23| I can hear all the cougars' hearts breaking.

Can I borrow a kiss?

I promise I'll give it back.

Kathy's POV

I wake up to my phone ringing and sigh into my pillow. Why is someone calling me so early? I pick it up and assume it's Cece.

"Oh my god, Cece! I told you not to wake me up so early!" I exclaim.

"Damn... Sunshine, who lit the fuse to your tampon?" Anthony asks.

"Oh... Hi Anthony. Why are you fucking calling me this early?" I shout, annoyed.

He laughs and says, "Get ready. We're going on a date."

I almost choke on the air and ask, "What?" OMG, IS HE ASKING YOU OUT?! Finally!

He coughs and quickly says, "I mean a friendly hang out..."

"Oh, okay... Sure!" I say. Sigh.

"See you soon, Sunshine." He says, ending the call. If I sleep for another five minutes, will I sleep for another hour? Yes.

I stretch and get out of bed. Then I walk towards my bathroom to get ready.

Outfit:

I step out of my apartment, assuming I need to meet Anthony at his car, but I almost end up bumping into his chest. Anthony places his hands on my shoulders to stop me, and I look up. "Hi." I blurt out in surprise.

"Sunshine." He greets me, looking me up and down. "You look pretty." He compliments.

"Oh, I-" I'm caught off guard. I don't even say thank you.

"Pretty awful." He adds.

My mouth drops open, and I just glare at him. Then I walk past him and say, "Let's go. I'm hungry."

When we get settled in his car, I ask, "Are you down for fast food or restaurant kind of food?" I kind of just want breakfast.

"Do you want to go to IHOP?" He asks.

I gasped and asked, "Did you just read my mind?"

"Of course I did." He says cheekily. I would definitely use my powers for bad things. Rob a few banks and stuff. That's probably why I don't have powers.

When we get to IHOP, they place us at a booth. After we decided what to order, our waitress came to take our order.

"What would you guys like to order?" She asks, winking at Anthony.

Anthony waits for me to order, so I answer, "I'll have the strawberries and cream crepes, please."

After she writes it down, she takes Anthony's order. "Can I have the cinn-a-stack pancakes? We'll also have two hot cocoas, please."

She takes our menus and says, "Coming right up."

"So, why did you ask to hang out today?" I ask.

He chuckles and asks, "Does there have to be a reason?"

I raise my eyebrow and say, "I don't know. You're suspicious."

"I was just bored, and you were the first person I asked to hang out with." He answers.

"You must be really lonely if I'm the last resort." I joke.

"I'd never make you my backup friend." He says sincerely. Friend zoned bitch.

"How's Jasmine and your mom?" I ask, changing the subject.

"They surprisingly both miss you. Jasmine keeps forcing me into doing tea parties because of you." He says.

"As she should," I say, nodding.

The waitress comes back with our drinks and slips Anthony a napkin. I smirk and say, "I bet $5 it's her number."

He rolls his eyes and says, "They always give you a napkin when you get a drink."

He flips it over, and it is her number. I hold in a laugh, and he lightly kicks me under the table. "Shut it." He says.

"I didn't even say anything," I say with a smug grin. "But I do expect $5. Any form of food is acceptable."

"She's like twice my age." He says, genuinely confused.

He scoffs and rips the napkin in half. "Is this a regular occurrence for you? Always getting girls' numbers?" I ask.

"What can I say? They probably fall in love with my charm and my sexiness." He says, bragging.

Haha like you. I think you're taking it a little too far. Crushes go away. This one will pass. If it doesn't? It has to.

"Everything okay?" He asks randomly.

I glance at his face and see he's worried. "Huh? I'm good." I say.

"Your face got all frowny." He says.

"I just felt sad for those poor girls. They must be desperate if they're hitting on you." I say, shaking my head.

He decides to accept my answer and says, "Rude."

I see our waitress coming with our food, and I smile. "Yay, I'm starving," I say.

When we finished our meal, she handed us the check. Before Anthony could pay, I gave her my credit card.

He pouts and asks, "How could you?"

"It's fine. This is the least I could do, considering what you've done for me." I explain.

"You don't owe me for that. I was just a good human being." He says with a smile.

I softly smile and look away from his face. What? How can I get over him when he looks adorable? Damn, those dimples. Can't he be ugly for once?

She returns with the check and says, "Have a good afternoon." With one last wink, she walks away.

I turn to face Anthony, and he says, "I don't want to hear it."

"What if she's your soulmate?" I ask teasingly.

"Not into people older than me." He mumbles. Let's go! You're still an option! That doesn't mean anything. Stop trying to get my hopes up.

I gasped dramatically and said, "I can hear all the cougars' hearts breaking."

He bites back a smile and says, "Let's go."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

We decided to walk around a park, and I spotted a snow cone vendor near. "Want snow cones?" Anthony and I ask each other at the same time.

We both laugh and start walking toward the vendor. "You guys are so cute together! Snow cones?" He asks.

Neither of us bothers to correct him, and we order the rainbow flavors. You didn't want to correct him so it would look like you guys are dating. That's the goal, isn't it? I thought you were trying to get over this "temporary" crush? I'm still deciding!

"Pictures!" I say before he can eat it. The vendor had a cute wall to pose with, so I snapped a few pictures.

We continue to walk around the park while eating our snow cones. But then Anthony receives a text and frowns.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Someone tried making us pay extra on a shipment today." He sighs.

My eyes widen, and I ask, "Do you need to go? I didn't know you guys were doing anything. They probably needed you."

He laughs at my expression, and I roll my eyes. "Things are always happening, but I usually don't have to watch everything. I trust that they can handle it on their own."

"But I kind of do have to deal with this... It'll be really quick." He explains.

"I can wait here," I suggest.

He stops walking and turns to face me. "Kathy, I'm taking you with me. I would never just ditch you. Let alone leave you stranded in a random area."

I nod, surprised at his seriousness, and he wraps an arm around my waist. We walk back to his car, and he drives towards the base. "I promise it'll only be like 10 minutes." He says.

I shrug and say, "Take your time. I don't have anything else to do."

He glances at the building and asks, "Do you want to go inside? I'm not sure if Alessia or Michael are here, but-"

"I'm okay. I can just chill in here and eat my snow cone." I say with a grin.

"I'll be back." He says, exiting the car.

A few minutes later, I glance at the side mirror and see a guy crawling on the ground. I see he's holding a gun and freeze.

Finally, some action! I expected a lot more from this book. Very disappointed. I don't know what you're talking about but shut the fuck up. Just because I'm a part of a gang doesn't mean I always have to be shot at.

I slide down in my seat and peer at the mirror. I call Anthony, and he immediately answers. "I'm so sorry. It's taking a little longer than expected."

"Someone's crawling around with a gun," I whisper. "He's hiding behind cars, but I think he's trying to get inside."

"That has to be him!" I hear someone say on the other side.

"Is he near you?" He asks.

"Not yet. I slid down in my seat." I answer. He tells people to grab their guns and head toward the side entrances.

I see the intruder point his gun at something and fire. I cringe, and Anthony asks, "Sunshine? Are you still on?"

I blink rapidly and nod my head. "Kathy?" He asks with concern.

"Sorry, ya, I'm on. I think he just shot someone." I whisper.

I feel my heart rate speed up and try to calm down. "Don't hang up. We have him surrounded. We just have to make sure it's only him."

"It's cool," I say.

"If you check under the driver's seat, there's a gun underneath. I know you don't like using it too much, but just in case." He explains.

I start to feel a lot more calm, knowing I also have a weapon. I frown and clutch the gun tighter. "Sunshine, tell me what you're feeling," Anthony says, sensing my discomfort.

I shrink lower to the floor when I hear another gunshot. I see someone shoot his leg, and they're taking him inside. He's probably gonna get tortured. I watch them take him away and say, "Nothing. You guys got it under control."

"You're safe. I'm already outside." He says calmly.

I tuck the weapon back under his seat, and I see him walking towards the door. I stare at him blankly, and he frowns.

He doesn't say anything and just starts to drive. "I haven't held a gun since that night," I whisper. I know I technically didn't murder Samuel, but it sometimes feels like I did.

"Don't do that. There's no use in trying to connect your actions with theirs." He says seriously. He grabs my hand, and I hold onto him.

I decided to focus on that and start to feel better. He's right. It's on him for working with that gang. It's not like we told the world which hospital room he was in. Exactly. He got what was coming for him.

Anthony parks in front of my apartment complex and follows me up. "Thanks for hanging out with me. Sorry, I had to drag you into that. I probably should have dropped you off first." He says sheepishly.

"I'm okay now. Sorry you had to deal with that." I say, brushing off the incident.

"It's okay not to be okay, Sunshine." He says, cupping my cheek. Great! Now just lean in and kiss him. Do you think I'm bold bold?

"I'm just going to focus on the progress," I say. "But today was fun. I'm honored I was the first one you thought of." I say cheekily.

"I should get going." He says, glancing at my lips and then meeting my eyes.

"Ya, you should. I'm sick of you already." I say, leaning towards him.

"You're so annoying." He mumbles, closing the gap.

He brushes his lips against mine, and I feel myself smile. AHHHHH! FUCKING FINALLY! He presses me against the door, and I pull him closer.

He nibbles at my lip, and I accidentally moan. He smirks, and I pull away. "Shut up," I mutter before he presses his lips against mine.

I hope you liked this chapter. 😏

Hope to see you in the next chapter! 💕

Byeeeeeeeeee! 👋