I let out a low whistle, and Blake said, “You’re never going to be normal, Katy. Never again.”
“No shit,” she snapped. Taking a deep breath, she seemed to pull it together. “What are we going to do?”
“We don’t need his help,” I said.
“But you do,” he whispered. “I heard about the window thing with Simon.”
She glanced at me, and I shook my head, willing her to be quiet, because how in the hell did he hear about that?
“What do you think will happen next time? Simon ran off, doing God knows what. You won’t get so lucky again.”
Tipping her head back against the seat, she closed her eyes. Her voice was small as she spoke. “How do you know so much about them?”
“The girl I was telling you about? She told me everything. I wanted to help her…to get away, but she wouldn’t leave. The DOD had something or someone that meant a lot to her.”
An odd chill radiated down my spine.
“Who was she?” she asked.
“Liz something,” he said. “Don’t know her last name.”
“You know,” I said, looking over the seat at him. “There’s nothing stopping me from killing you. Right now.”
“Yes, there is.” He met my stare. “There’s Katy, and the fact that I doubt you’re a cold-blooded killer.”
Sometimes, like right now, I really wished I were a cold-blooded killer, because he wouldn’t be a problem. “I don’t trust you.”
He held my gaze. “You don’t have to. Only Katy does.”
There was no way she could trust him. I looked at her, and I saw that she was actually considering it. Anger flooded me. I placed my hands on the dashboard to stop myself from choking the crap out of…whatever he was.
“When do we start?” Kat asked, and I closed my eyes.
“Tomorrow if you can,” he said.
“My mom leaves for work after five.”
“I’ll be there,” I said.
“Not necessary,” he shot back.
“And I don’t care. You aren’t doing a damn thing with Katy without me being there.” I faced him, lowering my hands to my knees. “I don’t trust you. Just so we’re clear.”
“Whatever.” He climbed out of the car, causing cold air to rush in.
“Blake,” Kat called out.
He stopped with his hand on the door. “What?”
“How did you get away from the Arum when they attacked you?” she asked.
Looking away, he squinted at the dark sky. “That’s not something I’m ready to talk about, Katy.” He shut the door and jogged off toward his car.
Kat stared out the window, and both of us sat there for several moments without saying anything, and then I opened the car door. I stepped out, shutting the door behind me. There were too many things I wanted to say to her right now, and none of them were good. I needed a few moments to myself, to calm my ass down, and maybe by the time she got home, I could have a decent conversation with her.
Leaving her, I crossed the road and slipped into the woods. I beat her to the house by a good twenty minutes. I came down her porch steps as she slowly approached them.
Kat shook her head slowly. “Daemon…”
“I don’t trust him. I don’t trust a damn thing about him, Kat.” I took off my hat and scrubbed my fingers through my hair, and then slammed the cap back down. “He comes out of nowhere and knows everything. Every instinct is telling me he can’t be trusted. He could be anyone, working for any organization. We don’t know anything about him.”
“I know.” Weariness clung to her. “But at least this way we can keep an eye on him. Right?”
I gave a short, dry laugh. “There are other ways of dealing with him.”
“What?” Her voice rose and was carried away by the wind. “Daemon, you can’t be thinking…”
“I don’t even know what I’m thinking.” I took a step back, obviously not calmed down enough to have this convo. “And dammit, my head is so not in the right place at this moment.” I paused, my jaw working. “Why were you with him in the first place?”
“We were grabbing something to eat and I was—”
“You were what?” God, this wasn’t important, not after everything, but I couldn’t stop myself. After last night, after waking up with her in my arms, she went to grab dinner with him? A date? Damn.
“You went to Bryon after…”
She shook her head again, her hair flying around her pale face. “Daemon—”
“You know, I’m not really surprised.” The curve of my lips was bitter. “We kissed. Twice. You spent the night using me as your own body pillow…and liking it. I’m sure that had you freaking out the moment I left. You ran straight to Boris, because he really doesn’t make you feel anything. And feeling something for me scares the hell out of you.”
Her mouth snapped close. “I did not run straight to Blake. He texted me about getting something to eat, and it wasn’t even a date, Daemon. I went to tell him—”
“Then what was it, Kitten?” I stepped forward, peering down at her. “He obviously likes you. You’ve kissed him before. He’s willing to risk his own safety to train you.”