Oblivion

After school, when I didn’t see him show up at Kat’s house around the time he normally did, I decided to head over there earlier than we had pla

I darted up the steps, raising my hand to knock when the door opened. I frowned. “I’m really begi

“I thought you loved it. It enables you to be such a great stalker.” She stepped aside.

“I’ve already told you. I don’t stalk you.” I followed her into the living room, eyeing how she walked. She seemed looser, as if the steps weren’t as pained. “I use it to keep an eye on you.”

“There’s a difference?” She sat on the couch, looking slightly disheveled in her loose sweats and thermal…with…little strawberries on it. What was it with her and fruit?

Cute.

I sat right next to her, so close our thighs touched. “There is a difference.”

“Sometimes your logic scares me.” She smoothed her hands over her pants. “So what are you doing over here so early?”

“Bill didn’t come by tonight?” I leaned back against the cushions.

She tucked her hair back behind her ear. “No. He had something to do with family.”

Family? I had suspected the asshole was hatched from an egg. My gaze roamed over her face and then slid to the laptop. The video app was open, and beside the laptop was a stack of books. “What are you doing? Making another one of those videos?”

“I was pla

I gri

“Yeah, not going to happen.”

There was a lot we needed to talk about. What I’d found at Bethany’s house last night and if it meant anything. All the shit with Blake and how she kept ending up hurt. We could scope out Vaughn’s house early, but there was something so normal about her wanting to film a video for her blog. And she had very few normal moments lately.

And giving her this moment seemed more important than anything else.

“Why not?” I raised my hand, and the book on the top of the pile flew to my hand. I glanced at it. There was a guy on the cover with curly blond hair and ice-blue eyes. I got an idea. “Hey, I have an idea. I could pretend to be him.”

“What?” She frowned as I flipped the book over, showing her the cover. “Wait. You don’t mean—”

Glancing back at the image, I focused and then let my human form slip. It was harder to mirror the image since all I had was a photo, but I’d spent hours doing it when I was a kid, teaching Dawson. A few seconds later, a lock of blond hair fell across my eyes. I smiled slightly. “Hello there…”

“Oh my God.” Kat lifted her hand and poked my golden cheek. She laughed. “You can’t do that. People would freak.”

“But it would definitely get a lot of attention.” I winked. “It would be fun.”

“But this cover model”—she took the book from me and waved it around—“is a real person somewhere. He’d probably be curious how he ended up in my In My Mailbox video.”

I pouted. “You do have a point.” Letting go of the mirror image, I returned to my normal form. “But don’t let that stop you. Go ahead and film. I’ll be like your assistant.”

She stared at me. “I don’t know about this.”

“I’ll be completely quiet. I’ll just hold books for you.”

“I don’t think you have the ability to be completely quiet. Ever.”

“I promise.” My grin spread.

Several moments passed, and then she nodded. Facing the screen of the laptop, she adjusted the placement so I was included. She hit record and took a deep breath. “Hi, this is Katy from Katy’s Krazy Book Obsession. Sorry for such a long absence. School and”—she glanced at me—“stuff have gotten in the way, but anyway, I have a guest. This is—”

“Daemon Black,” I said. “I’m the guy she lies awake at night and fantasizes about.”

Her cheeks flushed as she elbowed me. “And that is so not the truth. He’s my neighbor—”

“And the guy she’s completely obsessed with.”

“He’s very egotistical and likes to hear his voice, but he’s promised to stay quiet. Right?”

I nodded as I smiled at the camera. “I think reading is sexy.”

Kat’s brows inched up her forehead. “Do you now?”

“Oh, yes, and you know what else I think is sexy?” I leaned forward so my entire face filled the picture. I lifted my chin in her direction. “Bloggers like this. Hot.”

She smacked my arm and whispered, “Get back.”

I sat back and I was totally quiet for a very, very long time. Like a good assistant, I handed her the books, but sometimes I had to say something. Like the guy on one of the other covers looked constipated. And seriously, did she have enough angel books? But one book did look interesting. I held it up, ignoring her muffled, disgruntled sigh, and said, “This reaper dude sounds like my kind of guy. He gets to kill people for a living.”

Kat snatched it out of my hand, gri

I leaned in. “Don’t forget. There are cooler things out there than fallen angels and dead guys. Just saying.” I winked.

Smiling like I hadn’t seen her do in a while, she pushed me aside and clicked off the record button. “You like seeing yourself being recorded.”

More like I liked seeing her smiling. I shrugged. “That was fun. When do you do another?”

“Next week if I get more books.”

“More books.” My eyes widened. “You have, like, ten books you just said you haven’t read.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t get more books.” Her lips curved up again as I gaped at her. “I haven’t been able to read a lot lately, but I will, and then I won’t be out of anything new to read.”

“You haven’t had time because of him and that’s ridiculous.” I looked away, jaw working. “Reading is something you love. So is blogging, and you’ve completely dumped those things.”

“I have not!”

“You’re such a little liar,” I shot back as I leaned against the couch once more. “I’ve checked out your blog. You’ve done five posts in the last month.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’ve been stalking my blog, too?”

“Like I said before, I’m not stalking. I’m just keeping an eye on you.”

“And like I said before, your reasoning is faulty. You know what I’ve been doing. It pretty much soaks up my time—”

“What the hell?” I exploded. Kat had bent forward to close the laptop, causing the back of her thermal to ride up, exposing several inches of skin—purple and blue skin. Bruised and angry-looking. Horrified, I grabbed hold of the thermal and tugged it up, revealing a huge bruise.

“Hey.” She twisted around, knocking my hands away. “What are you doing? Hands off, mofo.”

I looked up, meeting her wide stare. Rage bubbled like lava tinted with desperation. My hands curled into fists. “Tell me why your back looks like you fell out of a two-story window.”

Kat’s face paled as she stood. Without saying anything, she walked out of the living room. I was right behind her, barely able to hold on to my human form as we walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a Coke out of the fridge. “I…I fell in training with Blake. It’s not a big deal, though.” Facing me, she toyed with the top of the can. “I told you I slept wrong because I figured you’d make fun of me.”

I searched her face for a hint that said she was lying. She looked uncomfortable, embarrassed even, but she appeared genuine. My hands loosened. “Yeah, I would’ve made fun of you…a little bit, but Jesus, Kat, you sure you didn’t break something?”

“I’m fine,” she assured me.

Following her around the table, I took a few seconds to make sure my voice was level. “You’ve been hurting yourself a lot lately.”

“Not really.”