a truck jacked up on four oversize tires. He was hunched down in a heavy jacket, chin tucked in. I opened my car door and slipped out. Moving as quietly as a ghost, I sneaked up behind him.
“Hey, Simon.”
He spun around, stumbling back a step. “Jesus,” he grunted. “Where in the hell did you come from?”
I prowled forward, smiling when he backed up. “That doesn’t matter. I need to talk to you, bud.”
Under the bright floodlight from the pool hall, blood drained, inch by glorious freaking inch, from his face. “A-About what?”
“Oh, I think you know what we need to chat about.”
His eyes widened. “I d-don’t know.”
“Kat.” I said her name, and he stiffened. “I know what you’ve been saying about her, and boy, I thought you were smarter than that. What did I tell you last time?”
He opened his mouth, gaping like a belly-up fish. No words.
“I told you not to look in her direction, to not even speak of her, and then you go, telling people you hooked up with her? Got half the school believing that she would even stoop to your level?”
Simon’s hands flew up. “I—”
Cocking back my arm, I planted my fist in his jaw, knocking him flat on his back. “You know what? I’ve got zero fucks to give when it comes to anything you’ve got to say.” Bending down, I grabbed hold of his stupid coat and hauled his ass back up. Blood trickled off his split lip. “If you say one more thing about Kat, do you know what’s going to happen?”
I pulled him in toward me, lifting him onto the tips of his toes. Fear filled his eyes, and the sudden stench of urine hit the air. I glanced down, seeing the wet spot spread along his leg. I smirked. “Yeah, I think you get the message.”
Letting go, I kindly helped his face into the side of his truck, and when he hit the ground for a second time, I waved good-bye with my middle finger.
One problem down.
A shitload more to fix.
Chapter 10
It was weird that with everything happening with Kat, I spent several hours after school on Friday stringing up about a million paper lanterns. Moving the furniture around took Dee and me no time. Flick of the wrist, and the tables were lined up against the wall. She’d spent a small fortune on pumpkin and spice candles, and the house smelled like autumn threw up all over it.
Dee was buzzing around happily, excitement humming through her, and I really hoped for her sake that nothing crazy happened tonight. It wasn’t like we couldn’t control ourselves, but other than Kat and…and Bethany, we didn’t have humans in our home. I really didn’t want a huge bunch of humans in it now, and Lydia or another Elder was probably going to pay us yet another visit after this weekend, but Dee wanted this.
So I wanted it for her.
Adam and a couple others had started to arrive by the time I made it upstairs and took a quick shower. As I pulled on a pair of jeans I’d snagged out of the clothes basket, I could hear the hum of voices and laughter down below.
Tonight was going to be a long night.
Scrubbing a towel through my wet hair, I opened the bathroom door and stepped out. My bedroom was so not like how I’d left it. Mainly the big change was the fact that it wasn’t empty.
Ash was leaning against my headboard, her legs stretched out in front of her, crossed at the ankles. And that was a whole lot of leg. Her dress was really just an oversize shirt. Not that I was complaining. It was a nice view.
But she didn’t belong in my bedroom, on my bed.
Sighing, I tossed the towel over the back of my desk chair. “What are you doing in here, Ash?”
One shoulder rose as her bright blue gaze roamed over my bare chest and then lower. Not like she hadn’t seen any of this before. “I wanted to see if you needed help.”
My lips twitched as I walked over to my closet. “With what?”
“Anything you might need.”
I raised a brow as I pulled an old screen T-shirt off the floor. Looked clean. “There’s nothing I need.” To clarify, nothing that I needed was in this room. “But thanks for the—”
As I turned around, Ash was off that bed and right in front of me. She snatched the shirt from my hand and tossed it over her head. I started to frown, but she planted both hands on my chest and pushed—pushed hard. My back hit the wall.
Ash was strong, damn strong, and if you ever forgot that, you’d probably end up with your ass kicked from here to Maryland.
Or manhandled.
Ha.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, her gaze following the path of her hands, which were getting awful close to the button on my jeans. “Well, I’ve missed certain parts of you, and I was thinking since you’re here and I’m here, we could make this party a bit more…” She bit down on her lower lip as she peered up at me through her lashes. “Interesting.”
“Ash…” I grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from me. She resisted, but as strong as she was, I was stronger. Her eyes narrowed as her chin lifted. “As tantalizing as that offer is, and it really is…” I said, and that was truth. I was a male, and Ash was unbelievably hot, and I also knew exactly what this girl had to offer, and it was a lot. “But I’m going to have to pass.”
She leaned in, her legs brushing mine. “Really?”
“Really.” Gently, I guided her back a few feet and then sidestepped her. Bending down, I grabbed my shirt off the floor and tugged it on over my head.
Ash watched me for a moment and then laughed. “Well, shit, I just lost a bet.”
Straightening the hem of my shirt, I frowned at her. “What bet?”
“Andrew is convinced that you have it bad for that girl,” she said, and I could only assume “that girl” was code for “Kat.” “And I told him that you’re not that stupid.”
“Oh really?” I folded my arms.
“So I told him that I could prove that you weren’t caught up in that human girl.”
My brows rose. “You made a bet with your brother about hooking up with me? That’s kind of disturbing on about a hundred different levels.”
Ash ignored that with a roll of her eyes. “Apparently I was wrong.” She plopped down on the end of the bed. “He’s right.”
“And why do you think he’s right?”
She looked down at herself and then pinned me with a befuddled look. “Seriously? You’ll pass this up? You’ve got it bad.”
I stared at her and then laughed. “Nice logic you have going there.”
“You can laugh all you want, but it’s messed up—and no, I’m not talking about the fact that you just passed this up.” She crossed her legs and sighed. “What’s going on with her is what’s messed up.”
I sighed. “Ash—”
“She’s human, Daemon. You get that, right? And yeah, she knows what we are and she’s cool about it. She saved your life and let’s give her a damn gold medal, but that doesn’t change that she’s human,” she went on, meeting my stare. “Do you think you have a future with her? That the Elders are going to just leave you alone? That the DOD is going to be okay with you making a future with a human? Do you think Kat’s going to be happy living a lie her whole entire life, because that’s what it’s going to take to make this relationship work. That is, if both of you don’t end up dead because of it.”
To be honest, I hadn’t gotten that far, to think about a future.
“Do you know what else that it doesn’t change? She’s downstairs right now with a human boy.”
My gaze sharpened as I exhaled slowly. I didn’t say anything, because all it would involve was an atrocity of curse words. Slipping my feet into a pair of old leather flip-flops, I started for the door.
“I’m not going to help you do this,” she warned.
I opened the door, and the laughter from downstairs grew louder. “I don’t need your help.”
“Daemon—”
Looking over my shoulder at her, I smiled slightly. “But I appreciate that you care
enough to offer, and I mean that.” I held her gaze, hoping she got it. “I really do.”
Ash rolled her eyes again.
Stepping out of my bedroom, I headed down the hall. Music and voices drifted up. At the top of the stairway, I felt the warm tingle across the back of my neck. Kat was here, and everything Ash had said about us, about a future between us, was totally true.
But it didn’t change what I wanted.
It didn’t change anything, even though it should.
I was as dumb as Dawson.
Taking the steps two at a time, I spotted Kat the moment the foyer came into view. She was at the door with the bronze-haired dork. He was smiling at her as he looked up. Our gazes locked. I smirked, and the smile slowly inched off his face.
Kat turned, and her gaze immediately found mine, and I immediately lost the ability to remember how to get my lungs to work. Holy shit, what was she wearing?
It was a black dress tight around the bust and then loose all the way down to her knees. She was wearing some kind of red sweater over the dress, buttoned up, but it did nothing to distract from the soft swells drawing my attention.
Holy shit, that dress…
I wanted to take it off with my teeth.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone approaching me, but they stopped for whatever reason. Maybe they sensed they shouldn’t get between me and what I had my sights on. I brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes, and my lips formed a wolfish grin when someone mentioned exactly what I thought. That I looked like I was on the warpath.
I sort of was.
Skirting clusters of people I only vaguely recognized, I saw that the douche bag’s hand was somewhere behind Kat. I stopped in front of them, telling myself not to break his arm. Kat wouldn’t be happy about that. “Hey there…”
“I don’t think we got the chance to introduce ourselves the other night at the diner. My name is Blake Saunders.” He offered his free hand.
I glanced at Blake’s hand and then turned my attention to Kat. “I know who you are.”
She was all gray eyes. “This is Daemon Black.”
Douche bag’s smile faltered. “Yeah, I know who he is, too.”
Laughing under my breath, I straightened to my full height, putting me a good head taller than the guy. “It’s always nice to meet another fan.”
He shook his head slightly and then turned to Kat. “Well, I need to get going.”
She smiled tentatively. “All right. Thanks for…everything.”
Everything? What the hell did that mean? Better yet, was he seriously leaning into her while I was standing here? Yep. He was. Boy had a death wish. I folded my arms across my chest as I watched him hug her stiffly.
Then Kat kissed his cheek.
I cleared my throat.
Douche bag pulled back, laughing softly. “I’ll call you. Behave.”
“Always,” she said, letting go.
He grinned at me and then walked out the door, obviously not at all intimidated.
Fiddling with the necklace, Kat faced me with a scowl. “You know, you couldn’t have been much more of a jerk if you tried.”
I arched a brow. “Thought I told you not to hang out with him.”
“Thought I explained that just because you say I can’t doesn’t mean I won’t.”
“You did?” My gaze followed the obsidian, right where it nestled in a very happy place. I lowered my head to hers. “You look really nice tonight, Kitten.”
She took a moment to respond. “I think Dee has her hands full, but she did a great job decorating the house.”
“Don’t let her fool you into believing she did all of this herself. She recruited me from the moment I got home.”
“Oh.” Surprise flickered across her face. “You both did a great job.”
I was trying and failing to keep my eyes above the neck. Holy shit, that dress answered the question on whether or not her blushes traveled south when she flushed. They did. “Where did you get this dress?”
“Your sister,” she replied blandly.
Well hell. Frowning, I shuddered as the mental image of my sister wearing the dress formed.
“I don’t even know what to say about that.”
“Say about what, babe?”
I stiffened at the sound of Ash’s voice. A second later, she had her arm around my waist. Instinct demanded that I remove it, but then again, did I not just witness Kat kissing the douche bag? It was on the cheek, but still. Lowering my lashes, I watched Kat as Ash fitted the front of her body against my side.
Brief, but it was there, a flicker of anger, a slight darkening in her eyes as she eyed Ash. Anger could only exist if there was jealousy, and if Kat was jealous…?
I smiled lazily.
“That’s a cute dress. It’s Dee’s, right?” Ash asked. “I think she got it when we went shopping together, but it usually looks looser on her.”
Oh dammit. I started to respond, but Kat snapped right to it, which I should’ve known. She didn’t need me to defend her always. “I think,” she said, “you forgot some jeans or the bottom part of your dress.”
Ash smirked, but then turned back to me. “Babe, you rushed off so fast. I had to search the entire upstairs for you. Why don’t we go back to your room and finish what we started?”
Oh dammit all to hell. I exhaled out of my nose as I stepped out of Ash’s loose embrace. I glanced at Kat, and that anger…it was gone, and there was another all-too-quick shimmer of emotion before she raised her brows at me. Before I could say a word, she spun around, slipping between a couple who looked like they were seconds away from getting pregnant and two laughing girls.
“Kat,” I called out.
She kept going, her back unnaturally stiff.
Cursing under my breath, I looked at Ash. “Really?”
Her smile was smug. “I told you I wasn’t going to help you.”
“That wasn’t necessary, and you know it.” I started after Kat and made it a few steps before I stopped. Twisting sideways, I grabbed the guy who was getting down to business with some chick on my couch. I yanked him up and spun him around. It was Donnie, a senior like me.
“What the—?” Donnie cut himself off the moment he realized who it was.
I shoved him back, sparing the girl a brief glance. “Not in here. Not ever. Got it?”
“Got it,” he replied.
Letting Donnie go, I made it as far as the kitchen before Ash caught up with me. She darted in front of me. “Okay,” she said. “Maybe that was going too far.”
“You think?” I frowned as I caught a glimpse of my sister. She was with Carissa and Lesa, but it was the way Adam was rubbing her arm that drew my attention.
Ash clasped her hands together in front of her. “But you did see what I saw, right? She kissed that guy—”
“On the cheek,” I growled.
“Like that’s a difference.” She wiggled her brows. “And he’s kind of hot.”
“Ash—”
“Okay, he’s really hot.”
Lesa passed us, running her hand over her curly hair. “Who’s hot? You?” She grinned unabashedly. “Yes. You are hot.”
“Blake is also hot,” Ash chimed in, and I tilted my head to the side, staring at her. “Isn’t he, Carissa?”
Lesa frowned. “Yes, Blake is very hot, too. By the way,” she gestured at her chest with her red Solo cup, “I’m Lesa.”
Ash shrugged as she tugged on the hem of her dress. “Whatever.”
Oblivion Page 43
