UNTOUCHED (Midwest Alphas) (Book 1)

by Kiss, Tabatha

“I’m stubborn?”

  “Yes. You. You’re stubborn.”

  I stop myself from continuing the banter, no matter how much I want to. It’s so easy to slip into that mode with Kai. It’s probably what I’ll miss the most about him. “Kai…” I smile. “Go home.”

  “I don’t want to leave you without know where I can find you again,” he says.

  “I’ll be around…”

  “That’s not good enough.”

  “Kai, please…” I’m slipping fast. If I don’t walk away soon, I won’t be able to at all.

  “Fine,” he says. He takes a step back. His warm hands drop from my arms, leaving behind a wave of goosebumps. “It’s a real shame.”

  “What is?” I ask.

  He bends over and grips his duffel bag. “After twelve years, I was just starting to really get to know you.”

  My heart breaks and I can’t say a word. A crushing sorrow knocks me off course. I close my eyes. If I keep them open, I know I’ll only look at him again and this time, I won’t be able to leave him.

  “Goodbye, Piper.”

  I open my eyes to see his back drifting off into the crowd.

  “Goodbye, Kai,” I whisper.

  ***

  My heart thumps harder in my chest with every step I take through the train station in Paris. My next stop is London and anyone with half a brain can look at a map and tell you that two are separated by a good stretch of water. I never thought much about it until just now when I realized I would be riding a train underneath the damn English Channel. Claustrophobia begins to set in, a sensation I’m certain I’ve never felt before, but I continue on in the name of adventure.

  Besides, it’s a good distraction.

  My phone buzzes in my hand and I pause to check the incoming message.

  Have fun, sweetie!

  I smile at the message from my mother. We just said goodbye nearly an hour ago and I already miss her deeply. It feels nothing like the last time I said goodbye to her as a young, confused girl of sixteen. Back then, I didn’t know when I’d see her again, but now, I know I’ll see her in a week’s time.

  After that, my future is blank and I love everything about that. Nothing is written in stone for me by someone else’s hand. I’ll write my own adventure, make my own choices, and be my own person.

  I chuckle softly to myself. Happiness swells within me, calming my senses as I hold the power button down on my phone. I promised my father I would keep it turned on for the entirety of the trip so he could check where I am at all times. The itinerary I gave him is now officially outdated.

  “All right, Piper,” I say to myself. “Let’s do this bitch.”

  I continue on and find the train with a few minutes to spare. It’s crowded, far more so than any other train I’ve taken so far. It’s full of so many different people, from obvious tourists to locals commuting to and from work. I push through the narrow aisles and double check my ticket for the correct seat. I wonder who I’ll be sitting by this time and surprise myself when my first thought isn’t whether it’ll be a tall, dark, and handsome stranger.

  I enter the next car and freeze in the aisle. A smile touches my lips as I step closer to my seat. Kai Casablancas sits slouched back in the window seat next to mine with his arms crossed over his chest, like he was always meant to be there. I blink repeatedly, convinced that I’ve once again succumbed to a trick of the mind, but he’s still there every time I open my eyes. I don’t say a word as I raise my bag up and slide it into the compartment above the seat.

  I sit down beside him in silence. Kai’s eyes are locked on the window, but I can clearly see his amusement pouring out of them. His satisfyingly smug grin teases the corners of his lips. Finally, I can’t take our silence anymore. “Don’t you have to be at school in two days?”

  Kai shrugs his shoulders. “I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now,” he answers. “And the first week is nothing but orientation junk anyway…”

  I sit back as my heart trembles. His presence now… it’s overwhelming me, but I can’t dwell on it without bursting. “So, I guess Shawn was happy to hear you finally completed your collection,” I say, attempting to play it cool.

  He meets my eyes. “Actually, he was really disappointed when I told him I couldn’t pull it off,” he says.

  I raise an eyebrow. My skin erupts in tiny sensations. “Was he now?”

  “You remain the holy grail of Belle Academy lays, Piper.”

  “Yeah, and what happens when you go home and have to explain this to everyone?”

  “I honestly haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” he says. “And I don’t really care to.”

  I exhale and grip the armrests to hold myself steady. “What did you lose?” I ask.

  “What do you mean?”

  “In the bet,” I say. “What were the terms?”

  “Oh…” He tilts his head. “My car.”

  “You gave up your car?” My jaw drops from shock. “You love that thing.”

  “There will always be other cars.”

  “But—”

  “There are more important things worth holding on to,” he interrupts me and slips his hand around mine. “There’s only one Piper Lynch out there.”

  I shake my head at him. “You’re an idiot.”

  “I know,” he smiles. “I can live with that… but I can’t live without Piper Lynch.”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” I laugh. “You’ve proved your point.”

  “Really?” he asks. “I have like six more good lines before I’m tapped out.”

  “Kai…”

  “Yes, Piper?”

  “Shut up.”

  I lean in and kiss him softly. He stays still until I pull away and see that damned smug glint in his eyes once again. I shake my head at him before leaning in to steal another kiss. He returns my kisses this time, reaching out to cup my face with one hand to hold me against him.

  Kai Casablancas.

  Freedom will taste just as good with you here with me.

  END OF BOOK ONE

  Continue the Story of

  Piper & Kai

  RAIL ME, RIDE ME, RUIN ME:

  A Stepbrother Romance

  Whispers From Tabatha

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  Chapter 1

  Close Your Eyes

  “Come on, Alice. It’ll be fun.”

  I shake my head, unable to fight the smile crawling across my face. Six little words. It’s Gabby’s catch phrase. I’ve lost track of how many times she’s said it to me since a computer randomly assigned us to be roommates in our university dorm a few weeks ago.

  “We’re not going to get away with it,” I say
without glancing up from my English textbook.

  Gabby sticks her head out of the closet and rolls her eyes. “That’s not the point!”

  “Can’t we just go see a movie?” I ask.

  “We can go see a movie next weekend,” she says. “Tonight, I want to do this.”

  I sigh and close the textbook. “Fine,” I mutter.

  She smiles wide at me and resumes ruffling through our shared closet, picking and choosing between various articles of clothing. “I say we go with these,” she says as she turns towards me. In each hand, she holds up two little black dresses by the hangers. “They’ll make us look older. Your choice. Which one do you want?”

  I slide off my bed and walk over. My eyes bounce from one dress to the next, finding the little difference between the two. One is strapless, the other features long sleeves. “I’ll go with this one,” I say as I take the sleeved one on the right, recalling that the forecast predicts a cold front on the horizon.

  Gabby shakes her head twice. “So predictable.”

  “Hey, if you want it, you can have it,” I say.

  “No,” she says. “I got the one I wanted. This one shows more skin.”

  I chuckle. “Now who’s predictable?”

  She puckers her lips and kisses the air at me.

  We wait until an hour after sundown to leave the dorm, giving us plenty of time to tweak our appearances to perfection. Gabby herself spends over an hour on her hair alone, curling her short, red locks into symmetrical ringlets around her head. There’s little I know to do with my long, brown hair, so I iron it straight and let it hang down just passed my breasts and focus on livening up my other features with the help of Gabby’s extensive collection of make-up.

  Once Gabby approves of my look — a task she always insists on, even on casual trips across the street to the dining hall — we set out together into the autumn night to find a taxi cab.

  “Where to, ladies?”

  Gabby grins. “Downtown,” she says proudly.

  The driver turns around in his seat. His eyes fall on us, scanning our bodies up and down until a chuckle heaves off his lips. “Whatever you say, ladies,” he croaks out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Erin told me to focus on the smaller clubs,” Gabby whispers at me once the cab starts moving. “The bouncers are usually younger, inexperienced, and more susceptible to persuasion.” She briefly cups her breasts at the last word, pushing them upward to accentuate her sizable cleavage.

  “Isn’t Erin dating a drug dealer?”

  “So?” She furrows her brow at me. “Who cares? She does this like every other weekend. She knows what she’s talking about.”

  “As long as we don’t get into any trouble…” I mutter.

  “Alice, these are the years when we’re supposed to get into trouble,” she argues. “We’re eighteen years old. We are invincible. Nothing can stop us. The world is our oyster. We are woman. Hear us roar.”

  “Calm down,” I laugh.

  “Well, it’s true.” She sits back in her seat and snaps open her clutch to retrieve her phone.

  We ride the remaining way in silence. Every mile we travel increases my heart rate, making me more and more nervous about what’s to come. Gabby is probably right. We’re eighteen years old. The crimes we commit at this age act only as feathers in our cap, a series of cautionary tales we’ll speak of only to our curious grandchildren when their parents aren’t listening.

  Back in my day, it was easy to flirt our way into twenty-one and older clubs. I just flashed my pearly whites, squeezed my tits together, and men fell at my feet!

  Unfortunately, my grandchildren will be sadly disappointed when I tell them about this.

  “No way.” The bouncer crosses his thick arms about his chest. His black shirt stretches tight as he flexes his muscles to illustrate his dominance over us.

  Gabby scoffs. “Oh, come on!” she whines. “I’ll give you my number.”

  “Beat it.” He stands firms, blocking the entryway.

  “Let’s go, Gabby,” I say as I lay a hand on her arm.

  She sighs. “Fine.”

  We continue walking down the street. Gabby’s heels click the pavement harder than mine. “This is such bullshit!” she growls. “Five clubs and not one of them will let us in.”

  “Well, can you blame them?” I ask. “You still have baby fat in your cheeks.”

  “This isn’t funny, Alice,” she seethes as she jerks her face in my direction. “God, this is so humiliating! And I’m freaking freezing!” She wraps her bare arms around her chest and I feel vindicated in taking the dress with sleeves.

  I shrug my shoulders. “There are plenty of places we can get into,” I point out. “And it’s only ten.”

  “I don’t want to go to one of those places. I want to go to one of these places.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  She pauses and takes a deep breath. Her toe taps lightly against the sidewalk while she chews her bottom lip in concentration. I can see the wheel spinning inside her head, a look I’ve become all to familiar with as she concocts her rebellious schemes.

  And just as suddenly as it began, her eyebrow flicks up like a light switch.

  “I know…” she mutters.

  She keeps me waiting as her eyes scan the street around us.

  “What?” I ask, the suspense tickling my toes.

  “I think we’ve been thinking a little too inside the box on this one,” she muses. “Bars and clubs aren’t the only place to go when you want to party.”

  “Okay…” I say, “and…?”

  She bobs her head, gesturing upward with her eyes. I follow her gaze and crane my neck as my eyes travel higher and higher, stopping only when they reach the top of the skyscraper. I read the name silently to myself: Botsford Plaza.

  “A hotel?” I ask.

  Her smile splits from ear-to-ear. “My cousin used to tell me about all the crazy shit she used to do at fancy hotels like this one.”

  “Like… order room service at three in the morning?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Follow me,” she says as she wraps her arm around mine, locking us together as she struts towards the entrance.

  The doorman stares at us with a raised nose, but eventually grips the door handle and lets us through without uttering a single word. It’s the first victory of the night and a surge of adrenaline courses through me.

  “Oh, my…” Gabby moans as our eyes study our new and exquisite surroundings.

  The hotel lobby shines with walls plated with gold trim and sleek, black leather furniture arranged purposefully about the room. The elevators glow as golden boxes in each corner. The staff don elegant black suits and dresses, embroidered with a shade of gold along every seam. Luxury is the word and it’s not a word I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in my brief lifetime.

  I glance at Gabby. Her mouth sits open in awe while her brown eyes reflect specks of gold. I wonder whether or not I appear just as silly.

  “Looks like they’re having a party,” Gabby says as she points a finger. I stare straight ahead. Just after the reception desk, far away from the groups of people in cocktail gowns and tuxedos drinking champagne, lies a large set of black doors at the far side of the lobby.

  Three doormen stand guard in front of them with perfect posture. The man in the center carries a golden clipboard. All of them scan the crowd, frowning, no doubt taking their jobs very, very seriously.

  “Let’s go!” Gabby whispers at me as she pulls me through the lobby.

  My heart races more and more with each step. There’s no way we’ll get through those doors, but I don’t have the heart to crush her dreams. It will be the same story as before. And yet, this time, as the black doors travel closer to me, and the eyes of those passing by flick in our direction, a keen sense of dread grows inside of me.

  We’re not welcome here.

  “I’m sorry, ladies,” the man with the clipboard says. He holds up his hand to stop us
in our tracks before we even make it to the doors. He’s much shorter than the other men, who were obviously hired as muscle to stop exactly what Gabby and I are attempting to do. “It’s a private party. Please return to the main lobby.”

  Gabby licks her lips and sticks her chest out. “Well, I’m sure there’s been some kind of mistake. We were invited.”

  “By whom?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

  My eyes bounce between him and the two other men. They’re all twitchy, as if we are the first bit of action they’d had all night. Their fingers dance against their thighs, just hoping for us to cause a scene so they can bounce us out onto the street.

  “Wow, you have no idea who we are, do you?” Gabby raises her little voice, drawing the eyes of those around us. “This is ridiculous. I have never been treated this badly here before!”

  I dig my nails into her arm as I watch the guards crack their knuckles. The celebrity routine didn’t work at the last two places she tried it and it certainly isn’t working now.

  “Please,” the man sighs. “Turn around and exit the building now, or I will have you removed.” His voice is stiff, like he’s rehearsed the line in front of the mirror countless times. But it’s no joke to him. His eyes show every bit of his intent to cast us out.

  “There you two are!”

  A new voice carries above the dull hum of the lobby. It scratches down my back, sending deep shivers across my skin. A hand falls onto my shoulder. I look up to find out who it is.

  He’s older than us by a decade, possibly two. And handsome. Extremely handsome, with features I’ve only ever seen before on statues carved out in Ancient Greece. Black hair. Forest green eyes. A sleek, black suit. His eyes bounce from Gabby’s face, then over to mine. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you two!” He flashes me a subtle wink that shoots a sudden tremor through my knees. “You’re missing the party!”

  “You know these girls, sir?” He asks it with a ludicrous tone, as if he already knows the answer.

  “Of course I do!” He shifts behind our backs, his height towering above us, and reaches over to set his other hand on Gabby’s shoulder while keeping a firm hold on mine. “These are my guests!”