Текст книги "Oblivion"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 51 страниц)

She dropped her gaze. “I’m doing okay.”

“You are.” I took a bite of the cold chicken. “You’ve accepted all of this. I’m surprised.”

“What did you think I’d do?”

I shrugged. “With humans, the possibilities are endless.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “Do you think that we are somehow weaker than you because we’re human?”

“It’s not that I think you’re weaker, I know you are.” I eyed her over my glass of milk. “I’m not trying to be obnoxious by saying that. You are weaker than us.”

“Maybe physically but not mentally or…morally,” she argued.

“Morally?”

“Yeah, like, I’m not going to tell the world about you guys to get money. And if I was captured by an Arum, I wouldn’t bring them back to you all.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

An emotion I couldn’t read flashed across her face as she leaned back in the chair. “No. I wouldn’t.”

“Even if your life was threatened?” Disbelief colored my tone.

Kat shook her head as she laughed. “Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I’m a coward or unethical. I’d never do anything that would put Dee in danger. Why would my life be more valuable than hers? Now yours…debatable. But not Dee.”

I didn’t want to believe her, but I realized I did as I went back to eating.

“So how long will it take for this trace to fade?”

Looking up, our eyes met. I picked up my glass of milk and took a long drink. The hollows of her cheeks flushed. “Probably a week or two, maybe less.” I squinted, checking out the glow. “It’s already starting to fade.”

“What do I look like? A giant lightbulb or something?”

I laughed, because she kind of did. “It’s a soft white glow that’s around your body, kind of like a halo.”

“Oh, well that’s not too bad. Are you done?” When I nodded, she grabbed my plate and stood, surprising me. She walked over to the sink, placing the plate there. “At least I don’t look like a Christmas tree.”

I followed her, bending my head down next to hers when I spoke. “You look like the star atop the tree.”

Kat gasped and spun around, her eyes wide. Of course, she hadn’t heard me move. She leaned back, gripping the edge of the counter behind her. “I hate it when you do that alien superspeed thing.”

As I stared down at her, I smiled. Her cheeks were flushed prettily again. Didn’t take a genius to know our proximity affected her, and not in a bad way. “Kitten, what are we going to get into?”

Her eyes darted over my face and then she blurted out, “Why not hand me over to the DOD?”

Caught off guard, I took a step back. “What?”

“Wouldn’t everything have been easier for you if you handed me over to the DOD? Then you wouldn’t have to worry about Dee or anything.”

Damn, that was a good question. One I had asked myself over and over again. A question I knew everyone would ask if they ever found out that Kat knew about us. “I don’t know, Kitten.”

“You don’t know?” she asked. “You risk everything and you don’t know why?”

Irritation pricked at my skin. “That’s what I said.”

The widening of her eyes clearly spelled out the disbelief she was feeling. I didn’t have a good enough reason for not turning over her. The DOD would love all over me if I had, and as much as I hated them, it worked to all of our benefits to keep them happy. There had to be a reason and I—

I cut off that thought. This conversation was leading to something far too serious. I didn’t have time for that.

Leaning in, I dropped my hands on either side of her hips and lowered my chin. “Okay. I do know why.”

Her breath caught. “You do?”

I nodded. “You wouldn’t survive a day without us.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh, I know.” I tilted my head to the side, and while I was teasing her, I was also telling her the truth about what would happen if she ended up with the DOD. “Do you know how many Arum I have faced? Hundreds. And there have been times I barely escaped. A human doesn’t stand a chance against them or the DOD.”

“Fine. Whatever. Can you move?”

I grinned.

And Kat quickly lost her patience. She planted her hands in my chest and pushed—pushed hard. I didn’t budge. My grin turned into a smile. “Asshole,” she muttered.

She made me laugh. I really should have moved out of the way, but she was just so much fun to tease and I hadn’t laughed this much in a very long time. I think deep down, neither had she. “You have such a mouth on you,” I told her. “Do you kiss boys with that thing?”

Her cheeks turned bloodred. “Do you kiss Ash with yours?”

“Ash?” My smile disappeared. “You would like to know that, wouldn’t you?”

Kat smirked. “No, thank you.”

I didn’t believe her for one second. I leaned in until only a few inches separated us. The scent of peaches and vanilla surrounded me. “You aren’t a very good liar, Kitten. Your cheeks get red whenever you lie.”

My brain clicked off when her cheeks turned an even brighter color. Before I knew it, my hand was wrapped around her arm. I wasn’t gripping her. No. I was holding her, and her skin was warm under mine. I dragged my gaze to hers, and I couldn’t look away.

Energy coursed through my body, causing my skin to hum. Tension practically crackled between us, and damn, it was hard to ignore that.

Part of me didn’t want to. “I have a strange idea that I should test this out.”

Her gaze slipped to my mouth. “Test what?”

“I think you would like to know.” I grazed my hand up her arm, swallowing a groan when I felt her shiver. I stopped at the nape of her neck, under the heavy veil of hair. In the kitchen light, her hair was a deep brown, but I knew out in the sun, it was streaked with red. “You have beautiful hair.”

“What?”

Yeah, that kind of came out of nowhere. Weird.

“Nothing.” I slowly worked my fingers through the strands, and hell, they were as soft as I imagined. And yep, I’d imagined how it felt before. An ache filled me.

When my eyes made their way back down, I saw that her rosy lips had parted. She looked like she was waiting for a…for a kiss, and God, she was…

Damn. Kat was…she was beautiful.

A beautiful pain in my ass.

It took every ounce of energy I had to not lean down and kiss her. But that would be a bad idea on so many levels, I couldn’t count them all.

Slipping my hand out from her hair, I reached behind her and picked up a bottle of water I’d left there earlier. Her eyes widened as she slumped against the counter.

I turned back to the kitchen table before she could see me smiling. “What was it that you were asking, Kitten?”

“Stop calling me that.”

I took a drink as I faced her. “Did Dee pick up a movie or something?”

“Yeah,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “She mentioned it earlier in class.”

“Well, come on. Let’s go watch a movie.”

Kat actually listened and followed me into the living room; she lingered in the doorway while I found a DVD near Dee’s schoolbag. Picking it up, I saw what it was and flipped it over. “Whose idea was this?”

Kat shrugged.

I read the description and then muttered, “Whatever.”

She cleared her throat as she inched into the room. “Look, Daemon, you don’t have to sit and watch a movie with me. If you have other things you want to do, I’m sure I will be fine.”

Glancing up from the movie, I shrugged. “I have nothing to do.”

“Okay.” She hesitated for a moment and then walked over to the couch.

I popped the movie in and then sat on the other end of the couch. The TV came on, and Kat’s sharp glance brought a smile to my face. My smile spread when I looked over at her a few seconds later and found her staring at me. “If you fall asleep during this movie, you’ll owe me.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Just watch the movie.”

Kat’s gaze flipped to the TV, and after a few moments, I shifted to get comfortable. It was hard, because I was so damn aware of her sitting right there. I’d already forgotten what the movie was about by the time the first scene appeared on the screen.

And that was about how long I lasted without finding myself staring at Kat.

Chapter 17

I didn’t sleep well Tuesday night, so after snagging the obsidian blade off my dresser, I’d ended up doing patrols at three in the morning. There had been no sign of Arum nearby, but I knew it was only a matter of time before another one was seen. I wanted to catch it before it caught us.

Or Kat.

Wednesday morning was a blur, and for the most part, I was too distracted to put much effort into annoying Kat. She got one pen poke from me and that was all. My mind was in a dozen or so different places. Last night I had thought a lot about Dawson. I had thought a lot about Dee and how I knew she wanted to leave this area. I had thought a lot about what the Thompsons or Matthew would do if they found out about Kat. I thought a lot about her.

As I went through the morning, I felt a hell of a lot older than I should, than I was.

Things didn’t improve for me when I strolled into the cafeteria and spotted Kat in the lunch line. She wasn’t alone. That asshole was with her—Simon Cutters. I didn’t like the dude—never had. He was a touchy punk, and I didn’t think he was all talk and no action when it came to the girls. And of course, he was sniffing around Kat.

A god-awful, unfamiliar emotion swirled inside me. I didn’t want to put a name to it, didn’t want to even acknowledge it, but all of a sudden I wanted to beat the ever-living crap out of Simon. I wanted to show him that he wasn’t even worthy of speaking to Kat.

Simon waited for her at the end of the line.

Oh hell no, I was not okay with this.

I stalked past the line, to where Simon was standing in front of Kat.

She was staring at her plate. “We have a test next week, right?”

Simon nodded. “Right before the game, too. I think Monroe does that—”

Coming right up on Simon, I crowded him as I reached for a drink, forcing him to take a step back from her. Kat’s chin jerked up as surprise flickered across her face.

I grabbed a carton of milk off the cart, flipping it in my hand as I turned toward Simon. We were the same height, but he was bulkier than me, and because of that, the idiot probably thought he could take me. I really hoped he wanted to find out.

“How you doing, Simon?” I asked, flipping the milk.

Simon took a step back, blinking as he cleared his throat. “Good—doing good. Heading over to my—uh, my table.” Apparently he didn’t want to see if he could take me. Shame. “See you in class, Katy.”

Kat frowned as she watched Simon scuttle off, then she looked up me. “Okay?”

“Are you planning on sitting with Simon?” The question came out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“What? No.” She laughed. “I was planning on sitting with Lesa and Carissa.”

“So am I.” Dee bounded in from nowhere, balancing a plate in one hand and two drinks in the other. “That is if you think I’d be welcome?”

That ugly, weird feeling settled heavy on my chest. Not waiting to hear Kat’s response, because of course Dee would be welcome, I pivoted and headed back to where I saw the triplets sitting with a couple of others.

“Hey,” Adam said as I dropped into the seat next to him. I lifted my chin in response, which earned me a low, “O—kay.”

I sat my history text on the table and cracked it open.

“Someone is in a mood,” Andrew said under his breath.

Without looking up, I muttered, “Someone wants to die.”

Andrew laughed, unaffected by the statement. “What were you doing talking to Simon?”

I shrugged. “Just saying hi.”

Beside me, Adam sent me a long look. “That’s…odd.”

“It’s nothing,” I said, and then started flipping the pages of my textbook. A few moments later, I felt holes being burned into the top of my head and glanced up, finding Ash scowling at me. “What?”

“Why are you being a dick?”

I raised my brows. That really didn’t even warrant a response. About to turn back to whatever the hell I was looking at in the textbook, I found myself searching the tables until I saw a certain gray-eyed human girl.

Kat was smiling as she picked up her drink, her pink lips moving as she said something to Lesa. The girls laughed. Kat picked up the slice of pizza as Dee angled her body slightly, and then Kat’s gaze roamed over our table and our eyes collided—met and then held.

Space separated us, but it didn’t feel that way. I waited for her to look away. She didn’t. I knew I should before Ash or Andrew noticed, because they would, but I didn’t look away, either. Oh no, I continued eyeballing her, thinking of last night in my kitchen, how she had been waiting for me to kiss her. I knew that she had been.

And I knew that she wouldn’t have stopped me.

Even from where I sat, I could see her lips part and her cheeks turn pink.

“You are really starting to bother me,” Ash said, voice low, and when I didn’t respond, her foot slammed into my shin. “Hello. Am I invisible?”

Frowning, I dragged my gaze away from Kat and looked at Ash. Her eyes burned like sapphires. “How could you ever be invisible?”

Her lips curled up in a tight smile. “I don’t know. I’m feeling like I am right now.”

“Huh,” I murmured, taking a drink of my milk.

The small smile faded. “Don’t sound too concerned,” she said drily. “Wouldn’t want you to stress yourself out over there.”

I didn’t reply as I placed the carton of milk down and returned to…chapter oh-who-the-hell-cares? I lasted about three minutes before I looked up and was staring at Kat again. Just like last night.

Screw me.

“How are things going with your new neighbors?”

Leaning against the side of my SUV, I stared down the empty back road several miles from the base of Seneca Rocks. Officer Lane had been waiting for me when I left school Thursday afternoon. With one flash of the Expedition’s headlights, I knew he wanted me to go to our regular meeting place.

The only thing not regular was the timing of the check-in and the fact that Vaughn wasn’t with him. Couldn’t be too disappointed about Vaughn. Maybe he fell off the face of the earth.

I raised one shoulder in response to Lane’s question, keeping it casual even though I didn’t like the line of questioning. Wasn’t the first time I’d been asked, but it was usually Vaughn doing the asking. “It’s going. They seem pretty cool.”

“No problems then?” Dark glasses shielded Lane’s eyes.

Defining the word “problem” would be interesting. “Nope.”

“That’s good.” Lane looked down the road. “I was worried.”

Unease stirred in my gut. “Why?”

“You don’t like humans,” he answered honestly. “And with one moving in right next door, I figured you’d be pissed about that.”

I snorted at Lane’s frank honesty. Can’t say I actually liked Lane, but he was better than Vaughn. When Dawson…when he died, Lane had seemed genuinely upset, unlike Vaughn, who obviously hadn’t cared. “I wasn’t happy. You knew that when I asked you and Vaughn about why they were allowed to move in, but what can I do?”

“Nothing,” replied Lane. He folded his arms as his chin turned toward me.

I shrugged again. “Where’s your buddy?”

“Vaughn?” One side of Lane’s lips curled, almost like the idea of him being friends with Vaughn disgusted him. I knew there was a reason I tolerated Lane. “He’s off doing something with Husher.”

Now it was my turn. My lips curled in revulsion. Nancy Husher. Man, I disliked that woman. Didn’t trust her, which was bad, because she was pretty high up there in the DOD, but luckily, we didn’t have to deal with her often.

“A couple of weeks ago, there was an abnormal burst of energy around here,” Lane stated, changing the subject to something else I didn’t want to talk about. “It was tracked back to the main access road outside of your house.”

I was betting “a couple of weeks ago” was code word for Kat stepping in front of a speeding truck.

Lane shifted his weight, which was slight. “You all playing football again?”

I almost laughed. Dee had made that up the last time we’d been asked about unusual activity. We didn’t play any Luxen form of football and we sure as hell didn’t toss around balls of energy, but it had been the perfect excuse. I nodded. “With the Thompsons. We got a little out of hand.”

“Your new neighbors didn’t see this, did they?”

I clenched my jaw. “We’re not stupid. They weren’t home.”

Lane nodded. “Good to hear.”

Pushing off the side of my SUV, I unfolded my arms. “Anything else?”

Officer Lane shook his head.

I opened the driver’s door and was about to climb in when he stopped me. “Be careful, Daemon. With your new neighbors, it’s not just going to be me or Vaughn keeping an eye on you. You might want to lay off the football.”

Saturday evening was going to be the night that I locked Kat in her house. Swear to God, deities, and whoever else, it was going to happen.

“You’re going to let me do this,” she said, her eyes a stormy gray as she glared at me. “Because I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing.”

“I never said you have to sit here. I don’t want to sit here, either.”

Her chin raised a notch. “No one is making you stay here, then!”

“Really?” Derision dripped from my voice. “I think you know why I’m here.”

Kat tossed her head back and groaned. “I just want to go to this bookstore Carissa was telling me about. It’s in town.”

I knew which one she was talking about. Not like it was hard. There was only one bookstore in town. It was a used one, and the owner sometimes had no idea what they had in their store or its value. “And while the last thing I want to do is spend Friday night in a bookstore, all I’m saying is that I’m going with you.”

Her little hands balled into fists. “Can’t you see why I don’t want you to go? You don’t want to, and you’re going to make it a terrible experience.”

I rolled my eyes. “I will not.”

She crossed her arms and stared at me pointedly.

“Seriously.”

Looking over my shoulder, toward the woods, Kat sighed heavily. “Look, I get that I shouldn’t go by myself. That it’s—”

“Dangerous and stupid,” I supplied helpfully.

The line of her jaw hardened, and a moment passed. “Yeah, I get that it’s dangerous, but—”

“That should be the end of the conversation right there.”

Kat lowered her frustrated gaze to mine. “But it’s Friday evening, and Dee went to the movies with Adam, and I’m…I’m stuck here with—”

“With me?” I raised both brows as I crossed my arms, mirroring her stance.

She sighed again. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but I don’t…you don’t even like me most of the time. I mean, one minute you’re really cool and are actually fun to be around and the next—like the last couple of days—you have been such a jerk.”

I hadn’t been the friendliest since the day in the cafeteria. I didn’t like the shit with Lane and the questions he’d been asking. I didn’t like the shit with Simon. I didn’t like that I didn’t like the shit with Simon. I didn’t like the shit with the Thompsons, namely Andrew and Ash, who were not at all secretive about their growing contempt when it came to Kat. I didn’t like the shit with Matthew, whose paranoia was damn near contagious. I didn’t like the shit with Dee, because she acted like nothing was wrong and everything was unicorns vomiting rainbows.

I didn’t like the shit with Kat in general.

Needless to say, my mood was shit.

The center of Kat’s cheeks were slightly pinker than the rest of her face, and even though her gaze was steady, I knew my mood swings affected her. The girl was mentally strong—an emotional powerhouse—but I wasn’t easy on her. No way, nohow. And even though it was her who moved into this house and it was her who walked out in front of that truck, none of this was her fault.

Rubbing my palm along my jaw, I met her gaze. “I promise I’ll behave.”

She cocked her head to the side. “I don’t believe you.”

“You really don’t have to.” Reaching into the pocket of my jeans, I pulled out my car keys. “Come on. I know what bookstore Carissa was talking about. If you want to see it, we’re going to have to leave now before it closes.”

Kat didn’t move.

“You’re gonna want to see it.” I jumped off the porch, landing nimbly in front of the steps. “They have like a bunch of books they sell for like fifty cents a piece.” Her eyes lit up like the faint glow around her.

I backed up toward my driveway. “If you’re lucky, the actual owner will be there.”

She uncurled her arms. “Why would that make me lucky?”

“Because he looks like Santa Claus.”

Kat blinked, and then a surprised laugh burst out of her. The sound did a weird thing to my chest, something I ignored as I opened the driver’s car door. “You’re coming, right?”

Finally, after what felt like forever, she got into the SUV and immediately turned up the radio, the universal sign that indicated “don’t talk.” The ride into town was quiet, and I kept my mouth shut as we walked into the tiny used bookstore that smelled like dust and old pages.

Unfortunately, the owner wasn’t working, but Kat didn’t seem to care. The moment she stepped inside, it was like Christmas morning to her. A smile appeared and it didn’t leave as she buzzed from one overstocked shelf to the next, oblivious to the clouds of dust she stirred up every time she pulled a book out of a pile. There was no one else in the narrow shop besides the older lady behind the register, who had her nose in a book.

I stood back, out of her way, and I’d pulled out my phone, opening up Candy Crush, but I wasn’t paying attention to the game. Hell, I was still on the damn candy trail. I was watching her. I couldn’t help it. Especially when she bent over, scanning the lower shelves.

Uncomfortable, I shifted my legs. Didn’t help. Images flooded me. Kat starred in all of them. The costar was the red bikini. Heat moved under my skin, and I ground my molars. I needed to think about something—anything else.

Kat stretched up, reaching for a book several shelves above her, and the shirt she wore rode up, revealing a thin slice of skin above her jeans.

Aw, hell…

She clutched a book to her chest, and I was really, really envious of that book.

I shifted again. Still didn’t help.

She spun around, heading for a wire bin full of small paperbacks covered with bare-chested men and women in fancy, old-school dresses. She dug around until she stacked a pile of them on the outside and then looked at me. “Can you help me?”

Slipping my phone in my pocket, my walk toward her was a bit…awkward. “What’s up?”

“Hold your arms out, please.”

I did what she asked.

And a few moments later, I was holding a pile of romance books.

I had no idea how my life veered so far off track that this was what I was doing on a Friday night, but a part of me wasn’t all that upset. Which of course upset me even more.

Kat ended up leaving the store with more books than any human needed, and the whole way home she smiled that…that beautiful smile I rarely ever saw. She chattered about the books, and even though I didn’t respond to anything she said, she kept going on.

She was actually happy.

I knew the moment I opened my mouth I was going to ruin that, like I always did. I thought about the fact that I knew none of this was her fault. And I thought about the fact that this whole time Dee had been careful around her and I hadn’t. In my attempts to keep Dee safe and Kat in the dark, I put Dee at risk and exposed what we were.

In reality, I was the problem.

And my attraction to Kat didn’t help the situation. Made it all the more dangerous.

Kat’s trace was going to fade soon, less than a week. After that, I needed to keep my space. For real this time. No more broken record shit.

No more shit.