Burned » Kai Parker

25

"We don't have to watch a horror movie," Sam insisted.

I lowered the remote and squinted at him suspiciously. He was avoiding my eyes and shrugged casually, like he was just throwing out suggestions. But I knew Sam the scaredy-cat better than that.

"There's just, like, so many other genres that we're neglecting. Action, adventure, uh....action-adventure, romance, sci-fi–"

"Sam doesn't like horror movies," I explained to Lia, who had been listening to his tangent with a smile on her face. "We go through this delay every time I try to put one on."

"I like them," he argued. "I just want to make sure we're looking at all of our options, instead of diving headfirst into a rental that we might regret, okay? And Lia might want to watch something else."

"I like horror movies," she admitted.

"Oh, you do," he said, startled. "That's great. That's really good, because now, we know what to watch and it'll be something that we all...really enjoy..."

She squeezed his arm and snuggled closer to him on the couch. "Good news is your aversion to horror movies gives us an excuse to cuddle."

Now, my brother was grinning like an idiot. No one could convince me that these two weren't a match. It usually took at least thirty minutes to rope Sam into a horror movie viewing. Luis and I could attest to that. Lia, whether she was aware of it or not, had a superpower.

Movie night usually consisted of Sam, Luis, and I. Luis was staying over at Aisha's place tonight, so I decided to fill the empty spot with my brother's super cool girlfriend–coincidentally, also one of the few, few people in the Five Covens that I liked. I spent virtually no time convincing Sam. He loved the idea.

They confirmed their relationship status, at long last, apparently on the same night that Kai and I had been scoping out Terrence's hideaway. I wanted to believe that I had a hand in that, after urging some sense into Sam during our Christmas shopping. The relationship manifesting on my couch right now was rock-solid proof of a theory I'd had for a while: meddling works.

While I scrolled through the search results for the horror genre on my TV, Sam and Lia were getting pretty close for comfort. And I had a daunting realization. I'd unwittingly made myself the third wheel of movie night. Crap.

Well, maybe it wouldn't be that bad. They were still in the early stage where they stumble over first acts of affection and they're even less likely to test those out in my apartment, where I can see them...right?

I looked over at them again. Wrong. They were stealing kisses now. And the movie hadn't even started.

"Guys." I put the remote down on the coffee table and walked toward the kitchen. "I'll be right back."

"Sure, Eva," Lia said softly, but I doubted that she could've recited what I just said if I asked her to. Lovestruck, both of them.

I picked up my phone from the counter, unlocked it, and went to the one contact that could save me in the next five minutes, give or take.

I never knew when Kai was busy since his coven leader schedule was a lot more irregular than the typical 9-5, but I hoped that on this Sunday night, he could spare a few hours. If not, I was about to find out whether you could actually die from discomfort.

He's your friend, just freaking ask him already, came the pushy tone from my subconscious. My fingers had been uncertainly hovering over our last messages. Those had only been a day ago during our brief trip to California, when Kai was airing out his irritation about our flirtatious driver through strongly worded texts. My lip twitched a bit in amusement.