“How dare you talk to me like that? You walked around for the better part of a decade pretending that I was nothing and now you want to talk?”
“You were never nothing to me, Kenna.”
“Bull shit, Jonas. If I meant anything to you, how could you fuck around with your little ‘kitten’ and not recognize me behind that stupid mask?”
“I knew,” I admit. “I guess I should have blindfolded you last night too.”
Kenna laughs harshly. “Oh, please. I didn’t need to see your face to recognize you. I knew it was you the second you spoke.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” I ask.
Kenna blinks at me like she can’t believe I’m this stupid. “Well, if you knew, why didn’t you say something? Maybe I’m not the only one who was keeping a secret, but at least I had a reason. If you recall, the last time we kissed, you ignored me for three years. It was purgatory. I knew what would happen if I admitted who I was. If you ignored me for three years after a single kiss, how long would you shut me out for crashing your sex club? For letting you tie me up? For coming on your finger—”
“I promised Dean I wouldn’t,” I interject, teeth gritted.
Her brows scrunch together, eyes meeting mine defiantly. “What do you mean you promised him?”
“I mean, I had a good reason for not telling you. Dean saw us that night I picked you up at the Halloween dance. He saw me kiss you. He knew about the club and he made me promise I wouldn’t bring you into my—lifestyle.”
Kenna’s neck stretches, her shoulders dropping as anger makes her spine rigid. “What the actual fuck, Jonas? It’s not the 1700s! Women aren’t property. He had no right to make that decision for me. And frankly, neither did you.”
I stroke my thumbs over the soft skin of her shoulders. “I know, and I’m so sorry. You were so young, and I was broken after losing my dad. I was in a bad place. A really bad place. I was drowning, and I didn’t want to drag you down with me. I know that’s not fair, but that’s what it felt like.”
Kenna purses her lips, but some of the anger leaves her eyes. “And now? What does it feel like now?”
“Like my heart is being ripped out of my chest every second I’m not with you.” I don’t hedge around it. “But I knew it was you. I knew it was you the moment you walked through the doors at Tango. My heart stopped.”
“You tried to get me to leave,” Kenna accuses, hurt permeating her words.
“That’s true,” I admit. “I thought you stumbled in there by accident, which, admittedly, you did. And if you could have seen the panic on your face, you’d understand why I was trying to hustle you back out. You looked scared out of your mind. It wasn’t until I touched you, watched you embrace it, that I realized how much you belonged there.”
Kenna stares up at me, eyes wide and impassive. I bite my tongue, waiting for her to reply, my heart beating in my chest so hard I’m surprised she can’t hear it.