Текст книги "Oblivion"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 24 (всего у книги 51 страниц)

Chapter 9

Unable to sleep most of the night, I patrolled the county until early morning. I wasn’t able to shut my mind down. I needed to figure out what was going on with Kat, but it wasn’t like I could ask around without rousing suspicion or like I could Google it.

We were on our own with this.

I was restless during trig class, wholly aware of Kat. She didn’t seem to be faring much better. Shifting a lot in her seat. Messing with her hair. About halfway through class, I realized that she was spending a lot of time staring at the back of Simon’s head.

And the asshole was well aware of it, too.

Just below his cropped hair, his neck was beet red. Every so often, he’d glanced over his shoulder at Kat and then at me, which was not smart, because it reminded me that he was also a problem that needed to be dealt with—a much easier problem than the other ones we faced.

The muscles under the gray shirt Simon wore tensed as he looked over his shoulder at Kat once more before facing the front of the classroom. A second later, Simon’s heavy textbook lifted off the desk and smacked Simon right in the face.

My lips parted as I swallowed a laugh as Kat jerked back in her seat. What did she just do? Simon jumped out of his seat and stared down at the book now resting on the floor like it was a venomous snake.

“Mr. Cutters, is there something you would like to share with the class?” our teacher asked in a tired, bored voice.

“W-what?” Simon stuttered. He looked around frantically, and then his eyes settled on the book. “No, I knocked my book off the desk. Sorry.”

The teacher let out a loud sigh. “Well, then pick it up.”

Scattered laughter followed Simon’s jerky movement as he picked up the book and took his seat. I waited until the teacher turned back to the chalkboard before I poked Kat with the pen. She twisted around.

“What was that?” I whispered, struggling to keep a straight face. “Very bad kitty…”

A pretty flush cascaded over her cheeks as she bit down on her lip, drawing my attention and making me think of other very bad but fun things. Things that I really shouldn’t be thinking about right now. Especially considering the fact that Kat just tapped into whatever ability she had brewing inside of her in a very public place. Granted, I’d done it myself, but I knew how to use my power. Kat didn’t.

We were going to have to talk about that.

Kat’s lips formed a sheepish grin. She turned back around, the edges of her hair teasing the top of her chair. Took no amount of imagination to remember how soft her hair felt between my fingers. Like silk.

Sitting back in my chair, I swallowed a groan. Damn. This was going to be a long day.

I ended up catching up with Kat after school. That damn human boy had been her at ass at lunch. I waited for her at her locker, sort of surprised that she wasn’t giving me crap about being there. Baby steps in the right direction?

Holding the door open for her, we stepped out into the chilled air. She started to swing her bag over her shoulder, but I reached between us and took the bag from her, carrying it.

Kat arched a brow at me. “Are you a gentleman today?”

“I am many surprising things.”

“Uh-huh.”

My lips quirked up. We hit the parking lot, and not surprisingly, she was in the back again. Walking side by side, I purposely slowed my stride. “Did that boy say anything today?”

“That boy?” Her nose did that wrinkle thing as she glanced up at me. “Oh, you mean Blake?”

“Whatever,” I muttered, eyeing a group of guys huddled behind a pickup. Their camo baseball hats doing an awesome job at blending in. “Did he say anything about what happened at the diner last night?”

“No. Not really.” She folded her arms around her waist as a strong gust of wind whipped through the cars. “I mean, I tried to feel him out about it, you know? Apologized for freaking out about the branch falling, and he didn’t seem too interested in it. He thought…”

“Thought what?” We’d reached her car.

Kat shook her head as she unfolded her arms and reached out for her bag. “He didn’t think anything about it.” Taking the bag from me, she dug out her keys. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah, but I wish you hadn’t brought it up.”

She frowned as she opened the car door. “I was just trying to see if we had a problem.”

“I get that.” I watched her toss her bag in. “But it’s best—”

“I know. Stay away from him. Blah. Blah.” She climbed into the car and reached for the door. I caught it before she could shut it on me. A long-suffering sigh radiated from her. “I need to get going.”

“Why? Meeting up with your new friend?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, no. Dee is coming over. We’re hanging out.”

“Oh. Well then.” I smiled broadly and she rolled her eyes. “Have fun.”

“Uh-huh,” she muttered. “Good-bye, Daemon.”

Letting go of the car door, I stepped back and I didn’t move until Kat backed out of the parking lot and drove off. The back right tire looked like it needed air. Hadn’t I told her that already? Turning around, I scanned the parking lot, my gaze settling on the group of guys at the back of the pickup. A few of them broke apart, and I was able to see what was lying on the bed of the truck.

A dead doe.

My lip curled in distaste. Jesus. The rusty-looking marks along the bed showed that the kill must’ve been recent. Was it even hunting season yet? One of the guys started away from the truck, a big dude named Billy Crump. One of Simon’s friends.

“Y’all going to Rudy’s tonight?” he said, walking backward. “Me and Simon will kick your asses if not.”

Rudy’s was an old pool hall down near Smoke Hole. It used to be a bar, but at some point, it lost its liquor license and was now a pretty shitty place that didn’t have much more than pool tables and salmonella. That’s where Simon would be tonight? Perfect.

I smiled as I strolled out to the middle of the parking lot, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans as Billy neared me.

Wariness seeped from him as he passed me, lifting his chin in greeting. “Hey, man.”

I nodded, half tempted to clap him on the back. He just gave me the info I needed to take care of one of my problems.

Dee was gone by the time I got home, having stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Night was creeping in, earlier and earlier each day. The light in Kat’s front room was on, and I pictured my sister and her in there, nerding out about books.

My lips tipped up at the corners as I put the milk and eggs in the fridge, along with the five packs of bacon. They’d be gone by Sunday.

And it was Thursday.

There was a bunch of crap on the counter and in the pantry for the party tomorrow night. Somehow, and I’m assuming with a smile, Dee had procured a case of liquor. I shook my head as I walked out of the kitchen. I rounded the stairs and started to head up. There was a stack of paper lanterns in the guest room that Dee had ordered for the party that needed to be moved downstairs. Might as well—

I felt the presence of one of my own a second before there was a knock on the front door. Pivoting around, I moved to the door, half expecting to find one of the Thompsons or Matt.

It was neither.

Opening the door, I swallowed a ripe curse as I was eye to eye with an Elder. Luckily, it wasn’t Ethan.

Lydia stood in front of me with barely a trace of a smile. She was around Ethan’s age. Somewhere in her late forties, maybe early fifties. Then again, I wasn’t sure how old Ethan was. Either way, she was beautiful, like all Luxen were, with dark skin and black hair that reached her waist. She had a son either my age or a year younger, but he stayed in the colony, like most of the ones our age, homeschooled and completely under the watchful “care” of the Elders.

I couldn’t remember the last time Lydia had paid us a visit.

“May I come in?” she asked, her voice slightly accented. With her dark coloring, the luminous blue eyes were striking…and a bit unnerving. “Not like you can really say no.”

I snorted and stepped aside. “Then why did you ask?”

“Because I like to be polite.” She walked in, smoothing her hands along her denim jeans. “Is that not the human thing to do?”

Closing the door, I faced her. “And when have you ever been worried about doing the human thing?”

Lydia laughed softly. “More than you apparently believe. All of us, even if we reside within the colony, must blend in. It is the way.”

Watching her with a wary gaze, I folded my arms. Out of all the Elders, I actually liked Lydia. When Dawson…when he died, she was one of the few Elders who appeared to care, but I wasn’t in the mood for a whole ton of BS. I had stupid paper lanterns to move and a dumbass jock named Simon to visit. “Why are you here, Lydia?”

She walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Guessed she wasn’t leaving anytime soon. Hooking one knee over the other, she rested her joined hands in her lap. “You’re of age, Daemon. It’s time we talked about that.”

Oh for the love of all the stars in the sky. I rolled my eyes. “That is not something I want to talk about.”

“Gee, and here I thought you were bursting at the seams in excitement,” she replied drily.

I smirked as I leaned against the wall. Thank God Dee wasn’t here, because she’d also be on the receiving end of this conversation.

“Ethan worries that you aren’t planning to mate,” she continued, looking me dead on and having no problem getting all up in my business. “Especially since it doesn’t appear that you plan to be with Ashlee Thompson.”

Resisting the urge to bang my head, I forced a deep breath instead. “Ash and I are just going to be friends.”

Lydia nodded. “There’s nothing wrong with that. We have many females who are coming of age soon or—”

“Don’t,” I ordered softly. “I’m not having this conversation with you or any Elder. I have no plans to mate anytime in the near future, and yes, I get how important it is. We need babies and all that, but it’s not on my calendar.”

A single dark eyebrow rose, and a moment passed. “You realize if you go too long without mating, you face being cast out.”

Lifting my hand, I scratched my cheek with my middle finger.

The Elder let out a genuine-sounding laugh. “You’re lucky that I like you, Daemon.”

That was probably true.

“Ethan wanted to come check in on you, especially after that fight you had with the Arum over Halloween, but I told him I would come in his place.” She winked. “You owe me.”

A grin tugged at my lips. “That I do.”

Unhooking her knee, she scooted forward on the couch and stared up at me. “Okay. Let’s drop the whole mating thing. How have you been, Daemon? I haven’t seen you in a while, or your sister.”

There was a part of me that wanted to end this conversation now, but I did like Lydia. Walking over to the chair near the couch, I sat down. “I’m doing…I’m doing good. So is Dee. We…” I inhaled deeply. “We miss Dawson.”

“Of course.” She smiled sadly as she reached over, patting my knee. “It doesn’t get easier when you lose someone you love. You just get used to it.”

Lydia would know. An Arum killed her husband a few years back. Lydia chattered for a while, and when she got up to leave, I decided to take a strategic risk. I trusted her, well, more than I trusted the rest of the Elders or those within the colony.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked.

Her eyes lit up with interest. “Ask away.”

“I’ve been wondering about something,” I started, searching my mind for a plausible excuse to ask this sort of question, and luckily stumbled across something kind of believable. “When those Arum were around, they kept going after some of the humans.” Which wasn’t really a lie. “We know that when they feed off humans, it doesn’t do anything for them, but what if they went after a human we’ve been around?”

Her slender brows knit. “Do you mean if we’ve left a trace on the human? Would they then be able to feed off them?” When I nodded, she shook her head. “I wouldn’t think so. I mean, even if we leave a trace behind on them, they don’t have our abilities.”

“True,” I murmured, rubbing my fingers under my mouth. “I guess it’s a good thing if a human was repeatedly exposed to a trace that it doesn’t do anything to them.”

Her gaze sharpened. “Yes, it is a good thing. If the humans became like us, then we wouldn’t have the upper hand, now would we?”

I thought it was kind of odd thinking we actually had the upper hand when the DOD controlled everything we did, but whatever. “Well, we can’t make humans like us, so there’s nothing to worry about then. I guess those Arum were just…playing with their snacks.”

Lydia stared at me a moment. “May I be frank with you, Daemon?”

Uh-oh. “Yeah.”

She pressed her lips together in a flat line and then nodded, as if she was preparing herself. “I know you’re not going to want to hear this, and I don’t expect you to either confirm or deny it, but you do realize we were keeping a close eye on your brother.”

I stilled. Didn’t even breathe.

“He was quite close to that human girl he…he died with. Now you know, I have no problems with our kind being friends with humans. I am not nearly as strict as some of the others,” she continued, expression open. “But many of the Elders suspected that your brother crossed the line with that girl.”

I didn’t ask what this had to do with what I was asking, because deep in my bones, I knew it had everything to do with it.

“There’s a reason why we keep a certain distance between us and humans,” Lydia went on. “Arum come looking for us and innocent humans are caught in the cross fire, but it’s…it’s more than that, Daemon.” She exhaled softly. “And that’s all you need to know.”

My jaw flexed. More than that? As I met her gaze, I knew there was something she wasn’t telling me, something probably along the lines of what was happening to Kat, but if I pushed it, she could get suspicious, and as much as I liked her, I knew she would go to the rest of the Elders if she thought I’d done something unforgivable, and I…

I would protect Kat if it came down to it.

Lydia left not too long after that, just before Dee returned home. It was close to nine when I left in my car, heading toward Smoke Hole, the conversation with Lydia playing over and over. What did I gain from it? Nothing much other than the fact that the Elders, or at least some of them, knew what could happen to a human. It didn’t take a leap of logic to figure out that was what she was hinting at, but all of that brought me back to a different question, one that had nothing to do with what was happening with Kat.

Why had she brought up Dawson and Bethany?

Did the Elders know just how far their relationship had progressed? And did they somehow suspect that something major had gone down between Bethany and Dawson? Something like what had happened between Kat and me? Had Dawson healed Bethany? If so, was that what had drawn the Arum to them the night they’d gone to the movies? Or had the Arum just spotted Dawson?

All I had was more questions than answers, which was pretty typical.

I drove past Smoke Hole and pulled into the near-empty parking lot of Rudy’s. Killing the engine, I leaned back in my seat and I waited.

Simon didn’t disappoint.

An hour later, he strolled out of the pool hall, heading toward 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.”

The human girl stared at Ash. “Okay. It’s not like we look alike. I’m white with an awesome touch of Hispanic, and Carissa is half black and half Asian. Kind of hard to get us confused.”

Well, Lesa had a point, and this just got real awkward, and Ash stared at her, apparently oblivious. “Anyway,” Lesa drew the word out. “Why are we talking about how good-looking Blake is? Not that I don’t mind chatting about that.”