Page 355 of K.I.N.: Karma Is Near

“No shit.”

“So why you still trying?”

“Because I’m not throwing away a whole ham.”

“Who said throw it away?”

“Then come over here and be useful.”

He pushed away from the counter and walked toward me.

I ripped another piece of foil.

He stopped beside me.

Close.

Too fucking close.

That same tension.

That same shit that had been sitting between us since the Playroom.

I pressed the foil down around the pan.

“You know you ain’t have to stay and clean up.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you?”

My hands stopped.

The kitchen got quiet.

Not actually quiet.

The dishwasher was running.

The refrigerator was humming.

Some TV was still playing somewhere in that big-ass house.

But between me and Levin?

Quiet.

I slowly looked at him.

He was already looking at me.

I felt goosebumps rise across the back of my neck.

And it had been a long fucking time since somebody looking at me did that.

Xay loved me.

I knew he did.