Play Me - Revised

Chapter 12

"Tolerate it is," he concludes. "Security is around, so don't think about doing anything stupid. Other than that, have fun. Hope you finally get what you've been wanting from him."

"I'm sure you already know if I will or not," I retort. Call me a pessimist, but it feels like I won't.

"Good night, Summer." I nod saving my breath. I watch as Alec walks around to the driver's side and gets in. He waves before taking off.

I make my way to the entrance and head inside. It's around nine pm so there are not a lot of kids here and it's not overly crowded. It's mostly just couples, groups of teenagers and a couple of families here and there.

I walk around observing everyone and analyzing the layout of the carnival. There's only one entrance at the front with a couple of employee-only areas and an emergency exit at the far back end. I try to spot any of Kai's security personnel that should be around, but even after minutes of walking around, I can't recognize them. That's odd considering they're usually easy to spot even when they're wearing regular clothing. I would think that maybe they're surveilling me through cameras, but I don't spot any.

To kill time, I head towards the dart-throwing tent. There's no lineup so I'm able to buy myself five darts right away. I aim and pop one of the bigger balloons. I look around to see if there's any sight of Kai, but I'm in no luck. It's been thirty minutes. My hands are starting to feel numb from the cold now.

I pick up the second dart and aim before throwing it again. I miss. I feel a sudden breeze of cold air on my back and I shiver. In seconds, his musky cologne covers the air revealing his presence.

"You know it's rude to keep a girl waiting," I say as I aim the third dart. It's a smaller balloon this time and I line it perfectly before letting the dart fly. It pops. I'm not sure if my heart is racing from his presence or the pop of the balloon. I'm picking the latter.

"My apologies, I had some business to take care of," Kai words. He stands next to me and takes the last two darts I had left. From my peripheral vision, I can see that he's wearing a black coat like mine. His face is flushed from the brisk breeze. As he breathes, his breath forms a cloud of smoke. He lines both darts in the same hand to his targets and releases. Two balloons pop.

"Wow," the employee says amazed.

"Give the prize to the next kid," I instruct and he nods. I turn my body and begin walking. Kai follows walking next to me. We walk aimlessly for a couple of minutes just absorbing one another's presence. Our energies are so dense that when we're close it's like we can feel them clashing. "Why am I here?"

"I heard you wanted to talk to me," his tone dangerously calm.

"You heard right, but we both know a carnival isn't the most appropriate place to discuss the things we need to talk about," I say keeping my eyes forward.

"No? Then what are appropriate things to discuss at a carnival?" There's a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Seriously, Kai? I'm not trying to play these games with you."

"We're at a carnival, Summer. Enjoy it. Indulge me for a moment." Something is off. I can sense it. Kai isn't like this. Nothing is ever just fun or without intention for him, but I can't put my finger on what he's doing right now and I don't like it. I come to a stop and turn to face him.

"Is the FBI watching? Do I need to act as if I like you because you're making it extremely difficult for me right now?" His eyes scan my face as he absorbs the words that left my mouth.

"We're alike in that aspect. You certainly don't make things easy for me," he retorts still keeping his cool demeanour. The collar of his coat is up catching my attention. As I look down the right side of his neck, I can see a wire going down under his coat. I've never seen any of them wear an earpiece before so something is definitely going on and I have a feeling I was or am the prey. Why else was I left alone in public?