“Ew,” muttered Dee.
The girl’s face flushed even more, and I felt my lips kick up at the corner. What was she thinking? “It’s not nearly as lame as this,” I added, gesturing at the flower bed.
She stilled. Pieces of red cedar drifted to the ground. “Why is this lame?”
I raised both brows.
The girl wisely retreated, but her jaw jutted out as she returned to spreading the mulch, and my eyes narrowed even farther. I could tell she was forcing herself to keep quiet, and that made me feel like a shark that scented blood in the water.
Dee sensed it, because she pushed me. “Don’t be a jerk. Please?”
“I’m not being a jerk.” I stared at the girl.
Her brows flew up, and there it was. The attitude. I didn’t like it…but I did, and realizing that amped me up. “What’s that? You have something to say, Kitten?”
“Other than I’d like for you to never call me Kitten? No.” Running her hands over the mulch calmly, she then stood and grinned at Dee. “I think we did good.”
This girl was legit ignoring me.
“Yes.” Dee pushed me again, but this time in the direction of our house. “We did good, lameness and all. And you know what? I kind of like being lame.”
As I stared at the fresh plants, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that she was standing there, pretending like I wasn’t even here. This chick was not even one bit intimidated by me. That floored me. I couldn’t be reading her right. Yeah, most human girls didn’t run from me. They wanted to run to me, but one look would send them scurrying away. This girl was basically like, whatever.
“And I think we need to spread our lameness to the flower bed in front of our house,” Dee continued, practically humming with excitement. “We can go to the store, get stuff, and you can—”
“She’s not welcome in our house.” Annoyed, I knew where this was heading. “Seriously.”
Dee’s hands balled into fists. “I was thinking we could work on the flower bed, which is outside—not inside—the last time I checked.”
“I don’t care,” I snapped. “I don’t want her over there.”
“Daemon, don’t do this.” Her voice dropped, and then I saw her eyes turn too bright. “Please. I like her.”
Hating the look in her eyes, I exhaled softly. “Dee…”
“Please?” she asked again.
I cursed under my breath as I folded my arms. I couldn’t give in to this. There was too much at stake, like her life. “Dee, you have friends.”
“It’s not the same, and you know it.” She folded her arms. “It’s different.”
Glancing over at Katy, I smirked. She looked like she wanted to throw something at me. “They’re your friends, Dee. They’re like you. You don’t need to be friends with someone…someone like her.”
“What do you mean, someone like me?” Katy demanded.
“He didn’t mean anything by it,” Dee rushed to add.
“Bullshit,” I said. I’d totally meant it. The girl just didn’t get what it really meant.
Katy looked like she was about to throw down, and if I hadn’t been so damn annoyed, it might’ve been cute. “What the hell is your problem?”
Shock flickered through me as I fully faced her. This girl… Wow. She was kind of prettier than average when her eyes lit with sparks of anger, but I was determined not to care. “You.”
“I’m your problem?” She took a step forward, and oh yeah, she wanted to throw down like a mofo. “I don’t even know you. And you don’t know me.”
“You are all the same.” And damn, that was the truth. “I don’t need to get to know you. Or want to.”
Confusion flickered across her face as she threw up her hands. “That works perfectly for me, buddy, because I don’t want to get to know you, either.”
“Daemon.” Dee grabbed my arm. “Knock it off.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Katy. “I don’t like that you’re friends with my sister.”
“And I don’t give two shits what you like,” she spat back.
Holy shit. I was not one bit mistaken when I realized she wasn’t at all intimidated, and my first, the very immediate response, was that I liked that.
And I could not have that.
I moved, faster than I probably should’ve, but I was there, right in front of her, my gaze locked in on hers.
“How…how did you move…?” She took a step back, her eyes widening as she shuddered.