“And failed.”
“There’s that, but the rest of last night?” Seeing her in my mind, as she’d been last night, under me, was really distracting when I was driving. “We had the bad—the not-normal. And then we had the good—the normal. Granted, the good was interrupted by the bad, but there was time management there.”
She stretched her legs out. “You make it sound so easy.”
“It is that easy, Kat. You just need to know when to draw the line, when you’ve had enough.” Slowing down, I turned onto the road leading to our houses.
“And if you’ve had enough for today, you have. Nothing to feel guilty about or to worry about.”
There was no response as I pulled into the driveway. Turning off the engine, I looked over at her. “And no one will kill Bill.”
She laughed softly as she unbuckled her seat belt. “Blake. His name is Blake.”
Amused, I grinned at her. “He’s whatever I decide to call him.”
“You’re terrible.” She stretched over and kissed me, but when she pulled away, I wasn’t done. I reached for her, but she evaded me and slipped out of the SUV. “And by the way, I haven’t had enough today. I just needed a kick in the pants. But I do need to be home by seven.”
I was out of the car and beside her before she even shut the door. “You haven’t had enough?”
Her cheeks flushed as she stared up at me. “No, not nearly enough.”
“Good.” Hands on her hips, I tugged her to me. “That’s what I like to hear.”
Kat rose onto the tips of her toes and slid her hands up my chest. I met her halfway. Our lips touched. Our hearts pounded in tandem.
The front door of my house swung open and Dawson yelled, “Hey! I think Dee caught the microwave on fire. Again. And I tried popping some popcorn with my hands and it kind of went wrong. Like really, really wrong.”
I pressed my forehead against hers and growled. “Dammit.”
Kat giggled. “Time management, right?”
“Time management,” I muttered.
Chapter 16
Mostly everyone was down for the whole onyx thing, and even though none of them spoke up as to why they were so willing to allow some of us to repeatedly expose ourselves to a ridiculous amount of pain, I knew better. They knew it was the only way to keep Dawson from running off and getting himself caught.
Or worse.
As I looked around the living room, seeing my friends and Kat, I realized then that even though Matthew and the Thompson siblings shared no blood with me, they really were the true definition of family. My throat constricted. Only this kind of family would continue to be a part of this craziness, risking their freedom and lives.
Look at me; I was actually getting a bit emotional.
“This is so insane,” Dee said. “This is tantamount to self-mutilation.”
Dawson’s head dropped back, and he sighed. “That’s a little extreme.”
“I remember what you looked like when they brought you back down the mountain.” She twisted her hair around her hand, an old nervous habit. “And Katy lost her voice for a while from screaming. Who signs up for that?”
“Crazy people.” I sighed. “Dee, I don’t want you doing this.”
She didn’t look surprised at all. “No offense, Dawson, I love you and want you to see Beth and to hold her, because I wish…” Her voice cracked, but her spine straightened. “But I don’t want to do this.”
Dawson placed a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. I don’t expect you to do this.”
“I want to help.” Her voice was wobbly. “But I can’t…”
“It’s fine.” Dawson smiled as he folded his hand along the back of her neck. “Not all of us need to do this.”
“Then who’s in?” Blake scanned the room. “If we are going to do this, we need to start like yesterday, because I don’t know how long it’ll take to build a tolerance.”
Dawson stood. “It can’t take that long.”
Blake let out a laugh. “I’ve been with Daedalus for years, so there’s no telling at what point I built a tolerance…or if I really have one.”
“We’ve got to test that out then.” Kat grinned.
He frowned. “Wow. Kind of excited about that?”
She nodded, and I sort of wanted to make out with her right there.
Dee twisted around, eyeing Blake. “Can I test it out, too?”
“I’m pretty sure everyone will get a round.” I smiled at Blake. “Anyway, back to the basics. Who’s in?”
Matthew raised his hand. “I want to be in on this. No offense, Andrew, but I prefer to take your place this time.”
Andrew shook his head. “No problem. I can wait with Ash.”
Ash, who was surprisingly quiet, nodded.
“Oh.” Kat folded her arms. “Yeah, I’m in. Don’t start with me. I’m in. Nothing you can say will change that.”