Oblivion

Or Kat.

Wednesday morning was a blur, and for the most part, I was too distracted to put much effort into a

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 pla

“What? No.” She laughed. “I was pla

“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.”