Kai
Kai tried not to linger in bed with Taz. She was sure that was crossing one of his lines or breaking one of his many rules, but it felt so good to lay with him, that she couldn’t help herself. After what felt like an eternity and Taz sighing about a dozen times, as if signaling her that her time with him was up, she got out of bed and pulled on her t-shirt and panties.
“Where’s your bathroom so that I can get rid of this thing?” he asked carefully pulling off the condom and tying it off. She nodded to the door on the fall wall, and he got up and took care of it while she pretended to putz around her room, putting stuff away. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what to do now. Would he just leave? Would he want to talk or grab something to eat? Probably not. The one thing she knew to be true about Taz was that if he said something, he meant it and usually stuck by it.
He came back from her bathroom and grabbed his clothing from the bedside, off of the floor. “I’m going to head out,” he said, pulling on his pants. “We good here?”
“Yep,” she said, sitting next to him on the bed. He had already put up his walls and telling him that she wasn’t good with any of this wasn’t going to work out for her. She’d work out all of her “feelings” and have a good cry later, but for now, she’d put on a happy face and tell him that she was just fine.
“Everything is fine,” she lied. “I learned how to chop an onion and well—this,” she said, nodding to the bed.
“Yeah, I feel kind of bad about screwing up your lesson. Listen, I’ll give you a couple of pointers if you come into the kitchen during our downtime,” he said.
“You don’t have to do that,” she insisted. He was pretty clear earlier when she asked him for a few extra lessons at work. He didn’t want anyone to find out that he was teaching her to cook, and she was pretty sure that he wouldn’t want any of them finding out that they slept together now, either.
“I know that I don’t, but I promised you a lesson and well, I think I can give you a few more pointers,” Taz offered. Kai really couldn’t turn down his offer. She needed his help if she was going to pass her class.
“All right,” she agreed. “I would appreciate a few more pointers. Thanks, Taz,” she said.
“No problem,” he said. “Thank you for being so cool about all of this,” he said nodding back to the bed. “And for keeping my secret.”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll have two secrets to keep about you now,” she said. “I promise, they are safe with me.”
“Thanks, Kai,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
“Of course,” she agreed. He stood and she did the same. Taz seemed anxious to get out of her place now, and she was just as anxious to have him go. She needed to sit down and figure out what she was going to do next and then, she was going to have the cry that she promised herself.
* * *
It had been two days since she and Taz had sex and not telling anyone was becoming more and more difficult. She needed to talk to someone about it because not telling anyone was driving her insane. The problem was that she couldn’t talk to anyone at work. Kai thought about telling Harlow, but that would break her promise to Taz, and she was sure that Ryker would give him hell for having sex with an employee. He seemed to hold Taz to a higher standard than he did other employees at the bar.
Her only option was her friend from college, Annika, and she was sure to keep her mouth shut since she didn’t know anyone at the bar. Hell, she didn’t even know that Kai worked at the biker bar, so the chances of her meeting Taz were slim to none. She was her only friend, outside of the women at the Smokey Bandits, who Kai felt some connection with.
Kai pulled her cell phone from her purse and found Annika’s phone number in her contacts. “This better be good,” Annika hissed when she answered the phone. “I’m studying for my test tomorrow and it’s almost midnight. Who calls people at midnight?” A desperate person, that was who called people at this hour, but she didn’t want to lead with that.
“I’m sorry,” Kai said. “I just needed a friend, but I can call back tomorrow after your test.”
She could hear Annika sigh into the other end of the phone and Kai crossed her fingers that her friend wouldn’t turn her away. “Fine,” Annika said. “Tell me what’s going on, I have a few minutes that I can take a break, and then I’ll get back to studying.”
“Thanks,” Kai said. “I appreciate you taking a break.”
“No problem—now spill it,” she insisted.
“I met a guy,” Kai said.
“Oh—at college?” Annika asked.
“No,” Kai said, “we work together. He’s a chef at the restaurant that I waitress at.” Sure, it was a stretch of the truth, but she had to start somewhere. “Anyway, he was helping me out with a cooking lesson for that stupid cooking elective that I’m taking. Well, one thing led to another, and I—”
“You slept with him,” Annika finished for her.
“Am I that transparent? I mean, do I seem like the kind of girl to jump into bed with a hot guy because he offers to help her with a few cooking lessons?” Kai asked.
“No,” Annika said, “but, I could see where this story was going. Is he really hot?” she asked.
“Yes,” Kai breathed, “and, he made me promise that it was only a one-time thing and that things wouldn’t be weird between us at work. He friend-zoned me,” she said.
“That sucks,” Annika said, “I’m sorry. Is there any chance that he’ll change his mind? I mean, do you want him to change his mind?”