I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 23

KEENON:

"Keenon!"

I turned around with a grin on my face at the high pitched squeal as Soda ran to me through the crowd of my fans and instead of skidding to a stop, she barreled into me with a massive hug. Caught off guard, I nearly toppled over before I regained my footing and wrapped my arms around her with a chuckle.

"Hey Soda," I said in her ear, letting her pull back so I could be delighted by the grin on her face as she looked up at me.

"I told you you'd win!" she yelped, doing a little victory dance for me. That was the cutest little dance I've ever seen.

Toby came up behind me and slapped me on the back, all traces of earlier tension between us gone.

"Man that was awesome! He didn't know what hit him!"

I had to admit, my victory was quite unexpected by a lot of people, but I was so pleased with myself I didn't know if I could keep up my calm facade any longer. People cheered my name, lurching forward to meet me, and girls everywhere were snapping my picture while I still stood in my fight shorts.

Karen was next to tackle me in a hug, squeezing my arm as she shook it. "We have to celebrate!"

"Yes! Club 21!" Toby hollered, slapping me on the back one more time before jogging over to a group of blondes, no doubt finding himself a date for the night. Or well, a good lay.

Karen hugged me one more time before running off to throw herself in her boyfriend's arms as he sent me a proud grin and nodded in my direction. I nodded back at him and turned around to Soda who was looking off into middle distance with a horrified expression.

"Soda?" I reached out and grabbed her shoulder, making her jolt and look back at me with unfocused eyes as they darted between me and some other place.

"Yeah?" she said after a minute, giving me her full attention when I didn't say anything else.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a little chuckle, noting how cute it was when her brows scrunched up.

"Uh, nothing. There's just this- What?!" her eyes got huge as she stared off to my left again.

I began to turn around when she put a gentle hand on my face and kept me from it.

"Soda, what's your deal? Who are you looking at?"

She swallowed hard and looked back at me before pointing behind me. "Who's... err, who's with Andrea?"

My heart began to hammer at hearing her name as I remembered she was here. I slowly turned around and visibly cringed when I saw my ex-girlfriend with my brother, Alex. She was holding his hand while talking to a few people I recognized as people who used to be friends of mine until I severed all communication. My chest squeezed against my heart as she laughed and smiled up at Alex. Damn, that hurt.

"Keenon?" came Soda's gentle voice.

I turned back to her with a forced smile and shrugged it off unsuccessfully. "That's my brother, Alex. They're together now."

Her eyes widened then narrowed into slits as she looked over at them. "That's your freaking brother?" she whispered in a suddenly delighted tone.

I looked at her funny and nodded, sort of hurt that she seemed happy about them being together. It hurt even more as she laughed out loud and whipped her head back to me.

"Quick, how long have they been a thing?" she asked, shaking my arm like an eager little kid.

I cringed at her happy tone and sighed. Yet another person who was for the new couple instead of against them for what they did to me. Yay.