Kai Villalvazo’s Nemesis (The Kalon Tetralogy #1)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

NASA – JOSH KARTER

? YASMINA ?

T he party was in full throttle as people laughed, drank, danced, and cheered over games.

I hugged my body as I passed a group of guys who were already sending me lustful stares and wolf whistles, rolling my eyes as I looked for a peaceful place to sit.

I should have brought my noise-cancelling headphones. Or better, I should have stayed in my room. But Yelena had forced me to come for this stupid welcome party before we started training.

Perhaps I was just too antisocial—no. I was selectively social. I was really outgoing around my friends, but around crowds of people I didn’t give less of a fuck about, I was considered mute.

I went upstairs to a less crowded part of the party and sighed happily when I noticed that most of the top snowboarders were up here chilling.

That explained it.

I wasn’t meant to be down there. I hadn’t bothered to read the invite and I was guessing Yelena was up here.

I walked to the darkly illuminated bar and stopped in my tracks almost immediately. It was empty save for the bartender and the giant on one of the stools.

The bartender was keeping a safe distance from him, pretending to wipe the counters while trying to decipher if the man a few metres from him was normal or not.

I inhaled deeply before moving to the stool next to him and confidently sitting a few inches beside him.

He didn’t react to the unexpected presence. Instead, he focused on the golden liquid in his crystal glass.

Whiskey neat? No wonder he caught the bartender’s attention. College students rarely ordered whiskey. It was an acquired taste.

“Can I get a raspberry vodka, please?” I placed an order and the bartender nodded before getting to work.

The atmosphere was thick with tension. I fiddled with my hands, hoping the drink I had ordered would calm my nerves a little.

In the meantime, I traced the outline of Kai’s powerful bicep that was propped against the counter with my eyes. This man was so fucking hot, it made my mouth water and I hated it.

“So, how was your day?” I tried to make conversation, but his sharp jaw simply clenched as he stared ahead, or more specifically, the bartender who was making my drink. I normally didn’t like talking, but I had to befriend him if we were going to be doing the same sport.

His face was perfectly symmetrical, from his nose to his pout, I marvelled at the accuracy of his face planes and angles. If God had a favourite piece of his artworks, it was definitely him.

His insane capabilities reflected in Kai’s masculine beauty; it was almost intimidating.

He was wearing a black hoodie that covered most of his features, and that only made him more attractive than he already was.

I traced the marble countertop with my index finger in deep contemplation. “Can we have a truce, Vazalo?”

At the mention of his surname, he made the slightest reaction: a small twitch of the corner of his lips. I didn’t know what to make of it.

Amusement, mockery, annoyance—it could be anything. He was so difficult to deal with; it was infuriating.

My drink finally arrived and I stared at it, waiting for his response before I took the shot.

Unexpectedly, he took my glass, the clear liquid swirling in the process. He gestured to the bartender, who cautiously moved close to Kai.

Kai pushed the glass towards the bartender and stared at him for a good minute. “Drink it.”

To my surprise, the bartender hesitated, his eyes full of fear as he looked at Kai. “Is s-something wrong?—”

“Do as you’re told. Drink it.” His voice was dark and malicious, the edge to it was so sharp it almost cut my airways.

The bartender’s hands quivered as he brought the glass to his lips, grimacing when he took the shot in one go. He shook his head, blinking a couple of times before letting out a shaky sigh.

“Next time you try to drug someone, you’ll remember this. Now get lost.” Kai’s command was calm, but cutthroat. I shivered in response to the cold tone.

My heart fluttered at the fact that he had basically saved my life. I didn’t know what to say to him, except?—

“Thank you. I didn’t notice that.” I clasped my hands together.

“Yeah. Consequences of talking,” he simply said. And just like that, he doused out any positive feeling I had towards him.

“I asked you one question.” I felt my veins pulse with adrenaline.

“It takes a millisecond of distraction for everything to go wrong.” He briefly typed on his fancy phone, the bright light illuminating his devastatingly handsome face before switching it off and taking a sip from his glass.

“How do you know yours isn’t drugged?” I bit back. A slight smirk quirked his lips, but in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

He got some ice cubes from the barman’s ice tray and dropped them into his glass, the effortless movement holding so much grace and measured precision. I watched as they floated to the top of the rich, gold liquid.

He took another sip before setting the glass down, the cubes clanking upon the movement.

“If the ice doesn’t float, then the drink is poisoned.” He spoke in a low, deep tenor that had softened to velvet.

It would have had an effect on me if he had a better personality.

I shouldn’t have been bothered by his intelligence and awareness, but I was. I felt so fucking dumb.

We were silent for a long time as I questioned why I had even bothered to befriend him. That’s why the bar area, which was normally full of people, was empty.

His dark energy radiated so powerfully that it scared everyone off. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to get up from my stool and leave.

It could be his icy, earthy scent with bits of vanilla and rich incense. Yes, he smelt so clean and manly, it was almost a turn on.

“Sure.” He spoke out of nowhere, and I was confused for a second before he spoke again, “The truce.”

“What makes you think the offer still stands?”

“You’re still here, aren’t you, kücük tavsan ?” I scowled when he used that same nickname again.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” I muttered. He simply shrugged, downing his drink in one go, and on cue, someone new came behind the counter. His face was so familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint it.

“ Prinesti yey vypit .” Get her a drink.

Of course, that was his bodyguard. It made sense now. I knew it was Russian because the men around me spoke in the language here and there. It was rarely spoken around me because it was their way of keeping information from me, hence my lack of knowledge. I knew one or two words.

My father had a lot of technological skills that anything on the internet involving Russian was blocked from all my devices. And he had given the academy strict instructions to ban me from learning any. But if I successfully befriended Kai, I'd convince him to teach me.

Whatever he had said, it sounded so sexy and cutthroat that I had to swallow my desire to the pits of my gut. Down, down, down, and never to resurface.

I was scraping for reasons not to find this guy hot, but I was epically failing.

My brows rose in surprise when he served me my favourite drink of all time: the High Moon. I was genuinely curious about how he knew, but I brushed it off and checked the floating ice secretly.

“I’m not going to kill you. I’m solidifying our truce,” he said without looking at me. I swear he noticed everything without actually looking and it truly puzzled me.

It finally dawned on me that he hadn’t even looked at me since I got here and I was trying not to be bothered by the realisation, just in case he deciphered that thought, too.

I smiled to myself, deciding against a response. Silence spoke volumes, I thought before sipping my drink.

It tasted exactly how I liked it, I involuntarily hummed in satisfaction.

Darkness seeped into the corner of his eyes upon the sound, but I could have been seeing things. It could have easily been a figment of my imagination. I turned my gaze back to my drink, unsure of what else to say to him.

He was so cold and stoic, I wondered if he had a proper social life.

Did he have other friends besides Kayden, and if so, did they behave like him? Who were his parents? What did they put him through to make him like this?—

“Why are you here?” His dark, rough voice took me by surprise. The rate at which he changed his tone and demeanour fascinated me more than it should have.

I sipped my drink before exhaling. “It’s a bar, in case you didn’t know that. Public space, Vazalo.”

The slight flash of his sharp canines made my nipples tighten. I almost clenched my thighs when he let out a half snarl, half chuckle. In one swiftly fluid movement, he faced me and it nearly knocked the air out of me.

His heterochromatic eyes focused intensely on me, intaking my face like it was something he was seeing for the first time. I could barely trace any emotion in his hollow eyes, it made me wonder exactly what was going through his mind.

“Don’t fool me. You’re just like everyone else, kücük tavsan . You find me odd, weird, peculiar, intriguing…” His warm, alcohol, mint-infused breath caressed my cheek, I almost shivered.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I don’t find you intriguing.” I scoffed, concealing any signs of my infuriating attraction to him.

I maintained eye contact with him regardless of the goosebumps that were forming against my neck. Every time I tried to challenge the gold and silver pools, it felt like I was falling into a deep hypnotic spiral I’d never be saved from.

“Interesting. Do I make you…nervous?” Kai’s stare intensified and I resisted his dark energy that threatened to suffocate me, maintaining my apathetic gaze despite the way his massive shoulders grew bigger with each passing second to make him a thousand times more intimidating.

My father never raised a quitter.

“No, you don’t make me nervous.” I spoke calmly, crossing my leg over the other as the interest in his eyes magnified by a slight fraction. It was almost unnoticeable were it not for our staring contest.

A range of undecipherable reactions swirled in his eyes like a hurricane, but within a millisecond, his eyes cleared as if it were all pretence. “They say pupils dilate to let light through to help you find an escape route. The heart beats faster to give you power for fight or flight.” He lifted a finger to trace my cheek. “I can almost taste your adrenaline right now. Take the signs, kücük tavsan , because when it’s too late, you will neither fight nor flight. Danger is my middle name.”

“Well spoken, like a true tyrant. Fight or flight are not my specialties. I live for the thrill. I tell mortality to fuck off. I also tend to fuck danger in the ass.”

“You want to fuck me? In the ass?” The low, sexy drawl of his slightly amused voice shouldn’t have made my skin prickle, but it did. And I hated it.

A bad word should not sound this hot coming from him.

“Bold of you to assume I’m attracted to you. But it’s okay to be delusional every once in a while.” I winked, surprised at my own confidence. It must be the drink; it was probably fucking with my head.

If Kai was offended by my statement, he didn’t show it. Instead, a sliver of what looked like intrigue flickered in his features. But before I could do much with that emotion, it vanished when he effortlessly morphed back to his usual self.

He didn’t respond, instead, letting his gaze wander to my friend, Penelope, who walked towards us in excitement.

“Hey, you two! We were looking for you,” she chirped, Kai visibly flinching at the sunshine in her voice.

“Hey, babe,” I moved off the stool to hug her tight. Penelope was one of my friends and Yelena’s movie buddy. Their love for shows and series was honestly beyond me.

“We’re all sitting by the fire. I came to invite the both of you, well, the team figured you were the only ones missing.” Penelope gave me a knowing smile and I gave her a horrified look.

“No. You need help, all of you.”

Penelope laughed, leading me to where the others supposedly were.

“I never said anything, just pointed out a fact.” Penelope held her hands up in surrender.

We got to the bonfire that burned brightly upstairs in the outdoor space and I moved over to hug Yelena tightly, kissing her cheek in the process.

I squeezed into the empty spot between her and Penelope before I analysed everyone. The place had gone silent for a hot minute when Kai calmly settled next to Kayden, as expected.

I doubted Kai talked to anyone else.They both spoke in low voices, as though everyone’s attention wasn’t on them.

Much to our relief, Scott decided to re-explain the game to us and make the atmosphere less awkward. I wondered how Kai felt having this much attention on him, I was almost jealous.

“So, if you decide not to do the dare or answer with the truth, you give the person a thousand bucks. So be wise with your decisions, it’s not too late to walk out.” Scott smirked while leaning back in his seat, the excited murmurs filled the atmosphere along with the crackling fire.

“So, let’s start with Elena. Truth or dare?” Scott asked and she blushed.

“Um, truth.” It was almost a whisper. She was shy and very quiet, it was just like Scott to pick on the ones that minded their own business.

“Where’s the wildest place you’ve been fucked?” Scott raised a brow.

Elena hesitated for a moment, then sighed in defeat. “Behind a bar counter, while people weren’t looking. It was really quick.”

Everyone hollered in response to her confession and I smiled, think about all the wildest places I’ve been fucked before.

I had a list of them, but no one had asked. Therefore, no one needed to know.

I didn’t realise I had zoned out for a good ten minutes until someone got up and poured themself a shot with a lime and salt.

“What’s the dare?” I whisper-yelled to Yelena.

“Well, Don was dared to drink a shot over the girl of his dream’s stomach.” She giggled and I raised my brows in interest.

They went even higher when his dark eyes focused on me the moment he started moving towards me. My heart pulsed as the cheers got louder.

He was signing up for a black eye.

Sure, a lot of people fancied me. But taking a shot on my stomach? That—that was so fucking wild, I wouldn’t tolerate it.

Don was hot, but he wasn’t my type. He was a rockstar kind of guy: piercings, tattoos, you fucking name it. His name spelt trouble, and he was one of the top heartbreakers in Willowcrest Academy.

Not that girls ever thought about that whenever they fell for him.

He stopped before me, his dark eyes analysing me with so much desire and hunger it repulsed me. We’ve never talked and I’ve always ignored his stares and winks that he sent from afar.

I accidentally gazed at Kai, who sat opposite me with a calmness I found so sexy. But nothing was calm about the evil glare he was sending Don. He looked so dark and dangerous that the vibrations caused Don to face him.

But that obviously didn’t stop him. And the moment he came too close and dared to touch my jaw, my fist instinctively gave him a powerful blow. His head reeled back so fast that he lost his balance and fell back.

Everyone gasped in shock and his friends quickly got up to help him. The silence was deafening and all eyes were on me, judging, questioning, and everything in between.

“What a crazy, bloody bitch.” Don spat a mouthful of blood and I smirked at him.

“Call me a bitch one more time and your face won't be the only thing I ruin,” I said coldly, rolling my eyes in distaste. His friends dragged him away and I was suddenly grateful for that. People murmured among themselves until Kayden abruptly spoke up.

“If you have something to say, let’s hear it. I'll wait.” The whole place fell silent again, save for the crackling fire. No one ever wanted to challenge Kayden, it was a death wish.

“Yasmina, truth or dare?” Kayden asked me with a smirk. I tilted my head slowly, as though he hadn’t subtly threatened everyone. Having Kayden in my life meant I got away with a lot of shit.

“Dare.” It was a seductive drawl, and the boys eagerly hummed in response.

“I dare you to kiss the hottest guy in the room.” His smirk got wider, and after much contemplation, I got up and went to their side.

Many guys were calling me and raising their hands, but I ignored them all.

I gave Kai a lingering stare, and despite his impassive expression, a dark glint of challenge flashed in his eyes. I smiled slowly, moving towards him and pausing for a while.

People were making all kinds of excited noises in the background. They progressed when I turned, leaned in and passionately kissed Callum, the handsome guy next to Kai, much to everyone’s surprise.

I glanced at an expressionless Kai. He deciphered the statement behind my gaze in a millisecond by the small tug against the corner of his lips.

It takes a millisecond of distraction for everything to go wrong.