Oblivion, Page 46

  “Awkward?”

  “Yeah, awkward.”

  Silence fell between us, and my mind immediately went to what it had been like kissing Kat—touching her. Nothing in this world or beyond had been as…freaking amazing as that.

  She tugged on the neckline of her sweater. “Dee said you guys had moved a lot. How many different places?”

  Change of subject was a good idea. “We stayed in New York for a while, then we moved to South Dakota. And if you think nothing goes on here, you haven’t lived in South Dakota. Then we moved to Colorado before coming here. I was always the one who provoked the change in scenery. It’s like I was looking for something, but none of those places had it.”

  “I bet New York was your favorite place.”

  “Actually, it’s not. It’s here.”

  Kat laughed. “West Virginia?”

  “It’s not that bad. There are a lot of us here. More so than any other place. I have friends who I can be myself with—a whole community, really. That’s important.”

  “I can understand that.” She rested her chin on her pillow. “Do you think Dee is happy here? She makes it sound like she can’t leave. Like, ever.”

  Shifting, I lifted my legs and stretched them out. “Dee wants to pave her own way in life, and I can’t blame her for that. If you haven’t noticed yet, there are more males than females. So the females are paired off very quickly and protected above all.”

  She made a face. “Paired off and mated? I understand it—you guys need to reproduce. But Dee can’t be forced to do that. It’s not fair. You should control your own lives.”

  I met her stare. “But we don’t, Kitten.”

  “It’s not right,” she said passionately, as if she wanted to take up arms and defend our rights.

  “It’s not. Most Luxen don’t push for anything different. Dawson did. He loved Bethany.” I exhaled raggedly. “We were against it. And I thought he was stupid for falling for a human. No offense.”

  “None taken.”

  “It was hard for him. Our group was upset with him, but Dawson…he was the strong one.” I smiled as I shook my head. Damn, that was so true, and I never gave him enough credit for that. “He didn’t cave, and if the colony had discovered the truth, I don’t think they would’ve changed him.”

  “Couldn’t he have left with her, sneaked past the DOD? Maybe that’s what happened?”

  “Dawson loved it here. He was big on hiking and outdoors. He was into the whole rustic-living thing.” I glanced at her. “He’d never leave, especially without telling Dee or me. I know both of them are dead.” My smile spread a little. “You would’ve liked Dawson. Looked just like me but a much better guy. Not a douche bag, in other words.”

  “I’m sure I would’ve, but you’re not bad.”

  I arched a brow.

  “Okay, you’re prone to moments of great dickdom, but you’re not bad.” She paused, squeezing the pillow tight. “Do you want to know what I honestly think?”

  “Should I be worried?” I asked warily.

  Kat laughed. “There’s a really nice guy under the jerk. I’ve seen glimpses of him. So while I probably want to beat the crap out of you most of the time, I really don’t think you’re a bad guy. You have a lot of responsibility.”

  Well then…

  I tilted my head back. “Well, I guess that’s not too bad.”

  “Can I ask you a question and you tell me the truth?” she asked.

  “Always.”

  She reached around her neck and pulled the piece of obsidian out. She held it in her hand. “The DOD is a bigger concern than the Arum, isn’t it?”

  A muscle tensed along my jaw. “Yes.”

  She ran a finger over the wire twisted at the top of the crystal. “What would they do if they knew I was moving things like you do?”

  She’d spoken my earlier suspicions out loud.

  “They’d probably do the same thing they’d do to us if they knew.” I reached out, cupping the hand that held the obsidian. I laid my finger over hers, stopping her movements. “They’d lock you up…or worse. But I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “But how can you live like this? Like, just waiting for them to find out there’s more to you guys?”

  My fingers curled around hers. “It’s all I’ve known—it’s all any of us have known.”

  She blinked rapidly and whispered, “That’s really kind of sad.”

  “It’s our life.” I paused, hating the sudden look of sadness in her gaze. “But don’t worry about them. Nothing will happen to you.”

  Kat leaned in, stopping when our faces were only inches apart. “You’re always protecting others, aren’t you?”

  I gently squeezed her hand and then leaned back, folding my arm under my head. “This hasn’t been a very birthday-friendly conversation.”

  “It’s okay. You want more milk or anything?”

  “No, but I would like to know something.”

  She stretched out her legs and they ended up beside mine. “What?”

  “How often do you run through the house singing?”

  Kat moved to kick me, but I caught her toes, stopping her. “You can leave now,” she said.

  I grinned, eyeing the reindeer. “I seriously love these socks.”

  “Give me back my foot,” she ordered.

  “It’s not so much the fact that they’ve got reindeer on them or that they go all the way up to your knees. But it’s the fact they’re like mittens on your feet.”

  She wiggled her toes. “I like them like that. And don’t you dare knock them. I will kick you off this couch.”

  I raised a brow as I turned her foot over, inspecting them. “Sock mittens, huh? Never seen anything like it. Dee would love them.”

  She pulled at her foot, and I let go this time. “Whatever. I’m sure there’re cornier things than my socks. Don’t judge me. It’s the only thing I like about the holidays.”

  “The only thing? I figured you’re the type of person who wants the Christmas tree to go up on Thanksgiving.”

  “You celebrate Christmas?”

  I shot her a bland look. “Yes. It’s the human thing to do. Dee loves Christmas. Actually, I think she just loves the idea of presents.”

  She laughed. “I used to love the holidays. And yeah, I was real big on the Christmas tree when Dad was alive. We’d put it up while watching the parade on Thanksgiving.”

  “But?”

  “But Mom is never home on the holidays now. And I know she won’t be this year; since she’s new at the hospital, she’ll get the shaft.” Kat shrugged, but I could tell it bothered her. A lot. “I’m always alone on the holidays, like some sort of old cat woman.”

  I could also tell that this conversation made her uncomfortable, made her sad. I changed the subject and picked one that would bring back some of the fire to her eyes. “So, this Bob guy…”

  “His name is Blake, and don’t start, Daemon.”

  “Fine.” I grinned, because there it was—the darkening in her eyes. “He’s not an issue anyway.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I shrugged and changed the subject again. “I was kind of surprised when I was in your bedroom while you were sick.”

  Her brows lifted. “I’m not sure I want to know about what.”

  “You had a poster of Bob Dylan on the wall. I expected the Jonas Brothers or something.”

  “Are you serious? No. Not a fan of pop music. I’m a huge fan of Dave Matthews and older stuff, like Dylan.”

  That did surprise me, and that little tidbit kicked off a conversation about music and then movies. Of course, we ended up arguing, because seriously, we couldn’t have a conversation without one, but she thought the second Godfather movie was better than the first, and that was a simply wretched thing to say.

  Hours passed, and it felt like only minutes. We ended up stretched out on opposite sides of the couch, side by side, both of us growing sleepy at the same time. We
argued. We laughed. We were normal. It—all of this—was nice. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this relaxed.

  I had no idea how much time had passed between the last time I blinked my eyes and reopened them. I knew it was really late, and there was a lull in the conversation, and I was drifting into that peaceful place between waking and sleeping. At some point, I opened my eyes. Not by much, just a thin slit really, and I found her watching me, her expression soft and…and downright perfect.

  Kat moved suddenly, grabbing the large quilt off the back of the couch. She draped it over my legs. I waited for her to climb over me and leave, but she must’ve grabbed a second quilt and covered herself with it.

  Another small victory.

  “Thank you,” I murmured, closing my eyes again.

  There was a pause. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “Almost, but you’re staring at me.”

  “I am not.”

  I pried one eye open. “You always blush when you lie.”

  “I do not.”

  “If you keep lying, I think I will have to leave,” I threatened. “I don’t feel like my virtue is safe.”

  “Your virtue?” She huffed. “Whatever.”

  “I know how you get.” Grinning, I closed my eyes. In the background, the TV played more long-forgotten music. I knew I would need to get up soon, no matter what. If her mom came home and found me lying here, it wouldn’t be pretty. I was close to dozing off.

  “Did you find it?” she asked.

  I moved my hand over my chest. “Find what, Kitten?”

  “What you were searching for?”

  My eyes opened and my gaze held hers. “Yeah, sometimes, I think I did.”

  Chapter 12

  At the start of trig class on Monday, I couldn’t help but mention those socks when I sat down behind Kat.

  “Reindeer socks today?” I asked.

  “No. Polka dots.”

  “Sock mittens?”

  “Regular.” Her lips twitched as if she was fighting a grin.

  “I’m not sure how I feel about that.” I tapped my pen on the edge of my desk, pretending to give this serious thought. “Regular socks just seem so boring after seeing the reindeer socks.”

  Lesa cleared her throat. “Reindeer socks?”

  “She has these socks that have reindeer on them and are kind of like a mitten for the toes,” I explained.

  “Oh, I have a pair like that,” Carissa said, grinning. “But mine have stripes on them. Love them in the winter.”

  Kat’s look was all smugness.

  “Am I the only person who is wondering how you saw her socks?” Lesa asked.

  Carissa punched her on the arm.

  “We live next door to each other,” I reminded her. “I see lots of things.”

  Kat shook her head frantically. “No, he doesn’t. He hardly sees anything.”

  “Blushing,” I said, pointing at her cheeks with my pen.

  “Shut up.” There wasn’t any heat to her words.

  “Anyway, what are you doing tonight?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “I have plans.”

  “What kind of…plans?”

  “Just plans.” She flipped back around in her seat.

  Just plans? I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be thrilled with those plans. For some reason, I was surprised, because I had a strong suspicion those plans involved the douche bag, and after Saturday night…

  Why the hell did I think Saturday night changed anything?

  Because we slept side by side until I got my ass out of there before her mom came home. Barely. I had to tap into some light-speed shit to get out of the house without being caught.

  As I sat back, I saw that Simon wasn’t in class today. Damn shame. I wanted to see how he acted around Kat to determine what kind of risk he posed, but I wasn’t too surprised by his absence. He hadn’t shown up for class on Friday, either. I still couldn’t believe he had the balls or the amount of stupidity to show his face Friday night.

  I frowned at the formula the teacher wrote on the chalkboard. I was pretty sure it was not correct. Chewing on the end of my pen, I glanced at Kat.

  She was looking over her shoulder at me. Pink zoomed across her cheeks, and she hastily turned around, but it was too late. I’d caught her.

  Around the cap of my pen, I smiled.

  It was around five when my phone dinged. It was from Matthew.

  We need to meet. All of us. Including Katy. It’s about the DOD.

  Kicking my feet off the coffee table, I sat up straight. I responded back only to him, but he wouldn’t answer any of my questions. All he was saying was that he was coming over here. No more than two seconds later, Dee appeared in the living room, cell phone in hand. She opened her mouth.

  “Where’s Kat?” I asked.

  She winced and then pivoted toward the door. “I’ll go get her.”

  I beat her to the door, car keys in hand. “Where is she?”

  Dee placed her hands on her hips, her lips pressed into a thin line.

  “I can stand here and stare at you all night—it’s not going to change anything,” I told her, and then sighed. “Look, I pretty much guessed this morning that she was going out with him. It’s not a big surprise. I’ll go get her and you can stay here and make sure everyone stays cool. You’re better at that than me.”

  She looked away, her jaw working. “She went to that restaurant that has Indian food—”

  “Got it.” I slipped out the front door. Considering there was only one place in the county that sold Indian food, I knew where to go.

  I drove to the restaurant, finding a parking spot across the street. Stepping inside, I immediately felt the warmth along the base of my neck. There wasn’t a wait at the door, and when the hostess approached me with a tired smile, I waved her off. “I’m meeting friends here. I know where they are.”

  She stepped aside, and seriously, the place was small enough that I didn’t have to look hard. I passed candlelit tables, nearing a table obscured by a partition wall. I knew she was aware of me before she came into view. Her eyes tracked me right up to the table.

  Douche Bag turned around, and his shoulders stiffened. He glanced at Kat. “Overprotective type…?”

  “I don’t…even know what to say,” she mumbled helplessly.

  “Hey guys.” I slid into the seat next to Kat. The whole left side of my body was pressed against hers. “Am I interrupting?”

  “Yes,” she said, mouth agape.

  “Oh, sorry.” I wasn’t sorry at all.

  Douche Bag smiled as he sat back and folded his arms. “How are you doing, Daemon?”

  “I’m doing great.” I stretched, draping my arm along the back of the booth. “How about you, Brad?”

  He laughed softly. “My name’s Blake.”

  I tapped my fingers on the back of the booth, brushing her hair. “So what were you guys up to?”

  “We were having dinner.” Kat started to scoot forward, but I