“Him…and other things.” I wanted to sit beside her, but I knew not to push it. “Things started happening to me. I would want a glass of tea, and the glass would fly out of the cupboard. I couldn’t control it, and I was so afraid of exposing you guys somehow.”
She looked at me then, lashes lowered. “You told Daemon, though.”
I nodded. “Only because I thought maybe he knew what was happening, since he healed me. It wasn’t because I trusted him more than you.”
Dee’s lashes lifted. “But you stopped hanging out with me.”
My cheeks flushed with shame. I had made so, so many poor decisions. “I thought it was the right thing to do. That if I ended up moving something without meaning to around you, I didn’t want you to get caught up in it.”
She barked a short laugh. “You’re so like Daemon. Always thinking you know better than everyone else.” I started to respond, but she went on. “The funny thing is, I could’ve helped you. Water under the bridge now, though.”
“I’m sorry.” I wished those two words could take back everything I had done wrong. “I’m really—”
“What about Blake?” Her hard stare met mine.
My gaze went to my hands. “I didn’t know what he was at first. Honestly, I liked him because he was normal. He wasn’t like Daemon and I thought… I thought I didn’t have to question why Blake seemed to like me.” I laughed, the sound just as harsh as Dee’s. “I was an idiot. Right off, Daemon didn’t trust Blake. I thought he was jealous or just being Daemon. But then there was this Arum that came into the diner when I was with Blake, and I found out what he was.”
Dee faded out and reappeared by her dresser, hands on her hips. “So, let me get this right. There was an Arum, and never once did you think about telling me or any of the others?”
I twisted toward her. “I did, but Blake killed that one and Daemon knew. And we were watching for them—”
“Sounds like a lame excuse to me.” Was it an excuse? It was, because I should’ve told them. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. Her eyes flashed bright. “You have no idea how hard it was to keep everything from you in the beginning! How worried I was that you’d get hurt just being around us and…” Dee stopped, closing her eyes. “I can’t believe Daemon kept this from me.”
“You shouldn’t be upset with Daemon. He did everything to stop this. He didn’t trust that Blake just wanted to help control my abilities. It was my fault.” And the guilt gnawed away at me, bit by bit. “I thought that Blake could help me. That if I knew how to control my abilities, I could fight—I could help you guys. You would no longer need to protect me or be worried about me. I wouldn’t be your problem.”
Her eyes snapped open. “You were never a problem to me, Katy! You were my best friend—my first, only real friend. And yeah, I’m a little slow on how the whole friendship thing works, but I do know that friends are supposed to trust each other. And you should’ve known that I never saw you as being weak or a problem.”
“I…” I puttered out, not knowing what to say.
“You never believed in our friendship.” Wetness gathered in her eyes, and I felt like the biggest tool ever. “That’s the part that kills me. From the beginning, you didn’t believe in me.”
“I did!” I started to stand, but I froze. “I made stupid decisions, Dee. I made mistakes. And by the time I realized how bad my mistakes were, it was…”
“Too late,” she whispered. “It was too late, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I took a breath, but it got stuck. “Blake was who he was, and everything that happened was because of me. I know that.”
Dee came forward, her steps measured and slow. “How long did you know about Beth and Dawson?”
I lifted my gaze, meeting hers. A huge part of me wanted to lie—wanted to say it wasn’t until Will confirmed it, but I couldn’t. “Before Christmas break, I saw Beth. And then Matthew confirmed that if Beth was alive, Dawson had to be.”
She sucked in a cry and her fingers curled in. “How…how dare you?”
I could tell she wanted to slap me, and my cheek stung even though she hadn’t. I kind of wished she would. “We didn’t know if we could find him or get him back. We didn’t want to get your hopes up only for you to lose him again.”
Dee stared at me like she didn’t even know me. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Let me guess, it was Daemon’s idea? Because it sounds like him. He’d want to protect me at the same time as he was holding me back—hurting me.”
“Daemon—”
“Don’t,” she said, turning away. Her voice shook. “Don’t defend him. I know my brother. I know he has good intentions that usually just suck. But you—you know how much losing Dawson hurt. It wasn’t just Daemon who lost his shit. I may not have moved the house off the foundation, but a part of me died the day I was told he was dead. I deserved to know the moment you thought he was alive.”
“You’re right.”
Her body shimmered for a second. “Okay. Okay…all of that aside. If you had told me about what was going on with Blake, Adam and I would’ve known what we were walking into. We still would’ve done it—believe me, we would’ve gone into that house to help you—but we wouldn’t have been blindsided.”