“No.” She smiled at me then put her focus on Lora. “It’s okay. I’ve always wanted to meet her.”
“How fucking sweet.” Lora put on a shit-eating grin and I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Don’t say or do anything stupid, Lora. I mean it.”
“What?” She threw her hands in the air, a guilt-free gesture, but her eyes were too sparkly, her smile mischievous. “I just want to get to know the girl who has my brother wrapped around her young, little finger. Is that so bad?”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I gave Kandy my attention. “I’ll be in the office in the den,” I told her.
“Okay,” she murmured.
Lora placed her water bottle down and walked around the counter to meet with Kandy. “I’m not big on formalities or introductions, so yes, I’m Lora, Q’s sister, and you’re Kandy, Q’s obsession. Nice to finally meet you!”
I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose and walking out of the kitchen. “No stupid shit, Lora! I mean it!” I yelled over my shoulder on the way out, just as Kandy broke out in a laugh.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
KANDY
I could understand why Cane was so nervous about leaving me alone with Lora. She had no filter whatsoever.
She asked me to come out to the deck with her. While she relaxed in the hot tub, I sat on one of the pool chairs, my legs crossed, watching as she sipped from a bottle of wine. Yes, the actual bottle. Apparently she’d had a rough week and needed to unwind.
I thought it was strange she wanted to use the hot tub before we came out, but of all the times I’d been to Cane’s house, I’d never really given much notice to the smaller hot tub that was sectioned off by a glass door and glass windows. I always thought it was a pool house or a garden room, neither of which intrigued me.
The windows had fogged up a lot when she started the heated pool. “So tell me, Kandy Jennings,” she sighed. “Why do you like Cane so much? He told me you’re nineteen. God—I remember those days,” she sighed. “So young. So naive. I had no idea what the hell love even meant.” She looked at me with eyes that I swear were just like Cane’s. Calculating. Observant. Hers were grayer, which made them colder and more intimidating than his.
In fact, they had a lot of similar traits. They could have passed as twins if Lora’s hair wasn’t dyed a bold aqua. She had sleeves of tattoos on her arms, just like Cane. She even had one on the inside of her wrist that said RISE. Hers was in a pretty script font, more feminine than Cane’s, but it was the same word and seeing it made me utterly curious about the meaning of it. Apparently, that one word was very important to them.
“For a lot of reasons,” I answered as she looked me over before taking a gulp of the wine again.
“Like?” she pushed, eyes expanding.
“Like how he’s always there for me—has been since we met. He’s always respected me and since I can remember, him and I have had this deep understanding and connection to one another.” I struggled for words, trying to find the right ones to use. It was always harder to explain why you loved someone when you were put on the spot. “He was supposed to be like family to me—I’m sure it’s what you’re thinking—but I never saw him as family.”
“Well, what did you see him as?”
I shrugged, lowering my gaze. “Someone I knew I couldn’t have.”
“Shit.” She took another drag from the bottle. “You are pretty fucking deep for a nineteen-year-old.”
“Does my age bother you?” I tilted my head.
“Me? Psshh, not at all.” She placed the bottle down then moved to the side of the hot tub closer to where I was sitting. She rested her elbows on the cement edge and smirked. “To me, age is just a number. It doesn’t determine anything in life other than being able to vote and buy liquor. When love hits you, it doesn’t care about age or color or even if it’ll hurt. Love is fucked up, man. But it’s real. There is no denying when it’s present and when I look at Cane, I see that. I didn’t think it was real for him—thought maybe he was in it for the lust—but seeing him just now with his hands all over you and the way he looked at you before he left the kitchen gave me all the holy shit feels. I have never—and I mean never—seen him like that with a girl and he’s had so fucking many.”
That made me frown. “He has?”
“Oh!” Lora clamped her mouth shut and pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key. “Not, like, a lot,” she went on, and then she rapidly changed the subject to one that I really wasn’t up for discussing. “Is your dad still pissed about finding out about you and Cane?”