Page 23 of Kane

Or in this case, I guess it would be an orange cat, technically. Which makes me chuckle a little.

“You two and your serial killers,” I mutter.

Claire brushes me off, instead asking, “Did you register for the speed dating thing yet?”

I sigh in defeat once more. Ever since I came here, with my damn tail between my legs, Claire has made it her sole mission in life to find me a “good man.” Problem is, I don’t think my sister and I have the same definition of what a good man is, and I’m not about to tell her what my definition is.

Coming out to my sister was easy, but telling her about all the kink stuff? Hard limit for sure.

“No,” I mutter in annoyance. “I told you I don’t think it’s—”

“A good idea, I know,” she tutts. “But you’ve got to let this Dylan thing go sometime, you know. I know you really liked him and all, but—” She plucks another olive from the cutting board, and I stop chopping all together and sigh.

“It’s not about Dylan…” I say, though it’s not entirely a lie, and she’s not wrong.

“Then what is it about, Ry?”

Claire lowers her gaze at me. I could tell her it’s about the fact that I have unreliable taste in men, or that I just want to take some time to be single and not be tied down, and those answers would probably be fine, but it wouldn’t be the truth. Not really.

The words that come out make my chest tight.

“I just… want more.” My voice falters and Claire scoots closer to me, appraising me with a soft, knowing look.

“I know,” she says with a deep sigh. “But you have to walk before you can run, Ry. And you can’t do that unless you put yourself out there…”

I know she’s right, but it doesn’t make me feel better. In fact, it makes me feel worse, I think.

“You never know who you’re going to meet at these things.”

I roll my eyes. “Not the love of my life, I’ll tell you that.”

Claire waves me off as Tori comes into the kitchen, heading for the fridge, and I tense.

“What’s your problem?” she asks, her voice smooth like glass.

She pulls a water bottle from the fridge and opens it, taking a long sip before she finds her way next to Claire.

“Ryder doesn’t want to do the speed dating thing,” Claire says, as if I’m not sitting in front of them.

“I’m right here, you know!”

Tori ignores me, gazing into my sister’s eyes as she shrugs.

“So?”

“So?” Claire throws her arms up, blowing some blonde hair out of her face from the motion. “How else is he supposed to meet the man of his dreams?”

Tori, stone-faced and dead-eyed, looks at my sister and says, “Grindr. Like everyone else.”

Oh my fucking God…

I close my eyes as heat ransacks my body, overtaking me, and I know it’s not entirely because of the damn oven.

“Oh my God, now you’re embarrassing him,” Claire says as I feel her arms around me, but it doesn’t help.

“Oh, I’m the one embarrassing him?”

I move out of Claire’s hold, needing to get out of this sweltering kitchen, away from… whatever this is that’s happening right now.