Oblivion

“No.” I glanced up at the stars blanketing the sky. Dee would be home soon, though. “She went to the game with Ash, but I doubt she will stay long.” I turned to her. “I told her I was going to hang out with you tonight. I think she’ll come home soon to make sure we haven’t killed each other.”

Kat looked away, but I saw the grin. “Well, if you don’t kill me, I’m sure Ash will be more than glad to do so.”

“Because of spaghetti-gate or something else?” I asked.

She shot me a long look. “You looked mighty comfy with her in your lap yesterday.”

“Ah, I see.” I pushed off the railing. “It makes sense now.”

“It does?”

“You’re jealous.”

“Whatever.” She laughed as she turned away, walking down the steps. “Why would I be jealous?”

I followed her, enjoying the view. “Because we spent time together.”

“Spending time together isn’t a reason to be jealous, especially when you were forced to spend time with me.” She paused and then shook her head. “Is this what we need to talk about?”

I shrugged. “Come on. Let’s take a walk.”

Her hands smoothed over her dress. I wondered if she wore that for me. “It’s kind of late, don’t you think?”

“I think and talk better when I walk.” Meeting her gaze, I held out my hand. “If not, I turn into the dickhead Daemon you’re not very fond of.”

“Ha. Ha.” Her gaze flickered to my outstretched hand. “Yeah, I’m not holding your hand.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to hold hands with you when I don’t even like you.”

“Ouch.” I placed my hand over my chest. “That was harsh.”

She snorted. “You’re not going to take me out in the woods and leave me there, are you?”

I grabbed my chest as if wounded. “Sounds like a fitting case of revenge, but I wouldn’t do that. I doubt you’d last very long without someone to rescue you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

I gri

“Ash isn’t my girlfriend,” I said finally, and I don’t know why I was telling her this. “We used to date, but we’re friends now. And before you ask, we’re not that kind of friends even though she was sitting on my lap. I can’t explain why she was doing that.”

“Why did you let her?” she asked.

“I don’t know, honestly. Is being a guy a good enough reason?”

“Not really.” She was watching where she walked.

“Didn’t think so.” I stepped around a broken tree limb. “Anyway, I’m…I am sorry about the whole lunch thing.”

Kat tripped.

My hand snapped out, catching her good arm. Once she was upright, she backed off, folding her arms across her waist. Her expression was shadowed but pained.

“Kat?”

She glanced in my direction. “You embarrassed me.”

“I know—”

“No, I don’t think you do know.” She started walking, her hands cupping her elbows. “And you pissed me off. I can’t figure you out. One minute you aren’t bad and then you are the biggest ass on the planet.”

I stared at her retreating back for a moment. All of this would be so much easier since she was mad at me. I deserved that anger, but none of it settled well on me.

“But I have bonus points.” I easily caught up to her, keeping an eye out for rocks and exposed roots. “I do, right? Bonus points from the lake and our walk? Did I get any from saving you that night?”

“You got a lot of bonus points for your sister,” she said. “Not for me. And if they were my bonus points, you’ve lost most of them by now.”

“That blows. It really does.”

She stopped walking. “Why are we talking?”

“Look, I am sorry about that. I am.” I let out a long breath. “You didn’t deserve the way we acted.”

In the increasing darkness, she studied me. A moment passed. “I’m sorry about your brother, Daemon.”

I stilled, caught completely off guard. I never talked to her about Dawson. Obviously Dee would have at some point, but I knew Dee wouldn’t have told her everything. How I should have warned him to stay away from Bethany. How it was all my fault for not keeping my brother safe. “You don’t have any idea what happened to my brother.”

“All I know is that he disappeared—”

My hand opened and closed at my side. Disappeared? Was that what Dee had told her? It didn’t matter. “That was a while ago.”

“It was last year.” Her voice was gentle. “Right?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. Just seems longer than that.” I cast my gaze to the slices of dark sky peeking between the thick branches. “So how did you hear about him?”

There was a moment before she responded. “Kids were talking about it at school. I was curious why no one ever mentioned him or that girl.”

So Dee hadn’t brought it up? Interesting. “Should we have?”

“I don’t know.” Her response was quiet. “Seems like a pretty big deal that people would talk about.”

I started walking again, my movements stiff. “It’s not something we like to talk about, Kat.”

“I don’t mean to pry—”

“You don’t?” Familiar frustration rose. I knew I shouldn’t take my anger out on Kat, but maybe this was the perfect lead-in to pushing her away for good. “My brother is gone. Some poor girl’s family will probably never see their daughter again, and you want to know why no one told you?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that everyone is so…secretive. Like, I don’t know anything about your family. I’ve never seen your parents, Daemon. And Ash hates my guts for no reason. It’s weird that there are two sets of triplets that moved here at the same time,” she continued, proving that someone had been talking to her. Probably the girls in trig. “I dumped food on your head yesterday, and I didn’t get in trouble. That’s plain weird. Dee has a boyfriend she’s never mentioned. The town—it’s odd. People stare at Dee like she’s either a princess or they’re afraid of her. People stare at me. And—”

“You sound like those things have something in common.”

“Do they?”

“Why would they? Maybe you’re feeling a little paranoid. I would be if I’d been attacked after moving to a new town.”

“See, you are doing it now!” she all but shouted as she followed me deeper into the woods. “Getting all uptight because I’m asking a question, and Dee does the same thing.”

“Do you think maybe it’s because we know you’ve been through a lot, and we don’t want to add to it?” I threw back at her.

“But how can you add to it?”

I slowed down, taking a deep breath as we hit the clearing and the lake came into view. This was all going way off track. “I don’t know. We can’t.”

Kat shook her head as she stared at the water. Stars reflected off the still surface, and I hated that I brought her here to do this. No longer would I look at this place as a haven of comfort or peace.

“The day at the lake.” My voice was low. I wanted her to know this. Not that it would matter when this was over, but I needed her to know this. “There were a few minutes when I was having a good time.”

She twisted toward me. “Before you turned into Aquaman?”

My shoulders tensed as I lifted my gaze to the sky. For the first time in a long time, I thought about home, our real home, and how different things would be—should be. “Stress will do that, make you think things are happening that aren’t.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she said firmly. “There is something…odd here.”

“Other than you?”

Irritation rolled off her. “Why did you want to talk, Daemon?”

I lifted my arm and clasped the back of my neck. It was time to get this over with. “What happened yesterday at lunch is only going to get worse. You can’t be friends with Dee, not like the kind of friend you want to be.”

Kat stared at me. “Are you serious?”