“Wow,” I murmured, blinking rapidly. Sometimes I forgot how protective Daemon could be…or how downright scary. “I don’t think I’m supposed to say thank you, because that seems wrong, but, um, thanks.”
“Anyway, that’s not important. What happened?”
Taking several deep breaths, I let the words come out in a rush. When I was done, Daemon wrapped an arm around me, tugging me against his chest. I didn’t resist him, pressing my face into him and clutching his sides, feeling safer in his embrace than I did any place else. And I couldn’t blame the connection for that. Even before it was formed, his arms had always been a sanctuary of sorts.
“I know you didn’t do it on purpose, Kitten.” His hand pressed a soothing circle against my back. “Simon was drunk, so there’s a good chance he won’t even remember. And if he does, no one will believe him.”
Hope sparked. “You think?”
“Yes. People will think he’s crazy.” Daemon pulled back, lowering his head so we were eye level. “No one will believe him, okay? And if he starts to talk, I’ll—”
“You’ll do nothing.” I shimmied free, drawing a deep breath. “I think you’ve already scarred the boy for life.”
“Obviously not,” he muttered. “What were you thinking back there? You were upset. Why?”
Heat infused my cheeks, and I started walking toward my house.
Daemon let out a long, suffering sigh. He was right beside me. “Kat, talk to me.”
“I can make it back home without your help, thank you very much.”
He held a branch out of the way so I could pass under it. “I would hope so. It is right there.”
“Shouldn’t you be making out with Ash right now anyway?”
He stared at me like I’d grown two heads. I recognized my mistake immediately.
“That’s what all of this is about?”
“No. It had nothing to do with you—or her.”
“You’re jealous.” He sounded smug. “I’m so going to win this bet.”
I stomped forward. “Me? Jealous? You’ve lost your mind. I wasn’t the one trying to scare off Blake.”
He grabbed my arm, stopping me just as my porch came into sight. “Who cares about Ben?”
“Blake,” I corrected.
“Whatever. I thought you didn’t like me?”
My hand curled in the air. There was no breaking his hold. “You’re right. I don’t like you.”
Anger flared in his eyes. “You’re lying—blushing cheeks and all.”
The worst case of verbal diarrhea happened. “You were kissing me a few days ago and now you were having fun with Ash? Is this what you normally do? Jump from one girl to the next?”
“No.” He dropped my arm. “That’s not what I do. I don’t.”
“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but you are doing it.” And so had I. What was I doing? I couldn’t be mad at him when I had done the same thing, but I was. It was ridiculous. “God, I am being such a whiny girl. Just forget I said anything. You can do whatever you want and I don’t have any right—”
Daemon cursed, dropping my arm. “Okay. You have no idea what was going on between Ash and me. We were only talking. She was messing with you, Kat.”
“Whatever.” I whirled around, walking again. “I’m not jealous. I don’t care if you and Ash make alien babies together. I don’t care. And honestly, if it weren’t for this stupid connection, you wouldn’t even enjoy kissing me. You probably already don’t.”
Daemon was suddenly in front of me. I took an involuntary step back. “Do you think I didn’t enjoy kissing you? That I haven’t thought about it every second since then? And I know you have. Just admit it.”
In the pit of my stomach, tight coils thrummed. “What is the point of this?”
“Have you?”
“Oh, for crap’s sake, yes, I have. I do! Do you want me to write it down for you? Send you an e-mail or a text? Will that make you feel better?”
Daemon arched a brow. “You don’t need to be sarcastic.”
“And you don’t need to be here. Ash is waiting for you.”
He cocked his head to the side in exasperation. “Do you really think I’m going to go to her?”
“Uh, yeah, I do.”
“Kat.” He shook his head, his voice a soft denial.
“It doesn’t matter.” I took a deep breath. “Can we just forget this? Please?”
Daemon smoothed a finger over his brow. “I can’t forget this and neither can you.”
Frustrated, I turned on my heel and stalked toward my house. I half expected him to stop me, but after a few successful steps away I realized he wasn’t going to. I had to fight turning around to see if he still stood there. I’d made enough of a fool of myself tonight. Kicked a hissy fit over Ash and Daemon, stormed out of the party, and nearly decapitated Simon. All of this before midnight.
Awesome.
Chapter 10
Turning eighteen wasn’t as exciting as I’d thought it would be when I was a kid, but some pretty cool stuff happened. I made it most of the day not worrying over what had happened last night. Blake called to chat, and I received a shiny new laptop already set up with everything installed.
Before I did anything else, I logged into my blog and wrote a quick “I’m Back!” post. A huge chunk of my life that had been missing returned. Mom had to pull me away from the laptop pretty quickly, though. I spent the rest of the day traveling a great distance with Mom to meet Will at the nearest Olive Garden.