points at me accusingly. “I can’t believe you’re falling for that shit from him. Men like him will say anything to get in your pants. Look, he’s hot, I get it. If you want to have fun with him, fine. But the emotional connection needs to stop.”
I pretend she’s saying something else. Kent is wonderful. I hope he’s everything you ever dreamed of. “So this is my room,” I say, giving her a look denying any further Kent talks.
She grumbles under her breath and then sighs “You bought new furniture?”
“No. Kent took it from my roommate. She kicked me out and ruined mine so he went over there and took hers.”
“He did that? That’s kind of cool.” She sounds unwilling to admit that. “Crazy sexy eyes,” she says, peeking sideways at me.
I laugh in relief. “Tell me about it. You should see him naked.”
She shrugs, as if she doesn’t mind either way. “Did you wash your sheets?” She sighs in relief and sits down on my bed. “Good.”
I’m about to deny it because Kent and I put good use to them this morning, but the bed is made and all of my clothes are folded at the end of the bed. Kent must’ve washed them a second time for Becca and folded all my clothes. The action is so sweet my heart tightens. I remind myself to thank him.
Kent knocks on the door and pokes his head in. “I wanted to let you know I’m out.”
“Where are you going?”
“Out,” he replies patiently, but I can tell he’s tense and something dark lurks in