Cassius by Stevens, Madison (chromebook ebook reader txt) 📕

Graham laughed. “Your logic is impeccable, but, girl, it’s the twenty-first century, and you’re an internet star. You could have asked him out without ending society as we know it.”

Kendra slumped down in her chair. “I know. I don’t know what’s going on with me. I think I’m in full self-sabotage mode. I get why I passed on David, but I’m having a hard time understanding why I passed on CJ.”

“CJ?” Graham rolled his eyes. “What kind of name is that? Was he a frat boy?”

“Uh, no? I don’t know.” Kendra shrugged. “He wasn’t wearing any frat clothing. He’s just a big, gorgeous guy covered in muscles. He might have been a couple of years older me, but not much. A little too old to be a frat boy.”

“Once a frat boy, always a frat boy,” Graham muttered. He rubbed underneath his nose. “I’ve been sitting commiserating with you because I thought you screwed up, but now I’m doubting you did.”

“Huh?” Kendra blinked.

“Love and relationships don’t belong to the realm of the mind.” Graham wagged a finger. “You try to think through any of this sort of thing, and it’ll drive you crazy. It’s about the heart and the soul, and so you shouldn’t try to sit through and figure it out. You have to trust your instincts.”

“My instincts?” Kendra’s brow lifted.

“Exactly. You’re been lucky, girl. You’ve dated some duds, but you’ve never dated someone dangerous or violent.” Graham shook his head. “I can’t always say the same, but I can say in every case I did, it was because I ignored my instincts.”

“You think CJ’s dangerous?” she asked.

“It could be. If he’s your dream guy, but you know on some level you shouldn’t go after him, that’s your instincts screaming at you.” Graham reached over and took her hands in his. “You know what he could be?”

“A serial killer?”

“Maybe. You never know.”

Kendra laughed, unsure how serious Graham was being. He wasn’t above a little melodrama for his own amusement. “I don’t think CJ’s a serial killer. I bumped into him, not the other way around, and my instincts tell me he’s not a serial killer.”

Graham looked doubtful. “If you say so, but that leaves you back in the original position of needing to get laid. I can’t help you with that.”

“It can wait.” Kendra nodded firmly. “I have the competition anyway. I can’t worry too much about dream guys. It’s not like there’s only one perfect guy out there for me.”

“That’s the spirit. Sample the buffet until you find the food you like best. Don’t get distracted just because they have a guy carving some beef at the end.”

“But it’s very good-looking beef.”

“I know. You were drooling.”

Kendra’s breath caught. “I still have a chance.”

“To get caught by the serial killer?” Graham clucked his tongue and shook his head.

“CJ’s not a serial killer. I’m like ninety percent sure of that. No. Ninety-five!”

“Already defending him, eh?” Graham took another sip of his cola. “That’s on you, but I suppose he can’t snatch you surrounded by hundreds of other people.”

“The event!” Kendra yelled. She grimaced as some other nearby diners looked her way. She lowered her voice. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll show up anyway, especially if your theory about him liking a woman with a spine is true.”

“He could, but I wouldn’t obsess over it.” Graham sighed. “I don’t want to sound like a total bitch, but this event is important. We’ve built it up for the last two months on the channel. I do want you to get laid, though.”

Kendra frowned. “What are you saying, then?”

“I’m not saying you have to win. We all know your brand is about challenging yourself not dominating any individual event, but if it looks like you’re not trying that could hurt some of our opportunities.” Graham licked his lips. “When I mentioned the getting laid thing, I wanted it to be a way you’d end up less distracted not more.”

“I’ll be fine, Graham.” Kendra took a deep breath. “And you were just trying to be my friend.” She slapped her cheeks. “How about this? We knock out the Knickerbocker OCR Assault and then I worry about getting a date, if not with dream stud then somebody else.”

“That works.” Graham gestured to her salad. “Why don’t you finish up, and we go take a look at some of the rough cuts, so you can start thinking about your voiceover?”

Kendra smiled. She could do this. She didn’t need CJ or any man right away. It didn’t matter he was a perfect specimen of everything she’d ever wanted in my man and even remembering his voice made her knees go weak. She’d focus on the race and win, and she’d forget about him.

There had to be other perfect stud specimens she might happen to run into while jogging. That kind of thing totally happened, or at least she could keep telling herself that until she left NYC.

Chapter Seven

“He made it sound so easy,” CJ muttered as he walked up the street, his hands in his pockets.

Finding Kendra in New York City without any leads was impossible, but having a small lead only made it possible, not probable. Even if they had all Alpha Squad looking, they wouldn’t have had a chance. He needed something more, something concrete.

CJ got the feeling that Julius was messing with him. The comment about field training only reinforced that. CJ didn’t care if Julius thought he was smarter than him, but he didn’t want to waste his time.

There must have been some simpler way to find Kendra. He’d tried going back to the same spot he’d met her the other day, but he hadn’t exactly been right up on her and inhaling her scent, making it hard to pick it out among all the other trails present. Hybrid tracking was useful in remote battlefields, not necessarily in one of the most densely populated cities in the United States, especially when a hybrid didn’t know he’d need