“And Blake?” I spat out before I could stop myself.
“What?” She stared at me. “Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know.” I moved my arm away. “It doesn’t matter. Can—”
“Wait. It does matter. Why would I want to help Blake after what he pulled? He killed Adam! I wanted him dead. You were the one who was, like, turning over a new leaf or something.”
I stiffened as her words settled over me like a coarse blanket.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a rush. “I know why you didn’t want to…do away with Blake, but I have to do this. It’ll help me get past what I caused. Like making amends or something.”
“You don’t—”
“I do.”
My jaw clenched as I looked away. I knew she could handle herself. I knew she was strong, but dammit, she didn’t have to prove that to me. I couldn’t bear the idea of something happening to her. “Can you do this for me?” I paused. “Please?”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Of course not. Tension crept into my shoulders. “This is stupid. You shouldn’t be doing this. All I’m going to worry about is you getting hurt.”
“See! That’s the problem! You can’t always be worried about me getting hurt.”
I arched a brow. “You’re always getting hurt.”
She gaped at me. “I am not!”
I laughed. “Yeah, try that again.”
Kat scrambled off the bed, her cheeks flushed with anger, which thoroughly amused me despite how angry I was. “God,” she muttered. “You tick me off.”
My smile was slow. “Well, at least I got you—”
“Don’t even finish that statement!” She snatched up the forgotten socks and tights. Rolling them on, she hobbled on one foot. “Ugh, I hate you sometimes.”
I sat up. “Not too long ago, you were really, really loving me.”
“Shut up.” She moved on to the other leg. “I’m going with you guys on Sunday. That’s it. End of discussion.”
Throwing my legs off the bed, I stood. “I don’t want you going.”
Shimmying the tights on, she glared at me. “You don’t get to say what I can and can’t do, Daemon.” She grabbed one of her boots. “I’m not a frail, helpless heroine in need of your rescue.”
I rolled my eyes. “This isn’t a book, Kat.”
She yanked on the other boot. “No, really? Crap. I was hoping you skipped to the end and would tell me what happens. I actually love spoilers.” She spun around and stomped out of the room, heading downstairs and then outside.
I followed her, damn near desperate to get her to understand where I was coming from, and the desperation fueled what I said next. “After everything that went down with Blake, you said you wouldn’t doubt me. That you would trust my decisions, but you’re doing it again. Not listening to me or using common sense. And when this blows up in your face again, what am I supposed to do then?”
She gasped, backing up. “That’s…that was a low blow.”
“It’s the truth.”
Her eyes glistened, and I cursed under my breath as she appeared to force the words out. “I know all of this is coming from a good place, but I don’t need a friendly reminder of how badly I screwed up. I totally know. And I’m trying to fix that.”
“Kat, I’m not trying to be a dick.”
“I know, it just comes easily to you.” Her gaze flickered over my shoulder. I looked. Headlights peeked through the fog, coming up the road. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke again. “I’ve got to go. Mom’s home.”
Kat hurried off the porch, but I wasn’t done. Moving quickly, I ended up in front of her. She stopped, eyes widening. “I hate when you do that.”
“Think about what I said, Kat. You have nothing to prove.”
“I don’t?”
“No,” I said, and I’d say it a thousand times.
But I knew screaming it from the top of Seneca Rocks wasn’t going to change how she felt. I watched her wait for her mom by their porch, and then I turned around.
Amazing.
Took only two minutes to turn her into boneless, happy, and sated Kat. And it only took two minutes to piss her off.
Chapter 12
Kat still wasn’t a fan of mine come Friday morning, and I still wasn’t thrilled with the fact that my concerns fell on deaf ears. My mood only briefly improved when I caught up to her outside of class and kissed her in a way that made sure she’d spend the bulk of the rest of the day thinking about me.
However, having found her with Blake was not on my top one million things I cared to repeat again. I didn’t like him around her, not even in the same time zone as her, and the douche bag knew it. The fact that it was obvious I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands didn’t deter him one minute, not even from texting her about meeting Saturday night to go over the Mount Weather plans.